8.28.2007

Marin Bikes

I need someone to explain these bikes to me.



This is the Wolf Ridge. Looks like it should be spindly as hell, and just ride like crap. There's no way that it does, because no bike company can afford to make something that rides like crap anymore. And that is because I think buyers are too smart, and there are too many good choices out there. Also, there's no reason to make something that doesn't work - not when you can just copy something else that's already out there (see my previous post).

I can't see the entire linkage, so there must be something else going on there. The entire swingarm can't possibly ride only on the tiny pivot in front of the down tube. It looks like there may be something behind the seat tube - but that would mean that the swingarm would have to be two pieces bolted together - and that sounds like a recipe for flex to me. Flex, or possibly some kind of new Thai Bubble Chai Pudding Latte Tea Coffee. That tastes like pumpkin pie...



This right here is the Quake 7.3. I remember Quake 2 - where did the rest of them go? I must have blacked out or something.

What I see here is a swingarm that can't really do anything but go front-to-back. As opposed to up-and-down like most. I imagine the wheel still moves up and down, but it seems like the lower pivot would seriously limit that.

This one i really don't understand.

But - it simply must work, because like I said earlier, no company can afford to waste a season on a crap design. That happened back in the day when everybody was still trying to figure it out, but enough companies did figure it out, so you better do that too or you're in trouble.

8.27.2007

Re-re-inventioning the BikeGuide Blog

Hey there!

I had this lightbulb go off in my head tonight. And when I got home from the hospital, I started to work on the idea I had.

I'm going to rework this blog in the style of some of my fav web sites; Autoblog, Jalopnik, and WWTDD.com. Only I'll do it for bikes.

Sounds good?

Too bad - I'm doing it anyway.

A great man once said; "Let's get to it, shall we?"

New Chumba XCL

The CHUMBA XCL continues to bring in world-wide praise on its unparalleled durability and performance.



Well, I wouldn't doubt those claims for a second - that bike looks great! About a million times better than the last bike I saw from them, the EVO.



The EVO - which is probably a really good bike too - looks like it was pieced together from whatever frame bits were lying aroung the shop that day. I've always thought that a good bike just looks like a good bike. That's a bit of a Madden-esque comment I know, but in all seriousness, when you first saw sloping top tube Rockies and Konas, you just knew in your heart that those bikes worked.

Anwyay, the point of this - it really bugs when some new bike comes along that is really just a rehash of some other design, maybe with better pivots and more advanced and stiffer suspension bits, and it's hailed as the best thing since sliced bread. Because really, what's different about the Chumba XCL, from the Jamis Dakar?


Or the Psycle Works Wild Hare?


Again - not saying that the Chumba is crap (though I can't think of a worse thing to name your company after than a British anarcho-punk band), but don't try to tell me that this bike is revolutionary. Not when the design was made to work ten years ago.