Archives
now browsing by author
Flare Rider Co clothing launch on Kickstarter
Currently renowned for their excellent female MTB clothing, Flare are looking to expand into men’s kit – and about time too 🙂
They are looking to launch Flare Rider Co as a brother band for men, and it looks bloomin awesome! So come on and back a great UK start up and get 40% off the clothes as a bonus.
(plus I want the downhill kit, so let’s get it funded please!!)
Schwalbe Procore
I love the theory of Procore and allegedly it works even better in practice.
I really want to try it BUT, €179 for the kit?! You can wheels for that!!
Notjustageek Photography Photoshoot
Last week I had the pleasure of doing a photoshoot down at the MBSwindon Croft Trail with John from Notjustageek Photography. Read More
REVIEW – Superstar Nano Tech Flat Pedals
Are a decent pair of flat pedals good enough to convince me to switch from SPDs after 15 years?
Superstar Nano Tech Flat Pedals
Features - 9
Function - 9.5
Weight - 8.8
Pricing - 9
9.1
Highly Recommended
Very comfortable, very grippy, lightweight and good value flat pedals. Great service from Superstar too.
What has happen to Standover Heights?
As some of you may have guessed from the title of my blog, I’m not very tall – 5′ 4″ to be precise. The reason for this is I have short legs – 28″ or around 71cm. Now I have happily negotiated my way through life without this really being an issue, but I’ve been looking at new bikes recently and have run into a big issue – they’re too big!
This never used to be an issue, but standover heights on new bikes seem to be every increasing – especially on bikes with the new larger wheel sizes and full suspension bikes.
Ok, I know I’m short, but I can’t be an anomaly of nature. I can buy trousers easily enough – a “short” trouser fits me just fine and is catered to my inside leg, so why are cycle manufacturers now denying the existence of short men?
(to be fair, women seem much better catered for).
In my quest to find a new bike I have found it very hard to find a full suspension bike that I can actually stand astride, let alone have any clearance of the top tube. I have yet to find a 29″er that I can touch the floor from the top tube, which crazily rules out entire manufacturers – Specialized to name and shame an example – or entire product lines – Trek’s Fuel EX range as another example. How heightest is that?!
“Can I interest you in a bike sir? Oh no sorry, according to our design team, men of your height don’t exist, so you can’t have a mountain bike”.
Fortunately there are one or two manufacturers who appear to have not quite given up on the vertically challenged and in case anyone else is in the same predicament, I decided to compile a list of all these bikes that cater for us shorties.
It’s called The Shortlist and can be found here. Appropriately it’s not very long at the moment, but I’d love to hear from people if they have any suggestions – especially manufacturers. You can drop me your suggestions here.
Link – The Shortlist
REVIEW: Specialized Purgatory Control Tyre
Specialized have a tyre amnesty event on at the moment, and the Purgatory Control is one of the tyres available. It has reviewed well in the press, so I thought I’d give it a go as a replacement to my ageing WTB Weirwolf.
Specialized Purgatory Control
Construction - 7.3
Grip - 9.2
Weight - 6.5
Price - 7.5
7.6
Recommended
Excellent front tyre in many conditions. Could be a little lighter, but great value.
REVIEW: MuckyNutz Bender Fender
Mudguards. They’re not very exciting, and some look plain hideous, but they can be pretty essential in the UK for stopping mud, pebbles and other debris hitting your face and body. So simple effective solutions that don’t deface or weigh down your bike are always welcome.
Ticking all of the above boxes, step forward the Bender Fender from MuckyNutz.
MuckyNutz Bender Fender
Features - 8
Function - 9
Weight - 9.5
Pricing - 8.5
8.8
Recommended
Simple idea, slightly fiddly to fit, but cheap and very effective.
REVIEW: Shimano XT M785 Trail SPD Pedals
I have been a happy user of SPDs for years, but there are some times when I want to be unclipped – such as steep technical climbs at slow speeds. Conventional SPD pedals don’t allow for anything other than being clipped in, so step forward the Trail SPD pedal, which feature a cage around the normal SPD pedal.
Shimano XT M785 Trail SPD Pedals
Features - 8
Function - 8.5
Weight - 8.5
Pricing - 9
8.5
Recommended
Excellent pedals for those who want to stayed unclipped every once in a while with little weight penalty.