New Dropper Post Levers, Grips, Handlebars, and Brake Pads - Across the Pond Beaver
PNW Components Dropper Rehab, New Grip and Handlebar Colors
The crew at PNW Components recently announced their dropper post refurb/rehab program that lets riders purchase used or blemished posts that PNW has refurbished. Not only that, but riders can also trade in their older PNW dropper posts for a credit towards a new or used dropper. All are inspected and, if required, refurbished, and they all come with a one-year warranty.
Does your ride need a bit of flair? The latest Loam grips and Range: KW Edition handlebar will give you exactly that.
At the other end of your cockpit, PNW has also updated their popular Loam lock-on grip with new colors. Now you can pick from something called ''Fruit Snacks'' that looks a lot like purple, as well as new green, blue, and sand-colored versions. The design remains unchanged, and they're using a single, inboard locking collar, a 133.5mm length, and an average diameter of 30mm. You might want to slide those grips on PNW's Range: KW Edition handlebar that you can now get with color highlights to match your Loam grips. The 'KW' stands for American racer Kyle Warner, and the 2014 aluminum 'bar sports a 10° back-sweep and 5° up-sweep that PNW says, ''Helps put your shoulder blades in a more neutral position while reducing wrist fatigue and discomfort.'' The 334-gram handlebar comes in a 780mm width, 30mm of rise, and only 31.8mm diameter clamp.
You can pick up a set of Loam grips for $19 USD, while the Range: KW Edition handlebar costs $69 USD.
Sinter's E-Bike Brake Pads
While I suspect many of us reach for OEM pads when it's time to give our brakes some new life, using aftermarket pads is one way to tailor their performance to your needs. Slovenian brand Sinter probably doesn't leap to mind, but they've been manufacturing brake pads for everything from scooters to racing go-karts for the last forty-five years, and now produce up to two-million pads per year spread between five-hundred different applications. Go-kart rotors are made in-house, too, including custom-made, lightweight composite discs.
Greg Callaghan has been running the new Sinter pads on his Devinci Spartan.
So yeah, they probably know a thing or two about stopping, and their latest mountain bike brake pads have been ''tailored to the unique demands of e-bike riders.'' Sinter has used a harder organic compound (they call it S530) for increased lifespan while being used on an e-bike that's likely heavier and going faster than if it were non-motorized, and word is that the new "blue" pad has fade resistance that offers the same power and feel at the top of the run as it does at the end. The $26.99 USD e-bike pads are claimed to improve modulation as well and are available for most braking systems.
SDG's Redesigned Dropper Post Lever
SDG's then-new Tellis dropper post was reviewed back in 2018, and I came away impressed with the action and reliability. That very dropper is still in action today and still running smoothly on a friend's bike, but SDG has now updated the lever to offer more ergonomic adjustments and mounting options.
The previous version is on the left, while the new Tellis lever is on the right.
The original Tellis remote was a one-piece unit with a split clamp to make install and removal easy, and the updated version is modular to let you attach it to SRAM's Matchmaker or Shimano's I-Spec mounts for a cleaner cockpit. There are two lateral mounting postions that offer 10mm of adjustment, and you can still use a hinged, 22.2mm stand-alone clamp if you don't want to combo it. A set-screw also supplies riders with up to 30-degrees of reach adjustment, so you should be able to get the concave thumb paddle where it feels ideal.
The lever rotates on dual bushings, and SDG says that this provides ''substantially less drag than a ball bearing, allows for a more compact design, and they’re economically friendly if you ever need to replace them.'' Another detail nearly hidden from view is the cable clamp; it's a bolt and washer setup rather than some impossibly small set-screw that's waiting to get rounded out. The previous Tellis lever could be had for $39.95 on its own, but the new gets a bump up to $49.99 USD.
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I have big hands - size 12/13 or xxl/xxxl in gloves and I ride RF Half Nelsons. They are a 29mm grip.
I have ridden fatter grips and that defo gives you hand cramp and restricts your grip and movement somewhat. The pleasures of choice.
I really rate a higher sweep bar (running 12 degree SQlabs) and thick grips even on tech stuff. But then again, 12 degrees is not huge sweep in other handlebar sports so I´m wondering why mtb bars are so straight in comparison?
S&M slambars are 12 degrees and are a somewhat gold standard for BMX bars hand have survived all trends of tiny low sweep bars of the midschool era.
Why does an e-bike need special pads (and other stuff), but a size XS bike doesn't need special pads or forks or etc. If it's just about the extra weight, it doesn't make any sense because an e-bike of a given size is only like 15 kg more, but adult riders easily have somewhere around a 50 kg spread between smallest and largest. So it's really because e-bikes are able put more energy into the ground and need sufficient braking to reign in the extra kinetic energy that results, which means they absolutely do more damage to trails.
At least according to everyone who says e-bikes don't have any more effect on the trails than regular bikes, because if the extra energy isn't going to put more wear into the trail surface, then how could it be doing more wear on components?
Speccing a 34E instead of a 36 is just a silly consumer perception thing: "I'm not riding burly trails, so I don't need a 36, so instead I'll get this 34 that is just as heavy but looks lighter."
I bought it because I was in a weird situation - I wanted a really burly 120mm 27.5 fork for a Cotic BFe 26" hardtail. The regular Fox 34 is too long, only available in 140mm, and the 831 seemed like overkill. It just happened to work out well for me. I guess the Pike DJ would have worked too.
I say allegedly because non-E forks have served a massive range of rider weights for decades, there was no marketing stiffer forks to big guys and skinnier forks to light girls, where the weight difference can be hundreds of pounds. Suddenly eBikes show up and now 15-20 extra pounds needs a whole new fork? Bullshit.
linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/sinterbrakes
My last wheelset,I used Hadley.
Sinter's new site was supposed to have been ready to launch about a week ago in expectation of this article, but much like me on a first date, sometimes things happen sooner than you expect and it's entirely out of your control.
1. Average diameter? So is there a profile drawing of the diameter, personally, straight grips work best for me.
2. What is the rubber compound? How good is it in the wet etc.
3. What is the no clamped end like, when I clip a tree will it just rip off like some other grips do?
1. We don't have a profile drawing available, but the grips are 31mm on the outer edge and slim down to 29.5mm near the flange.
2. The compound is 25A and we love them in the rain. Being based out of Seattle means we get rained on for most of the year so we needed something that could handle wet rides. They work well with sweaty, gloveless hands too!
3. The non-clamped end is pretty sturdy, but not 100% bullet proof. I personally rammed the end of my grip into a tree last week while trying to cut corners and I only have a small tear to show for it. The grip is still in tact and functioning exactly like its tearless twin on the other side of my bars.
I imported all of my rides from Strava... sorry about that, haha.
Happy to - I had the cable clamp bolt strip out after a couple of removal/reinstalls on a customer's bike - in my opinion the bolt is too short.
Also the bar clamp nut that is free to fall on the floor when the bolt is removed is an unncessary pain in the ass. It should be captive in some way, as it stands it's easily lost, not easily replaced and is just not easy to work with.
The lever throw:cable pull ratio feels wrong to me. There's too much throw for little actuation in my opinion, though I realise this is completely subjective.
Re: Lever throw - Post is designed so you can setup the lever so the post actuates with essentially instant engagement. You definitely shouldn't have have lots of lever throw in order to actuate. We've always recommended setting up the lever so that you add enough tension that the post slowly starts to creep up, then remove tension at barrel adjuster until this stops. This setup should give the user instant engagement and the post should actuate with only a couple MM of lever throw.
Re: Nut - We went this route to make the lever modular while retaining the lever shape that our customers like on the non-adjustable version. In most orientations of how you position the lever (using the rotation adjustment) the nut is captive.
Definitely appreciate your feedback and hopefully you're more satisfied with the updates to the lever when you see them!