Reviews

My reviews on bikes and parts.

Niner Jet 9 – In For Review

The JET 9 is our swift, light, race ready full suspension bike. Designed around the same award winning CVA™ suspension system found on the R.I.P. 9, the Jet 9 features 80mm of plush, fully active travel at nearly a pound lighter frame weight from it’s bigger brother. Speed was the main concept for the JET 9, and the geometry is focused on a balance between stability and maneuverability.

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Kenda Telonix 2.4 Folding Bead Review

The first thing you notice about the Telonix is its aggressive tread. Knobs are not this large and pronounced on most mountain bike tires. Right away I knew that this wouldn’t be the fastest rolling tire on the trail but the gnarliness of the tread fired me up. Telonix’s center knobs consist of two tread shapes: 1 1/8” wide paddle-like blocks and twin spikes placed in an intermittent pattern.

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Heavyweight Hub Battle – A Revisit

Today…I have done something that I have never done on Mountain Biking by 198. I went back and revised a previous article that was product based. Normally, I would leave the article alone…that was how I felt at the time, so it should have stayed in tact. In this case, my opinion has changed over time due to several business practices and quality issues.

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Mountain Bike Trail Review – Big Creek in Georgia

So Big Creek is like my home track. You won’t find it on anyone’s Top-50-Must-Ride-Before-You-Die lists. But for nearly 8 miles of totally wooded singletrack and a natural freeride area smack dab in the middle of where like 4+ million people are crowded into? Trust me, it’s got its merits … and TTFs … and rocks … and drops … and rooty gnar.

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Open Letter To Shimano

The reason for this open letter to your company is my frustration with your hub production. For many years, I ran your XT hub set. During those times, the XT hub set was known for its quality build and free spinning characteristics.

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Review: Avid Elixir CR Hydraulic Disc Brake for Mountain Bikes

The Avid Elixir brakes replace the Avid Juicy Ultimates and become the top of the line, multipurpose brake set for Avid/SRAM. Braking power with the new Avid Elixir’s are claimed to be somewhere in-between the Juicy and Code lineups. With new technologies like Taperbore, tool free adjustment, new G3 rotor and banjo fittings, the Elixir brake lineup brings something completely new to the table for Avid.

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Mountain Bike Trail Review – The Shit Track in New Zealand

Shit track, single track heaven, very technical, rocky, shist rock is the base, with flowing trail which is narrow and shist rock is very loose runs up and down a creek bed past old god mine diggings and water races all built by the Chinese in the 18th century by hand, the trail is goat and rabbit worn and used a bit by the hardens locals who will show you the way.

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