Randoms: Crankworx Rotorua 2017
Number plates ready for riders must mean it's race season.
It's time. The official kickoff to Crankworx for 2017 was last Friday here in Rotorua, with the opening ceremonies followed by a weekend of (wet and wild) enduro racing as the first stop of the 2017 EWS season swung into gear, but it really hasn't been until the last day or so that the festival has felt like it is starting. With the Expo area filling with brand displays and tents, riders arriving and filling the area, it's now that we see it all building for what should be a wild remainder to the week here in Rotorua.
Athletes passes are ready for pickup
We've rolled through the pits during the many rain squalls that were seen during the course of the day and came across a couple of hidden gems among the masses. Below is a taste of what we found. Be sure to stay tuned for the remainder of the week as we look to find more interesting items here in New Zealand.
New Zealand Manufacturer – CXP Components
Bruno Pfister, the owner of New Zealand's CXP Components, moved to the country from Switzerland 17 years ago. Two years later he opened his bike shop, Cycle Express in Auckland and now, just two years ago, he started manufacturing his own parts in the shop. His daughter is big into BMX and as a result (sixth in her age category in New Zealand), Bruno also manufactures a range of BMX race components and has some of the countries top athletes on them. Bruno himself is a mountain biker, so it was only natural that he wanted to have a go at building parts where his own passion lay, too. This is a selection of parts from his range.
CXP machine narrow/wide chainrings for a range of mounting options. They use high-grade aircraft aluminum and don't use too many intricate designs, noting that those result in an extra cost that is passed onto the consumer.
The rings feature chamfers in the low points between the teeth to help shed dirt and mud.
The 30t ring mounted to the Shimano SLX crank. Another ring option for those looking to run a smaller ring that isn't direct mount.
Apparently Steve of Vorsprung in Whistler just ordered a set of these shock service clamps for the workshop, noting that the value on these was something he couldn't find on the other side of the world.
Lightweight chainguides are all the rage, and CXP is in the mix.
Beerspanners anyone?
NZ BMX pride (and look at those wild cranks!)
Two-week old prototype stem. Lot's of work to do here yet (remove material to drop weight, tolerance and stress testing to name a few), but they're stoked to be working on a stem.
Top caps with an integrated 5mm spacer to clean up the cockpit above the stem.
New Zealand Manufacturer – Revolution Components
We first stumbled across Christchurch, New Zealand's, Revolution Components, when we spotted the crazy dinner plate sized chainring on the Excalibur bike below. This discovery led us to find out more and we learned that the brand has a wide range of chainrings, cassette extenders, derailleur hangers, Hope axles, and even alloy Garmin attachments for when you break your plastic mount. Brand owners, James and Richard, deal with their own distribution and sell a lot of parts through their website in order to try and keep their prices competitive. This also means that if you're not in New Zealand, you can still get their parts and they do already ship to parts of Europe and North America from web store sales.
The dinner plate that peaked our interest. This here is a 120t ring and the bike was to be used in an attempt to try and set the world record for highest assisted drafting speed on a bike.
Expander cassettes for 11-speed SRAM cassettes.They also cover 10-speed options.
Proudly made in New Zealand.
One of their first narrow/wide rings. This ring design was originally done for 1x9 setups, after noticing an early prototype for 11-speed on a World Cup XC racers bike about 5 years ago. Revolution Components covers 32 chainring mounting configurations, including Middleburn and white industries.
Want to run an XT ring on your RaceFace cranks? This spider has you covered.
An alloy replacement for your broken Garmin mount? Epoxy this bad boy in place and you're ready to go.
Oval granny ring? These are available in 22-26 tooth configurations 2x setups. The guys at Revolution believe oval is only any good for climbing and came up with this option for those still running 2x setups.
Giant DH Bikes Over the Years
The Giant ATX1 DH bike was one that was incredibly popular in the late 90's and it was great to not only see one on display in Rotorua today but also to see the progression over the years from there on. Looking at this it's not hard to see that there were some larger design amends in the earlier years, though farther apart. Once the Maestro system came into use the frame hasn't seen as drastic of a change. Still, it's fun to see how the lines of the design have changed over the years, to the sleeker, more streamlined look of the modern Giant Glory Advanced of today.
Zerode Taniwha is now available in an extra large frame size.
Trek had a couple of trick looking bikes out on display, including Brett Rheeder's bike that he piloted to his winning Joyride Slopestyle run last year.
Brandon Semenuk's Red Bull Rampage winning Session.
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would love to sport that get up at my next local event
(even so the weather probably completely dominated over any dis/advantages)
Sick riding by the way bud....https://www.pinkbike.com/video/465819/
Anyone disagreeing that the two look very similar is delusional...I'm staring at my nomad as we speak...basically the same bike. I'm sure the geo is different, and yes the swing arm is...but we're splitting hairs here really.
Was a simply observation...oh PB
Nomad vs Taniwha: different geometry, pivots in c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y different places (so basically everything that makes up a suspension bike), gearbox vs regular drivetrain, etc. etc.
But you're right, splitting hairs - you're the man.
There's probably a roadie cantilever brake on the Chainstays hiding behind the chainring.
Other guy: what happened?!
Bodycast: ran over a skittle and caught my chainring
Frame + transmission:
Zerode Taniwha frame with Fox Float X and Pinion P1.12 gearbox (600% range) - £4499
Santa Cruz Nomad frame with Rockshox Monarch RC3 - £2899
Eagle 12 speed drivetrain (500% range) – £1291 (Gold) £1232 (Black)
= £4190/£4131
Full bikes:
Zerode Taniwha with Rockshox Pike fork and Fox Float X rear shock - £5799
Santa Cruz Nomad CC XX1 Eagle build kit with Rockshox Lyrik and Rockshox Monarch rear shock - £5999
Yes, the prices may seem expensive at first glance but the Taniwha frame price includes the complete drivetrain (minus the chain). When compared to a like for like spec’d equivalent in the same category of bike then its actually very good value especially given the low maintenance required with the Taniwha. Its runs a 9 speed chain which is £14 to replace when it eventually wears.
The only thing to consider is the way it rides. Which by the way is mind blowing!
Was put onto Bruno by a mate to possibly build an offset chainring (instead of running spacers) and it would be able to be shipped.
From my brief dealings he is actually willing to help and get back to you on questions.
I love how this quote is below a picture showing them priced at $70. Yeah, ok....
You'll have to contact Bruno direct though (from the site) as the clamps aren't on the website as yet. Just say you saw 'em on Pinkbike.