Pinkbike Product Picks
Chromag Seat QR
Chromag's Seat QR follows the same ethos as the rest of their component lineup: strong, simple and different for a reason. The CNC polished and hard anodized clamp uses a long QR lever that supplies plenty of leverage, and features rounded edges that won't bite into your hand. It's clamping force is directed through a machined brass bushing that contacts the entire surface area of the lever's cam, allowing it to pivot smoothly without any binding. Holding everything together is a burly 6mm bolt (most clamps use a 4 or 5mm bolt) that should resist any bending. The 50 gram clamp is available in 30, 32, 35 and 36.5mm (Trek) sizes, as well as black, pewter, red, gold, blue and green colours. It retails for $49 USD. www.chromagbikes.com
![Chromag Seat QR]()
Pinkbike's Take:
OtterBox Defender iPhone 4 case
With the iPhone 4's greatly improved camera and video capabilities, not to mention the combined convenience of having a phone and a decent point-and-shoot camera in one, more and more riders are taking theirs on rides to document their adventures. Taking your fancy phone into the bush means that you'll have to splurge on some serious protection for it, though, with OtterBox's Defender series case being one of the more popular options. The Defender consists of three different elements: an inner, rigid polycarbonate shell with a felt liner on the back side, a soft silicone outer layer for shock absorption and better grip, and a thick, clear screen protector that is far more rigid than the cheaper stick-on jobs that you see everywhere. It also comes with a belt clip if you want to get your nerd on. All of the phones buttons and ports can be accessed without removing the case, and it comes from OtterBox with a one year warranty against defects. There are many different color combinations of rubber and plastic to choose from. The OtterBox Defender retails for $49.95 USD on their website. www.otterbox.com
![Product Picks]()
Pinkbike's Take:
Oakley Jawbone glasses
The Jawbone features Oakley's distinctive frame styling, as well as their Switchlock™ system that allows for quick and easy changing of the lens'. Simply pivot out the nose piece to allow the lower portion of the frame to swing away, letting you slip one lens out and the other in. The nose piece itself can also be swapped out for different shapes to let you find the best fit for your face, and the frame has been designed to allow for a degree of flex so as not to incur any pressure points over time. Rubberized sleeves on the arms help to hold them in place. The Jawbone is available in many different frame and lens color combinations (as well as Oakley prescription lenses), and comes with a protective Oakley Soft Vault case to keep them safe when they are not being worn. Prices start at $250.00 USD. www.oakley.com
![Oakley Jawbone glasses]()
Pinkbike's Take:
Chromag's Seat QR follows the same ethos as the rest of their component lineup: strong, simple and different for a reason. The CNC polished and hard anodized clamp uses a long QR lever that supplies plenty of leverage, and features rounded edges that won't bite into your hand. It's clamping force is directed through a machined brass bushing that contacts the entire surface area of the lever's cam, allowing it to pivot smoothly without any binding. Holding everything together is a burly 6mm bolt (most clamps use a 4 or 5mm bolt) that should resist any bending. The 50 gram clamp is available in 30, 32, 35 and 36.5mm (Trek) sizes, as well as black, pewter, red, gold, blue and green colours. It retails for $49 USD. www.chromagbikes.com
Chromag's Seat QR is a small, and not inexpensive, piece of kit that we're big fans of.
Pinkbike's Take:
 | A seat post quick release is a rather simple thing, which is why it's so strange that many companies seem to muck it up. Chromag certainly does not, though, with their strapping QR. It likely weighs a touch more than some of the featherweight options out there, but anyone who has had a QR lever bend or snap on them would gladly make that tradeoff any day. We now have four seasons of riding on the original, bushing-less design and don't have a single complaint, with it functioning flawlessly throughout that time. The QR's tension adjust bolt is still straight, as is the lever itself, and cam mechanism has yet to show any appreciable wear. Sure the finish has faded some, but what component's wouldn't after four years of use? With many riders making the move to telescoping seat posts you'll likely see less QR clamps around, but if you are still fighting that movement you'll want to have a look at the Chromag Seat QR. Those who have jumped to a dropper post should check out Chromag's NQR clamp. No, a $30 seat post clamp isn't going to be for everyone, especially if your's is working just fine, but the Seat QR is a nice bit of kit that we'll continue to use and be stoked with. - Mike Levy |
OtterBox Defender iPhone 4 case
With the iPhone 4's greatly improved camera and video capabilities, not to mention the combined convenience of having a phone and a decent point-and-shoot camera in one, more and more riders are taking theirs on rides to document their adventures. Taking your fancy phone into the bush means that you'll have to splurge on some serious protection for it, though, with OtterBox's Defender series case being one of the more popular options. The Defender consists of three different elements: an inner, rigid polycarbonate shell with a felt liner on the back side, a soft silicone outer layer for shock absorption and better grip, and a thick, clear screen protector that is far more rigid than the cheaper stick-on jobs that you see everywhere. It also comes with a belt clip if you want to get your nerd on. All of the phones buttons and ports can be accessed without removing the case, and it comes from OtterBox with a one year warranty against defects. There are many different color combinations of rubber and plastic to choose from. The OtterBox Defender retails for $49.95 USD on their website. www.otterbox.com
The OtterBox Defender case provides a lot of protection, but it's also massive and the silicone cover is prone to tearing.
Pinkbike's Take:
| Installing the Defender case around your phone is a simple job, with the plastic pieces snapping together easily and the rubber stretching over top. The amount of protection provided by the Defender puts all of those simple (and less expensive) plastic cases to shame, with my iPhone not receiving a single scratch, dent or crack during the eight months that it spent in its plastic and rubber cocoon. The thicker than average screen protector had me questioning if it would deaden the touchscreen's abilities, but that wasn't the case, with it carrying on like it wasn't even there. The phone's hold, volume, power and home buttons are all easily reached, but the case won't play nice with most stereos that use an iPhone dock to play music, with the Defender's body keeping the phone's bottom port from fully engaging. There is plenty of room for the regular Apple power cord. The Defender has some drawbacks, with its 123 x 68 x 17mm dimensions making it quite a bit less convenient to slip the phone into your pocket, and the rubber coating making it far harder to get back out, often pulling the pocket inside out as you do so. The outer silicone cover also fits quite poorly over top of the plastic shell, with it constantly peeling off at the corners. In fact, both of our Defender test cases are now sporting torn corners where it has constantly pulled free from use, as well as missing port covers. Glare is also quite high, but we've had that same complaint about any screen coverings that we've tried. We can't argue the fact that the Defender provides a massive amount of protection, something that is key if you plan on taking your iPhone on rides with you, but we expected more from a $49.95 USD chunk of plastic and rubber. We've now found ourselves putting the phone into the Defender case before heading out on a ride, even if the phone is just going into a backpack, and then taking it back out once we get home. It's a bit of an inconvenience, but one that we're willing to deal with to protect a phone worth hundreds of dollars. - Mike Levy |
Oakley Jawbone glasses
The Jawbone features Oakley's distinctive frame styling, as well as their Switchlock™ system that allows for quick and easy changing of the lens'. Simply pivot out the nose piece to allow the lower portion of the frame to swing away, letting you slip one lens out and the other in. The nose piece itself can also be swapped out for different shapes to let you find the best fit for your face, and the frame has been designed to allow for a degree of flex so as not to incur any pressure points over time. Rubberized sleeves on the arms help to hold them in place. The Jawbone is available in many different frame and lens color combinations (as well as Oakley prescription lenses), and comes with a protective Oakley Soft Vault case to keep them safe when they are not being worn. Prices start at $250.00 USD. www.oakley.com
The Jawbones cleared fog very quickly once moving, but we wish the arms stayed put.
Pinkbike's Take:
| We put our Jawbones together using Oakley's custom eyewear program that allows you to choose frame color, lens tint, and even have custom etching done on the lens itself, with the finished black and blue product looking great. Although fit will vary from rider to rider due to different head shapes, we found the Jawbone to be both quite comfortable and steady on our face, even over rough terrain. Swapping out the lens' takes only a minute, with the new ones clicking into place firmly, and the system never developed play over time. While they fogged up as quickly as anything else when stopped on the trail (our wet and cold Southwestern B.C. weather makes this nearly instantaneous), the venting on the lens' did wonders to help them clear quickly once we starting moving again. After a full year's worth of use we've discovered that both arms now have a tendency to easily detach from the frame, not in use, but when they are in their bag. Reattaching them only takes a few seconds, and it's probably better that they detach rather than snapping, but it does seem like an odd thing to have to put up with. - Mike Levy |
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I know its not $100, but still...
I do agree that there are several products on the market that are expensive without justification. CR bolts are a great example.
support local when you can, if you can't buy taiwan. but admittedly most shitty qr clamps coming from taiwan last about 6 months. If oiled sometimes, the chromag one will last forever. the real problem is the shitty frames made in taiwan that the clamp is mounted too. the seat tube O.D, and seat post I.D. diameters are never consistent enough to allow the qr to do a good job of clamping. the solution being pop can shims. or buying a good quality frame not made in taiwan. And if they can't get the diameter of the seat tube consistent, how good do you thing the important pats of the frames are? like the headset bore, or the bearing press i'd's?
if we want to save our world. we're all gonna have to realize we can't rely on shitty cheap stuff from taiwan forever.
Support local business, Save the world.
this means companies too. we all know lots of North American companies get lots of stuff made in Taiwan. This will have to change some way someday soon.
I also had no luck with the Hope seatclamp...or their QR skewers either!
lack of clamping torque, nasty lever shape and difficult closure action, with a tendency for the bolt to "banana" and snap over time
Hope make fantastic products like their hubs and lights, but their clamping hardware isn't something I could recommend
the Cromag QR looks solid, and its always great to pimp your ride with some domestically made bling, some riders like to support local production and pay the price premium, its their choice
another great seatclamp in both QR and Bolt is SALSA who designed theirs with a pivoting barrel for the bolt to screw into, which prevents the bolt bending and snapping over time - lots of other seatclamp makers copied this feature
i've dealt with taiwan. they're only interested in sending you boat loads of crap and getting you to pay for it before you realize its been made poorly. this happens to every company that deals with overseas production. it doesn't matter much with shoes or tv sets. but it sure does with handlebars, seatposts, or fork crowns and steerers.
unfortunately a north american product can fall subject to the same problems when the sales department needs to sell shit too.
the most important thing?
buy legitimately, if you can afford to. have spares, and warranty everything thats fails. buying shit on credit cards that have extended purchase protection is sweet too.
When people drop 50$ on a seatclamp they don't just buy a seatclamp, they also buy peace of mind.
i ebayed a cheap £3 thing and it lasted me for 3 years now, without any issues. Now what do i get for the additional cost that justifies it to be that much?
www.pinkbike.com/photo/7083732
And looking out of place?! its a seat clamp, you know that little thing that no one looks and pays attention to? I mean yes i like to have decent and luxury components, but i also apply common sense when buying this stuff, Something ride crucial could be spent a little more on. But seat clamp, i ride a DH bike i barely sit down anyway.
I now have the (older type) Hope on my hardtail and the NC17 (which, to me, is the best) on the fully. It isn't too hard really. If it looks like it might snap, it will. And you will get hurt when it does. If the lever is long, it will be easier to operate so there is less holding you back from doing so. It will revolutionize your riding, or whatever they are currently saying about those adjustable seatposts nowadays.
Keep up the banter. Its hilarious to read these comments by folks irate over the $50 price tag. I can only imagine that cromag employees are holding tazers to their nuts, ready to hit the switch if they don't shell out for the clamp. Why else would they be so upset?
Also, I left my iPhone 4 on the roof of my car and drove off at all sorts of speeds. To be fair, it came off my roof (VW Golf) at about 60km/h and once I collected the remains of the completely destroyed otter box Defender, the phone only had a smashed front screen. The back didn't even have a scratch; *HOWEVER* the iphone was 'bent' about 1mm which caused me to not be able to hear anyone speaking to me, and they could not hear me. Even with a replaced mic and ear speaker, but otherwise it worked fine. So it turned out to be a really sweet iphone 4 iPod basically. Got a refurbished one from apple for $220 though
Expensive, but without the doubt the coolest and best working riding glasses out there!
exactly the same, but skinnier lense.
... so again I have to tick the non existent "None of the above" box!
Because its for the mountain biking market "Lets rip 'em off and charge what we like"
I bet this item is mass produced at a cost of about £0.50p an item !
I'm getting fed up with it, especially in the UK !!