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A few days ago, Moe and I decided to go on a night ride. Moe was riding the Wonderful Woodstock 707 and I was riding the Ibex B-Series.

Moe has been testing out the PrincetonTec Switchback lights that we received a few weeks ago. The last posting he did with them shows the light mounted on his handle bar and on the helmet. That evening, Moe decided to ride with the helmet mount. All I can say is, that thing is super bright! Our cameras suck, so that means the pictures we take don’t give it any justice.

I however, was using the Fox Fury LED head light system. At first glance I look like Levar Burton from Star Trek. Don’t know his character’s name, but it was the blind dude that had a banana clip for glasses.

The Fox Fury has 24 LED lights which makes this thing unique as well as…bright! Though it lit up my path, the light it emmited wasn’t focused. Basically the first 12 feet in a 180 degree path benefited from the lights. Don’t get me wrong, these lights are an incredible value and they work great!

You can actually wear the light on your head or mount it to your handle bar. I took a jump that night and the light fell off as soon as I landed. But no damage to the system at all. So I decided to ride with it on my head for the rest of the trip. It’s pretty comfy, but once you start sweating, the pad gets pretty itchy.

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Not too long ago, I decided to swap out the Rock Shox Tora fork that came stock on the Fezzari Alta Peak. I replaced it with a Marzocchi MX Pro with ETA.

Here’s the specs on the new fork:
TARGET WEIGHT (without steer tube)
Travel 105mm: 1795 g.
Travel 120mm: 1825 g.
DAMPING SYSTEM
Dual SSVF Floating Valve Design
ADJUSTABILITY

* PL/R/ETA
* External Air Preload w/o Adapter
* Single External Rebound Adjuster
* ETA (Top)
SPRING TYPE
* One side: Air
* One side: Coil Spring
TRAVEL 105mm, 120mm
STANCHIONS
(inner legs) Ø 30mm Alloy
STEER TUBE Steel
DISC BRAKE MOUNT INTL STD
DROP-OUT TYPE Standard

Here’s what Marzocchi has to say about the ETA.

ETA, derived from our ECC concept, locks the rebound of the fork and allows the fork to stay locked down in the compressed position while still providing 30mm of travel. Flip the ETA lever to the “on” position while climbing a steep section and you will immediately notice the more advantageous climbing position giving you better traction with less wheel lift. Use it on fast fire road sections to hammer out of the saddle without unnecessary fork bob while 30mm of travel still takes the harshness out of riding while locked-out. ETA is an instant and usable travel reduction system which offers you on-the-trail advantages that will benefit you every time you ride.

Once the fork was installed I took it out on a few rides and simply fell in love with it. This fork makes the sweet riding Fezzari Alta Peak…even sweeter. Heck the ride is so sweet I think I got cavities from it!

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This bad boy is currently on sale at PricePoint.com.

661 Expert MTB Shoes provide race performance at an entry level price. Synthetic leather & mesh upper with comfortable two-strap closure. The 661 Expert features a rigid fiber reinforced nylon midsole with mud shedding outsole design, the Expert is SPD compatible.

Order it HERE.

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This morning I got a chance to throw a leg over the K2 Lithium 4.0 and the Spinner Cargo fork RL is testing. My first thought is that it looks like a pretty beefy fork from up top. The crown is bigger than the Reba & Marzocchi bomber fork I’m used to looking at, but then again it would make sense since this is an all mountain fork.

How was the ride? Very plush, actually the most plush fork I’ve been on. The Reba, although very nice, is still a cross country fork built for lightweight and cross country riding. It’s currently set up at 80mm of travel although it can go up to 100mm. The Marzocchi Bomber fork that is on my current FS rig has more travel but I’d categorize it as a light all mountain fork, not quite cross country but not fully all mountain either.

The Spinner, definitely fits into the all mountain category. It’s got bigger stanchions which lends itself to riding more difficult terrain, but it’s still light enough to climb with.

I was unable to use all 6 inches of travel this morning and due to my riding style I probably will never use it all. Thankfully though RL is testing it and after riding with him the past couple of months, I’m positive he’ll use all the travel on some jump or downhill action.

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