ENVE, Gravity, Michelin - Sea Otter 2015
The new HDH handlebar bucks the trend from a few years ago of lower being better by sporting a whopping 46mm of rise in a package that measures 810mm wide. That's 10mm wider than their standard downhill handlebar and quite a bit taller, with ENVE saying that the shape has come via feedback from the Santa Cruz Syndicate race team. Taking a look back at the bikes raced by Greg, Steve and Josh show that they're often running a huge stack of spacers under their direct mount stems, and the HDH 'bar is going to let them ditch those spacers but keep their grips where they want them. The 267 gram handlebar is manufactured with a slightly different carbon layup compared to the regular DH 'bar due to the higher rise and extra width, and it retails for $175 USD.
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 The new HDH handlebar has 46mm of rise and is 810mm wide. |
ENVE's new carbon fiber MTN Stem might be mega-light, but it hasn't been designed with only cross-country racing in mind - it's available in 40 and 55mm options, as well as 70 and 85mm lengths. The shortest option weighs just 85 grams, with the 55mm length coming in at only 7 grams more, but ENVE says it has the ''best strength to weight ratio of any all-mountain stem on the market,'' which may or may not be enough to convince people that carbon is a good material choice for a stem. The $270 USD stem is manufactured at ENVE's headquarters in Ogden, Utah, with full unidirectional carbon construction, an aluminum faceplate and titanium hardware.
How does 92 grams for the 55mm long MTN Stem sound?
ENVE has gone with an aluminum faceplate and titanium hardware.
The Grid crankset is all about reliable performance at a reasonable price, with the setup costing $250 USD, including the bottom bracket. The arms are hollow forged from a single piece of 6066 aluminum, and Gravity uses steel pedal inserts to keep riders from pulling the threads out if they happen to suffer from a high-speed pedal strike. The spider isn't removable, but it does use a standard 104/64mm BCD that lets you mount up a wide range of chain rings, including the MegaTooth 'ring that comes stock from Gravity. The MegaTooth design employs slightly taller teeth than normal combined with a narrow / wide profile that is said to add up to great security. Arm length options include 170 and 175mm, and total weight with the 68/73mm bottom bracket is 785 grams.
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| Gravity's Grid crankset costs $250 USD and weighs 785 grams when you include the bottom bracket. |
Jerome Clementz may have had a rough off-season with regards to being injured, but he came back strong at the first Enduro World Series event of the year in Rotoura, New Zealand, to take the overall win aboard his Cannondale Jekyll. His bike is running a few interesting components, including a set of HT clipless pedals and a rather large direct mount chain ring. He's also running a Jekyll specific Pike fork that matches the Trail of a Lefty in order to maintain its feel. (50mm versus 43mm).
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| With a proprietary pull-shock and other neat bits, Jerome's Jekyll is a very interesting machine. |
Jerome has also just signed a contract with Michelin, and he said that he's excited to not just race with the new rubber, but to also help develop new tires for the French brand:
 | I race for Michelin and use the tires every day, but it's also a partnership about development. We do a lot of testing to try out new casings and compounds, so that's really interesting. We do a lot, and they always come with new stuff that they ask us to try, so it's good. This tire that's on my bike was mostly developed by Fabien Barel and Nicolas Voullioz, and this is really good right now. We'll try to find what's missing in the range and improve on it, so that's why they were interested to have me ride their tires. And also for me because it's not just about advertising, but also using my input with development. - Jerome Clementz |
Be sure to check out all of our Sea Otter Classic images in this gallery.
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27.5x2.35 Magic Mary on 38mm wide Light-Bicycle rim.... on my Lyrik. I was soooo happy to see this gap!!! Enough clearance to run it for dry days, and the crown is nowhere close to the tire on bottom-out (at least a full inch of space). Only concern is the side knobs and the arch during hard cornering
www.pinkbike.com/photo/12133066
Its the NS proof bar. These enves are lighter, less flex I'm sure, less rise but more sweep and a lot more money...if it had another half inch of rise I think I'd already be sold. Are there higher rise carbon bars out there?
I am 100kgs as well and I ride a 400$ (used) Mavic sx wheels which are maintaince free as well and if i brake a rim I will need only 100$ for the replacement.
I'm more excited about the crank just below the enve stem that's $20 cheaper and will probably outlast my bike.
My carbon rims have shrugged of hits that would have wrecked a alloy rim so there paying for themselves in the long run
Yes carbon is stronger than alloy, but all things fail and it just happens that alloy is much cheaper to replace. While it may not be the case with handlebars and stem, vast majority of carbon products are suspect to damage in exactly same way as aluminium, with rims being at the front line. I remember when carbon entered the gravity market the punchline was: it's so strong than if it cracks, the circumstances would have to be so tragic that it is the rider we should be worried about. Aaaand it may have been true back then, when first carbon DH frames came out, BUT a lot has changed since then and main selling point of all MTB products, that is weight, has corrupted that fantastic vision. Take note that kitchen scale and hanging scale has influenced MTB product design much more than clock. First carbon frames like GT, Nomad and V10 were made with big margin as nobody in the industry could really predict how it will play out on large scale, but then then majority of carbon products were sent on diet as alloys started catching up in weight department (2012 Aluminium Giant Reign weighed 100g more than carbon Nomad), wide aluminium rims got close to 400g, hence manufacturers like ENVE had to go down in order to compete on weight scale arena. It does not matter how strong it is, the reading on weight scale will give people second thoughts when confronted with price tag.
Also, you broke Ibis? 41mm? Wow. Impressive, how'd you manage that? Guy I work with thinks they're the best thing he's ever put on his bike,
The Gravity crank looks like a strong, reliable performer that comes in at a fair price. MSRP of a XT crank is $259 and a little bit heavier. I like more options for the poor, average-skilled riders like myself.
You have taken a stand against Carbon frames. A few bike makers have succeeded in making reliable aluminum frames that can compete with carbon - Liteville comes to mind. Do you have a plan in place to produce an aluminum Commencal chassis with similar strength and weight as your carbon competitors?
Carbon has improved. Aluminum has also improved. Aluminum is stable. If the thicknesses are the same and the alloy is the same, the frames will be all the same. Carbon is made by hand, and there are so many levels of construction. We can now buy a carbon frame for less than we can make an aluminum frame, so the question is: which carbon frame are we talking about?
Weight, of course, is important, and we are not the lightest. We never have been the lightest. I want our frames to be strong first, because we have to be sure that a big person can ride our bikes as hard as a small person. We cannot control who will be riding them. Nevertheless, our Meta V4 has all its tubes triple butted and its weight is quite competitive, while being extremely reliable for agressive riders. There is something about strength versus weight that most overlook. When you know that you are riding a bike that is strong enough, you never think about the bike. You only have to think about riding. When you are riding a light bike, you always must be thinking about how you will ride it through this and that, because always, there is the possibility that some component or the frame may not be strong enough. Our DH frame is three years old and the team has not broken one. Each year, they can sell them after the season.
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"noone needs carbon, man... especially not the recycling industry " (boobdesign)
It's getting ridiculous!
Hey Pinkbike, what's the scoop on them?