Hey, Look's Back Again!

For most riders who have been Moutain Biking for a few years would know Look, while some of us new Mountain Bikers will wonder what's look. To make it fast and simple, Look is bike company that is originated from French and is popular among Roadies, they used to make Mountain Bike stuffs but has stop making em for quite a while. Their MTB like is not gone, just unnoticed because their 4X4 pedals are actually EggBeaters (Look licensed their 4X4 clipless pedals to CrankBros - if im not mistaken, someone please confirm this info), so anyway for 2008, Look has 2 new products for us Mountain Bikers (some of you might known this already).

To warm things up, Look decided to bring us new clipless pedals, the 4 sided entry pedals is one of the best mud-shedding design and is the lightest MTB clipless design out there, weight weenies usually dont buy a SPD design pedal because of average mud shedding and its kinda heavy (300-400grm). So what happen when you make a SPD design pedal at the weight of a 4 sided entry pedal, you get a Quartz.

The Quartz

So this pedals is as light as a EggBeater, so anything else? Well this thing amazes me cause this pedal is coil springless, you heard me correct, this pedal has no coil spring, so I wonder how are you going to be able to clip in. (This is a few reason why is it so light). By being coil springless it would mean that the float angle is going to be fix (Provided by bicycling.com, 3 degrees of float, 1.5mm of lateral movement, and a 15 degree release angle). In designing this pedals, Look said they has taken 3 criteria which is mud shedding, pedal platform and weight.

So how much is it going to be? Is it going to be expensive?

Look is offering 3 models for Quartz which are as follow:

Quartz Carbon Ti (Price: $399)(Weight: 246g w/ cleats)

Quartz Carbon (Price: $199)(Weight: 278g w/ cleats)

Quartz (Price: $99)(298g w/ cleats)

It will be available by October-November

Just now was just the appetizer and now is the main course, Hardtail has slowly stop evolving and its getting less eye catching, many bike manufacturer stick with previous year designs and made no attempt it making it better, but Look havent give up in the hardtail market yet cause for 2008 they are also releasing their hardtail.

Look 986 Hardtail

As you can see from the pic, Look decided to go with integrated seatpost, which is very similar to what Scott has done with Spark LTD. The reason for this design is just the same as Scott for designing a integrated seatpost for Spark LTD, which is reduced weight. The frame weights at 1.2kg/2.65lbs (claimed). It is offered in Small, Medium and Large size and is priced at $2,499.

The bike is also offered as a complete:

986 X0 Pro Team

Rock Shox Reba Team w/ 85mm travel and remote lockout

Mavic CrossMax SLR

SRAM X0 trigger shifters and rear derailleur

Avid Juicy Ultimate disc brakes

FSA K-Force Light cranket

FSA stem and handle bars

Fizik Gobi saddle

Look Quartz carbon clipless pedals

weight: 9.5kg/21lbs w/ pedals

MSRP: $5,499

986 X9

Components list no available yet, will update soon

MSRP: $4,499

The bikes will be available in late September - October

Look's hardtail promo vid

*Pic taken from BikeRadar.com.

*Price listed are in USD

Specialized updates 08 Suspension site

Specialized have finally updated its about 08 suspension page, the link can be found here.

I have checked through the whole 08 Spesh Suspension mini site and I must say that its not 56k friendly, there is no HTML version for that site so make sure your broadband is fast enough to check it or you will suffer. Their theme is a Dinosaurs/Bike Theme. Its a very creative theme and I like it except I prefer that they make it less buggy in some areas cause this site has one of the most advance animation I have ever seen. Make sure you check their bike lineup videos, its very good. They make a very good promo site for their 08 bikes. Maybe its to make people notice that they are paying big bucks for one of the best bike technology in the world (although I believe they are similar performance designs out there that doesnt costs as much as 08 Spesh)

Suspension Linkage 101

Well this time I decided to write something that new Mountain Bikers will usually get confused. The names of Suspension linkages and what are their common difference. So here goes:

They are about 6 suspension designs (more coming),

1. Single Pivot

   This is the earliest full suspension linkage (before 4 bar and etc) it only has a single pivot, it moves in an arc when the suspension compresses which caused a few problems such as pedal kickback and etc.
   Famous Single Pivot designers: Cannondale and a few more which I forgotten.



2. Single Pivot Linkages AKA Faux Bar

   This bike has more linkages then single pivot but the rear wheel travel still moves in an arc, I believe its slightly better then a single pivot linkage because they could reduce the arc travel compared to single pivot but some riders disagree. Anyway single pivot linkage bike has a pivot on the seat stay and not on the chain stay. They are a lot of famous Faux Bar bikes.
   Famous SPL designers : Turner, Kona, Trek, Rocky Mountain and a few others which I forgot again.

3. Horst Link AKA 4 bars/true 4 bars

   Horst Link is owned by Specialized and they have licensed it to some companies like Nicolai, Titus etc, Horst Link is one of the best linkage in MTB industry, it has eliminated most of the problems of a single pivot or single pivot linkage bike and its rear wheel movement doesnt move in a arc. Another famous 4 bar is Ellsworth ICT, orginally created by Dave Turner (Turner bikes) but was patented by Tony Ellsworth, ICT is very similar to horst link but after a few slight tweaking, they manage to make ICT into their own patent, if Im not mistaken the difference between ICT and HL is HL uses a strut style shock linkage while ICT uses rocker style shock linkage. HL and ICT has a pivot on the chain stay. Another noticable true 4 bar is Rocky Mountain ETSX, really interesting concept and I suggest you to check on their website for more info bout their 4 bar, RM ETSX.
   Famous 4 bar's: Ellsworth, Titus, Specialized, Nicolai, Rocky Mountain and others.

4. Virtual Pivot Bikes

   Virtual Pivot is Mountain bike latest suspension linkage design, the advantage of this is the manufacturer doesnt need to pay Specialized or Ellsworth for their linkage and Virtual pivot linkage could be designed to have a different wheel path for each wheel travel progression, eg: from sensative to firm as the travel increases. VPP bikes is mostly recognizable by having a bar on the front portion of the bike rear triangle. Famous VPP tech is DW-Link, Santa Cruz's VPP, Giant's Maestro, BMC VPS.
   Famous company that uses VPP : Ibis, Santa Cruz, Iron Horse, Giant, Felt, BMC and etc.

Those 4 is the most commonly and available on the market now, below is a summarize of older linkage that are not commonly used anymore (dont get me wrong by thinking that this design are obselete, its just that its no more the rage in bicycle design because they are better and efficient design nowadays):

1. Soft Tails

   This bike doesnt have a pivot near the bottom bracket area, instead they replace it with a elastomer or some sort to make it bump absorbtion, the linkage mostly are used for XC bikes because XC doesn need too much travel, this linkage style died out because the travel is limited. Cannondale still make soft tails.

2. Monolink

   They are still a few companies that uses monolink, the reason why people dont really like monolink is because as the suspension absorbs bumps, the BB will move with the swingarm (monolink rear triangle is attached to the BB which connects to the crankset) making your leg bend more. If Im not mistaken, Mongoose, GT and Maverick uses monolink.

Well basically that is all the suspension linkage that are available in the market nowadays, they might be more but I cant remember any and I might make some mistakes so feel free to correct me and due to the advancement of Mountain Biking suspension likages, I will update the writeout as I find out more stuffs bout it and I will update this list again with ABP and some others ASAP.

The Apple of Mountain Bike Company

Well, there is Giant which is like a Dell in Mountain Biking bike manufacturing, Specialized is like Sony Viao, Trek which is something like HP because recently they have been aggresive and we have Scott which is the Apple in Mountain Biking.

Why is Scott considered as Apple in Mountain Biking?

Apple Computer are famous in producing cool products, its not cheap but its just so cool to own it and they usually are the company which releases products that are out of the world. So Scott definately fits into this criteria, Scott releases new models only when their current product is dated and that is like a couple of years. So if you are a person who like to own the latest product in technology and want it to be the latest for a couple of years, Scott bikes should be in your list.

A few reasons why people buy Scott bikes is because they are a company where their selling point is their carbon bikes, as you can see, most cyclist who own a Scott bike ride their carbon version. Scott has a history of carbon, similar to Trek. Trek is known for its OCLV carbon, while Scott is their CR1 carbon technology.

So why do I write bout this?

As usual, Interbike is just right around the corner and 2008 is in a couple of months so its obvious that I found a few stuffs bout 08 Scott.

For 2008, Scott will release a new bike which is both categorized as Downhill and Freeride bike, as you see this two category is very different. The most obvious is the geometry difference. Anyway since Im not a Downhill or Freeride person, my knowledge about this kind of stuff is limited so here is a link for more info bout the difference between Downhill and Freeride and more info bout the new bike. Oh yeah and the new bike is called Gambler, below are the pic and the url. Enjoy...

Scott's New Big Travel Bike - The Gambler

Scott lightweight XC Marathon full suspension, Spark also receive a minor update, a redesign Nude Shock and the bike has been slightly lighter. A few things that I have confirmed is the fork for 08 Spark LTD will be supplied by DT Swiss (Pace) so the bike weight is now 9.5kg. SwissPowerTeam will be using DT Swiss fork in the future. No pics is available yet, but I will try and get is ASAP. I havent check for any new info about the rest of 08 Scott's range.

Dave Weagle's latest inovation

Some of you might heard of Dave Weagle, some might not, but Im sure that most cyclist heard of the DW-Link, well DW stands for Dave Weagle for your info. Anyway its been quite a while since Dave release his world renowned DW Link. So what have Dave been up to?, you might ask. Well he has release a new design called the Split Pivot. It was released around the same time as Trek announced their ABP technology, surprisingly, both design is pretty much familiar and we are not sure if there is some imitating of ideas or its just a mere coincidence, only time will tell.

So what is this Split Pivot all about? Well basically it does mostly the same stuff as Trek's ABP does. But dont think that this system is more superior then the DW Link. According to DaveWeagle, the DW Link is still superior then the Split Pivot, Split Pivot is designed to give the bike designer's more flexibility in designing their bikes, which mean that can make the bike lighter due to the simplicity to Split Pivot

There is no news about which manufacturer will be using SplitPivot for 2008, but rest assured, MTBN_Network will keep you folks updated ASAP. Meanwhile you can head over SplitPivot.com for more info about Dave's latest MTB suspension inovation

Tired of adjusting your seatpost?

Honestly speaking, sometimes you just feel so lazy to lower your seatpost when you reach a sketchy downhill or its already too late to change your seatpost height.......or it breaks your flow. Well some riders have notice this problem and decided to make their own seatpost and I must say that if you are a All-Mountain rider, this kind of seatpost would really benefit you.

Adjustable seatpost isnt a new thing. Im sure most of you guys know Gravity Dropper and some may even heard of Maverick Speedball seatpost. So why do you think Im posting about adjustable seatpost?

Although this product didn get much attention, but it has found its way to a few riders and have slowly gain its reputation. Introducing to you the All Mountain Post Its weight is the second lightest among its competitors, although the weight is only negligible.

The weight of the post is 471 gram/16.61 ounce, thats 11gram lighter then Maverick Speedball R (494 gram/17.43 ounce) and 27gram lighter then Gravity Dropper (498 gram/17.56 ounce). Its heavier then Maverick Speedball (non remote) which weights 454 gram/ 16.01 ounce.

Meanwhile, the price of the seatpost is not stated, I have emailed them and will post about the price ASAP.

*Updates :They replied my email and the price is $249.95

Anyway the prices of the seatposts are Maverick Speedball ($220), Maverick Speedball R ($250), Gravity Dropper ($239.98 - Pricepoint.com pricing), Descender Post (To be updated).

To conclude my post, below are the pics of the products and its features (provided by their own site)

AMP Seatpost

Hard Anodized surface resists corrosion and abrasion

Neoprene boot protects the post from the foreign substances

Multiple drop height - 1",3"/1",4" (custom available)

Seat post length: 350mm (3" model only), 390mm (3" and 4" models)

Seatpost diameter: 27.2 (shims available for other sizes)

More info can be found here

Gravity Dropper

Length : 375mm

Weight : 498 gram/17.56 ounce

Diameter : 27.2

Drop : 4"

Descender Post

No Information currently available

Length : 382mm

Weight : 494 gram/17.43 ounce

Diameter : 30.9 and 31.6

Length : 382mm

Weight : 454 gram/16.01 ounce

Diameter : 30.9 and 31.6

Updated #2 : CrankBrothers has now officially posted the Jolpin seatpost (formerly known as Maverick Speedball). Below is the link to Jolpin official website : CrankBrothers Jolpin

Finally its completed!

Well thats all the contents from my old blog, I will start writing new stuffs tomorrow, enjoy!

Trek Customers....REJOICE!

Trek has recently updated their site to 2008 and I must say that the new site is easier to navigate and are well planned.

US Trek customers should be happy with then new 2008 Warranty plan. Trek even make a new bike protection plan called Red Shield for 2008. Fell free to check it out at their warranty page

For riders who have wondered what is Alpha Red or OCLV Red, dont worry cause Trek has explained it on their new Alpha Alu page and OCLV page. Click the links below to go to their respective site : Alpha Aluminium and OCLV Carbon

Trek havent update its site with their complete 08 lineup, so expect more updates in the coming months.

Trek USA English Site

Think Trek released all their 08 stuffs yet? Think again

Well, so far the most hyped product by Trek is their new Fuel EX (even I got excited) and they managed to make XC/Marathon riders happy with the new Fuel EX line. So some riders were asking, how about us All-Mountaineers? How bout the Remedy? Does it stick with the current design or get itself a near rear linkage?
Well for your info, Trek doesnt forget about non-XC riders cause for 2008, they are also redesigning the Remedy, thats right folks, the Remedy is getting a rear makeover and new paint job.

                       2008 Trek Fuel Remedy

Personally, the new Remedy paint job looks the same to me comparing to the 08 Fuel EX (not that I mind), and it seems the Remedy get some curved tubes. And whats up with manufacturers these day making a curved downtube (as you can see, the Remedy has a slight curved downtube) I wonder whats the science about this style of design or its just a trend.

                      08 Remedy Headtube

A few things that bothers me bout the new Remedy is, what the h*** is E2?, its sticked onto the fork axle crown and also the frame head tube (see the black shaped U's/V's/boomerang's?). Guess we have to wait for Trek's answer. Other then the mysterious E2, nothing much changed, there is the ABP and the EVO Link and the floating shock mount on the Remedy, just the same as its trail brother, the Fuel EX.

*Updates: Well I search around for Trek E2 and found out that this technology appears on the new Madone, its very similar to Specialized new buddy system, Trek's 08 Madone uses an oversize 1.5" lower steer tube (this explains why Remedy head tube has a different shape then conventional head tube). So Im guessing that the Fox that come with the new Remedy is custom made for Trek. So speaking by performance wise, the fork should feel the same as other Fox forks although I wonder if Fox even make the fork custom tuned for Trek. Anyway we must still wait for Trek official announcement though :(. Me info bout the new Madone E2 tech can be found here

Well a few reasons why you dont really hear bout the Remedy is likely cuz they dont want it to steal their Fuel EX spotlight, expect Trek announcing/promoting the new Remedy in a few months to come.

*Updates#2: According to bicycling.com, the new Remedy will feature a tapered, 1 1/8- 1 ½-inch steerer tube (this explains the weird headtube design and E2), which is the same to what Specialized had done on their new 08 Stumpy line, but unlike Spesh which decide to incorporate their Total Suspension Integration project into making their own Brain-ified fork, Trek use a safer and more riders friendly way, they asked Fox and Rock Shox to make a special version of E2 forks for them.

Anyway the fork that will come with the bike is as follows, price listed in USD and taken from Bicycling.com:
Remedy 9 - Fox 36 ($4,300)
Remedy 8 - RockShox Lyrik ($3,700)
Remedy 7 - RockShox Lyrik Solo Air ($2,700)

Its amazing that Trek manage to offer a RS Lyrik at USD2.7k considering the fact that a lyrik fork is not cheap, this shows the advantage of buying a mass production bike. It is expected that most riders will own a Remedy 7 or 8, and with the $700-$1000 price difference, its hard for riders to choose which Remedy to get. Trek have rock the MTB world for 2008.....simply amazing.

*Not to forget to thank MTB Omaha for providing pics of the new 08 Remedy, thanks guys.

New DW Linkage bike

Well news are just in that Chris Cocalis are going to release 4" and 5.4" DW Linkage bikes during Interbike on September, so stay tuned.

So far the only info that I managed to get about the new bikes are:

1. It will have a composite Resin XTR bottom bracket which doesnt require threads in the shell. You will be able to fit both RaceFace or Shimano cranks into it and the design will be lighter and stiffer then normal external Bottom Bracket's. No news if you can fit non-Shimano or RF cranks yet though.

2. Since the bike uses DW Link, you can expect the bike to have a good rear suspension platform.

For more info, go to dirtragmag

Oh yeah, and the bike company is called PivotCycles, the link is here

*I will update this posts once I get more info bout it :)

2008 Rock Shox SID

Its true, well the the details on the 08 Sid hasnt really spread over the internet yet and many riders doesnt know there is a 08 Sid, but believe it, that for next year, RockShox will release a new Sid. SRAM BlackBox racers are seen riding the new Sid.

RockShox 08 Sid Promo Vid

*I will update this posts once I collect more pics, so stay tuned

Updates : CyclingNews.com had just updated with some info about the new 08 Sid, click here to check it out

Transferring will take some time

Well I just found out that transferring the contents from my previous blog site to blogger will take a couple of days cause the code used in Opera is different then Google and Blogger offer more flexibility in posting pics, so Im planning to update some of the photos location posted on the previous blog. Stay tuned for more updates.

Just for your info, I wont be here for a couple of days (possibly 3 days) so the blog will stay inactive, dont worry folks, MTBN_Network will be updating it self regularly as soon as possible. Meanwhile, you can stop reading the blog now and go out and enjoy riding :D. Cheers

3 Major Companies, 3 Major Changes, 3 Bikes for 2008

Well, I was planning to write this post for quite a while but cannot find the time to write it, anyway a lot of sites have posted about this stuffs so Im giving a 1 page crash course on whats coming for 08 and for the people who have not been updated on the Mountain Bike world:

For 2008, 3 mass bicycle production companies are releasing a redesign version of their current trail bikes. From USA, Trek and Specialized and from Taiwan, Giant (although the R&D is made in the US). The changes for 2008 is soo interesting that it has made me regretted buying a bike this year. Anyway enough of unnessary speech and straight to the point.

2008 TREK

Trek offering for next year is a revised version of their Fuel EX line, the travel remains the same which is 120mm but for 08 They offer a redesign rocker link dubbed the EVO link which is made out of Magnesium (Fuel EX 9.5 and 9.0), Aluminium (rest). Trek states that the weakest part of their 07 Fuel EX lineup is their R1 rocker link. It caused the rear triangle to flex, although this flex is more noticable on larger/heavier rider.

                     08 Trek's EVO Link

                                                                  Fuel EX Full Floater

Besides that, for 08, Trek also release 2 new technology, which is the floating shock mount and ABP. Instead of a traditional fixed shock mount (like previous EX's where the shock is fixed to the frame) the new shock mount is mounted on the rear triangle bottom linkage, TREK claims that they would be able to fine tune the linkage ratio giving better small bump absorption and bottomless feeling, you can think it as a improved leverage ratio of the current R1 suspension.

Fuel EX Active Braking Pivot

Lastly for 08, is the new ABP technology, this is certainly a new suspension design, instead of locating the pivot on the seat stay or chain stay, the pivot is now located on the the intersection of the chain and seat stay. This new design is very similar to Dave Weagle newly released split pivot design. Trek says their new design would eliminate problems that are faced by other 4 bar systems, since the brake caliper is now fixed on the seatstay. Surprisingly, nothing is said about eliminating pedal bob. Because of the ABP design, Trek made their own QR Release axle which fits normal hubs. This QR axle is different from the normal QR axle.

More info at Official 08 Fuel EX website

2008 Specialized

For 2008, Specialized offer a completely redesign Stumpjumper. The new Stumpjumper has a very close resemblance to its longer legged brother, the Enduro SL. Its also lighter and the top of the link S-Works Stumpjumper is reported to weight around 10kg straight out of the box. This means its only slightly heavier then the Epic which would make it a better choice for riders who races are not their priority.

S-Works Stumpjumper comes with Specialized own fork, the new fork is reportedly to weight only 1.4kg, the new fork comes with Spesh own custom steerer, Spesh steerer has a bigger diameter at the bottom and becomes smaller at the top, this caused their S-Works Stumpy not to accept any other fork except for Spesh own fork which caused some riders to be disappointed. The fork has no travel adjust and the fork internals is only on the driveside (similar to Cannondale Lefty fork), the fork uses post mount for the brake calipers and its not V-Brake compatible.

S-Works Stumpy Fork

Other changes besides the frame is a redesigned Brain unit which is slightly lighter, a new shock which promises more linear spring rate. More info can be found at cyclingnews.com .

A vid of Ned Overend riding the new Stumpjumper

2008 Giant

Previous year's Trance line receive a very common complaint, which is its weight, the Trance is one of the heaviest 4" trail bike on the market which made it to lose out to its competitors. So what have Giant done for their 08? A longer travelled Trance called Trance X (5" rear travel) and Trance, the Trance X is only 200g heavier then Trance which would make it a better choice then the Trance. 2008 Trance's receive a completely redesign frame, gone are the through downtube and the new design is lighter, its only slightly heavier then Giant's competitive XC Full Sus, Anthem.

Also for 08, The redesigned Trance has a new rear triangle design and the lower link pivot is now mounted with the shock mount on a single axle to reduce weight.

Trance X Rear Linkage

Giant has also take note of their paint issue, for 08 the bikes painting process will go through, brushing, bead blasting anodizing and decal application, this means you can expect a better quality on the bike looks. Also the cable has be rerouted for simpler cable routing.

Feel free to head over to Giant's site for more info about the new Trance line Giant Trance X0 link

Trance X Rerouted Cable and Better Paint Quality

Well so as you can see, it seems for 08, Trek, Specialized and Giant has improved their Trail bike ranges. Im very interesting in test riding the new Fuel EX and Stumpy. Anyway below are the pic of this year and next year's trail bike offering.

*Most pictures were taken from cyclingnews.com

A better quality of this post can be found at my old blog

New Bike Shop opening in Penang

Well, Penang island have always has 2 most popular bike shops, which are CCI and Chin Aik Industries. Opening on August 15th is a new bicycle shop by the name of Dreamwerkz Cycles Sdn. Bhd.

Why is this bike shop gets my spotlight?
Well its cuz unlike other bike shop that might open without my knowledge, this bike shop is open by CCI's technician, Faizal. He is a experienced mechanic and has spent years fixing and maintaining from low to high-end bicycles. Although the details of his new found business is a bit sketchy but I will update more info bout it once I went to the shop. My guess is he will be distributing bicycles from a UK branded company named Pipedream Cyclez. Since its a UK designed bike, riders could expect the bike to have ample mud clearance and full sealed pivots. Components that he will bring in remains unknown.

The shop is located at:
163F-1 Wisma Seri Perak, Jalan Perak, 10150, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia (Click here for Map)

So whos the technician in CCI now, since Faizal opened his own shop?
My guess is the technician job will be handled by the shop owner himself, Gary. He is a very experience bicycle technician and has been in the MTB business even before Mountain Biking become a wide known sport in Penang Isle.


More info at Dreamwerks Cyclez Sdn. Bhd.

MTBN_Network New Home

Hey guys,
For your info, im moving all the contents from MTBN_Network (Opera) blog onto Blogger.com cause they are some bugs that annoys me when using Opera blog, lets hope Opera will fix this bugs in the future and add new features, I enjoy Opera themes though.