The Ritchey/Syncros single-bolt seatpost clamp is simple and easy to use, as long as the post is on the bike so gravity assists you). As the bolt pulls the clamp ears against the rails from the side (squeezing them against an inboard stop), the lower lips of the clamp ears follow a tapered surface to pull the clamp down against the rails. Three different clamp pieces are available for standard rails and two different dimensions of oversized carbon rails.
Fox and Marzocchi are pushing a new front hub through-axle standard, 15mm X 100mm, which has been adopted by Shimano, Mavic, DT and many other hub and wheel makers. It is intended for the cross-country and all-mountain market; 20mm through-axles remain the standard for big-hit forks. Fox claims it is faster than using a 9mm quick-release axle while being stiffer and very light. RockShox and Manitou have not adopted the 15mm standard.
The $239 Exposure Joystick Maxx light is a small, bright, self-contained, rechargeable Super LED light with a long burn time that clips onto a bar mount or helmet mount. The $399 Exposure Enduro Maxx is three times as bright, being essentially three Joystick Maxx lights packed into a single, self-contained unit. In between is the Exposure Race Maxx with two Super LEDs. Batteries are Li-ion built into the unit. Burn times go from three to 24 hours depending on the setting (or many days on flashing mode!).
Lezyne’s new, long 100-gram frame pump gives the stroke of a framefit pump without the mounting hassles on today’s frames. It contains a pull-out hose to avoid stressing the valve stem while pumping. The 40-gram bottle cage incorporates a groove for the pump and will be available in a carbon option as well.
There are a lot of stationary sizing cycles out there, but the $2395 Calfee Sizer, designed by Bernie Mikkelsen, allows you to crank the length in or out using the wheel at the end of the long threaded rod while the rider is pedaling. The tape measure clamped to the steerer allows you to see the exact top tube length as it changes, and the handlebar height above the ground is its actual height above the ground on the bicycle. The Purely Custom no-tools quick-change seatpost (spin the saddle to release the saddle clamp to change the tilt or fore aft, and twist it back) and the adjustable-length crank with bubble level are both designed by Jeff Keller.
JHK employs duct tape to minimize play between his shoes and his Crank Brothers Eggbeater pedals. This is in contrast to Travis Brown’s Shoe Goo method.
Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski’s Superfly 29er carbon hardtail has two inner chainrings and a SRAM mountain bike front derailleur. The front derailleur is set too high, due to its long tail otherwise hitting the chainstay. But that allows JHK to switch from a 38T to a 40T large chainring without changing his front derailleur adjustment.
Sam Schultz’s Genesis 2.0 aluminum hardtail has a mountain bike front derailleur like JHK’s, but unlike his two teammates’ bikes, it uses two outer chainrings.
Matt Opperman’s HiFi 29er.
Matt Opperman’s HiFi 29er has a SRAM Rival front derailleur, two inner chainrings and an unanodized version of Bontrager’s new spider.
FSA gave a clinic on BB30, which is an open-source bottom bracket standard started by Cannondale. It features a 30mm spindle and cartridge bearings that press into a huge bottom bracket shell 68mm wide. Snap rings stop the bearings from proceeding too far inboard, and spacers are available for mountain bikes with 73mm bottom bracket shells. This is the new SRAM RED BB30 crank.
Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski’s Superfly 29er carbon hardtail has two inner chainrings and a SRAM mountain bike front derailleur. The front derailleur is set too high, due to its long tail otherwise hitting the chainstay. But that allows JHK to switch from a 38T to a 40T large chainring without changing his front derailleur adjustment.
The major technical difference is the 90mm threadless bottom bracket shell. Brown says that feature may appear on other Trek mountain bikes in the future.
Baltimore Bike Path
We’ll end with Zipp’s negative drag PowerTap equipped Sub 9 disc wheel, because we’ll pick up here with the next installment and look at what Zipp and SRAM have cooked up new for the road. The PowerTap hub only adds 120 grams to any of Zipp’s disc wheels; the Sub 9 tubular equipped with a PowerTap weighs 1120-grams. SRAM announced that it will introduce its own line of wheels at the tradeshows this fall. It will keep Zipp as its high-end road brand, so for fun I’ll take a guess that in six months time, SRAM might have a viable mountain bike wheel? It would surely round out the line nicely.
The French tire maker’s tubeless ready cyclocross tire is finally set to go and being produced.
The tread of the Toro is modeled after the Bulldog.
The Toro is a new higher-volume big treaded 29-inch tire that comes with a Tubeless Ready bead instead of a tubeless casing to keep the weight down.
Hutchinson said it has a 25mm Fusion tubeless tire coming down its development line as well as higher mileage tubeless training tire called the Intensive.
The wheelset has 44mm carbon rims, steel spokes: 18 front, and 20 rear; it weighs 1537 grams. The cost is not yet set but may be close to $4000.
Speaking of tubeless compatible, tire maker Hutchinson has teamed with Corima to offer a Hutchinson branded carbon tubeless road wheelset, called the RT1.
Both wheels feature 29-inch rims that are tubeless compatible.
The XLR relies on the brand’s top-end hub, with loose balls and angular contact races.
And this is the upper tier, the Red Metal 29 XLR; both wheels forgo alloy spokes in favor of steel.
The biggest news in the Fulcrum camp may be the two new 29-inch wheelsets. This is the economical version called the Red Metal SL, which is priced at just $350.
Just in case any of the employees at QBP, the brand’s U.S. distributor, get any ideas.
The rim is tubeless compatible.
The carbon mountain bike clinchers feature Fulcrum’s 20mm axle, aluminum spokes and nipples, but are laced normally, not with the brand’s 2:1 spoke ratio.
Fulcrum’s Red Carbon wheels will be available later this year. Currently, Julian Absalon is waging another season on the wheels.
The rim-brake compatible Red Metal Zero mountain bike rims use a hub with Campy ‘s Record internals, aside from being proven and easily serviceable. Campagnolo’s road ceramic bearing bearings can be dropped right into the mountain wheel.
Fulcrum had a new color option available for its Red Metal Zero mountain bike wheelset. It’s the inverse of the new option for road bikes. The road version keeps red spokes with a black rim, while the mountain version gets a red rim and black spokes. Technically both wheels are unchanged.
SwissStop is sharing space with Edge at Sea Otter, and had a new pad shape to show. The new shape will replace the current Campagnolo-compatible pad and will be available with SwissStop’s three pad compounds. Edge wheels exclusively use the Yellow King carbon compound. A bike’s worth of the carbon pads cost a whopping $64, but they are the best performing in Edge’s testing and our experience.
Edge will offer four mountain bars, in the next 8-10 weeks. They come in two styles, flat or rise, with two clamp options, 25.4mm or 31.8mm. One of the most interesting pieces of feedback from testers is that the bars aren’t as stiff as some of the competition’s offerings. Kevin Nelson, one of Edge’s two carbon engineers, thought it was something he would have to change, but instead the testers embraced the feel. “I guess you learn something everyday,” he said.
This fork has a King headset base plate molded in.
Edge will also have a full range of forks, two road versions, as well as aero and cyclocross models. The ’cross model should be ready for this coming cyclocross season and will be shipping in August.
1.0 Series rims come in two heights, 38mm left, and 68mm right.
Off-road, Edge does two different rims, but instead of using height as the differentiating factor, it uses width. The XC rim is 24mm wide and comes in tubular or clincher configurations. The trail rim is a full 30mm wide and only 40 grams more.
Edge has a complete line of wheels both, road and mountain, forks and handlebars all made of carbon. On the road, Edge offers two rim depths, 38mm and 68mm, in two different models. What the consumer will notice is that one is significantly lighter. The 1.38 rim — Edge’s top of the line 38mm rim — is the lightest, weighing a mere 270 grams.
Jason Schiers and Jim Pfeil are the front men of Edge Composites, a smaller Utah based carbon manufacturer that’s making waves in the bicycle industry. Both have storied bicycle industry carbon manufacturing histories.
An internal view of the rear hub.
The spokes are butted stainless steel and are mated to long 7075-T6 alloy nipples; there are 24 front and rear.
The rear hub has a 25mm center axle section, and rotates on four large bearings.
The anodized 6061-T6-aluminum wheel uses a unique spoke attachment process to allow tubeless tire compatibility without a rim strip or other sealing mechanism. The internal width of the rim is 19mm.