Posts
4960
Joined
6/26/2009
Location
Boise, ID
US
Edited Date/Time
6/27/2020 6:11am
We're excited to have the crew from MRP at your service today for our Forum Hotseat!
Ask them anything here today! MRP will be online responding from 9am to 2pm PST.
MRP is a long-time leader in the chainguide market and has a deep line of suspension products for the serious mountain biker looking to fine-tune their ride.
MRP's Bartlett dual-crown fork is an intriguing option for enduro riders wanting long-travel precision and stiffness on the front end, and we recently saw their prototype Jackson air shock (picture above) at the Sedona MTB Festival. We were really impressed with the MRP Stage fork in 2018. As a smaller company, the brand out of Grand Junction, Colorado, is able to act on ideas and react quickly to the needs of modern riders.
Random, fun poll
Poll
I've been 1x myself since the late '00s, probably. The trail bike setup back then was 34 x 11-34t, IIRC. That makes me feel a little soft now, running 34 x 10-45t, but I know I ride a lot more now!
on a serious note, here's a question - when narrow/wide chainrings came out as "chainguide killers," what did you all think internally? was that product out of the blue for you or did you know it was coming? clearly, it hasn't killed the chainguide business, eh?
(thanks for being on today!)
The tech threads are also great, they provide valuable insight into what riders think and the bike geek I'll always be still loves when someone posts a grainy spy shot of a new product found on some obscure Chinese forum.
Re: narrow/wide, I don't remember the timeline exactly, but you have to remember we were producing chainguides for SRAM/Truvativ at the time, so we were privy to some early info on X-Sync. I remember being shown some sample parts of the original XX1 group at Eurobike, well before that came out. Chris Hilton (now of YT) had them in this cool hard-sided suitcase and took us outside to one of the parking lots between halls to show us. I remember feeling so special, haha.
That time period was actually a boon for us. A lot of people think narrow/wide tech had a negative effect on the guide market, but it's was actually the opposite. Previously, 1x drivetrains weren't necessarily rare (they were definitely on-trend with peers), but they certainly weren't mainstream. Most bikes still had multiple chainrings, and although we sold a good amount of our LRP and 2x guides, they were still fairly niche. The era of the original XX1 and the slew of range-extending add-on cogs for other cassettes at the time really pushed 1x into the mainstream, so we had more riders than ever looking at our guide and bash products.
We've always looked at chain-retaining rings (as we call them) as a way to add security to a drivetrain, not necessarily as replacements for chainguides. For some people, they may provide enough security, and it's not necessarily because those people don't "shred", but that certainly plays a part. For many people, they need the insurance a chainguide provides. For instance, you haven't seen a pro enduro rider without one for ages. Anymore, you rarely see a top-level XC racer without one. So, as good as some of these rings are, guides are still necessity for racers. It also seems to be a regional thing, like here in the desert, guides and bash protection are almost non-negotiable if you want to ride technical trails. Areas where the trails are smooth, lack a lot of ledges and square-edged hits, and downhills are steep enough to coast, you see less chainguide use.
I could go on for days about guide benefits, so I better stop...
I assume the latter, in which case, maybe?
From engineers:
"Constricting oil flow dramatically, as with a climb setting or lockout, inevitably puts an extra load on certain seals. This is true of any shock, not just Hazzard. So leaving the Shred Lever on all the time, taking lots of very hard hits, may affect the service interval. That said, the system is robust and frequent use of it is not an issue."
The intent with that feature was to provide a very firm "climb" adjustment. At the time, I felt like those from other manufacturers were generally pretty weak, to the point where I'd question which position was "on". So I 'd imagine your bike is either really firm like this, unless it's under-sprung. We could re-vlave it for you to provide more base low-speed compression damping, so you could then reserve the Shred Lever for climbing, road, smooth trail, etc., as it's intended.
Also, I would like to know your thoughts on coil shocks for trail/mini-duro bikes. If we're prioritizing downhill performance on our bikes and we have limited travel (<140mm), would a coil shock provide better suspension performance than an air shock? I'm thinking in terms of small bump compliance - short travel means limited range for the shock to get from one stage of travel/tune to another, so in theory the benefits of coil shocks would be even greater on short travel bikes. Or am I completely wrong here? I have no engineering/design experience, just like to ride and look at cool stuff.
Our Service Manager is working about 3 days a week at the moment while we maintain a healthy work environment for everyone by limiting staff overlap. That said, we still running pretty quick service turnarounds. It's best to reach out to support@MRPbike.com for exact timeframes. With planning, we could schedule the service to minimize any downtime.
There are a few reviews for the Hazzard and Progressive Springs out there, they're linked on our product page. Regarding reviews in general, there's definitely been a consolidation of media and thus places to get legitimate reviews in the last few years. While some people think an advertising contract will get you a good review, that's definitely NOT the case. But, it is true that some outlets won't review product without advertising. So that's been one hurdle. We definitely offer product up for review, but it can sometimes be tricky to match a product to an appropriate reviewer (with a suitable bike). That's probably the biggest challenge with getting Bartlett reviews, it's fairly niche to begin with and then you have reviewers with test sleds that are owned by the manufacturer, who may hear "dual crown" and get scared.
I think Vital is looking for good test sled for the Bartlett right now.
Re: coil on short-travel bikes. Yes and no. There are some frames where it's a good (even great) match, but many lack the support needed to not be riding on the bump stops all the time. As well, a lot of short-travel frames utilize shock sizes that aren't friendly to coil shocks in general, and even less friendly to heavier and/or Progressive springs (which are longer). One that comes to mind is the 185mm trunnion size that's pretty common in the "short-travel shredder" category (didn't say downcountry). That size can take most of our Enduro SL springs, but it's limited to the 500+ and lighter Progressive springs (due to fit). Furthermore, our Progressive springs have a max stroke of 65mm, so if you're using them on 50 or 52.5mm stroke shocks, you're actually missing a bit of the progressive effect. We'd need to make short-travel specific Progressive springs to really have a good match to more of these bikes. I'd totally vote for that in spirit, but I'm not sure its a big enough market to make it commercially viable (at least at the moment).
Air shocks don't have to have poor sensitivity, it's just that a lot of them do. I think most commonly that's because of system friction. There are ways to address that and even make the initial stroke feel tunable by the rider....
What bike?
Noah, how do you guys come up with technology names? CHOCOLUXE cracks me up!
Related, what does a 37% reduction in fork friction feel like on the trail?
For the person who isn't aware, what can adjusting the negative pressure on one of your forks do? When might you want to increase or decrease it relative to the positive pressure?
Are fork sales in general pointing toward a mass transfer to shorter offsets?
Which parts of Elka's shock technology does MRP still use today?
How has coronavirus impacted the business? Any unexpected positives?
Hope the crew is well!
As I mentioned in another response, a challenge we face is that the progressive element of these springs add to their length. So do higher rates. Couple those together and you start to drastically limit fit compatibility.
I've fairly often heard from V1 Hightower owners looking for this, but those frames used a 200x51 shock. That's both short on eye-to-eye length and stroke, making it impossible to squeeze heavy progressive springs onto the shock body.
For instance, I'm running my HSC relatively open to keep my fork supple on high-speed chatter and I'm running tokens to prevent harsh bottom outs and excessive fork dive in steep/nasty stuff. How would a speed-sensitive Ramp Control cartridge on my spring be a better system?
For reference, I'm a big, heavy, formerly fast racer. BTW loving my SxG chainguide! The bottom chain retainer piece is brilliant. Has prevented 100% of chain drops but with no resistance on the chain.
For MTB, I've found you can be pretty reckless using Maxxis EXO+(front) and DD (rear) with Enve rims. Probably helps that my suspension is so good.
Good tip! I will take out my pocket cheese and see if I can do better on Strava.
They used to spec fox DHX coils on some models back in the late 00s when this model was new.
I've got a frame I upgraded to all modern parts including a 27.5 conversion. Just a thought to go coil. Air works fine.
For a new build I am considering the Bartlett. However I haven`t been able to find any reviews yet. Is there a coil version in the works like the ribbon? What is the reason to only have an air spring?
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