The Build Basking in the golden light of… winter?
Photo: Dave Mackie.
I headed out to Pinkbike.com headquarters in early January to build up the
Cove Handjob that was being used for this writeup and arrived to find the pearl red frame clamped into the work stand for inspection.
The Handjob is constructed from custom Tange Prestige chromoly tubing and is designated as Cove’s xc / trail hardtail frame. The 17.5” disc-only frame is designed around a 110mm travel fork, weighs in at 2177 grams / 4.8lbs (2086 grams / 4.6lbs claimed) and sports a 68.5 degree head angle along with a reasonable 23” horizontal top tube. The headtube is 1 1/8”, so you’ll be able to find your fork of choice, but remember to pick something that matches the beefy gusset on the shaped downtube, because the Handjob was designed to handle most of the descents you can throw at it. The finish on the frame looks great although the tester had a small gap in the weld bead along the headtube by the downtube gusset. Also, the headtube and the bottom bracket of the frame weren’t faced, which would’ve been a nice value added touch.
A note on sizing: I’m usually between a medium and a large when it comes to frame sizing, and I opted for the smaller 17.5” frame with the test Handjob. When I first hopped on the fully built bike I was concerned that it was a touch small but the size was never really an issue at any point, although I had to run an extra long seatpost to get proper post insertion and leg extension. If you’re interested in the frame, definitely try to check out a full build or be sure about your measurements before you order.
The Shimano Alfine hub and its eight speeds of reliable shifting action.
I built up the Cove using the same wheels that were bolted to the Chromag commuter – Alex Supra 28 rims in chrome laced to a Shimano XT 20mm hub up front and the eight-speed Shimano Alfine SG-500 hub in the rear. The real wheel is a bit of a pig -- it weighs in at just over 2600 grams -- while the front is a more reasonable 1060 grams. Since the Handjob employs vertical dropouts, I needed a tensioner to keep the drivetrain running smoothly and went with the stock Alfine device from Shimano. The Alfine RapidFire Plus trigger shifter controlled shifting duties and employed the relatively common push-pull method for changing gears, although the system performs in low normal (ie. rapid rise). I routed the shift cable and housing along the downtube and drive-side chainstay of the frame to get a clean, uninterrupted setup. I decided on the stock 20t driver for the hub, giving me the range equivalent of a 12-38 cassette. Shimano XT 760 cranks (175mm, 32t chainring, 36t e.13 Supercharger bash guard), a Chris King bottom bracket, and a SRAM 990 chain rounded out the drivetrain.
The cockpit is made of select bits from Easton, Shimano, ODI, and Thomson.
Braking duties were taken care of by Shimano’s SLX brakes (Shimano 6” Centrelock rotors) that were clamped to a Thomson X4 stem (70mm, 31.8mm) and an Easton EA70 handlebar (685mm wide, 31.8mm, low rise). The headset was a Crank Bros Opium C, and the cups pressed in nicely using the Park Tools headset press – no problems at all for all you worriers out there. Suspension duties were taken care of by the 2009 RockShox Revlation Air U-Turn (110mm-140mm) with 20mm Maxle Lite.
The 2010 Panaracer CG XC 2.1” tire. As recommended, the tire was mounted in both rotational directions during the test.
I started the test on some new tires from Panaracer’s 2010 Cedric Gracia signature tire lineup. The Panaracer CG XC 2.1” tires weighed in at a competitive 580 grams and use what Panaracer calls ComboCompound, which is a softer durometer rubber covered by a harder outer ‘shell’ that is intended to provide good traction while maintaining greater wear life. The tread pattern features reasonably shaped side knobs and a lower-profile centre ridge that is comprised of blocks in a CG shape. The tires lack the directional arrows because Gracia feels the rider should make the final decision on their rides, not marketing folk. I mounted the tires with tubes in the traditional direction and aired them up to 30/32 psi (front / rear) before rolling the 30lb bike out the door for a couple months of winter thrashing.
What’s in a name? When I brought the bike home, my nine year old kid came running around the back of the car to look at the frame and the first thing she asked was, “What’s a Handjob?” After I made it clear that she was to call it ‘The Cove’ from then on, the next person to see the bike was my mom and, while she didn’t actually say anything about the name, I could hear her screaming inside while she commented about how she liked that the paint was so shiny and red. Similarly, when I was stopped at a light with the bike on my rear facing rack, I’d often take a quick look in the mirror to see if the driver behind me would read the labels on the frame; most people laughed and pointed the name out to their friends and family although a particularly elderly gentleman and his wife both shook their heads and frowned disapprovingly.
What I’m getting at here is that you need thick skin or a sense of humour (or both) to put up with the attention that the name attracts – it could be a blessing or a curse, depending on your preference / personality. I learned to live with it and occasionally laugh about it, but I’m a pretty serious guy…
The Ride We’ve had an unseasonably warm winter here in southwest British Columbia and, while the lack of snow might have troubled the organizers of the Vancouver Winter Games, it has made for pretty good riding at a time of year when most people are struggling to deal with the winter blues. The warm and tacky conditions lasted throughout January and February and gave me plenty of time to enjoy the woods while giving the Handjob and Alfine the gears.
General impressions Rolling through some sweet British Columbia singletrack.
Photo: Dave Mackie
Coming from a full suspension setup, I was a little skeptical about going back to a hardtail after a few years but, overall, I was pretty impressed by the Handjob’s prowess on the trails. The first few rides were spent getting used to the frame, adjusting to the shifter action, playing with tire pressure, and dialing in the rest of the components. Off the top, the most noticeable characteristic of the bike was how quiet it was, since there were no creaks in the seatpost, no chainslap on the stay, and no noise from the silent clutch rear hub other than a mechanical growling sound when I was pedaling backwards in gears 5 to 8. Other than that, the only real noises came from the rumble of the tires rolling on the trail.
The steel-tubed Handjob was an all-round comfortable ride that smoothed out trail chatter and longer rides resulted in no physical discomfort. The frame was stiff without being harsh and I was able to ride most of the terrain I hit regularly on my 4” travel full-suspension bike. When the going got rough, I had no problem keeping the Handjob together, although I was occasionally reminded about the importance of line choice and staying smooth by a loud ‘clang’ on the rear rim.
The Shimano Alfine RapidFire Plus trigger shifter controlled the shifting action of the hub and served up eight indexed speeds. I had to fine tune the hub by turning the barrel adjuster at the shifter until the two indicator lines on the hub were aligned and, after that was done, the unit was pretty reliable for the duration of the test. Shifting at all times was predictable, although when up shifting into a harder gear it was important to push the thumb paddle to its limit in order to ensure an accurate shift; downshifting was a straightforward pull of the trigger and was decent under most situations. I’m not a huge fan of the shift indicator on the Alfine shifter and, on a permanent setup, I’d take a Dremel to the thing so it could better accommodate most brake lever setups. However, I didn’t want to mangle the test product and ended up mounting the shifter pretty far inboard so I could run the SLX lever bodies in an appropriate position.
The Panaracer CG XC 2.1” tires rolled well during the first part of the test, but most of those kilometers were put on during non-technical doubletrack rips that favoured distance over technical terrain. On these rides, the Panaracers felt like typical xc tires in that they were fast with mediocre traction on loose climbs and sketchy descents. When early season conditions changed from ‘totally mint’ to ‘still excellent but a little wet’, I began riding more technical terrain, replete with roots and rocks and steeps and it was during these rides that the limitations of the tires became evident.
As mentioned earlier, the CG XCs weren’t particularly effective in hooking up on loose climbs and they weren’t great on the babyhead-infested climbs that populate the hills around my place. During aggressive descents, the tires broke loose in unsettling fashion while railing corners and slid out like crazy on wet and dry roots. At this point, I began to experience rear pinch flats on trails that had never caused me grief in the past so I boosted tire pressure in 2psi increments, moving from 32psi up to 38psi and losing traction all the way up the scale. Despite the changes, I continued to get the same type of flat and after a half-dozen failures in under ten rides, I swapped out the tires for a setup that I knew was more dependable than the Panaracer duo.
Shimano’s SLX brakes were easy to set up for one-finger braking and dialing in the lever to my preferred distance using the no-tools reach adjustment was a piece of cake. The brakes felt solid when fully engaged and modulated well, which is as important a trait as overall power. I was a little worried about the stamped brake lever, but I didn’t have any issues with flex or breakage during the review period.
Climbing Climbing chops? Check.
Photo: Dave Mackie
With the RockShox Revelation U-Turn dialed down to 110mm travel, the Cove Handjob handled most climbs with aplomb. As mentioned above, the trail smoothing traits associated with chromoly took the edges off the roughest parts of each climb while maintaining a planted rear wheel that hooked up under load. I found that the front end of the Handjob wandered a little on steep climbs, thanks partly to the relatively slack headangle, the 70mm stem, and my
choice of music for the day, but it wasn’t too bad and I never wished I was on the larger 19.5” frame or considered moving to a longer stem.
While I was cruising around on relatively flat terrain, the gearing range of the Alfine hub proved totally adequate for my needs but when the hills got steep, I found myself wishing for a bailout gear that was just a little easier than what I had. The 8 speed Alfine hub has a gearing range of 307%, which means that the eighth gear is 3.07x higher than the first gear. Unlike some of the other IGHs out there, the Alfine forgoes even increments throughout the shifting range and, on occasion, I found that one gear was too high but the next one down was too low (or vice-versa). Additionally, shifting was mediocre under load and, while it was usually pretty easy to let off the gas a bit to enable a shift, there were climbs on almost every ride that ended when I couldn’t make a shift and didn’t want to blow out my knees to finish the grade.
Descending The rougher line is no problem on the Handjob.
Photo: Dave Mackie
Like much of southwest BC, many of the trail riding in my area is characterized by sustained climbs followed by sustained descents which, typically, means 45+ minutes of climbing followed by 10-15+ minutes of descending per lap. For this reason, it’s useful to have an adjustable travel fork, decent brakes, and a frame that’s capable of swinging both ways.
I was impressed after the first real descents on the Handjob because it handled everything that I ride with my fully, even if the overall experience was a little slower and a little rougher than what I was used to. The Cove absolutely rips on buff singletrack with fast power transfer from the drivetrain to the wheels and a descent-friendly head angle. It corners well, although I was thrown around in rooty, off-camber turns and in rock gardens because I couldn’t ride it like a dump truck over everything that cropped up in front of me.
At the start of the review, most the descending was done with the Revelation set at 125mm although, towards the end of the test period, I started running the fork at 140mm which totally changed the way the Handjob handles (in a good way even though it’s pushing the boundaries of warranty coverage). Steering instantly became more relaxed and I could really push into corners and down steeps with a confidence that wasn’t quite there with a little less travel.
Shifting performance during descents was fine, although the positioning of the shifter made changing gears a little awkward since the shifter was mounted so far towards the centre of the bike. As with climbing, I felt that the Alfine hub would benefit from a greater gearing range although for descents it was more common to run out of higher gears.
The SLX brakes were consistent and predictable performers. The levers were easy to dial in for one-finger braking and, while I would have preferred the added stopping power provided by 7” rotors, the 6” discs kept me honest. I didn’t experience any brake fade during the review, although the rear brake occasionally pumped up during extended descents.
Closing thoughts After spending a couple of months on the Cove Handjob / Shimano Alfine setup, I can definitely see the appeal of a bike built around an internally geared hub like the Alfine. The hub offers a clean setup that requires minimal maintenance and, when combined with a frame built for single speeds, provides a slick minimalist look. Although the Alfine hub isn’t rated for rigorous off road use, I didn’t have any mechanical issues with the hub over many days of riding on a few hundred kilometers of trail. I felt that the weight of the wheelset was anchor like at times, so I spent more time cruising on the Handjob than I do on other bikes but aside from that, it was business as usual. It climbed well enough and screamed through descents in a capable fashion that, to be honest, surprised me a bit.
In 2011, Shimano is set to introduce a new 11 speed Alfine hubset, with an improved gearing range, more consistent steps between gears (409% range, 8x13% and 2x17%), an internal bath lubrication system, and a revised trigger shifter that appears to address most of my major criticisms of the hub.
Frame - $669.99 US MSRP or $699.99 CDN MSRP.
The Cove Handjob is a dependable and totally sweet frame. Aside from some minor finishing issues at the headtube and the bottom bracket, the frame was a pleasure to ride.
Hubset.
The Shimano Alfine was pretty much set and forget although I would have appreciated better shift performance under load, larger gearing range, and consistent steps between gears. A frame with horizontal dropouts or an eccentric bottom bracket would remove the need for a chain tensioner and result in a cleaner overall look (and lower weight).
Brakes - $225 CDN MSRP each.
Shimano's SLX disc brakes are consistent and predictable performers. I didn’t experience any brake fade during the review although the rear brake occasionally pumped up during extended descents. 6” rotors didn’t provide enough stopping power.
Tires - $59.99 CDN MSRP each. Although they were fast rolling and maintained a competitive weight, the
Panaracer CG XC 2.1" tires didn’t make it through the review because of mediocre traction on gravel, roots, and rocks, and a susceptibility to pinch flats in rough terrain.
seriously...handjob!?
dont forget the G-Spot and the hooker hahah
Cool review anyway - heard about those shimano hubs a while back but wasn't overly convinced.
Prostitute is better.
Sometimes jokes go a bit too far and you end up with lots of sh* in your head...
holy shit, just saw their website... G-spot looks nice... wait lets rephrase that. "G-Spot feels nice, That's what she said"
I'd love to see a destruction test on the Alfine - just how much abuse can it take? Rohloff is good but they gotta get the weight and price down - waaaay down!
I wouldn't not buy a bike because of the name - whack on a sticker and your are back to a 'G' rating (unless the sticker is one of those 'Slap On' chicks, but you wouldn't want to run those as they mean you have no partner).
I had no problem keeping the Handjob together, although I was occasionally reminded about the importance of line choice and staying smooth by a loud ‘clang’
at 140mm which totally changed the way the Handjob handles (in a good way even though it’s pushing the boundaries of warranty coverage)
so I spent more time cruising on the Handjob
oh man, i giggled lots
I found the engagement on the Alfine to be pretty good, definitely not in the 20 degree range. After riding for a bit, I did find that there was a bit of mushiness after shifting into gears 5 through 8 (the hub would shift, but there would be a bit of dead, 'soft' space before it felt like I could lay the power down) although in gears 1 through 4, the shifting was bang on and pretty quick, similar to a higher end standard hub.
One question - will you have a long term test on it? I'd like to know how long the Alfine lasts commuting. How well will it engage after a year? The attraction to this is its set and forget feature, if that's actually true.
Another question - will you ever get a brighter jersey for pictures?
Re. putting on some serious road / commuting miles on the hub, I don't have a commute and as a general policy I don't ride on the road, so my input on something like this would be limited. I'm not sure if that answers your question but I'm not a commuter so I can't look at the hub from that angle.
For this test, I got about 450 off road kms on the hub and had no real issues with shifting after setting it up. I did need to readjust after taking the wheel off to repair flats, but that's it.
Re. jerseys, I've got a wardrobe full of black and brown t-shirts. I thought the Punisher skull might brighten things up a bit but, well, it didn't. Next time I'll rock a Fassa Bartolo jersey or something.
Great article, great photos btw (hard to see the tensioner set-up though.)
www.pinkbike.com/photo/4796998
I think the chain lost a couple links after that photo.
The Alfine tensioner doesn't allow you to minimize your chain length like some of the aftermarket tensioners out there. Both DMR and Paul make some that allow you to run the chain almost parallel with the chainstay but they weren't subject to this test.
the shimano SIS 5 speed deralier - the ultimate tensioner!
Unless you can't read or you have predefine opinion on a product before riding it, this is what he said about the hub:
1- revised trigger shifter that appears to address most of my major criticisms of the hub
2 - The hub offers a clean setup that requires minimal maintenance and, when combined with a frame built for single speeds, provides a slick minimalist look. Although the Alfine hub isn’t rated for rigorous off road use, I didn’t have any mechanical issues with the hub over many days of riding on a few hundred kilometers of trail. I felt that the weight of the wheelset was anchor like at times, so I spent more time cruising on the Handjob than I do on other bikes but aside from that, it was business as usual. It climbed well enough and screamed through descents in a capable fashion that, to be honest, surprised me a bit.
Ride it you will see.
I'm using it to go work and light cross country action for the past year in any conditions (winter/rain/mud) and it never failed me and always got precise speed changes. I only need to clean and oil my chain to get a perfect shifting all the time. You just need to keep in mind that you are riding an internal speed system and not a 15omm axle and you will love it!
"While I was cruising around on relatively flat terrain, the gearing range of the Alfine hub proved totally adequate for my needs but when the hills got steep, I found myself wishing for a bailout gear that was just a little easier than what I had. The 8 speed Alfine hub has a gearing range of 307%, which means that the eighth gear is 3.16x higher than the first gear. Unlike some of the other IGHs out there, the Alfine forgoes even increments throughout the shifting range and, on occasion, I found that one gear was too high but the next one down was too low (or vice-versa). Additionally, shifting was mediocre under load and, while it was usually pretty easy to let off the gas a bit to enable a shift, there were climbs on almost every ride that ended when I couldn’t make a shift and didn’t want to blow out my knees to finish the grade."
So the only issue is that the people that make that hub thing just need to tweek the gear ratios...
kind of ironic eh?
I have ridden a 15.5" Stiffee and I found that it was quite hard to handle.