Latest Product Reviews

Just a few short years ago, no serious XC racer would ever have considered a dropper post. They were too heavy for the weight weenies and few, if any courses required them anyway. Fast forward to today, and things are changing fast. The tracks are getting more and more challenging, and the posts are getting lighter at the same time. Are we at the tipping point? Will dropper posts be found on the majority of XC race bikes going forward? The purists may never convert, but with products like the new BikeYoke Divine popping up, they are going to be running out of arguments pretty soon. We slapped one on an XC rig to see how Read More »

The Good:

Awesome damping / Superior rim protection / More grip

The Bad:

Cost / Removing them is even worse than installing them

So CushCore had been on my radar for a while and although I have only had one pinch flat in the last 2 years I liked everything I was hearing about the product. As I was sitting and watching YouTube vid's and doing some more reading up on CushCore a video cued up with a follow up from Phil Kmetz on his experience. I was sold and pulled the tigger with out even really thinking about how much I was spending. The power of marketing!! Anyway, they are expensive and for me to spend $$$ to prevent a pinch flat would seem a little silly, but it wasn't really the pinch flat that had me dropping the $$$ for the Read More »

The Good:

Comfortable, easy to install.

The Bad:

None I can think of.

Been running these ever since they were released a few years ago. Very comfortable even without gloves for my medium sized hands. Easy to install and adjust due to the 1 clamp system. Multiple colors are offered for those that need to color coordinate. 

The Good:

Light Weight
Climbs 10/10
Capable descender
Great geometry
Mini Ripmo
Precise and nimble

The Bad:

Is any $9k plus bikes not good?
Only a DPS shock option
Brakes aren’t enough for aggressive riders

Ripley 4 Review The new Ripley 4 aka “Mini Ripmo” lives up to the Ripley legacy. It’s probably one of the best climbing trail bikes period. A blend of modern geometry, worthy suspension bits, and super light and stiff frame materials combine to make this bike a worthy trail ripper. A progressive shock tune keeps it capable of taking bigger hits, and It’s fun factor is off the charts. Who’s it for? Well, certainly not for me, at least that’s what I thought before I tried it. Sure I bet it climbs good, but could that make up for sacrificing the descents? No it would not. Luckily the Ripley doesn’t seem to sacrifice any fun on the Read More »

The Good:

Structurally stiff, extremely lightweight, high-quality damping

The Bad:

Unreliable internals, long-term durability questions. Many popular steel frames and popular application-specific wheelsets are incompatible.

The Pike DJ is extremely lightweight, even more so if you replace the stock axle with a Maxle stealth. and cut the steerer. Even a few years ago, the idea of a sub-4 pound fork that's more than stiff and resilient enough for freestyle applications was laughable. The tapered steerer and 35mm stanchions add a tremendous amount of chassis stiffness. Relative to the previously ubiquitous 20mm through-axle (which many companies besides RockShox accompanied with pinch bolts), a 15mm axle that can screw freely in and out is theoretically less stiff. Overall, this fork's chassis is far better than straight steerer DJ forks such Read More »

The Good:

Keep the chain quite clean, But i haven’t tested it in horrible mud bath.
works decent in dry few splashes and light rain, but nothing more.

The Bad:

Short nozzle
Expensive Compared to many other options. chain is dry too fast

I wanted to try it, but I knew it might not be perfect, and I was right, it was not. I was used to using lubes, I could use for two days of 4hour riding, but this lube did not offer this with the harsh conditions I rode in. It cleans the chain very well, black stuff drops off, I can easily wipe off the grime, leaving a shiny clean chain, but it gets lubricated, but it does not last for long, I have to lube chain after every single ride, for multi hour rides you would need to have a bottle with lube with you, this isn’t acceptable for me. If you soak the chain with Muc Off Wet lube it will result in Read More »

The Good:

Durable. Easy to remove as long as you do it the right way, which is not how it's shown in the press videos. last longer than many cheap thin flexy alternatives, Weldtite for example. the put on part works with light xc tyres, but not with sticky thicker tyres. Because it's plastic it does not scratch the rim. the ''remove'' part of the lever works great for installing, just keep the tube away from getting pinched. makes install and removal of all tyres easier, including Suomi wire bead tyres.

The Bad:

no matter how I hold it the tip and the rest body flexes. I got 2 of these, one of them was bit tight to get on the rim but was ok after few times of use. I ended up using just the ''removes'' instead of the '' install'' part of the lever when I was finishing off putting the tyre on. ( I used Maxxis High roller 2 tyres) Does not fit average and big hands

Use period: 2016 - 2018 Originally posted on my site https://wp.me/p60aTF-Ja check it out One of the best plastic tyre levers, that’s for sure. Durable, strong enough, decent price, definitely worth a buy. in my opinion this is a better option than Park Tool metal lever, which has plastic cover, but the tips are not covered, so they will scratch the rim, these won’t, also the speedier lever is strong enough, you don’t need the park tool lever. I have used Weldtite and Zefal lever before, the Zefal levers were way too thin and broke, Weldtite levers flex too much.

The Good:

the bolt turns smoothly it fits precisely on the seat tube.
Lovely Laser etching
even surfaces, well made, no sharp edges, but it has a tiny texture to it, which also can bee seen, which some might like, you can clearly see it's CNC machined.

The Bad:

The bolt has worn significantly, quite fast. I have two of these so I had to switch I did not want to round the bolt off, and end up with loose seat post.
the hex key does does not fit as tight as I wish it did, I have tried Park Tool Hex keys and Teng Tools bits which are even more precise than Park Tools Hex (Bondhus) keys. I noticed it was not good tolerances between the tool first when it the first use, with a park tool multi tool (Bondhus). I don't know who makes the bolts.
Bolt can loosen up fast in big temp changes. Even with Loctite 243 the bolt has loosened up every time I took the bike out from the room temperature indoors to cold winter outside, few minutes and it was loose, so if you plan to ride with extreme temperature changes and ride hard it will eventually come loose and seat post will spin, this is also be common issue with seat rail clamps on many dropper post, or seat posts. Of course how fast it will depend on material combo and load, vibrations it gets, also had issue with loose bolts on Shimano brake levers clamps, and race face stems, but for secure stem Renthal Apex is has worked well for me, but for seat post clamps I don't know which are the best, this was my first aftermarket seat post clamp.

I bought these in august 2017, and used them since to now, 2019. Product Page: https://www.hopetech.com/products/accessories/seat-clamp/seat-clamp/ Flickr Photo Album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskQ7TiRk Originally posted on my site

The Good:

The laces don’t wear out after months of use they are like new, unlike the 2015 Impact shoes. Very easy to tie and untie, when tying the laces, i bend my legs down and tie the shoe, with few millimetre of room between the laces and the tongue, which gives perfect tightness,without Hurting , and when doing it this way I know it’s going to be right, if I do it this way, I can tuck the laces on to the side. the shoelaces don’t untie if you tighten them properly. Easy to take off, the tongue won’t restricts you from taking the shoes on and off fast. The Tongue stays in place.
good fit, enough room for big toes.

The Bad:

Not sure what to say.

These shoes are clearly summer shoes,the shoes have venting holes on the top in the front & on the sides, which work great, I can feel the wind blowing through. The outer sole is the same as on the ESP version, with the same trusted S1 rubber. The Freerider is a quite breathable & lightweight shoe, they are higher over the anklethan the EPS version. from the left: Impact high, Freerider, Freerider EPS Freerider EPS & Freerider The Impact has much higher mid sole. from the left: Impact high, Freerider, Freerider EPS Feel & comfort. But the Freerider ESPis comfortable when running, the sole Read More »

The Good:

The lever has nice ergonomics. Easy to install. The Torx bolts in the seat clamp have not worn out after several weeks of use, it looks promising. The barrel adjuster on the lever for wire tension has not snapped or bent yet, so it looks promising. The barrel adjuster has a ice wheel to turn, it makes it easy to adjust the tension even with one finger the dropper is easy to service with common tools.

The Bad:

After few weeks of riding the stanchion got a slight discolouration about a cm below the top it is where when the it’s fully down, it’s I side the collar, I am not sure why this happen, but it’s barely visible, and try to get it to show on photo.
You have to have weight on the middle to drop it, but not a problem, if done like that it drops smoothly, it’s faster than Turbine dropper, so light feel drop, this is not surprising at all nor is this a major flaw.
The slot for the brass key holding the head straight is too wide so the head rotates few degrees, this could be felt when riding, especially if doing wheelies There is also up & down play, forward backward rocking play, so a lot more play than the Turbine, which only had side to side rotational play. The top of the stanchion gets very grease after a long ride with dropping the saddle a lot, a lot of up and down, combined with rocking play back and forth. Clamp head saddle rail bolts can get loose, and might undo enough for the saddle to slip back, I think it’s due to temperatures changes & the loads, this is what happens when you take the bike out from the warm home out and ride for few minutes in subzero temps, this has happen with the Bontrager rigid post too, also the Race Face Turbine post. When I got home I had to fix this, and yes I had on Loctite 243, but this eventually happens anyway, Loctite eventually needs reapplying.
So a multi tool is a must, even if everything on the bike has been checked, i had to do this every time, but of course how much it loosened varied. But I haven’t had issues like this on the Renthal Apex stem, but with Atlas Stem I had to Check it before and after every ride, and during ride to be sure bolt’s did not get loose and the handle bar were spinning.
also I got issue with Hope Tech Seat post clamp & Shimano brake levers too. the bolts might undo enough for the saddle to slip back, but these are side effects rapid temperature change, shrinking things slightly, of course different materials will be effected at different rates. You just have to expect this and tighten it down when you are out and check suspension too see if pressures are right, because it can drop a lot, so if this post was a air post it would need to to work with something like 10psi drop or increase, but as this is a mechanic dropper post you don’t have to worry about the pressure. Once when greasing the collar and screwing on the collar there was resistance, it turned out to be the dust wiper seal which has was skewed, and got worse when threading the collar on, so I had to take the collar off, and hammer it in using a bearing press block. I don’t know why this happen, but I suspect it might be the play in the post, the front to back rocking.

check out my review on my site for pictures and more https://wp.me/p60aTF-2zn