Author Archives: "bikemag"
Energy Bar Redux
08.16.2005 //
WHAT: Balance Bar TrailMix Energy Bar WHERE: www.balance.com HOW MUCH: $1.39 each Someone once told me that there’s no such thing as unhealthy food, because everything you eat fuels your body in one way or another. It only took one pre-ride stop at McDonald’s (and one post-ride toilet thrashing) to disabuse me of such a [...]
Toby’s Svelte Bar
08.05.2005 //
WHAT: THE Flight bar-stem WHERE: www.the-industries.com HOW MUCH: $400 When you think of bike parts with sex appeal, certain bits come to mind: ultra-light XC wheelsets, carbon cranksets, disc brakes. Chances are, its not images of gleaming stems and handlebars that dance in your head like proverbial sugarplums. But take one look at THE’s Flight [...]
TESTED: 2005 Fox TALAS RLC
08.01.2005 //
WHAT: Fox TALAS RLC WHERE: www.foxracingshox.com HOW MUCH: $699 There is so much technology lurking inside this TALAS fork, that it’s hard to know preciselywhere to begin its review. I guess we can start with the whole name thing… TALAS stands for “Travel Adjustable Linear Air Spring”—a title that sounds innocuous, but is actually quite [...]
Big Earl Goes for Burl
07.09.2005 //
WHAT: Bontrager Big Earl Bar & Stem WHERE: www.bontrager.com HOW MUCH: $60 (stem); $80 (bar) Oversized exudes that feeling of confidence and strength the way only oversized can. Like Paola Pezzo’s quads, Pamela Anderson’s boobs, a Dodge Power Wagon’s hemi engine…oversized is good, especially when rocking the oversized airs and gnarl of the world. Bontrager’s [...]
Powerful, Adjustable…The El Camino Lives Up to its Hype
07.01.2005 //
WHAT: Hayes El Camino WHERE: www.hayesbrake.com HOW MUCH? $250 per wheel Can’t decide whether to go with more power or better modulation in your next set of disc brakes? Hayes might make your decision a little easier with the new El Camino. The brake levers feature dials that can modulate power on the fly, even [...]
Big, Wide and Ever-so-Carbon-ey
05.30.2005 //
WHAT: Bontrager Race XXX Lite OS Carbon Riser WHERE: www.bontrager.com HOW MUCH: $130 The latest craze in handlebars is sort of a two-headed fashion beast: oversize mid-sections and carbon fiber construction. Bontrager has conveniently wrapped up both trends in a single handlebar. The Race XXX Lite OS Carbon Riser is Bontrager’s top of the line, [...]
Hayes in a Carbon Flavor
05.11.2005 //
WHAT: Hayes HFX Mag Plus HOW MUCH: $250 per wheel WHERE: www.hayesdiscbrake.com There are a few disc brakes on the market right now that everyone is talking about and the HFX Mag Plus is not one of them. This is unfortunate, but I suppose, also a bit understandable, as the HFX Mag Plus does not [...]
Tested: Magura Ronin Fork
04.25.2005 //
WHAT: Magura Ronin Fork HOW MUCH: $600 WHERE: www.magura.com For the last couple years, Magura has been on a mission. The German manufacturer, to be blunt, wants you to stop thinking of it as merely a manufacturer of disc brakes. To that end, Magura has extended its product line to include high-end wheelsets and suspension [...]
Bantam Weight Stoppers
03.07.2005 //
WHAT: Magura Marta SL disc brakes WHERE: magurausa.com HOW MUCH: $300 per wheel At 324 grams per wheel (that’s the whole shebang…brake levers, rotor and caliper) the Marta SLs are the lightest hydraulic disc brakes available and are aimed directly at the “I won’t buy it if it isn’t made out of carbon and weighs [...]
A Post for the Do-Anything Bike
02.28.2005 //
WHAT: Race Face Atlas seatpost WHERE: raceface.com HOW MUCH: $54 Atlas is Race Face’s upper-end “All Mountain” component group. All Mountain, for those of you who (understandably) refuse to pay much attention to the latest marketing lingo, is shorthand for “Lighter than full-on freeride gear, but a little burlier than the garden variety, cross-country racer [...]
Precisely How Steep is “Steep”?
02.17.2005 //
WHAT: Sky Mounti Inclinometer WHERE: velimpex.com HOW MUCH: $24.99 There are a lot of complicated devices that you can strap to your bike; this product isn’t one of them. The inclinometer is essentially a miniature version of a carpenter’s level. Screw it onto your handlebar and the little bubble tells you exactly how demonic the [...]
Tested: Race Face Deus crank
02.14.2005 //
WHAT: Race Face Deus crankset WHERE: raceface.com HOW MUCH: $349 It’s shiny, it’s light, and after a summer, fall, and little bit of winter hammering, it spins like it’s brand new. Race Face’s Deus Crank, a trimmed down version of its original Turbine LP, at 815grams (which includes triple rings and BB) is the lightest [...]
Tested: Cane Creek Double Xc
02.09.2005 //
WHAT: Cane Creek Double Xc (conversion) headset WHERE: canecreek.com HOW MUCH: $95 First off, this is a bit of a specialty item. Cane Creek’s Double Xc headset enables riders with 1.5-inch headtubes to run suspension forks with the more conventional 1-1/8 inch steerer tubes. Folks, in turn, who have 1.5-inch headtubes are either people who [...]
Tested: Hammer Gel Raspberry
02.03.2005 //
WHAT: Hammer Gel Raspberry 26-Serving Jug WHERE: www.e-caps.com HOW MUCH: $17.95 The first thing you have to understand is that I’m a cheap bastard. I’ve bonked on plenty of rides because I repeatedly convinced myself that I could complete the final two hours without reaching into my jersey pocket and “wasting” that last pack of [...]
Tested: WTB MotoRaptor 2.4
02.01.2005 //
WHAT: Wilderness Trail Bikes MotoRaptor 2.4 Race WHERE: wtb.com HOW MUCH: $45 per tire WTB makes the MotoRaptor in three different sizes: the 2.14, 2.24 and 2.4-inch models. I’ve spent a solid season aboard the 2.4 Race version (folding bead) and have become a believer. I’m a fan of large-volume tires (up front, at least) [...]
Bolt-On Disc Brakes…You Might Be Surprised
01.18.2005 //
WHAT: Brake Therapy Disc Brake Conversion Kit WHERE: 765-528-2138, www.therapycomponents.com HOW MUCH: $149.00 A bolt-on disc brake mount? It looks…well, it looks kinda hokey. Isn’t it a pain in the ass to set up? Will my rotor rub? Will it flat-out fall apart? All those questions were rolling around my own head when I bolted [...]
On Our Radar: Selle San Marco Azoto MTB
01.14.2005 //
WHAT: Selle San Marco Azoto MTB Gel Saddle WHO: Selle San Marco/www.sellesanmarco.com HOW MUCH: $90 Most of the reviews you’ll find on BIKEMAG.COM are just that—reviews. You know, stuff we’ve personally been riding for a few months or more. We are, however, also debuting a new column called “On Our Radar”. These are products that [...]
Test: FRS Plus Sports Drink
01.07.2005 //
FRS Plus: It’s not the same old sugar-water cost: $22.95 (16-ounce bottle) contact: frsplus.com; (877) 377-4968 Free Radicals aren’t the mullet-sporting, rightwing, militia-type activists many people think they are—but they are every bit as dangerous. The by-products of hard exertion, free radicals are essentially molecules that float freely through your body, latching onto, and damaging, [...]
Previewed: Trek Finds Freedom
06.04.2004 //
It is a cold, intolerant day on Vancouver’s North Shore. Rain pours in buckets. Fog sweeps down from the peaks of the Coast Range and, oddly, maybe stupidly, I’m about to go riding on a bike that’s as new as the trails of the Shore are gnarly. Trek, one of the biggest cycling manufacturers in [...]
Yakima HitchFork Rack and King Cobra Mounts
09.17.2003 //
Cost: $300 for HitchFork; $125 for Cobra Contact: 888-925-0703; www.yakima.com Shuttle riders and road-trippers can appreciate a good bike rack, and Yakima’s new HitchFork hitch rack is worthy enough to satisfy them-and anyone else who has to transport bikes to the trailhead. The HitchFork mounts to 2-inch receiver hitches easily and comes with locking hardware [...]
The Connect
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