Great article, and interesting point you raise
As an energy drink ,consumer, my favourite is monster blue (low carb), then red bull zero or sugar free.
Prefer coffee, but no kettles or press where I am riding!
As a comparison how much has monster put into events compared to red bull?
I agree their MTB shorts have terrible chamois liners
I have a good number of their road bib shorts (I do a lot of road riding) including the 2014 RBX and Pro and they nailed the chamois 100%. Their MTB shorts on the other hand….leave a lot to be desired
I've given up wearing their padded MTB shorts and just wear my RBX road with the Specialized nylon MTB over shorts on top, and a loose cut road jersey with 3 pockets that lets me fit whatever I want like pump, tube, tool, cell and keys/money in the zip section
I work in bike industry (retail) in the workshop environment and do a lot of warranty / crash replacement - mainly for customers with carbon fibre road bikes and less for mountain bikes
today I had 3 road bikes come into my workshop, all carbon, all with "issues" (i.e. cracks) relating to the frame or forks, 2 were not warranty related (both crashed), the other 1 was a valid warranty despite being 8 years old and ridden very hard.
I've dealt with 100's of warranties and crash replacements on aluminium and carbon bikes for some years; the genuine warranty jobs tend to be manufacturing (QC) issues or structural (design flaw) issues. You will see the same issues time and time again on the same model of frame and it becomes well known among people dealing with these claims.
A common design issue causing repeated warranty claims on some specific models was galvanic corrosion between aluminium alloy hardpoints (BB shell, head tube cups) embedded in the carbon structure.
Personally I ride a carbon road bike, and carbon fibre hardtail mountain bike.
My CF mountain bike was a warranty replacement for an aluminium alloy hardtail that had a manufacturing defect, they upgraded me to CF as a goodwill gesture. Since then, I have had another warranty replacement of the same carbon fibre frame due to an "known" structural issue with my current frame.
The manufacturer has stood behind their product 100% and their 2014 frame has been redesigned, I know once my current frame develops the known issue I will be moved onto the new model. I have no qualms riding carbon fibre frames.
If I had spare cash? I would definitely ride carbon wheels on my mountain bike, but probably not on my road bike as I do a lot of commuting miles in bad weather (350km / week) and prefer "hand built" wheels with common Mavic Open Pro alloy rims.
lovely looking bike - reminds me of "Breezer" mountain bikes
great article and nice detail pictures!
another day, today yet another warranty claim on a production boxed bike with C1 brakes. Both brakes leaking from the screw-in fitting on the master cylinder hose.
This is the 10th warranty claim I've done this winter already on this model of brake, all on brand new boxed bikes being built (pdi) for customers. All leaking in same place - seems like QC or manufacturing issue?
Had similar problems some seasons back also on Formula brakes on boxed production bikes. Turnaround was lengthy and repaired or replaced brakes would fail on first ride. Had customers that had numerous brakes fail. Apparently a problem with an undersized "o" ring according to the factory.
Here in the UK? Warranty support poor on Formula, typically a few weeks to get sorted, which does not work for a retailer stuck with a brand new bike suspension bike they cannot sell.
Avid in contrast is very quick turnaround as SRAM don't f*ck about, most the time the brakes are replaced FOC which is generally a bonus for the customer as their OE brake gets upgraded to aftermarket brake (which often has carbon fibre lever blade or other goodies!)
very nice frame and great article
would consider this frame very durable and a "keeper"
in contrast I am riding a 'big brand' carbon fibre 29'er hardtail and am on my 3rd warranty frame in 2 years of mild, UK cross country riding. Frame weighs 1.18kg for 17″ so that might have something to do with that problem.
Tempted to go back to steel, once my 3rd frame eventually cracks and I get a brand new, boxed frame under warranty, which can be easily sold
rad floor matting in that factory!
got a good number of Sombrio products here in my wardrobe in the UK
including gloves, jerseys and pants
Sombrio is a strange one for UK riders, a great brand, but come the end of the model year, always heavily discounted in the UK when the distributor dumped all the stock to a keen retailer
for riders working in the UK industry, it was always great news personally as we were buying these items at heavily reduced prices, but could not have been good for the "brand", hence the sale to Sugoi, I guess?
very sad news 🙁
thankfully, never had to use NSR during my trips to Vancouver's North Shore mountains
but, very sad to see such a determined and committed team leader pass on
can only offer my sincere respect, and condolence to his next of kin.
looks like another clone / copy of the RRP (Rapid Race Products) 'Neoguard' that came to market in the UK some years ago:
…guess RRP's 'patent pending' never made it to 'patent protected'?
great video and interesting to see a guy with such solid heritage at work
one question? How have custom builders like DeKerf reacted to (and provided for) the ongoing mess that is the change in wheel sizes in the mountain bike world…
Hey Cam
glad you are liking the tubeless
I've been running it for many years on Stan's ZTR and Roval rims with Specialized tires and Stan's no-tubes solution (roval tape and aftermarket valve cores) and no issues to report
looses pressure over a week (normally dropping to 20psi but never lower) but its always worked great out on the trail and no punctures in many years 🙂
rad video and rad guy
here is some old-school Gully from his first trip outside Canada many years ago, when he found himself riding some strange wooden contraptions in a bike park in Surrey, England..
along with some other guy from Canada…apparently known as the "Godfather"
I was also there and met these Canadian guys who were super friendly and keen to ride hard, we had a great riding session that day!
rad guy 🙂
first raced him DH in 1993 in North-East England
of a field of 320 racers, he came 1st on rigid Kona, I came 11th on prototype 'Bombproof' full suspension bike, he literally whipped all of our asses that day!
never met the guy personally, but heard nothing but positive things about his great attitude and warmth from people that have met him over the many years since that race.
Hey Keith
thanks for the great articles.
something interesting happening in road cycling, tires are getting wider (and larger volume)
specialized is now producing their top of the range S-Works Turbo race tires in 24c and 26c, and the sportive tires are going up to 28c
Independant testing in Finland at a world leading lab has shown the larger tires have lower rolling resistance, although this has to be balanced against increased drag from air resistance with bigger tires.
From talking to those guys, they reckon 26c is optimium balance between rolling resistance and aero drag.
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