Enve Wheelset verse Custom Bontrager Wheelset

 

Lately I have been back to back testing wheelsets, one made up of Enve AM rims laced to Chris King hubs, the other Bontrager Rhythm Pro rims laced to Hadley hubs. This pair of wheels is my own, the Enve/King's are from the NZ distributor.

 

First up there is about 130 grams difference between the two wheelsets. This is mainly in the rims, the Enve's being lighter carbon rims than the Bonty's Scandium alloy. Enve rims are 30mm wide, Bonty's are 28mm.

 Chris King products have a great reputation for being well made and lasting a long time, so their hubs have been made in the same vain. Hadley hubs are little known, but come from a surgical tool maker in California that likes to make high end hubs in their spare time. The Hadley hubs sport a freehub body machined from solid Titanium, bearings are regular sized 61804's, (or 71804 angular contact) except for one in the freehub that Hadley make themselves. The hubs can be opened up and serviced very easily using two cone spanners. The King hubs are also easy to open up, but the bearings are their own sizing and made of stainless steel, which is a little soft for hub bearing use and will grind out pretty quick when they get water contamination.  King has their own take on a freehub clutch system preferring to use gears instead of the normal springs and pawls as do the Hadleys. The King freehub body is made from alloy and is showing wear after 6 months use. The Hadley Titanium freehub body shows no wear after 3.5 years of use.

 

So to the ride. The Enve's have had their fair share of hype since coming on the market and you would be lead to believe that carbon rims are the way to go for everything these days, well that ain't so. There is a point when a wheel can be to stiff and the Enve's are that. Too stiff for fast technical riding. I have a test track that's 4 k's long, has many tight switchbacks up and down, berms and some nasty rock gardens with soccer ball sized round and square edged river rocks. Try to skip across these rocks at speed on the Enve's and it's like being in a pinball machine. I let 10psi out of my forks and over a few laps had my tyre's down to 21psi up front and 25 in the rear. Only slightly better ride, still pretty bouncy. The lack of vertical compliance kills your speed, because the rims don't absorb any impact, you get bounced around and lose momentum. In really narrow single track, around 150mm wide, they are a handful too. They make your bike's steering quite a bit quicker, but this is not what you want in the super narrow. On wide open smooth berms, great, really sharp handling, you can get some extra speed on cranking through corners. Compared to the Bontrager rims, the Enve's are way stiffer, faster in smooth corners, slower everywhere else that's not smooth.

 

The hubs are quite different too. The Kings are high quality, but they are no match for the Hadleys in speed and acceleration. There is a noticeable amount of extra drag in the Kings, both front and rear and the Hadleys are much quieter too, better for sneaking around.

 

So, that's my take on these wheelsets. Yes I might be a bit bias toward the Bonty/Hadley wheelset as these are my own and have been riding this particular pair of wheels for 3 and a half years, but I did expect to be impressed by the Enve/King wheelset and really was only disappointed, especially when the cost is almost double. Spend your money wisely and test before if you can.

 

 

BMC SF02 29er

Now I don't normally get excited about 29er's, but I just built up this bike for a customer and it's pretty damn nice, probably the nicest stock spec I've seen for a while. The frame has this big fat carbon down tube connected with the bottom bracket shell, giving loads of stiffness for aggressive cornering and out of the saddle grunts. Full XT groupo, brakes, shifters, derailleurs, cranks, cassette and Fox suspension. Even ONZA Canis tyres!

The customer wanted it to be a bit more trail orientated, so I swapped out the stock 100mm fork for a 120mm Factory CTD Fit fork and also dropped in a Reverb Stealth seat post.
She's a real looker as you can see by the photo's. Very clean and well executed Euro design and engineering. Nice.

Sorry, this programme won't let me upload photo's directly from my photo libary anymore so you will have to go to my Face Book page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Peak-Cycles/286015808178920 to see them.

Black Peak Cycles Pro Build

Here's a movie that Ross MacKay, from Stash Media Worx and I have been working on for a little while. It's all about my 'Pro Build' process. Building bikes up from parts and a frame to get a precision machine.
Enjoy.  http://vimeo.com/54838252

Renthal Fatbars

When it comes to handle bars, Renthal would be on the top of most peoples list if you are from the dirt moto world. Their reputation for producing super strong high quality bars is legendary. They have been producing bars for mountain bikes for about a year now, the DH worthy Fatbar being the one thats seen no shortage of action on the World Cup Downhill stage. The Renthal range is now being imported into NZ and I have been riding a pair of the Fatbars for a few weeks now.

About 4 years ago I was talked into ditching my high end trail/all mountain carbon bars in favor of similar alloy ones. I had no idea that a really good alloy bar could be so much stiffer and give so much more control than an equivalent carbon bar. The small increase in weight was not even worth considering for the performance gained.

The Renthal Fatbar steps it up another few notches being much stiffer again compared to what I was previously using. You can really feel the whole front of your bike is much more solid, particularly when landing jumps. The bar also gives you a greater sense of what is happening with your front wheel. More control to ride faster in gnarly terrain!

All the Renthal products are available through my shop www.blackpeakcycles.com

 

 

 

Phoebes new ride

I just built this bike up yesterday for local girl Phoebe Coers. She's competing in the Southern DH series this season as well as a few other events during the summer.

We took a 2012 Atherton build kit and put it all on a 2013 V3 frame. The bike got the full monty 'Pro Build' starting from changing the suspension fluids for better damping control, to special Enduro lube in the hubs and BB, all the suspension pivots redone etc etc.

Ross MacKay filmed the whole build process, so hopefully I will be able to post that in the near future so you can see how much work goes into my 'Pro Build' service.

New roadies

I've just completed a 'Pro Build' on these two bikes. I take them completely apart and put them back together in a way as to gain the most performance from the standard parts on the bike. It's amazing how much better you can make a bike go with careful attention to detail and correct set up on all the moving components, hubs and bottom brackets especially. Making the bike the most efficient with the given parts is the object. It takes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to complete a full rebuild on a road bike, up to 6 hours on a mountain bike when you have suspension to dial in too.

ONZA IBEX FR 2.25's

Last summer I spent a fair bit of time on ONZA's new tyres, the IBEX FR 2.4 and the CANIS 2.25.
I really didn't gel with the IBEX 2.4 in our dry lose conditions, but over the winter I've been riding the smaller version and have found it to be a damn good soft conditions tyre. It's knobs bite in the soft ground and hook up slip free forward momentum, drift very nicely in the corners and hold on well under brakes. I find the tyre to be slow rolling like it's big brother, but run 5 psi higher than normal pressure and the drag mostly disappears with little lost in traction.

It's got a good strong, large volume casing, so running it tubeless is the go and it can handle some bashing in the rocks. The knobs seem to clear quickly of excess mud and wear is pretty respectable too. Give them a try!

Commencal Meta shock guard.

If you are a new Meta owner, you would be a little concered about damage to your shock from rocks being flicked off your rear wheel. Well with not to much thought, I came up with this little item. Works a treat. I been fitting them to all my Meta builds for the last 8 months.

Enduro XD15 BB86 bearing kit

I've sort of written about this very cool bottom bracket before. I have been running these ceramic balled, ultra long lasting, super smooth spinning bearing kits for a while now. The first one was in my Meta 55 mountain bike for about 8 months and know it's in my road bike, spinning very happily and making my riding less of a drag, literally.

Now Enduro have put the same awesome bearings in a press-in BB86 style kit. I've put one in my Meta SX. After running one of these bottom brackets, you just can't got back to the standard types from Shimano or Truvativ. Even Chris King bb's feel slow compared to these. These bearing kits can be disassembled, cleaned, re-greased and made to run good as new time and time again. If it gets water or mud in it, no big deal. Simply pull it apart, clean out the dirt and water, put in fresh Enduro Ceramic grease and away you go again. No waste and high performance. Sure, they are not cheap, but neither is a new BB kit from the big 'S' every 3 or 4 months and your cranks doing spin very easily with one of those in, that's for sure.

ONZA tyres

A couple of months back, several pairs of tyres arrived for evaluation at Blue Shark, the NZ distrubutor for FOX Racing Shox, Commencal, Troy Lee Designs etc. As a part time contractor and product tester for them, I get to try out products new to the market. Tyres are always items I'm wearing out and finding that new do-it-all tyre has become a life long quest.

So, for the past few months I've been testing the IBEX and the CANIS from ONZA of Switzerland. It has been a very dry summer here in Central Otago, great conditions for trying out new rubber. I ran the IBEX first up, just on the rear for a while and then both front and rear to see how the pair worked together. Most of my riding is on dry lose terrain, lots of rocks and tree roots, very little wet conditions, especially in summer.

The IBEX in 2.40, was a tyre that I had high hopes for, but I really had a hard time getting it to work for me. It was very good in a straight line, climbing and braking, but on the corners it really lacked enough bite. A slow rolling tyre, it's casing is very stiff, making air pressure choice critical to get the right combination of lack of drag and good traction. If it was to hard, it would skip and drift all over the place, to soft and it would hook up, but wear you out making it roll. The sweet spot for me was 30psi in the back and 22 up front, running tubeless. The best thing about these tyres are they are very hard to puncture.

The CANIS 2.25 on the other hand is amazing. Very small knobs and a huge casing for a 2.25, this tyre sticks to every thing like glue. I have only run it on the rear, not enough side knobs for me to have up front, but it just hooks up on every type of surface it comes across. I've ridden it in some very wet and slick clay, gnarly tree roots, rocks, lose-over-hard, raced on it in a 6 hr Super D. Thrashed it really. It did puncture on a sharp rock early in it's life and I thought it was all over, but it has sealed up again no problems. One of the best tyre s I've used in years. Pretty fast too and seem to wearing very well. Buy some, really. They rock!

Skyline Super D

This past Saturday, the 31st March, I came out of retirement to race for the first time in 3 years and compete in the second annual Skyline Super D, part of the 2012 Queenstown Bike Festival. Super D or Super Enduro, as it's known in Europe, is the best combination of terrain, excitement and requiring high all round fitness and skills. This particular race is 6 hours long, on a course approximately 7 km's long on the DH tracks at Skyline Bike Park. Mixed in with the downhills are a number of short sharp technical climbs. The laps take about 20 to 25 minutes, including riding back to the top of the course in the gondola. The object is to complete the most amount of laps in 6 hours.

There were 170 entrants, a mixture of teams and solo riders, such as myself. There were about 100 riders on course at any one time. After the 6 hours, I had completed just shy of 14 laps, so only counted as 13 laps. I won my class, vet male, easily and placed 7th out of the 44 solo riders and 26th overall including the teams. I rode my Commencal Meta SX, which dealt with the demanding course with ease, giving me some big thrills with the speed and air it takes in it's stride.

Check out the pictures!!!

Commencal Meta SX Custom build.

This Meta SX was a standard model to begin with but has had a number of changes. The whole bike is stripped and reassembled piece by piece. Then the fork and shock were up graded to Factory series RP23 in the rear and Talas RLC up front. Both have had some 'Pro Tuned' custom tuning, different oil is used and small mods to the internals to make the ride that much more smoother and controled.

The shifting is all Shimano. XTR shifters and rear derailleur, with XT front derailleur. Dura Ace cable housing finishes off the shifting to keep it ultra smooth. The standard Sram cranks and cassette were used as were the Formula brakes, but the rotors were up graded to Shimano ICE in 203mm. The stock wheels and Commencal stem, handle bars, saddle and Reverb post are used as well. Another sweet ride from Black Peak Cycles workshop.

Specialized RIME shoes

Here's a new shoe from Specialized, called the RIME. They say on their website it's a mating of XC performance and All Mountain/Freeride features, something many riders are looking for these days. There is a fairly stiff sole, that flexes nicely at the toe, gripy Vibram rubber for walking across rocks and a niffty Boa closure system to snug the upper in across your foot.

I spent 3 full days recently wearing these shoes, while I was chasing people around the Gold Rush Multi-sport event, taking photos. On and off my bike a lot, running up and down hills with a pack full of camera gear and standing around for hours waiting for athletes to come by, is a great way to learn about how good a shoe is.

On the comfort side, the RIME is definitely more comfortable than normal XC shoes, almost street shoe comfort to walk in especially. They peddled ok too, the slightly rear set cleat placement was a bit odd though. I did feel like I couldn't get the same amount of power into the shoe, but this positioning would be better for more recreational users, offering them more stability. The heel cup could do with a bit more padding and a snugger fit. On the 3rd day my narrow heels were needing some more plush back there and to be held in tighter. The Boa closure system worked well, relatively easy to use and snug up the upper around your foot. A bit tricky to get the little cable to un-hook when hands are wet and cold, but so are most riding shoes.

All in all a pretty good shoe for those looking for a modern shoe to cover most bases in MTB riding. They don't have the performance of a XC race shoe nor are they as burly as a DH/Freeride shoe, but pretty squarely in between. They are light and easy to get on and off and looking at the construction, should last a while too.

2012 Commencal Meta SX

Here it is, the 2012 Commencal Meta SX. I took delivery of this baby in mid December 2011, just the frame only and built it up with my favorite parts off my Meta 55 Carbon. A few different bits were needed, press in BB, direct mount front deraileur, 31.6mm seat post, post-to-post rear disc adaptor, 142x12 end caps for the Hadley hub, a headset and tapered CSU for the forks and the new FOX RP23 Factory shock in stock tune with custom made rock/mud guard.

The bike is very different to the old Meta in every respect. Very well engineed is the first thing that I noticed. So much time and thought has gone into the design of this bike and the way it is build. The pivots are big and bomber and move very smoothly straight out of the box. Big down tube, soild drop outs and big fat head tube. Solid and robust are what immediately comes to mind. It's not light, 3.8kgs (8.5lbs) in large with the shock, but you do not feel this once you are on the move. Actually the thing that strikes you the most is how fast it is and how fast it accelerates. Like really fast, so fast you laugh your head off as you seem to levitate over rocks and drops. It likes to jump too and just pops of everything with ease.

 The front is super positive. Stiff front end means great steering and stability at speed. It climbs really well too. Sure you feel the weight then, built as it is at 15kg's (33lbs), but there is so much traction and with the 73 degree seat angle keeping you in the middle, it just tractors up the climbs. I've been on a few big missions on it over the summer, climbing for close to 2 hours in the granny gears and been blown away at how it just eats up terrain, especially if it's rocky and lose.

The bad bits. Well not alot to complain about really. Sure it would be nice if the frame was lighter, but in the end I'd rather be riding something that was strong and durable, has minimal flex and goes where it's pointed. Some quality chain stay and seat stay chain slap protectors would be a nice finishing touch, the frame came with nothing and the shock has to have a protctor for it too. Luckily I made one of those easily enough. I would really like to have the option of carrying a water bottle on the down tube. I know it's not really cool to have one on such a bike, but when you are riding up in the alpine areas, hours from the nearist water, an extra water bottle can be a life saver.

So to conclude, if you want to get into the back country for the big decsents, go on epic missions, ride the bike parks, race Super Enduro's and generally have a bike that will do it all, this Meta is a very able and willing machine. I'm looking forward to a long and fun relationship with this yellow rocket. Stay tuned.

FOX 36 fork action video.

Shimano 230 shoes up date.

These shoes have been part of my riding out fit for quite a while now, about a year and a half. They are the most durable shoes I've had my feet in for some time, comfortable too, especially after I had them heat molded to my feet. I must have done 3000 plus K's of  riding, mostly dirt, in these shoes, with only a little delamination of the skuff guards to show for all their use. The soles are still hardly worn either. I have had to replace both buckles though. One I damaged when crashing my bike on a slippery road in Bhutan in November last year, then I clipped it on a fence post back here in Wanaka and it came flying off. Not surprised at that though. The other buckle just came apart in my hand one day while I was doing it up. Just worn out I guess, The buckles come in pairs, so I had a spare in the workshop already. Two minute fix.

Intense Uzzi build.

Heres a park bike for ya. Just the thing for doing laps at Skyline or any other place that needs a burly rig that can still be pedaled. FOX 36 Van's up front,  FOX DHX 5.0 in the rear, big brakes and good tyres. Let her rip !

ONZA tyres arrive for testing!!!

Heres something super new, just arrived today. ONZA tyres. The brand name has been bought by a Swiss outfit and is now making some cool new tyres. This one here is a single ply folding 120tpi All Mountain design. Dual compound, good aggresive tread, decent side wall thickness and ball park weight of 770grms with this 2.40 model. There are also a 2.25 60tpi model, with slightly more robust side walls. A 2.50 2 ply DH version at 1050grms and some more speed orintated 26 and 29er tyres. I'll be giving them a good working over in the next few weeks, so will let you know what I think.

It's been a while.......

It's been a while since I last posted some news here, but I've still been at it, building new bikes for my clients and trying new stuff, so heres a review on whats new.



This is a classic Gary Fisher Paragon thats just had a full make over. New paint and some decent forks were added a little while ago. New it's had new XT drive train, new rims laced to the still running smoooth XTR hubs and lots of TLC to make it run like nver before. Daves a happy boy. His Marin San Marino road bike got the full make over too, but I forgot to get my camera out for that one.

This is my third Intense 5.5 24" build now. Some lucky young girl got this for her buithday. A great little bike with shortened forks and shock, revalved for their light weight riders, and 24" wheels to keep it low to the ground.

Heres a BMC Race Machine RM01 that I put together just last week. Full carbon frame and fork, Sram Red shiftres and drive train, Easton wheels, bar, stem and TRP brakes. Just 6.88kg's in a 55cm without pedals. Not bad for $5500.00!

New Builds

Here are a couple of new builds that have come out of my workshop recently. The one and only 2011 Foes FXR in NZ. A burly All Mountain machine that will suit riders that aren't looking for a super light weight bike and want something that can handle some serious riding.

A 2011 Commencal Meta 5.5 carbon. The owner up graded from the LTD frame set and got a lighter, stiffer super fast Enduro/trail bike.