// archives

Archive for March, 2008

Alphabet soup: the new MRP XCG, FTW!

MRP has announced the release of a new chainguide, the XCG. The XCG is aimed at all-mountain riders who want a bash guard to protect the big ring, but don’t want the extra weight of a big aluminum or polycarbonate dinner plate stuck to the cranks. The XCG mounts directly to the bottom bracket or ISCG […]

Will Ride for Food, part 2

Last week, we had a look at the first half of the two-part Will Ride for Food series. As a refresher, the crew at Transition Bikes has produced the series as a tribute the the pro-level riders who are able to juggle riding at the top of their game with holding down a nine-to-five.
Just like […]

Two Six book club: Mountain Bike Maintenance

If you’ve been riding for even a short time, you know that the mechanical state of your bike can make the difference between a great ride and a chain-sucking, ghost-shifting curse-fest. Learning how to fix your bike quickly and properly is a key mountain biking skill, and lets you maximize your time on the trail […]

Karpiel Armageddon prototype pictures surface

 
Not too long ago, when hucking was all the rage, the Karpiel Armageddon stood at the top of the heap of monster-bikes. Coupled with a Risse Bigfoot fork up front, the Armageddon had up to 12″ of travel front and back, and weighed as much as a Buick. That weight didn’t matter, of course, to […]

Kenda Nevegal now available in 650B

Kenda’s Nevegal is widely held as one of the best tires going for all-mountain riding. The Nevegal is light, has a nice, high-volume casing, grips well in most conditions, and is among the fastest-rolling full knobby tires. I’ve personally put a few seasons on Nevegals, and have been quite impressed with their performance.
So what about […]

Truvativ fires up the hype machine: the Hammerschmidt is coming

Truvativ has launched a teaser site for the “Hammerschmidt”. The problem is, being a teaser site, there really is no useful information to help us figure out what exactly Hammerschmidt is, so we’re forced to use our brilliant skills of rampant speculation. Popular opinion, and the prediction that we’re most inclined to agree with, is that […]

Will Ride for Food, part 1

 
Have you ever watched a great bike video, and thought to yourself: “gee Self, I could do that if I could ride all day long like the pros. Yup, if I didn’t have to work all day long, I’d have by skills honed sharp enough to make Aaron Chase look like a monkey on a […]

Lance Armstrong’s new bike shop gets its first complaint

 
As you might have heard, Lance Armstrong is opening a bike shop in Austin, Texas. The shop, which goes by the name of Mellow Johnny’s (as in maillot jaune, geddit?) is planned to sell mountain bikes, commuter bikes, road bikes, triathlon bikes, and “niche” bikes (read: fads) like low riders. The shop is to be […]

Gatorbrake’s eight piston disc brake

Are your measly Magura Gustav or Hope M4 brakes, with their four hopelessly inadequate pistons just not living up to your expectations? Gatorbrake hopes so, and thinks that their biggest model, with double the pistons (and therefore double the awesome) of other downhill brakes will satisfy your need for motorcycle-level stopping power.
The apparently unnamed eight-pot brake has a CNC […]

Welcome to the lodge, part 2: the Cannondale Moto

 
As a follow-up to yesterday’s look at the new Cannondale Rize comes a look at the big brother living in the lodge: the Moto. The Moto steps into the ring with a burly 160mm of travel and a relatively slack 67.5° head tube angle, which in our eyes push it towards the more aggressive end of […]