Pinkbike Product Picks
Today we cover three relatively inexpensive speed secrets that can be found online or at your LBS for fifty bucks or less. The first is a sweet chainguide from Bionicon for multi-sprocket cranksets, followed by two from Specialized: an OEM stem that uses an offset sleeve to provide four degrees of angular adjustment, and a cross-country tire that rides faster than your mom - most of the time.
Bionicon C-Guide V.02 Chainguide
Bionicon's C-guide is not new, the diminutive chainguide has been a cult favorite for triple or dual-ring trail riders on two continents, but the latest version, the C-Guide V.02, is far easier to install and can be adapted to lock into an existing housing guide beneath the chainstay, or mounted directly to the stay itself. The C-guide V.02 funnels the chain through a plastic tube, mounted to a beautifully made aluminum link that swings laterally to allow the chain to track the various sprocket combinations, while preventing the chain from whipping wildly out of control and derailing when pounding over rough terrain. Benefiting from the first-gen C-Guide, the latest version has been optimized to adapt to almost any bike and install in a few minutes. The entire assembly splits in halves to allow the rear derailleur housing and chain to pass through the guide without disconnecting anything on the bike. The C-Guide V.02 weighs only 19 grams, comes in a black, red, blue, green, pink and gold anodized colors, and costs a bit under 50 bucks. Bionicon
![Small and mighty Bionicon s C-Guide is a well-executed compromise for single and double-chainring riders who want quiet effective chain control. The derailleur cable housing can be routed through the middle of the C-Guide s tubular plastic hinge pin so it doubles as a cable guide as well.]()
Pinkbike's Take:
Specialized Adjustable-Angle Stem System
All of the Specialized bikes we have tested lately use a version of its 'Pro Set 2 adjustable angle stem system. The concept is based upon an offset-drilled sleeve inside the stem's steerer clamp that can be reversed to add or subtract up to four degrees from the stem's rise. OEM stems come with the four-degree sleeve, which is quite useful for fine tuning the rise of a handlebar or eliminating a few ugly steerer spacers. Aftermarket models, in the search for the perfect fit, are boxed with zero, two and four-degree sleeves under the guise that a mountain biker could actually notice a two-degree change in a 75-millimeter stem. The photo model for this review is a 12-degree 3-D forged aluminum, 75mm stem that graces mid-priced Stumpjumper FSR models. If you want one like it, Specialized sells the aftermarket version with the optional sleeves in 60, 75, 90 and 105mm lengths. It fits 31.8mm handlebars and works equally well with carbon and aluminum. Price is around 40 bucks. Specialized
![Specialized inserts an offset sleeve into the stem s steerer-tube clamp. The sleeve is flanged on the lower side where it meets the headset spacer. The sleeve s offset bore is easy to make out when it is outside the stem - reversing it 180 degrees increases or decreases the stem angle. The wagon wheel stem cap is offset at its center so the adjustment bolt will line up correctly.]()
Pinkbike's Take:
Specialized Fast Track Control 2.2-inch Tire
Anyone who raced cross-country, BMX, 4X or Dual Slalom will understand the Specialized Fast Track tire's shape, width and tread design. Mountain bikers who ride steep, loose terrain either up or down will probably laugh at a rounded-profile 2.2-inch tire, populated with tiny tread blocks that look like they were once place markers for a Japanese Monopoly game. There are many places on this earth where loose-over hardpack trails always have a little moisture in the mixture. Consider Santa Cruz, where every trail is perfect and park rangers purchase dust from Arizona and Texas so they can apply it here and there on the weekends to surprise locals who have never seen nor tasted the powdery substance. Specialized's Fast Track Control tire rules the world in such places. The new-improved version has a reinforced casing (Specialized calls this 429/D1) which reportedly boosts its resistance to cuts, the bead is foldable and the casing is coated with rubber and designed specifically for tubeless conversion (with sealant). The strategically-placed diminutive tread blocks are medium-hard 60 shore-A rubber for long wear and less tearing under hard braking. Specialized sells the Fast Track Control as an XC racing tire, but a lot of aggressive trail riders used them in the rear, paired with a flatter-profile, edgier tire up front. Sold in 26 by 1.8, 2.0, and 2,2, or 29 by 2.0 or 2.2 inches, its weight hovers near 600 grams. Fast Track Control tires sell for about 50 bucks. Specialized
![The Fast Track Control tire is aptly named. The casing is lightweight and supple the rounded tread drops seamlessly into corners and its minimalist tread design simply shreds on relatively smooth dirt. As a bonus we found that the tires mounted up tubeless quite easily.]()
Pinkbike's Take:
Bionicon C-Guide V.02 Chainguide
Bionicon's C-guide is not new, the diminutive chainguide has been a cult favorite for triple or dual-ring trail riders on two continents, but the latest version, the C-Guide V.02, is far easier to install and can be adapted to lock into an existing housing guide beneath the chainstay, or mounted directly to the stay itself. The C-guide V.02 funnels the chain through a plastic tube, mounted to a beautifully made aluminum link that swings laterally to allow the chain to track the various sprocket combinations, while preventing the chain from whipping wildly out of control and derailing when pounding over rough terrain. Benefiting from the first-gen C-Guide, the latest version has been optimized to adapt to almost any bike and install in a few minutes. The entire assembly splits in halves to allow the rear derailleur housing and chain to pass through the guide without disconnecting anything on the bike. The C-Guide V.02 weighs only 19 grams, comes in a black, red, blue, green, pink and gold anodized colors, and costs a bit under 50 bucks. Bionicon
Small and mighty, Bionicon's C-Guide V.02 is a well-executed compromise for single and double-chainring riders who want quiet, effective chain control. The derailleur cable housing can be routed through the middle of the C-Guide's tubular plastic hinge pin, so it doubles as a cable guide as well.
Pinkbike's Take:
 | Bionicon's C-Guide V.02 packs a lot of performance into a tiny package, so it may seem a bit overpriced. Its beauty (and it value) is that you can buy one, assemble it on your bike at the trailhead and go ride - right then - knowing that even if you misplaced it a few millimeters fore, aft, port or starboard, it will still do its job. How many bicycle components can claim that? Zip ties seem like a poor way to mount a chain guide, but the ties included with the C-Guide are robust and its hinge action deflects direct impacts. Its saving grace, however, is that its position beneath the chainstay shields it from logs and rocks that pound against roller guides. The C-Guide runs silently in every gear combination and it and keeps the chain on. If you use more than one chainring and want to approximate the rough-ground performance of a chainguide without all the noise and complication of a ISCG-mount roller setup, the C-Guide V.02 is your next purchase. My Santa Cruz Blur LTc has never run so silently. - RC |
Specialized Adjustable-Angle Stem System
All of the Specialized bikes we have tested lately use a version of its 'Pro Set 2 adjustable angle stem system. The concept is based upon an offset-drilled sleeve inside the stem's steerer clamp that can be reversed to add or subtract up to four degrees from the stem's rise. OEM stems come with the four-degree sleeve, which is quite useful for fine tuning the rise of a handlebar or eliminating a few ugly steerer spacers. Aftermarket models, in the search for the perfect fit, are boxed with zero, two and four-degree sleeves under the guise that a mountain biker could actually notice a two-degree change in a 75-millimeter stem. The photo model for this review is a 12-degree 3-D forged aluminum, 75mm stem that graces mid-priced Stumpjumper FSR models. If you want one like it, Specialized sells the aftermarket version with the optional sleeves in 60, 75, 90 and 105mm lengths. It fits 31.8mm handlebars and works equally well with carbon and aluminum. Price is around 40 bucks. Specialized
Specialized inserts an offset sleeve into the stem's steerer-tube clamp. The sleeve is flanged on the lower side where it meets the headset spacer. The sleeve's offset bore is easy to make out when it is outside the stem - reversing it 180 degrees increases or decreases the stem angle. The 'wagon wheel' stem cap is offset at its center so the adjustment bolt will line up correctly.
Pinkbike's Take:
| All sarcasm aside, a four-degree change in a short stem like the 75-millimeter version on our Stumpjumper makes the equivalent change of adding or subtracting one spacer from the steerer tube. That's about ten millimeters give or take and it takes exactly the same effort to reverse the sleeve in the Pro Fit system as it does to switch a spacer from top to bottom. The difference is that there is a smooth surface above the stem, not a towering cylinder of faux carbon spacer ready to crack your sternum (or stern-o's) the next time you catch the face of a jump. Another use we found for the adjustment was to add or subtract height from a new handlebar. Slack head angles encourage lower handlebar rises in order to weight the front of the bike more, and rotating the sleeve provided us with a tuning option for that purpose. Using Specialized's Pro Set system also allows the steerer tube to be cut to a proper, safer height without sacrificing adjustability. I thought it was a foolish idea when I first saw it, but I found it to be quite useful in practice. - RC |
Specialized Fast Track Control 2.2-inch Tire
Anyone who raced cross-country, BMX, 4X or Dual Slalom will understand the Specialized Fast Track tire's shape, width and tread design. Mountain bikers who ride steep, loose terrain either up or down will probably laugh at a rounded-profile 2.2-inch tire, populated with tiny tread blocks that look like they were once place markers for a Japanese Monopoly game. There are many places on this earth where loose-over hardpack trails always have a little moisture in the mixture. Consider Santa Cruz, where every trail is perfect and park rangers purchase dust from Arizona and Texas so they can apply it here and there on the weekends to surprise locals who have never seen nor tasted the powdery substance. Specialized's Fast Track Control tire rules the world in such places. The new-improved version has a reinforced casing (Specialized calls this 429/D1) which reportedly boosts its resistance to cuts, the bead is foldable and the casing is coated with rubber and designed specifically for tubeless conversion (with sealant). The strategically-placed diminutive tread blocks are medium-hard 60 shore-A rubber for long wear and less tearing under hard braking. Specialized sells the Fast Track Control as an XC racing tire, but a lot of aggressive trail riders used them in the rear, paired with a flatter-profile, edgier tire up front. Sold in 26 by 1.8, 2.0, and 2,2, or 29 by 2.0 or 2.2 inches, its weight hovers near 600 grams. Fast Track Control tires sell for about 50 bucks. Specialized
The Fast Track Control tire is aptly named. The casing is lightweight and supple, the rounded tread drops seamlessly into corners and its minimalist tread design simply shreds on relatively smooth dirt. As a bonus, we found that the tires mounted up tubeless quite easily.
Pinkbike's Take:
| Had it not rained in Sunny Southern California while I was riding this tire, on a trail that was bermed up high, I would have never known what it was like to be Eric Carter for 23 seconds. There I was, leaned in and confident, tires hooked up and leaving dark lines clawed into the earth around every apex. It was a performance I did not expect from the hateful tire that banged back and forth off of every imbedded rock and drifted wide the moment my finger touched the rear brake just one day earlier. Specialized's headquarters sits in the center of the mythical belt of perfect traction in Central California, so it is no wonder that such a tire exists. A little loose soil over a hard base and the Fast Track is a marvelous tire to behold. I do agree that it makes a better rear tire (that's where I use it now). Mount it up front and It will push on a 26-inch-wheel bike, but oddly, not on a 29er - go figure. Even in perfect conditions, though, it will spin or skid relatively easy when climbing or descending steeps, so you'll need to be a finesse rider to fully enjoy the Fast track Control in its element. - RC |
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Member since Mar 23, 2011
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The fast trak is an outstanding tire, and this new version WILL be my next rear tire choice. I've had the fast traks before and have nothing bad to say about them.
While this forum is geared towards gravity riding. I would guess a large majority are active "trail" riders as we can't all be on the slopes. My trail bike needs a sticker that says, "My other bike's a bit heavier with more colored parts"
Those Specialized stems really SUCK! They move alot easier than any stem I've ever owned, and are flexible as a noodle. Even if you torque the hell out of the bolts it will move, sometimes without crashing. Any stem with a shim is stupid for aggressive riding. They also look like absolute crap with the predictable Specialized roadie graphics. I owned one of these stems and after about 4 months I literally threw it into the scrap bin, never to be used again and permanently out of my life.
The tires look pretty unspectacular also. Made by Specialized, the company that spent $2 million on a lawsuit against Volagi in a attempt to put the small progressive company out of business. A-holes.
consider the facts...Specialized specify their own branded tires on all of their bikes (we are talking 10000s of bikes a year), and their professional racers use these tires (this includes, XC, road and gravity riding)
the "manufacturer" of these tires is very well known, Cheng Shin you might know better as Ma**is (Cheng Shin's in house performance brand) but with Specialized you are getting tires with all the benefits of the best tire factory combined with the huge knowledge Specialized have in tire design (consider than Specialized Bicycle Components started out importing European road components and then having their own tires manufactured to meet specific niche in the market)
SBC tires also come in more affordable than their competitors, and have the best tubeless conversion (2 Bliss as they call it) tires on the market, they have been making big inroads into the gravity and enduro markets with their DH Butcher, Hill Billy, Clutch, Purgatory, Storm and "Control" versions of these gravity tires
I've been using their tires for a good number of years, and the Fast Trak is a wicked tire for DJ, SS and Pump Track, or even for its original use which was dry weather XC riding
I ran the Fast Trak LK on my Banshee Rampant with Stan's No-tubes on Stans ZTR Flow rims and thoroughly enjoyed the riding performance and no puncture riding despite giving that bike horrible abuse
I currently run the S-Works Purgatory and Ground Control both with Stan's in 29er format and have only positive things to say
I ride every kind of trail so and on the road, so almost anything reviewed is useful information for me.
nice to see someone thinking outside the box on the chain guide, i'll be picking up one of those. thanks for the review Mr. C.
personally, I think it is refreshing to feature different types of products on PB, including those orientated at XC riders
because it will help draw other riders to PB, and then they can become more informed about the heavier-duty style of riding (all-mountain, freeride, downhill, dirt jump) that many PB members are into
and existing PB members can become more informed (and even interested) in other aspects of mountain biking, this is only a good thing for everyone!
I know plenty of downhillers and freeriders who also have trail bikes, and love trail riding, especially in the Winter Months when there is less racing or gravity riding readily available
for those of us who started mountain biking several decades ago (I am in my 26th year of mountain biking) it all started riding bikes up and down hills, and this is what we still do, just with different style of mountain bike
having been heavily involved in the DJ, FR and DH scene for many years, I am back on board a trail bike (29er) riding XC trails, which is what got me into Mountain Biking in 1986
I still own and regularly ride a BMX (started BMX in 1981) and also a 700c wheel commuting road bike, I like all kinds of bikes really?
happy trails
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whiffle ball bat= 1$
tape roll= 3$
my face when i realized i just saved myself 50$= priceless
So be happy that you have access to these products and quit your whining.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers.
Mitchell.
Then when trail riding products are reviewed the outcries that it's not for gravity happen.
Yes everything is too expensive. Has anyone bought a decent bike rack for their vehicle lately? Yowza they are spendy.
Mountain biking was an open minded pastime for open minded people and its going back the way, its cool, just chill out and enjoy riding anything you like. but dont hate on people for choosing a particular product or bike. and if you don't like what the online media outlets are publishing then just go somewhere else. or better yet stop complaining, get of your arse and make your own!
The problem is compounded by the fact that once the chain drops, I pedal, not realizing the chain is off, and the C-Guide gets ripped off the chainstay. It hasn't damaged the C-Guide yet, but it does mean I have to ride the rest of the ride without it, which means more dropped chains.
I'm running it on a 29er hardtail with a 1x9, non-clutch derailleur. I'll admit, I ride the bike near it's limits on some pretty rocky terrain. Just posting this for anyone else who is considering getting one of these. If you ride aggressive terrain, it won't help much.
RC
online shops?
www.pricepoint.com/detail/23438-075_BIOV22-3-Parts-382-Chain-Guides/Tensioners/Bionicon-C.Guide-V.02-Chain-Guide.htm
Another word for more.
Used if you wan't more of a thing very badly.
You wan't more of it!
Someone is posting a lot of cool images and you wan't him to post more, Write MOAR!