Strengths: Look good in the silver and black, the 3 velcroe tabs do a perfect job of keeping them where they should be and avoid slipping. Air vents above the toe really do cool your feet down in the summer...
Weaknesses: Air vents let your toes freeze and get wet in the winter. Time for the sealskinz. My only complaint with these shoes is that I managed to rip out all 4 studs at Coed Y Brenin after 2 days. Granted it was rocky in places, but with 3 studs completely missing and 1 thread snapped off half way in the sole of the shoe I wasn't that chuffed. Not bothered enough to take them back though.
Overall: Good 'squeeky' pair of shoes - the squeek does not happen when cycling though - only when walking.
Strengths: Seem well put together. Enhance V brake power with the reverse arch bridge. Totally tunable as there are 3 air systems built into them for compression, rebound + damping. Lighter by 300grams+ than my RS Judys. Very smooth travel. The 'lockout' is fantastic for attacking tarmac climbs and the intermittent road work between the brown stuff. Laterally stiff. They look like they cost £450.
Weaknesses: No Saftey tabs on the drop outs - though Pace seem to be introducing them on their 2004 range. That doesn't fill me with confidence on my 2003's. Noticeable for and aft flex if you stand off the bike and bounce it from 4-5 inches - you get a juddering. And no my headset isn't loose. Not noticeable when riding though. Tiny vertical scaring tracks on the chrome stanchions in area of travel, though Pace assured me this was just a part of them bedding in. Fair enough. You have to strip em and regrease after 50 hours of summer riding and 25 hours of winter - doesn't worry me but might put some people off.
Overall: Okay I might have got a rogue pair. But my forks turned up with a faulty air chamber. Rebound chamber wouldn't hold its psi past 24 hours so I had to send them back to Pace 3 days after fitting them to have them stripped and rebuilt with new parts. Pace did a quick turnaround and everything now seems dandy but there is an issue with QC if you ask me.
Nitpicking aside I am very happy with them.
They track beautifully and seem to lend me more speed - the 65mm travel being perfect for the fast XC and occassional tarmac work I do. I'm very impressed with the tuning as well - you can really tailor these things to your desire.
Strengths: Well engineered, replaceable parts (should you damage any bit of it) Lazer etched Graphics, black anodising is very silky & sexy. Strong & relatively lite.
Weaknesses: Loads of bolts. The steerer clamp part of the stem makes a horrible noise when you slacken it off with a couple of allen keys (to remove). Don't like the fiddly steerer clamping mechanism.
Overall: Lovely bit of candy for my venerable TREK8900. Not stupidly expensive and you get a couple of Thomson stickers to boot!
Strengths: Light weight - feel the weight difference between these and Shimanos 515's...Plus I've just sent my 515's back after 1 weeks riding with loose axles...so I'm swappping back to my RE-1s!
Weaknesses: None that I've encountered in 4 years of using them.
Overall: Haven't maintained them at all, and only now is one peddle beginning to show signs of wear...so I'm ditching the 515 repacements for another pair of RE-1's.
A good no fuss, simple pair of light weight winners.
Strengths: I had the biggest crash in my 13 years of mountain biking in Greece 2 weeks ago. I attained some good looking scars on my knee, bust my finger and badly bruised my back (Luckily my Camel Back deflected the blow of rocks from my spine - wear one!) - but importantly when I lost it and landed on my head on rocks at about 30mph the helmet did its job. It dented the external membrane and cracked all of the structure on one side. I 've always ridden Giro and before my 2003 Animas I had a Gila for a number of years. I now have total brand loyalty. Plus I'm getting it replaced under the Crash replacement scheme that Giro offer for £30! Bonus.
Weaknesses: None
Overall: Looks good (in white anyway) and seriously - it saved my skull. Partly luck maybe but I'll stay with Giro from now on ta very much
'SUPER LIGHT FAST ROLLERS THAT CAN TAKE A BEATING'
Strengths: I'm only running a front Rolf Propel Ceramic wheel but its improved my ride. For starters its such a light wheel that it brings down the weight of the front of the bike and also reduces rolling resistance, due to the silky smooth cartridge sealed bearings in the hub. And they're still silky smooth after 12 months of riding.
There seems to be no wear/grooves on the rim wich is astounding - compared to my 6 month old Mavic X517 that is grooved and pitted already.
The braking is a lot sharper with the XT ceramic pads.
Looks very stealth like all in black (inc spokes) and has fantastic decals that have stayed on the rim after such abuse?!
Strength is good as this thing has handled some heavy downhills besides the cross country stuff that I do.
Weaknesses: So few spokes - not sure what'll happen if ever I'll have to true it.
Strengths: Cheap. Which is good if you get through tyres like I do! Overall they track well through every kind of terrain delivering accurate steering for the front and good drive for the rear. I've been usiing Explorers on my TREK 8900 Hardtail for the past 15+ months and have ridden in places like the North Downs and Coed De Brenin.... personally I wouldn't bother getting the expensive foldings ones. You can pick up a steel Explorer for £12 just about anywhere. They are also light, though it has to be said the 2.1's look more like 1.8's especially if you've been using and are used to 'big' carcass tyres like Tioga XC's. *Cheap*Light*Fast
Weaknesses: I've sliced 2 of them open in a year. But that might just be bad luck. They seem to wear down fairly quick. But that might just be down to the stuff I ride on.
Overall: Your bike is nothing without a descent set of tyres. If you're looking for a new set now get a pair of Continental Exploerers. I'm not changing now I've found them.......and I've ridden Mich' WildGrippers, Tioga XC's, Bonti Revolts, IRC Mythos ...and even the old Tioga Psychos! Remember them?
Strengths: Good looks, well designed with all the essential pick up pins and ramps that you'd expect to find on quality rings. Lazer etched graphics. Fit my XT cranks like a glove.
Weaknesses: The black anodising might get scratched? But that's not really a weakness is it?! Only had them for a month so reliability is a grey area at the mo' - but I've heard good things.
Overall: Thicker rings and alleged harder alloy shoud mean these puppies stay on my Trek 8900 for years to come. I've bought the full set of Super Pro rings to replace my Y2K XT rings and I'd have to say that the shifting is immaculate, if not better than XT. Certainly better than the Bonty's I tried. Works perfectly with my Sachs PC89 9spd chain (I've learnt the hard way to stay away from Shimano chains!) Bottom Line? Shell out the extra dosh and go for the Super Pro's, I did my homework and it's paid off. £59 for the set, good price for fantastic rings!
Strengths: Welds are neat and tidy, Bonty' swallowtail gussets were innovative at the time - a great frame though I had the infamous 'creaking' seattube problem also. I was gutted to have that irratating noise on my new 1k bike, so i took it back to the shop that I got it from. They were told by TREK UK to strip the bike and fill the seattube with superglue in an effort to rebond an internal shim. Now I was annoyed. Especially when I found glue dribbling out of the drill holes on the frame and destroying the paintwork. I got back on the phone to TREK telling them how annoyed I was with their after sales service and fair play to them - they sent me a new 8900 frame from America...it was a common fault on 8000's of that year apparently. No problems now though - I've ridden a lot of bikes and though this TREK can be unforgiving (its so rigid) it tracks excellently and is a joy to climb hills with. And it's lighter than any of my mates bikes! Components were/still are quite good as well - SX forks, LX XT mix etc.
Weaknesses: The only bugbear I have is the frame has Hayes style disc mounts - not international. Watch the Icon Chainset (About LX equivalent) I got major chainsuck - so upgraded to XT.
Overall: Great acceleration and handling, as a package it was the best buy of its time - next to it I considered a 1k Klein but the componentry mix was no where near the TREK (even though both are owned by the same company) The frame alone retails for 500 pounds!
Buy one - you need it.....
My scores are based on the bike after I sorted the teething problems.
