Next to the frame, tires affect the ride of your mountain bike more than any other component. I confess to being a tire junkie. I'm always searching and experimenting, trying to find just the right combination for every possible condition. Since I managed a bike shop for 5 years, I had the opportunity to try a variety of tires. I race alot, and I do lots of backcountry riding in the Sierras, on terrain ranging from loamy forest soil in the Santa Cruz mountains, to slickrock and decomposed granite sand in the high sierra, to regular old dirt and rocks in the foothills. No tire works perfectly on everything (luckily for the tire companies). Keep in mind that tire experience is very personal. Once a tire screws you badly it is difficult to ever ride it confidently again. (see primal raptor comments in the table). Not every one agrees on which tires shred, so for another opinion, check out Dan Garcia's website. He's faster than me.
Mountain bikes are referred to as "fat-tire bikes" for a reason. The tires are supposed to be fat. Fat tires can be run at lower pressures for more cushioning and better control in the rocks, and they give you a greater margin for error regarding pinch-flats. There are precious few races in Northern California that are appropriate (imho) for 1.9" or narrower tires. Believe me, I've tried.
How you ride will certainly affect how tires work for you. I'm 6-1, about 155 lbs, and I learned to ride before suspension, so pinch flats aren't usually a huge problem for me (unless I get crazy in the rocks and go down to 30 psi). I'm not really a gonzo downhiller, I raced on the road for years before I started mtb-ing, so I tend to lean and carve through corners. As a result, I tend towards round-ish tires, rather than squared off, edgy ones. I'm also kind of a weakling, so any help I can get in terms of light weight and low rolling resistance is greatly appreciated. The new semi-slick tires are a god-send for me. If you race in the expert vet(35-44) class, I don't recommend them, but for everyone else they are pretty cool. With all this in mind you can take my experiences with a grain of salt.
Right now I'm using a Continental Double-fighter (semi-slick) in the rear and a Tioga Psycho in the front. This is the best race combo I've ever tried. Rolling resistance and weight are minimized, and traction is adequate almost everywhere. See the chart below for specific characteristics. Certain race courses (like the Ring of Fire) demand more traction for extreme hills and loose dirt. Michelin Wild Grippers (the fat ones) work well in steep loose stuff, but the front tire is scary on hardpack.
The shop I go to doesn't stock specialized. I pretty much buy everything from Precision Bicycles, and as a result they treat me very well. Anyway, specialized is more about selling product than making stuff that works. They've never made a tire that really excited me. If you think specialized is cool, make your own damn tire chart, and put a note by it that says you think I'm a dork
| Tire | Best Use | Comments |
| Continental Double Fighter | Rear use for racing in all except extremely loose conditions. All-around on/off-road riding if you don't mind the cost | These tires are light (480 gm or so), get good traction, roll like crazy and last ok. I used them front and rear at the '97 sea otter and got 8th, but it can get too sketchy in front pretty easily. Until the soil gets real loose they have climbing traction equivalent to anything. I experienced no problems at Coyote Classic, which starts off with an hour of granny gear, semi-loose climbing, but I switched to Michelin Wild Grippers for Squaw Valley Knobular and the Ring of Fire. |
| Continental Leader Pro | Front use for racing and all around riding | Very light (480 gms), but not quite as fat as the Psycho and it rolls a smidge rougher on hardpack. This is my 2nd favorite racing front tire. I may go back to it just to be a weight weenie. The only thing I don't like about it is I was riding one at the Revenge of the Siskiyous when I washed the front wheel and skidded into a downed tree, thrusting a tree branch two inches into my knee. |
| Continental Cross Country | Racing and anywhere a slick is not appropriate | This used to be my favorite rear tire. Unfortunately I had a crappy race at the point-to-point Ring of Fire so I don't like it now. Intellectually, I know the tire is not to blame. They are light (560 gm), roll reasonably well, and grip on a wide variety of stuff. It's probably the most versatile tire I've ridden. I'm all out of these right now and I have to use all the tires I have lying around before I can justify buying any more. |
| Continental Competition Pro I | Rocks, Big Fat Rocks | I know Don Myrah won a muddy world cup race on these, but what does he know. I have a job and he doesn't. As far as I'm concerned they're only useful places like Loon Lake. They're huge, so I can ride them with 30 psi and glide over ridiculous rocks and roots. The widely spaced paddles hook up well on rock edges and stuff. Unfortunately, they're so freakin' heavy I refuse to ride them anywhere else. Used in the front they're prone to washing out rather suddenly at higher pressures. Still, Paul Janney has beaten me about a zillion times on these tires, and his barely even had tread left on 'em. It woulda been really ugly if he had something lightweight that sticks. |
| Michelin Wild Gripper 1.95, 2.1 | The 1.95's are too skinny for me. The 2.1's are great for loose rough stuff and back-country riding. | Small, stiff knobs penetrate well, and they're fat enough for crazy stuff, but they don't roll all that fast, they're kinda heavy, and the front tire is very weird and edgy on hardpack, rock or pavement. I won the Ring of Fire on these, and they worked great at squaw, tho i sucked. |
| Tioga Psycho 1.95 | Excellent multi-condition race tire, front use only! | These tires have a bad rap, I don't know why. They've always been the smoothest rolling tire with actual knobs. They feel almost as fast on the dirt as semi-slicks, but they're not quite as touchy. They say 1.95 but they're at least as fat as a normal 2.1. In kevlar bead they only weight 560 gms or so, and you can get them on closeout for under $20. |
| Ritchey Alpha/Omega-bite, 2.1 | All around riding and racing when you want more grip than a slick. | I used to race these. I've always liked the fat and supple Ritchey casings, and the round ritchey tread profile. The Alpha (front) is pretty smooth rolling, but still works ok in loose stuff. The Omega (rear) has great grip, but once the knobs start to round off it's not so great. I won a pair of these at Cool, so I'll probably be training with them this spring. |
| Ritchey Z-max 1.7 | Smooth course racing, extreme mud, no rocks, cyclocross on your MTB | 400 grams baby, these suckers are light (but very skinny). I raced the humbug hurry-up on them 2 years ago and got 2nd. They were a huge help on the climbs, but I had to baby them on the downhills. I also raced them at Cool 4 years ago, and also got 2nd. I guess I won about $600 overall with that same pair of tires. Now that the lightweight but fatter Doublefighters exist, the Ritcheys are only useful for mud clearance in goopy stuff. |
| Bontrager Revolt SS 1.9(r) 2.1(f) | Hard pack racing and riding, not straight up and down. | I raced these a bunch last year. The ss is the slickest of the Bontrager lineup, and they are the smoothest, fastest rolling tires I have ever used. They're a little scary when it's real loose, but you should use something else then. I personally think the rear is too skinny, so I usually used a Doublefighter instead. The st and st2 versions have a little more tread, but the st2 is pretty freakin' heavy. I think the st is probably good racing rubber, but as long as I can get Psychos for 15-20 bucks I'll stick with them. |
| WTB Velociraptors | Back-country riding, extreme steep and loose racing | These are pretty grippy tires, and most of our customers are very happy with them. They don't exactly roll that great and they're heavy, but Jim Moser swears by them and he's been ruthlessly kicking my ass all over California for years (except when his fork legs fall off). They're pretty much of a workhorse tire, no real faults as long as you're not trying to go fast up hills. |
| WTB Primal Raptor | Giving away at races | I hate this tire. They roll fast, but they probably have less traction than a slick. 2 years ago at the modified Lemurian (not the original course) I crashed at about 1 zillion miles per hour on a downhill when my front primal raptor washed out with no warning. My heart-rate monitor was ripped from my wrist as I slid head first into an embankment. I stood up and instantly fell back down into a 4 foot deep trench, then finally climbed out and got going again. I never found the heart monitor or my helmet visor. I took the tire off and I'll never use it again. I take the free ones from the Knobular to my local bike shop and trade them for power bars and tubes. |
I've been using clipless pedals since the dawn of time, starting with Look road pedals in 1985, continuing to MTB clipless pedals in '92-ish. I have extensive experience with shimano 737's, shimano dx bmx/downhill pedals, Onza HO, Speedplay, various Wellgo (Scott, Girvin, Icon, Ritchey, etc.) I have not yet tried Time or Bebop, though I know people who love them. I like pedals with float. Fixed cleats drive me crazy. I don't seem to have release tension issues. I set my tension pretty low on adjustable type pedals. I also race cyclocross, so at least in the fall, it's critical to me to be able to get into and out of pedals instantly and without thinking about it. Some of the information here is from SuperDan Garcia, the world's fastest VeloSapien.
| Pedal | Best Use | Comments |
| Speedplay Frog | MTB or Road Riding, Not Cyclocross | These pedals are the choice of the VeloSapiens/Gary Fisher Elite Race Team. We love the float, we love the light weight, we love the easy grease port, we love the easy entry. We really love the fact that it's pretty impossible to inadvertently release (like in mid-air). For me, they're one of the easiest pedals to re-enter after putting a foot down in a corner. A couple times I've spazzed and managed to crash with my foot still in and under the bike. Then it can take a few seconds to extricate oneself. When the cleats wear a little bit, you don't really get an audible click upon entry. Otherwise, these pedals kick ass. |
| Shimano DX BMX/DH | Cyclocross. You can use 'em for downhill or dual slalom, if you're the kind of halfwit poser who races those events. | These pedals were my best discovery of the '97 cross season. You can get them to pack up with mud if you really try hard in just the right conditions, but even then the platforms make 'em plenty rideable. I found them to be the easiest and fastest pedals to get into, by far, which is exactly what you need when you have to dismount and remount 8-10 times per lap. |
| Onza HO | General Road or MTB | What can I say? You either love these pedals, or you hate them. They're light, they have float, that's good. They're good in yucky weather, especially if you have lots of leftover Onza's now that you've upgraded to frogs. I raced my old HO's at Cool (and won $100) because my old shoes for mud and rain have Onza cleats. Heavier riders seem to have pre-release problems with them. Mine let one foot go a couple times in mid-air, and they're not as easy as shimano or speedplay to get into. On the other hand, if you like them, there's probably lots of people who have old ones they'd sell you for cheap. |
| Wellgo Clones: Girvin Icon Scott Ritchey |
Good, cheap pedals | Girvin and Icon have pretty good float. Scott and Ritchey don't, so I hate them. They work 80-90% as well as shimano, cost way less and are much lighter. That extra 10-20% might be worth it, though. |
| Shimano M737 | Boat Anchor | Once upon a time, these pedals kicked ass. I'm still amazed that shimano's first real effort was so awesomely good. They're mighty heavy, but they're bulletproof, and super easy to get in and out of. I won my first cyclocross race with these pedals. Just like with the 747's you have to make sure the little screws don't run away. They certainly try to if you're not careful. |
Asym is Bontrager's trade name for rear rims with the spoke holes offset towards the non-drive side. This allows the drive side spokes to pull at a greater angle, increasing the lateral strength of the wheel. Bontrager sells several models. The lightest is the Mustang (around 420 gms or so), then the Maverick (460 gms?) and maybe some heavier ones too. Check out Bontrager's website for marketing spew. Ritchey uses the same idea and calls it OCR. Bontrager's parent company, Trek, also sells matrix rims with the same type of drilling, but I forget what they're called. The only ones I've tried are the Bontragers, so I'll restrict my comments to them
I'm a 156 lb expert class racer. I'm generally pretty easy on wheels, but I'm getting less easy as I get faster. I'm enough of a weight weenie to have built ultralight rims into rear wheels with skimpy spokes (wheelsmith XL) and alloy nipples. I managed a bike shop up until Sep '97, and in addition to building all my own wheels, I build 50-60 percent of the custom wheels we sold, including the VeloSapiens race team wheels. I built wheels that have won district championships, European championships, and countless expert races in California. While there is no holy grail of bike knowledge (despite Jobst Brandt's self-indulgent blather), my experiences may still be useful to you.
Usually when we test hot new products we find some incremental advantages,
and maybe some drawbacks, and there's some room for debate as to just how much
of an improvement the new stuff is. Not so in this case. In a nutshell,
these rims are sweet. You'd have to be crazy to build with the old-fashioned
drilling. When they first came out, our
Fisher rep kicked down 1 each Asym Mustang to the shop employees to test.
We looked closely (nicely finished, machined sidewall for smooth braking).
We weighed 'em (comparable to Mavic M217, only they don't rattle).
We built 'em (round and straight out of the box, probably the easiest rear wheel builds I've ever done).
We rode 'em (stayed way truer than any rim we've used).
Instead of having to touch up my race wheels every few weeks during the season, I found I could just ignore this wheel completely. I was so impressed I bought 2 more and rebuilt my other old rear wheels. The increase in reliability is just plain phenomenal.
Even Chris, who at 210 lbs or so is pretty tough on equipment, has had no problems since building up his asym wheel almost a year ago. As far as I'm concerned, old-style symmetric drilling for rear wheels is totally obsolete.
Good question. First, I was sponsored by ProFlex for 4 years, so I've ridden and raced their various creations, up through the 857. Second, I've owned a variety of suspension seatposts, starting with the USE, also the Girvin Shokpost(same as the PostModerne), and also the Thudbuster QuadraPivot, not to mention a flimsy titanium seatpost that flexes almost as much as a suspension post. Naturally, since I race cross-country, and I particularly enjoy climbing, my comments are biased towards that type of use.
Well, yes and no, and also maybe. I don't think susp posts are really aimed at the same target as rear suspension frames. What you get from most posts is a measure of comfort over rough terrain, especially at reasonable speeds, which allows you to stay seated more, and relax more, and be more efficient. Real suspension frames also do this, and they do it better too. They also weigh 3 extra lbs, cost a bunch of money, and react badly to climbing while standing (some more badly than others). I own a full-suspension bike (not a Santa Cruz, I'm sad to say), and my hardtail has a suspension seatpost on it.
If you read mountain bike action, love to ride at ski resorts, and own body armor, fuck off. I'm not talking to you.
If you want to catch fat-monkey air, ride all day, and live in comfort, and you don't want to split hairs over a few seconds here and there on the climbs, get a Santa Cruz Heckler. You'll love it, and you'll be giving up very little, if any, on most climbs.
If you're short on cash, but your butt hurts, you might want to look into a susp post. See below.
If you're a dedicated XC racer type who just wants to stay in the saddle a little more, and you aren't willing to give up the way a good hardtail accelerates like a rocket when you stand and climb, and if you think 24 lbs is overweight for a mountain bike, you are a perfect candidate for a suspension post. See below.
Well, all three that I have tried have their strong and weak points. Here they are:
I got the SID in September '97 because one of my friends at work got one, and because it's friggin' light, and because it was my last week working in a bike shop, so I thought I'd better take advantage of the employee discount. I had really intended to get a Z2 Atom Bomb, but a customer bought the first one we got in and I was too impatient to wait for more. It really does weigh 2.7 lbs, which is cool if you're a weight weenie, and I am.
The first think I did was make Rock Shox send me some boots for it. They claim they'll be shipping boots in the box with retail SIDs. Why anyone would shell out $700 for a fork and run it w/o boots is beyond me. You'd have to be a complete fucking moron to invite the earth into your fork like that. The second thing I did is turn the orifice adjusters all the way to tight, set the negative spring on the 2nd or 3rd hightest setting and inflate it to 70 psi. At this setting, the fork is pretty dialed for me. I haven't bottomed it, but it definitely feels like it gets more travel and eats more bumps than any other xc fork I've used. It's really, really smooth and stiction-free, which sort of surprised me, since prototypes I saw were kinda chunky. Rock Shox claimed to have a new grease, and it seems to work.
After 4 months of riding, I still haven't had to put more air in it. I initially figured I'd ride the fork for a bit, then sell it and get an Atom Bomb, but I'm pretty stoked on the SID right now. It seems to handle all sizes of bumps with equal aplomb. It does bob a bit more than I'm used to when I'm out of the saddle, but I'm used to a Girvin linkage fork that's almost bob-free.
Check out Dan Garcia's page for his impressions of the Atom Bomb. My initial impression is the Sid is lighter and easier to change preload (air.pressure), but the zokes are stiffer and easier to adjust damping, and probably more durable, although Dan bent his brace by hitting a tree. I don't think the Judy is even in the same league as either one of these two.
In case you haven't heard all the hubbub from the Gary Fisher marketing department, the fine folks at fisher have come up with a radically different MTB geometry for '98. The idea is to lengthen the top tube (to as much as 25 1/2 inches!), lengthen the wheelbase, shorten the stem and shorten the chainstays. What this is supposed to do is make the bike climb, descend and handle better, especially in the larger sizes. You can read their marketing handouts at Gary Fisher.
I purchased an extra large (suitable for 6' and up) Fisher Big Sur (it wasn't much more than the cost of the frame), and sold most of the STX and economy parts. I kept the cool avid brakes, the pedals, and the wheelset. Then I built it up with lx, xt, xtr, raceface, etc. A 9 cm stem couple with the 25.5" top tube gave me same reach I had on my XL proflex with a 13.5cm stem. I've been riding the bike for 3 months. With a SID fork (i'm sorry, it was the last week I worked in a bike shop, I couldn't help it) and my race wheels it weighs in around 22.5 lbs. The frame weighs 3.7 lbs by itself.
Bottom line, this bike rocks! I like it so much I'm ditching my Pro-flex sponsorship to race the Fisher. The short chainstays really hook the rear tire up. Traction is massively improved over the long-chainstay havin' softtail I've been riding. It feels much more controlled on steep sketchy downhills, probably due to the front wheel being pushed out front a bit more. It's really hard to go over the bars on this bike. The longer wheelbase doesn't seem to affect the turning radius significantly, but it's only slightly longer than my proflex. The front-end geometry and the short stem combine to make the bike extremely agile, but not twitchy. Sort of the holy grail of bike-handling.
I went on a bitchin' night ride with Fisher grass-roots racer and VeloSapien SuperDan. We were riding a favorite twisty trail, but this was the first time we've done it on Genesis. We were both blown away by how well the bikes handle, especially at high speeds. The wet weather we've been having has created soft wet spots at the apex of many of the corners on our trail. We felt utter confidence drifting sideways through the corners, never missing a beat as the wheel hooked up again and sent us flying down the trail. The more I ride this bike, the more I hate my old one.
I've never had an aluminum MTB before (I do have a Redline cyclocross bike), so based on what I've read I expected a harsh ride. Due to the relatively normal tubing sizes Fisher uses (at least they're normal compared to a Klein), the ride is fine. It's actually more comfortable than my old OCLV carbon hardtail. The longer wheelbase may also contribute to the lack of harshness.
I've switched bikes with friends a few times lately. Going back to the short top tube, long stem combo feels pretty scary now. It feels like the front wheel is way to close to me, like an endo waiting to happen. I'll be surprised if all bikes don't look like Genesis in a couple years.
I have tried both the Bontrager Revolt SS tires (front and rear specific) and the Continental Double fighter semi-slicks (same tire for front and rear). I have been pleased with both tires. With both set-ups there is a noticeable decrease in rolling resistance. With both tires there are traction limitations in certain situations.
I started racing the Contis at the Sea Otter, which features mostly hardpacked trails. These tires flat-out railed on that course. I had no traction problems anywhere and I felt like I was flying (until my legs started to cramp up on the last climb). I also used them at the Angel's camp Knobular, again mostly hardpack, again the tires railed (and i won vet, the exp 19-26 winner also used one on the rear). At the Napa world cup I did a practice lap with the contis but I was losing rear wheel traction on some loose uphills so I switched to a cross country rear/doublefighter front set up. I still had some rear wheel traction issues during the race, but the front gave me no problems. I've been training alot on the contis this spring and they seem to handle just about everything except steep really loose stuff very well. As long as I'm in my middle ring, or sitting in the granny I'm ok. when I have to stand in the granny gear (which is pretty rare) i start to have trouble. The front is sometimes scary on steep loose off-camber stuff, and it seems to wash out before the back does. Some riders are using the Leader Pro in the front with the double fighter in the back, but I can feel the extra rolling resistance. On most courses I'd prefer the slicks front and rear.
I got a set of Bontrager Revolt SS's in time for the Shasta Lemurian. Similar to the Conti, I only had traction trouble in the back when I stood in the granny gear. Unlike the conti I never had any trouble with the front tire. I flew down the infamous Lemurian chute on the ragged edge of control for mile after mile, blowing by numerous other riders, and I felt pretty confident in the tires. The Revolt front has side knobs similar to a velociraptor, and it hooked up like crazy for me. Subjectively, I feel like the Conti has a little more climbing traction, but teammate SuperDan did a 6 hour backcountry ride on the Western States 100 trail with me, and he was riding stuff with the Revolt ss rear that I was struggling with on my normal treaded tire. For what it's worth, the Revolts definitely roll smoother and quieter, especially the front. The Double Fighters are lighter, about 480gms or so, compared to 515 and 530 or so (we weighed these ourselves) for the Bontrager rear and front respectively. The double fighters are more expensive (about $45) compared to Revolts (about $38)
So with all this in mind I am using the Double fighter in the rear and the Revolt SS in the front. This seems like a perfect setup for me. SuperDan is using the Revolt SS rear and Conti Leader Pro front and he's much faster than me, but he hasn't used the Revolt front much yet.
As the dirt gets drier and looser I have some more comments to add to the performance of semi-slick tires. At the Marin Knobular I found the Bontrager SS front tire to be a little too sketchy on the switchbacks. The Conti rear has been no problem at all, but when it's loose and especially when it's twisty and switchbacky it seems like I have to go too slow in the corners with the ss in front.
By now most of you are probably aware that Grip Shift has their own derailleur system, and that it differs from the Shimano setup in that twice as much cable pull is required to actuate the derailleur. As a result, you must have both the shifter and the rear derailleur, there is no compatibility with any other products in this respect, although the front shifter works with all standard front derailleurs. The benefit to this system is that, in theory anyway, a given amount of friction in the cable will only have half as much effect. It's sort of like Dolby noise reduction for shifter cables.
If you read much, you probably know that the ESP shifts dramatically better than previous Grip Shift/Shimano setups. In particular, the ESP drops authoritatively onto the smaller cogs, whereas my experience with the X-ray 800/shimano XT system I used before was that even with Gore-tex cables the shifting to the two smallest cogs was pretty reluctant after a month or so of use. The ESP does away with this problem, and is also just less finicky for adjustment.
So how does it hold up over time? Not bad actually, but we have discovered a few tidbits that will keep your ESP system running extra well. We had several systems develop a balkiness about shifting down from the largest cog. It seems like the spring has the least amount of mechanical advantage at this point, so any dirt of friction will cause problems in this position first. Setting the B-tension spring correctly (as per the instructions) helps, but we found these hints to be helpful as well.
First off, you don't need nearly so much cable housing at the rear dropout. The cable enters the derailleur at an angle, allowing you to use less housing, about 1/2 what you need with shimano. Unfortunately this creates a possible problem as well. After the cable enters the derailleur it makes a bend and slides over the carbon body of the derailleur, inside a little cable-sized slot. If this slot gets icky, shifting will suffer. Every now and then we shift to the biggest cog, then without turning the cranks, set the shifter all the way to the smallest cog. This will free up enough cable at the derailleur to pull the cable out of the slot, wipe it down and lube it. I've been using White Lightning at this point since it doesn't attract dirt.
Another handy hint if you use Gore-tex cables (which I strongly recommend) is to cut the inner cable liner off about 1/2 inch shorter than the outer housing. Unfortunately there's no way to use the yellow grub seal on an ESP derailleur, so dirt can conceivably get in where the cable is exposed right before the anchor bolt. By trimming the inner liner back you prevent any dirt which gets sucked back into the first bit of the housing from jamming up the tiny space in between the liner and cable. It's not a bad idea every now and again to disconnect the cable and wipe down the last inch or so. The anchor bolt is a non-mashing type, so this is fairly easy to do.
The grip shift guy tells me that they will use a dual spring setup to help downshifting from the largest cog under severe use, so you may want to wait 'til the new ones come out, or you may be able to get a better deal on this year's model, which if you take reasonably good care of it will provide excellent service
Since figuring out these maintenance and setup tips I've been running the ESP absolutely trouble free for 4 months. These are months that have 2 races almost every week, as well as numerous all-day back country rides, so it's been getting lotsa use. I also had the opportunity to demo a bike for a couple of days which happened to be equipped with xt rapidfire. This was the most time I have spent riding rapidfire, and I gotta say I still vastly prefer grip shift.
You may ask "Why the hell would anyone care what you ride?" Well, obviously no one does. I just like to brag about my light bike. Live with it and be glad I haven't started bragging about my beautiful and brilliant wife, or my killer homebrew.
| Component | Mark's Choice | Why it Doesn't Suck |
| Frame | '98 Gary Fisher Big Sur, Genesis Geometry, XLG(hardtail) | Check out the full-length Genesis review for why I like this frame so much. |
| Fork | Rock Shox Sid | 2.6 lbs. It's blue. Need I say more? Check out the full-length SID review for why I like this fork so much. |
| Stem | Bontrager A-head, 105mm x 5 deg | Strong, removeable clamp for easy bar changes, plus Precision Bicycles had it in stock. |
| Handlebars | Bontrager Race 9 deg | The 9 degree bend gives my wrists a more comfortable angle, plus the bar is fairly light (150 gm) and well-made like all Bontrager stuff |
| BarEnds | Control Stix, cut down to 4" length | Light, purple, free. I really like the knurled part. I won them in a raffle with Brian Nakagawa's race number after he left and I kept them. |
| Brakes | V-brakes, XTR levers, XT Calipers | Great brakes, easy to adjust, very powerful. I think Precision Bicycles was out of XT levers when I got these. I have avid calipers on another bike, and they're good too, but i like the parallel push deal, rattles and all. |
| Shifters | Sachs Twistgrip | I use twisties instead of rapid fire because I'm used to it, they're lighter, and they're less fragile. I use Sachs instead of grip shift on the right side because pre-98 gripshifters(non-ESP) are susceptible to cable friction which makes them undependable shifting to the smallest cogs. The '98 models are more like sachs. I use the Sachs on the left for no good reason. I've never been able to get it to shift as well as a grip shift front shifter, but I'm too lazy to change it just yet. FYI, I find it to be a pain in the ass to change cables with sachs. I got so frustrated 2 years ago trying to install new cables the night before a race that i just threw my old shifters out. I have a full ESP setup that I won at the Knobular series last year, I'll probably put it on soon. |
| Derailleurs | XTR rear, STX front, Avid Rollamajig | Xtr has less slop, less weight and real pulley bearings compared to xt and below. The rollamajig allows the little section of cable housing by the derailleur to be totally straight. That, plus the little rubber seal over the seatstay housing stop have given me the most reliable rear shifting I have experienced. All front derailleurs are the same, but the stx one does rattle a bit. |
| Hubs | XTR rear, LX front | XTR rear hubs kick ass. They're light, and you don't have to blow $20 on bearings every year, you can just put new balls and grease in for about $1 each time. The drawback is you have to be more careful because they lack the rubber seals of the less expensive shimano hubs. I have a hugi rear hub, and it works ok, but i trust shimano more. All front hubs are the same. I got the lx one, built up with a good bontrager rim for about the price of the rim. Very well sealed, plenty stiff, cheap bearing maintenance, and no regrets if I have to throw it away. |
| Rims | Bontrager Mustang, Asym rear | See Asym review for why these rims are so cool. I also have a front wheel w/a reflex rim, but it doesn't match the rear. For racing I use Ritchey revolution spokes and alloy nipples. Yes, I am a weight weenie. |
| Seat/Post | USE Suspension Post/Flite Ti Saddle | See the suspension post review for more info. It's light and keeps my butt from hurting. |
| Crank | Race Face 180mm, 22-32-44 | I really like this crank because it's the right length and it's blue. I don't need a 44 tooth ring, but that's what it came with. |
| Bottom Bracket | RaceFace Turbine | I have no good reason for this. It works and, it might be a few grams lighter than shimano. |
| Cassette | XTR 11-30 Ti | These are so light they're irresistable. If I'm feeling extra wimpy I put on a 12-32, but w/a 22 lb bike you do't need low gears. |
| Pedals | Speedplay Frogs | See the Pedal Comparison. |
| Tires | Conti DoubleFighter/Tioga Psycho | Light and fast, See The Tire Chart for more info. |
| Total Weight, as described | 22 lbs even! | Yippee! |