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.

Enduro XD15 BB unit

Here it is, the coolest piece of cycling bling I've come across for a long time, Enduro's XD15 bottom bracket unit.

Whats so cool? Well there's quite a bit of amazing technology gone into this little baby. I had the pleasure of meeting it's designer and maker a few months ago and he gave me the full run down on how it came about.

He meet this guy who makes a special alloy for bearings to go in the wings of commercial passenger jets, that will survive freezing tempertures and de-icing chemicals. It's a special nitrogen infused alloy that has been 5 x heat-treated to make it extra hard for use in the XD15, then it has ABEC3 ceramic balls that are running in angular contact races for even more durability. This means you can set a pre-load on the bearings so they will run with a minimum amount of drag and side play. Then it's all sealed up with low drag seals.

It's totally amazing to ride with this BB in your bike. So smooth and so drag free. Take your chain off your crankset and give the cranks a spin and it's just amazing how long they keep turning for. You can certainly feel it when pedaling. All most like having another gear. I think the biggest benefit of the XD15 is how much less energy it needs to make it turn, so the bike needs less energy to make it go. It's also super durable. The bearings have a 2 year warranty against failure. If you are anything like me and get about 4 months riding out of a standard BB, then this baby is something you should have in your bike, road and mountain. You can buy one of these for the price of less than 3 normal external BB units, so for me, by the time I've worn out 6 BB's, the XD15 is still under warranty! A no brainer. BB 30 types are in the works and should be available in a few months.

'Pro Tuned' suspension service.

Out of the box, suspension forks and shocks can range from very good performance to barely adaquate. It's not uncommon to dissassemble some makes of brand new forks and find there is little or no lubrication in some parts of it, even ones costing $2000.00, making the life of the fork very short and performance nowhere to be found. The suspension fluids and lubes used by the majority of suspension manufactures can be of questionable quality or the volume of oil in the damper units is less than needed for proper performance.

Black Peak Cycles 'Pro Tuned' suspension service is similar to the 'Pro Build' complete bike building service, where in the fork or shock gets completely disassembled, all parts inspected and replace if needed, then rebuilt piece by piece using the highest quality lubricants that I have personally tested in various parts of the world, from the bike park in Whistler to the mountain ranges around Wanaka.

You can except a dramatic increase in sensitivity to terrain changes, the ability to ride faster over rough terrain and generally more control and much more fun, which at the end of the day, is the reason for having suspension in the first place.

Shimano M-230 Shoes

This pair of Shimano M-230 shoes came in the post about a month ago and even though we are still in the grips of winter, I'm still managing to get out up to 4 times a week, consequently the new shoes don't look that new any more.

That said, this latest offering from the the big 'S' is the top of the line Expert/Performance competition shoe. Not as light (807grms) or as stiff as the Elite M-310, but it's still got a carbon sole and custom fit heat moldable insole and uppers to give a precise fit with no pressure points.

I seem to have developed a bit of a bad habit of wearing out riding shoes prematurely of late. There was a time not that long ago when a nice pair of Italian riding slippers would last up to 4 seasons of riding. My last 3 pairs of shoes only lasted 2 1/2 years between them. Yes I'm doing a shed load more riding than I did in the past, but man, stuff just doesn't seem to last like it used to.

So this pair of Shimano shoes seem pretty well made with lots of rubber 'Armor' around the outer edges of the shoe, multi layed materials to add some durability, a nicely tucked in main buckle and some good deep tread on the sole if you have to portage nasty terrain. The 'Wide' model that I'm wearing has good room for those of us with wide fore feet and the added bonus of having room for thicker winter shocks and will I'm sure be great on hot days, letting more air flow around my feet. Something the Italian slippers were not to good at.

I've got 8 weeks of prep riding to do for a two week tour of Bhutan in mid October, which in it's self is about 700k's of mixed riding from 2000m climbs and descents, to virgin single track and everything in between. So these shoes will get some thorough testing long before summer even kicks in.

Stay tuned to see if they hang in there.

Pro Build for World Champs

I offered a local athlete my professional services to help him with his second attempt at the World Masters Road Racing Champs in France. So I went to work on him and his bike.

He had been having some comfort issues in his training lead up to the event, so I re-fitted him to the bike, lowering saddle height, moving him forward and changing the tilt on his saddle. He reported that he had no more numbness, more power and much better seated climbing.

Next was to give his bike the full Black Peak Cycles 'Pro Build' service. The bike gets stripped back to the bare frame and then reassembled in a way that optimises each components full potential and limits any chance of mechanical failure. This is a very important part of bike racing and performance riding. Having your bike properly preped and tuned so that your bike can perform at it's full potential.