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The first time I ever went up a proper mountain on a bike was on a Specialized Rockhopper (hired from the lovely people at Absolute Bikes in Flagstaff), so you’ll excuse me if I get a little dewy eyed when I’m talking about it. It took me, a singletrack novice through some expert rated trails in Arizona and I came back alive.
If that isn’t worth getting dewy eyed about I don’t know what is.
As promised, our review of the Giant Trance X1. The Trance X range of bikes is Giant's 'ultiamte trail bike series', designed to go up and downhill equally well.
We rode it during our extensive training period, in which a whole range or riders (from singletrack experts to fish out of water roadies), took our range of test bikes out to Afan.
Not only did we have a great time up in Afan during a week of staff training, we also came away with the opinions of over twenty different riders (with very different experiences), concerning the demo bikes we took. Not being the types to keep our opinions to ourselves, we thought we’d share a few of em…
First up, a massively popular 5inch XC mountain bike is weighed up in the Afan Argoed center café over a post ride cup of tea: the Specialized Stumpjumper Expert
Continue reading "Specialized Stumpjumper Expert 2008 Review" »
Gareth (one of our downhill specialists) had a go on the Specialized Pitch Pro recently. An all mountain bike that, without the need for a second mortgage, would let you ride with confidence wherever.
Sounds good no?
Well, if there are any weaknesses with the Pitch it’s a safe bet that the dangerous combination of Ga and Penhydd would smoke em out…
This is our man Fitty (real Mauri name longer than this post), outside our Cardiff bike shop. You'll normally catch him kicking about on a GT BMX. Well Mrs Fitty must’ve had a stroke or something ‘cause she’s let him blow £2k on this stunning Commencal ’08 Furious. Absolutely nothing to do with him sulking for 4 months I’m sure.
This thing looks more reliable than gravity and I'd love to nick it and get over to Cwm Carn to test out the 180mm travel at both ends, unfortunately Fitty isn't prepared to let go of it quite yet (a man really shouldn't take his bike to the toilet). Anyway I'd be petrified of scratching the paintwork on that beautiful Cedric Gracia signature frame.
Just a quick note to say that the 2008 Trek 3700’s are coming, and pending a review from us check out this funky Indian blog/bike shop that has a brief photo comparison with the 2007 model.
The Specialized Stumpjumper FSR 2008 looks like it's going to be one of those pivotal bikes (get it?).
Everyone's talking about it; other brands benchmarking against it; retailers struggling to get it; people stopping you on the trail to look at it.
I'd love to say that there's one on it's way to me and I'm testing it this weekend but, alas, I can't. Here's the next best thing though: Ned 'The Lung' Overend testing one. Okay, its not the most comprehensive or objective test, but you get to see the next bike of the year (mark my words) in-situ.
Specialized have released pics of the new 2008 Stumpjumper. 
Well what can I say? A ground up redesign of the Stumpjumper platform using the new technology developed for the Enduro. Now whilst I don't want to join the nay sayers who already seem to be fueling the fires raging in bike forums everywhere, I can't help but be wary. The 2007 stumpy was by many people's accounts one of the finest trail bikes ever designed (according to Chris who is the biggest bike snob you could hope to meet!) and probably our best selling full suspension mtb of 2007.
Now dont get me wrong, I really respect Specialized for pushing the bounderies of cycle design, the new model is lighter than its predecessor thanks to the new rocker design and Specialized's own design future shock project, and you can't deny that the technology gone into it is astounding.
I'm just worried that the public arent ready for such a massive departure from the well loved predecessor. In laymans terms have Specialized "weed on their chips". The 2007 Enduro rework was very much a marmite affair (love it or hate it) and it looks as though the stumpy will have the same debate
surrounding it.
I hope that this bike gets the recognition that it deserves, as taking light weight full suspension design to the next level, and it rides as good if not better than the 07 model. But I will say this, it's got some pretty big shoes to fill!
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Thanks to Singletrackworld for the pics - lots more info in their 2008 Specialized Stumpjumper article. |
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Posted by Simon
It seems you need to be a fully-fledged journo to be invited to the launch of Giant’s 2008 bikes. The new Maestro range was being shown off in Morbo, California and we weren’t invited. The cheek of it, eh? I’m only small and could’ve flown from Cardiff if that makes it any cheaper. I guess not...
Anyway, the line up looks mighty fine (if not radically different) with the Trance X fitting right between Trance and Reign and further improvements to their Maestro suspension.
Trance X is 5” travel on the plush and very capable Maestro system, begging its XC riders to explore across more varied types of terrain and really test it.
The shock is higher mounted and no longer in the downtube, making the overall frame look rather slimline. Thanks to Singletrack for the picture, we really feel for their journalist who had to travel all that way to provide it! Yeah.
As soon as Giant let us get our hands on this baby we'll be back with more!
You know the scene: turn up at an event and see nothing but bike porn. There’s usually as much top end carbon fibre as at a F1 Grand Prix. But there’s also nearly always the obligatory first-time entrant on a hybrid or even an MTB with rear rack (good for the gels though, eh?).
Well, I got soaked in the Pembroke triathlon’s transition area last weekend counting the bikes to see which cycle manufacturers are getting triathletes’ disposable income. Had fun (yes, I can be a sad git) turning the results into a colourful pie-chart.
The surprises:
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...and if you're really desperate for the figures, here's the bike count (pdf) |
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If we needed an excuse for a day out in Cwmcarn, an invite to preview and test ride the new Diamondback Sabbath 2008 was just the ticket. After seeing Diamondback's Sabbath's prototype at the National Bike Show it was great to get our bums on the bikes. The new Sabbath gearbox bike (g-boxx) for 2008 is an awesome bike with a low center of gravity, very slick shifting and no chain rattle or noise. Perfect for muddy UK downhill courses.
The day was spent trying out several of the new Diamondback range which included some suprisingly affordable and competent bikes. Diamondback may have been overshadowed by some of the other makes in the past years but they are reclaiming ground with some brilliant new bikes and innovative engineering.
The production models are expected to be available later this year (around September) we'll be posting some more in-depth reviews before then.
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Trek have launched their new Madone on June 1st, which has a complete new look as well as having undegone several major design changes.
The Madone originally shot to fame when Lance Armstrong won his Tour de France races with this design.
The new Madone offers riders a choice of three fit options, all sharing the same 'ProTour-proven geometry' so riders can have the performance they're looking for with the best fitting riding position.
Cycling Plus has pictures and a brief preview summarising the changes in design between the new Madone and the original frame:
Check out the Madone website for further details.
If you're interested in fine detail, Wired Magazine's article spells out the finer details of Armstrong's kit for an insight into attempting virtual weightlessness.
Posted by Caroline
We thought we'd show off some of the kit we've built for customers over months gone by. Drool away at the Tredz Flickr account here... We'll be adding more custom bike pictures as we go along.
Some examples to get your appetite going:
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You may have spottted the Flickr badge on the left here on the blog. Useful for easy access if you fancy a quick look at the collection in times to come when this post is buried deep in the blog archives.
Fed up of reading dozens of catalogues and their sales jargon to find your ideal bike? Use our Full Suspension Experience Chart as your research tool instead. To be honest, it’s a revamp of something Specialized produced for those attending their Specialized Bicycle Components University (SBCU: a week of riding in California, bummer eh?).
Now, there's loads of full suspension bikes on the market from dozens of manufacturers, but they are all designed with a rider in mind. Each rider’s style is assigned a category at the development stage; it’s these categories we’ve dissected. It comes down to what you want from your full sus rig – the experience you want to have on the mountain.
Want to ride your favourite loop in 2 minutes faster than your previous PB? Ok, then speed is obviously
your main criteria. If fun (shits & giggles as they say in CA), gnarly, slopping, single track is more your bag then it’s more travel for you, my friend. Basically, you need to ask yourself two questions:
1) how important is my speed when I ride uphill?
2) how important is my speed downhill?
Then express these as a ratio e.g. 20/80 makes you a pretty hard-core downhill rider.
Personally, I hate to be the last man to the top. I’m rarely first (especially if I ride with Chris) but I push myself to be as close as I can to his rear tyre – I want my muscles and lungs to know they’re on the bike.
That means I’d like less travel and wasted energy – more hard-tail than full suspension. However, I also want to be able to hit stuff on the way down without being kicked off (I’m not that great at picking my lines, so most rocks/roots get touched in some way). Full suspension is obviously far better here than a hard-tail. Overall then, I don’t want to be handicapped in any particular area on the mountain - all round speed and efficiency (of pedalling) is my goal. Therefore, my ratio of priority (% up versus % down) is about 50/50.
Simon, on the other hand, has duff knees and doesn’t give a damn about being first to the top – “you’ll all wait for me anyway, right”. He gets his grins from coming down and riding ‘through’ things with his
6” travel Kona Coiler. This much travel isn’t the most on the market, but it really does mean you can pick some crazy lines to overtake people
where you’d never usually put your rubber. His ratio is about 10/90 but he has to ride his bike up the mountain (granted, rather slowly), so that brings it back to more like 40/60. Remember, you’ve also got flat bits in which you need to pedal.
Okay then, our chart works like this:
1) weight up your priorities as a ratio
2) find which category you sit in
3) research the MTBs in that category
4) research some more
5) spoil yourself & grin wildly
As well as supporting cycling events (more on that in later posts), Tredz will be holding test bike days for our fifth year in a row. Yesterday saw the first of 2007 where we introduced Kona and Giant full suspension bikes to the public in their natural environment - the forest.
24 mountain bikers pre-booked their tests on Gaint's Trance, Anthem and Reign, along with Kona's Kikapu, Dawg and Coiler. These were mostly riders who'd never really experienced full suspension and were "blown away" with how much faster they could take the trails. Another 30-odd tests were held by riders who'd turned up on their own bikes and just wanted to try something new. That's exactly what we'd hoped for. Thanks to Mike from Giant and Jonny from Kona for helping make it happen; cheers guys.
The barby didn't go so well...
With the cabinets full of glittering Race Face parts, our continued support of Kona bikes, and our spangling new Cove frames hanging on the wall, we're spreading the love of all things Canadian. Yep, our 
first delivery of 2007 Rocky Mountain Bikes has arrived! Rocky are still hand built in Vancouver, only a stones throw away from the legendary North Shore trails. They’ve got the perfect test ground on their doorstep which would make most bikes crumble. The first thing you notice about them is the attention to detail - it’s outstanding. If you run your finger over the maple leaf paintwork you can feel the depth of the paint; it’s even a little different on each bike (a bit like leopards’ spots!)
One of the best things about us stocking Rocky Mountain is the fact that they offer such a complete range of bikes. The new Slayer SXC has 6” of travel at each end, filling the 'All Mountain' slot pretty 
comfortably - especially with the world shortage of Specialized Enduros. Their XC race bike, the Element, has been tweaked for 2007 and is backed up by more race wins. It maybe considered short travel by today’s standard, but this rig is fast. Whatever style of bike you're looking for, it looks like there’s a Rocky that’ll float your boat (if your wallet can swim).
If you've ever watched Roam, The Collective or any of the NWD movies then you would've seen the legends, Wade Simmons and Thomas Vanderham, doing some out-of-this-world riding on their Rockys. That’s about the best testimonial any brand could receive.
Where's my daughter's birth certificate? Do they sell babies on eBay? Unlike dad, she's really rather cute - honestly. The question is, would she fetch enough to buy this ’07 Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper we've finished building for a customer today (just shy of £5,000)?
Look at her (the bike, not the baby). A carbon frenzy: frame, brakes, shifters, bars, barends. It might be quicker to list the parts that aren’t. There’s even a pair those new Mavic Crossmax SLR wheels. My chin is on the floor just looking at it. Unfortunately, I won't get to ride it this weekend. [If my wife is reading my blogging this week I might not be able to get out anywhere this weekend.]
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Bad weather, bad health and a bag load of work have meant my cycling/running/exercise regimes have been nothing short of pathetic since about Christmas. But our friends at Specialized UK have kindly loaned me a new 2007 Specialized Allez Elite road bike, which has inspired me to don my lid and get the 700Cs turning.
I’m under no illusion that, unlike most of my fellow contributors, my cycling talents lie firmly at the amateur end of enthusiast. I haven’t owned a stream of wild and exotic Italian frames, or ridden most stages of le Tour as part of my summer holidays. No, I’m more a muck about on a riser bar and 5” of travel type of guy, but road riding does interest me. It feels like a totally different workout (perhaps that’s the obvious lack of trees to hit); more exercise than fun per say, but very rewarding all the same.
The benefits of road cycles as I see them are:
So I’m inspired, but what about the bike? Well, Specialized have consolidated the aluminium-framed Allez range this year from five to three models. Each is available in a double or triple chainset option: Allez (double at £500, triple at £530), Allez Sport (dbl £700 – tpl £730) and mine, the range-topping Allez Elite (dbl £900 - tpl £930). Allez is their opening line of drop handlebars (as the Hardrock range is to their MTB line up) and is designed to “answer the needs of competitive road riders, designed in relentless pursuit of efficiency and speed, and then enhanced with advanced ergonomic features in every model.” With catalogue lines like that, who needs NASA?
I’ve been speaking very nicely to the guys at Giant UK recently and my well-paced groveling resulted in a positive ‘Yes’ to my request for a first class road test bike. The steed in question was the 2007 Giant SCR C1.
The kit:
This is a full carbon Sports Compact Road bike (SCR, get it?). The C1 edition sports an Ultegra groupset with a Dura Ace rear mech and compact chainset. To finish things off it has a gorgeous silver set of Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels.
This bike looks awesome with its curved top tube, sculpted chain and seat stays, and a slightly taller than normal head tube.
The rider:
This SCR is aimed at the cyclist who wants to ride long distances. This rider could wish to enter a few cyclo-sportif's (such as the Dragon Ride in S.Wales), on a nice, light bike without getting beaten up. Performance without so much pain – it’s not just appealing to your dad anymore is it?
Having spent a summer with my Tredz supplied Kona Cowan jump bike, I thought I’d let you guys know a bit about it in this short review. Straight out of the box it looked great with its sweet paint job, but I can’t leave anything alone for long. Due to my riding style the front brake, both mechs, shifters and cassette were all junked in favour of a DMR single speed converter (smother riding and less to go wrong). This made the Cowan much more trail happy. I also changed the Tioga tyres for Maxxis Wormdrive semi slicks which roll loads faster (even though the boys say I've nicked them off my gran's shopping bike).
The Cowan feels surefooted thanks to the Marzocchi Dirt Jumper forks (in my opinion the only choice of fork manufacturers) but still light enough to be chuckable in a skate park or mini ramp. On the trail its super fast for minimal resistance, although it wants to do its own thing in the mud (those tyres again). The bottom bracket is high so it manuals well, and it has a short wheelbase so it handles well on the street.
As you’d expect from a Kona, the build quality is very high and the only warrantyish problem I've encountered is a pringled rear wheel - in all fairness I was doing back flips on dirt at the time. So, all in all, a very competent jump bike from a super reliable company. Cheers Tredz, what you getting me next year? More reviews soon of other stuff I have broken.
Posted by Edd
Sunday was my first date ride with my 2007 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert since posting its arrival last week. I’d like to give you a huge review about an epic all-day bonding between man and machine, but Afan Argoed on Sunday was the wettest it’s been all year. One of my two riding colleagues thought he’d beat the weather by not wearing a jacket – how the hell does that work? Despite my Kona Primo jacket being up to the task it appears neither I, nor my fellow riders were.
But the Stumpjumper was great. I find you really sit in a Stumpy, rather than on it. You set the sag right (20-25%) on the rear and you’re immediately in the groove. The X-0 shifters give new meaning to rapid-fire. I’ve been a Shimano fan for donkeys’ but these things were incredible. I wasn’t used to the setup so I hit the wrong paddle on a couple corners. This wasn’t a biggie I could go from 4th to 5th back to 4th and through to what I really wanted, 3rd, all way before the bend. Despite the weather and a rider with empty legs (still not recovered from the marathon) the Stumpy felt great. I need to adjust the rebound – it was kicking me up on the bigger dips – and the front brake needs more give, but I think we’re onto another great love affair. More reviewing soon I hope.
I took out a 07 Specialized Stumpjumper Expert FSR last weekend to Afan Argoed on The Wall and Penhydd trails (in unseasonably stunning weather). I was expecting good things after riding the 06 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Pro model last year and loving it to bits. I wasn’t disappointed, but more of that later.
Component-wise I found it spot on: Sram XO shifters are the best available in my book, XO rear mech likewise. The two combined deliver faultless shifting with the workhorse XT front mech doing its job well. The hollowtech2 XT chainset is also spot on (if you haven’t tried one you need to, to see how much better they are than octalink!). Juicy 7 brakes are again another benchmark for reliability and quality of feel (even sold my Hopes to swap to them). Shock absorption is taken care of by Fox at both ends with the Talas RL up front and Brain Fade at the back. DT rims are a nice touch and the usual finishing package of Specialized components give the bike a look and feel of quality.
Continue reading "Specialized FSR Stumpjumper 2007 review" »
It’s my birthday this week, although I’m not saying exactly when for fear of pesky egg & floor tricks. I’ve received the obligatory gifts (socks & tie rack), but my sister got all 21st Century with a great iTunes voucher (cheers Em) and my ten month old daughter managed to get hold of enough pocket money to buy her old man a cool cake. But I’ve also been graced with a 5* present: my 2007 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Expert has finally arrived. Isn’t she amazing?!
She’s a thoroughbred whose bloodline can be traced back to the 2004 Specialized Enduro (great bike marred by obscene amounts of chain suck). I’ve riden all her predecessors and loved them but this 2007 version promises to be my new favourite. Specialized aficionados will notice she's a non-catalogue colour: it's test bike purple.
After being without a mountain bike for a couple of months (wasn’t too bothered as I've been training for a marathon) I now get the feeling I’ve found myself a mistress. After all, every hour spent with her will be one stolen from my wife and child. I will long to be with her when my mind should be on work or motorway junctions. I am already planning dirty weekends away together (Mr & Mrs Smith at Coed y Brenin). She will make me smile broadly and laugh out loud when I least expect to. She will make me feel like a teenager the moment I join her. I will take great care for her and spend as many hours as possible in her presence. It’s official, I’m having an affair - well, I will be after my marathon this weekend. We'll both have to wait patiently...
We've posted recently about new bikes we've been viewing at the swish (and sometimes not so swish) bikes shows. The swishest of all bike shows and bible of every new is Interbike in Las Vegas. If you don't fancy the air fair and hours of queueing at customs in California then the next best thing is Eurobike. Get booking for September 2007.
Perhaps this short video will bring an end to us banging on about new 2007 things. Then again its unlikely.
The line up of Kona 2007 bikes looks very familiar at first glance. Kona have never been guys pushing the envolope, they design and build bikes they like end of story. You can have your carbon this and your integrated that; I'll have this cool looking thing over here that rides great and is pretty much indistrucable. They mill about in coffee houses in Cananda figuring out how to make things better for the many world and national champions on their books.
Highlighted changes for 2007 Konas:
Availability is likely to be October for the majority but check out Tredz as things come online.
Tredz were invited to the exclusive launch of the Scott 2007 bike line up at Basildon Park near Reading today. Scott bikes follow their American competitors and launch next year's cycles in the late summer (Scott are actually a Swiss company despite their livery Scott USA), hence 2007 bikes being shown in August/September.
As per usual, the line up is as good looking as ever with the design team picking great colours for their paint work (some informal photos here). But the engineers have been much busier. They've managed to create the world's lightest full suspension XC mountain bike and the lightest production road bike frame.
Continue reading "Scott 2007 bikes push the weight envelope" »
Becoming a father last December has seen my looking into all sorts of child transport systems. The obvious and urgent one to buy was our pram which is great. But then comes the question of how to move about at speed or off road? Hence I've been looking at strollers that I can jog with and rucksacks that I can carry my little princess in.
But last week I've also discovered this wonderfully designed child and adult bike (above). It's made by a Dutch company called 
Triobike. Here is their website. The front cradle detaches and becomes a push chair for two kids and the bike can then have its front wheel fitted to be ridden separately. I love such attractive, practical and (apparently) well made inventions.
The Tredz team got to see the Specialized 2007 mountain bikes yesterday. Specialized were determined to show off their new mountain bike range along with their road bikes and other lines at their UK headquarters in London.
Of course the Specialized Enduro was the star bike but it was very nice to see the Specialized Stumpjumper FSR come back into stock after huge popularity this summer created a mass shortage.
Cycling as a sport, activity and an exercise offers huge aerobic and anaerobic rewards. Ride a bike for an hour and try naming a muscle group that wasn’t asked to contribute to the effort. Cycling offers an all-round training package without stressing the joints in the way running or racquet sports can. This is because pedaling is a rotational force, as opposed to the impact your heel receives when striking the ground with all your weight multiplied by your momentum. Indeed, cycling’s only peer in this complete-but-impact-free world of workouts is swimming.
Continue reading "Buying a mountain bike - a beginners’ guide" »
