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DAILY XC NEWS & VIEWS

New Scott Spark with Flight Attendant

June 12, 2024|News|

Ever since I tried for a year to replace my rear shock, this being on a 2016 Trek Top Fuel 9.8, I realized what a nightmare it can be. The model year 2016 was the only one that had the Monarch and Sid XX system using Xloc – the lockouts on both shocks are hydraulic, just like the Reverb dropper post. So two hydraulic cables go to each shock. Honestly, I love how that works. The large button onder my left grip triggers the lockouts with very little, [...]

A solution to weird feet?

June 11, 2024|News|

For all of us out there that have one or two weird things about their feet, this new company might be just the ticket. 3D printed shoes? Perfectly fit to your individual feet. Sign me up!I have yet to find a truly all day comfortable mtb shoe. I was a SIDI believer (the cheap model with 3 velcro straps only) for years and years. Then magically, the shoes were too small. Did my feet grow that much? Apparently so. So I began looking for something else. All the [...]

PFP is gone…

June 10, 2024|News|

I have a love/hate relationship as a fan, with Pauline Ferrand Prevot. I love how she is all business. Train on her own, pick just the races she wants to win, and usually shows up and does just that. She’s never cared about the overall World Cup for some reason. I find this odd actually. She clearly likes to collect titles and championships. So why not grab at least one overall World Cup title to go along with the others? The key for the overall is clearly being [...]

Alternative XC pedals? Is Shimano losing their status?

June 5, 2024|News|

I bought the very first SPD pedals, and shoes, you had to buy both, as SPD was so new, there was only Shimano’s single model shoe you could use with them. I had been using toe straps on aluminum cage pedals just like everyone else. I was also fairly new to MTB, this being the very first years of the 1990’s. Every single part of the MTBs of the day was in a constant state of change. Every time I visited the high end bike shop near me, [...]

SRAM Pod Rocker finally released…and it’s about time

June 4, 2024|News|

Ever since Transmission by Sram was released, I had my doubts about the new 2 button shifter (controller as they prefer). The number one reason I hated it is because you completely lose the ability to use your index finger to trigger at least one shift from the front of the grip. The original paddle design had this ability built in, and it’s the one I still prefer. The original design, as it turns out, really is one of the best. The 2nd attempt of a shifter paddle design [...]

Stans XC race wheels for free!

June 3, 2024|News|

Okay, you knew that’s not true. But Stan’s wheels is one of those brands I used to see all over. Online, at races, they were often in most any discussion when it comes to wheelsets. Now I’m not talking about their sealant, that’s a different type of thing. But the wheels. The rims. Not so long ago, I lusted after and ultimately purchased a set of their Podium SRD XC race wheels. They were very light, 1290 grams on my scale, for the set of 29” rims, spokes [...]

Trek is the future. The future is Trek.

May 30, 2024|News|

There isn’t much “talk” on the webs about Junior and U23 racing at the world cup level. There should be, and this year I have become obsessed a bit with the U23 races. Mainly because I can now watch them (well, the XCO at least) online for free. The Juniors weren’t even on my radar at all, these are KIDS out there giving it their all. Many of them won’t even make it into the Elite races anyway.But, so many of our recent Elite racers were in fact [...]

Berd Spokes for the win!

May 29, 2024|News|

Berd Spokes. What else can be said about these interesting take on spokes. They aren’t new anymore, and are one of those products that doesn’t seem ready to fade away like so many other “new and improved” bicycle innovations over the years. In fact, if anything, they are gaining in popularity. I’ve personally have a fondness for Berd. Originally, it was because anything that shaves weight off your bike without sacrificing strength or durability is always a winner to me. But then I came to like them [...]

Nova Mesto was predictable, in a good way

May 28, 2024|News|

Wow, while kind of boring, PFP and Pidcock wiping up for yet more wins was amazing. I’m more in awe of Pidcock’s ability to just show up, and win a world cup with literally, the entire elite field raring to go. So many things to smile about. Nino Shurter looked like his old self. When Pidcock took off, Nino actually followed, and in the past, he’d simply have let Tom go. To finish 30 seconds down, and a minute or more to everyone else, Nino quite probably would [...]

Where were you Vlad?

May 23, 2024|News|

Say it ain’t so! A modern day XC pro sanctioned for whereabouts? Didn’t see that one coming. The more you learn the exact rules for random drug testing, the more I feel for these athletes – on the other hand, I don’t. Those are the rules, everyone knows them, and they all must comply to be a pro bike racer. So it was pretty shocking to read that Trek Factory Racing’s Romanian speedster missed 3 tests and is now suspended for essentially 2 seasons. He can appeal, and who knows, [...]

Kona version 3.0

May 20, 2024|News|

I’ve always had a soft spot for Kona bikes, even though I never owned one. They seemed to abandon the XC race bike market years ago. They used to have a great XC team and I thought they were pretty cool looking bikes. I even remember a year where they teamed up with Ford motors, and if you bought a Ford Kona car, you got a free mountain bike with it. A friend who owned a bike shop ordered a custom titanium hardtail with USA painting and graphics on [...]

Replacement cages for Sram AXS Transmission?

May 17, 2024|News|

There’s certainly no end to small companies continuing to make bike parts. One of the best (and some would say worst) parts of the 90’s was the sheer number of cool practically hand made components and parts being spit out by everyone. You could get just about every part of your bike from one of these places, and they were rarely cheap, and probably very colorful.So here we are 30+ years later, and every week there’s yet another company that I had not heard of making custom parts. [...]

New Karoo computer comes with a groupset?

May 16, 2024|News|

Now this is an interesting, albeit non-mtb development. Most people don’t even realize Sram bought a bike gps/computer company a while back. Karoo had been around and was generally well liked from what I can tell. Since Sram has a habit of buying companies and not changing their name to Sram, I think many people just kind of ignored Karoo and went with a Garmin or Wahoo computer and that was that. But what if you got a “free” $500 computer with your next XX Transmission equipped mountain [...]

You can buy tickets to the world champs today!

May 14, 2024|News|

That’s right, you only need $108.00, and you get access to all 7 days of racing, or around $20 for a day. That is a literal bargain. Oh, and you need a round trip plane ticket and lodging to Andorra of course. That’s probably only another $5K or so.Why bring this up? Well, because I was thinking about how much I paid for me, my two young daughters and wife to get in to the Snowshoe world cup in West Virginia a few years back. The cost was [...]

PanAm Games were great for the USA

May 13, 2024|News|

Well, the suspected winners showed up, Riley Amos, Haley Batten, Kate Courtney, all had a great weekend of racing for our Championships.This was a great in between race for the US as the World Cup resumes soon, and this gives the racers a chance to get some racing in before leaving for the summer.Check out the results and great photos here: https://utahmtbpanam.com/results/The European continental championships also concluded this weekend, and the contrast in weather is about as wide as you could get. Truly amazing conditions. PFP was most likely [...]