Lots of new stuff showing up in my inbox these days. With only a couple of months before Interbike, most manufacturers are starting to leak some of the goods to keep everyone on the edge of their seats. Most of the time, I don’t get enough detail to know everything, but just enough to bring you some details. For 2009, the venerable Ellsworth Moment (2007 Ellsworth Moment review) gets a new rectangular oval top tube and all new tubes elsewhere. Officially, Ellsworth calls the proprietary tubeset “swaged, tapered and shaped,” but I’ll just call it sexy.  Looking at my current Ellsworth Evolve, I imagine that the tubeset on the new Moment is very similar. The...
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I should have known better than to ride with the same helmet for 5 years. Luckily, I didn’t crash on it to test how well it still worked after all those years of abuse–both on and off the bike.  However, it was time to step into something new. Looking around, I knew I wanted something that had a bit more coverage than normal and I knew that I didn’t want to mess around with anything other than a completely fused shell design. Looking over Giro’s MTB helmet lineup, the Xen instantly caught my eye. Not just because of it’s solid looks, but also because of its smart design....
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The only thing magical about the 2008 Kona Coilair with Magic Link this year has been their elusiveness.  I have yet to see one in person and my attempts at getting on a demo bike have been cut off at the pass. So, I’m left to wait until Interbike Outdoor Demo this Fall until I can swing a leg over the Coilair. For 2009, the Coilair goes through the refinement machine as some new features and tweaks are introduced. For starters, the entire front triangle is new with a tapered head tube (1 1/8″ upper and 1 1/2″ lower cup), beefed-up downtube, new, beefier rocker-arms and refined Magic Link. The new paintjobs are also stunning. ...
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Trail tools are an important piece of equipment. There’s nothing like being out on a ride when you have a mechanical breakdown only to find that you don’t have the right size allen wrench, don’t have a chain tool or don’t even have a patch kit to repair a punctured tube. Walking your bike down perfect singletrack sucks. Carrying a multi-tool is a good first step. I’ve carried a Topeak Alien II in my hydration pack for years, but have found it to be a bit clunky to use at times. On top of that, it’s HUGE… like an old cell phone brick. When I saw the Crank Brothers Multi 19 tool, I knew...
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It hasn’t taken long for me to recognize the beauty of bigger hoops. Up until a year ago, I hadn’t ever swung a leg over a 29-er, but now I’ve ridden a fair amount of them and am beginning to understand what all the hullaballoo is about. They roll fast, they climb exceptionally well and they smooth out the trail without relying on tons of suspension travel. Good timing and a little luck has me with two top-notch 29-er trailbikes for the next month: The Niner RIP 9 and the Ellsworth Evolve. Both are top-shelf bikes available as a frame-only so you can customize the build from head-to-toe to your exact liking....
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It didn’t take much sleuthing to come to the conclusion that Santa Cruz would re-design their ever-popular Nomad frame for 2009. With the complete re-design of the Santa Cruz Blur LT this season, it made sense that Santa Cruz would pass along all that goodness to the Nomad. I’ve ridden the previous Nomad and have lots of friends who currently ride and love their Nomads.  The new version looks more refined and includes the many improvements that were introduced with the new Blur LT, namely: grease ports, revised linkages and suspension ratios, new frame design with a reduction in the top-tube “hump”, 5mm less travel (160 instead of 165mm) and a few other changes that...
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Salsa Cycles has been one of those fringe manufacturers for years. yeah, you’ve likely ridden a bike with one of their quick-release seatclamps, but you’ve likely never seen a Salsa Cycles bike on the trail–I know I never have.  All that is about to change with the introduction of the new Salsa El Kaboing trailbike for 2009. Coming in January 2009 (frame-only available September 2008), the Salsa El Kaboing looks to be a stellar trailbike with some interesting features. One of the first things that caught my eye was the post-mount rear disc brake bosses. Yeah, I know… a funny thing to notice.  But, here’s the point.  Most fork manufacturers have switched from the International...
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I’ve got so many water bottles under the sink it makes my head spin. Actually, my wife hates that I have so many under there and threatens to recycle them nearly every day. The problem is that mixed in the pile of water bottles are the one or two that actually work well.  They are the bottles that don’t leak and that squirt a perfect stream every time. Sharing shelf space with the good bottles are the leakers and “squeeze so hard you’ll get carpal tunnel” bottles. When I inadvertently slap one of the hated bottles in my bottle cage for the daily ride, I’m kicking myself for not grabbing a good one. At this point,...
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As the mega cycling sites continue their online dominance, what is your Local Bike Shop (LBS) to do? Many have Web sites, but most don’t have the manpower or technical savvy to have a full-fledged online storefront with in-house fulfillment. Inventory management and logistics can be daunting, so your LBS typically keeps plodding along selling locally. Some are successful and others struggle. Ritchey Design recognizes the plight of the LBS and wants to foster more support of their local dealers (the...
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As suspension fork designs have evolved over the years, the sweet spot over the past 2-3 seasons has been in the “all-mountain” category. While dual-crown forks have been mostly relegated to DH-only duty, the long-travel single-crown fork has become the staple for freeriders and all-mountain riders alike. Initially, Manitou thought it had found the ticket when the 1.5-inch steerer tube was introduced. Single-crown forks were finally supposed to be burly and light enough to withstand roof-droping punishment without deforming your head tube.  While the 1.5-inch head tube has provided some great benefits, the misleading marketing hype was that 1 1/8-inch head tubes weren’t burly enough to handle a long-travel single-crown fork. That argument has since been...
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