Mountain Biking - Race Face 2004

Hi all

I ve seen some ads about raceface 2004 line. I am interested into the new carbonfiber riser bars the Next Bars . They seem bombproof bars with Ti mesh insert on stem clamp area. Do you have any experience or opinion over them?
Also i ve seen in a UK mag about a new crankset the Evolve Crankset ...any info on that? I cant find anything so far....
Thanks!

I'm also interested in the new RF bars but I only saw a low-riser version of the Next bars. Are they coming out with a straight bar too?

yes

Originally posted by math2p14
yes

Sweet... I'm currently riding Easton CT2 carbon fibre flatbars but when the next upgrade fever hits I'll be seriously looking at those RaceFace bars.

Cool those are supposed to be also for light freeride...with Ti inserts.

Screw carbon bars for freeride. And with a Ti insert.....lol. Sounds like a poser bar.

Freeride isnt always hucking off 30ft cliffs.... for some people is riding land which isnt laid with trails. Also raceface doesnt usually produce stuff for posers. Not to mention that A2 uses carbon bars and he is no xc guy imho.

Thanks Math, and Yes, I do use Carbon bars. However, I'm probably a poser! anything more than a 4' drop scares me.

The reason I went to Easton Monkey Lites is they are stronger than many aluminum bars. Easton goes WAY out of the way to test their products. No problems with mine as of yet!

L8R

Posers of world unite! I tilt my carbon fibre bars to you! :D

Originally posted by math2p14
Freeride isnt always hucking off 30ft cliffs.... for some people is riding land which isnt laid with trails.

Why are you riding on un-marked and un-blazed trails? Not only is that terrible for the environment, but it is also the type of thing that gets bikers kicked out of public lands. Thanks.

If you are an XC racer, carbon bars are dope. But if you do any type of drops, jumps, or anything of the sort, save yourself the pain. Answer Pro-Tapers are still top knotch IMO.

Well in Greece we are lucky enough that anyone can ride anywhere without any restrictions !!!!!! Wow ! And no its not terrible for the enviroment. If you dont litter or put fires then its not a problem for nature.

Hey, where would we be without posers?!?! Kleinmp99 is a poser!

Freakin posers!


http://www.dirtpassion.com/fawk.gif

Originally posted by math2p14
Well in Greece we are lucky enough that anyone can ride anywhere without any restrictions !!!!!! Wow ! And no its not terrible for the enviroment. If you dont litter or put fires then its not a problem for nature.

Hmmm...thats a whole other argument/debate but I would disagree....you would be surprised how much damage riding uncontrolled trails does if done repeatedly and irresponsibly.

I do agree though, 30 ft hucks do not define freeriding, it is simply one aspect of it.

Originally posted by fubar5
Hey, where would we be without posers?!?! Kleinmp99 is a poser!

I have a lot of respect for posers. We definately wouldn't have some of the more expensive technologies. PEople that don't ride hard but buy the expensive stuff only help drive prices down on the part most people buy. So please, let those parents buy that 5000$ dually for the 12 year old who has never been on a bike. The kid will love riding and more money for the industry :)

Maelstrom it all depends on the type of the terrain. In Greece we have rocky terrain and hardpack....no grass to spoil on mountains . Also i agree with posers....i just dont like spoilt brats that dont know how to appreciate money.

Sorry that I am not just speaking for myself. You go up to a freerider (freeriding defined as putting a bike through quite a bit of abuse) and mention carbon and titanium for parts, they will think it is really dumb. Atleast I know all the riders up here would. I am quite scared of carbon myself even though I have seen how they test the bars and how thick some of them are (like the easton dh). Its just hard for me to change my mind since I have thought of carbon bars being just for light riding. If anybody else called me a poser besides fubar then I would be sort of mad, but since it was fubar.....then haha:D

Klein i tend to agree to you concerning carbon....i just dont trust the idea of the weave...one scratch and the component/frame is written off.... on the other hand Ti is a different story as a material. Ti frames for Freeride seem bombproof (Cove Hummer) , whereas Xc ti frames...Serotta ,Seven,Litespeed...well i wouldnt trust them a lot for aggresive trail riding (or freeriding).

Math,

Ti really isn't popular as a whole bike in the freeride market because of its flex (I am not refering to ti componenets)...BTW the hummer is a xc bike not freeride. it is built for abuse but not a lot of it.

Oh and i thought that the Hummer was the ultimate FR hardtail, Cove ads here in the UK advertise it as the best Northshore HT , with huge tire clearance and almost indestructability.

haha...really...thats funny. Go to the website. It is a north shore xc...which means it is tough but it isn't a freeride bike. The geometry is closer to xc too.

Not all north shore is big hit freeride. There is quite a bit of pure technical xc ;)...the ad is misleading haha ;)

www.covebike.com

Originally posted by math2p14
Klein i tend to agree to you concerning carbon....i just dont trust the idea of the weave...one scratch and the component/frame is written off....

Not exactly true. It depends on the construction. There are different ways to construct carbon fibre as there are many different types of carbon fibre. For instance, a thermoplastic behaves differently than a thermoset with regards to impact. Thermoplastics generally exhibit higher impact resistance than thermosets. My MTB's main frame is made of thermoplastic (swingarm and fork legs are thermoset). In actuality thermoplastics can be repaired (and even recycled) by remelting portions and reforming the damaged section although the process would be a bit involved and not recommended for the average consumer/user. You can't really repair thermosets though. Thermoplastics are however difficult to bond with dissimilar materials and delamination can occur easier unless certain precautions are taken in the manufacturing process. This is can get expensive. Many manufacturers also put a very thick clearcoat and/or use multilaminate processes to protect against scratches and nicks.

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/cycling/bikes/K2/1999-OzM/images/10620620/PICT0041.JPG

And yes, I'm mainly a XC rider (I won't try to classify my riding beyond that) but I do try and mix it up a bit. My bike's seen its share of nasty crashes on gnarlier courses.

After watching the world record dh speed record on a carbon fibre bike I will never trust carbon fibre as a full bike. That bike exploded into two. Oh well...although I have been thinking about carbon handlebars...something to consider

True then, the ad was misleading....good for me ...as i intended to fork out 2000$ for the Cove frame....i think after all that i am better off with my oversized and burly allu rockhopper frame. Khuon i agree that thermoplastic is more burly than the other thermoset you mentioned. Does anyone have any ideas on those raceface carbon bars?

Just as a further note, very few manufacturers actually produced thermoplastic carbon fibre MTB frames. GT did with the LTS, K2 did with the Oz/4500C/5500C and Cannondale has the Raven (new - old Raven was thermoset). I believe Yeti also made a thermoplastic bike. I'm not sure about the GT and Yeti bike but the K2 and the Cannondale bikes utilised a "spine" construction. In the case of the Raven, the two carbon fibre shell halves were mated to a magnesium spine. K2 used a thermoplastic carbon fibre backbone. I'm not saying all carbon fibre is appropriate for all applications but it is a versatile material that can be adapted for a variety of conditions. And more than any other material, the suitability of carbon fibre is highly dependent on the manufacturing process and design.