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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Challenge Limus Early Review

The Challenge Limus is a new tread on the scene, aimed squarely at the Dugast Rhino. Challenge made an attempt to produce a worthy mud tread with the Fango, but in my opinion fell well short of the mark. The Fango's knobs were too short and too closely packed to offer any real grip or mud-clearing.

The Dugast has been the king of mud treads, and for good reason. Tall, widely-spaced knobs mixed with a super-supple casing provided great grip. Unfortunately that supple casing was also the achilles heel of the tire, it was prone to rot.

While I wouldn't say Challenge has the most durable casing that's ever made it onto a CX course, mine seem to hold up pretty well for as soft as they are. That more durable casing along with the new Limus tread, is what has me excited about this new tire from Challenge.

Let's get some important info out there: the clincher mounted to a Stan's No Tubes Alpha 340 rim came in at 33.5mm wide. Not good if you plan to run the clincher in a UCI race, but what kind of UCI racer would you be running clinchers? The tubular version mounted on some Reynolds wheels came in at 32.8mm wide, perfect for UCI legality.

This first shot shows a very tall center tread which means it rolls relatively well, but you won't mistake the Limus as a file tread in the straights, that's for sure.

This shot shows the shoulder tread nicely, which seems to bite in very well. The tread is very tall, and even at relatively high clincher pressure the grip is excellent. I haven't had the chance to really get into sloppy mud, but have hit some greasy spots and the tire holds it's line very well.

Most recently I found a spot on the Des Plaines River Trail that was a nice gradual turn with some greasy mud. With a Limus clincher mounted on the front and a Fango clincher mounted on the rear I did my best to test the limits of each tire. When ridden with care both tires gripped relatively well, but as I started to push the corner the rear Fango lost it's grip quickly while the Fango held firm. At the point the Limus started to drift I feel pretty confident any tread would have been at it's limits.

While I rack up more miles in more conditions with this tire, I'm left feeling pretty confident in it's performance so far. Best of all, those who are looking for performance on par with a Dugast Rhino but in clincher form can rejoice. Now, how does it stack up against the Clement PDX?

Monday, September 26, 2011

Giro Aeon Early Review

Let me preface this entire review with one thing: helmets are very personal. Their fit, the way they look, the way they feel.


Now that we have that out of the way, I have to say I am thrilled with this helmet. I rode Giro helmets for the last few years, up until this past summer, when I switched to Lazer. I was drawn away from Giro with the Lazer Helium, which fit great and I loved the look of.

My previous Giro helmets all seemed to be a compromise. The Prolight left much to be desired on the fit, but the weight couldn't be beat. The Atmos fit pretty well, and was pretty light, but sat high on my head. The Ionos didn't fit my head as well as I had hoped, but I fit the weight I was looking for.

With the new Roc Loc 5 is a great retention system which was, for me, a game changer to bring me back to Giro. Being able to lower the Roc Loc adds a level of security and comfort I've been looking for.


Add to these features a weight that's far below the Lazer Helium, 222g for the Aeon vs. 336g for our Helium, and I think I have found a winner.

Time will tell how the durability plays out, but so far I have to give the new Aeon a huge thumbs up.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Independent Fabrication XS with custom paint

When a custom approaches us about having an Independent Fabrication built, inevitably the conversation usually rolls around to paint once the frame is selected, sizing is done, and parts are chosen.

Indy Fab is known for some pretty amazing and exotic paint work, limited primarily to your imagination and how you can translate the idea from your head to their painter.

This particular example was done for a customer who knew what he was looking for, and was able to put that onto paper. IF has taken the idea and transferred it into rolling art. Luckily, underneath the beautiful paint is a North American Handmade Bike Show winner, so he gets the best of both worlds.

From the profile view you can start to appreciate the work that's gone into this bike. A corsa red head tube lug masked off on white carbon tubes and a red carbon seat tube dominate the scheme.The white front and rear ends are set off by red stripes nicely shows the detail Independent is willing and able to provide.The down tube "Independent Fabrication" logo is painted on, no decal here. A touch of class.A true detail shot of the care in masking taken when painted the lugs. The crown details are masked perfectly to allow the small "window" inside the lug to show through.The seat tube XS decal is placed on the titanium lug, just in case you forget what is going on under the beautiful paint.

This particular build consists of a SRAM Red drivetrain, Zipp Vuma Quad crankset, Zipp Service Course SL Short and Shallow bar and Service Course stem, Thomson Masterpiece seatpost, and Chris King headset. The build is capped off with ENVE 68 rims laced to a DT Swiss 240s front hub and PowerTap SL+ rear hub, all black.

As built:

Independent Fabrication XS Frameset w/ custom paint
ENVE 1.0 carbon fork
SRAM Red shifters
SRAM Red derailleurs
SRAM Red brakes
ENVE 68 rims laced to DT Swiss 240s front and PowerTap SL+ rear hubs
Vittoria EVO CX 25c tires
Fizik Cyrano seatpost
Zipp Service Course SL handlebar
Zipp Service Course stem
Lizard Skinz tape
Fizik Aliante saddle

Total price as built: $17,500