Last week we told you about FSA's new retrofittable ISIS outboard-bearing bottom bracket. This week we've got another company looking to solve ISIS's bearing-longevity issues, and it's SKF. Now, SKF is a company that knows a thing or two about bearings, so you'd imagine that they could make something that works. And it's making bold claims for its new bottom bracket range - apparently you should get ten years out of one of these. There's even a picture of someone jetwashing one at close range on the SKF site - the patented axial seal apparently keeps it all out. SKF has maximised the room available for bearings by running them directly on the spindle and shell, rather than pushing a cartridge unit on there. And it's put a high-load roller bearing on the drive side to deal with the assymetric loading that BBs experience. Pace Cycles is distributing the new range, which includes XC (BXC) and freeride/downhill (BFR) variants, along with road and square taper units. They'll be available in two levels - the 300 series has a chromoly shell and spindle, while the 600 series is stainless steel throughout. Full details at www.skf.com or www.pacecycles.com - no prices yet, though.
If you thought Lupine lights were pretty bonkers, take a look at the freshly-imported SuperNova range. The unit pictured here is the P99-D. It claims to be the brightest bike light in the world, packing two 14W HID lamps, one with a 6° beam angle and the other with a 13°. Most HID stuff on the market uses one 10W lamp, and they're pretty damn bright, so this thing's going to be like having a small sun attached to your bars. To keep up with the energy demands of all those photons, you get an 8.8Ah, 14.5V Li-ion bottle battery giving a run time of two hours at full lick or four hours with just one lamp. The charger is integrated into the system, just plug it in to the mains via a transformer or straight into a car lighter socket. You get waterproof, gold-plated connectors, microprocessor controls, multi-LED status display, machined aluminium housing and all sorts of other stuff. And the price? We recommend you sit down at this point - srp is £833.49, although exclusive stockist Wiggle is doing them at 10% off at the moment, so they're only £750.14 during July... The range also includes halogen/LED units, single HID and Super LED models, tail lights, helmet mounts and all sorts of other stuff - you can see the full UK range at Wiggle or find out more at www.supernova-lights.com.
We tested Transition's Preston FR recently and rather liked it. This is the latest from Transition, the 2006 DirtBag, a revised version of the current 7in travel freeride bike. The geometry's been tweaked and the linkages fiddled with with the aim of delivering big travel without a sluggish feel. You can also now choose green or blue colour options as well as black. The DirtBag frame is £899 with either a Manitou Swinger 4-Way coil or Romic coil shock. More at uk.transitionbikes.com - Transition is looking for a small number of UK dealers, so if you think you fit the bill, give the guys there a shout.
Got a house or flat full of bikes? Lovely though bikes are, they do tend to take up a fair bit of room. If you're lucky enough to have a garage or shed you're laughing, but plenty of people have to find somewhere else to stash them. We saw these stylish racks at Interbike last year and thought at the time that someone should bring them to the UK. Now Theartofstorage.com has stepped up to do that very thing. There's a range of designs - choose from horizontal or vertical storage, one or two bikes, folding, freestanding and a bunch of other choices. You can also get rather neat nylon wheel cradles to keep tyre marks off your walls, which is nice. They all look great, certainly streets ahead of hardware-store plastic-covered hooks, and the prices are pretty reasonable too. Check out the full range at www.theartofstorage.com.
You may not have heard of Trigon, but chances are you've seen or used some of its stuff. Trigon is a huge Taiwanese manufacturer of carbon fibre frames and parts, and is now "doing a Giant" - moving beyond contract manufacturing of stuff for other people and starting to sell frames and parts under its own name. Cycle Citi is distributing Trigon gear in the UK - there's no on-line product information yet, though. There'll be a huge pile of road gear, plus a selection of rather fine-looking MTB kit. Pictured we have the GMCC07 full-carbon frame, with a claimed weight of 1.45kg and a UK SRP of £850. There's also an aluminium/carbon model for £200 less. There's a wide range of flat and riser bars, but our attention was immediately drawn to this space-age one-piece monococque stem/riser bar combo. It's 295g, available in a range of stem lengths and has an optional bolt-on light/computer bracket to go on the front. It'll be £199, or twenty quid less for the slightly lighter and narrower flat version. Coming soon to a bike shop near you...
