SRAM has a new off road components group called “XX”. Rumors abound, but James Huang of Bike Radar/Cycling News is reporting that a major change is going to be a 2×10 drivetrain. Ever since road grouppo’s started coming out with a 10-cog cassette, it was inevitable that this change would occur on the mountain side.

If you take the group’s moniker as Roman numerals, XX looks likely to have not only the first ten-speed off-road transmission, but a dedicated 2×10 system specifically aimed at fit racer-types.

The rear cassette will likely be based on the innovative PowerDome design of the road-going Red group but modified for better performance in muddy conditions with a more open architecture. The 11-34 tooth range is unlikely to change much but the additional ratio in the middle will mean smaller jumps between gears, something racers always like.

I’ve got a couple of concerns:
1. With 10 speeds, does that mean my current 9 speed drivetrain will be a thing of the past? My single speed friends would have me believe that 9 speeds IS already a thing of the past. haha. Will 9 speeds bikes then be regulated to the Walmart’s of the world? We can only wait and see.

2. I remember when the industry moved from 7 to 8, then to 9 speed cassettes. The outcry with each additional cog was that all the cogs would be thinner and wear faster causing more trouble than the weight savings and cost were worth. Now we’re seeing 10 speed cassettes without increasing the rear spacing. Will this be the point where the durability of the cassette is compromised?

Interesting stuff going on over there at SRAM. I love how they’ve improved just about every brand they’ve touched. And I’m definitely looking forward to the new potential carbon goodies especially since all the engineers have been saying for years that carbon fiber can be made stronger and lighter than aluminum. 10 speed cassettes though? I’m tempering my enthusiasm and taking a wait and see approach.

For James Huang’s article, click here.

Popularity: 13% [?]

For over a year and a half, Priscilla has been taking spin classes. Sometimes she’ll go as many as 2 times a week and do her own spin session at home. So after many months of false promises that I’ve made telling her I would go, I finally did.

Our local gym has a Monday night Spin Class and the instructor that teaches on that day is supposed to be the best there is. We arrived at the gym, at least 10 mins before the class just to make sure we picked out our bikes. Priscilla pretty much held my hand through the processes of picking out a bike and rolling it over to the area where we’d be having the class.

Class starts and our instructor, Gilbert has us do some warm ups. The first 5 minutes of the class was torture! His idea of a warm up was an all out sprint! Anyhow, this class was going to be 60 minutes long and all I could think about was having some french fries at the local Hat restaurant (meeting a friend after class).

Gilbert had us alternate between tensions, position and effort, mind you he was having us do all this with the beat of the music he was playing. I also have to say that his choice of music was pretty cool.
Anyhow, 15 minutes of the class, I was broken. Yup much like how Dog Whisperer, Cesar Milan likes to do…exercise a dog until they are so worn out they become submissive…well Gilbert was the spin class equivalent of Cesar and I was some puffy Chihuahua with a bad attitude. By 20 minutes into it, I started to appreciate the class. I then thought about how this would be so practical for me on the trail.

While I was spinning, I was imagining certain parts of trails I ride and a certain tension represented a hill or a single track. What was cool about it was the fact that the spin bike is basically a single speed bike. Which meant, if he had us add tension, it was like climbing a hill on the SS.

45 minutes into it, my legs are burning, but I was having a great time! Just think of it as a kid that didn’t want to try an activity, but ended up loving it…ya that was me.

Priscilla stated before the class that it was going to be tough, but it was also rewarding at the end. I have to tell you, she was absolutely right. As much as I hated the idea, I can really see and appreciate how this class would make me a better rider. It also made more sense to me how Priscilla became such a good rider…it was the spin class! I’m actually looking forward to the next class and have been asking her when the next one is.

Popularity: 13% [?]

I’ve used Serfas saddlebags and racks in the past, but I didn’t know that they also sell tires. The good folks from Serfas sent us a pair of their Krest 9r MTB tires for me to test on my KHS Solo One 29er. My Solo One comes with Kenda Nevegals, a tire that really performs well on the terrain that I ride.

Krest 9er on left, Nevegal on right.

The Krest 9r have a similar pattern as the Nevegals, except for smaller knobs. The big difference is their weight:

Weight of 1 Kenda Nevegal 29er tire.

Weight of 1 Serfas Krest 9r tire.

That’s right folks, almost a pound lighter PER tire! The Serfas Krest 9r weighs almost as much as a 26er, that impressed me quite a bit.

Last Sunday, RL and I hit the Loop early in the morning for a quick training ride. I was eager to see how the Serfas Krest 9r were going to perform. The dirt was nice and packed, it looks like last week’s rain did the trail some good. The tires offered great grip and rolled rather fast.

The bike cornered well and when we rode through some loose stuff, the bike wiggled minimally. My first impression of these tires is very positive, I will put on some more miles and write full review on durability and how the tires handle on other type of terrain.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Jax Bike Shop owner, Dave Hanson, is featured on Bicycle Retailer and Industry News website. The interview took place on BRAIN’s dealer tour.

Hanson is a gregarious man who speaks in a booming voice and gestures excitedly as he describes his business practices. He prides himself on honesty and shares the shops’ financial figures with his 80 employees three times a month.

His goal is to run his business as efficiently as possible and he’s taken numerous steps over the years to achieve that goal.

As with many small business’s that have become a chain their owner is a polarizing figure. Dave is no different to those in the Southern California biking scene. But for those bikers who dream of owning their own local bike shop in this competitive market and actually making a living off of it, Dave’s story is required reading.

For the full story click here.

Popularity: 9% [?]

This past Sunday I entered the first annual Mongoose Hillbilly Bike Bash held in Vail Lake, CA.  This event was put together by no other than the legend Eric Carter and company.  This was a two-day event - Super D (Saturday) and DH (Sunday) however I only entered DH.

Like all other races that I have entered, the night before I was restless and anxious for what the next day has to offer.  Technically this would be my third DH race.  The first two are from the Keyesville Classic and Sea Otter earlier this year.  This would also be my first race on my Intense SOCOM.  I bought this bike back in July of this year and had very MINIMAL time on it.  Other than this weekend, the only time I rode it was on a weekend ride at Fontana in August.   I was anxious to get to the event early so I can have as many practice runs as possible.  We left the house a little after 7am.  There was light drizzle when we reached Temecula and the temperature was in the low 50s… brrr!

                                 Intense SOCOM, 8″travel w/Marzocchi 888 Bomber fork.  Photo by DownHillPhil

The Practice: After suiting up, I took the shuttle up to the starting point. Now I have to mention that the ride up was literally more jarring than our actual ride down (with our bikes).  Though the hard work of the drivers are appreciated, they just need to slow down a bit.  I had a total of three practice runs.  On the first ride up, the driver hi-sides the hill and the kid standing in front of me literally gets tossed up in the air like three feet… Crazy!  On the second trip up, the driver takes a corner and the truck drifts… not a good feeling when you are seeing the hillside…yikes! On my last trip up for practice, the wooden gates (panels) used to keep the riders in, became loose.  First the left side pops off and hangs from the end of the truck; we stopped and he fixes it.  Then up the road he hits another bump and the right sides flies off.  Fortunately no one was injured.  Memorable indeed…

The Course: It winds down to many turns and a few steep rollers.  There is a wallride before you reach the two ladder bridges towards the end and a double (jumps) by the Finish Line.  Conditions - fairly packed in the morning however quickly turned into sand in many corners as riders practiced.  There were several ruts that were significant in size.

On my first practice run, I did several re-dos of the first section and a steep roller.  I did this by walking my bike up the hill.  Not that easy pushing up a 40+ lbs bike.  Unfamiliar with course I took precautionary steps before riding through.  On my last two runs, I rode through the course with out any stops.  I did put my foot down on several turns, but I was fairly confident that I can handle it.  After a practice ended there was a brief lunch break for the drivers then onto shuttling the Pros for the start of the race at 12:30 PM.

Race Time:  My class wasn’t scheduled to start until 2:17 PM.  However at staging while I was chatting with Eric Carter’s mom, they told the racers to better catch the shuttle now; that’s over an hour ahead of my race time.  Not wanting to miss it, I took the shuttle up.  Here is where you test your patience of being last on the list.  As a Beginner, we were set to go last as they start with the Pros, Semi-Pros, Expert, Sport, then… the Beginners.  One good thing about this is all the fast guys are ahead of you, so there is NO pressure of someone passing you. 

Through out the start of the race there were many names that were called out and were no shows (DNS).  Many riders said that the names were there for practice but were not at line-up… maybe they missed the shuttle or maybe they changed their minds.  Finally when our class was called, several names in my class were DNS which left us with only three guys.  My run to the bottom went without a hitch.  On several corners I got semi-stuck in the sand but managed to power through them.  A racer in my class (behind me) caught up and blew past me towards the end of the course.

                                      Photo by Sharky

                                                                      Photo by Christopher Wood

The Podium: Eric Carter started the awards with Pros, Semi-Pros, on down… As they were calling out the top 5 in the Experts, they discovered that the timing results were wrong which caused them to stop the awards.  By now it was approx 4:45 pm and getting dark.  He was embarrassed and disappointed as this was his inaugural event.  He asked for everyone to return in about 45 minutes or mail-out the trophies which I thought was great.  For me, with only three racers in my class, and one passing me, I took the liberty of conceding to third place.  I had my family in the car and have been out all day, so we were anxious to get home.  Eric gave me my 3^rd place trophy and if by any chance I got 2^nd, we’ll swap the trophies.  Cool guy!

I had a great weekend and looking forward to Fontana in two weeks.  Below is a short video of my race. It’s mainly pictures with short video clips as the course was a little difficult for my fiance to hike-up.

Popularity: 11% [?]

This weekend I decided to add some flair to Priscilla’s race machine, the KHS XC Team.

First thing I did was drink two Heinekens. I made sure I didn’t bend the caps since it will be the subject of this article.

Then I took the boot/caps off her brake bosses on her Spinner Fork. I then hot glued the bottle caps to the boots.

Viola!

Here’s another shot.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Last Saturday, Priscilla and I met up with Eric “The Animal” Hunner at one of our favorite trails. Eric is quite the regular at that venue and we had asked him to show us some new stuff that we’ve never done before. Sho-nuff, the fella doesn’t disappoint. For the first part of our trek, Eric took us to a trail with a name like Sage something. It included a steep climb and awesome single track on the way down.

The Animal chose his weapon for this trail, a Santa Cruz Bullit. Though he’s a great SS rider and we actually met Eric at this trail with his SS, the All Mountain Bullit was built for this type of riding. I too was lured by the benefits of an AM bike for this trail and chose to ride the Ibex Ignition 3.

As we made our way through the trails, I made sure that Eric was in front of me during the descents just so I can capture this big Animal bombing down the single track. If you watch the video below, around 1:28, you’ll see Eric…all 240lbs of him, using his bike as a pogo stick. It’s actually pretty fun to see.

It was a busy day at Aliso, here we are at Top of the World looking over the Pacific Ocean. I think that’s Laguna Beach if I’m not mistaken.

I do have to give big props to Priscilla. She has grown tremendously as a rider and showed off her skills as she rode down some of the most technical portions of the trail. If you had seen the video, there’s a section around 2:23 where the trail becomes a baby-head rock bed, its called Rockit. Most riders will ride to the smoother area on the right, but Priscilla chose to ride down the middle like Eric and I did. Rockit is super fun and can be pretty gnarly and down right scary, especially if you’re not paying attention. You guys have to understand that for her to ride down the middle of Rockit is a big thing. Heck it took me a while to get enough skill and courage to do that, and I know of a few riders that won’t dare touch the middle…so great job Priscilla!

Unfortunately I had some mechanical issues with my Avid BB5s. I normally do a thorough inspection of the bike I’m riding the night before just to make sure its dialed in, but since I forgot, I didn’t realize my brakes were rubbing a bit. But that problem was quickly fixed by using an Allen tool and setting the calipers. Oh that thing you see on my helmet is the Vholdr camera. That’s what I used to make the video above.

Anyhow, watch the video if you haven’t already, you’ll get an idea of what kind of terrain we rode. I’d also like to thank Eric “The Animal” for showing us the new trails, that’s definitely something I’ll be coming back to.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Just ask Steve Peat and Nathan Rennie… they’ll tell ya! 

But seriously, I have to give props to RL Policar for all of his hard work these past two races.  As a Team Captain/Mgr role he has been more than supportive for the entire Team.  He’s provided everything for us from a tent (shelter from rain), food, energy supplements, tools, you name it we have it…

Memorable examples from this past weekend at Mt. SAC:  On my second lap approaching the Feed Zone (FZ), I see RL yelling trying to get my attention.  On one hand a fresh bottle of water with Motor Tabs and on the other a Heineken.  Tough choice!  To me this is comical as it breaks the monotony of the grind.  Off course I grabbed the water bottle.  RL did this for all the Team members, keeping us hydrated during our race. 

                                           RL at the Feed Zone for me and KIm.

On Priscilla’s race - as she approached the FZ, RL was going to give her Clif Shot Bloks.  At this time I was done with my race so now I was taking pictures however I was situated on higher level than the FZ.  I wish I would have captured the next events on camera…

There was a fumble with the hand-off to Priscilla.  Apparently RL couldn’t get the Shot Bloks out of his pocket and at the same time trying to keep up with Priscilla as she is riding by.  He ended up tumbling up the hill… none the less great effort and I have to commend him for that!

Through out day he ran back and forth at different prime spots to capture the Team on video while lugging a heavy duty tripod for a heavy duty video camera. 

                                                                                     RL moving from different areas of the race on his Xtracycle.

To top it off there were two separate race times.  At the end of each race, not only was he there to meet us at the Finish Line,  but he went straight to the tent to start the grill so we can eat.  This was like a Four Star treatment - man what service!!!

                                                                              Grilling salmon and burgers…

So who else says RL is Super Cool - Team MtnBikeRiders.com says he is!  Thanks RL!

Popularity: 10% [?]

For my birthday last month, my fiancé bought me a Zion 660 EBB (eccentric bottom bracket) frame from Jenson USA.  At first, I wasn’t quite sure which route I wanted to build the bike - either Rigid SS, SS w/suspension or a 1×9.  Unsure for awhile, I even thought about returning the frame and save the money for something else.  With several bikes already in my stable, do I really need another one?  Uhhh… YES

                                       ZION 660 EBB frame

All this recent talk about rigid bikes on our site hasn’t helped.  As a matter of fact I finally decided to go with… a rigid SS build.

I’ve heard both good and bad things about the Zion EBB frame.  However I’ve always been one to take good care of my things, so I don’t foresee having too many problems… at least I hope not.  I am very excited to build this.  The frame is a 4130 double butted chromoloy and comes in at 5.26 lbs.  With many spare parts in my garage, I’m sure I’ll be able to have this completed sooner than later.  It probably won’t be the lightest off the bat, but I’ll be able to ride it a lot sooner.  I’ll make changes along the way or as appropriate.

                                        EBB-Eccentric Bottom Bracket

First on the build in the Axis SL headset from WOOdman components.  Following RL’s instructional video on “how to install a headset”, the build in under way. 

                                      Frame weighing in at 5.26lbs.

Waiting in the wings are Race Face ISIS BB and Deus crankset.  I also have a Sun Ringle Singletrack wheelset, laced to XT hubs ready to assemble with new Maxxis Larsen TTs (also received for my bday from MtnBikeRiders.com).

I’ll be posting updates regularly on the build so stay tuned.

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We’ll be coming out with a new dry fit logo shirt. Here’s an example on how the logo will look like.

I’ll have the actual jerseys ready in 2 weeks. The cost will be $35 that includes shipping except to Alaska, Hawaii or Int’l.

Popularity: 7% [?]