I recently received the Prologo Vertigo Nack to review. I’ve only put about 40 miles on the saddle, so this is just a quick first impression and some pictures for everyone to look at.

Out of the box, the Vertigo Nack looks plain Jane from the top save for the flash of gold on its rear

Out of the box, the first impression you receive is that this baby is light! The Vertigo family has three different variants: Vertigo, Vertigo Max and Vertigo Nack. All are designed for mountain biking. The lightest and most XC oriented saddle is the Vertigo Nack. I don’t have a gram scale, so my office’s postal scale will have to do. It came in at a svelte 5.8 oz which translates into 164.4 grams. The posted weight of the saddle is 163 grams, so I’d call this truth in advertising… a rarity. A push with my thumb yields a decent amount of padding up top, but its the butt’s opinion that will matter.

Mounted on a Thomson post to my Niner AIR9, where this will probably stay for a while

I’m coming from a WTB Rocket V saddle and I was surprised to note that the sizes are similar. The Rocket has a more upward sloped rear end to its saddle as part of the whale tail design while the Vertigo Nack eschews that element. The length and width are pretty similiar with the WTB being a slight tad bit shorter than the Vertigo Nack. I really should get up a picture of the two side by side. I guess that will have to wait until the review.

The rails look like they have a carbon fibre weave (but it may be just for looks) and distance markings, note the red dots, but they are hard to make out. I could barely make them out with my own eyes, let alone get them to show up in a picture

The fit and finish on the saddle is good. The base is made of carbon fibre and kevlar and looks really cool! So cool, that I wish it was the design on top so that EVERYONE would be able to see it when I ride. Oh… vanity! The cover is made of Lorica and the design is low key. A quick search for the word Lorica nets me: a Latin word literally meaning body armour. This doesn’t help me very much but I will be testing the durability of this product with some use over the next couple of months.

The underside of the saddle is pretty. The white “Prologo” against the red/black weave is a nice look

After putting about 30 miles on the saddle the first weekend I received it, I was surprised to find that I was immediately comfortable on it. I basically copied the same clamping angle (got to love the Thomson posts for that!) and location on the rails as I used for the WTB. This put the saddle in a very comfortable position. Saddles, in my opinion, are a highly subjective piece of equipment and as such I was very concerned my sensitive tush wouldn’t take well to the Vertigo Nack. I was sorely (or not sorely) mistaken.

A little more detail of the carbon fibre (look?) weave of the rails

A review will be upcoming after more miles and saddle time on the Prologo Vertigo Nack.

For more information check out the Vertigo Nack here.

Popularity: 4% [?]

One week ago our MtnBikeRiders.com Team finished the SRC winter series and Triple Crown at Southridge.

I signed up for the Single Speed 34 and under XC race. At the start of the race I was the only one in my class, so I was convinced that the Single Speeds would be grouped together. In my head I was racing the 35 and up class as well, this power house named Robur (35 years +) was in attendance, he is a killer on the climbs and down hills. I have chased him and his carbon SS before in the Triple Crown series.

The race starts and I leading the pack though the course, I keeping telling myself to relax and keep the tires on the ground. Half way up the water tower road Robur takes the lead, I try to stay with him as we are passing other riders on the single track. I saw an opportunity to take the lead spot back on a tough uphill section, I charged and passed Robur on his right. Robur did not let up, he passed me about a mile later. I caught up to Robur on the flat section of  the course and started cranking as fast as I could, I peaked at 25 mph on 32 x 20 gearing too fast for Robur’s gearing, that was the near the end of the first lap of three. Race day I weighed 245 pounds, in the end the gear choice was key. It was not too hard to lug uphill and I could ring it out on the flat sections of Fontana.  After almost 13 miles of pushing my legs and the Redline MonoCog 29er to the limit, I came across the Finish Line first with Robur only 9 seconds behind Wow!

Click here for SRC’s home page if you want to get into racing http://www.southridgeusa.com/

and SC Velo’s site http://scvelo.com/component/content/article/90/103-2009-incycle-cross-country-challenge

Thank You to all of our Team Sponsors

Popularity: 6% [?]

To help with your holiday shopping for the mountain biker in your life, I’ve come up with some great products that will make you a winner.

Clif bars holiday flavors. Yum. Out on the trail, you’ve got to have nourishment. Why not make it a Cranberry Orange Nut Bread, Sliced Pumpkin Pie or Iced Gingerbread? The holiday Clif bars are a seasonal item and make a great stocking stuffer for the mountain biker who has everything.

Uh, yeah. I want some pumpkin pie!

Wool socks: During the winter time our feet get cold out there on rides. I picked up a pair of Swiftwick Four Merino socks a couple of weeks ago and really like them. They definitely keep my feet toasty when out riding and they feel great with comfy sole support. OK, so this is Southern California so take the “toasty” comment with a grain of salt but a “prop” for the Swiftwick Socks is that the Merino wool socks are machine wash-able and can be put in the dryer on low.

Cold winter ride + Feet warm & toasty = GOOD

If the doldrums of winter are getting your mountain bike aficionado down, give him something he can upgrade on the bike. Changing new cables are recommended on a yearly basis, depending on the number of miles you put on the bike. For derailleur cables I like fully sealed systems but they can be pricey. Instead, I’ve tried and like Jagwire Ripcords. The Ripcords come in different colors including: merida green, white, red and SID blue to name a few.

White derailleurs cables, THAT’S HOT!

For those that have a hitch mount on your vehicle I cannot more highly recommend the Raxter Rack. This is the best rack system I have used and I trust all my bikes (and other people’s bikes) to it. I am always questioning the thought process behind purchasing a $3,000+ bike or two and transporting it on a $50 rack. Cheap racks are cheap for a reason: they have compromises. They compromise in how they hold your bike (rubbing the paint off your bike’s top tube… ask me how I know), they compromise in materials (cheap metal that won’t support the bike’s weight) or they compromise in design (allowing exhaust from the tailpipes to heat up a bike’s tires in transport). The Raxter rack holds the bike securely, by the wheels so no paint rub, uses sturdy materials (nearly 3 years: looks great, functions PERFECTLY) and is designed extremely well. It’s also really easy to use!

Did I mention that RL likes it too?

OK, this last one is spendy: if your mountain biker buddy has not tried a 29er, it is time to get ‘em on the big wheels. As proclaimed by one prominent mountain biking magazine, the 29er hardtail will replace the 26” hardtail. I can promise you, your mountain biker buddy will go absolutely gaa gaa with a 29er hardtail in the garage. I would personally start off with a Sette Razzo, which has a great balance of component spec and low price. Or, if you have money to burn, a Kona King Kahuna would be a great addition to any bike stable.

29ers ROCK!

Happy Holidays and please add your holiday suggestions in the comments section below.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Ergon GA1 in Team colors

I got a chance to put the Ergon GA1 grips on my bike for the last couple of months. The GA1’s are a bit different from the normal Ergon grips that everyone knows. Rather than having a flat area for you to rest your palm on, thereby increase more palm/grip interface, the GA1 has a slight oval shape to it which tucks inside your hand and thereby increasing palm/grip interface over the normal round grip.

Since RL did a full review on these grips before, I thought I’d just add my experience with them. I’ve found the GA1’s shape to be very easy to adapt to. I know RL had a bit of a hurt palm when he first started riding with the GA1, but I’ve found it to be instantly familiar and comfortable. They were more than comfortable enough for a 4+ hour 20+ mile jaunt in the mountains two months ago.

About 10 miles in on a 20+ mile ride. The GA1’s were comfy

I recently swapped the grips over to the Niner AIR9 I’m riding to continue the testing. The change has been nearly seamless although I did have to find the sweet spot again as it wasn’t as easy as just bringing the handlebar over. This took all of 1 ride and I’ve been happy with the comfort and lack of hand fatigue from the grips ever since.

Although not a weight weenie grip I definitely don’t mind the extra grammage of the GA1. After using foam grips for the past few months then switching to the GA1, there was definitely a weight gain. However, I am more than happy to take the weight gain because the comfort level of the GA1 and the clamp that keeps the grip in place. In comparison to the original GP-1, which I’ve run for years, the GA1 is about 50 grams lighter.

Swapped to the AIR9 when the Jet went down for recall. Great on this bike too!

My final thought is to stick with the small. Even though I wear XL size gloves, I find the small to be more than enough room for me. The fit is really good with the small and I really can’t imagine how much bigger the Large sized version of the GA1 would be.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Here’s a prototype running a muck in the world of the Internet. This is something that’s been in the works at Intense for a while, a downhill 29er…crazy.

This first proto is in the medium range 23.5 effective tt.
G3 dropout & Head tube
14″ bb in middle, w 64.5 ha @ 0
CS 18.25″
WB 48″
Where do you start with this, so I went with tried & true and we have a bit of adjustability to play with.
Travel is at 7.5 or 8″ with adjustable link.
fork is reduced to 7″
So everyone who has thrown a leg over it is blown away in one aspect or another.
This is just a test project at this point & hope to get some team riders on real tracks in near future. Tires are the biggest issue at this point but if it pans out I am sure Intense Tires will step up for some racing rubber choices.
The 951 frame works well for this as there is alot of room for seatube tire clearance.

Rumors have it that this thing will show up at the Southridge Challenge in 2 weeks…hopefully we can get some shots of it.

Popularity: 7% [?]

This past weekend, Priscilla and I had the privileged to head out to Rancho Mirage (near Palm Springs) for a Marriage Retreat that our church hosted. Since this was a weekend-long event, Priscilla and I decided to bring our bikes and see what the California Desert had to offer.

Our weapons of choice, the KHS XC Team (Priscilla), and the KHS Flagstaff, a Full Suspension 29er.

I did some Googling for local trails in Rancho Mirage and found one called Goat Trail. From what I read this place has tons to offer. Great climbs, fire roads, whoopdee doos, single track and I even read that there’s a downhill trail there. Since we really didn’t know which trails to take, we took the main fire road up which took us up some really steep parts. So steep that even Priscilla had to dismount and walk her bike a few steps.

The climbing was pretty tough for me, and it was evident by the amount of times that I was dry heaving. We get to a flatter section of the trail and from there there are tons of single track we could take. Not quite sure where to go, we tried a few of them to see where they would lead to. Luckily this trail was pretty user friendly, basically if you thin you got lost, all you had to do is ride your bike towards the city, and you’re back in civilization. The view from the top was really nice. You can see the whole valley and I can only imagine that this place would be so much prettier in the winter where the mountains would be covered in snow.

We spent a little over an hour at Goat Trail, but it was clear to us that a person could literally spend up to 5 hours just riding and playing on the trail. I had to get one of these dorky pics, you know, the bike above the head shots, why? Cuz, I’m a winner!

Popularity: 6% [?]

 It has been different on the 29er, even more so while racing, so far it has been positive. Redline gave me a Demo 29er to test/race/ and abuse. RL set this connection up for me and warned Redline that I break a lot of bike parts. I am “The Animal”, this is a nickname that the MtnBikeRiders.com Team has given me.

The First Race of the Triple Crown Series at Bonelli Park, I placed 1st in this race and finished strong. The next day I did a recovery ride, slow and easy started at Whiting Ranch rode up to the top, out the back gate, down the road to Blackstar Canyon, up to Beeks Place, and down Skyline to my friends house in Corona. The Redline did all this without any problems, after I did a few modifications.

The changes to the bike were done on my own dime to get it ready for some intense racing action. First and foremost the brakes were not up to par to stop a 245 pound Animal barreling down some tight single track. I changed the brakes to the new Shimano SLX BR-M665 hydraulic opposed 2-piston caliper, these brakes have been working great -so far no problems. I have replaced the crankset and bottom bracket after I rounded out the square taper bb that came with the bike, it was replaced with an isis splined bb and a Race Face crankset, currently using the ramped 32 tooth gear that was on the triple with no problems, I reused the bash guard that came with the bike. In a previous posting I mentioned how I changed out the chain and rear sprocket here is the link http://www.mtnbikeriders.com/2009/08/02/redline-monocog-29er-update-2/.

I am starting to really enjoy this bike it is BIG! The wheels do roll over most things, just like ever other 29 rider I have talked too. One thing that I need pay special attention to,  fast-tight-winding-single track, the Big wheels tend to go to the outside of a turn. If you keep that in mind and set up the turn both diving in you’ll do fine.

http://www.mtnbikeriders.com/ftc-disclaimer/

Popularity: 7% [?]

I was lucky enough to have a day off today. So what did I do? I went for a ride. I gathered up a few friends to hit some local trails with me. One of my buddies that went was Ben C. It’s been 5 years since he last rode a mountain bike, and more like 7 years since he was Aliso Woods.

It was a beautiful sunny So-Cal morning. Temps hovered around 70-75 degrees absolutely beautiful. Brought out the Vholdr and my handy dandy video cam to capture some footage of us riding. Check it out below.

I almost forgot to mention that I rode the KHS Flagstaff, a full suspension 29er. I had never ridden a 29er FS before, but since my fork blew up on my regular bike, Moe was nice enough to let me use the 29er. I have to tell you, I didn’t have that much of a great experience with it. I’m sure I’m just used to my own bike and the way I have it set up was far from how the KHS Flagstaff was configured.

I had heard about how people say that a XC FS 29er with 3 inches of travel is like having a 5 inch travel mountain bike. These guys believe that the 29er wheels compensate for the extra 2 inches of suspension travel. Well let me tell you something, that’s a whole bunch of horse pockey to me! There’s no way that this bike felt like my AM bike that has 5″ of travel. In fact, going down some of the technical stuff wasn’t better on the 29er than it was on my 26er. If anything, I felt slower on the 29er. However, on the flats, I was rolling deep! That thing flew, its very smooth and fast.

I know that this being my first ride on a full suspension 29er and I do plan on giving it more time to get used to the feel of it all. I also plan on swapping the stems to what I like and see if all that I mentioned above can be dispelled by making a few adjustments on this bike.

Popularity: 6% [?]

As I peruse the classifieds section on my local board, mtbr and craigslist, I typically have really bad tunnel vision. I know what parts I want to purchase to put together my next bike and I only have eyes for them. Occasionally I’ll see a nice titanium bike or a rare part and have to pause to see the pictures on that. But for the most part, if its not what I’m looking for already, I’m passing it by.

However, this is a bad practice if you’re like me and your bike fund is always near $0. If you’re always trying to find ways to pad the bike fund, its time to talk a little about bike flipping.

Bike flipping is the technique of purchasing a bike on the cheap, parting it out or selling it complete for what its actually worth. Bike flipping comes in all shapes and sizes. From the $50 garage sale beach cruiser that just needs a little tender loving care (think new cables and chain) to the $1,000 “I need money quick” desperate rider up to his eyeballs in debt. Both might take a little time to prep for resale, but there is much money to be made if you know what you are doing.

Rules of Bike Flipping:
1. Know your niche. As an avid mountain biker, I know next to nothing about road bikes (dura-ace is good, right?). In my world I stay away from flipping road bikes. Still, mountain biking has a pretty broad range of products so narrowing that down even more would be beneficial. I’m a 29er rider. I only ride 29″ bikes. Yes, I’m a 29er snob. I know what 29er specific parts (think wheels, forks and tires) go for new and, more importantly, I know what they go for used.

Knowing this basic information makes it easy to look at a bike and determine if it can be flipped or not. Check out the price, take the fork, wheels and frame. When you add up their “used” prices are you close to the price the seller wants for the bike? If you’re close, everything else is extra money: bars, cassette, seatpost, shifters/derailleurs, brakes…

2. Stick to name brands. Some stuff sells better than others and name brand parts sell the best. Which name brand parts hold their value? Thomson, Shimano XT/XTR, Chris King, Sram XO/X9, Easton bars and seatposts, Fox forks & shocks. Some popular brands that don’t sell as well: Truvativ, FSA, Ritchey although your results may very.

3. High end will almost always hold their value better than low end stuff. XTR cranks? $450 new, easily sells for $300 lightly used (33% less). If you move two steps down from the top of the line you get the LX crankset which went for $150 new last year. Now it sells for $100 new via Jenson. Thats 33% off already and there is no way your selling your lightly used LX cranks for more than $75 about half of what you bought them for. Ouch!

4. Know your market: The marketers, blogs, mags, forums, are all touting wider handlebars. If you’re just selling a part, will your lightweight, 24″ chopped carbon bars sell as well as the original length 30″ bars? Probably not. Even if your product is from a good brand the trend to go wider will be more desirable than the shorter width bar.

5. Lastly, Don’t be a dork and resell what you bought on the same board a week after you bought it, charging a 33% premium for cleaning the bike. There are people out there who watch the Market Place like a hawk and will call you on this. I’ve seen it happen and its funny, but stupid. This is not a smart thing to do and your just opening yourself up to justified ridicule. If you’re going to resell it on the same board and its a local (read: small or smaller community) board, you’re going to have to piece it out.

Alright, hopefully you got some good info from this. Good luck on padding your bike fund.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Overview:

The moment we started offering the Sette Razzo 29er frame requests started pouring in for a complete bike.

Sette USA heeded the call and they came back with a complete Razzo outfitted with a killer parts spec. It reads like a who’s who of the best brands in the cycling industry.

SRAM and TruVativ handle the drive train. Up front a RockShox Reba SL 29er Dual Air takes care of business when the going gets rough. And when things get too rough, Avid Elixir CR hydraulic disc brakes will bring the Razzo down to a more manageable warp factor.

29ers have now been around long enough most everyone knows the reason why they have such a rabid following. It’s because of the ability of the big 29 inch wheels to rollover just about anything, covering ground faster than a bike with 26 inch wheels.

We could go on for days about the advantages but really, if you’re reading this, we’d just be preaching to the choir. So the important thing for you to know is that the Razzo is outfitted with Shimano Deore 29er specific hubs laced to disc specific Mavic M719 rims. Mounted to those Mavic rims are a set of Kenda Small Block Eight Kevlar beaded tires in a 2.1 width that are ready to make any line the Perfect Line.

Finally, the icing on this highly polished cake is a cockpit that features Sette’s own lightweight, high performance handlebar, stem and saddle.

The Razzo complete graces the scales at an average weight of 26lbs.

Specs CLICK HERE

Price: $1,399.98

Popularity: 6% [?]