Pivot Cycles Unveils New Mach 429SL
Friday, December 12, 2014 at 9:40AM ;)
Pivot Cycles unveils the new half-pound lighter Mach 429SL Carbon with Shimano Di2 compatibility.
Mach 429SL Carbon Features
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The half pound lighter Pivot Mach 429SL Carbon is the bike that you need when the course tests both your engine size and your handling skills. Dominate in any event with the newest version of our award winning 100mm 29er – a perfect combination of incredible racing efficiency and trail-worthy technical prowess. The space age chassis drops over 1/2lb (226g) via the use of leading-edge carbon fiber and our proprietary hollow-core, internal-mandrel process. This coveted production technology enables us to create best-in-class frames with the “lighter, stiffer, stronger” qualities that put the Mach 429SL Carbon at the top of the list. To achieve a huge reduction in weight and an increase in frame stiffness, our engineers looked for every possible advantage via optimizing the composite materials and lay-up structure in the 429’s huge, box-section downtube and bottom bracket area. From the tapered head tube to the highly-specific oversize rear triangle tube sections, nothing was left untouched when we made the Mach 429SL Carbon frame the lightest 29er chassis – with the best power transfer – available today.
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For those seeking the top of the line in components and compatibility, the Pivot Mach 429SL Carbon is only the second production mountain bike in the world to be fully Di2 integrated (the Pivot Mach 4 Carbon being the first). Featuring Pivot’s Cable Port System, internal routing for any component is easy to install and maintain via large, easy to access ports and interchangeable covers. Riders have the ability to switch between a variety of cable routing options, allowing for the cleanest possible installation of wires, batteries and cables. Rest easy knowing that no matter what components or gearing you choose, now or in the future, we have you covered. Our race-winning, trail-slaying Mach 429SL Carbon geometry is tried, tested and confidence-inspiring. On the uphill, you benefit from the latest in dw-link® suspension design with a Fox Float Kashima Factory shock, performance-tuned specifically for the Mach 429SL Carbon.
You can expect World Cup level efficiency provided by dw-link®’s anti-squat characteristics, instant acceleration and unparalleled climbing traction. Downhill, the 100mm of dw-link® suspension performs like a longer travel bike – an incredibly capable ride in technical terrain and ready for record-setting descents, enhanced by the precise feel of 12 x 142mm rear spacing and the rollover qualities of the 29 inch wheel. The Mach 4SL Carbon is designed to work with 100 to 120mm forks, allowing for perfect rider optimization – shorter for your cross country weapon, longer for the ultimate in trail-handling.
Our mountain bikes feature the PF92 bottom bracket. Collaboratively developed by our engineers and Shimano, this allows for wider pivots and better bearing support, both of which contribute to increased frame stiffness and strength. Other essential details include post mount disc brake mounts for easy set up and weight savings, direct mount front derailleur for perfect shifting, stealth dropper compatibility and Enduro Max cartridge bearings throughout. Our 429SL frame will accommodate two water bottles of any size and boasts updated graphics for a sleek, race-inspired look. We take quality and workmanship seriously at Pivot, and know that the details are what make a great rider experience. Every Pivot Cycles frame undergoes a 28 step assembly and quality control check to ensure that the only thing you need to think about is the ride.
29er, Enduro, Mach 429SL, Pivot Cycles |
Niner Announces New RIP 9 RDO
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 at 3:39PM ;)
NINER'S FLAGSHIP TRAILBIKE
“Quiver Killer” meets RDO Carbon Compaction in our top-end trail bike. Winner of Outside Magazine’s Gear of the Year award as well as the Eurobike Award for design, the RIP 9 RDO sets the standard for bikes that need to get up to really get down. We’ve incorporated global rider feedback as well as our rigorous carbon design, engineering and testing standards to take a bike that is known for ride quality and handling, and up the ante with the RDO Carbon Compaction System, carbon linkages, ISCG compatibility and exactly the right amount of travel.
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Features
- Carbon full suspension from the only 29er only mountain bike company
- 125mm of patented CVA suspension is efficient in every chainring
- Compatible with 120-140mm forks
- Tuned for CVA – Fox Float CTD shock with Kashima coat
- Removable ISCG 05 tabs and offset linkage design for chainguide compatibility
- Carbon suspension linkage and unique Niner alloy hardware
- 142mm x 12mm rear spacing
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29er, Carbon 29er, Niner Bikes, Niner RIP 9 RDO |
Niner Announces New Blaze Yellow SIR 9 and ONE 9 RDO
Monday, December 2, 2013 at 8:11PM This video explains the installation and adjustment of the Niner Biocentric II Bottom Bracket on a singlespeed bicycle.
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S.I.R. 9.
At a time when carbon super bikes (including our own flagship models) dominate the stage, why would Niner shine a spotlight on the SIR 9? Perhaps it’s better to ask “just what is it about steel bikes?” Why, when we get on a steel frame, are we instantly transported back to that first bike we had as a kid? Why is steel just as relevant today as it was 50 years ago while other materials have come and gone? .
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There wasn’t anything wrong with our SIR 9 – like other Ninerds we ride it and love it. But something about Steel being equated with Retro seemed almost unfair to such a great bike. There is simply no reason frames built with one of the best metals on the planet shouldn’t benefit from and take full advantage of cool technologies like updated headsets standards, tapered forks and through axles. .
Introducing the new S.I.R. 9 – all the fun, all the advantages, all the steel. .
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You’ve probably noticed we have a habit of revisiting our classic models and occasionally injecting them with a huge dose of YEAH. In the case of the One 9 RDO, we’ve created a completely new bike – melding the single-mindedness of the legendary One 9 with our award-winning Air 9 RDO carbon chassis. The result is lightning quick, strong as a gorilla but sexy as they come. In other words, the One 9 RDO is going to make you forget all about your other bikes. If loving the One 9 RDO is wrong, you won’t want to be right...
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29er, Niner Bikes, Single Speed |
Wheel Size Facts Part 2.... Rollover Factors
Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 8:05AM Part 2 from the boys at Banshee Bikes.....
Here is some more independant wheel info to help you decide which wheel size is for you. I will be taking the same dimensions as discussed in Part 1 to perform these calculations. These theoretical calculations do NOT take into account tire deformation... which I will talk a bit about later. This week, get ready to deal with everyone's school subject fav - some trigonometry! So belt up, and let's rollover some wheel-based maths (oh dear....!)
'Rollover':
You'll almost definitely have heard 29er riders saying just how much better their bikes roll over obstacles on the trail. "I carried so much more speed through that rough section!", or something similar. This is probably the key reason that riders and manfacturers give for having a bigger wheel size... But what does this mean, and just how much better do they perform this action?
The diagram below (Fig. 1) shows the height of a square-edge obstacle, and the angle of attack vis-à-vis the wheel:
Fig. 1 When a wheel makes contact with a square-edge obstacle (for example, the curb of a pavement - that's British speak for 'sidewalk'), the angle of attack = the angle of the tangent of the wheel at point of contact with the square edge obsticle and the horizontal as shown above.
Fig. 2 how each wheel size's angle of attack varies with obstacle height across a range of square-edge obstacle heights. Of course these values are all perfect and theoretical (not taking into account tire deformation, tire pressure or bike lean angles etc.)
The angle of attack itself doesn't really tell you much without applying basic trigonometrical functions to to break it down into horizontal and vertical force vectors. In a simplified form without friction or deformation, if a wheel runs into a vertical obstacle higher than the axle height, it will stop you instantly (horizontal force / vertical force = infinity). Conversely, if an obstacle has zero height it will not slow you down at all (horizontal force / vertical force = 0). On Fig. 3, you can see how the force vector varies as obstacle height increases for each wheel size (the higher the Tan (Angle of Attack), the more it will slow you down):
Fig. 4 shows how the force vectors vary as a % relative to the 650b wheel. A positive number represents a higher horizontal resistance (effectively, this means it slows you down more). So, you can see that 26" wheels will slow down more than 650b wheels which in turn will slow down more than 29".
This graph clearly shows that the relative efficiency is not consistent across all obstacle heights. The larger the obstacle, the larger the effect the wheel size will have. So it is impossible to say that one wheel is x% more efficient over square-edged hits than any other size without saying the size of obstacle, tire size, and tire pressure etc etc.
It should also be said that not only are big wheels more efficient at rolling over square-edge hits, but they also result in a smoother ride. This is because, for any given speed, the larger the diameter of the wheel the longer it is in contact with the obstacle (i.e. it hits it sooner and leaves it later). Therefore it has longer to react to the obstacle. Plus, the bigger the wheel the less of it is going to drop into holes (think braking bumps), hence 29ers feel like they smooth the trail out.
Once again I want to make it very clear that these numbers are based on wheels that do not deform at all, and that are rolling over perfectly square-edged obstacles, which is obviously not realistic. So let's have a quick look at some real world factors that significantly complicate the situation.
Tire deformation helps to absorb the impact of hitting a square-edge obsticle. This not only reduces the shock that is transferred to the frame and rider, but also makes the wheel roll more efficiently over an obstacle by effectively reducing the angle of attack when it absorbs it. The more the tire absorbs the obstacle the better, so actually lower pressure tires roll over obstacles like this more efficiently (unless you get a snake bite!).
Tire size is an important factor... for example you could realistically have a larger outside diameter running a very high volume tire on 26" wheels than a small volume tire on a 650b wheel. In this situation the 26" wheel would roll over things better than 650b, so tire height should be considered if analysing options.
We have indeed confirmed that big wheels roll over obstacles better than small wheels, and help maintain momentum as a result. But frame geometry and axle path also play a factor if the frame has suspension, as the suspension can help absorption of obstacles and make the bike roll over them better. The slacker the head angle or more rearward the axle path, the better a bike will roll over an obstacle if all other factors are equal.
Plus there is one very very significant factor that none of these numbers take into account...We can bunny hop over things! This is why you should never listen to arguments taken from automotive industry as the car can't be thrown around independently of the driver.
If this second installment of wheel physics hasn't boggled you even more than the first part, the third blog post will tackle contact area and grip. Woop!
29er, 650b, Wheel Size |
Wheel size facts Part 3... Contact Patch and Tire Factors
Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 7:47AM Banshee sent along part 3 of their tire/wheel series today check it out below....
In this post, I'm continuing with the wheel size theme, but looking at tire related factors such as contact patch, tire pressure and tread. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this mini series for some other wheel/tire things to consider. In Part 1, small wheels beat big wheels, but in Part 2 big wheels fought back... so which, if either, is going to come out top for you?
Here, I discuss contact patch and related factors across the 3 common wheel sizes. Once again I will be taking the wheels and tires from Part 1 for consistency.
Contact patch:
What is the contact patch, and how does it effect grip and rolling resistance?
The contact patch (shown in fig.1 in blue) is essentially the footprint of the tire that is making contact with the ground at any instant in time. For any given tire, it will change with tire pressure, as Pressure=Force/Area. So the lower the pressure, the more your tire will deform to the contours you are riding over.
A larger tire contact patch area represents more rubber on the ground, which increases friction and therefore grip (good). However, the larger the contact patch area the greater the rolling resistance (bad). So, as with most things, there is always a compromise, and you just have to pick the right balance between grip and rolling resistance to suit your needs.
Shape and area:
For this section on contact patch shape, let's look at a basic representation of each wheel size (no tread, and no tire stiffness) each with 2.3" width , based on 50kg of weight (assuming 50:50 weight distribution, and bikes + rider = 100kg), and 2Bar (about 29PSI or 200,000 N/m²) of a perfect gas on a flat surface for all wheel sizes. Since the pressure is the same in each tire, the contact patch area will be the same for this scenario as Pressure=Force/Area. This is not very realistic as pressures will change a bit with wheel size (I will go into that later), so this is just to give an idea of patch shape.
In Fig .2 you can see the 3 wheel size contact patches overlapped for the same tire pressure and loads: the bigger the wheel size, the longer and narrower the contact patch. But the variation in shape is probably much smaller than you'd expect, or have been made to believe. So let's look at this slightly differently...
One way of measuring optimal tire pressure is actually as 'tire drop', which is a percentage of original tire height (a little like suspension sag) as seen in Fig.3.
pressure, as well as contact patch shape and area for each wheel size.
As you can see in Fig.4, the contact patch area and lengths change as tire pressure changes, but the width remains the same due to same tire carcass width and cross sectional shape. So for the same tire drop of 6% the 29" wheel has a 2.7% bigger contact patch than 650b, which in turn is 1.85% larger than 26". The difference in contact patch area and shape is far less than most marketing would have you believe, but it is present.
This also shows that the larger the diameter wheel, the less tire pressure is required to achieve the same tire drop. Therefore you can get away with running lower tire pressure on bigger wheels if you wish. That said, the volume of the tire is the more significant factor, so the width of the tire will have a more significant impact on required tire pressure than wheel size.
These factors are the reason that mountain bike tires are wider than road bike tires. For road cycling, traction is less important than minimising rolling resistance (and weight) and so they run narrow low volume tires at high pressure. Mountain bikes run lower pressure, larger volume tires to increase traction as well as shock absorption. It's a case of picking the best tool for the job, by optimising what you want, and compromising on factors that are not as important to you.
Tire tread and compound:
All this marketing chat about contact patch actually ignores the most important factor. Tread patterns are massively relevant, because in reality, none of us ride around on fully slick tires. So when talking about contact patch, we really should be considering actual contact patch of the top of the treads on the surface, and also considering the extra grip provided by the edge of the treads biting into soft ground. Tread pattern and rubber compounds make a bigger difference than contact patch area.
The tread pattern changes the contact area far more than wheel size will!
So when thinking about grip, rather than think too much about wheel size and exact tire pressures, you'd be better off spending that time and effort picking the best tire tread pattern and compound for the riding conditions and experimenting with different tire pressures.
A softer rubber compound (lower durometer) will not only deform more to 'grip' the ground, but will also help damp the ride by compressing more easily under impacts. If you use a new soft compound tire you will be able to brake later, accelerate faster, and corner harder because the tread will bite into the ground with nice sharp edges, and the soft compound will have a higher coefficient of friction, and absorb the shock to stay in contact with the ground better.
For you to consider:
From all the information above, you can see that a bigger wheel will offer a slightly larger contact patch area due to the fact that you can run a slightly lower tire pressure. Therefore, a larger wheel will offer a bit more grip than a smaller wheel with same tire drop, but the increase in theoretical traction of larger wheels is probably less you were expecting.
With the larger tire contact patch comes more rolling friction, and efficiency is reduced. So smaller wheels are more efficient than larger wheels in this area for same tire drop. On a perfectly flat surface with a slick tire, smaller wheels with equal tire drop will lose less energy when rolling along than bigger wheels.
But let's be real... mountain biking isn't about just rolling along flat surfaces and we certainly don't use slick tires! It's about carrying speed through rough sections, cornering hard on the edges of tires, finding traction when climbing steeps and many, many more fun things. For most of these things, tire tread pattern and tire rubber compound are FAR more important than wheel size when it comes to grip. So my advice to you is not to get too lost in these wheel size numbers, instead pick a good tire choice and just enjoy riding your bike!
