Lets start off with the crown jewel in the groupset the Cassette . Let’s see how it is made.
Cassette and Chain
The revolutionary machined design of the XX cassette uses the same gruelling manufacturing techniques that produced the PowerDome road cassette. With X-Dome, eight of the cogs are CNC-machined together out of a single block of billet steel, creating an incredibly lightweight, precise, and strong cassette. It’s a process that takes nine hours per cassette! Optimized for use with any SRAM 10 speed chain, Recommended chain: PC 1090, PC 1090R
Cassette Specification
Weight: 185g (11-32), 208g (11-36)
Technologies: X-Glide shifting, X-Dome design
Speeds: 10
Cog Material: CNC-lathed 4130 chromoly steel
Large Cog Material: AL-7075-T6
Lock-Ring Material: AL-7075-T6
Options: Replaceable large cog
Gearing options: 11*32 and 11-36
Chain Specification
Compatible Gears: 10
Closing Link: PC-109R
Closing Link: PowerLock
Outer/Inner Plate: Nickel silver
Pin Treatment: Chrome-hardened pins
Chain Weight: 255g
Step 1
Cassette piece cut from a single block of billet steel
Time: 7mins
Weight 4858g
Step 2
The profile disc are CNC – machined together out of a single block of billet steel
Time: 30mins
Weight 2300g
Step 3
The cogs are CNC – machined together out of a single block of billet steel
Time: 1 hour
Weight 213g
Step 4
The holes are CNC- machined
Time: 1 hour
Weight: 126.07g
Cranks
Coming in at an amazing 694Grams (BB30), the XX cranks deliver amazing performance and durability with no penalties in weight. The first MTB crank specifically designed for 2X10 uses some of the world’s most advance material science. The oversized chainrings are CNC machined from 6mm 7075 aluminium blanks – 2mm thicker than the competition.
BB Shell Requirements: 73mm wide x 46mm inner diameter
Rear Derailleur
Leveraging the legendary history of SRAM shifting, the XX rear derailleur delivers incredible speed and precision. Sealed ceramic pulleys give you the highest levels of durability. The carbon fibre cage has a dedicated length specific to 2×10.
Rear Derailleur Specification
Weight: 181g
Speeds: 10 speed for 2X10 system
Technology: Exact actuation ratio, direct route technology
Inner/Outer Cage Material: Carbon fiber composite
Spring Material: Titanium
Inner Link: Forged magnesium
Outer Link: Forged AL-7075-T6
B-Bolt: AL-7975-T6
P-Knuckled: Forged AL-7075-T6
Bearing Pulleys: Sealed ceramic bearings
Hardware: Titanium and AL-7075-T6; TORX* T25 bolts
Cage Length: 93mm
Compatibility: 36 tooth
Trigger Shifters
One of the lightest and most compact shifters ever created, the XX trigger features a fully adjustable carbon Fiber lever, resulting in minimal weight with maximized durability. Pair the XX trigger with the MatchMaker tm X clamp to streamline your handlebar setup.
Shifter Specification
Weight: 183g per pair
Technology: Exact actuation ratio for 10 speed
Speeds: 2×10
Compatibility: XX 2×10 only
Hardware: Al-7075-T6 and stainless steel; TORX* T25
Clamp: AL-6061-T6
Body Material: Carbon fiber top cover; composite lower cover
Sid, Reba, and Revelation – the Rockshox* forks that command the XC and trail arena, elevated with XX Motion Control tm. Featuring Dual Flow rebound to accurately control beginning ending stroke rebound, tuneable low-speed compression, and lock-out and adjust the desired Floodgate.
The patent-pending Xloc works simply: Just press to open and press again to return to lock. The system is completely sealed and installs directly out of the box.
As for the front mech I do not know where to start I will find out as much as I can for you. Put it this way there are 38 different front mechs and right now we are trying o find out what frames are going to qualifies I think I will compile a list but any help with any of your frames speac please just contact me also if you would like me to find about your frame please just contact me here.
Disc Brakes
No component is tested more thoroughly than the brake because your life may very well depend on them. With a all-new two-piece rotor design and a forged magnesium calliper, the XX Disc Brake defines the standard for braking performance and durability. This is the lightest fully featured XC brake class, yet it delivers maximum power and control.
Caliper and Rotor Specs
Brake Assembly Weight: 288g Direct mount and a 160mm rotor ( without clamp)
Caliper Material: Forged magnesium
Rotor Material: Two-piece construction: AL-7075-T6 and stainless steel, riveted
Pad Materials: Organic, alloy backed
Hardware: Titanium TORX* T25 bolts
Rotor Sizes: 140mm (rear only), 160mm, 185mm
Brake Lever Specification
Material: Forged magnesium lever body, carbon fiber lever blade
Hardware: Titanium TORX* T 25 bolts
Adjustments: Tool-free pad contact-point adjustment, tooled reach adjust
Feature: TaperBore technology, power reserve geometry. Ambidextrous, Dot 5.1 Fluid
HPA SERIES: AGREE SL & AGREE PRO AGREE SL and AGREE PRO
Are completely re-engineered for 2010.
The frame is manufactured from high-quality, triple-butted High Performance Aluminium 7005 and 6061 tubing using Advanced Hydro forming to give the perfect balance between comfort and speed.
Thoroughbred racing machine
Crammed full with the latest technology such as a conical steering tube for maximum steering head rigidity and a press-fit bottom bracket inner bearing for the greatest possible bearing stability. It offers everything to be desired from a thoroughbred racing machine: full forward drive and precise handling.
Newly developed Aero Flex seat stays are laterally ovalised towards the seat tube for greater comfort and longitudinally ovalised at the dropout for minimum aerodynamic drag.
All control cables are routed fully within the frame. The gear cables even leave the frame tube only at the dropout. For this the ingenieurs have taken advantage of the enlarged bottom bracket diameter and diverted the cables in the bottom bracket housing.
The inherent qualities of the AGREE SL and AGREE PRO are presented out by the dynamic styling and even standing still awaken the desire for speed.
The Cube Bikes AGREE GTC frame is a completely new development for 2010.
All the experience gained from the predecessor model is incorporated and the highlights of last year’s Litening HPC, combined with the new dynamic styling Cube have put a comfort-oriented racer on the road.
Twin Mould technology
The Agree GTC’s monocoque construction uses Twin Mould technology which guarantees even layer structure and prevents dangerous folding on the inside of the frame. At the same time the resin content is reduced to its bare minimum reducing the overall weight of the frame.
A conical steering tube coupled with the EASTON EC70 offers outstanding steering head rigidity and a smooth steering platform which gives the rider absolute steering control.
Use of the Shimano Press-Fit inner bearing gives the ability to design an extremely wide bottom bracket bearing housing. This can be integrated at maximum width into the chain stays and down tube. So that the carbon fibres can run very evenly along the bottom bracket and thus create a perfect distribution of forces to the steering tube and into the chain stays.
Wafer-thin seat stays together with a comfortable carbon fibre layer structure in the chain stays provide outstanding comfort even on rough road surfaces. This also makes long-distance rides extremely comfortable and for that reason is the ideal travelling companion for ambitious racers and marathon riders.
In short, she’s a beauty and represents the fantastic value for money we’ve come to expect of Cube Bikes.
After there has been so much info online about the 2010 Yeti range, I thought it best to give you a precis of the range.
Some bikes are unchanged – Asr7, Arc, Arc-X, Super X bmx, 4x, 575 – although the latter we will only have stock of the team turquoise and black ano options.
R-DH – gains a tapered head tube as well as new colours – should be with us around Feb ‘10.
DJ – based on prototype ridden to recent 4x World Champs win by Jared Graves. New stiffer frame, tapered headtube, adjustable dropouts and will be available in 3 sizes. Around April ‘10.
Asr carbon – a new glossier carbon finish, new adjustable seat clamp and a stiffer carbon rear end. Around Jan ‘10.
Asr5 and Asr5C – a new exciting frame based around a 120mm fork. The full carbon will weigh in a 4.5lb, the alloy fronted one at around 4.9lb. 13″ BB height, tapered head tube and the option of either QR or 142mm bolt-through dropouts.
This looks a stunning new bike to the range and will offer customers a great option of either an Asr5 or an Asr7 where they would have before tried to make the 575 cover both of those bases. Mark is confirming pricing but we are looking at £1699 alloy and £2150 full carbon and they should be here Jan ‘10.. A sweet new frame!!
We will have the new pics up within the next 2 weeks something to come back from.
This article is by our test pilot ad boy genius mechanic Romo Kadri, who we hope to have more from soon. Views are the Romi’s own and not reflective of FreeFlow Bikes; for example I know Neil keeps insisting the new Intense 951 is his weapon of choice. Anyway, read on for an in depth review of the revolutionary two shock freeride bike the 2Stage Zed8.
One of many things that we mountain bikers rarely admit to is our constant questioning of ourselves: “What kind of rider am I?!”
Am I a smooth or heavy rider? Do I drift or stick? Do I use my weight to bomb through sections Rennie-stylee, or keep it light and floaty like Gee and Rachel? Do I throw the bike around, or do I let it do all the work; Do I hit jumps big or keep it low and fast; Do I pedal or pump to pick up speed; Do I rail the berms or cut them tight?? And on, and on, and on it goes… With all of this questioning being subconciously driven at choosing the bike or components that suit our own personal riding style to perfection, you sometimes begin to wonder; how far could I actually take this process?! After years of this, I finally met and quickly became familiar with 2Stage Bikes, and eventually decided to try something which seemed a little different. Although I was unsure how the 2Stage’s major technological difference would unravel itself down the trail, it took just one run of our infamous track at Fort William for me to realise that it was inevitable for this to be the first bike in the world that would truly blow your mind, no matter how YOU ride it.
Having worked at FreeFlow Bikes, Scotland for over 2 years now, I’ve built, ridden, maintained and analysed a hell of a lot of bikes down to the very finest detail. We conduct these standard ‘tests’ on all new technologies and innovations we receive at FreeFlow Bikes. These are simply to ensure the respective technology’s mechanical sustainability, along with its genuine rideability that so often lies disappointingly deep below the marketing blurb it’s plastered with. Although these are simple tests, we can quickly tell which new technologies will, and won’t take off.
I was the first of our staff to notice the gorgeous 2Stage Bikes when I was doing some team mechanic work down at the 2006 UCI World Champs in my beautifully fragrant hometown of Rotorua! There, grabbing unheard-of attention, like an angel had hit the trade stands, I saw this:
Just as confused as everyone else, I spent a good few weeks trying to work out how those linkages could possibly function effectively? Still confused, and deeply curious about this unique bike, I contacted 2Stage in an attempt to fill in the end of the story. Little did I know, 2Stage were only on the second page having perfected their design, and were soon planning to expand into the UK, the Americas and the rest of the globe. Sadly, it took me almost a year from my first sight of these bikes to be straddling a 2Stage Zed8 for my truly mind-blowing first ride at Fort William. But, this beast couldn’t possibly have been more worth the wait! Even the Zed – an 8” travel freeride rig designed for that ‘all-round’ day out – was taking me faster than ever down one of the most varied and painstaking downhill tracks in the world. In fact, the 2Stage was the first ever rig on which I could be faced with the most mental looking section of track and simply want to pedal straight into it.. this bike is so confidence-inspiring from the moment you sit on it, it’s something quite unbelievable that makes even the toughest tracks so much more enjoyable; it’s so ‘easy-riding’, it almost feels like cheating.
I’ve seen so many reviews of 2Stage bikes that simply boast about how their ride handles every single track or jump-based scenario possible, but I’m not going to hesitate to boast about these yet again! So here goes:
The Straights – If you want to take it slow, it grips. If you want to plough, pedal and sure as hell, it ploughs!
The Corners – If you’re a nutter of the Sam Hill variety, throw that weight forward a touch and feel the most perfectly tailored drift swipe beneath your shorts every time. Or, if you’re one to retain a little sanity like the rest of us, whether you kneel the bike in or keep it straight, keep your weight anywhere behind the ‘drift point’ and both wheels will anchor:- I promise, you’ll soon have the speed and confidence of a leopard chasing a sheep round a tree.
The Rocks – Forget them! Huck, suck, pump, roll; whatever you like – it’ll take it on its back.
The Roots – Keep the tyre pressure low, and 2Stage does the dirty work – just visualise that line and keep it pinned!
The Jumps – Any pilots out there?! I’ve never ridden a bike before now that I can truly justify myself in saying: pull back to go up; keep it straight to stay level; push down to go down. Honestly, get a demo and go try it!
The Drops – Whether it’s a step-down, gap-drop, rock-drop, whatever; you name it – you’ll be craving a huck 3feet bigger than your previous ‘max’ from the moment you turn a 2Stage’s pedal.
The Airtime – Sailing in the wind: whether it be a Zed or Elite that you fly, you couldn’t feel more confident in the air if you tried. Now give us a suicide no-hander! It sure ain’t suicide anymore…
The Landing – Like a blowtorch through butter; melt into that landing! Even if your jump wasn’t the most desirable on the planet, the smoothness of your landing will come as a warmly welcomed surprise.
Everything – Just ride as you want to ride; hit what you want to hit; lean where you want to lean; do everything exactly as you want to: you’ll have the ride of your life, and the next one will be the ride of your life all over.
Because I discovered all of this about our Zed-8 and Elite-9 demo bikes during my first couple of days riding, I began to drift back to that fundamental question I mentioned earlier. But this time, it wasn’t with the bike – I was having the time of my life; it was purely the components attached to it.
Again, doing things differently, I decided that to eliminate the ‘what’s the right componentry for me’ question once and for all, I’d make an attempt to build the perfect downhill bike. I wanted to create a bike which was truly incredible to ride, no matter where it was ridden, no matter what the conditions, no matter by whom, or how they were riding.
So, being slightly clueless as to how to go about this, I put together a tonne of spreadsheets with different specs; different prices, weights and technologies. Eventually, I settled for a sort of ‘collocation’ of the mountain bike industry’s newest technologies – those of which the FreeFlow Bikes team had tried and tested to find nothing but perfection in terms of performance, weight, strength, durability, and value for money. Although I couldn’t keep my hands away from a couple of in-the-limelight components that brought weight down and kept performance up, the bike is very much standard spec. Built straight off the shelf, my custom Zed-8 with Shimano Saint & XTR Shadow drivetrain, ‘zocchi 888 SL ATA forks, Formula Oro Bianco brakes, fizik contact points and Spank finishing kit would weigh in at just over 35lbs – just 15.9 kilos, and would lighten your pocket by a very reasonable £3,800GBP ($9,865NZD).
For those of you new to donwhilling this may seem like a lot of money, but when compared to other top end bikes like the Foes 2.1 DHS Mono at £2,700 ($7,000) for the frame only, you begin to realise the value of the 2Stage; which, in all honestly, far outperforms any other top end downhill bike out there anyway. Besides, which one would you rather get dirty with?!
Okay, so maybe I did’t quite do it justice; but see below how stunning this bike truly is when built with some thought. With a few post-build tweaks, the bike is so successful that we have every intention of using this build on our Zeds and Elites across the breadth of our team for next year’s season here at Glasgow Cycles, and team replicas will also be available from our street and online retail stores along with any other build you could possibly desire. Build it well, and you’ll find it simply impossible to get bored of this bike.
Don’t believe me? You’re missing out big time.
UPDATE: You can see the 2Stage Bikes in action here:
Got back to Glasgow late last night and after our amazing week at Eurobike this is the perfect end. As most of you know Peaty has been chasing this for years and today finally got the win he deserved by just 0.05 seconds. What a legend. Hats off to you Steve, you should be getting a Knighthood for this!
Currently 3rd in the World Cup with one race to go, dare we say King Peat might just make it a double this year? He’s had a fantastic season and after this win he’ll be super confident – who’s to say he can’t take the World Cup title too? Mathematically tight, but still…
In the meantime you can read more about his amazing win here, here, here and here. You can also follow Steve Peat on Twitter – get on there and give him the respect his deserves! His last tweet before his run?
“Frosty in the pits this morning, just about to do a few pracky runs then get ready for a pinner this afternoon.”
At Eurobike we also got a tour of the new Dainese range. As usual everything is top quality but what really stood in terms of innovation out is their brand new XC range.
Taking advantage of cutting edge nanotechnology the range integrates breathable soft shell with the fantastic d30 material. In case you didn’t know, d30 uses nanotechnology to create a fabric which is flexible under normal conditions but stiffens on impact. So you get comfy, lightweight clothing which still protects you when things (inevitably in my case) go wrong. We expect this to be a big hit primarily amongst trail centre riders who want protection but not have to carry heavy body armour to the top of the hill, but also for those quick blast kind of rides were you might be sessioning a section in your local woods and just want to help make sure you’ll still be able to get to work if the worst happens. Also, it looks quite cool.
Anyway, we’ll have the new Dainese XC body armour in stock soon – let us know what you think in the comments below.
We’ve been waiting to get our grubby paws on Truvativ’s new Hammerschmidt for months now, so it was great to see a working demo at Eurobike. Details on exactly how it works so far have been patchy at best and we figured you’d be curious too, so we got SRAM’s Chris McKenny to give us the lowdown:
Insightful stuff!
You can see more detail here:
Exploded view of the awesome Hammerschmidt
The Hammerschmidt is available now in both all mountain and freeride flavours:
You come to Eurobike expecting to see some new innovations, but nothing that looks impossible. Well, yesterday our expectations were smashed when we dropped by the Solid Bikes stand and saw a regular freeride mountain bike pedalling itself with no assistance whatsoever. Whilst we’ve seen a good few ebikes here at Eurobike, each and every one has a gigantic motor built into the frame, weighs a ton and is clearly an electric bike. This on the other hand wasa normal looking bike with a completely normal frame, and yet just push a button on the handlebars, and away it went, cranks spinning furiously. We flicked through the gears and watched in amazement as it shifted like any regular bike, and stood baffled – our minds totally blown – for the next 5 minutes whilst we tried to spot the location of the motor. We couldn’t, so ended up speaking to Andreas, the boss of Solid bikes. You can hear him discussing the bike in this video, which you simply have to see:
The future has well and truly landed.
So, where do you think the motor is? Let us know in the comments below!
