Various Component Reviews

[jimbo]

Thought I write some review on some mtb stuff I recently bought.

SRAM Drive Chain.  -  Ok, I didn’t buy these. They came on my new bike I bought last year.  X-7 Trigger fingers and X-9 rear derailleur.  My previous setups were SRAM twist shifters with Shimano XT rear derailleur.  

The X-7s trigger shifter is thumb to up shift and down shift.  The index finger is normally not used.  The biggest plus of these shifters is that it can be placed on either side of the brake lever.  I like to place my brake really far in so I just use my finger tips to brake.  Using this setup with Shimano pushes the shifter too far in for me to reach for shifting since they can only be mounted on the stem side of the brake lever.  SRAM triggers can be mounted between the brake lever and grip and easily adjusted for thumb reach.

The X-9 rear derailleur besides looking cool doesn’t have that cable loop as it enters the derailleur.  I bent the hanger and derailleur within a month or 2 of getting the new bike.  (stick in spokes).  Since the bike was new I didn’t get a chance to stock up on spare hangers.  I hammered the hanger the best I could.  It was still crooked.  I remounted the BENT derailleur and it shifted all 9 gears.  I decided to leave the bent stuff on just in case I had another stick in spoke incident.  A couple months I ago I was practicing for a DH race at one of the gnarliest and steepest  DH course we have.  St. Louis Technos.  My runs were feeling good till I had a rattling noise.  It was so loud I stopped to check the bike.  Couldn’t figure it out so I kept riding irritating noise and all.  Checked the bike when I got home and found the rear derailleur had unscrewed from the hanger and was barely hanging on.  (the hanger was half stripped from the stick in spoke incident)  Even with all that side to side rattling I still had perfect shifting.  

Azonic Outlaw Wheelset – I was looking for another wheelset for my new bike to mount DH tires.  I was also looking for interchange hubs so that I could mount the wheels on my other bikes.  The new Gemini came with thru-axle front the back so true thru-axle wheelsets would limit my usage.  The Outlaws are amazing.  The front can be QR or 20mm thru-axle.  The rear can be QR, thru-axle and even bolt on axle.  

The plus is the inchangiblity, the color (all black including spokes), the weight and price.  

The minus is all the parts you have to keep track of to switch the interface.  (hint: put in shoebox)  The Outlaws are 30mm wide and are beefy for my DH use.  Bigger dudes might want something more wider.

The Outlaw retail for around $270.  You can find them discounted for around $209 nowadays.  I like them so much I bought another set.

Fox Vanilla Fork R – I bought a Planet X hardtail and mounted my old Psylo on it.  The Psylo felt ok at the dirt jump park till I tried my friends bikes that included a Manitou Stance and Marzocchi Dirt Jumper.  It became apparent that the DJ type fork felt more stable on landing.  I was planning to buy a Stance or Dirt Jumper depending on the best sale price I could get.   Jenson about that time were closing out OEM Fox Vanilla R’s for $219.  That price was hard to pass up so I bought it.  The fork had that same stable feeling on landings like my friends forks.  The biggest surprise was when I took the bike on the trails.  The fork made my hardtail feel like a full suspension.  The Planet X is an extremely stiff frame.  With the Psylo the bike felt too stiff for trail riding so my plan was strictly DJing and Urban.  The Fox changed all that so I like to take it out on the trails.  That’s why I had to buy the second Outlaws because the Planet X is currently setup with Maxxis Urban Holy Rollers.

EBC Disc Pads Red – While practicing for a DH race at St. Louis I realized I needed a little more braking power for my Hayes Mags.  The Mags with stock pads actually has enough power to stop the bike on the steepest section.  The problem was arm pump was causing me to lose strength near the bottom of the hill.  One of the gnarlest section is near the bottom.  My arms were totally wasted after several runs.   I ordered the EBC Reds and yes they do make a difference. Less fingering effort means less arm pump.  I can do twice as any runs before I’m too tired.  The box on the pads says race only so I assume that means very fast wear.  They seem to be wearing normally so if they last for this season I’ll be happy.  

Bonus - Vish video of St. Louis:

www.thevishfiles.com/stlouis.wmv