Out on the trail, the Gore Ride-On Sealed Low Friction Derailleur Cable Kit provide some lightning fast shifts, noticeably faster and easier than my old Shimano cables. The cables are completely protected from mud, dirt and the elements by continuous liners and GRUB™ Seals. In addition to the liner the Gore Ride-On Sealed Low Friction Derailleur Cable Kit uses a coated cable to keep the shifting running smoothly. Since installing these cable, I have ridden in mud, dry conditions and even on the beach during the Anchor man Challenge without a single miss shift.

The big selling point of these cables is their durability, performance does not diminish for a very, very long time. However, getting the installation correct is crucial for the longevity of the cables. Get it right and you will have no shifting issues for at least 2 years. Follow the instructions or their website, including a video or get your local bike shop to do it. I recommend Lance at Epic Bike shop.

Available in black and white the kit includes two coated cables, two liners, enough cable housing to outfit large bikes with complicated routing, lots of ferrules, two rubber grub seals, two end crimps, and two crimp covers. The cables are compatible with SRAM, Shimano, and Campagnola and work for road, mountain, cyclo-cross, downhill, etc. Weight for the uncut kit is 120 g.

Gore cables are distributed by Cycles Africa and can be bought at your top local bike shops.

As far as strength for the new carbon cranks is concerned, SRAM says they’ve been testing at levels strong enough to their World Cup-level downhill standards, but aren’t quite freeride-rated. Furthermore, point of failure is said to still be at the spindle and spider before the carbon fails.  The weight penalty over XX cranks?  Merely 60-grams.

2011 X0 cranks are carbon, and can be run with a 2-ring or 3-ring, removable spider. Along with the rest of the X0 group, they'll be available in 4 different colors: Black, Red, Blue and Gold. Photo by Zach White

Put your pedals here: Alloy inserts on the X0 carbon cranks. Photo by Zach White

Derailleur Down-Low

One of the most revamped components in the 2011 X0 group is the rear derailleur.  Taking several steps to improve durability and general tolerance for abuse over the previous design, SRAM’s idea of offering an “extremely durable” group seems sincere.  The first thing we noticed was the relocation of the classic C-clips that used to hang off the bottom of the parallelogram.  Though not considered a catastrophic failure my any means if one of the C-clips were to get yanked off by a rock/root/etc., SRAM felt that the clips would be better housed on top of the parallelogram and therefor out of harm’s way.

The new 2011 SRAM X0 rear derailleur. Photo by Zach White

And while on the subject of treating your bike like a bumper car, SRAM also opened up the clearance between the parallelogram and the B-knuckle, allowing much greater chances of unaffected shifting if the derailleur takes a hit hard enough to bend it.

On the more mechanical side of changes to the derailleur are the omission of that annoying little plastic thread engagement insert for the limit screws, and a reduced actuation link, allowing for a cleaner, less-stressed angle on the shifter cable.  Still available in short, medium and long cage lengths, all three versions are obviously now compatible with 36-tooth cogs.

2011 X0 gets added clearance between the parallelogram and the B-knuckle. Note the missing C-clips on the underside, as well as the loss of the plastic thread engagement insert, too. Photo by Zach White

Sexy Cogs

Still in prototype phases is a cassette that will fit in the X0 family — the 1080. With only one prototype on hand, flown in that day straight from Germany, the 1080 features all stamped cogs that are pinned together in order to both keep weight low and mud-crud shed-ability high. No word on what part of 2011 they’ll be available, how much the production version will weigh, or how much it’ll cost though.  But, we will say it sure is purdy.

Back view of the X0/1080 cassette. Photo by Zach White

Want to bring your weight-watcher geekness to the next level? Switch out those boat-anchor XX levers in 2011 with the new, lighter version that forgoes pad contact-point adjustment. Be warned, though, as the claimed 8 to 12-gram weight savings will most likely cause the UCI banned substance police to come knocking on your door after such drastically improved performance. Photo by Zach White

Courtesy Zach White and www.singletrack.competitor.com

Fusing in the social aspect of riding a bicycle, the futuristic bike includes a smartphone dock in its frame, which apart from docking your cellphone also downloads an app that would let you see who’s riding or what group rides are close to you to meet up with. Moreover, you can send a message to friends to join a ride along with you. The Glide also integrates rear lights into the aero twin seat post that lights up as soon as you engage the breaks to ensure complete safety from the vehicles coming behind.

Courtesy Naresh Chauhan

Charging times will obviously vary depending on the phone and cycling speeds, but Nokia says cycling for 20 minutes at 20 kmh (12.4 mph) will power up a Nokia 1202 for around one hour of talk time, or 74 hours of standby time. Charging starts when the cyclist hits walking speed, or around 6 km/h (3.7 mph), and at 12 km/h (7.4 mph) it will charge your phone as efficiently as a mains charger. And there’s no need to worry about going to fast and sending a power spike to your phone as the charger will cut out if you somehow exceed 50 km/h (31 mph).

The kit consists of three components: a bottle dynamo, charger and a phone holder. The bottle dynamo fits to the front of the bike with a mounting bracket, while the charger and phone holder attach to the handlebars so you can see the charging progress and carry out a hands-free conversation or listen to music on your phone’s speakers.

The phone holder is rubberized to protect your phone from vibrations and comes with a transparent bag to protect your phone from dirt and weather. The charger also boasts an ultrasonically welded case and clear coating on the electronics. Both the charger and holder can be easily removed whenever you park your bike to prevent theft of the unit.

Nokia’s Bicycle Charger Kit is compatible with any Nokia phone with a 2 mm charging interface and is easy to install. I only hope that the bottle dynamos have improved in the couple of decades since I used one to power a light on my early morning paper route.

There’s no word from Nokia on pricing or a release date for the Bicycle Charger Kit as yet.

Courtesy Darren Quick

By mounting the suspension on the top tube Pronghorn Racing offers a more horizontal and forward distribution of the energy while increasing the stiffness and rigidity of the rear end. The end result is a faster and more efficient suspension design while eliminating the energy-sapping pedal bob.

In other words, the bike handles like a hardtail when pedaling uphill so all the rider’s energy is conveyed via the chain to the rear wheel – the energy expelled while pedaling is not used to pull the wheel up and down. But when traveling downhill the bike reverts to handling like a full suspension model.

The APLS is now a feature of the company’s carbon fiber range of frames.

Courtesy Jeff Salton

While there’s no denying the sheer eye-candy appeal of the 21 bikes currently on display at NYC’s Museum of Art and Design, the show goes beyond the glossy frames, contoured leather seats, and clever accessories, delving into the intensive craftsmanship that drives the growing rebirth of the trade. Called “Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle,” the exhibit emphasizes both the level of customization and the painstaking techniques that go into making these one-of-a-kind rides. The bikes featured in the stunning collection all represent design tailored to meet the needs of the rider’s precise specifications and interests, fitted for their exact body measurements, and carefully handcrafted by the world’s most skilled artisans.

The outstanding roster of talent includes Jeff Jones, Dario Pegoretti, J. Peter Weigle, Sacha White (who co-curated the exhibit with entrepreneur and avid collector Michael Maharam), Mike Flanigan and Richard Sachs, with styles spanning road racing, fixed-gear, mountain, commuter, cyclocross (a type of racing bike), and even a pared-down bike built for a randonnée (a friendly, long-distance competition).

While much of the art of frame building remains unchanged, experts constantly—if not obsessively—refine their approach with new processes and tools. Richard Sachs, who has been designing and crafting bikes for three decades, claims that of the thousands of bikes he has built, less than ten come close to perfection. He drafted his signature frame in ’78, only after factoring out construction time and cost as limitations.

In a fascinatingly candid and in-depth interview with Rapha, Sachs jokes that authentic frame-building is like Latin, nobody likes it except scholars. He also tips his hat to Sacha White, one of the only custom bike builders of a younger generation that Sachs believes will be around for good.

A former bike messenger, Portland-based White has become well-known in the bike community for the racing, touring and commuter bicycles he produces under the name Vanilla. Recognized for their flawless construction, innovative concepts and painstakingly filed silver lugs for ultra-smooth connections, Sacha uses his extensive historical knowledge of frame-building to forge a new path for the future of customized bicycles.

As seductive as they are strong, Vanilla’s pitch-perfect color combos dress up exceptionally lightweight steel alloy tubes that boast twice the durability of the those used on the standard racing cycle.

Of White’s bikes in the show, the two he completed this year see the craftsman experimenting with new models, a children’s utility bike and a track-racing bike dubbed Speedvagen, built with the help of Dario Pegoretti. Both incorporate some ingenuity in their design. The roadster-style tricycle’s large wheels and adjustable frame keep it looking proportional through the years, while the Speedvagen Track Machine has a built-in top tube reinforcement and hollow “tubular truss” dropouts—features that lend superior strength thanks to tricky engineering feats.

Also a three-decade-strong master, Pegoretti (pictured above) was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2007, breaking the news with an online apology letter to his customers and friends for the slowdown in production. (He’s now back to around 300 frames a year.) In addition to collaborating with White, Pegoretti worked with fellow bespoke builder Sachs for 16 months to come up with their esteemed PegoRichie tubeset.

Courtesy Karen Day

But the answer to “how” might come as a slight surprise, as Shimano’s 10-speed cogset and corresponding drivetrain improvements will appear first on XT and SLX groups, as part of what Shimano is calling the Dyna-Sys drivetrain. And for now, the 10-speed cogset will be paired with conventional triple cranks, albeit with revised chainring sizing and spacing.

Dyna-Sys

Perhaps acknowledging that 10-speed mountain bike drivetrains are not entirely revolutionary to the sport, but do mark a new era for the company, Shimano calls Dyna-Sys “Shimano’s generational improvement of mountain bike drivetrain technology.”

The Dyna-Sys moniker refers to the family of compatible 10-speed components meant to function optimally together. Dyna-Sys XT and SLX components will be compatible, and any potential future components wearing the Dyna-Sys label would likely be up- and down-spec compatible within the family.

Shimano’s goal with creating Dyna-Sys is to improve drivetrain efficiency by creating a more closely spaced front gearing range paired to a wider range 10-speed cogset. Basically, the small chainring is bigger (24 teeth vs. 22), the middle ring stays the same (32 teeth), and the big ring is smaller (42 teeth vs. 44). Shimano says this narrower triple crank range paired with a wider 11-36 cogset results in smoother and more intuitive shift patterns plus smaller interruptions in cadence and pedaling rhythm. Chain tension is also reduced in certain gear combinations by more than 30 percent (for example, riding in the 32t chainring and 36t cog, instead of the equivalent 22t chainring and 25t cog).

Further, by permitting a wider range of effective gearing from the frequently used 32-tooth middle ring, Shimano says that the Dyna-Sys drivetrain should work well with the pivot locations on most full-suspension bikes currently on the market, essentially creating a more stable, integrated platform between drivetrain and bike.

XT, SLX get Dyna-Sys’ed

For now, rather than marking the wholesale reworking of one or more entire component groups, Dyna-Sys technologies will be  integrated into the existing design cosmetics of XT and SLX groups. Starting in about June, XT and SLX groups will grow by one gear in the rear and get new chainrings, but won’t otherwise change significantly in form or function. Shifters and derailleurs will be subtly redesigned to work with 10-speed, but won’t look different.

Naturally, the centerpiece of Dyna-Sys is a new 10-speed cogset. It will be available in both XT and SLX trim in 11-34 and 11-36 combinations.

The cogset is joined by a new directional asymmetric HG-X 10-speed mountain bike chain, the familiar XT or SLX cranksets bolted to new chainrings, derailleurs with revised plates and increased gear capacity, and rear shifters with more detents.

XTR and Dyna-Sys?

Shimano’s Dyna-Sys answers a few questions, but of course raises new ones. It’s impossible not to imagine the 10-speed upgrades making their way up to the flagship XTR level, but Shimano is keeping quiet.

We’re willing to bet that the “if” question is a foregone conclusion, but stay tuned for another round of “when” and “how.”

2011 Shimano Deore XT Specs:

RD-M773 – XT Shimano Shadow Rear Derailleur
Low Profile Shimano Shadow rear derailleur design reduces the component profile by 15mm less than a traditional design in high gear.
Top normal spring design to mesh with the more common choice of RapidFire shifters for trail / all-mountain riding
Sealed bearing guide and tension pulleys
Available in medium and long cage (GS and SGS)
Total capacity: 43T (SGS), 35T (GS)
MSRP: $129.99

FD-M770/771-10 Front Derailleur
Specific 10-speed cage design
Available in Top Swing, conventional, or E-type configurations.
Adaptable clamp means one size fits all for 28.6, 31.8, 34.9 and multi-pull allows top- or bottom-cable pull.
Set screws are angle outward for easier adjustment on some full suspension designs
Clamp band positions is the same for 9s and 10s versions
Cage profiled for more tire clearance
MSRP: $59.99

SL-M770-10-R RapidFire Plus Shift Lever (rear)
Additional rear shifter option with 10s vs. 9s
Alloy main lever
2-way release trigger allows thumb or finger actuation
Two position clamp band for tune-able ergonomics
Multi-bearing construction
Removeable optical gear display
MSRP: $99.99 (set, front lever same as 9s)

FC-M770-10 Front Chainwheel
Hollowtech II design maximizes stiffness while keeping weight to a minimum
Precision two-piece construction for perfect chainline and chainwheel alignment.
42T-32T-24T
Carbon / Steel composite middle ring adds rigidity for better shifting, increases service life, and smoothly delivers powers to the cassette.
Outboard bearings maximize stability and stiffness
MSRP: $359.99

CS-M771-10 Cassette
Largest 6 cogs on two spiders for light and rigid construction
11-13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32-36 and 11-13-15-17-19-21-23-26-30-34
Alloy lock ring
MSRP: $114.99

CN-HG94 Chain
HG-X direction chain
Inner and outer plates feature asymmetrical design to optimize front and rear shifting
Zinc-alloy plated for maximum durability
Uses standard connecting pin
MSRP: $49.99

2011 Shimano SLX Specifications:

RD-M663 – SLX Shimano Shadow Rear Derailleur
Low Profile Shimano Shadow rear derailleur design reduces the component profile by 15mm from a traditional design in high gear.
Top normal spring design to mesh with the more common choice of RapidFire shifters for trail / all-mountain riding
Available in long cage (SGS)
Total capacity: 43T (SGS)
MSRP: $89.99

FD-M660/661-10 Front Derailleur
Specific 10s cage design
Available in Top Swing, conventional, or E-type configurations to mount on most any frame
Adaptable clamp means one size fits all for 28.6, 31.8, 34.9 and multi-pull allows top or bottom cable pull .
Set screws are angle outward for easier adjustment on some full suspension designs
Clamp band positions the same for 9 and 10s versions
Cage profiled for more tire clearance
MSRP: $49.99

SL-M660-10-R RapidFire Plus Shift Lever (rear)
Additional rear shifter option with 10s vs. 9s
Alloy main lever
2-way release trigger allows thumb or finger actuation
Two position clamp band for tune-able ergonomics
Removeable optical gear display
MSRP: $64.99 (set, front same as 9s)

FC-M660-10 Front Chainwheel
Hollowtech II design maximizes stiffness while keeping weight to a minimum
Precision two-piece construction for perfect chainline and chainwheel alignment.
42T-32T-24T
Graphite / Steel composite middle ring adds rigidity for better shifting, increases service life, and smoothly delivers powers to the cassette.
Outboard bearings maximize stability and stiffness
MSRP: $239.99

CS-HG81-10 Cassette
Largest 3 cogs on spider for light and rigid construction
11-13-15-17-19-21-24-28-32-36 and 11-13-15-17-19-21-23-26-30-34
Alloy lock ring
MSRP: $84.99

CN-HG94 Chain
HG-X direction chain
Inner and outer plates feature asymmetrical design to optimize front and rear shifting
Zinc-alloy plated for maximum durability
Uses standard connecting pin
MSRP: $44.99

Courtesy Zack Vestal

After leaving 3Rensho (which is no longer in existence) he started his own brand called MAKINO. With his three staff members, he continues to make Japan’s top frames, which enjoys strong support by many top racers. Makino’s got a reputation for producing more elaborate, original lugs that fit elegantly into the frame.During the Atlanta Olympic Games, a Japanese keirin racer won a gold in the 1000m TT on a 3Rensho, built by Makino himself.

SRAM looks to follow up on its XX group with a redo of the XO groupo. It appears that many of the XX groups features will follow through into the new XO lineup.  The cassette is 10 speed and has a striking resemblance to that of the XX. The cranks too retain similar looks to that of the XX.

Lets hope that SRAM can keep the cost lower than that of the highly priced XX group while maintaining the performance.

What you are seeing is Giant’s redesign of the proven Maestro-engineered Glory downhill race bike that is lighter, sexier and faster than its predecessor. As the downhill privateers choice in year’s past, this bike continues to deliver in 2010. It gets a much needed weight saving over the previous model thanks to its cleverly hydroformed tubing and a new co-pivot shock/linkage mount at the bottom bracket that does away with the gaping “Glory hole” through which the shock used to pass on the previous models.

Custom changes to my particular bike include the extra wide 780mm Truvativ Boobar handlebar, a SRAM XO shifter, the new Fox DHX RC4 rear shock and some trick red anodized parts that make it a head turner of note.

The rest of the parts list reads as follows:

• Rockshox Boxxer Team fork;
• SRAM X9 derailleur,
• SRAM DH970 11-26 cassette;
• Raceface Atlas FR 38-T crankset and BB;
• MRP G2 custom chainguide;
• Avid Elixir R disc brakes;
• Michelin HOT S 26×2.5 tyres;
• DT 340 150mm rear hub.

Initial tests reveal that Giant have a winner on their hands - it stays planted in corners and can be lofted through the air with minimal input thanks to the light weight and well-balanced suspension. Pedalling efforts translate well through the pedals as with all the Maestro equipped Giant frame designs but most noticeable is how well the bike maintains speed through the rough and on flatter high speed terrain.

There will be one more Giant Glory 01 on its way to Olympic Cycles in Cape Town due to arrive in January 2010 - so if you want one you have a 2 month wait on your hands and will have to be first in the que, but if first impressions are anything to go by, it will be well worth the wait.

Just Plain Rood