Seb Talks Dirt Demo

Bling, dust, sun, and girls. Guess which of the four is the odd one out this year and welcome to the Dirt Demo 2011 Day One. Once again we have flown out to the cradle of filth and then driven straight out of it into the cauldron of the horizon so we can pour sweaty fingers and poke our sticky beaks over sparkling new bikes and bits. There is an endless supply of four digit wonder machines ready to be broken in on the rocky hell of Bootleg Canyon. And in the middle of the desert a small tent city of brand oases has arisen. 

  This funny little back pack (the pink straps you see – can you see them?) plays music. The speakers are in the straps. Or something. Creanovative no? (that’s the company name).

We skipped around like dusty little dervishes today trying to see all that there was to be seen. We rode some bikes but it seemed to take all morning to actually get out on the trails to ride them (read Cam’s day one report and wait for some more in-depth reporting on those) and then after lunch we wondered about trying to scoop up any tasty morsels that were left out in the sun. There was some very interesting bits and bobs out there in the desert but I feel somewhat underwhelmed by it all this year. Perhaps because a lot of exciting innovations and developments are typically trickled out into our consciousness throughout the summer season it only leaves a few new novelties left to be revealed at Interbike. Or maybe it is that there is so much to get a handle on that it becomes a tidal wave of newness and inventiveness that overwhelms the senses and it becomes difficult to distinguish between a new paint scheme and the reinvention of the wheel or genuine technological innovation. Either way (and perhaps another way) we have listened to the forum and scurried around Dirt Demo to bring you a round up of the inanimate objects and things that have tickled our bellies.

NB: Yes, I have had to swallow my loathing of forums in order to help NSMB bring you the most pertinent points and relevant revelations. We have read your requests and are trying hard to fulfill them.

NB.v2: This post was begun at 2am after a wee sleep and it never got finished. This was as far as it went, so I have decided the only option would be to amalgamate Day One and Day Two into one rambling, disconnected mess of mental decay under the conditions of the marketing maelstrom that is Interbike. 

Day Two: Dirt Demo

  It was as wet as an otter’s pocket on Day Two.

Before we begin, let’s skip forward a day and backwards a little bit to this morning: Day Two of the Dirt Demo…

Whereas on Monday we were crispy fried chicken tenders, on Tuesday we approached the site of the Dirt Demo thinking we were traveling into an extreme weather incident. It was mightily exciting as lightning repeatedly struck the earth within spitting distance of us and the roads rapidly turned into canals as driving rain threatened to punch holes in the steel armor of our rental Dodge. Surely the Dirt Demo is going to be cancelled I muttered. I was quietly hoping it was so we could get back to the hotel to do some work… and then join Dan Barham for some shooting range shenanigans. However, in the name of journalistic integrity we decided it would be fun to see whose tent was floating out into Lake Mead. As it turns out the storm had passed a little earlier and the desert temperature had already started to dry the place out. Instead of washed out and stranded tents we came across a relatively quiet demo arena and the only thing that had washed away was the hordes of saggy lycra clad bicycle retailers from Mexico. This gave us a wonderful opportunity to get around the site and see what was out there. But, like I started to warble on about in the Day One post, there really wasn’t that much that caught our attention. This isn’t a bad thing as it gave us a chance to really sink our teeth into a few things that did flash up on our radar, and although we can’t profess that what follows is the most concise collection of cycling reporting, it is a little taster and if we can we will be following up to get the bigger picture.

Shimano Shadow Plus and trickle down.

We have seen prototypes on various Shimano professionals’ bikes this season but the truth is that the Shadow Plus Clutch system has been in serious testing for three years and was first conceived in the minds of the Shimano engineers up to ten years ago.

  The mechanics of the tidy little box.

The Shadow Plus derailleur has an adjustable roller clutch that you can dial in to increase chain tension. It is designed to make a quieter drivetrain (reducing chain slap) and prevents chain suck. This simply complicated piece of science, that is an addition to a regular rear derailleur, creates friction that stops the P-Knuckle and cage from swinging and striking the frame – as well as preventing the chain loosely slapping. There is a switch that engages the clutch and when disengaged it allows the wheel to be removed and the cable tension and gear indexing to be set.

  Switched on…

At the moment it is only available in XTR guise but perhaps we will see a trickle down to the lesser (in a purely monetary sense) groupsets in the near future. We tried our best to ride a bike that had XTR Shadow Plus, but alas we failed to snag a suitably adorned model.

Other notable additions, alterations and changes to the Shimano range is that ten speed goes all the way down to the Deore groupset now.

  …Switched off. Note the difference?

The XTR brakes have proven to be winners in the anchor factory (25.01% better than previous Shimano brakes – I added the .01% because it sounds better) so elements of the XTR brake have been filtered down to the XT and SLX range. The lever profile is replicated on all three as well as the Ice Tech pads on XT and ceramic pistons on both the XT and SLX.

We rode the XT brakes on various bikes over the past few days and although we greatly appreciate the fantastic ergonomics of the lever profile, several of us noted that the feel of the brake (the free play of the lever in particular) is very blocky. A Shimano representative told us that playing with the reach adjustment will help in this matter but still we felt the action to be very much like a light switch, rather than a dimmer switch; something which may not appeal to novices or people that actually like using their brakes. Like most of us at nsmb. The swing is very light and the braking is far more powerful than many other brakes on the market so our tastes are only our own and based on a brief encounter. We suggest you take a squeeze of the Shimano brakes before making up your own mind.

  SLX brakes. As sexy as a medic with a handful of dollar coins. (note – Seb has no recollection of writing this caption and he has no idea what it means but we’ll send a Tee to whoever has the best explanation in this thread)

A very nice creative innovation (creanovative?) is the I-Spec lever/shifter one piece mounts which are shared across the XTR, XT and SLX range so mixing and matching is possible.

Oh, and it is the 30th anniversary of XT this year. XT has been shifting your bits since ages ago.

Giro

  A tower of Features.

Giro have introduced a helmet that blurs the lines between skate, enduro and All Mountain. The Feature is a more heavy duty All-Mountain/Enduro style helmet than the XAR and offers a good cross between skate lid aesthetic and breathable functionality. The key features of the Feature are its in-mold design, its 12 vents, the fact that it’s goggle compatible and it has a three bolt visor (more akin to a DH helmet than an XC one) as well as external strapping. Not sure when you will be seeing these in the shops or what the RRP will be. Never doubt that nsmb are your one stop dedicated information service. Tune in more for less.

  The Giro Remedy in full rad colour scheme. But when will we see a replacement for the long suffering Remedy?

Giro also have some jazzy new designs for the Remedy full face helmet. Our favourite is this street graphic colour bonanza which was designed by Dave Smith (not the North Shore one).

Specialized Dangler

  The modern day DCD. Look it up kids.

Award for Awesome Proprietary Little Nubbins of Radness goes to Specialized for the Dangler. It doesn’t seem like much but actually it results in so much. The Dangler is a conical chain guide (not a tensioner) which helps keep the chain in line and on the rings. It is much like a modern DCD (Dave’s Chain Device) – remember that wonderful piece of drivetrain radicalness? However, rather than being $30 of sandwich aluminum, the Specialized Tangler comes as standard on the Stumpjumper bikes. We hope it will be seen on more bikes in the future because it is absolutely wonderful. Whereas some manufacturers make a frame and hang some bits and bobs on it, the riders at Specialized work hard to make a completely distinguished bike that solves a few of those few little issues that plague other riders, even when they spend four figures on a space bike.

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Do any of theses ‘nubbins of radness’ tickle your fancy bits? Tell us here…