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As much as I appreciate new tech I wouldn't prioritize shifting when spending my money. The shifting on most drivetrains is so good these days that the added value of this is small compared to high end suspension or wheels. If i was still racing I probably would go for something high-end (read: Shimano XT or XTR) to get the shifting under max power benefits though. 

One thing though, there is so much focus on shifting under power but what about shifting when coasting? For winch and plummet riding I think that would be more beneficial. I find myself half-cranking quite a bit to get shifts done so that I am in the right gear when the terrain changes. A gearbox would obviously solve this issue, but comes with other issues.

Totally with you on silver pedals! But I still couldn't resist the bronze Look pedals that perfectly match my hardtail frame :)

But raw / silver cranks are even higher on the wish-list. Just imagine how good those Æffect cranks in the photo above would look if they were polished.

Excellent! That should be the new standard for head shape descriptions!

A small request for future helmet reviews: could you describe the headshape that it fits best? From more oval to round, and what possibilities there are to adapt the fit. I get that the best thing is to try on a helmet, but the reality is that the selection in the one bike shop can be underwhelming at best. That makes good reviews really important for the online shopping of products where fit is key. Blister review are really good at this when it come to ski boots.

Agreed. Too many companies get stuck using a few easily measureable metrics and call that quantifying of marketing data. Which is really sad and just about as efficient as ad-reach of old, etc. But it is an easy way to show numbers to a board or shareholders.

These days with all the different possibilities that various digital and non-digital give I think that cooperating with the ambassadors so that they reach their goals is the most profitable for both parties. Helping a guide with organising and selling tours, supporting trail builders with recruiting volunteers, or helping the social media dependant freerider to optimize reach and content quality are some of the ways to work together. It also requires the company to understand and use relevant metrics that are individual to each ambassador. Harder to put on a report sheet, but probably a lot more efficient in the long run.

I think that it is important to differentiate between influencers and ambassadors. An influencer gets paid to push whatever product (someone like the Kardashians) to their followers. An ambassador is someone that you see as a good representative for your brand and your products, if they have an online following that is nice but not necessary. These categories are definitely not written in stone and there is often some overlap.

As a former manager (and still co-owner) of a ski brand that has a bunch of ambassadors who are choosen because we like them, think they align with what we want to be as a brand and are active in their communities (physical or digital). What we see on the business end is that having them as a representatives gives us a stable base in many markets and communities. Which in turn makes us much less exposed to fluctuations in the economy, and that has been a boon the last few years!

On the other hand, having a good group of ambassadors around us has made it much nicer to work with the brand and product development. It is still after quite some years like working with a group of friends. 

So i guess this is my defence of all those gravel riders, adventurers, freeriders, guides and others that inspire and do important work in the communities. They are an important counter-balance to the racers, for both brands and the sport and as such are worthy of support. It doesn't hurt that they are good for business as well :)

I want one! 

And i suppose that you could use an Effigear gearbox as well if you want shifting under load and triggershifter.

As a part-time roadie from a rather rainy part of the world: i never go out on a ride without a peaked cap (either wearing it, or in the back pocket). It works great for keeping muck out of the eyes and off the glasses when the weather turns bad.

Just taking the linkages apart usually shows if the frame is built for efficient servicing, so that could be a good middle road for reviews. An added bonus would be that it would give an indication of tolerances.

I totally agree that having trouble with a frame or a model is not a huge issue, as long as the company deals with it properly. They have got to have a plan for it though! I have been on the other side of that problem, when a product from my company started breaking in droves. Turned out that the producer had taken a short-cut and we had not been diligent enough on QC. Luckily we had the possibility to handle warranties within our stock situation, but the bottom line that year (as well as my salary) was terrible. I ended up moving production close to home in order to have better control of the production. Which in these days of disrupted logistics is paying off in many ways :)

Fond memories of my SC Nomad in Miami Vice colours! That bike was great, and maintenance was so easy. Saw my old bike a few months ago, still going strong and being ridden several times a week by the guy who bought it from me. 

Serviceability and support should be more important in reviews. It is such an important factor for how a bike is to own over time. It's one of the reasons why I ended up with my Crossworx Dash, it has standard size (and very oversized) bearings that are easy enough to service and replace. The whole bike is built to be used hard and to be easy to own, even without all the specialized tools. That is a win in my book!

Thanks! Yeah, really like the clean lines and the ride quality. The builder did a really good job at choosing tubing and tuning the flex.

The lack of snow means the riding season is still going strong, as is the Egerie!

Is that old revelation a dual air fork? If it is, did you check the negative pressure?

Reviving this thread a bit now that i've got a few rides on my Selva R! 

So far i haven't strayed far from the recommended settings, just a few clicks here and there to compensate for low temps. But, the fork was pretty easy to set up and feels really nice, but with a bit different feel to LSC in the beginning of the stroke compared to the DVO Diamond i had before. A bit more movement when pedaling, but feels nice and controlled in going downhill. 

Any suggestions for set-up that I should try? 

FWIW the fork is a 160mm 29 that is on a hardtail.

Posted by: Kenny

Posted by: Znarf

I find that with all modern bikes (bb sits below the wheel axles) it is absolutely beneficial to change or learn the proper manual technique. 

No doubt technique helps, but my previous bike was a ripmo af - lower bottom bracket, longer reach, less stack, yet it did not have the same too-far-forward feeling, and getting the front end up was fine. Main difference was chainstay length so yeah, hopefully 440 helps. :)

Good call on trying the 440 cs. When I had a similar unbalance on my previous bike (a Geometron g16) my gf suggested a bit of rear shock tuning. The idea was to increase the spring rate to get more support, lower lsc to keep it smooth and slow down lsr to avoid getting pitched over the front. That worked a treat on that bike at least!

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: PowellRiviera

Nice looking ride!

The matching fork is a nice touch.

@PowellRiviera Thanks!

@VikB The builder offered to do the matching fork at a pretty decent price, and it does add to the total look. Now I'm pretty excited to try the fork since I've never had a Formula. Just gotta wait for some snow to melt!

Finally built up my custom Egerie hardtail with matching Formula Selva R fork. 

Slackish and longish (63.5 ha and 510 reach) built with Reynolds 853 and Columbus Zona. 

And no, the Mag21 replica look was not intentional, but I think it looks alright :)

Posted by: Abies

Anyone using the Garbaruk cassettes? I was thinking of getting the 11 speed 10-46. I am happy to stay on 11 speed right now and that range is working really well for me with a 28t chainring. I also have used one of their chainrings and it was fine. But now I am reading some people saying the shift quality is bad. I'll be honest, I'm not super sensitive as long as it doesn't catch or mis-shift.

I have a sunrace 10-46 right now but I warped the largest cog which is apparently a common issue. Still working ok but I need to plan for its demise soon.

Don't use Garbaruk myself, but several of my friends do, and they are all very happy with the cassettes and only buy those now. All of them combined with Sram shifting. No mentions of bad shifting at all, and that comes from some very picky people. Might be different with Shimano though

Might be DHL and Deutsche Post that are the issue. It seems that they have massive trouble at the moment with just about everything. I've had a frame being sent around Germany for the last 2.5 months, and now nobody really knows where it is... And from what i'm hearing i'm not the only one.

Posted by: mrbrett

That green and gold looks awesome!

Thank you! It is so hard to figure out what the colours actually will look like. That gold colour is theoretically a bronze colour, and the green looked a bit different on another base material. So, i'm quite happy with how it turned out. And i am hitting refresh on the browser every two minutes or so, hoping to get it all delivered and built up!

Also, check out the Egerie website for more builds, as well as his motorcycle builds that are pretty sweet!  http://www.egerie-velo.com/