Well its been a few months since I first received the Sette Reken from PricePoint.com. I’d like to thank Magally Gomez and Brian Cleveland for sending us this frame to test and review. So let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

Sette Reken Frame

Price: $99.00, not bad if you ask me!

Specs:

Model Reken Hardtail
Material Full 6061 Alloy, Double Butted Main Triangle
Welding Tig Welded
Wheel Size 26″
Headset 1-1/8″ Standard
Front Derailleur Size/Mount /Type 31.8mm, Clamp, Top Pull/Top Swing
Bottom Bracket 68, English
Seatpost Size 27.2
Seat Clamp Size 32.0
Disc Mount 51mm IS
Max Tire Clearance 2.3″
Available Sizes 14″, 16″, 18″, 20″
Color Black
Weight 4.5 lbs/ 2041g (18″)
Warranty 5 Year Manufacturer’s Warranty

Size 14″ 16″ 18″ 20″
Headtube Length 117mm 117mm 130mm 145mm
Top Tube Length (actual) 54.5cm 55.2cm 56.9cm 59.2cm
Top Tube Length (effective) 56cm 57.4cm 59.4cm 61.5cm
Seat Tube Length (C-to-T) 14in 16in 18in 20in
Chain Stay Length 424mm 424mm 424mm 424mm
Headtube Angle 70.5 70.5 70.5 70.5
Seat Tube Angle 73.5 73.5 73 73

If you scour the internet for product reviews of the Sette Reken, you’ll have a tough time finding it. For some odd reason people are either scared or skeptical of a mail order brand frame or bike. People like to stick to the well known brands thinking that they are of superior quality. But in reality, the same factory that made those chic brands was probably the same factory the Sette Reken came from, besides the frame has a 5 year warranty!

The Sette Reken started off as a single speed project back in Winter. I had talked to Magally Gomez about wanting to build an affordable single speed mountain bike. After a few words, she agreed to send me the Reken frame for our project along with their single speed conversion kit and tensioner.

The Reken would be my second single speed to build up. I came off another single speed full suspension project I had started around Christmas time. But by January, the Sette Reken was on the trail.

A couple things I noticed about the Sette Reken that made me immediately fall in love with it. First was the geometry. It had a slack 70.5 degree head tube angle that made it more comfortable to ride. I ran a 90mm stem on it because I have short arms, the frame was a 16″, stout, and flickable.

Single speed riding causes quite a bit of stress on any bike. The Reken held up nicely throughout the months of abuse that I gave it. I’ve taken that bike on some of the hardest climbs I can handle to the technical trails such as Rockit, and Lynx at Aliso Woods.

One of my favorite aspects of the Reken is the color, flat black. It’s unassuming, very humble and low key. It’s what you would call a sleeper bike. But once you put some power to those pedals, this thing responds. The Reken doesn’t have a lazy bike feel. It was light enough (25lbs), so that mean I could get up to speed really quick and since it weighed like an anorexic teenage girl, the bike was easy to handle.

Then at one point I had this idea of converting the Reken into a 69er. The frame did well, and there was some concern that the head tube angle was too slack to accept a 29er wheel. But during that time, the bike never felt like a chopper and rode just fine. However, that didn’t last too long since it wasn’t my cup of tea to ride a rigid 69er.

Now at a cross roads where I am considering turning the Sette Reken into a geared bike, perhaps a 1×9. This actually brings me to the summary of this review.

The Sette Reken by far has surpassed my expectations of this frame. I honestly thought that the frame would be OK to use on a build and possibly do well in the review. But after months and months of hard single speed riding, the frame has performed way better than I and anyone else thought. This is a frame that I could literally do just about everything with. Not only does it make a great single speed, but its disc brake ready, gears ready, has an awesome paint job(never chipped during review) and its totally versatile! This frame has seen more projects and tests done on it than any other bike we’ve tested.

So to say that I highly approve of the Sette Reken is an understatement. This frame ROCKS and as the Co-Founder of MtnBikeRiders.com, I am authorizing and approving that this frame gets the Stamp of Approval from MtnBikeRiders.com. Um…that’s a big deal! That means this bike has done its job and a bag of chips! I cannot say enough about how much I absolutely love this frame. Besides the $99 price tag makes it easy on your budget

Popularity: 19% [?]

First I want to apologize for not posting actual pictures of my newest project bike, well its all due to my camera taking dump and its at the shop being repaired. Anyhow, I started a new single speed project bike that involves the color RED!

Just to give you a hint on one of the items that adorns this Red Rocket, I’ve summoned the powers that be at PricePoint.com for a Single Speed Tensioner, and this is the baby that they provided me.

This bad boy retails for $19.98 at Pricepoint.com.

Here’s the specs:

The Sette Tensioner is a single speed chain tensioner that will work for vertical or horizontal dropouts. It will only add 100g to your frame and can mount using a quick release or bolt-on type hubs. The Sette Tension Guide will easily mount directly to your rear drop-out and derailleur hanger and allow for full adjustability to achieve the perfect chain line.

I’m also using the Sette Single Speed Conversion Kit from Pricepoint.com.

Once I get my camera back from the shop, I’ll make sure to post some photos of the Red Rocket. One last hint…click here to find it.

Popularity: 15% [?]

MtnBikeRiders.com set up a last minute ride at the Fullerton Loop. Priscilla, Moe, I as well as our friend Anthony decided to get a quick ride in for Father’s Day Weekend. I normally send out a weekly ride invite and one fella said that he’ll try to make it. Well what do you know, the dude actually got up early enough and made it…Vince Rodarte of KHS Bicycles. That’s right, my weight loss nemesis and friend, was able to join our ride today. It’s not all too often he gets to come along, so this was a definite treat for us.

Shown in order, Ryan, Lance, Moe, Priscilla, Anthony and some random stranger on the right side.

Vince rode his old skool KHS Single Speed. This machine was actually the motivation for my Sette Reken single speed build project (right behind the KHS). What made today a unique ride was the fact that 3 of us, Vince, Moe and I, were all riding single. Another thing that made this day a bit more sweet was the amount of KHS Bikes we had on the ride. Moe had his Solo One, Anthony was riding the AM2000 that we built, Vince was on his KHS, and well…me, I had a KHS fork, that should count!

Here’s the Three Single Speeding Amigos…

We’re always trying to have fun when we ride. As always, I try to document our adventures…enjoy the video!

Popularity: 7% [?]

Anyhow, there are so many different fans of 69/96er bikes and as you may already know, I HATE spending money when I know I could do it for less. It’s like going to an Italian Restaurant…why bother when you can boil pasta at home and make the food for a fraction of the cost. Well that’s my point, why spend a butt load of cash to get a “pre-made” 69er…LAME!

So here’s the recipe for my version of a great 69/96er bike:
1 Sette Reken Single Speed Bike. By the way, did you know the Reken uses 6061 tubing…means it’s strong!

1 Rigid fork-Courtesy of Moe Ramirez and his KHS Solo One
1 Kenda Negeval 29er Tire
1 700c wheel…yah I know I should be using a real 29er wheel…I’m not spending the money on one until I’m certain that I like the set up.

Combine all the ingredients on a work stand, tighten the bolts, test ride…and Viola! a 69er! Sorry no picture yet. I’ll get one up as soon as its ready!

Popularity: 7% [?]

This week’s Deal Day special, we are going to visit with some products that I’ve been using from Pricepoint.com .

The first item I’d like to introduce is the Sette Reken frame that we used to build up a “Brother on a Budget” single speed. This frame is priced reasonably well, $99. I also used the Sette Single Speed kit for this project. I’ve been riding on the Reken frame for a few months now and it has quickly become my favorite bike in my stable. You’ll hear more about it on my review coming shortly.

Not the most flattering shot of my hairy legs…but I wanted to get a picture of the frame.

Another product that I’ve been happy with is the Sette Excel MTB Shoes. These shoes are a killer deal at $34.98…where else can you get some nice shoes for that price?

Last but not least is this fancy, B.O.B(brother on a budget) approved Pricepoint.com Classic Jersey. Being a husky rider, I don’t care much for club/sport fit jerseys. In fact I rarely wear jerseys at all because they make me feel like a kielbasa. The Classic Jersey fits loosely on my hulking body and is very comfy. For $20, you just can’t go wrong with it. The fabric is moisture wicking and keeps your skin nice and cool.

It has 3 large pockets in the back to help carry your stuff.

Fabric breathes really well.

Plus it has this large zipper that goes down about 3/4 of the length of the jersey.

So if you haven’t already figured it out, I am really enjoying the Sette and Pricepoint.com goods. I’m not much for spending a butt load of cash for my biking stuff in which basically does the same thing as the house branded products do.Feel free to check out more goodies at Pricepoint.com

Popularity: 7% [?]

I’ve been riding with the Yess Pro for about 5 months. It’s been installed on two different bike and ridden all over the place.

When I first started my full suspension single speed project, people had told me about the Yess Pro tensioner. In fact Pricepoint.com sell this item for $54.98. Originally I set up my FS SS on standard tensioner but I found that my gears kept skipping. I also was convinced that I needed my chain to wrap around my rear cog more than the standard tensioner was doing.

The tensioner was installed on the Woodstock 707 for about 2 months. Then I received a Sette Reken frame to use on another single speed build up. Again with the Sette, I used a standard tensioner. But I later found out that those things just sucks compared to the Yess Pro.


Strengths:
The Yess Pro has to be one of the best inventions out there that would benefit single speed mountain biking. I really enjoyed using the Yess Pro for the plain fact that it worked as described. I did drop my chain twice during the testing period, but that was only because I didn’t set the tension tight enough and when I landed, the chain slap had so much momentum that it fell off my chain ring. Other than that, the chain never came off the rear cog, nor did it have any mechanical issues what so ever.


Weaknesses:
2 things that I didn’t like about the Yess Pro. #1, your chain line cannot differ from how they built the tensioner. Basically meaning if you you’re using a typical triple crank, you’ll have to place your front chain ring on the inside of the spider. But for some odd reason my Shimano crank required that my ring to be installed on the outside of the spider, which mean that my chain line is further out.

So what happens is, the roller on the tensioner has a lip on it which your chain ends up riding on. I had to install 2 washers on both mounting bolts of the tensioner to bring it out further so the chain would site just right on the roller.
#2, The stainless steel guide plates on the pulley started to rub against my new KMX single speed chain. After a few rides I noticed that my chain showed some visible wear from the guide plate and after removing and inspecting the plates, they too had wear on them. So the I removed them and found that the tensioner will work perfectly fine with out them.

One thing I would like to point out is that there might be some fit problems with bikes with the Horst Link suspension. Joe Solancho has an Intense that he converted over to SS, and he had a heck of a time getting it installed on his bike. His LBS had to contact Yess Pro to get some advice to get it to work.

Summary:
Here’s shot of the Yess Pro installed on my hardtail single speed, the Sette Reken. In my opinion, this is a great set up for both full suspension and hard tail single speeders.

So overall, the tensioner never failed on me. Installation is pretty self explanatory, but keep in mind that you may need some washers in the event your chain line sits further out than what Yess Pro had intended their tensioner to work with. For more information about the Yess Pro tensioner, visit their site HERE.

Popularity: 20% [?]

There’s been a considerable amount of questions regarding this particular seatpost, and for good reason. As I stated previously, if this seatpost worked it could very well be one of the best deals out there. At a selling price of $34.98, it is approximately 15% of the cost of the 2nd least expensive offering(Gravity Dropper). First off, let’s take a quick look at what else is available in the dropping seatpost market.

(Left to right)

Gravity Dropper($239.98)

Maverick Speedball($248.86)

Crank Bros Joplin($274.98)

These are prices I got from different websites but you may be able to find them for fairly cheaper(or fairly more expensive). Also note, I have not tested any of these other seatposts. All have a handlebar switch which the Ryde seatpost does not. A minor downside if this one worked correctly. My hope was that this would be the Sam Cassell of seatposts…not the best looking but still a champion.

The red lever is all you have to deal with on the Sette Ryde ST-850. It’s just that simple. However, the one “issue” you’ll run into is weighting the seatpost at the proper angle. At first I was jumping and slamming my weight straight down, with little result. I’m 155 pounds so I was afraid I was too light. This was most definitely not the case. It’s a very easy technique but took me about 3 rides to figure out and perfect. The video below shows me weighting the seat with my arm but here’s how to make your Ryde seatpost work in the real application.

How to weight your Ryde ST-850:

I’ll assume we’re all riding along as this is the whole point of the seatpost: so that you don’t have to stop to adjust. This requires a fair amount of balance and obviously you’ll have to be able to steer with one hand, while the other goes for the trigger which is right near your…uhh, saddle bag. Here’s where the technique comes in. You’ll want to scoot your ass up towards the front of your saddle. Second, grab that trigger(it’s extremely easy to pull and can be done with one finger). At the same time, with your weight toward the front of the saddle you’ll have to lean your body back, as if you were in a recliner, until your weight is in line with the angle of your seat tube. When you hit this angle you’ll know it as your post will drop ever so comfortably and easily down. Simply let go of the trigger at this point(if you don’t the post will pop back up to full mast). Viola…now you’re ready to punish some downhill.

As soon as the hill starts pointing up just reach down, get your ass off the saddle, and pull the trigger. Bam! Seatpost is back to climbing height in less than a second. After a while it’ll become second nature to you. I can adjust the post up or down within about a second, either way with ease. Believe me, the extra leg room is a welcome luxury on descents when you’re riding a bike with no suspension.

First ride with the Ryde(that’s redundant) was the mud and clay filled mess you see above. The post did get that “sticky” feel but I lathered some grease on there, pumped the post a few times and its been going strong for months.

The only technical downside, in comparison with its high-priced brethren, is the lack of adjustments through the 3-4 inches of travel. But think about it a second. Are you really going to need to adjust your seatpost that much? When I’m riding I don’t want to have to worry about weather I need my post 1 inch lower or 1 3/4 lower. I either want my post up for climbing or down for descents. Don’t make me think beyond that, dammit! I just want to ride my bike.

The Ryde ST-850 lets you do just that. Hey, but the Ryde doesn’t have a cool cord and handlebar knob! Ya, well, if you need shiny parts and a little bit more makeup on your post then get out your credit card and have at it. You’ll be spending 85% more for a post that, in reality, does the same exact thing! After riding this post I look at the pricey alternatives and laugh. This is the greatest deal I’ve ever come across in mountain biking components. The shear savings from the alternatives is reason enough alone to buy the Ryde ST-850. Its durability and ease of use are icing on top of a very inexpensive, but delicious cake.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Yeah I know its a well worn cliche. But I wanted to let everyone know that the Sette Reken frame is back at Pricepoint.com!

Pricepoint.com sold out the last batch and now its back. They even have size as small as 14″ and all the way up to 20″. The price still remains a super low low and affordable cost of $99.98. That has to be one of the best deals on the internet!

As you may have already seen, I’ve built up a formidable single speed mountain bike that has literally transformed my riding! Seriously, just ask anyone that I ride with, they’ll all say that I’m a faster rider because of this bike.

What’s cool about this frame is that its VERY tough. It’s totally legit man! I’ve taken this bike through so many tough trails such as Rock-it, Lynx, Cholla and more, and it has never given up! I would totally recommend it. Heck, I may even get another frame just so I can build up a geared race machine…

Popularity: 6% [?]

In the words of Grand Master Flash…
(Ooh White Lines) Vision dreams of passion
(Blowin’ through my mind) and all the while I think of you
(High price) a very strange reaction
(For us to unwind) the more I see, the more I do
(Something like a phenomenon) Baby!
(Tellin your body to come along, but white lines blow away)
(Blow! Rock it! Blow!)

Ok ok, relax, I’m not talking about blow, but I’m talking about my new White Chain by KMC on my Sette Reken SingleSpeed.

I love white so much that I even ordered some white Sette Duo bars from Pricepoint.com.

I’ll post that up as soon as I get some pictures. Heck I just installed the bars last night, so tonight will be its maiden voyage with my new bars, and the second ride with my new chain.

Popularity: 5% [?]

A recent press release by the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News website mentioned that Bicycling Mag has decided to move its offices from Burbank to Valencia, California. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Southern California, Burbank is a city just north of downtown Los Angeles while Valencia is a little farther northwest of Burbank, another 25 miles.

Riding next to the beach… +1 for So. Cal riding

Bicycling Mag’s Steve Madden (I thought he made women’s shoes) stated that their reasons for keeping an office in Southern California is because its “important to have a place with access to sunshine.”

Jumping the gap on a So. California trail

That got me thinking: yeah, Southern California is a great mountain biking locale but could it be one of the Best Mountain Biking locales in the world? Could it be THE best Mountain Biking Locale?

Off chamber singletrack with some nice exposure to boot! yum

Here are my thoughts:

1. Diverse trails: You can’t start off any list of best mountain biking spots in the world without a list of what that location has to offer. I live in north Orange County and within one hour of me I have access to literally hundreds of trails. The Santa Monica mountains northwest of me are world renown for their challenging yet beautiful trails. The San Bernardino mountains to the northeast is home to what is widely considered the best singletrack in So. Cal.: San Ana River Trail (SART). To the east are two major race courses in Fontana’s Southridge which runs Cross Country, Downhill and Super D races as well as Temecula known for its Endurance racing. To the south, within an hour and a half drive, there are a ton of trails. I would not be exaggerating if I said that I could ride every Saturday for a year without riding the same trail twice.

Riding SART in the middle of December

The sheer variety of all that is available can make choosing a weekend ride particularly difficult. Want to ride in the mountains? Want to ride in the hills along the beach? Want to do a 100 mile epic? You can find them all in Southern California.

Lance ready to race in early November… notice the beautiful skies

2. Spectacular weather year round: You can not qualify your locale as the best mountain biking spot in the world if you can not ride on dirt at least 3 seasons of the year. Year round riding gives you another point. Sure there are a ton of great spots in Colorado and Utah to ride but if they’re closed down 6 months of the year for the white stuff then you can’t really stake a claim to being the best. Maybe we’ll give you the title of best mountain biking locale 6 months of the year.

Think of it this way: I’ve been mountain biking through the last few winters and the coldest its ever been is the high 30s. What did I wear? For my legs: leg warmers & shorts. For my upper body: wicking base layer, long sleeve t-shirt & windbreaker pull over. No parkas, no snow boots, no ear muffs. On the other side of the coin I’ve ridden into the dead of summer with just shorts and tank-top type wicking shirt, no problem. Some guys even ride shirtless… although I’m not sure if that’s a plus or not.

Just an aside but why would you send products to test in places that are packed down by snow 6 months of the year? Unless you’ve got a mountain biking product made for extremely cold weather most products sent in the fall/winter can’t or shouldn’t be tested until spring/summer in those areas. Do you want your mountain bike getting ridden in conditions most mountain bikers wouldn’t venture out in? OK, now I’m just being selfish.

Early MARCH race at Bonelli with temps in the low 70s

3. Tons of Local Bike Shops: If having choices are good then having a ton of choices is even better right? A few weeks ago, I visited 4 different bikes shops to check out there 29er collections. These four shops were within 5 miles of each other, not “as the crow flies” but actual driving miles. In Southern California you are not limited to the one LBS in town. Don’t like one place’s service or bikes? Stroll down the street and see if the next LBS doesn’t do better.

Not only are there a ton of LBS’s but some great big name e-tailers such as pricepoint.com & jensonusa.com are located in Southern California. Why is that good? Because if you buy something from them and select ground shipping, many times you can get your purchase the next day! No need to pay for expensive overnight shipping if you live here.

Pricepoint is almost down the street in Gardena, CA.

Jensonusa not only has quick shipping to So. California residents it also has two brick & mortar stores. Can’t wait until tomorrow to pick up your order? Roll on over to their store and pick up orders that you make from their online store.

4. Huge mountain biking community. I’m not a fan of riding solo, but that’s usually not a problem with such a large mountain biking community. The strengths of this is not just meeting friends and riding together, it also has fringe benefits. Having a large mountain biking community means demos are always swinging by. Just last week Specialized, Pivot and Rocky Mtn had demos going. This weekend Giant will be doing demos in So. Cal.

Demoing the KHS Flagstaff

Another fringe benefit to having a huge mountain biking community is that there are a lot of bike companies who have offices in Southern California. How is this a plus? Well, you can’t spend 24/7 mountain biking, right? You’re going to have to work sometime to pay the bills and what better place to work, for the mountain biker, than for a bike company? Niner, Intense, KHS, Felt, Shimano, Giant, Turner, etc. all have offices or are headquartered in So. Cal.

OK, enough bragging. Now I want to hear your arguments. Why do you think your location should be considered the best mountain biking locale in the world?

Popularity: 10% [?]