This isn't going to be an exhaustive test of every single product available to the mountain biker! I'm essentially Billy No Mates following my own path to cycling Nirvana here, so don't expect too much. I've put in a few web links and images - just to brighten things up really! I'm not saying that you should go and buy this stuff - just some things that I've used and my experiences with them. Where do I get my stuff from? Firstly generally not from wondering into bike shops anymore. Economics of life mean they just don't have a wide choice of stock, and generally favour what the local sales rep pushes on them. I prefer choice, hence now I use the web pretty much exclusively for stuff. eBay usually, but postage costs are starting to push that out of reach. So Winstanleys [although they generally are out of stock....], Wiggle [for free sweets!] and Chain Reaction are all pretty good. Disco Brakes seem mad keen, and their products are good value and just work. Bizarrely Tesco also sell bike stuff, and I picked up a bladder for £3 which is stormingly good value. So on-line, but watch the postage and look at several sites before you buy. Why? Because some are not actually that cheap, especially eBay oddly enough. Also with eBay one persons "hardly used" is my junk - especially cassettes. Boy are they a false economy to buy used! Oddly with eBay if you are after, say a fork, sometimes it is better to buy a whole bike with your chosen model attached than to buy the item on its own. Instance: I bought some Fox forks for about £200. Happy me. However, I saw an Orange P7 go with the same forks for just over £300. Now if I'd waited, and bought that, I could have stripped it down, sold the bits and would have ended up with my forks for free. Live and learn. One place I very rarely use is Halfords. One in the past their mechanics have proven less reliable in fixing bikes than my 3 year old, and secondly they stamp "Bike Hut" onto everything. Call me a tart, but no way am I having anything near me with that brand name on! May as well have a T-shirt printed stating: cheap muppet who doesn't know any better! As for buying a new bike every year, or upgrading every two years or so; no thanks! I learnt from my motorcycling days that eventually the designers move the abilities of the bike far, far away from mere mortals. My motorcycle could do 135mph, almost twice the speed limit. It was a rare road where I couldn't easily exceed the posted limit by a factor of two. Why swop it for one that could do 190mph? The same seems to be happening to bikes - designers are pushing and pushing what is possible on a rig. here in Surrey there is little need for a bike with 150mm travel both ends. If I had such a machine I'd be frustrated every ride. Many motorcyclists have realised that it is more enjoyable to have a machine that is just outside of your limits, so you push a little each ride. Certainly if I was to holiday in the Alps, do the Welsh or Scottish trail centres, or engage in mega jumps, then yes, 150mm would I guess be pretty much essential. Here a hardtail with 90mm up front is often too much. Don't get sucked into the hype..... engage brain before deciding to buy a new bike. |
| Products on test [OK - stuff I've used recently!!] |
| Squirt long lasting dry lube. This is a wax lube that you apply to a clean, dry chain. Now I don't mind lubing a chain; it's a little pre-ride ritual I have. However, I'm not mad keen on cleaning them - furthermore I hate the notion of spraying degreaser on my bike; it has to end up removing much needed grease from a useful bearing somewhere else! Squirt claims to negate the need for cleaning, which has to be a good thing. I've put this stuff onto all of my bikes now, and, well, it just seems to work. Your chain looks like a candle once the stuff has dried, and in use it seems to "chip" off. I gather this attrition also removes mud and grit? A single application seems to last around 25 miles, which is as long as I last these days so no worries there. I've not used it long enough to check chain and sprocket wear, but I'd assume no change there. And unlike other wax lubricants this one doesn't clog the nozzle. Overall a product that works well for once. Update after 500 odd miles: Leaves your transmission gunked up with goo where you don't want it, but doesn't seem to stick to the chain for very long. Also if you spill it onto the floor or your bike, for a man it looks as though you've been getting a bit too intimate with your rig. You have to use quite a bit when you re-lube the chain, so I'm just about to finish off my second bottle now. This is getting expensive! White lightning seems to do the same, but lasts longer - although there you do get clogged nozzles, which is irritating. I'm beginning to think that this stuff is good, but short lasting and rather expensive for what it is. It may, however, be better in colder conditions rather than the dust bowl that we've had for the past 3 months. 13/09/09: Just completed an 80km dry ride, and the Squirt didn't last the distance. By about 50k it had all gone and my transmission became very noisy, and it is not the type of lube that you can re-apply mid ride as it needs to dry off. So if you do more than, say, 40km rides then use something else. Forget it entirely if it is a wet ride - go get some cheapo Halfords synthetic wet lube. One word of advice - be careful how you search for "Squirt" on the web! Get some very interesting results. |
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| Juice Lubes Incredible Fork Juice. Hmmm, a spray that lubes your forks. I'm unconvinced by this one. My forks were boingy before application [Rockshox Pike 454, Pace RC36, Magura Menja and Fox F90RL], and they were boingy afterwards. It also comes in a pressurized can, so the environmentalist in me cringes - especially as it seems to be the same as Muc Off lube. I'm guessing a can of Pledge would achieve the same results. Plus this stuff being silicone seems to go everywhere... and what kind of thing do you have attached to forks that you should not lubricate? Oh yes, brakes. Overall a silicone type spray that doesn't seem to do anything that the other sprays do. The magazines have been raving about it, but I think that is just some hype thing they are on. I now use it not as a lube, but as a cleaner for the forks where it works very well! The people that operate the company are very, very nice though. http://www.juicelubes.co.uk/ |
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| Exotic 600mm composite bars from www.carboncycles.cc. Easy review this one; Junk. I normally use 600mm bars, so figured I'd give a carbon composite set a go. Firstly - carbon composite? What's that? Apparently a proprietry process where carbon is fused with aluminium. Whatever; in reality these look nothing more than aluminium bars wrapped in a single layer of carbon fibre. So alloy bars then. OK they are lightish at 220g so I'll put them on the bike. Well, you can put them on your bike, and you can even fit grips, shifter pods and brake levers. But if you do, there is no longer any room for you hands as control space is so minimal that the shifters have to butt right up against the grips. OK I could mount the shifters inboard, but then the brake levers would be way over. I measured the space available, and compared it to my other 600mm bars. All my other bars have at least 3cm more control space each side! That is a huge difference. Waste of money - avoid. I've not even used these and they are a bin job. Note also that their web site is technically an illegal one as they do not give out any contact details. Naughty, naughty. They also run Disco Brakes, where you can get cheapo brake components. I've had good results from them, but have heard mixed responses from others. Superstar Components also do stuff - again never used, but worth checking out. Man. |
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| Continental Speed King. Black. Round. Sticky. Very fast in the dry, but can feel a bit skittish in the wet or on gravel. However, put a bit of trust in them and they seem to grip way better than expected so seem a good summer trail tyre. Some reports suggest the tyre walls rip easily, but in almost 700 miles I've not experienced that at all. I'm quite happy with them to be honest. ...so happy that when the winter came I took them off and replaced them with some sticky Maxxis Aspens and Ardents! http://www.nextdaytyres.com/ |
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| Crud Catcher Fast Fender. My Klein has a silly frame and silly Magura forks; I cannot fit mudguards to either so always get trashed when it rains. The Fast Fender looked as though it would do the trick, being handlebar mounted. Easy to fit, although the mounting is a bit horrid with exposed bolts. Does the job. Well it does until things get really wet, then so do you. Another mudguard that doesn't work too well. Ho hum. I've left it on the bike, but I've not bought another. In all other respects Crud products are excellent and I use them exclusively. Just that the fender is a bit crap. Cruddy even.... http://www.crudproducts.com/ |
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USE - USE1.Com - Ultimate Sports Engineering. I've a carbon fibre handlebar, short alloy stem and seatpost from these guys. The handlebar is a little narrow but does a good job of taming high frequency vibrations and seems comfy. The stem seems super stiff and I'm happy with that. The seatpost? Hmmm. Not convinced by this one [and to be honest I've yet to be convinced by a USE.1 seatpost]. It seems to slip, both in the frame and also at the saddle end. And the black anodising must be all of a micron thick, and has pretty much rubbed off in most places. Thomson seems much better, so I may yet change this bike over once I have a spare £70 or so to splash on one! That'll be never then, as I'll only change if I get really hacked off with the existing one. Overall: Handlebars really good, but narrow - think old skool MTB. Stem really stiff and I'm happy with that. Seatpost as usual just too darn clever for its' own good - a step too far. Indeed I'm a tad annoyed with the post - hit anything hard, it makes a creaking sound, and the saddle shifts. Certainly if you used their torque settings, you'd forever be re-adjusting the thing. And it seems very slippery in the frame. I'd not buy one again. http://use1.com/ |
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| Magura Louise BAT. OK bought off eBay, so I have no idea as to history, but this was on my bike for a minute before I noticed a leak. And Magura have a poor reputation amongst bike shops, so it had to go back to magura HQ for repair. Also it came with a 203mm floating disc. Now I've looked at some Hope variants, and they were pretty lightweight. This Magura thing weighed in at 250g. Why?? Got the brake back from Magura; they just put a new caliper and hose on it for £25. How is it on the bike? Er, powerful but not as powerful as they lead you to believe. It's OK but overweight. 15/01/10: Update. Take it back about the power thing. Blimey are these good once they've bedded in. One finger braking is the norm, and you always outbrake colleagues even then. Move back to a 180mm, or even a 160mm, and you find yourself grabbing at the lever to compensate for lack of power. 203mm rocks baby! Magura Menja / Fox F90RL. Both air forks, both light, both 90mm to 100mm travel. Which wins? Neither! The Fox's are smoother, and seem more active, but the Menja's are good under braking. Can't differentiate between them to be honest. However, saying that peer pressure means I may well go for Fox's on my Pace..... Me a bike tart? The Menja's do seem to be very common amongst the "fit and forget" brigade so I'm expecting long-life from those. Hope they beat my original Pyslo's; they lasted 7 years without any maintenance whatsoever, and when stripped down were pretty much perfect. 15/01/10: The Menja is sick and will have to go to the Magura Hospital. Developed an internal knocking noise. Not good after perhaps 20 rides now is it? The Fox's are superb still - and I've ridden them to death. |
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| Hayes Stoker Trail. £130 for a set of front and rear hydraulic brakes that work brilliantly. Need I say more? Not sure they'll be as durable as Hope brakes, but then Hope are weedy things these days and seem to have lost the plot. Fitted them with some Disco Brakes; at £7 a pop I was able to swop between a 180 and 160 disc for pennies. After about 400 miles the brakes are working fine and I'm happy with them - may consider a set for the Pace as they've since come down in price to a silly £130 or so. Can be a bit noisy when they get dry, but I think that may be more the Disco brakes I use than anything else. http://www.hayesdiscbrake.com/ |
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| Pace RC303. Dunno anything about this. I've bought a frame to build up, so watch this space for progress. Essentially I'm looking at a machine capable of hitting the Welsh trail centres and keeping me in one piece. I did the Red Bull run on my Klein Mantra, and that was awful. I'm a big fan of the long-travel hard-tail idea we have; just as fast as a susser, but less maintenance and looks hard as nails. I'll probably build it up using the same parts as my Tassajara as they seem pretty reliable, although obviously I'll need a set of 130mm forks. 15/01/10: Update. Bike finished! Su-bloody-perb! Go get one. Now. Sell a child or put your wife out to work the streets, whatever it takes. Get one. Now! That or a Whyte hardtail of same specification. Or a Cove. 140mm bijou hardtails are where it is at. http://www.pacecycles.com/ |
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| Fulcrum Red Metal 5 wheelset. My wife bought me these for my birthday - and paid only £150 for them, which was pretty cheap so I didn't expect too much. Completely black with some red stickers on the rims they looked pretty trick out of the box. Not too light at 1.8kg, but the right side of 2kg so I was happy. On the bike? Hate to say it, but they just work - no horrid twangy spoke noises, they don't wibble around and they accelerate well. Er, another fit and forget item. I've done around 200 miles on them so far, and they've been fine. True I'd rather have had a set of Hopes, and will invariably shift towards them later on, but for now I'm very happy with these. 13/09/09: Update - these are excellent wheels, and to be honest so far as good as any Hope jobbies I've had. For the money I'm not sure you could get better wheels? 6/10/09: One month later, and just under 150 miles things have changed. Essentially the rear wheel hub has developed play, and the spokes have started to creak. Fulcrum are not interested in a warranty repair. The front wheel is fine. Guess this could happen to any wheelset, and these are pretty cheap, but one month's riding and the bearings are shot? 15/01/10: The bearings just needed nipping up. Back to being brilliant wheels. Light, fast rolling and tough. Also cheap. Love them. http://www.fulcrumwheels.com/jspfulcrum/productsdetail.jsp?productid=12&varid=19&lang=en&world=offroad Note this is the world's most annoying website! |
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These days I'd suggest building a hardtail bike around the following:
£900 or so would build an absolutely stunning and reliable bike from a mix of new and used bits - you could do it cheaper by buying a used bike with decent wheels and brakes already fitted, and then chop in a new 2009 / 2010 fork and SLX transmission as and when required. Give it a full service and away you go. I've run full suspension for over a decade now, and whilst it is a bit more comfy there is a lot of faffing around and shock bushes can wear alarmingly [5 miles is my personal worst]. I've gone back to hardtails as they are just plain cool. Although having said this, an Orange single pivot frame would be an excellent substitute as they are pretty reliable. |
| Product testing. What's up with the world? I can remember not too long ago that us MTB people were unpaid product testers; I've forgotten the number of items that I've bought only to find they don't actually work. Remember the old wiper seals on the PACE RC36's? They were crap and the forks had to be stripped down after every ride [funny, the magazines praised them to hell and back, the lying toads]. Any Manitou fork ever built; crap. Quasar Links Evo forks - utter rubbish; worse than rigid blades. Handlebars with odd shapes that vibrated at odd frequencies, and MTB pedals where the bearings go pretty much instantly. Grips that don't. Tyres.... don't get me started on tyres! I've had MTB specific treaded tyres that gripped less than slick road tyres. Oh and that old bugbear, rear shock bushings. I've had bushings last less than 2 miles of smooth road use [again from companies praised by the magazines....]. Is it any wonder that us mountain bikers, once we find a product that works, then we keep it way beyond its design life? I've had tyres where the tread has partially come off, my Rockshox Psylos were banging horribly for the past 2 years but still worked happily, and the internals of my r.h. shifter pod have been exposed to the elements for 4 years now after the cover broke. And the l.h. pod has burnt levers after a house fire 7 years ago. |
| Magazine product reviews. Assume that they are telling what we parents call porki pies. If it is an internet magazine, then you're probably guaranteed that they are ebellishing the truth a tad. Magazines survive off advertising and/or free products. They are not going to slag off manufacturers who advertise now are they? What Mountain Bike I personally do not trust at all in terms of bike reviews, and they have some really bizarre bike comparison tests [and Orange seem to be strangely absent from their reviews, as are Hope products]. Singletrack seems pretty much on the ball, although it can be pretty wierd at times. Most of the magazines suggest that you have to spend £1,000's to get a good ride. True the more you spend, the better bikes get. But let's be realistic - my friends ride £600 rigs and here in Surrey they are way more than adequate. One thing though, if a magazine slags something off, then you can bet it is amazingly bad in the real world! You sometimes have to read between the lines with the magazines. Instance: they rave about Trek products. Trek bikes look good in the shops, but the frames seem very thin. Every so often a magazine would let slip that they'd torn some frames up as they were as thin as coke cans.... Specialized bikes get rave reviews, yet a year later the same bikes get slagged off [and some bike shops slag them off...]. 2009 Specialized, as 2008 really, appear bikes to avoid. Of course should Porsche GB be reading this, I wholeheartedly agree with all the good reviews that the Panamera has had, and disagree with the bad press. Indeed should Porsche GB wish for this hugely popular website [3x more popular than my nearest competitor!] to produce a frank and informative review of the Panamera, then do feel free to loan me a car.  http://www.porsche.com/uk/models/panamera/ |