10/06/2008

Giant Bicycles unveiled its new line of bikes this past summer in Lake Tahoe, CA. The centrepiece of the line was the new 5" Trance X trail bike but the 6" all-mountain Reign, which has been around for a few years, also got a significant make-over. The biggest change came in the frame, which took on a radically different shape and lost a pound and a half (738g). Also gone was the pierced downtube, which was replaced with a new, hydroformed tube that came underneath the shock.

A new position for the lower shock mount, and higher attachment points for the pivots.

The Reign 0 comes spec'd with a Fox TALAS RL fork and Fox DHX 4.0 rear shock, Hayes Stroker Trail disc brakes with 180mm front and 160mm rear rotors, Race Face Deus XC bar, stem, seatpost, and cranks, SRAM X-9 trigger shifters, an X.0 rear derailleur and XT front derailleur, a WTB Devo saddle, WTB LaserDisc wheelset, and Kenda Nevegal 2.35" tires.

The 2008 Reign 8, chilling on the side of the trail, before it proceeded to head up the hill.

One of the most impressive things about the new Reign is the weight. An XL Reign 0 weighed 28.6lbs. out of the box. I made a few minor mods before heading out on the trail, removing the 44T chainring for a bashguard, adding a set of Shimano 545 platform SPDs and a Lizard Skins chainstay protector, and replacing the stock bolt-on grips for a set of ODI Rogue Lock-On grips. Once the changes were made, the bike weighed in at 30.07lbs. That's still damn respectable for a 6" travel bike.

I made a few other changes after the first ride - the stock stem was 100mm, and it was way too long for B.C. trail riding. I also found the stock 670mm bar too narrow for my liking, so they were shelved in favour of a set of 710mm wide bars.

A few notes on the Reign 0 - the Fox RL (RL for Rebound and Lock-out) fork has adjustable travel. There are three settings - 100, 120, and 140mm.

The big toptube and downtube make for a long headtube

Flip the switch on the top of the left fork leg to drop or increase travel. The switch on the top of the right leg is the lockout. Turn it clockwise and the fork locks out. The cassette is an 11-34, which makes it possible to hammer on the flats while still spinning up the hills without killing yourself. On the back end, the Fox DHX 4.0 loses the compression adjustment of the high-end 5.0 shock, but it does have both main chamber and boost valve air pressure settings, as well as rebound adjustment and a switch that lets you choose between maximum and minimum ProPedal.

In addition to the new shock mount, Giant changed the tubing configuration. The new top tube is heavily manipulated at both the headtube and seattube ends. In fact, the seattube brace for the toptube is gone entirely. The downtube is also reshaped at both ends. One of the places this is most noticeable is on the headtube, which is very long. That may be an issue for some people, but I don't mind - drop the fork, slide back on the saddle, get in a comfortable gear, and climb away.

Reigns are available in five sizes: XS (15"), S (16"), M (18"), L (20"), XL (21") in the Brushed Olive anodized finish. US MSRP for the Reign 0 is $3,100 and on this side of the border it's $3,589.

Stand by for the full review, which will be posed once I've beaten on the Reign for an adequately long period of time.

2008 Magura Louise disc brakes
Words and photo by David Ferguson

It looks like Magura has made numerous changes to their Louise line of brakes for 2008. One of the most significant is the move to an aluminum clam-shell casting for the caliper, which will be post-mounted. Magura has a wide selection of adapters to accommodate the different rotor sizes and frames with IS mounts only. The move to the cast aluminum clam-shell was done simply to keep the cost down.

Teutonic perfection in the form of the 2008 Magura Louise hydraulic disc brakes

The caliper has a new system to help dissipate heat. Dubbed the Heat Eater, this ribbed metal attachment from the caliper body mates with the brake hose and increases the surface area for the dispersion of heat from the brake line. The real genius in the Heat Eater is the ability to make tool-free adjustments to the angle at which this metal hose interface protrudes from the caliper body. This is great because
it will remove any stress on brake hoses that have to come in at less than desirable angles. According to the Magura web site, the angle adjust covers 45 degrees but it looks like it's a little more than that to me.

At the other end of the brake hose, there are a couple of nice additions. The oil reservoir has a single 2mm Allen key bolt that needs to be removed when doing a bleed - the cover to the reservoir
stays put. It looks like they've simplified the bleed process over previous iterations. Magura uses their Quickfit system on the the brake lever assembly to make installation and removal of the brake
very simple. A single bolt, hinged clamp eliminates the need to take off your grips and shifter hardware when installing the brakes. The levers can accommodate most of the standard shifters out there, the exception being Shimano Dual-Control. Trigger shifters can be mounted on the inside or outside of the brake lever.

Lever and caliper, updated and with new features to make your life on the bike better

As with last year's model, there are three versions of the Louise to spend your money on. The basic brake as shown in the photos sells for US$160, while a version with the BAT control (mechanical adjustment of the lever throw) is $200, and a sweet carbon lever version of the BAT is $260. Those prices come with a five-year guarantee on leak-free performance.

Other options include the disc diameter. Magura offers 203mm, 180mm and 160mm (8", 7", and 6") discs. You can also opt for the Ventidisc version, which increases cooling performance by 15%. All discs are compatible with the splined Center-loc setu-ps, using a Magura adapter.

One big sexy rotor, capable of slowing your big fancy rig down to a manageable speed.

Other notable features include a dual-piston fixed caliper (new for this year) and automatic pad wear adjustment. The pad thickness can be checked without removing the pads. The brakes are nice and shiny right now, but give us some time to dirty them up and we'll report back on how well they deal with the Shore.

A few more numbers for the geeks:

• Weight (in grams): 445 grams onwards
• Deceleration in m/sec² according to DIN 79100 (100N handforce)
• 7,2m/s² (203mm), 6,8m/s² (180mm), 6,2m/s² (160mm)
  

The Crud Catcher ZX
Words and photo by Cam McRae

I like weather.  My favourite might be 28° celsius after two weeks of glorious dry but I also enjoy it when it's dirty, wet and nasty.  I ride in the rain and the snow and I like to be prepared. Goggles rarely work well on the Shore and when the heavens open up they are worse than useless. I don't mind getting a little wet but getting a plum-sized booger of mud in my eye is not my idea of a good time.   My first really gnarly weather excursion of the year was in Squamish. We pedalled up the Diamond Head road to where 19th Hole and GK Ripper drop in - but we decided to try an alternate line.

A clean Crud Catcher

There was wet snow at the top and it was schnarby all the way down. You couldn't have been wetter touring the Titanic. On this ride, my eyes were bombarded with trail shrapnel. Twice it was too severe to blink out and I had to stop while my buddies left me behind. What's worse than that? And I was still blinking grit out the next morning. 

A well tested Crud Catcher

The next day we were to ride on the Sunshine Coast. While the promised blue skies never appeared we did manage to miss the worst of the monsoon. The trails, however, were flooded from the previous day's deluge and we were often axle deep. Luckily when I arrived home from Squamish I remembered the Crud Catcher sitting on my shelf. Just the ticket, I thought. The device comes with re-usable O-rings but I opted for zip ties/zap straps for a more durable interface. On our glorious Sunshine Coast rip, I didn't have to de-booger my eyes once and my face was noticeably cleaner that those of my comrades. The fender didn't block everything, but those laser beams shooting straight up from the wheel were a thing of the past. I'll just leave it on for the rest of the season since it's been a mucky one.

Crud Caught. Better here than in my eye.

I gave one of my buddies a Crud Catcher and his didn't survive after being loaded on to a Dakine pad equipped tailgate one too many times. Mine has held up thus far though and I too use the tailgate method.

Bottom line: this 52 gram gizmo is just the ticket if you live in a wet and greasy climate and you like to ride when it's crappy out. The shape provides just enough protection from the slop and I never notice it during the ride.

If you can't find one at your LBS, click over to the CrudCatcher site and order one up for US$14.99.

Want to talk about the gear you've just read about? Take it to the boards.