Loic Bruni
The World Cup monkey is finally off his back.
Loic Bruni may wear the World Championship stripes, but his first World Cup victory in the men's division eluded him for what seemed to be forever. Mister Second Place nearly found redemption at the season opener in Lourdes, France. He was three seconds up with the finish in sight when his bad luck caught up with him and once again, an error saw his green turn to red, and handed Gwin the win. Cairns, Australia, however, was a different story. Bruni pulled off a win on what may be the most difficult racing weekend that we will see in 2016. Dust turned to slime, slime into ruts and after everyone qualified on spikes, the final was staged on tacky dirt and a mess of rocks with no proven lines. Bruni was the man of the day and with his virgin World Cup win behind him, the season looks to become a slug fest between a number of riders who are and are not riding for Specialized.
Di2 Dreamers
Shimano brings Di2 to its Deore XT group
Shimano dazzled mountain bikers with electric shifting when it rolled out Di2 XTR last year, but it was bitter sweet for fans. Di2's programmable push-button shifting delivered next level performance, along with a next-level price tag. The asking price of Shimano's XTR-level two-by-eleven Di2 was around $3000 USD. As anticipated, Shimano followed XTR with a more affordable XT version of its Di2 system, and as often occurs, the XT version benefits from experience that their design team obtained from XTR users. One-by Di2 gets a lower, 46-tooth cog, shift paddles have better ergonomics, shifting can be programmed wirelessly through a smart-phone app, and XT and XTR components are interchangeable. Di2 XT is slated to retail for around $1660 for a complete two-by-eleven drivetrain, with one-by-eleven groups pegged at $1335.
Made in the USA Hopefuls
Alchemy Arktos all-mountain bike features home-grown carbon chassis
Pinkbike's Vernon Felton met up with
Alchemy Bikes' Vice President of R&D, Matt Maczuzak at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, about the possibility of making carbon mountain bikes in the USA at comparable prices and performance levels. Turns out that Alchemy has been hard at work doing exactly that. Matt says that they design the bikes, cut the molds, lay up the carbon and assemble the components into finished products at their modest factory in Denver, Colorado. Matt says that the building process is the same, the carbon material is the same and amount of hand-labor is the same as the factories that build carbon bikes for leading players who choose to farm out their production to Asian makers. At present, Alchemy's frame prices are about 30-percent taller than what can be had from overseas vendors, but they have found a ready customer base and are selling bikes as fast as they can make them.
The Front Derailleur
SRAM Eagle sentences the two-by drivetrain to death
Say what you want. Wax on about sensible gearing ranges and boast that you can shift a front changer with the surety of a Western gunslinger. However you spin it, the front derailleur suffered its fatal coronary when SRAM's 12-speed, wide-ratio Eagle transmission was launched in April. No surprise. The hole was dug by XX1, the media had already delivered the last rites, and the bells were tolling on high from the start gates of the EWS. Just for a moment, it appeared that Shimano's Di2 may have ignited a spark somewhere inside the pallid mechanical corpse - but there were no sparks, it was only the sun reflecting from Eagle's golden cassette cogs. Until the burial is scheduled, the front derailleur can be viewed behind glass, laying in state at better bike shops. RIP.
Female DH Pros With Non-Atherton Surnames
Brand new bike - same astonishing story.
Rachel Atherton's string of victories did not come as easy as she made them look. The woman trains harder than a pro triathlete who has been threatened with a nine-to-five day job. She constantly updates her technique, she is powerful, resourceful, and she plays to win. She has fought back from injuries a number of times. She has won it all and could stop today and stand with Anne‑Caroline Chausson as the sport's greatest athlete, but each season, Rachel finds a way to improve and to reconnect with the ferocity that makes her the perfect competitor. Dominating once again in the first two races of 2016, her rivals have to be scratching their heads, wondering how to get rid of a handful of seconds, or perhaps hoping that someone will find a way to engineer a track that Rachel doesn't like.
Aftermarket Chainring Makers
SRAM may enforce its narrow-wide patents
SRAM did not invent the narrow wide chainring profile, but it does have a number of patents surrounding the concept. Until recently, however, the Chicago component maker seemed willing to let other makers produce narrow-wide sprockets - a practice which has resulted in a thriving business for aftermarket manufacturers worldwide. That may be coming to a close, at least for sprocket makers in the USA. Reportedly narrow-wide makers in the US had been notified by SRAM that they were allegedly violating their patents. The stakes are high. Until someone figures out a better way to keep a wiggly chain on a spinning sprocket when it is being fed at obtuse angles from an off-center cassette cog, the narrow-wide tooth profile is the pivotal player of the one-by drivetrain.
SRAM isn't the only one in the narrow-wide patent game. Shimano has either applied for or acquired various patents using the tooth profile as well. At present, everyone is tight lipped as they have begun researching their game plans. If SRAM prevails, then good on them. After all, it was SRAM who developed it for the market in the first place. If they don't, we can all breathe easier knowing that our chainring options might be greater than SRAM or a noisy chainguide. We shall see.
I thought we had also gotten over using the word "death" a little to liberally in SRAM advertising, sorry journalism, given the events of the year but there we go.
P.S Eagle is a stupid name and XX1 chainline is already bad enough.
PPS, I have SRAM top to toe on all my bikes so am far from a hater, just not a fan of a few things
www.sram.com/sram/mountain/products/sram-x-sync-steel-chainrings
if only they make it in more popular BCD configuration, there will be no need to sue anyone.
They have or had filed court dates against Praxis Works, Raceface and Wolf Tooth - Looks like the Wolf Tooth case didnt even make it to court and the Praxis is also dropped.
They are attempting to sue Raceface for putting the text 'SRAM' on one of their GXP chainrings - thats just a petty act as they know this wasnt false advertising and simply Raceface marking the ring as being SRAM fitment.
Its likely it was pointless going after WT due to their lack of resources - no point in taking a case if you cant get damages unless you just want to shut them down, which it doesnt look like they could achieve either.
Doesnt look like SRAM is getting anywhere anyway - Pinkbike you may want to take a look here - search.rpxcorp.com/lit/ilndce-319502-sram-v-wolf-tooth-components
EDIT - If you look through the documents it even appears although Raceface are filing a counter claim against SRAM stating their N/W chainring patent is invalid....SRAM reply stating they deny this and want a trial by dury..... Popcorn at the ready
Raceface and all of the copy brands copied SRAM in using this design in the bike world, the argument is that it was previously used for some othere non bike related application.
Back on topic - at least Sram are only going after US companies. Hope and Renthal are safe. The outrage would be huge if Sram took on them.
Hope and Renthal are large companies but hardly supply any narrow wide rings anyway - Superstar, Works Components, etc etc all supply many more sizes and fitments of chainring.
allegro.pl/listing/user/listing.php?us_id=41973167
Plus I am sure any company who makes something takes legal advice on patents before making it.
Sram was the company that put this groundbreaking design solution to the masses, revolutionizing chain retention to much bigger extent than clutch rear mech ever did. Chain guides were never cool, they were a necessity. I smashed or seized rollers on each single guide I had, each roller costing around 40$. And I Am a weekend warrior. Sram deserves this money and I personally see nothing wrong with lawsuit spree against companies who capitilized like crazy on XX1. They even gave you a steel N/W ring for those who whine about planned obscolescence. Sram has revolutionized MTB drivetrain to much bigger extent than Shimano has done in last 15 years. They deserve gratitude.
According to your logic waki we should hate dave weagle because he defended his patents against trek and giant.
Actually the least of my problems with sram is the legal action they have a right to do it i will question it being this late cause they allowed compnies to put effort in to developing this products and only now will take legal action thats were the questionable action lays. My problem is with boost and eagle being a 1 by 12 not that they are bad thing is just that we all know (even sram) that is not going to be enough and a couple years down the line the hub standard r will change all over again bringing the 1 by 14 we should have now but sram rather milk the cow slowly.
I am happy I can afford a bike from a small company doing their bikes according to high environmental, social and economical standards. But I take it as a privilege that I am very appreciative of. Not everyone does that, because they may not have this bit more money, or they don't give a sht, or they don't make as informed choice as I hope to believe I do.
The whole thing that is fkd up with Spec hating is selective ethics and getting on a high horse riding through the swamp of inflated moral standards to which they cannot live up to themselves. I did sht loads of that in my "green-leftist" period, it was nothing but uninformed rage against things bigger than me. Sometimes it is easier to throw sht at the wall instead of trying to knock it down.
It has nothing to do with "ethics" or "standards" or "principles". The Specialized hate is just fanboys who want a reason to hate...so they've latched on to ancient history and will never let it go. Doesn't bother me one bit, that's one less buyer making an offer on the bike I want...and one less rider crowding the trail i'm riding cause he's warranty'ing his direct-sale frame.
so hack.
BTW, where do you think we got the word "imperialist"?
I'm also surprised you are worried about the "religious wackos" as they are well contained and outnumbered by the much larger population of hypocritical liberals. That's what worries me the most. They make the religious wackos look pretty inviting.
Pretty hyperbolic argument considering the entire gx 1x11 groupset can be had for under what you state as the cassette price.
As far as the xd driver, unlike other proprietary standards, this one is necessary to allow for the extended range of the cassette.
I personally dig di2, and my own personal rig is using xd 10-42 sram cassette with xt derailleur and shifter. That being said, shimano doesn't offer what i I consider a viable 1x11 drivetrain, and this is supported by the fact wolftooth has developed a "non proprietary" driver for several brand hubs which allows for a 10 tooth cog.
The only difference between SRAM's 1x11, and Shimano's 1x11 is a tooth. Oh and like $200-500 in cost. Both are "viable" (actually excellent), both have top-quality and entry-level options. If that one tooth bothers you that much, there are no less than 5 different expansion options out there, and every one comes out cheaper than the SRAM factory-stock equivalent.
It's hard to remain neutral (as the Swiss have so valiantly demonstrated) when your economy relies on more than skiing, watches, and chocolate. Oh, and wheels... You guys do make darn good wheels.
Did I cover everything? Ok, cool!
Surely you can do better.
Have you seen the news today about Apple trying to sue a company in China for using the name iPhone? Well the Chinese basically told Apple to get stuffed.
America is great at some things... Such as keeping us all safe from the c*nts of the world. Unfortunately it seems they also like litigation a bit too much over there.
Go Trump!
If SRAM cuts out almost everybody, what's the worst that could happen? You'd have to use their chainring and it would mess the color scheme of the bike? Jimmy built a murdered black V10cc for 11k and wanted a green chainring to go with Monster Energy logo, how sad for hiiiiim
As for Trump - look at the alternatives. No one has yet been able to convince me that there is a viable choice that is any better. Basically, we're screwed no matter what. So why not?
So is ok for specialized to charge around a third more than any equivalent competitor bike. And that is with the shittiest in house components ever!
But is not ok for sram to charge more for an engineering masterpiece that literally revolutionized the bike industry and has no direct competition?
Double standards evrywhere!
Specialized Stumpjumper Expert (X1) - $5899
Trek Remedy 9.8 (XT) - $5499
Intense Spider 275C Pro (X1) - $6599
Pivot Mach 4 Carbon (X1) - $5899
Specialized Enduro Expert (X01) - $5999
Trek Slash 9.8 (X1) - $5499
Intense Tracer 275C Pro (X1) $6699
Pivot Mach 6 Carbon (X01) - $6099
What "in-house" components? Specialized doesn't manufacture SRAM components.
And just to complete my point, although everyone here should already know these prices (CRC):
XTR (9000) Cassette $180 - XX1 Cassette $410
XT (8000) Cassette $70 - X1 Cassette $220
SLX (6000) Cassette $50 - GX Cassette $130
Double standards indeed!
And get off the components dude. I listed equivalent level components in each case with only one exception - the Tracer 275C pro has an all X1 build, whereas all the others are a mix of X01 and X1. Despite that, as you can see, the Intense is still significantly more expensive.
Go ahead, be a hater, I don't care. But facts are facts. You said spec charges 1/3rd more than ANY competitor. I proved that incorrect.
On my 29er, here in the Rocky Mountains, I would strongly benefit from a wider range than 11-42. On this section of a trail I often ride:
ridewasatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/lance.jpg
I easily run out of gears with my 34t ring. Climbing a 29er with 34x42 is not fun, either. Here is part of the climb for that trail (its a loop):
www.strava.com/segments/1430073?filter=overall
It averages 9% grade, with sections that are very steep. I'm OK fit, and its hard to fight the temptation to walk up the tricky climbs. My 34t ring is worn out, so I just replaced it with an oval 32t to make climbs more manageable, so I'm losing even more on the top end.
Why not just use a SRAM cassette you ask? Simple - the cheapest non-pinned cassette is the X01, which would have run me abour $320 back when I built the bike. I would have also needed an XD driver, an additional $70. Instead, I picked up the XTR cassette for $160 and the extender kit for $75 (end of year sale). Saved almost $150, achieved same end result.
A farmer...
Keep on hatin'. Won't miss you on the trail.
"Each of these actions [has] helped to throw the region into chaos and [given] ISIS the space it needs to grow and prosper...It all began with the dangerous idea that we could make Western democracies out of countries that had no experience or interest in becoming a Western democracy."
Uh, probably not.
MX/Off-Road riders have had the choice between light aluminum sprockets and heavy steel sprockets for decades, and overwhelmingly they/we have chosen aluminum.
We're not just talking weight here, but weight on your gears, and heavier cogs equals slower acceleration/deceleration.
There's a lot more people who are willing to pay more for the benefits of aluminum, then pay less for the much heavier, albeit longer lasting steel.
Biggie smalls ring?
She is Crushing it this season and has an awesome attitude about it. Fantastic season overall.
They have or had filed court dates against Praxis Works, Raceface and Wolf Tooth - Looks like the Wolf Tooth case didnt even make it to court and the Praxis is also dropped.
They are attempting to sue Raceface for putting the text 'SRAM' on one of their GXP chainrings - thats just a petty act as they know this wasnt false advertising and simply Raceface marking the ring as being SRAM fitment.
Its likely it was pointless going after WT due to their lack of resources - no point in taking a case if you cant get damages unless you just want to shut them down, which it doesnt look like they could achieve either.
Doesnt look like SRAM is getting anywhere anyway - Pinkbike you may want to take a look here - search.rpxcorp.com/lit/ilndce-319502-sram-v-wolf-tooth-components
EDIT - If you look through the documents it even appears although Raceface are filing a counter claim against SRAM stating their N/W chainring patent is invalid....SRAM reply stating they deny this and want a trial by dury..... Popcorn at the ready.
If their patent is more specific to tooth shape, I have serious doubts that anybody infringes.
My commentary: it's amazing how much money gets spent on these frivolous IP fights. The consumer ends up paying for this, as the cost is ultimately built into the price. Companies don't erode their margin for this kind of stuff. Instead they slowly lace the cost of this into their products. It's a very short sighted take tactic that doesn't account for the equity of growing your technology through competition. There is no better metric then to see what consumers are actually buying!
I guess the death of Prince and Syria are two different bits of two different pies... Somewhere close to you some homeless dude wishes to talk to somebody, while on the other side of Milkyway a planet full of conscious life forms waits for a nearby red giant go supernova which will wipe them out and turn all they were into star dust.
Come with me and you'll see the world of pure imagination...
If you want to join military be my guest, but your reason to go there is not about protecting Ukraine. If you don't get that US nor Europe will never intervene in Ukraine to then there's no talkingto you anyways. You want to be told what to do every day, you want people to tell you what's black and white, you desire discipline and you want to adapt a set of values. Ukraine is just an excuse ideology. I need soldiers, yes. So I don't need to fight someone's wars and experience the horrors of war. God bless natural selection.
Prince, thank you for this moment of epiphany. Purple rain, puuuurple rain.
You can check everything I wrote about. Nobody will drop soldiers over Ukraine. You've been away for very long.
However I do not agree with you that US brings good. You act in the best interest of your country, businesses and people using them, whether it is good or wrong is irrelevant. You do what you are capable of, every living organism is geared to expand. This is what molecules do if given enough time and favorable circumstances. There is no way in the whole world you can talk about good in Middle East, since from 1930s you traded with the most horrible people in the region, that is Saudis, and turned the whole place to mess we have today and for years to come. Again at Europe's and China's benefit. Then you sped up evolution of human race by expanding the use of fossil fuels, you injected free market economy. It's no good and evil man, just a lifestyle, that right now turns to wasteful crap we buy at Wallmart for money we don't have.
If we ever get to nuclear fusion and hopefully birth control (2kids per family) world will look like a different place, I am looking forward to it. You guys in military won't need to stick your heads out so much. I am thankful for your work but not any more than for my accountant , engineer coworker or lady cleaning toilets. We need each other in a very cold way, let's leave feelings for our close ones
Cheers mate!
But yea, keep bringing up Nazis, makes you feel better about yourself for sure. Such inmoral people those brown shirt basterds. Monsters! Thank our good Lord we don't have such people inthe world anymore. Jesus is proud of America. Not from gay martiage though.
I'd say better chain angle isn't the only benefit.
With di2 becoming more affordable, even people wanting one less lever to operate may consider 2x11.
And with the different paths chosen by Sram vs Shimano I'm curious to see the outcome.
112 vs 211!
Personally if I had to chose between 1x12 Eagle and electronic 2x XTR, my heart would go for Eagle. Di2 does not convince me at all. I cannot justify electronics on MTBs just for the sake of: "it's easier to push the button".
www.ihpva.org/HParchive/PDF/hp50-2000.pdf
Interesting that efficiency went up with chain tension.
Whaaaat year you say!?
Having said that... Single rings for life!
Over 10 years ago I thought, what's the point of having a granny ring so I started using a 11-23 cassette and I still don't use my 26t granny but it's there just in case. I use the 44t though.
I can't stand having a jump of more 2t on the back so I'll be keeping my close ratio gearing
images.hgmsites.net/med/top-gear-er-ev-2_100233721_m.jpg
I hope SRAM's drive train works better than that car.
If you are having a hard time finding enough items to for the Bad Month section, do something more interesting than inverting Good Month items into Bad Month items or change the article title to "Good Month or Good Month".
i guess if the answer "it looks cool Brah!" then i cant argue
Looks damn sexy though!
a href="http://www.bikemag.com/gear/bikes/all-mountain-bikes-gear/alchemy-arktos/#fjIu4tLKq3KjlUKX.97" rel=nofollow">Bike Mag/a>br />
www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/interbike-2015/first-look-alchemy-arktos-mountain-bike
singletrackworld.com/2015/09/alchemy-arktos-is-the-belle-of-the-interbike-2015-ball
www.bikeradar.com/us/mtb/news/article/alchemy-changes-tack-with-carbon-full-sus-ride-45256
"a carbon full suspension mountain bike that is partially constructed in the United States."
They likely cut the mold as that's the easier part. Why they aren't constructing the rear triangle in their shop is beyond me though.
But, if a SRAM guide ring becomes my only option, I will certainly get the 36 instead of the Lyrik on the next bike.
Also, which is the first nation America looks to for backing in these invasions? Us. And we oblige by joining in as well.
Think before you speak. Any good troll would at least have a fact or two to spout.
can you notice anything here? how about finally embracing gearboxes, as they are inarguably superior?
Let's see: terrible spacing (20% jumps 10 to 12 and 42 to 50), 10 speed wasted between 12 and 42, significantly heavier weight, terrible chain line, and mandatory long cage derailleur that will be oh so great in rocky terrain!
The range? A dual 26 38 has significantly more range. And perfect spacing, 22 speed, medium cage derailleur.
Isn't this true every year...