Strengths: What can you say about these 3/4 length bibs, well i had better think of something as this is a review. They are the most comfortable pair of cycling clothing i own, on days when its cold and there is a lot of standing water around they are fantastic, warm yet not to warm, quick drying, in fact after 15 miles of rideing through puddels the size of tennis courts and a few river cossings i still didn`t feel the dampness. The logo is nice and clean lines and the 3/4 length allows a very good cooling breeze, and if its cold just pull up those socks a bit highier.
Weaknesses: really havn't found one yet but possibly have problems in heavy rain.
Overall: Wonderful pair of tights, perfect for all weather condictions and i am possibly getting to attached to my pair.
Strengths: The O2 jacket is starting to become a serious bargin, with prizes around £60 it is competing aginst some much less competent jackets. massive pit zips with a large rear pocket that can also be opened out for extra ventalation this jacket, aslong as the correct base layers are worn is good for riding although the winter upto early summer. with a large storm flap covering the front zip it helps to stop any drafts from the frount and a slightly fleecy collar keeps your neck nice and snug when done up. Raceface have built in a lot of good features into this jacket for the active rider all year round, massive amounts of reflective piping really light you up and the jacket is thick enough and a tight enough to be able to side swipe undergrowth without fear of being snagged. with good care this jacket is as waterproof as it is ever going to need to be and will keep you warm and dry in pretty much all of the uk weather condictions
Weaknesses: the only real weakness of this jacket is the ventalation zips, they are so big that when you ride with them fully open, the two arm ones and the back one that the jacket tends to loose its tailored fit and becimes a bit to baggy.
Overall: a wonderfull jacket that is now affordable to the mountain biker on a budjet.
Strengths: The real strength of this system is the battery, for the money you won't find a better deal, It is light and has great burn times. available in single or double light sets, but recommend the double it allows a long lasting duller, maybe 12w light to be used on road and less technical trail sections. Then when needed the other light, I recommend the 35watt can be used for those more challanging parts, or for blinding any possible mugger on a dark path.
Weaknesses: There are areas that these lights really let themselves down. The Atachment system that they come with are reusable zip-ties. these offer no way of angling the light and I found they often came loose or moved if the cable pulled on the light,s. This problem has now been addressed as you can buy bolt on brackets, these are excellent and at only a few pounds each, i feel should be included in the system to start with. The battery bag is one of the hardest i have used, the straps are to wide for the clasps and even when cut and sealed to points are still difficult to feed through, also the bag has a habbit of sliding to the back of the frame and if not enough cable has been pulled out, pulling the connector out of the light. All these problems would be solved with the bottle battery. I surgest this option.
Overall: These are wonderful lights. i found the 20 watt flood to weedy for my likeing, but the 12 watt perfect for road. Changing the bulbs is very easy and with a bit of pre-planning the right combo for any ride length can be acheived. I feel that the bolt on brackets should be with teh system in the first place and that a little bit of work needs to be done on the battery bag, velcro would be so much easier on a cold night. but all these problems can be solved or lived with. These lights offer great value, and with the right spec of bulbs are fantastic on even the darkest and most technical trail.
Strengths: Travel and sensitivity of the Travel is fantastic, light weight and good amount of travel, actitive travel prevents most bottoming out in all but the heavyist hits.
Weaknesses: Too much flex if doing frount piviots and alloy steerier to easy to bend if jumped
Overall: Replace the steerier with a steel one and you have a great light weight trail fork that will last years and still be as good as when you brought it, however repair can be expensive so take care of the fork. and as i use mine for DH jumping trials XC and general looning around on they are very versitile.
Overall: get thses rims built up by a good whhel builder and they last a life time, i got one of the first sets in the uk and still use them , the braking surface is starting to go but i have done thousands of miles, jumping and dh all on my hardtail and i have never needed to have them re trued, i often ride at aston hill which as anyone who has been there is a brutal dh and the rims survivor well.
