Shimano "Yumeya"

Lesser known as: "Shimano smoked some crack, came up with a crazy website and some shiny stuff.

WARNING: CLICKING THIS LINK MAY LEAD TO EMPTY BANK ACCOUNTS. PUT ALL BANK/CREDIT CARDS AWAY FIRST.

I know most of us are on the old Sram but thought you might be interested anyhoo.

Spot the Difference

Apart from the obvious, "one's the left and the others the right"...

Since swapping the levers over on my Canyon I've not been happy the lever position or how the brake snuggles up to the shifter. So last weekend I whip'd off the Sh!mano shifter gauges and now the lever falls to hand and everything snugs up nicely. As I'm now yanking the end of the brake lever the Avid's also have a bit more bite :D

Oh and how's about an alternative post title ;)

"How to make Shimano even more like SRAM"

:lol

Bling Jockey Wheels

Within one of this months bike mags, I spotted some pimp looking alloy jockey wheels which shouldn't dissolve into ninja stars are quickly as our plastic OEM items.

They're made by KCNC and one of their UK outlets even claims these upgrades are cheaper than comparable high end kit, checkout Clee Cycles (who supplied the pic's). These pretty annodised replacements would appear to offer longevity and they even have optional ceramic bearings which should further improve their service life :thumbsu

They sure are pretty and I know of at least one rider that'd benefit from 'em, checkout our rigs at the next Knobblies bash... :p

Shimano Saint Disc Brakes

The Shimano “SAINT” groupset is Sh!tmano’s no compromise, strength and stiffness over weight groupset, aimed at heavy freeriders and DH racers. The cranks can be seen on both my bikes, and just about any body who is serious about going large, the hubs are pretty good too, as is the front and rear mechs + stubbie levered shifters…. but all that stuff is for propelling you forward… what about when you need to stop? (picture from RideSaint.com)

THE STORY OF THE STOPPAGE, AND THE NOT SO....
I’ve had numerous brake systems on the Chameleon, starting with Hope Minis (old style) and the Mono M4 system. I bought the M4’s for two reasons: More power and looks - they do just look so damned good, don’t they ?

About a year ago, when I decided to give this DH lark a go, I built myself up an Orange Patriot for messing on. I wanted to avoid M4’s again, as I’d had no end of trouble with them on the Chameleon (I’d upgraded the hoses, replaced seals, replaced Pistons, replaced bore caps, and the damn things still wouldn’t work reliably), I didn’t particularly like the feel of Hayes (on/off) and Magura Gustavs are just plain weird, with all that floating calliper business (Work very well though). These also came in slightly cheaper than all of the above too, so I thought I was on to a winner.

REVIEW OF THE STOPPAGE
I rode a full season (numerous races and lots of practise/mess about days) on these anchors, and for the first time, I could just get on with worrying what I was riding over, not about whether my brakes will work or not. Riding that bike was a pure joy (helped no doubt by it’s rear end!). Their sleek 2-pot mono bodied calliper hides an amazing amount of power and control. I got on with them so well, I binned the Hopes on the Chameleon and stuck some of these on, and I’ve not looked back.

While they don’t have quite the modulation of an M4 (there’s only so much you can do with only 2 pistons!), the power (and I know I’m opening a can of whoop ass with this) shames the Hopes. In all fairness, they shame the Mono 6Ti too.

CONTROL OF THE STOPPAGE
Controlling the power is a little bit of a handful to start with, (my dad jumped on my bike to ride it up the drive and almost came off after grabbing a fistful, which was highly giggleworth!) But you soon learn where the feather point is, and I was following a guy down Mortimer Forest today where his back wheel was locking but mine just kept rolling. (Yup-means you actually have more traction and don’t create braking bumps fellas)

I now have complete confidence to ride with the brakes off (anyone riding behind me will testify!) knowing when I need the stoppage, it’s there in great big crate loads.

RELIABILITY OF THE STOPPAGE
I’ve still not had to touch the Saints on my DH bike (now the wonderful Gemini), and have only changed the pads due to contamination!

OK, SO NOW YOU WANT TO FIT THEM TO YOUR BIKE, RIGHT?
Tis worth noting that Shimano don’t do pre-assembled systems like Hope and just about everybody else.

Sold as: Calliper + Disc + 2 sets of pads (yes, that’s 2!) + levers + hose and oil.

Ok it’s a pain, but it does mean this: you have ultimate choice over what lever you want (Cheap as Deore, as good as the specific Saint Levers, or even floppy shi(f)t, if you’re that perverted). It does mean that you can get the correct length hose, and get it routed through your frame if you have a Orange or something that routes the hose through the swing arm.
The Standard hose is also excellent, better than other hoses on other systems, but Goodridge is so tarty ;)

Fitting the calliper is an absolute doddle thanks to the one post mount style calliper with adaptor affair, eliminating the need to get your mounts faced if your fork is I.S. and allows for a bit of scope if you’ve bent your rotors like me :D

Only downside with these brakes is the limited Rotor sizing; they only come in 203mm mega-stoppage size or 160mm “My rotor is smaller than yours” size. However, if you can source a suitable 180mm rotor, you can buy a rear 160mm calliper+mount set and run it as a front 180mm as long as you have I.S. Mounts. (I.S. mounts are 10mm closer to the dropout on the rear than they are on the front!) Shimano and Hope make adaptors to allow you to fit a 20mm bigger disc to your I.S. setup, so you can run a 180 rear like me. They also currently only offer the supplied rotors in Oversized Centerlock fitting, which means you can only sling em on Saint hubs, or various other “freeride/DH” hubs made by companies such as DT Swiss and Sun Ringle. I think Mavic also do hubs to suit too. Ok so the rotor situation sucks, but Sh!mano are reported to be offering more options for 2007 so sit tight!

TO SUM UP THE STOPPAGE:

• Saints are THE best brakes I’ve used.
• Hayes are great, but are a little to on/off for me, and the cheaper HFX’s have a habit of breaking.
• Hopes just dick around with you (ducks salvos from Farqui and Rob – sorry guys)
• Avid are great, but have a habit of breaking, full stop.

Replacement X-Type BB Bearings

EnduroForksSeals.com have long been producing alternative seal kits for forks and this morning I clocked their new product. A superior bearing and seal kit for external bearing bottom brackets. Some riders report that the standard kit doesn't last long (although no way near as bad as ISIS bb's) and these puppies should provide a longer, smoother runtime.

Here's the linky thingy; Bearing kit for X-Type Bottom Brackets

SRAM vs Shimano

After recently making the transition from the "mainstream" Shimano gear shifts to SRAM I thought that I'd "spread the word" and give you the benefit of my experience.

I'm sure that almost everybody will be familiar with the Shimano amd it's MTB groupset with it's various levels of "competence" from the functional yet basic Deore, LX, XT up to the flag ship XTR. But how many of you know about SRAM ?

Background : Until a recently they were a small company building on it's slightly different take to the Shimano "standard" gear changes with different shifters, cassettes, chains. However, they're recently undergone few years of rapid expansion and are "the" company on a roll and are surely out to rival the bigS. They're moving towards being able to supply their own groupset after acquiring the likes of Avid (brakes) and Truvativ (cranks/stems/bars/seatposts/etc). More recently, they also bought out RockShox (forks, shox's) which is fairly big coo and give's them an edge to Shimano as they don't manufacture forks.

The SRAM gear sets range from X7, X9 to the major bling X0.

A number of basic differences separate SRAM from Shimano in the operation of gear changes.

1. SRAM operate on a 1:1 ratio between the shifters and the mechs, whereas Shimano use 2:1 on the rear and 1:1 on the front. This means that a SRAM system is likely to operate for longer without the need for small adjustments and to be less prone to ghost shifts on full suspension steeds.
   
2. SRAM shifter paddles are operated by the thumb only whereas Shimano require both the thumb and forefinger. This was a major selling point for me as having 4 fingers permenantly wrapped around the bars gives a more secure ride over those large boulders. It's also much less strain on the grey cells as only the thumb is in motion.
   
3. The rear mech cable routing on SRAM is direct from the chainstay whereas Shimano need a long loop of cable to enter in the rear. The most obvious advantage of a direct cable run is less drag but an additional benefit is that shrubbery is less likely to get hooked along for a ride !
   
4. SRAM rear mechs use a much firmer spring mechanism over Shimano. Which greatly reduces chain slap (chain hitting the chainstay), chain derailment when jumping and the mech hitting the chainstay. I can also be a pain to then get the back wheel out ! Update: checkout this thread for a video (approx 28Mb) that helps to highlight the differences.
   

SRAM also produce a Shimano range of compatible shifters called (rather uninspiringly) "2:1 shifters" ! Fortunately, they're more commonly referred to as Rocket or Attack.

Having previously used Shimano Deore and the midrange LX I can confirm that it's all good kit and works very well, with noticable improvements higher up the range. Converting to the SRAM midrange X9 shifters didn't cause any worries and in operation the changes are slightly less slick but feel more positive. Which I find a bonus when you've a set of full fingers gloves on as I always mis-shifted Shimano gears during the winter as their operation is quite light to the touch. Do they change any differently ? Probably but I'll be damned if I can tell. You'd need a dedicated test rig to figure that out and personally I'd prefer just to get out and ride...

Appart from the shifter ratio's all other components are interchangeable between the manufacturer's and my current rig has SRAM X9 shifters, rear mech and chain with a Shimano cassette and front mech. I've found that SRAM chain's tend to last longer but that probably means that the rest of drivetrain wears a little more rapdily.

The general understanding is that the SRAM front mech isn't as slick as Shimano, all Shimano cranks/bb's set the industry standard for light/stiff, that the top flight SRAM X0 rear mech is the bees-knees, that the SRAM X0 shifters are leagues ahead and that the rest of the kit functions on a par.

You chose which you'd like...

Shimano W101 - Winter Boot

Anyone who rides in summer shoes during the depths of winter and has experienced icy tooties even though they're wearing winter socks will appreciate a decent set of winter boots. True, it's possible to make do but as I commute throughout the year I soon decided that dry and warm feet were essential.

I tried on a number of winter booties from the likes of Northwave, Diadora and Shimano but it was only the latter's W101 that felt comfortable. I normally take a UK size 10 and these needed to be a size larger (euro 46) to still allow a good thick sock or even a couple of mid layers to help keep the cold at bay.

There are no shoe laces to get soggy and the dual velcro straps have been 100% reliable. You also get a 3rd velcro fitting which wraps a semi waterproof neoprene "entension" around your ankle that helps to prevent water running down your leg and filling up your boots. These aren't 100% waterproof and will eventually allow water to ingress over longer rides but they will still be toasty inside. The tread isn't very aggresive and does clog up in deep mud but then what doesn't ? The compound seems durable they're actually ok to walk in, even with the ankle strap. The boots feel rubbery rather than plastic-y and have survived many a rough and tumble with hardly any marks. The SPD fitting doesn't need cutting and hasn't given me any problems i.e. hot spots on the sole of my foot.

If you have a 2nd set of cycling shoes then you'll find that both pairs last twice as long !

Overall, I'm very impressed with just how warm these keep your feet although they'd be better if they were 100% waterproof. 9/10.

Hollowtech II Cranks

To build up my Turner I needed a complete set of components and investigating the crankset's it appeared that the Shimano Hollowtech II system was getting good reviews. The externally mounted bearings were reported to be stiff and much longer lived that the rival ISIS range. As I'd had no problems with the earlier Octalink system which also used hollow arms, I thought I'd give it a try.

When I opened Chaybo's parcel I was surprised to see how the system works. It doesn't have a traditional / separate bottom bracket, as the hollow spindle is fixed to the crank rings. The bearings are individual cups which snug up to the bb shell on the frame, needing a special tool (Park BBT-9 - which was much cheaper to source from the US of A). Once the bearings are in place you pass the spindle through, mount the splined, non drive side arm, snug up finger tight with the center spinner and finally clamp it all tight with two opposing 5mm allen bolts. To account for different width bb shells the system comes with three plastic shims which I initially left in the toolbox.

Update: In use the system appears to be plenty stiff enough for my paltry legs and after some 9 months and 1,200 miles+ the bearings are stiff smooth and tight. After a few months running, Rob had a look and added a spacer to the driveside which has helped the front mech (which was bent!) acquire a much cleaner up shift.

If you do have any issues with the bearings, Enduro Fork Seals have recently introduced a placement bearings kit for X-type / outboard BB cranksets which looks like it should be more durable.

Reviews

As many a Blog has been created that review all thangs MTB, I thought it'd be handy to have a central area where they can all be found, incl'g a handy link on the sidebar. So Blog away Posse and review kit to your hearts content...

Bikes :

• Cannondale Gemini
• Cannondale Jekyll
  
• Canyon Nerve XC 6.0 '07, Nerve XC 3.0 '07
  
• On One Inbred 456 '06
  
• Marin Rock Springs '02
• Merlin Dual - hardtail
• Santa Cruz Chameleon '03
  
• Specialized Enduro Expert '05
• Specialized S-Works FSRxc '02
  
• Specialized M5 S-Works - hardtail
• Titus MotoLite '06
  
• Trek Fuel 80
  
• Trek FuelEX9 WSD '05
  
• Trek Liquid 55 '05
  
• Turner 5Spot '05
  
• Turner Flux '05
  

Components :

Bars :

• FSA XC190 - riser, alloy
  
• Maxm MX-1 - flat, carbon
  
• Maxm MX-5 - riser, carbon
  

Brakes :

• Formula Oro
  
• Hope C2 - 2 pot, closed
  
• Hope Mini
  
• Hope Mono M4 - 4 pot, open
  
• Magura Louise BAT's, VentiRotors '07
  
• Shimano Dual Control '05
  
• Shimano Saint
  

Cables :

• Avid Flak Jackets - sealed
• Dry Cables
• Shimano XT
• Sun Ringle - sealed
  

Cassettes :

• Shimano XT
• SRAM PG-990
• SunRace MZ
  

Cranksets :

• Shimano Hollowtech II '05
  
• EnduroForkSeals Replacement Bearings
  

Derailleurs :

• Shimano XTR (fd)
• SRAM X-Gen (fd)
  
• Shimano XTR (rd)
  
• SRAM X0 (rd)
  
• SRAM X9 (rd)
  
• SRAM x9 Jockey Wheels '05

Forks :

• Fox 32 140RLC Talas '07
  
• Fox 36 '05
  
• Manitou Nixon Super '05
• Marzocchi Z1 Freeride SL RC2 '06
• Pace RC41 '05
• Rockshox Pike '07
  
• Rockshox Reba '05
  
• Rockshox Revelation 426 U-Turn '05
  

Grips :

• Enduro Fork Seals Silicone
  
• Yeti Hardcore
  

Groupsets :

• SRAM vs Shimano

Pedals :

• Crank Bros Candy SL
  
• Shimano DX - flats
  
• Time ATAC Aliums '02
• Time Z '05 - flats
  

Saddles :

• Fizik Gobi '05
  
• Koobi
• Specialized BG2
• Specialized Jett - women's
  
• WTB Shadow
  

Seatclamps :

• Hope
• Salsa
  

Seatposts :

• Thomson Elite '05
  

Shifters :

• Shimano XT
• SRAM x0
• SRAM X9
  

Shoxs :

• 5th Element '05
  
• Fox DHX 5.0 (coil) '06
• Fox DHX-Air
• Fox RP23 '06
  
• Fox RP3 '05, PUSH'd
  
• Fox Float R '02, TFT & PUSH
• Rockshox MC3 '05
  

Skewers :

• Bontrager
• Hope

Stems :

• On-One Inbred '04
  
• Thomson 4x
  
• Thomson Elite '05
  

Tyres :

• Bontrager ACX '05 "Tubeless"
• Hutchinson Bulldog
• Hutchinson Spider UST
  
• Panaracer Cinder
• Panaracer XC Fire
• Schwalbe Nobby Nic's
  
• Schwalbe Racing Ralph '05

Wheelsets :

• Bontrager RaceLite UST
• Chris King & DT XR 4.1d '05
• Industry9 & DT 5.1 '07
  

Accessories :

Armour :

• Thor Quadrant

Helmets :

• Giro Animas
  
• Met 5th Element '05
  

Hydration Packs :

• Deuter Cross Air
  

Jackets :

• Endura eVENT
  

Lights :

• AyUp LED '07
  
• Cateye Stadium - HID
  
• Light & Motion ARC '05 / ARC '06 - HID, Li-Ion
• Light & Motion Solo Cub - Li-Ion '06
  
• Light & Motion Solo Logiv mv '06
  
• Lumicycle
  
• Topeak Whitelight DX '06 - LED

Locks :

• Kryptonite New York Chain '06
  

GPS :

• devices - Garmin Edge 305, eTrex
• software - MemoryMap, Tracklogs v3 '05

Mudguards :

• SKS Shockguard & X-Dry '05
  
• Topeak Defender '05

Pumps :

• Shock Pumps
  
• Topeak JoBlow Sport '02 - trackpump
  

Shoes :

• 5ten Low Impact - platforms
• Cannondale Roam '06 - women's
  
• Shimano W101 '04
• Specialized Sport Mountain '02 vs '07
  

Miscellaneous :

• Aldi Cycling Kit
• Bike Rack - Thule Ride On '05 - tow bar mount
• Books - Master MTB Skills (again), Zinn and the Art of MTB Maintenance
• "Helicopter" Protective Tape
  
• Importing from the USA
  
• Camcorder set-up & early tests
• High5 Protein Recovery drink
• Homemade Super Fruit Bars
  

Review Websites :

• BikeMagic - under the "Gear" tab
  
• Gear Review.com
• MTBR

I find that the Blogger Archive drop-down is useless unless you know "when" stuff was Blog'd. So with a little help, I'm sure that the links to any new reviews will mysteriously find there way into this handy reference blog. Eventually...