News Season

It seems to be a normal thing now.  Summertime is really "Mountain Bike News Time" anymore. While there will be things sprinkled throughout the warmer months for us dirt heads to chew on, I think it was rather odd and ironic that both Niner Bikes and Salsa Cycles released news of 2014 bikes yesterday. Let's see now....

Niner R.O.S.9

Niner actually announced two models, but the big news here is a AM hard tail called the "R.O.S.9" This burly steel hard tail follows in the vein of those that have come before it like the Kona Honzo, Canfield Nimble 9 and Yelli Screamy, and models from Singular, Diamondback and Cromag, not to mention some others.

Same story here- Short chain stays, (sub 17"), slack head angle, (68° with a 140mm fork), and a 142mm X 12mm through axle rear end for stiffness. Dropper post compatible, yadda, yadda, yadda....

While more choices in this category are fine with me, I find a couple of things jump to mind: First, is this kind of a fad? I remember 26"ers went through an "ultra-short" chain stay phase in the early 90's and there were several reasons that idea was abandoned. Are we going to see that happen again here with these crazy-short stayed 29"ers?  It makes you wonder if the Trek Stache isn't so crazy now with its 17.5" stays and slacker angles up front. It just seems strange that Trek is the "odd man out" in this area. They either got it right or are crazy.

Secondly- isn't it odd that, with a few exceptions, most of these bikes are steel? Makes me wonder if the designers like the failure mode better with steel considering the use group. Hmm...... I could be totally wrong there. It is also interesting to note that Niner's first proto of this bike they ever showed was aluminum.

Image courtesy of Dirt Rag

Salsa Cycles Redesigns Their FS Range: 

Well, this cat is outta the bag, so I can talk about this a bit. I signed a non disclosure agreement back in February when I actually saw these rigs in the flesh at Frostbike. I gotta tell ya- it has been hard not to talk about this! 

Basically, Salsa called in Dave Weagle of Split Pivot fame and consulted with him to integrate his design into a new range of Salsa full suspension 29"ers. Still dubbed Spearfish and  Horsethief, with the same user intentions intact, these new bikes are going to be pretty cool. Split Pivot is a concentric pivot at the rear axle which helps divide the braking forces from the suspension forces. That helps keep the suspension active during braking, and that means more traction and more control. DW Link designs also can have varying levels of "anti-squat" depending upon the finer details of the design for any particular client of Mr. Weagle. So that may mean the new Salsa rigs will have some cool traits during climbing. I'm sure all the fine details will hit when Saddledrive happens next month and some of the other dealers get schwing-dinged out there by QBP to try them. I'll be interested to hear what they think. Me? pfft! I can't afford to get out there, so I'll be lucky to get to a demo, like last year. We'll see.

Salsa has more up there sleeves for 2014, so this isn't all you'll be hearing from that camp. And there will be more from other companies soon as well. "Press Camp" is happening in Utah right now, and more private dealer shows will be coming which are sprinkled throughout these high Summer months. Stay tuned for more....

 

News Season

It seems to be a normal thing now.  Summertime is really "Mountain Bike News Time" anymore. While there will be things sprinkled throughout the warmer months for us dirt heads to chew on, I think it was rather odd and ironic that both Niner Bikes and Salsa Cycles released news of 2014 bikes yesterday. Let's see now....

Niner R.O.S.9

Niner actually announced two models, but the big news here is a AM hard tail called the "R.O.S.9" This burly steel hard tail follows in the vein of those that have come before it like the Kona Honzo, Canfield Nimble 9 and Yelli Screamy, and models from Singular, Diamondback and Cromag, not to mention some others.

Same story here- Short chain stays, (sub 17"), slack head angle, (68° with a 140mm fork), and a 142mm X 12mm through axle rear end for stiffness. Dropper post compatible, yadda, yadda, yadda....

While more choices in this category are fine with me, I find a couple of things jump to mind: First, is this kind of a fad? I remember 26"ers went through an "ultra-short" chain stay phase in the early 90's and there were several reasons that idea was abandoned. Are we going to see that happen again here with these crazy-short stayed 29"ers?  It makes you wonder if the Trek Stache isn't so crazy now with its 17.5" stays and slacker angles up front. It just seems strange that Trek is the "odd man out" in this area. They either got it right or are crazy.

Secondly- isn't it odd that, with a few exceptions, most of these bikes are steel? Makes me wonder if the designers like the failure mode better with steel considering the use group. Hmm...... I could be totally wrong there. It is also interesting to note that Niner's first proto of this bike they ever showed was aluminum.

Image courtesy of Dirt Rag

Salsa Cycles Redesigns Their FS Range: 

Well, this cat is outta the bag, so I can talk about this a bit. I signed a non disclosure agreement back in February when I actually saw these rigs in the flesh at Frostbike. I gotta tell ya- it has been hard not to talk about this! 

Basically, Salsa called in Dave Weagle of Split Pivot fame and consulted with him to integrate his design into a new range of Salsa full suspension 29"ers. Still dubbed Spearfish and  Horsethief, with the same user intentions intact, these new bikes are going to be pretty cool. Split Pivot is a concentric pivot at the rear axle which helps divide the braking forces from the suspension forces. That helps keep the suspension active during braking, and that means more traction and more control. DW Link designs also can have varying levels of "anti-squat" depending upon the finer details of the design for any particular client of Mr. Weagle. So that may mean the new Salsa rigs will have some cool traits during climbing. I'm sure all the fine details will hit when Saddledrive happens next month and some of the other dealers get schwing-dinged out there by QBP to try them. I'll be interested to hear what they think. Me? pfft! I can't afford to get out there, so I'll be lucky to get to a demo, like last year. We'll see.

Salsa has more up there sleeves for 2014, so this isn't all you'll be hearing from that camp. And there will be more from other companies soon as well. "Press Camp" is happening in Utah right now, and more private dealer shows will be coming which are sprinkled throughout these high Summer months. Stay tuned for more....

 

Friday News And Views

With Trans Iowa V8 Registration coming to a close Saturday, here is where things stand at the moment.

Finishers registration closed last week, and the Rookies filled their class last Monday. Since then, six lonely entry spots for Veterans have been dangling out there, waiting to be picked off.

As far as I know, one of those is going to get nipped by a T.I.V7 vet today. (Promised overnight letter I was alerted to should show up today) That would leave 5 entries. If those go unclaimed by Vets, then at midnight Saturday night, the first five names on my Waiting List will appear on the roster to fill them. Of course, those will all be Rookies.

That will leave at least 15 names on the Waiting List for T.I.V8. If I get anyone on the Roster that can't make it to T.I.V8 , and they let me know before January 31st, 2012, the Waiting List #1 position would get first crack at a chance to claim the spot, and so on. If your name doesn't appear on the Roster this weekend, you are on the Waiting List. Stay tuned....

Short Stay Syndrome: I got a few great comments on the post this week about short chain stay "all mountain" hard tails. Now I want to share a few more thoughts on the subject in terms of full suspension bikes.

DeVinci Atlas 29 FS: 16.9" chain stays

I saw a great example of what happens when designers try to cram a front derailleur, suspension linkage, and all with super-short chain stays into a design with 29 inch wheels at Interbike this past September.

It isn't that you can't have short chain stays, but you will have difficulties with regards to front derailleur overlap, and any decent tire clearances.

The Atlas 29 was sporting really short, (for a full suspension device), chain stays at sub 17 inches. However clever the seat tube and linkages may be, the tire clearance was limited to sub-2.3" tires, (at best), and a triple chain ring set up would probably only barely work with XC-ish tires on board. The bike was shown with a 2X set up at the show, and narrow, XC type race tires.

And the Atlas was not the only bike showing the compromises made by designers. The much lauded Yeti SB 95 with its short-ish chain stays, barely had much more room than the shown Racing Ralph 2.1"ers were taking up. On the other end of the scale, the new Salsa Cycles Horsethief, with plenty of tire clearance, room for a triple crank with ease, had almost 18" chain stays.

It's easy to see that other bikes with shrinking chain stay measurements are also making similar compromises. (Kona Satori, Rocky Mountain Element 29) So, the limitations of design seem to indicate that, (as of now), there is no easy answer for riders looking for the shortest chain stays and a full suspension design. (By the way, the same limitations exist in hard tails as well.)

About Three More Weeks: That's how long it is until 2012 and there will be some big changes coming for some things I am involved with. I can not let all the details loose right now, but I am excited to see how a project I and a colleague have been working on behind the scenes will come out. So far.......so good! I am hoping everything else goes smoothly so this can come to a fruitful ending and I think many of you will appreciate the new things coming as well.

In other news of end-o-the-year happenings, I made a goal at the end of April this past spring to set a personal record for blog posts on this site this year. You know.....just to see if I could do it. Well, I am smashing the old record to bits, and it is likely I will never post as much as I have this year again. Maybe. I don't know....maybe I will.   It isn't like I am going to shut this down, but I may return to "normal" levels for 2012. What is happening on some other fronts may affect that.

Well, that's probably not very interesting stuff to a lot of you, but thanks for reading! I appreciate it.

And get outside this weekend! Stay out of the malls, big box stores, and shop local, ya'all. Take some pics, and go on an adventure.

Friday News And Views

With Trans Iowa V8 Registration coming to a close Saturday, here is where things stand at the moment.

Finishers registration closed last week, and the Rookies filled their class last Monday. Since then, six lonely entry spots for Veterans have been dangling out there, waiting to be picked off.

As far as I know, one of those is going to get nipped by a T.I.V7 vet today. (Promised overnight letter I was alerted to should show up today) That would leave 5 entries. If those go unclaimed by Vets, then at midnight Saturday night, the first five names on my Waiting List will appear on the roster to fill them. Of course, those will all be Rookies.

That will leave at least 15 names on the Waiting List for T.I.V8. If I get anyone on the Roster that can't make it to T.I.V8 , and they let me know before January 31st, 2012, the Waiting List #1 position would get first crack at a chance to claim the spot, and so on. If your name doesn't appear on the Roster this weekend, you are on the Waiting List. Stay tuned....

Short Stay Syndrome: I got a few great comments on the post this week about short chain stay "all mountain" hard tails. Now I want to share a few more thoughts on the subject in terms of full suspension bikes.

DeVinci Atlas 29 FS: 16.9" chain stays

I saw a great example of what happens when designers try to cram a front derailleur, suspension linkage, and all with super-short chain stays into a design with 29 inch wheels at Interbike this past September.

It isn't that you can't have short chain stays, but you will have difficulties with regards to front derailleur overlap, and any decent tire clearances.

The Atlas 29 was sporting really short, (for a full suspension device), chain stays at sub 17 inches. However clever the seat tube and linkages may be, the tire clearance was limited to sub-2.3" tires, (at best), and a triple chain ring set up would probably only barely work with XC-ish tires on board. The bike was shown with a 2X set up at the show, and narrow, XC type race tires.

And the Atlas was not the only bike showing the compromises made by designers. The much lauded Yeti SB 95 with its short-ish chain stays, barely had much more room than the shown Racing Ralph 2.1"ers were taking up. On the other end of the scale, the new Salsa Cycles Horsethief, with plenty of tire clearance, room for a triple crank with ease, had almost 18" chain stays.

It's easy to see that other bikes with shrinking chain stay measurements are also making similar compromises. (Kona Satori, Rocky Mountain Element 29) So, the limitations of design seem to indicate that, (as of now), there is no easy answer for riders looking for the shortest chain stays and a full suspension design. (By the way, the same limitations exist in hard tails as well.)

About Three More Weeks: That's how long it is until 2012 and there will be some big changes coming for some things I am involved with. I can not let all the details loose right now, but I am excited to see how a project I and a colleague have been working on behind the scenes will come out. So far.......so good! I am hoping everything else goes smoothly so this can come to a fruitful ending and I think many of you will appreciate the new things coming as well.

In other news of end-o-the-year happenings, I made a goal at the end of April this past spring to set a personal record for blog posts on this site this year. You know.....just to see if I could do it. Well, I am smashing the old record to bits, and it is likely I will never post as much as I have this year again. Maybe. I don't know....maybe I will.   It isn't like I am going to shut this down, but I may return to "normal" levels for 2012. What is happening on some other fronts may affect that.

Well, that's probably not very interesting stuff to a lot of you, but thanks for reading! I appreciate it.

And get outside this weekend! Stay out of the malls, big box stores, and shop local, ya'all. Take some pics, and go on an adventure.