First Impressions: WolfTooth NarrowWide Chainring

Just fitted: WolfTooth NW chainring

I've never been a fan of chainguides: they rub, cause friction, can be noisy and are a bugger to set up so when an alternative to using one came to market I was excited to try it out! With the idea being pioneered by the revolutionary SRAM XX1 groupset and quickly reproduced by multiple manafactures it wasn't long before the "narrow wide" chain ring concept was popular and relatively widely used. With various brand producing different offerings I chose the WolfTooth NarrowWide chainring to test using a standard 104BCD and 34 teeth (what I've found to be the best set up for local riding) and promptly went out for a test ride!

On the bike: full view

The chainring was a doddle to fit and after removing the existing guide/ring combo and mounting the WolfTooth all that was left to do was remove a link from the chain and go for a blast! Initially I was impressed as the first climb gave me an opportunity to compare friction and shifting in comparison to the previous set up. The ring was noiseless when pedalling and shifted beautifully and without friction - no drawbacks there then but how would it fare on an actual trail? The ring was given a baptism of fire to say the least as I dropped into a brand new trail I'd never before seen which turned out to be fast, steep, fairly rough and choppy. As such my riding was not exactly smooth and there was a fair few moments that I'd have expected to drop a chain however I reached the bottom with chain in place and grinning ear to ear. On continuing my ride I found that I completely forgot about the lack of chain guide, something that only shows the security of the NarrowWide ring and I rounded the day off with no drops whatsoever despite actively attempting to make the chain drop on some trails by riding purposely messily. Overall initial impressions are very good and although nothing can yet be said for long term durability, the first ride out brought nothing but positives to the table: who needs a guide?!

The top of Pitch Hill, halfway through and no drops!

Cheers Vectiox for hooking me up with a NW ring to test!

http://www.vectiox.com/

Spy shots: Shimanos answer to XX1?

Most recently in the wide drivetrain news was the fact that SRAM had released X01, a trickle down group from their top tier elevel speed drive train. What was puzzling about this new groupset was the fact that it weighed just 40-60g more than XX1 and retained both similar features and the blindingly high pricetag! SRAMs argument was at the original equipment level X01 worked out far cheaper meaning complete bikes would be both eleven speed and fairly affordable. Where however does that leave the riders who, like me, buy a frame and either build it up with a custom specification or alternatively use many parts from their old bike to keep the cost down. The rumours are still circulating about XX9 and how soon we will see it being released however on Jared Graves' winning Yeti from the EWS at Crankworx Whistler something exciting was being tested. Although Graves appears to be using a standard 10 speed XTR mech (likely long cage) it's coupled up to what appears to be a 11-40/42 cassette (standard freehub compatible), providing similar ratios to XX1 but without having to replace the rest of the drivetrain! Even if cassette prices were similar to the prices SRAM are charging merely by making the system compatible with the existing shifting gear brings the price down massively. RRP for the existing XTR cassette is £209.99 (cheapest XX1 ~ £245 (Bike-discount.de) so even if it went up by another £50 it would still be undercutting SRAM massively! Some healthy competition can only be a good thing for the wide range cassette market although it'll be some time yet before we can purchase the Shimano offering. Although the lower 7 cogs appear to be of the standard XTR variety the upper 3 seem a very rough prototype - no doubt Shimano will wish to refine these further prior to releasing more information.

Graves' custom set up - credit GeeBeeBee Media

Back to basics

A note: I have had revision/exams at college these past couple of months and now they are finished plan to update my blog more regularly. I am heading to Megavalanche in 2 weeks so I will post a full blog post about that soon after the event!

When I first took mountain bikes off road it was a good friend who convinced me into it. We went down to the local hill and rode down it as fast as possible, pedalling like mad men before coming to a halt at the bottom. It was amazing. Nowadays there seems to be so many different disciplines; downhill, four cross, all mountain, cross country, trail, enduro, freeride and dirt jump. Each rider is pigeonholed into a certain category, each ride a certain type. Recently this has begun to grind my gears as we see trail riders calling cross country lads the lycra brigade and freeriders berating enduro riders for enjoying climbing! This kind of an attitude is why I've started just riding in the woods. I'll pull on my knee pads, stick an open face helmet and a pair of gloves on, then pull my 150mm travel full sus out the garage and go for a hoon. I don't need to ride a certain set of trails on this ride. After a steady climb to the top of the hill I crank hard and begin to plough my way down Almost Cut My Hair, a flat-out, rooty set of steep(ish) chutes, grinning like someone from the funny farm! I'll then steadily climb back up before picking up the pace down Rad Lane, a long trail full of smooth corners, smaller roots and a few small jumps to keep things interesting! After that I'll feel like something with a really natural feel - a more worn out trail - so I'll ride Evian! After I can climb over to Fly Tipper and Northern Monkey, one a jump fest with the other steep corners into a flat out berm-filled wonder land! As you may have gathered on these rides I ride everything from trails firmly parked in the cross country category, all the way up to proper freeride style trail with 10ft gaps and serious potential for carnage!

But hold on a minute. Did I just ride all of that with the same bike and kit?! Many mountain bike magazines would argue that you couldn't possibly ride all those trails on one bike, surely you would need a whole garage worth of steeds?! The point of this post is essentially to try and blow away the myth that you need a different bike for each type of ride! Sure it's nice, but for the most part, completely unnecessary! To summarize I basically hope for mountain biking to go back to its roots, where one bike did it all and people just having fun on bikes!

Tech news: SRAM Roam and Rail wheelsets

Two years after the release of their Rise cross country hoops, SRAM have given news of two new wheelsets aimed at the trail and enduro market. Aptly named Roam and Rail these come with two alloy options and one carbon, in 26", 27.5" and even 29"!

With both products SRAM started from scratch, the first product being the Roam trail hoops. All budgets are catered for with both a carbon (Roam 60) and aluminuim option (Roam 50), using hub internals from the DT 240s. The 60s weigh a claimed 1495g for the 26", 1550g for the 27.5" and 1625g for the 29" which is actually heavier than their aluminium alternatives - the 60 aimed at more of a range of hardcore riding than the 50. The 60s are slated to arrive in July for the 26" and August for the other sizes. Pricing is expected to be around the £1700 mark.

Both the 50s and the 60s have an internal rim width of 21mm, the 50s using an aluminium rim to keep costs down and weight low, in fact coming in 20-24g less than the carbon option, being aimed at lighter riding. The set of both wheels comes in at 1475g for the 26", 1530g for the 27.5" and a sprightly 1611g for the 29". An RRP of £840 is what SRAM are currently planning however this could change closer to the time.

The Rail wheelset is designed to be a wider, burlier version of the roam, aimed at all mountain riding over trail. It only comes in aluminium, with a 23mm internal width and extra material in high stress areas! The 26" rim weighs 500g, just 90g more than the Rise 50 equivalent. The 26" weighs 1690g, the 27.5" 1750g and the 29" 1830g. They are expected to cost the same as the Roam 50 (£840), aiming for the mid to high end target market.

The new hoops from SRAM look set to make an impact on the wheelsets, offering a lightweight, full UST rim system, with top quality hubs at a mid range price-point. Only the future will tell how reliable and strong they are and if durability has been sacrificed for the sake of lightweight.

Tech News: Giant's 650B trail bike prototype

Photos have emerged today of a new trail bike from Giant. Sporting 650B (27.5") wheels, internal "stealth" dropper post routing and ISCG05 chainguide tabs this bike has all the modern add-ons expected for a trail weapon in 2013. Travel is expected to be around 150mm with both aluminium and carbon options to cater to all budgets.

This bike is likely to be a direct contender with the Santa Cruz Bronson, Banshee Spitfire and the rest of the crop of 650B trail bikes. The prototype weighed in at a svelte 12.4kg (27.4lbs) which is lighter than the build on the Bronson featured at it's launch (claimed weight ~28lbs with an actual weight closer to 30).

650B wheels are supposedly the best of both worlds, the rolling abilities of the 29er with the agility of 26 however the lack of tyres, wheels and spares limits build up options. I for one am eager to try out one of the new trail bikes with 650B but only time will tell if this inbetweener size is here to stay.