The 2010 Manitou Minute with 20mm through axle on the Salsa Cycles Big Mama.

First of all, I must clear up something that had me baffled for a bit. In the introductory post, I mentioned that this fork was a 100mm travel model. well, I couldn’t get over how long it was. It seemed like much more than 100mm travel fork. So, being the red blooded American male that I am, I dug out the owners manual and had a look, after I had it installed! Turns out that by measuring the distance from the seal at the top of the lowers along the outside of the stanchion to the crown interface yeilded a measurement that Manitou indicated was a 120mm travel fork. Oh! Okay! Now it all makes sense!

I had thought I ordered the 100mm fork, but as it turns out, this will be a good comparison to the 120mm Reba Team fork I just finished testing. The Manitou also features a 20mm through axle that they dub “Hex-Lock”. The lowers have the distinctive Reverse Arch that Manitou has used for several years now and revised graphics for 2010. I am not as fond of the big, blocky letters down the side as I am of last years more subtle look, but hey, that’s me. I also know that white forks are wearing thin on people, but I don’t mind the color myself. To each his own, as they say. One thing is certain, Manitou sure gets a high polish on their fork crowns! Finally, the Absolute + Damper is on board, promising no funky clicking noises and a better range of adjustment than before.

Absolute + Damper lever on top of the right fork stanchion.

The adjustments are the air spring, the rebound on the lower right side, and the Absolute + Damper lever on top of the right fork stanchion. Turning the Absolute + damper knob fully clockwise approximates a platform for pedaling efficiency. This can be adjusted internally by way of shims. Otherwise, set your air spring, compression, and rebound and go for a ride. Simple.

The Hex-Lock is a very secure looking axle attachment system, but it has five fasteners you have to deal with and you’ll need two Allen wrenches to do it. Makes me really appreciate the Maxle Lite from the Reba! That said, my Hope hub fit perfectly. I wish I could have said the same for my Quad Dime XC brake though. That will need some shims to set the rotor outwards a hair so my caliper won’t drag. In the meantime, I employed an Avid Juicy 3 front brake so I could get to riding. (Thanks CPS!) Other than that little pitfall, things went well with installation and set up. Manitou’s owner’s manual had clearly written set up instructions and charts for setting up the air spring according to rider weight.

I’m not quite as fond of the graphics as I was 2009 product, but the performance more than made up for that.

Ride Impressions: So now that I was all set to go, I took the fork out for a couple of shake down rides. The fork was very smooth right out of the box. Maybe a hint of stiction, but that should disappear after it breaks in. The fork steered precisely. Manitou should be using a 46mm offset here, but I will have to confirm that as neither the website nor the owners manual indicates this measurement. That aside, I liked the way the bike was handling. Very similar in that regard to how it handled with the Rock Shox. I set the compression damping two clicks from full counterclockwise and this seemed to be fine.

Then it was time to hit up some more serious trail. The fork was again very impressive for its smoothness. Very linear feeling travel compared to the Rock Shox, and the Reba Team is no slouch in that regard. Stiffness was a notch better than a Reba Team. The rebound was spot on for me, and a good thing it was, as it was next to impossible to turn the control knob with a gloved hand. The knob feels a bit too stiff, but as I said, it was no matter for now, since I was happy with that aspect of the performance. I’ll have to look into this though. Further on into the ride, I was really starting to notice how much better the Manitou matched up with the Fox rear shock on the Big Mama. The linear travel feel on the front end matched up very nicely with the active Salsa suspension. I was ripping some single track and felt the bike was really working the trail on both ends to the point that I thought the trail must have been buffed out. Nope! One look down at the fork and I could see it working like crazy. Small branches and some frozen tractor tire marks in the dirt didn’t faze the shock at all. Small drops were sucked up with no drama and the Minute had great rebound action.

At the end of the ride I measured a full 110mm of travel used. Pretty good for the first hard ride. The fork worked great, and I am pretty impressed with the performance so far. The downers are the fidgety front axle attachment, the graphics, and that rebound control knob. And oh yeah…….did I mention the fork was dead quiet the entire time? No clicks. Not even a whoosh or any untoward noise. Just smoove travel! So far, so good.

Stay tuned for a Mid-Term Update coming in a month or so.

Note:This product was purchased to review on Twenty Nine Inches. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

The Reba Team I received to review is not the U-Turn model. I have kept the fork at 120mm travel for the duration of this test, (one year) and have used it on two bikes. The first was the HiFi Deluxe and for the better part of the test it resided on the Salsa Cycles Big Mama I have on test here. The Reba Team features Rock Shox’s Maxle lite through axle which is a 20mm type axle. The chassis also features “Power Bulges” and Rock Shox’s Black Box Motion Control Damper.

The fork used all of its travel if set up correctly for my weight on bigger hits about once or twice a ride. Perfect. With the compression setting, I could dial in a great feel and avoid most brake dive. The fork also came with a Pop Loc which I found to be a so-so feature. First of all, it was a bit fiddly to set up, and secondly I never really got into using it. I preferred the fork to be active during climbing, but that is a personal preference. The quality of travel is classic Rock Shox. Pretty smooth and linear till near bottom out. Rebound damping worked well for me on my trails. The range of adjustment was a bit vague, but it suited my riding okay, so no real complaints there. The air spring held pressure consistently through out the year. I was pleasantly surprised that my previous settings from a first gen Reba carried over to the new platform.

Chassis stiffness is a world above the old quick release first generation Reba. That said, it still isn’t in the territory of some of the competition. Close, but not quite. And the fork had a Maxle Lite through axle. The flex was mostly fore/aft, but a very slight side to side flex was noticed at times. I can’t imagine the quick release version of this fork feeling any better. So in terms of chassis stiffness, the Reba Team is adequate, but nothing to crow about. Not in light of some of today’s competition.

The Maxle Lite is brilliant. I really came to like this feature. No tool front wheel removal is good, and it never let me down. That said, the threads of the Maxle Lite are not very coarse, and look like they could easily be stripped. Care with installation is recommended. Other than that, I give the system very high marks. The post mount disc brake was a new feature for 2009. I never had any issues with different calipers and removing/replacing the studs. That said, you will need to pay attention when installing fasteners into the post mounts. Threading by hand in a careful manner is recommended here. Otherwise you are good. Is post mount better? Truthfully, I can not tell the difference. The brakes worked as well on the old bracket system. I didn’t see any increase in braking efficiency with post mounts.

Finally, some of the newer tire rim combinations that may come out may be at the limits of what the Reba can deal with. I found this out with the Gordo/Dissent rim/tire combo recently. On a fork with this much travel, set ups like the one I tried will be looked at for the Reba. I experienced some tire rub on the fork brace with the Gordo/Dissent combo. Other tires should be okay though. It is worth noting that it is reported that other fork brands seem to have better clearance with the new big, monster 29″er tire.

Conclusions: Over all the fork performed well and was trouble free over the course of testing. I felt confident that it would continue to perform consistently whenever I rode it. The Maxle Lite worked great, and the through axle set up was definitely better than the old quick release model I was using. The forks features were an improvement over the first generation Reba, but with newer forks hitting the market that rival the suspension feel and surpass the Reba in over all chassis stiffness, the Reba isn’t the top of the heap fork it once was. It is very good, but not “great”. Some things like the Pop Loc seem odd to me in their finicky nature on a fork this expensive. Considering the approximately $700.00 MSRP on this fork, it is pushing the limits of value for the buck spent. Still, it is hard to argue with this models reliability and performance over the long haul. If you have longer travel on the brain, like simpler set up procedures, and want a killer through axle set up that is easy to use, the Rock Shox Reba Team fork is worth a look. Are you a big guy or need a rock solid stiff chassis and are not impressed with Pop Loc? You may want to look elsewhere.

Note: This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

First off, I continue to be amazed at how well the Dissent rolls on hard surfaces. That’s saying a lot since the novelty of the tire has worn off. I will never be afraid of having a tire this heavy if they all will roll this well. Just an impossibly smooth tire for its girth and weight. WTB really nailed the best possible combination of low rolling resistance and big knob size on this tire.

Secondly, while hitting wet, slippery rocks and roots may not suit this tire very well, it simply rules on a wide rim in the mud. The wide rim, (in this instance a Salsa Cycles Gordo) makes the Dissent flatten out in profile which in turn gives the tire a capability to float up on mud that rounder casings would cut into, get mired down, and grind to a halt in. Along with this the Dissent shows a propensity for shedding even some of the stickiest mud I could run across here. Maybe not a clay type mud, but a black dirt, silty, sandy soil is no match for this tread.

I usually run my mud tests alongside a creek that has trails that regularly get flooded. Riding on these trails isn’t a no-no, since it won’t be long before they are flooded again, and all traces of previous passages are rearranged beyond recognition. That said, we all should be very careful about riding wet trails, so take this part of the review with advisement. That said, the conditions for a mud test couldn’t have been better recently as vast parts of the trail were recently under water, which usually means you can’t get five feet in before you are done riding. Not with the Dissent though!

Here’s the example I am describing. The picture on the left is a section of recently flooded, wet, sticky, muddy trail. Normally I wouldn’t even get through this section without bogging down with most tires. The picture on the right shows the rear Dissent immediately after this section. Knobs still showing, and not much packing in. Amazing! This tire on this rim is the best mud riding combination I have ever used. Will it work in your mud? I can not say, but I’m betting that short of sticky clay, the Dissent will shed mud like a champ. (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

The other really impressive trait, and again probably due to the profile of the tire on the wide rim, is the Dissent’s float on sand. This same creek trail gets drifted over in deep, fine river sand, which the Dissent just rolls right on through without any problems. Very impressive, and not surprising for a wide, supple tire like this. Now if the sand were granulated, or really loose, the width of the Dissent wouldn’t help at all, and you would be bogged down, but if there is any hint of the sand being wet, or holding together, the Dissent will float on over. I can’t wait to see how it does on packed in snow. I’m thinking it might work pretty well there too.

Finally, the Dissent is a pretty tough tire. I have literally given up even lifting my rear end up, or making any concessions at all for any curbs in my neighborhood. I simply plow right into them without even slowing down now. The Inner Peace anti-pinch flat protection works well. Now that isn’t to say that sharp trail rocks wouldn’t do some damage, but I have yet to get this tire anywhere near a trail with such features, so curbs and steps will have to do for now. I’ve no doubt that the Dissent will do well in that scenario. It also bears mentioning that even if you did manage to flat the Dissent, it will most probably stay on the rim, since the sidewalls are so stiff near the bead.

All the testing so far has been done with sub-20psi pressures and I have gotten below 15psi on one ride. The low pressures seem to be the ticket here, Better casing performance, great traction, and the aforementioned Inner Peace keeps you from pinch flatting. (Yes tubes here!) Other notes; The Gordo rims and the Dissent are a great match. I had to use three tire levers to remove the bead on the Dissent from the Gordo recently. They are also a bit of a chore to mount. The cornering traction is excellent. You have to lean it over with conviction to get the side knobs to bite, but when they do, they exhibit a ton of grip on the harder dirt and packed rock surfaces I tried the cornering tests on.

More trail testing will occur over the next few months as weather allows. I’ll chime back in with a Final Review after the New Year, but for now I would give the Dissent pretty high marks for its intended use.

Note:This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Again, this is the 20mm through axle model and features the Absolute Plus damper. Stay tuned for a more detailed first impressions post coming soon.

Note:This product was purchased to review on Twenty Nine Inches. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

The Kodiaks have a very different profile than the Dissent tires do.

Okay, so with no further adieu, here are the weights and widths. (Width measurements taken after 24 hours of the tires being mounted.)
-Weight: 1320grams and 1360 grams each.
-Width: Width of Casing @ approx 40psi: 58.2mm. Width Knob to Knob @ approx 40psi: 64.6mm. Casing Height:54.5mm

Here is Niner Bike’s press release info on the Kodiak:

A 2.5′” monster, this Niner exclusive tire is the burliest rubber you can spec on your 29”
bike. Made with WTB’s High Grip DNA™ rubber compound, the tread is specifically designed for
fast, gnarly, technical descending. The WTB Inner Peace™ sidewall reinforcement has your back
when it comes to pinch flat protection, sidewall stiffness and keeping tire damage to a minimum.
Finally, the wire bead means less bead stretch and better rim retention when you do push the
limits of your riding. 29×2.5″, 1400 grams, 50 Durometer, 27 TPI.

The Kodiaks were even more difficult to mount than the Dissents were. I had to use a steel lever to mount these on the Gordos. The side walls are of similar construction to the Dissents with the Inner Peace bead protection. Like the Dissent, the beads sat up fine and I was off and running. I thought the Dissents looked wider at first. The high crown made the Kodiaks look narrower to my eye. I had already ridden the Dissents, obviously, and had higher expectations for the rolling feel of the Kodiaks. The big knobs of this tire added weight over the Dissents though, so I was skeptical of having the same sort of epiphany I had when starting out on the Dissent. Certainly the Dissent has a more voluminous casing, basically “filling out the corners” where the Kodiak is missing that part, thus the rounded cross section. That probably will allow the Kodiak to fit more frames than the Dissent though.

Since the casing on the Kodiak is very different in cross section than the Dissent, the Kodiak having a rather pronounced crown to its profile, the shape of the Kodiak fit my Rock Shox Reba Team better. The Dissent rubs the fork brace at times while the clearance with the Kodiak is fine. No chance of fork contact with the Kodiak. The differences do not stop there either. The tread is very different on the Kodiak with the center of the casing having some rectangular pairs of ramped knobs. Then alongside of those is a row of intermediate knobs that are larger and well supported. These are flanked by even larger outer knobs that are very well supported. All the outer and intermediate knobs are sort of connected at the base in a “tie bar” sort of way. Make no mistake- these knobs are like fortresses and are large. Deeper and more of a multi shaped affair than what is seen on the Dissent.

The Kodiak has some massive side knobs.

Ride Impressions: With everything set up and ready to go, I gave the Kodiaks a test run in the neighborhood before loading up to hit the test loop. I felt similar sensations as I did with the Dissents. Nice rolling tires for all those knobs. Maybe a bit more buzz and noise with the Kodiaks though. Once out on the trail, I noticed that the Kodiak climbed well, gave a nice ride over rocks and roots, and cornered like it was on rails. More on that in a bit. I should say that the trails were extremely dry at this particular time, so the tacky, wet conditions I rode the Dissents in were gone for the moment. I did find leaf strewn trails with hard pack to some tacky conditions and some sand. That said, here’s a few comments about the Kodiak tires so far in these conditions.

I found that the tires outer knobs wanted to grab the sides of ruts and pull you up into the sides of the ruts. Also, the Kodiak showed a tendency to cut into sand more than the Dissent, which was definitely a floater in sand. I accounted this as being a result of the Kodiaks high crowned casing versus the Dissents flatter crowned casing. The Kodiak did seem to carry speed better though on the hard pack due to this. I liked the climbing in the dry conditions just fine, but I will have to wait until after a rainfall here to duplicate some of the conditions I got to run the Dissent in to gain a clearer comparison there. The Kodiak run at low psi ranges (sub 20 to lower teens) rolls over stuff in its path great. Very smooth, yet the Inner Peace and stiffer casing keep your rims from coming into contact with trail debris. I thought the tires gave great trail feed back though. They certainly didn’t feel “dead” at all.

Now back to that cornering thing for a minute. I will first say that the Dissent is no slouch in cornering, but this Kodiak is a tire that seems to be even better. I tried to wash it out on some hard packed dirt/gravel. I was amazed at how far I could push into the corner and not even detect any looseness at all. The tire felt glued to the surface. This was a totally flat surface too. I was at a lean angle by the end of it that I hadn’t tried before and still the Kodiak stuck the corner. Impressive! At least on dry stuff. On other sections of trail the Kodiak gave no hint of letting go. The softer compound and side knobs just railed. I think I would have to reach some terminal velocities before I found out where “over the edge” was with the Kodiak. Again- I will have to see if the Kodiak is moisture friendly before I can pass further judgment though. I will say that I got the Dissent to hint at breaking away far before I leaned the Kodiak over as far as I did.

Kodiak 2.5″ 29″er tires are available now only from Niner Bikes.

Stay tuned for more coming in a few weeks.

Note:This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

The Kodiak represents an effort of several years by various folks to bring a tire to market that is aggressive and can hold up to abusive situations well. Meant for all mountain/free ride applications, the Kodiak features big, well supported knobs on a burly casing.

Look for a first impressions post and all the pertinent specs and measurements coming soon!

Note:This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

The Conti Race Kings with CaffeLatex saw the most usage since the final review on CaffeLatex in the most varied of situations.

I probably got the best all around conditions for testing this sealant from the Continental Race King set up I used since mid-summer. This wheel set saw single track, pavement, and gravel use over hundreds of miles of all three types of surfaces mentioned. It also bears mentioning that I was using a Stan’s Flow rim with yellow tape and Stan’s valves in this set up, which is arguably going to be representative of the most common set up 29″er riders would use CaffeLatex in. Since this is the case, I am basing my long term research comments on this example, although I do have other CaffeLatex set ups in my stable.

Long Term Performance: Several things about CaffeLatex still hold true from my original commentary. It sealed up punctures well, held air pressure reasonably well, and otherwise was “invisible” from the standpoint of riding. The only sign of CaffeLatex present being the occasional bubbling at the valve stem during pressure checking of the tires. I never experienced any burping, or major tears, punctures, or other calamities, so I can not speak for such occurances. I can only say that I rode the Continentals hard on all surfaces and did have a few crashes, tires bottoming out on the rims, and ran them through glass on the road without any concerns at all.

The longevity of the sealant is where I feel CaffeLatex doesn’t perform any better than current competition in the sealant market. I checked the Continentals recently after seeing some leak down in the rear tire over a period of a few days, which had not been typical before. I peeled off the tires to find that the sealant had in fact all dried up. Only a dried, brownish covering of residual CaffeLatex was found on all the surfaces inside the tire/rim well. My best guess is that somewhere between three to four months is what I got out of the sealant for lifespan. This compares to my Stan’s experimentation pretty evenly in terms of how long it takes for the sealant to dry up. CaffeLatex was boasting of a longer service life, but in my experience with a well used wheel set, this doesn’t seem to be the case. I will say that other, lesser used wheels do still exhibit evidence of CaffeLatex being present, (audible when shaking wheel, puffs of bubbles at the valve stem when opened), but I think my main test wheel set is going to be a more representative example of lifespan for the product.

Conclusions: I still feel that CaffeLatex is a superior sealant in terms of installation, and use over the lifetime of the sealant, but I will modify my overall impressions of the product in terms of the length of usable life of the product. In this light, it is no better or worse than anything else I have tried that is commercially available. However; the sealant is a synthetic latex, with no ammonia, installs into tubes and tubeless tires easily, and does seal minor punctures with ease. Due to these attributes, I will still give it my recommendo, but with the caveat that you will be well advised to check on the status of CaffeLatex every couple of months. In the sealant market, CaffeLatex is a great choice amongst some other great choices. If the life span claims would have panned out, it could have rated the best, but that accolade is reserved for the time being.

New kid on the block – the Velocity´s P35 rims:

While I am still busy testing the FRM 29er rims for their long term durability (with the Rohloff rear hub) I was blessed with a another set of the newly released rims: the Velocity P35s. These ultra wide rims from the Land Down Under have been announced only in late August and I was lucky enough to have them in my hands as early as Eurobike.

I was always very interested in seeing how a ultra wide rim would change a tire´s footprint and riding characteristics. I have read so much about how they transform ones ride and it has long been on my personal wish list for testing. With the Velocity P35 rims I had the first chance to see for myself and I was excited about it.

Now, is there another kid asking to take the Salsa Gordo´s monopoly by storm? Does it really have the potential? We will see …

This is what Velocity had to say in their press release:

“The P35 is designed for the cross country/all mountain rider craving a laterally stiff yet weight conscious rim that is still tough enough for the occasional Super – D race. At 35mm wide the P35 gives you one of the fattest footprints available which will float over the rough stuff and give you more bite and greater tread use through the turns. All of this and still weighing in at less than 600 grams in the 29er size! The P35 is 22mm deep with an inside width of 29.5mm which will accommodate a wide array of tire widths to cater to your riding preferences. In addition the P35 was designed to easily accommodate a tubeless application.

Weight: 29”: 595g, 650b: 570g, 26”: 535g”

One of the very obvious things about the P35 is color. Before Velocity sent the P-35s, my rims were always black or silver, or shades in between but never in bright colors (Oh yes, I forgot those uncanny “lemon” Mavic 217s I had an eternity ago). Anyway, holding these rims (I should say gems) in my hands I felt like a child all over again. Needless to say I have received the “antifreeze green” ones. It is a strange depth and lustre in the color (forgive me for not finding a better word) that feels like it were sugar glazed – pictures just can´t capture the sensation well. Sure enough my little boy (his favorite color is green), upon seeing the rims, he immediately approached me asking: “Daddy, when I am grown up will you give these rims to me?” My wife´s response was different: “But you´re not going to ride these things, are you?” – So you see, colors like these can make a statement and these rims do – especially the green or red ones. Love them or leave them.

But rest assured, the P35 is also available in black and the ultra hip white.

Purpose: “Man, why are you riding DH rims on your rigid?” was another comment I had to face riding the rims. With an outside width of 35 mm (what was the rim´s name again?) and an inner width of 29.5 mm it sure can be mistaken for a DH rim. It can easily take any size tire you throw at it.

2.3? – give me a break!

2.5? – You got nothing better? Keep it coming!

2.7? – Well, not yet but there is hope.

Given the dimensions of the rim I am in no way hesitant to rough it on them or even do occasional drops and enduro riding but judging by the weight I wouldn´t use it as my primary rim for DH usage on a continuous basis. Since I neither am very fond of bike parks, nor do I own a 4 inch suspension bike I see little change for me to push the P35s beyond their capacity.

The rims´design close up: I have mentioned how they are huge – even more so in such a flashy color. By design the cross section of the rim has a soft transition between the central groove and the wide and level shoulders. The rim, just like any other tubeless ready rim, is conventionally drilled so it will need some kind of sealing action before it can be used tubeless. The valves are drilled to 5.5 mm so only presta valves will fit unless you drill them open yourself. But then again most tubeless valves are presta. The spokes are without eyelets. I personally like the thought of eyelets distributing spoke tension to a larger area but many rims do without them and do so well. Time will tell …

The very early production samples I received had some sharp edges in some drill holes and even a few aluminum shavings floating in the inside (could hear them occasionally when building up the wheels) – but knowing Velocity , I am sure this will not be an issue when production is at full pace.

Wheel building: The build of the wheels went straight forward. The rims made a straight wheel from the start. Strangely the spoke holes are more or less in line (much different from the strong zig-zagging in the BLUNTs) – probably a tribute to concentrate forces in the rim´s pinnacle. Oh yes, weights were close to the release info: 504 g in 26 and 598 g for the 29er (sorry no 650b samples).

The build was no hassle at all. The only downside was that I had only one 29er rim and another in 26 – so despite sacrificing a bit on the perfect geometry I took my 26er rig and converted it into a 69er. I am waiting for a 29er rear wheel to resume testing with full force but for some initial impressions this setup was adequate.

Mounting: All tires I tried (tubeless, tubeless ready and folding bead of different makes) were easily mounted by hand. This is something unusual for a rim claiming tubeless readiness, more often than not tubeless ready rims (e. g. Notubes or FRM) are designed a bit larger to make conversion of folding beads easier. Riders of tubeless ready tires on rims like the ARCH or FLOW know what I am talking about. The P35 fit much like I had experienced with my Mavic UST wheels.

When taken to higher pressures all but the loosest tires “popped” onto the shoulders audibly indicating a good rim/bead lockage. Again something very reassuring when going tubeless.

Yes, I did convert the P35 tubeless on a homemade system – don´t ask me how (or if you ask, don´t expect an answer) – but, from a reliable source I know a tubeless conversion kit specifically for the P35 offered by Velocity is in the making. So for all those awaiting a wide rim and riding it tubeless under full cover by the manufacturer – there is hope.

Riding: I have only had a couple of rides on the wheels so my experiences are still forming, nothing definite. The wheels sure feel very stable, much like you´d expect with such wide rims.

The first thing I immediately noticed was how the wide rim changes the tires´ footprint. Usually people looking into wide rims are running wide tires and appreciate the extra support. I specifically tried a 2.0 XC tire that had remarkably bad cornering characteristic on the P35s. they went on and voila – it was like riding a completely different tire. For most riding I chose 2.3 tires and was pleased with the extra cushion from the added volume and low pressures possible. I was riding the wheels with pressures down to 1.35 bars without any adverse effects to be felt. Wait for more on the riding experiences to come as the miles accumulate. While riding on particularly rocky terrain I managed to strike through to the rim a couple of times and upon after ride examination I saw that I had produced one slight bend in the side walls – nothing bad but noticeable. Interestingly I didn´t experience any burping or flats throughout the ride – one more time riding tubeless saved my day.

Early comments: So who needs a rim like the P35? Let me answer by stating who doesn´t:

1, Well, weight weenies and XC racers need not apply At around 600gm for the 29er version it surely is not the lightest – but XC racers were never interested in them anyway (Still, lets not forget the P35 weighs almost 100 g less than its equal width competitor the Salsa Gordo).

2, Die hard gravity pilots might also look for something stronger (and heavier).

But every other rider, seeking the maximum in stability, huge volume (means comfort and cushion) largest footprint (translates into better traction and control), choice of multiple colors and sizes – and all that in a respectable weight and tubeless ready package (with a specific tubeless kit around the corner); all these should take a closer look at the P35.

One thing I cannot comment on with the short time running them is how they will stand up to long use and abuse. So far they have held up without any complaints but I will keep on riding them and will pass them on to other riders to see what they have to say about the “wide combo”.

Ps: Did I say I have mixed feelings about the green color, too? But honestly, can anyone argue that they look cool in winter riding? (makes me think those warm cozy Christmas feelings … and I needed them on that particular ride)

More to come as riding continues ….

The frame was sent up with its original finish which was Superior Blue and had all the decals on it. I sent it up to Ben’s Cycle and KG Coating took it from there. I chose a color based off of Chrysler’s purple hue they use on Charger models. Realizing that there may be some variance in what Gun Kote could come up with, I have to say I am very impressed with the color here. I will say that it seems to react to lighting in a unique way. Indoors and in shade it can appear as an almost black, tending toward eggplant sort of hue, but the brighter the light, the more purple it looks.

The coating job was complicated by the fact that I had specified a panel and requested a hand cut die to be made to simulate a Salsa pepper style decal. This caused extra time and delay, as KG Coatings is geared up for simpler bicycle frame jobs. However; this was just as much a test for them and Ben’s Cycle as it was going to be for Twenty Nine Inches, so time wasn’t too much of a concern at this point. Typically a one color job would take around three to four weeks. This one took quite a bit longer than that due to the complexity of this job and my having to approve certain aspects of it along the way. Again, it bears mentioning that if you are interested in pursuing a coating job, get in touch with Ben’s Cycle and let them know your desires.

Taking a close look it was easy to see that the entire frame got coated evenly. Even in the nooks and crannies of this frame which has some complicated places to cover. No such things as runs, orange peeling, or other anomalies associated with wet paint, and no areas that were faded, or covered too little as sometimes is the case with powder coating. Nice! The hue was consistent all over the frame, and only flaws associated with the metal were showing up. Even small scratches and tooling marks were visible in places! Not the fault of Gun Kote, it just doesn’t hide any of the “warts” due to the fact that it is such a thin coat.

I think the most impressive area I saw was the drop outs. Look at how crisp the stamp looks? That is due to the thin coating. Powder coat would have filled in this and wet paint would have tended to pool into the stamping. If this stuff is as tough as I am hearing that it is, I will be floored. Now I will be building this up and getting it dirty to find that out!

The build plan is to go single speed and use some nice parts in the build. White Industries ENO crank, Cane Creek short travel Thudbuster seat post, (a tester item for The Cyclist) , and a suspension fork yet to be determined. Stay tuned for further updates in the Gun Kote El Mariachi story!

Note: This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for review. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion and thoughts throughout.

The Elgokse Standard Set Up: The standard Elgokse comes with the swept flat bar in the box. I set my custom Pofahl single speed up with this set up to start things out with. The installation was easy, and everything fit quite well. I liked that the bar can have the ends pointing downward slightly, level, or slightly upwards. I personally prefer a slight downward tilt, so this is how I set the bar up and popped on some new Ergon grips which fit perfectly.

The ride was about average for any quality handle bar set up. Rigid, and stiffer than some, but still nothing out of the ordinary. I liked the amount of sweep on this particular bar. The width was fine for me, but as stated in the first post on these, the bars are laser etched with hash marks for cutting them down if so desired. All in all, a great modern take on the retro “Bull Moose” type bar.

Some have made note of the braze ons for the fastening hardware- how they stick out. I didn’t notice that while riding, but perhaps in a “fancy dismount” on the single track, you might become intimate with one of the protuberances. Perhaps in a future update this could be addressed. As for now, I don’t see this as a big negative, but I will admit the risk for injury is there off road.

The Antler/Elgokse Set Up: After the more “standard” looking Elgokse stock look, (if a Bull Moose style bar could ever be referred to as “standard”), I swapped out the bar for the Antler Bar. Okay….there is no getting around this. This bar looks odd, goofy, and well……..like it is an answer without a question. However goofy it may appear to be, it does function well in use.

The Antler Bar is a take off on the traditional “mustache bar” idea and I think has a distinct drop bar feel while riding. The big difference between the Antler Bar and the more traditional mustache and off road drop bars is that the Antler accepts mountain bike controls, not road bike controls. This is a smart move away from traditional design for mountain bikers and commuters. Plus, it allows for more freedom in positioning the controls, and makes the preferred ends position a safe usable one since the brakes can be positioned here.

The one negative in the design of the Antler Bar is that you will need extra cable and housing lengths over a standard set up. I had just enough extra that I made it work, but if you are converting over from another bar, plan on getting cables and housings as well. Also, your hydraulic brake lines may not be long enough, so be aware. After the installation, I decided to use the same Ergon grips and I taped the “hooks” with road bar tape to further extend my hand position options. Again, riders can also tilt the Antler Bar slightly downward for a different feel. Or you could go with a more “mustache bar” type level set up. I think the slight angle I set the Antler Bar up with gives them a bit of a drop bar feel.

Looks and options aside, the combination of the Antler bar and the Ergon grips just might be the perfect long distance gravel, back roads, or fire roading type set up I have ever tried. Add in the ability to stretch out into the forward hook area, and the usable inner part of the bar, and you can see that several options for altering your position while riding exist. I haven’t had the opportunity to do a multi-hour ride yet, but I look forward to doing it on the Antler Bar. I think it will be a great set up for the longer distance type ride.

That’s it for now. I’ll report back with a final review coming up in a while, depending on how kind the weather is in the late Fall!