khai profile

***NB: Doing anything to change the shape of a helmet, including/especially the foam, will impact the overall protective capacity of the helmet, and is not likely within the boundaries of "recommended" by any [bicycle helmet] manufacturer*** Having said the above, I did learn this technique from a motorcycle shop who in turn learnt it from Arai - the inventers of the motorcycle helmet.  So at some level at least, it appears to be "manufacturer kosher".

** Officially I do not recommend that anyone do this, ever.

This only works/works best for very small changes where you might have a hot spot or a little bit of minor pinching - I wouldn't recommend it to change the overall shape of a helmet.  Specialized tools exist in the moto industry but a teaspoon or anything hard/smooth/gently curved can be used.  Essentially you're using the tool to "dent" small areas of the foam in order to create more space.  I'm talking a mm or two max - not a big compression by any means.  Take the spoon and using your thumb or fingers, press the back into the area that you want to expand, "stroking" or "painting" the area in small sections until you've flattened/depressed it by a tiny amount.  If the average thickness of the foam is 1" and you're compressing the foam by 1mm you're losing ~1/25 of the overall thickness in that area.  I'm sure the math doesn't translate to 1/25 less protected and bear in mind that this is done over a tiny area of the helmet - not the whole thing.  

It's certainly better to have a helmet that fits perfectly out of the box with no modifications needed - but if it's really damned close this can be the difference between a helmet that feels good for 30min/1hr and then starts to hurt/give you  headache and one that you can wear all day.

I've tried very nearly every 1/2 shell helmet that's imported and sold locally from the ultra budget to the uber baller - including the Leatt line.  The TLD A3 came out shortly after I bought a Kali Invader v2.0, but an "out of curiosity try-on in the shop" seemed quite promising.  I recently got a POC Kortal Race MIPS which I was very surprised to have fit as POC have traditionally been VERY narrow.  This one required a tiny amount of shaping but fits quite well indeed.

One thing I'd love to see added to ALL helmet reviews is the overall shape of the lid.  Years ago I used to be able to wear most brands' helmets.  Then maybe 4-5 years ago there appears to have been a trend toward more oval (aka European) headforms.  As the owner of what appears to be a spherical melon, all of a sudden helmet purchasing has grown into an extremely difficult proposition.  If I'm able to find a lid that doesn't squeeze the sides of my head uncomfortably, it almost invariably rotates down over my eyes when ploughing through rough chunder (or simulated in shop with some moderate head banging).  I've had to resort to "lightweight fullface" models as the cheekpads help to keep the lid from rotating forward and blocking my vision.  Not a terrible idea from a protective standpoint, but half shells are much nicer when it's hot out and especially if I'm only riding mellow to moderate terrain.

Some companies make "Asian fit" models that are sold in other parts of the world but not in North America.  (Giro sells Asian fit ski helmets here but not bike)  I assume this has to do with percentage of market share and whether the manufacturer deems it worthwhile to import for the region.  A broader understanding/acknowledgement of  overall shape and how that impacts fit/comfort/protection would, imo, help to move us forward to a place where everyone can find products that fit (and thus protect) them well.

You can get work done overnight in Whistler

Looks like I need to go shopping...

I can't speak for Andrew but they're my favorite grips by far. Safety wire pliers are an absolute godsend as well!  NB - I've not actually tried the Swayze - perhaps I ought to branch out a bit...

Will do!

Interesting note on the cable routing.  My ONE.2 is being built and the (internal) cable routing is the stuff of which bike mechanics' nightmares are made.  My shop guys will be bald when I finally get to pick it up - I'll be packing plenty of beer.

I can't wait to ride it.

You sound like the perfect audience for a gearbox bike!  Why that hasn't caught more on I can't quite understand...  Gates belt or just a big-ass chain to a fatty cog in the back with all the gears protected in a nice sealed oil bath, and the bonus of reduced unsprung weight.  SWEET!

Arthur taught me to store my bikes that way, and was also one of the first people to recommend ForkBoost (when I asked about it).  I've also had some very in depth discussions with him re: chain lube, various types of grease, and other oils.  Super interesting guy.

Is anyone else experiencing problems with Chrome? I'll fairly often get the following error message when trying to either follow a hotlink to the board (say from the main page of from a search), or as I drill down into a specific post/thread: The page you are looking for is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later. If I copy/paste the URL into Internet Explorer it loads just fine. Other times/threads everything loads as I'd expect.

Anyone else seeing this? Solutions as to a fix?

Thanks,

Here's where I pull the "I've owned a 2013 Saint Shadow Plus Derraileur for 4 months now" card and say;
I've tried it, it kind of works, but its definitely not worth you spending your money on buying a product that "kind of works", or trying it to find it doesnt work for you, when there's one that will work infinitely better for the same ching.

Cool - thanks. I'm in the process of building an AM bike and it just sounded really awesome… Not that XT is "bad" by any stretch, but because the shifter is paired with the dérailleur it seemed a natural time to try it out. Or not, as the case may be. I still want to be able to climb anything pretty well so I need that 2nd chainring.

According to everything I've read this is designed as a 1x10 RD. Does anyone know if the cage is too short to be used with a double up front? Tooth restrictions?

I tried the Shimano tech website but all I found was a blow-apart diagram…

Thanks,

I rode it yesterday, and was very impressed.

Perhaps a dumb question given that you were in Whistler, but did you spend any time climbing on it? How pedally is it, say compared to the new 2013 (non-Evo) Enduros that are supposed to climb really well, or the 2012 Enduro Evo?

I demo'ed a 2012 Enduro Evo and thought it was a blast going down - but not that much fun to climb or pedal through rolling singletrack… (mind you, my current bike is a 100mm Titus Racer X so my frame of reference is quite different from that of a shuttle/park/DH guy). I'm looking for a bigger bike to complement the XC race bike but I still want it to be a fun, capable climber.