First fully mobile post: Trek X-Caliber Review

Trek X-Caliber

This post has been a long time coming! I rode this bike over the holidays in Arizona. My girlfriend’s parents live a few feet away from a trail head that leads you into the Sonoran desert, and her Dad was nice enough to buy a guest bike for me to ride while I was there. It happened to be a Trek X-Caliber 29′er “imagined” by Gary Fisher. He and I selected the 19″ size, so his 5’10″ daughter could ride is as well, and I would rather have a smaller frame on a 29′er anyway.

There are a few features highlighted with the frame stickers that I sort of understood at the time, but I went to their website for Trek’s explanation and it was just marketing drivel, just as I predicted. Here are my interpretations:

1: G2 Geomety. A name for their line-wide geometry specs, which I’m sure, are not taken from any other company and are completely proprietary and unique.

2: Alpha Gold Alloy: No popular or trusted alloy was used, so a name was needed. No mention of an alloy number on the website, so it must be awesome. It is hydro-formed though, and that helps the looks stiffness.

3: Gary Fisher Collection: A grab at dirt legitimacy.

Sarcastic and bitter remarks aside, here comes the meat.

The bike works. And for the price, hard to beat. I didn’t hate any part of it, and I kind of wanted to. It tracked over rough stuff predictably, turned fairly quickly, it was comfortable to ride for the four 2-hour rides I did with it. Hammering it over open ground went fine, and I got barely any flex out of the frame. The shale rock and obstacles that I ran into at around 30 mph on the killer downhills were dealt with expeditiously and without fuss. My only complaint came when I encountered steep climbs…the head tube angle is not aggressive enough for me. I was leaning over hard like any good rider should, but it wasn’t as sure-footed on the heavy inclines and sharp uphill turns as other bikes I’ve ridden. The X-7 shifting and Avid Elixir brakes were great, as expected. All-in-all, a good bike.

Now for specifics:

The X-Caliber we purchased has a 180mm front brake rotor and a nicer Sram crank than the one listed on Trek’s website.

As far as geometry goes, I already mentioned the climbing issue…it would be less noticeable for a lighter person. Cornering was predictable, but still sort of vague. I tried to really get nasty in high-speed corners, and it would hold on, but I could tell it was turning against its own will. I really had to force the faster cornering. Not fun, considering it’s my favorite part of riding mountain bikes.

The Bontrager Expert tires worked well for the dry, rocky terrain. In beefier, darker dirt, new tires would probably be needed. The rims are a good deal, middle-weight, and are ready to rock tubeless tires with Trek’s tubeless rim kit.

The Reba 29-L fork worked well, even though I’m sure I blew one of the seals. I beat the crap out of it. I weigh 200 pounds, I rode dirtbikes first, and I like downhill racing…so I’m mean to bikes on downhills, switchbacks, and the like. My phone registered a 31.2 mph max on one ride. Good times. The lockout worked great to help me on the uphills too. I would get a remote trigger if I owned the bike.

The brakes did not fade at all, and I was glad we got a bonus 180mm rotor up front for extra modulation.

I also ripped the chain in half with a stupid shift in a stand-up climb. Oops.

This bike isn’t a ripper, and it feels a bit benign, but it would be a great beginner racer’s bike, a good 24-hour race bike, and obviously, a more than capable weekend rider. Solid, reliable, predictable fun for years to come.

Photos of the bike and the trails for your enjoyment:

Posted from my HTC THUNDERBOLT!!!!!!11!!

Shifting of the future: planned obsolescence or suspiciously affordable?

A new bike will be on its way soon, and I think I’ll take one for the team for informational purposes, and use a new offering for shift groups.

I haven’t decided if it will be a road bike or a monster-cross bike, but either way, I can use a road group.

Because I have to save for a large future event and couple this summer, I will be left with few dollars to spend (looking at about $1500, tops). A full grouppo from my beloved Sram is out of the question if I go for my normal Thomson cockpit and a wheelset in the ~1500 gram area.

With the ever-climbing prices of premier bicycle parts, it would make sense that a few options should emerge to fill the gap between the cheap mass-market parts and the premier groups. So lately, two options have emerged for reliable, affordable 10-speed shifting:

Option 1:
Microshift

I heard about it first last spring when Team Movistar used it for the Giro. Which, I believe, is the reason for the first color option:

But it’s cheap. It’s even available from WalMart! Reviews exist, and people have put some miles on it…the results have been mostly positive. But I want to see for myself. I would probably flesh the drivetrain of the bike out with a 105 and Sugino.

Option 2,
Retroshift

Retroshift’s ‘About’ page says it all:

Retroshift™ is a new and somewhat unexpected approach to a combined braking and shifting system.

Totally unexpected and with an air of elitism, but obviously functional.

Check the site for the video. It works great. I just hope it feels as great looks like it works…if that makes sense. I don’t know how it will feel for road, but its function will probably be best for a monster-cross bike.

Soon, I will have to make a decision. I’m leaning toward Microshift because of its completeness, but only time will tell.

New Mavic Fury’s.

They’re not a new product, but they’re new to me…and I already love them. Full review to come after I beat the piss out of them for a few weeks.

Best bike at IMS Chicago: Johnny Campbell’s Baja Honda CRF450X.

I was working at IMS, but I snuck away a couple times and this is the only bike I bothered to photograph with a real camera. It’s Johnny Campbell’s Baja CRF450X. The little bits of prevention and protection are the best.

Take a peep.

Chicago-ish stuff.

This video is great. I’ve envisioned a video exactly like this in my mind. It’s very close, although I never thought to shoot in a parking garage exit. So sick. Great use of the BMW S1000RR as well. Very photogenic and unique.

Make sure to watch it fullscreen, because it’s shot with Nikon’s new D800.

And…SRAM Red hydraulic disc brake setup. Classy, clean, and probably crazy light.

Gnarliest day of Teahupo’o ever surfed.

If you’re a surfer or seen Dana Brown’s ‘Step Into Liquid’ you probably know about Tahiti’s break Teahupo’o. Witness it:

http://video.mpora.com/ep/5Pgs2slxu/
More Surfing Videos

Disc CX bikes…not going away.

Mr. Tweedie of Roscoe Village Bikes on a Humble Frameworks Sextant disc.

Disc CX bikes are gaining ground. First, Tim Johnson won a UCI race with a Cannondale Super-X disc. Now, ENVE and 3T have made disc forks. So, there a real options for real racers. I’m even considering having Spooky retrofit a disc tab on my Supertouch.

My TRP CX-9′s are great in the dry, but when it’s really wet, they have trouble (just like any other rim brake). They do alright in the snow, but take a little dragging to get some heat into them. So, they have downsides in performance. Discs have one definite downside: weight. But like any bicycle product, they’re getting lighter. They also have one conditional downside: cost. Depending on your rim brake of choice, you could end up paying more for discs.

I’ll do some actual research (read: simple googling) and compare the two possibilities in two types of price ranges.

Claimed weight per wheel:

Comp:
430 grams – Avid BB5 road mechanical caliper with 160mm Avid G2cs rotor. $49. Cheap! 95 grams of rotating weight (rotor).

157 grams – Avid Shorty 4 cantilevers. $35. I won’t even speak to their performance, but they come stock on “comp” level cyclocross bikes.

Pro:
451 grams – TRP Parabox ‘cross specific parabox disc brakes. $469 for the setup (rotors, calipers, and hydraulic box). And you still have to buy mechanical cables. Such a weird, odd-looking setup for such a high cost. But it probably works incredibly well…I hope. I may drop coin on

128 grams – TRP CX-9 ‘cross specific v-brake (my favorite). $149.

For the “pro” setup, that’s a crazy difference in price and weight. Even if you pop for a set of TRP CR959′s at $349 (and anybody who does is getting the “least braking performance for their money” item on the market), that is still $110 difference in price, and 323 grams per wheel. Still not easily swallowed.

And just as I thought I should not overlook the other possible weight differences between rim and disc, I checked the weights of ENVE’s ‘cross forks…460 grams for both. Nice…but unnerving. Wheels can be lighter with disc setups, but that would be a whole different topic.

In the midst of this wad of info, the economy and sense comes in the shape of the Avid mechanical setup: greatly improved wet-weather braking, without a huge difference in price, and a weight you could overlook.

Without testing the two disc setups, unless you’re doing some crazy hilly races, the mechanical setup should be plenty.

Another upside of discs: ease of use. In pleasant weather, their pads last a good duration of use, as opposed to soft rim-brake pads that would offer close to comparable braking. With pad changes, no alignment is needed. Rim brake adjustments take a mechanical finesse that most people do not possess. With proper setup, quick wheel changes are a breeze, and can be quicker than with canti’s and v-brakes.

Many other topic can be ground out, like rotating weight relocation, carbon rim braking, etc…but those are for another time.

Short story, expect to see some more disc ‘cross bikes in your hood next season.

The enabling forks from ENVE and 3T: