Julbo Contest Review

The Julbo Contest is a pretty amazing pair of sunglasses. They are comfortable, fog free, durable, scratch resistant, and offer excellent wind protection, great varying light capabilities and superb optical clarity. During my six months of use while mountain biking, they have become my loyal companion, and have been in hideous rain and wind storms, suffered ill treatment, and have dealt with every light and temperature and terrain condition possible. Throughout all these situations and environments, they have continued to hold true to all of their excellent features and functions.

uvex xp 100 Review

The uvex (pronounced ew-vex) xp 100 helmet has been my main noggin protection for three months, and I have found it to be lightweight, comfortable, easily adjustable, with a large brim and excellent rear protection. The German made helmet has a plethora of features, that add not only to its safety, but to the comfort and usability of the wearer, plus I liked the wicked skull graphics.

Magura Storm and Storm SL Rotor Review

Magura has been very busy developing, designing and testing (lab and field) their new Storm SL and Storm rotors, in conjunction with their MISSION PERFORMANCE campaign to develop the best disc brake in the world (stronger, lighter, ingenious). The Storm SL and Storm are pretty sweet rotors, and the SL version is my current favorite rotor for my Magura brakes, as its lightweight, while still retaining excellent braking characteristics.

Moots Cowbells - IMBA Fundraiser

Here is a great fund raiser for the IMBA from my buddies over at Moots. I love the secondary name for the Moots Cowbell! I won one of these babies last year in a photo contest, refer to http://www.gramslightbikes.com/2009/12/won-photo-contest-at-moots.html, and these suckers are loud.

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LARGE Ti STICK

Be one of the lucky few to own a one-of-a-kind Moots Cowbell while supporting the great things our friends at IMBA are doing. These are not the traditional cowbells you may think of. In our world, we like to call them "Ti Sticks", as we handmade them from recycled Moots titanium tubing. These cowbells will be the envy of all the noise makers at your local cross races, ski races or neighborhood block party; not to mention they give off a sound like no other!

Only 45 total Moots Ti sticks will be sold at this time.

100% gross sales of these Ti sticks will go directly to IMBA - the International Mountain Biking Association.

$85.00

Fox 36 TALAS 160 FIT RLC Review

I have been thoroughly enjoying the last couple of months testing the new 2011 Fox 36 TALAS 160 FIT RLC fork. It has been bashed, trashed and tossed into as many rugged conditions as possible, and it has turned out to be a light, stable and stout beast, that thrives in technical terrain. The features make it terrific package, and include adjustable travel (TALAS), the slippery Kashima coating on the stanchions, the new FIT RLC damper and a lighter crown.

SMP Stratos Review

The first time you see an SMP saddle it looks slightly alien or at least like some contortionist nightmare rig. With its wild beaked nose, swooping cradle and monster hand wide middle slot, it is a startling experience. Fortunately, all the features work well together, and make a saddle that is innovative, comfortable, functional, useful and medically beneficial.

Magura MT8 Brake - News

The Magura Mission Performance website released some information on their new MT8 brake today. No data on weights, nor functional specs as yet.

MT8
The CARBOTECTURE® discbrake

stronger
lighter
ingenious

The goal has been reached. With the MT8, MAGURA presents the most elaborate and best thought through disc brake in the world with a lever from Carbolay® and a Carbotecture® Full Carbon Master, produced in the innovative Carboflow® process.

Measured up to the MAGURA performance factor, we feel that the MT8 is currently the best disc brake on the market. Despite absolutely sensational weight values, where the ultra-light models from the competition have run into problems, we've managed to avoid these with the MT8 - due to Carbotecture SL®.

This brake will be available in the shops from the second quarter of 2011. In advance a limited edition of 888 numbered and signed brakes will be released. More information, technical data and initial feedback from professional testers will appear soon on this Microsite, on Facebook and Twitter. Stay tuned and be one of the first!

You can read further about the Carbotecture material and their Perfomance Factor campaign if so desired.