Corsair

Looks like these guys have an innovative idea -

I encourage you to check out their frame designs at http://www.corsairbikes.com/
If you have no other reason - they have a cool "animate suspension" feature built in to some frame pages.

They have a unique linkage system (called an Iron Fly, but looks like a true scissors link, and a low leverage ratio (2:1 on the DH bike).

The bikes are definetly oriented towards the technical and burly riders - one look at the geometry and you'll be thinking about gravity. The head and seat tube angles are all pretty slack - but I bet their all mountain frame would make a hell of a Super D bike - or VERY good at megavalanche events...

Also - check out the DH frame with their optional "blow off shock". I've seen some successful custom builds with this concept, but never in production. It adds some travel and some weight, but maybe be the added cushion needed for those extremely diverese trails, where a race setup won't work, but neither will a freeride setup.

Tomac Primer 220

Many people have been anticipating a release like this for some time - myself included. Tomac's bikes have always been very, very nice... and the new lot look to be on par.

Can I explore some suspension with you?
Some of you may remember the days of old - when Tomac Bikes originally released their 204. It was a Lawwill design, also used by Schwinn (I have a customer built Schwinn Lawwill DH rig) and now by Rotec.

Schwinn's Design (they had 2 vesions) was by far the most inferior from a frame design standpoint, but given the rear shocks available at the time - was the best implementation for the day and thus was th best performing.
Tomac had a much better design (front traingle AND rear neo-floating shock), but the dampening was always overwhelmed due to poor shock design.
Rotec's got it nailed - almost. The frame uses a concentric bottom bracket, floating shock, and a stiff front end with low clearance. Rotec should also offer a version that sheads a few pounds as well as offering a frame that will accept multiple shock types (now limited to 1 choice)

Tomac did see their shortcoming and envoked a simple single pivot later (no real leverage problems here) - but still ran into shock limitations.

I digress - on to the new shizzle

Tomac's latest offering looks to be similar to Commencal (single pivot, with modified linkage to lower the leverage ratio) - but I haven't seen a pic that shows the non drive side of the bike.

The photo's that Tomac released show a full build - but their site details frame only info. No Smalls? WTF?



The geometry seems to be "race" specific - and thank god. I thought Devinci was the only company out there that understood DH race geometry.


Some spy shots up in Whistler show a differnt build - with a craptastic crapitou at the helm. Manipoo has failed many of my friends and fallen to the wayside.... I hope they get their act together... back to the bike. The pivot looks a little high for my taste... but who knows. Maybe that kind of placement is working better these days.


I'm toying with the idea of getting one... but the Devinci design is spot on - and very light this year...
single crowns are cool too - and they are getting more attention from manufacturers lately.

Whatever I decide - I'll have a nice little rant for all my dedicated fans

Today's Words of wisdom -
Don't poo where you sleep

Very Cherry

Has anyone else noticed a disturbing trend with canned fruit?

No one makes Fruit Cocktail with extra cherries anymore. It's now called "Very Cherry" and it uses Cherry Flavored Syrup.

I'm being ripped off.



New bar called the Waterloo opened in Louisville, CO - They have great Chicken and Apple Sausage (goes well with a brown ale).

Beer Bike

I'll take 2

Searle Pass, Kokomo Pass

Riding and riding... I didn't think that the ride was ever going to end. Or the climbing...
I'll post some pic's soon (Dan's got em all - so I'll blame him)

Some of the best views I've ever seen... some fun, but well earned delirium at altitude

Props to my boy Dan for the pics and for riding way to much.
Please visit his blog by clicking here - good content, if you're into that kind of thing

Searle Pass, Kokomo Pass

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Sorry Folks -
post removed...

Alternative post to follow



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Breckenridge Oktoberfest

Tons of fun this weekend!!!



Breck had a good little festival this weekend. Tons of men dressed in funny shorts, W dressed in funky skirts, lots of funny hat's, Brats, Schnitzels, and LOTS and LOTS of beer.



Sat and Sun mornings were dedicated to epic singletrack riding - but the rest of our time involved Oktoberfest. They had great bands (very German/Austrian), and some very good food booths. I'd recommend this trip to anyone... they even had a huge "kids" section to make this a family type event. It wasn't unusual to see babies and little kids running around with parents in tow.

Having a festival like this in an "old" Colorado mountain town was the perfect setting. I'm sure that some other areas (like Vail) may have more architecture dedicated to the Swiss alps feel (overlapping into Austrian and German styles) - but this town gets the celebration right. Vail's been faltering a bit in the summer festival department in the last couple of years (maybe due to the construction?), but I'm sure they'll be back on track soon.
The mountains, with good festival beer, lots of smiles and lots of German polka music playing made this one of the better mountain festivals that I've been to in a while.


Today's words of wisdom -
Drink beer, be merry, and pass it on

James Brown

I love the music... but guns, lead pipes, alcohol and drugs just seem like too much love.

Panaracer Tire Review

I've been getting a fair about of questions regarding my current tire setup on my "All Mountain" Commencal (much more than on my DH rig). Seems that the time is right to post a review. Tires are finally broken in, I put in some miles on diverse terrain, and I've got them pretty much figured out.

From a tire standpoint, people look for different things. To give you some perspective on my (tire and tread) views, I'm pretty picky (tires are the most important item on your bike). I generally look for a very predictable cornering tire (different than a tire that grips like hell) and I look for something that allows me to run lower pressures. As a DH'r, I like to rip corners and love tons of grip... but as a mature gravity and technical rider - I know how to corner faster than most and can decsend faster than most as well. This leads to me an evolving viewpoint that I have, which is to say that I need more help keep up with my friends on climbs while still having a tire that will allow for me to ride some pretty techy terra and have fun doing it.

I'm running a Panaracer Razor MX (2.3) and a Panaracer Rampage (2.35) These are two hugely different tires and I'll run through my opinions on both. My current setup has one Rampage in the front and a Razor in the rear.

These tires took a significant amount of time to break in, and were unpredictable the whole time. Once broken in, then became very solid and sure footed.

Panaracer Rampage
Many people compare this tire to the Kenda Karma because of the tread pattern being similar - but don't be fooled. These are hugely different tires with hugely different characteristics. My time on Kenda Karma's revealed a sticky tire tire with moderatly heavy rolling resistance (slow for a XC tire) but pretty good cornering grip. My probablem was that the tire felt lathargec unless it was gravity bound. The sidewalls felt unpredictable and the tire would HOLD HOLD HOLD a corner, but tsuddenly, just let go. By contrast - the Rampage doesn't have a sticky rubber compound, has a much livelier feel, low rolling restistance, it doesn't hold a corner as tight as a Karma - but breaks slowly and predictably (more important to me), and the sidewalls are more predictable.
You'll notice the use of my word "predictable". For me, it's more important that a tire be predictable through a corner and AFTER it breaks loose than a tire that will hold really tight, until it breaks loose. This might have something to do with the outside knob config AND the sips on the inner knobs. Karma's are great until they break loose... then it's a disaster waiting to happen. They are SOOO unpredictable in even the slightest of slides or drifts. I can hold a Rampage in a drift for any amount of time without fear of highside'ing or stacking up. It also breaks loose AFTER the tire tells you it will. Predictable also applies to the sidewalls. These are LIGHT tires and require more airpressure than I'm used to due to the thinner sidewalls. The upside is the light weight - and that the Rammpage sidewalls will let you know when they need more air or when you have too much. The Karma's are too disconnected from this, almost numb.
All this talk about grip is not to say that the Rampage's don't have grip. I was surprised at how much grip they have! I would be willing to argue that outside of sticky rubber - these tires have the most grip of any tire I've run to-date. DH and sticky rubber is a different story, and require different handling skills.

The Razor is a wholey different tire. It's got ultra low rolling resistance and great off camber grip - but it doesn't hold at 30mph speeds as well the Rampage. That being said... it does hold better than any other small knob design that Ive ever ridden at 30mph+. As a front tire - it would be great for buff singletrack, and riding on rock. When the trail gets really loose, the soil break often, or the ground is unstable - I'd opt for some more knobs and some more sidewall. This tire is a 2.3 and weights in at 537 grams (claimed at 530 grams). For a 2.3, that SUPER light. You'll definetly need to pay attention to your air pressure - but like the Rampage, the beauty of this tire is it's predictability. Mostly ridden as a rear tire - i have flatted once (not enough pressure) and have had NO grip issues. It's light, corners well, hold off camber, accelerates great, and has no rolling resistance.


How would I compare these tires? Who would I reccomend them to? Well - If you know me, I'm pretty picky about my tires. I feel like this is a near perfect setup. I've not hit a speed limit with my current config (Rampage in front, Razor in rear). I've ridden this setup on extremely technical terrain with NO confidence issues (Vail DH and Golden Gate State Park), and on buff singletrack (colorado trail, high county rides) and I love it. My High Roller 2.1's have a speed limit and aren't great on really techy terrain at any speed, but climb really well and have great sidewalls. The Karma's are great tires but need to be more predictable in the corners and need to feel a bit more alive (like comparing the to K2 Skiis - they feel dead, but Volkl's are alive and rip). My Michelin Al Mountain Extreme's have GOBS of grip - and INCREDIBLE sidewalls but are like riding on Velcro.

Current Setup
9/10 for grip
8/10 for sidewalls
10/10 rolling resistance
9/10 confidence

My only wish is that the rear tire had slightly thicker sidewalls - but i don't care enough to change it out. I'm hooked.

Check out Shiggy's site for some great tire reviews as well

9/12 edit
beware of high speed impacts in square edges when running the razor on the rear

Spread the word, fight the power

Don't give in and be a slave. Fight back - be an individual.
If you are liberal... this is a huge infrigment ofour rights and privacy.
If you are evangelical - the bible metaphorically warned us about this, recieving the mark of the devil... jut like Hitler marking Jews or the devil's right hand man marking with 666.

This is for real, and it's scary.