Pinkbike Product Picks
Tate Labs Bar Fly 3.0 MTB
Attaching a Garmin GPS device to your stem is a pretty simple process using Garmin's supplied mounts, so long as you're riding a cross-country bike with a long stem. On a trail bike, however, with 70mm or less of stem real estate to play, you can forget it: Garmin's bigger MTB friendly devices like the Edge 800 foul with the top of the steerer, or on shorter stems there's simply no room for the mount at all. That leaves you either attaching the mount to your bar - ugly, off centre, doesn't work great with riser bars - or looking for an aftermarket mount like this Bar Fly 3.0 from Tate Labs. The Bar Fly 3.0 clamps to the bar beside the stem and places a Garmin Edge series GPS device right above it. The clamp has been designed to be carbon bar friendly, sturdy enough not slip, and the computer interface to offer a very positive engagement with the Garmin. Tate Labs make the Bar Fly in the USA, and offers a lifetime crash replacement so you can use the “buy one and you're done” approach. MSRP $24.99 USD www.barflybike.com
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Pinkbike's Take:
Specialized Rime MTB shoes
Clipless mountain bike shoes tend to fall into one of two categories: light, stiff cross-country race shoes or heavy, robust downhill shoes. Specialized's Rime was one of the first shoes that didn't really fall into either camp, and wasn't a commuting shoe either, but rather reflected what riders really needs a pair of SPD shoes to do: be stiff enough to be efficient and avoid foot pain; comfortable enough to wear all day (thanks to Specialized's body geometry and the Boa lacing system); grippy enough for hike-a-bikes (thanks to a Vibram outsole); and finally, they look pretty good – neither too disco-slipper racey or storm tropper bulky. Specialized describes the Rime as blending “the protection and great fit needed for trail riding” and “a perfect shoe for the modern adventure seeker”. Sounds good, but how do they fare in the real world? The Rime is available in black or white. MSRP $180 USD www.specialized.com
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Pinkbike's Take:
On-One El Guapo Ancho flat handlebar and El Guapo Corto stem
British brand On-One is well known for its good value, no nonsense frames, but it's perhaps less well known for its aftermarket components. Those components continue the theme, with the 760mm wide flat handlebar and the 35mm long El Guapo Corto stem coming in at £29.99 and £39.99 respectively. The Yorkshire brand has been pushing the geometry envelope for years and aims this bar/stem combo squarely at riders of longer-travel 29ers who will appreciate a low rise wide bar to give extra leverage when cranking the bike over, and a super short stem to sharpen up the steering on increasingly slack modern 29er trail bikes. The 35mm stem weighs in at 127 grams and is neatly machined, while the 760mm bar is forged from 7075-T6 alloy, flat with a 9° backsweep and a sub 300 gram weight. The stem is also available in 45mm and 55mm lengths, and the bar is available with a rise of 20mm in either 760 or 810mm. MSRP for the bar is £29.99, stem £39.99 www.on-one.co.uk
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Pinkbike's Take:
Attaching a Garmin GPS device to your stem is a pretty simple process using Garmin's supplied mounts, so long as you're riding a cross-country bike with a long stem. On a trail bike, however, with 70mm or less of stem real estate to play, you can forget it: Garmin's bigger MTB friendly devices like the Edge 800 foul with the top of the steerer, or on shorter stems there's simply no room for the mount at all. That leaves you either attaching the mount to your bar - ugly, off centre, doesn't work great with riser bars - or looking for an aftermarket mount like this Bar Fly 3.0 from Tate Labs. The Bar Fly 3.0 clamps to the bar beside the stem and places a Garmin Edge series GPS device right above it. The clamp has been designed to be carbon bar friendly, sturdy enough not slip, and the computer interface to offer a very positive engagement with the Garmin. Tate Labs make the Bar Fly in the USA, and offers a lifetime crash replacement so you can use the “buy one and you're done” approach. MSRP $24.99 USD www.barflybike.com
Tate Labs' Bar Fly places a Garmin GPS device centrally over your stem, right where you want it for looking at on the fly. The lifetime crash replacement policy is great, too.
Pinkbike's Take:
 | It's fair to say my Garmin has revolutionised the way I ride. I use it to create and follow routes in unfamiliar areas; I use it as a heart rate monitor so I can pace myself more effectively, something that was handy during last year's Trans Provence; and I use it as my link to Strava - it's more accurate than a phone and it means my phone battery is fresh when I need it. The only difficulty in the past has been mounting it with a short stem (I'm using a 35mm On-One El Guapo). Luckily the Bar Fly has solved that problem, placing the Garmin in good position, centrally over the stem. I've already made use of the crash replacement service - I crashed on an innocuous piece of mossy concrete in a transition stage at the Trans Provence, something wrenched at the Garmin and the mount broke as a result. It was replaced quickly, so no complaints there, but it's worth noting that the mount certainly isn't indestructible. For the rest of the race I carried the Garmin in my pocket and really noticed how much I missed having the information in front of me - when you've got a 10km road climb to the next timed stage, it's kinda nice to have something to take your mind off the monotony of pedalling. If you're a Garmin user or you're contemplating getting one, a mount like the Bar Fly 3.0 is recommended. - Andy Waterman |
Specialized Rime MTB shoes
Clipless mountain bike shoes tend to fall into one of two categories: light, stiff cross-country race shoes or heavy, robust downhill shoes. Specialized's Rime was one of the first shoes that didn't really fall into either camp, and wasn't a commuting shoe either, but rather reflected what riders really needs a pair of SPD shoes to do: be stiff enough to be efficient and avoid foot pain; comfortable enough to wear all day (thanks to Specialized's body geometry and the Boa lacing system); grippy enough for hike-a-bikes (thanks to a Vibram outsole); and finally, they look pretty good – neither too disco-slipper racey or storm tropper bulky. Specialized describes the Rime as blending “the protection and great fit needed for trail riding” and “a perfect shoe for the modern adventure seeker”. Sounds good, but how do they fare in the real world? The Rime is available in black or white. MSRP $180 USD www.specialized.com
Much like Giro's Terraduro shoe, the Specialized Rime fills a gap between XC race and downhill shoes. The grippy Vibram sole makes hikes less awkward than they can be on XC shoes, and the well-fitting, lightweight upper combines with Specialized's Body Geometry insole to provide all day comfort.
Pinkbike's Take:
| As you can see, the shoes in the photo have had a lot of use and abuse. Over the last 18 months they have become my favourite MTB shoes, being used for everything from week-long bike packing epics, riding 100 miles per day, to lift-assisted enduro riding in the Alps and even commuting. Specialized's body geometry combines with the boa system and a nice synthetic upper to create all day comfort, the sole's stiff enough to feel efficient, while still making walking a breeze, whether you're heading into the coffee shop or scrambling up a slick, rocky trail. The cleat holes are well positioned, allowing you to get the cleat properly behind the ball of the foot (not always a given) and they're not so padded that when they get wet - which they do, a lot, here in the UK - they're able to dry out quickly. They're also quite roomy, allowing for the use of extra thick socks in the winter, while still feeling snug with thin summer socks. The Boa system has also proved faultless - it's a heavier duty version of the system on the RIme than that used on many lightweight race shoes. Given the amount these particular shoes have been used, they definitely win points for robustness. The Rime won't be the shoe of choice for cross-country racers, and won't provide the protection needed by downhill racers; for the rest of us who do a bit of everything, they're pretty much perfect. - Andy Waterman |
On-One El Guapo Ancho flat handlebar and El Guapo Corto stem
British brand On-One is well known for its good value, no nonsense frames, but it's perhaps less well known for its aftermarket components. Those components continue the theme, with the 760mm wide flat handlebar and the 35mm long El Guapo Corto stem coming in at £29.99 and £39.99 respectively. The Yorkshire brand has been pushing the geometry envelope for years and aims this bar/stem combo squarely at riders of longer-travel 29ers who will appreciate a low rise wide bar to give extra leverage when cranking the bike over, and a super short stem to sharpen up the steering on increasingly slack modern 29er trail bikes. The 35mm stem weighs in at 127 grams and is neatly machined, while the 760mm bar is forged from 7075-T6 alloy, flat with a 9° backsweep and a sub 300 gram weight. The stem is also available in 45mm and 55mm lengths, and the bar is available with a rise of 20mm in either 760 or 810mm. MSRP for the bar is £29.99, stem £39.99 www.on-one.co.uk
Tuning your position on bikes with different wheel sizes can be an expensive process. On-One offers the budget El Guapo bar and stem in a range of shapes and sizes, with the stem going all the way down to 35mm. The width of the flat bar is good, but we needed to roll it a long way forward to get some upsweep.
Pinkbike's Take:
| When I first built up the 150mm travel Orange 5 29er I was using a 740mm riser bar and a 60mm stem. The front end was high and unwieldy - I wanted to go shorter and lower, but would 35mm be too short? The good thing about On-One is their components are a good enough value that experimenting with your set-up isn't going to cost a fortune. Switching to such a short stem did take a little getting used to; on descents it feels great, but on climbs, where the speed is low and there's less weight on the front wheel, you really have to think a bit harder about where you're going. You soon get used to it, though, and the advantages on descents make up for the necessary learning. Flat bars only have sweep in one direction, so unlike a riser bar that might typically have 7 degree backsweep and 5 degree upsweep, the El Guapo Ancho bars have only a 9 degree backsweep. That means you tend to run the bar rolled forward quite significantly to create some upsweep to compliment the backsweep. As a result, the decals, which are actually quite tasteful, are hidden on the underside of the bar, but at this price, that's not something we could really hold against On-One. Overall, the On-One's El Guapo bar and stem combo provide riders with a great value opportunity to experiment with their set-up. - Andy Waterman |
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I'm not taking a stab a On-One tho, those guys are pretty cool in my book. It's financially refreshing to see a company offering something that isn't priced thru the roof. It's more of an observation in how this industry is testing the waters to see how gullible & obedient little buyers we are.
Please explain. Are you just being a prick about people discussing there footwear preference? Or have fell asleep on the keyboard? Or is it something entirely different?
Cheers.
Luckily K-Edge do a stem mount that looks like it'll work just as well - has anyone used one of those? Keen to find out before dropping $65 to get one into the country...