[AM] 2016 Giant Reign Advanced 1

[loc81]

Disappointingly, the Giant dropper has hardly lasted the first month of Winter. Mostly due to its crap wiper seal; after one weekend away it was full of mud and had worn half the anodising off the stanchion. Even after overhauling it, and replacing the remote cable inner/outer, it doesn't stay fully extended sometimes.

Out with old in with new.

Fox Transfer.

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Interested to see how this post goes. Im very close to grabbing either the Fox or a KS. Bloody dropper posts.. Expensive and for every good review, there's a bad one!

 

[teK--]

Interested to see how this post goes. Im very close to grabbing either the Fox or a KS. Bloody dropper posts.. Expensive and for every good review, there's a bad one!

Yeah I really don't understand why after over 5 years of this technology that there are still reliability issues with most of the major brands.

Have had first ride on the new post. So far so good *touch wood*

 

[teK--]

Some pics from Cressy Descent race last weekend.

Always a great atmosphere at this event every year; good crowd, a reasonable amount of heckling, and the weather in our favour. Quite a few ambulances on the Saturday practice from what I hear, a few less on Sunday thankfully.

Will hit this big gap in the middle next year :heh: :












Credits to https://www.instagram.com/capturedby_edan/, Hamish Woonton, Marnie Williams, Ben Johnson for the great photos.

 

[teK--]

Went to Red Hill Riders' inaugural Gravity Enduro event a couple of weeks ago. Weather really showed us its best and it was fantastic all weekend. They ran a course with 6 descending stages and a total of about 1,000M of vert. A very good variety of trails to test everyone's skills and they were all in primo condition.

For a first event they did a great job, all ran smoothly and the wait times at each stage weren't too bad. Left plenty of time for banter whilst waiting to bomb back down to the bottom

Racing was neck and neck against another mate of mine; in the end after all the usual crashes and close calls there were only 5 hundredths of a sec between us; I just edged in front of him :heh:








Credit to Daniel Brooks, Allister Payne, Walkerbout Photography for the great action shots.


Also took a pretty hard hit on the carbon bars. After an inspection at home and expecting the find the usual scratches or chips, instead I found this:



Those wrinkles don't look normal and in any case I don't trust them so they have been taken off whilst I await a reply from Renthal. Have also decided I don't want the hassles or paranoia of carbon bars anymore but at the same time they do feel less harsh than an equivalent alloy bar.

Some googling found that some MX guys squirt this gel inside their bars: http://www.barbuzzkill.com/default.asp?sec_id=180003901

Also found their test results: http://www.frankind.com/barreport.pdf

I don't think 100g of additional weight added to bars is going to be that appealing on an MTB, so the next best thing is probably the Spank Spike Vibrocore bars which only add 20g with their version of anti-vibration foam infill. Reviews seemed positive so I am giving them a go (cut down to 780 width). Will report back after first rides.

 

[Ezkaton]

Interested to hear how the Vibrocore bars go... been considering replacing my standard Spike 800 on the DH bike with the Vibrocore variant but unsure if it's worthwhile.

 

[teK--]

Interested to hear how the Vibrocore bars go... been considering replacing my standard Spike 800 on the DH bike with the Vibrocore variant but unsure if it's worthwhile.

Took it out for first ride on weekend.

The bar is stiff enough not to feel flexy when turning (65kg rider)

I'd say for small to medium sized bumps it is less harsh than the Renthal alloy bars. Whether it's due to the Vibracore and/or the type of alloy they use, they definitely feel good.

For bigger drops and jumps etc, the bar does not flex as much upon landing which could cause more fatigue.

So it's kind of an oxymoron. If you like riding really rough trails and big jumps all the time, the Fatbar carbon would be more comfortable but is more susceptible to impact damage from crashes. The alloy one doesn't give up too much of the dampening effect but should be more resilient to rough handling and dodgy skills.

 

[teK--]

Even though it is November, Melbourne is still far from consistent Spring weather just yet. Nonetheless it was time for some post-Winter love for the rig!

- Fitted Enduro MAX suspension bearings.
- Monarch shock air can service with new seals.
- Serviced pedals.
- Pike lowers service with SKF green low friction wiper seals, and Fox Gold oil.
- New brakes! Hope Tech 3 E4


Maestro bearing press kit makes it a walk in the park. No fudging around with socket sets and vice. For the 2015 onwards Reign I had to exchange some of the dies around and add a washer to improv, but it did the job just fine.



SKF seals next to stock seals. Stack height is a bit more but once you have your ideal PSI sorted out, it's no big deal that the sag indicators are a bit off.



They feel amazing...



Had to Dremel a bit out of the Avid brake adapter, so that the new calipers would clear.







Very happy with the Hopes. The Saints are amazing brakes but I found they just dumped on the power too hard at first (servowave). The Hopes are more linear and ramp up in power as you pull the levers in more, which is really the way it should be. Plus the heavy spring action return on the lever feels great.

 

[hifiandmtb]

Nice work - thanks for the tops photos.

 

[fedor346]

Hey Tek,
Where did you manage to get the Maestro bearing press? Thought they didn't make those anymore?
cheers,
Gav

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

 

[teK--]

Hey Tek,
Where did you manage to get the Maestro bearing press? Thought they didn't make those anymore?
cheers,
Gav

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

Looks like the price has gone up lately but you can still get them. I've done 2 bikes and the kit has already paid for itself.

http://www.moruyabicycles.com.au/contents/en-uk/p6439_giant-maestro-bearing-press-kit.html

 

[B Rabbit]

Nice work!
I've never seen the skf seals before, where did you get them?
Do they reduce friction? Smoother feeling fork?

 

[teK--]

I picked them up when I was in Japan, but I'm sure you can buy them elsewhere as well.

From what I read they are an upgrade on the stock SKF seals that were fitted to the 2016 onwards Pike. They certainly feel softer and more compliant/pliable when handling them, compared to the seals I took out of the fork. They feel very nice on the trail.

Plus because of the raised lip around the edge they are a lot easier to fit using a piece of PVC pipe, compared to the stock seals which sit flush against the fork leg and you pretty much need the rockshox seal tool to fit them properly.

Nice work!
I've never seen the skf seals before, where did you get them?
Do they reduce friction? Smoother feeling fork?

 

[teK--]

Came up short jumping over a rock garden the other week and cracked the rear rim. Finally after 2 years of rough riding I think they did pretty well. Surprisingly the wheel held together; the sealant sealed up the initial fizz and I rode out the rest of the day without it getting seemingly worse.

Due to the annoying change in hub standards again, I decided not to get another set of carbon wheels. Otherwise I will need to build up a new wheelset yet again, when I eventually get a frame that comes with Boost as the only option.

So the logical choice was to get a set of wheels built up by CRC; Hope Pro 4 hubs (44T freehub), and Stans Flow MK3 (29mm wide internal). Build looks well done, tensions even. Had Astroboy look at them and give em the tick of approval.

 

[Boom King]

Came up short jumping over a rock garden the other week and cracked the rear rim. Finally after 2 years of rough riding I think they did pretty well. Surprisingly the wheel held together; the sealant sealed up the initial fizz and I rode out the rest of the day without it getting seemingly worse.

Saw that, was a pretty innocuous hit don't you think? I'd be a bit pissed if I did the same in that spot.

 

[teK--]

Walked back over that spot a few times and pretty sure I landed on a pointy rock. I've bottomed out that rim a few times previously in rock gardens, pinch flatting and causing a small chip in the rim each time, but nothing like this. Prob going to run a bit more pressure hereon.

Saw that, was a pretty innocuous hit don't you think? I'd be a bit pissed if I did the same in that spot.

 

[Culley]

recently purchased the exact same wheels from crc
i run them on my DH bike, no problems so far great choice

 

[wkkie]

Have you ever run Mavic 729's Tek (and you Culley)?

It would be interesting to see how these compare, both 29mm internal, this just isn't as tall and is a fair bit lighter.....

 

[Nautonier]

Came up short jumping over a rock garden the other week and cracked the rear rim. Finally after 2 years of rough riding I think they did pretty well. Surprisingly the wheel held together; the sealant sealed up the initial fizz and I rode out the rest of the day without it getting seemingly worse.

What rims were they? If it's still round/true, that's fixable. Did the same thing to a Light Bicycle rim at Buller last year and fixed it with several layers of carbon fibre and it's held up fine ever since. If you still have it would you consider selling?

Also, how you finding the HT X1 pedals?

 

[teK--]

What rims were they? If it's still round/true, that's fixable. Did the same thing to a Light Bicycle rim at Buller last year and fixed it with several layers of carbon fibre and it's held up fine ever since. If you still have it would you consider selling?

Also, how you finding the HT X1 pedals?

Light Bicycle AM layup, 30mm internal width hookless. They are only cracked at that part the rest of the rim is fine. I was going to keep it as something to hang up on the wall but have sent you a PM

The pedals are Crank Bros Mallet DH. This my second set I bought after the first which ran over 3 years on 2 bikes.

They give good support when wearing a flat/soft soled shoe and disengage easily but quick to find your footing again on rough terrain. The extra float is really good to not accidentally unclip compared to SPDs. That's why I chose to buy these again rather than the HT which I read are much firmer with their engagement and tighter release angle.

Used to have to rebuilt them every year with new bearings but they've since changed the design to a bushing system with much better seals. The bushing kit I installed as a retrofit and they have been great ever since.

Have you ever run Mavic 729's Tek (and you Culley)?

It would be interesting to see how these compare, both 29mm internal, this just isn't as tall and is a fair bit lighter.....

Haven't used those rims before. In fact I'm surprised that Mavic make such a wide rim I thought they had an aversion to building anything wider than 23mm :heh:

 

[Nautonier]

The pedals are Crank Bros Mallet DH. This my second set I bought after the first which ran over 3 years on 2 bikes.

I could have sworn I saw a picture of some HT pedals from your Japan trip.