May 31, 2004
Balle Racing BR-150 Brake Lever Removal Tool
Author: Jeff White
Every once and a while, the home-based amateur bike mechanic is faced with a choice: take the bike to a shop, or try to kludge together a rough toolset to complete an uncommon job. Sometimes that job is headset installation or removal. Sometimes, it's aligning your rear dropout. And every once and a while, you may want to remove the lever from your Hayes Mag hydraulic disk brakes. Personally, I let the experts at my LBS install my headsets. Someday, I may purchase a press and learn to do it myself, but it's not a job that happens often enough in my home shop to warrant the expense.
Posted by bikergrl at 03:32 PM
November 15, 2003
E.Thirteen Chainguides
Author : Randy Gray
What could I say? It was time to step up and invest in a chainguide. For regular trail riding and the slower, more technical DH runs I was always able to get by with my 22/32T crankset and a standard aluminum bashguard. It made life pretty easy when preparing my rig for an upcoming DH event: grab my bike and go. But not having a DH- specific bike means that certain modifications have to be made, and so far as I'm concerned, the less the better. So yes, it's time to invest in a chainguide.
Posted by nimzie at 12:01 PM
.243 Racing 4130
Author: Nick Vail
.243 Racing is a relatively new company, but they have gained recognition very quickly in Canada and World wide because of their great products. They have a whole lineup of great components, all which are designed and tested in Vancouver, BC.
Posted by nimzie at 12:00 PM
October 13, 2003
2003 Balfa 2Step Freeride
Author: Adam Shore
The 2003 Balfa 2Step is the Swiss Army knife of mountain bikes. I've used mine for riding street, dirt jumps, big North Shore trails, the Whistler Bike park and railing the local XC trails. Much to my expectations, this bike is the definitive "do-all" bike.
Posted by nimzie at 09:34 PM
September 18, 2003
Balfa BB7
Author: Nick Vail
Canada has a reputation as an originator of hardcore mountain biking, with many great companies making tough bikes to support the insane stunts and gnarly descents of the Canadian Rockies. So who better than a truly Canadian company to back up riders who like to take the biggest lines and throw down the sickest tricks?
Posted by Craig Dobbin at 09:45 PM
September 17, 2003
Gary Fisher Sugar 3 Disk
Author: Ryan Boudreau
Personal Experience
For me, this bike had two major changes from what I was used to. Full suspension and disc brakes.
Posted by Craig Dobbin at 09:02 PM
September 15, 2003
Big Bike Roof Racks
Author: Jeff White
The trouble with big bikes is that, well, they’re kind of big. While this equates to strength and durability, it also means that they can be a real pain in the butt to transport from your shed to the trailhead. Trunk and hitch racks don’t like the odd shapes of full suspension frames, and Marzocchi’s QR20+ system is less than quick to take apart to stuff your bike in the trunk or back seat. So what choices do you have?
Posted by Craig Dobbin at 01:37 PM
July 18, 2003
2003 Shimano XTR Grouppo
Author: Kevin 'Goat' MacCuish
Average Local Price - approx. $3500.00
Early this year, ecmtb.com had the opportunity to try out a bicycle equipped with the 2003 version of XTR. The bike used to test the grouppo was a blue Sycip cross-country hard tail, a top-quality hand-built bike that's both light and strong.
Posted by Craig Dobbin at 09:29 PM
June 18, 2003
2002 Rocky Mountain Switch
Author: Chad "Sketchy" Lindenbach
Photos: Mike "Motormouth" Petford
Today's bike market seems to be heading into very situation-specific hardware. Companies are focusing on "big-hit" bikes, or downhill sleds, or dual-slalom machines. This trend is making available to the public very effective bikes, albeit of perhaps very limited scope. For the rider that wants a bike that can do it all, choices are becoming more and more limited. Some companies, however, have recognized the "do all" niche and are producing incredible bikes to satisfy the demand. One such company is Rocky Mountain Bicycles. Rocky certainly needs no introduction, as they are one of the pioneers of today's "freeride" bicycle. The new for 2002 Switch, however, does require such an introduction, as it is an entirely new direction for Rocky Mountain.
Posted by Craig Dobbin at 09:10 PM
June 17, 2003
Kona Bulge - Stiffer than Year Old Bread
Author: Jeff White
So, you're just riding along, when all of a sudden you notice that something's weird with your pedal stroke. If you're lucky, you've only bent a pedal axle. If not, you may have wrecked your cranks. As riders go bigger and bigger, even the strongest of aluminum cranks - splined or not - will break. With me, it's not so much the bigness of it, but the many repeated hits that cumulatively destroyed my cranks.
Posted by Craig Dobbin at 09:28 PM