Fall Foliage Gap Ride, Part 1

Review- Moots MX Divide

After a month's worth of riding I'm ready to publish a review based on more than my initial "oh wow this is really cool look at my pictures" post a few weeks ago.  My schedule hasn't allowed me to race on it yet, but I have put it through its paces on a variety of rides around the area.

The front end is very similar to my trusted RSL- 44 mm headtube, PF30 bottom bracket shell, curved downtube, butted seat tube and 30.9 seatpost, but obviously the carbon Fusion link, Fox RP23 shock and Zen Fabrication aluminum rear end are markedly different.

The rear triangle is a solid, welded aluminum unit with slick machined dropouts.  The brake mount allows for replaceable threads- a nice touch for post mounted calipers.  The frame comes with a 142 x 12 DT Swiss axle but is convertible to a standard 135 x 9 qr with a dropout conversion kit.  My bike is built up with the standard qr configuration as that's the way my wheels are currently setup- but I would consider running the 142 x 12 and switching dropouts is a 5 minute job. 

Before riding the Divide my concern was that the bike would feel uncoordinated or unbalanced with the mixture of ti and aluminum halves.  The RSL is plenty stiff up front, but it doesn't have any linkages, pivots or a shock to complicate it.  Ti full suspension bikes have been offered from boutique builders before, and they've often failed because the inherent characteristics that make it great for a hardtail (smooth, compliant ride) make it really bad for a full suspension bike (excessive flex).

For the suspension design Moots collaborated with the Sotto group, an independent consulting firm specializing in bicycle-specific suspension solutions.  The net result is a faux-bar single pivot design with a chainstay pivot similar to the Trek Superfly, Yeti 575 or Scott Spark. 

First and foremost Moots is a high end fabricator of titanium bikes, and while they are remarkably good at designing and building ti frames it takes an entirely different skillset to design suspension.  Outsourcing that design work was a good move and something that wasn't an option for small builders ten years ago.

The build comes in at a respectable 25.4 lbs. as shown.  Considering the kit is nearly identical to my RSL (with the exception of the Avid XO Trail brakes yielding a 30 gram per wheel weight penalty for their beefy 4 piston calipers) the extra three pounds is from the frame.   

So how does it ride?  After a very quick attempt to get the suspension dialed I headed out on my normal midweek loop.  The first grass section is short downhill with some bumpy tufts of grass where I normally land after semi-launching off the lip.  I took my usual line and I touched down without any chatter or feedback.  I can't exactly recall what I said aloud as that happened, but I vividly recall how smooth it felt- and that I was already completely sold on the bike 1/4 of a mile into my ride.

Out on the trail the Divide didn't disappoint- stable and smooth I was able to pick (and maintain) my well-worn hardtail lines with more speed and comfort.  The bike tracked up, over and around everything I threw in its path; the feel was remarkably consistent end-to-end.  I've ridden other full suspension designs where the stiffness and ride feel was dominated by one end being too stiff or too soft- and neither was the case here. 

I'd summarize the overall feel as smooth, predictable and confident.  The bike feels very composed and predictable at any speed.  It's not a fun, flickable, playful, twitchy or overly plush bike, but rather it zips along with a smooth, even-handed feel.  In spite of its size it also never felt too long, rakish or like a tractor-trailer. 

Weight balance is a big part of off-road handling and is tough to divine from a simple geometry chart.  Head angle, front/center distance, offset, chainstay length and bb drop all factor in, but it's all academic until you get the bike out on the trail.  As I said before the RSL is my benchmark, and pretty much any full suspension design is going to mean a longer back end than short and tight 17.55" chainstays on the RSL.  Turns out that's a benefit as the cockpit lands a little more centered between the wheels and the bike goes where it's pointed and arcs through turns very predictably.  One of the few negatives of the RSL (or any other XC racing 29er hardtail) is that the weight distribution is slightly rear-biased and keeping front end traction in the wet requires some attention. 

While the bike didn't change the way I ride it did allow me to maintain more speed on stutter bumps and provided me with quite a bit more confidence-inspiring traction in all conditions.  I'm still not taking the huck lines, but I am riding my XC lines smoother, faster and with more confidence.  Rough, chattery uphill sections were easily conquered with a snappy acceleration and some subtle steering input. 

Setting up the Fox shock took a little fiddling, but I found my optimum setting with the air pressure at 90-95% of my bodyweight, rebound 2 clicks in from full open and the ProPedal setting on 2.  With the ProPedal wide open the bike felt very plush, but the falling rate suspension needs some mid-stroke damping to keep it from feeling too bouncy under pedaling forces.  Using the ProPedal settings allows you to use more sag as the shock stiffens up through the midstroke so you can run lower pressure so some air pressure readjusting is required as you work toward your optimal setting.  Most of the civilized world has figured out how to setup their RP23s, but for me it took a little dialing to really feel like I was getting the most out of the bike.

At the Ryan Hawks Memorial at Catamount there were a few chattery descents where this bike would have been a godsend- not only to save my back but also to eek out a little more speed and carry some momentum further into the climbs.   

The extra 3 pounds (compared to the RSL) are noticeable when climbing...and that's to be expected with any full suspension bike.  Under torque the properly setup suspension doesn't move too much under pedaling forces and you still feel like your effort is being put into forward motion.  On some very smooth climbs I went into the 3 ProPedal setting, and in that configuration I could throw down all the square pedal strokes I wanted.  I don't think it's worth using that setting on the trail as it doesn't really allow the suspension enough latitude to do its job, but on some exceptionally smooth sections I'd consider it.  As I said above the 2 setting is what I found to be the right mix of bump compliance, damping and pedaling efficiency.  I would consider running it on 1 for pedaling over very chattery, square-edged impacts like a Pennsylvania rock garden or for high speed, buffed out swoopy descents where you want to really compress into the corners.

In the rough is where the bike really shines, and the ti front end smooths out the high frequency chatter unlike any other full suspension bike I've ever ridden.  The multi-material approach is truly the perfect blend of the modern ti front end and a smooth, efficient, tried-and-true suspension design. 

All in I'd say Divide is more like an M3 than a 911.  The ride feel is amazing and designed for racers in a package perfectly suited to all day epic rides and endurance races.  While it has legit trail chops and is a stable platform for pushing the limits of traction it's really most comfortable with a number plate on the front.   

You may find bikes that are lighter, stiffer, or cheaper, but none of them provide the total package and mind-blowing ride feel of the MX Divide.  Racers on a budget will look elsewhere, but for ride quality connoisseurs there's no comparison.


As much as I'd love to own an M3 it's not in the cards, but fortunately the Divide is already in my stable.

Update- here are some additional photos of the front derailleur cable routing.

Interesting Random Bikes

Here's an assortment of stuff that's caught my eye recently.

First up is the integrated custom carbon awesomeness that Ergon put together for their team rider Irina Kalentieva for the Olympics and World Championships this year (from the Ergon fb page).  It's a an integrated bar/stem/barend/grip combo with special clamp mounts for her brakes, shifters and fork lockout already molded in.  There's also a cool integrated Ergon GS-shaped grip with some thin padding attached.  Nothing actually clamps around it- all of her controls have molded mounting points or are totally integrated into the design.  

Next up is the carbon Zaskar that Cecile Ravanel raced in the first Eliminator World Championship race.  Standard 26" wheels, singe ring up front with an MRP guide, dropper post and American Classic tubeless wheels.  Nice setup.

This one is from the roadie-centric slam that stem.  Not sure what's so captivating about this, but I really like the simple 1 x 10 drivetrain with the two color paint, Reba and Thomson post.  Looks understated and put together- not to mention fun to ride.

And since I put together my Moots Divide I've been checking to see how other guys are setting theirs up.  This one is a 26" wheel version built up by one welders at Moots as featured on their blog.  It's a pretty sweet and versatile setup with a Fox up front, wide Answer carbon bars and sweet matching Answer Rove XC stem.  This is the second one I've seen with a dropper post, and since it's a 30.9 you've got plenty of options including...

The new dropper post from Thomson.  This looks like the usual Thomson fare- well made, machined aluminum pieces that use their existing mounting bolt and clamp configuration.  I don't have a dropper post, and at this point I would wait for this one.

And that would be a cool addition for non-racing outings on my MX Divide.  It's pouring right now or I'd offer a better image than the shitty iphone/dishwasher shots featured here.  I'm still deciding on how I want to dress it up, and since Tomas just sent me the Race Space SDG kit it's now looking pretty dope in green and blue.  The new Moots kit is navy with some green accents so if I can stay on the program next season (please?) I'll likely run it like this.  I'm really digging it right now with the blue topcap, blue seatpost clamps and blue Pro-35 sticker next to the green/white saddle and very vogue green grips.

Here's another angle.

You Talkin' to Me?

I've made some tweaks to make it easier to comment, and as long as I don't get too many offers to enlarge my penis I'll keep it that way. 

So if you have something to say go ahead and drop it in the comments box. 

Stickers

I've added the blue "M" logo to the sticker collection.  If you're interested in any drop me a comment or email me.

The last few weeks post-Hampshire 100 have been nuts, but I'll have a full race report (with words) and some more reviews posted soon.

So Which Way Now?

Moots MX Divide

Catamount Race Report, Hampshire 100 4.0

It's been a while since I put together a real, insightful post about what I've been doing.  Things have been up and down, and right now I'm looking down the barrel at my key race of the year, the Hampshire 100.

The last race I did was the Ryan Hawks Memorial 6 Hour Race at Catamount.  I decided to race on short notice because I'd been racing well midweek at Catamount but had been getting frustrated on the weekends with standard XC events.  Plan A was to do the Horror at Harding Hill XC as prep for the 70k Raid Jean D'Avignon the following weekend.  Considering that I had been racing well at Catamount, and the race was local, familiar terrain with a modest entry fee I decided to switch up and go for that.  It's also always good to fly the flag for the sponsors and a modest result is better than no result.

My Catamount race strategy was pretty simple- start it as a training ride, and if things were going well 4 hours in then keep going.  I needed to do a long MTB ride anyway so it wasn't really that different.  It ended up being a very hot day- over 90 in the sun, but with most of the course being fully shaded in the woods it wasn't too oppressive. 

I got a good start, then was autopilot for a different course and made a wrong turn.  As I cut back under the tape a pretty big group rolled by, and I fought my way through them on the first lap.  The moderate pace meant that it was still pretty stuck together so traffic was pretty thick on the mostly singletrack course. 

Further along the course went up through a new rock garden section I'd only previously ridden down, and although I could ride it smoothly on my own I hadn't seen it before and had a hard time with riders directly in front and behind me.  I ran most of it and maintained my spot, but knew I could ride it all clean. 

Then the climbing started. 

We went up toward the top of Indian lookout 3 times per lap.  I'm not sure what the vertical gain was, but we went up every frickin' hill on the woods side of the property.  As we worked our way through the course I realized I couldn’t maintain the pace of the other guys and had to let them go.  The downhills were chattery and fast but manageable and I was able to maintain my position and ride smoothly. 

My rear tire was getting soft at the end of lap 1 so I stopped at the car and refilled it with the floor pump rather than waste my CO2.  I got rolling again and started to settle in.  Some riders I'd passed were now ahead of me because of my pit stop and I slowly worked back up to where I was before.

From there I was able to ride the course pretty smoothly, and rode 6 of 8 laps completely clean.   People were actually getting out of my way on the downhills, which was pretty cool and definitely not something I'm used to. 

I ended up rolling in with 8 laps in 6 hours, good for 13th in a stacked field of 43 talented local races.  I beat a few people I'd been targeting and closed the gap on some others. 

The Monday after the race I was relaxing at home, enjoying a drink and relishing my accomplishment when a very intense rain storm rolled through.  It poured- approximately 3-4" of rain fell in less than 12 hours , and some water came into the basement.  In retrospect I overreacted, and I could trace back the reasons why it happened, but the ensuing panic and work to fix the drainage around the house and patch the leaks took most of my energy in the 2 weeks that followed. 

I'm oversimplifying it, but basically I felt like I was reliving the flood over again.  My reaction was way out of proportion to what really happened, but it was still tough, and it took a lot for me to calm down and relax again.  The good news is that we’ve made some great progress and have fixed some things that needed attention.  Just a few small tasks yet to go before I feel like I really have everything under control. 

Of course all of that effort meant that I had very little in the tank for anything else, and I had a very hard time recovering from the race.  In some ways I was probably past peak anyway, so this just reinforced that a little, but now I just feel flat and burned out when I really want to be chomping at the bit and ready to set a new PR. 

Looking back it was a good call to race Catamount.  I was able to take advantage of my fitness, and if Sunday doesn't go as well as I'd like then I still feel like this has been a strong season for me.  My Wednesday Worlds performances took a big step forward and I can tell what I need to do to keep moving the needle for next year. 

Last night I got the RSL completely dialed- new shift cables & housing and entirely new 2013 Avid XO brakes front and rear.  The setup took a couple hours, but now all I have ahead of me is a thorough cleaning and the all fastener check.  I'll get a couple miles on it tomorrow to make sure everything's smooth. 

So I'm going into the weekend with low expectations.  I love the race, and I know from past experience that even if I'm not on my A game I still have a decent showing in endurance events.  It's nice to not be stressed about it.   

And once again I'm feeling a bit like my fitness has been sitting, rusting at the side of the road.  

Inspiration: Porsche

Review- Pearl Izumi Octane SL II Mountain Bike Shoe

Over the last five seasons I've had terrible luck with mountain bike shoes.  On the road I've worn the same pair of Northwave Aerlites, and in that time I've tried no fewer than 10 different pairs of mountain bike shoes from various manufacturers.

Earlier this spring I picked up a pair of Pearl Izumi Octane SL II mtb shoes and have worn them for every mountain bike adventure since.  My first impressions were positive: the shoe was light, the sole was appreciably stiff and the fit was good on my slightly narrower than average foot.  Overall  that the shoe seemed well constructed with its new school materials and laser cut seamless uppers.  

Pearl takes a different approach to building shoes- they're generally more glove-like and shapely than other companies.  They're also relatively new to the cycling shoe game having started about ten years ago, and I remember that their early offerings looked like a neoprene water shoe with a mountain bike sole.  Anecdotal reviews of those early models were that in spite of some cool features the fit was very odd and durability was questionable. 

Since then Shimano bought Pearl and along the way their shoes have steadily improved.  As a result the quality and construction are evident and the fit is consistent with other brands. 

So they look cool, but how do they fit and how do they wear?  I wear a size 44.5 in pretty much every shoe and these are no different.  The 45 I tried was way too big, and the 44 would likely be too small.  The velcro straps do a surprising job of cradling the foot and really allow for a wide range of adjustability.  The adjustability is a two edged sword, so to really get a sense of the right size I would suggest fully loosening and then individually tightening the straps when trying on different sizes.

The shoes feel square through the toe box and allow for plenty of wiggle room for the toes but are still snug enough around the ball of the foot that my foot doesn't slide around.  The insole of the shoe has a unique curvature both front-to-back (as shown below) and also side-to-side.  The front-to-back curve is fairly common, but the lateral curve under the ball of the foot allows the the foot to be more centered over the cleat pocket and theoretically provides a broader contact area to distribute pedaling forces.  The soles were stiff enough that I never got any hot spots and while I wasn't really aware of the insole when I wore these shoes I definitely noticed how flat my other cycling shoes felt by comparison.  And I should mention that I noticed it enough to consider getting the road going Octane SL III. 

The unique construction of the uppers has held up remarkably well with the only signs of wear being some rub marks from my driveside chainstay on the carbon heel counter.  The instep is also molded from carbon. 

This summer has been hotter than average, and even in the heat the small laser cut vents seem to do their job.  I'd say these are comparable to other mountain shoes I've had in the breathability department- no better and no worse.


After the hellacious Whiteface hike-a-bike section in the Wilmington Whiteface 100 the exposed carbon soles are pretty well scuffed but still structurally sound. 

 
During that stretch I definitely scraped, dinged and gouged the uppers as well, and remarkably they are none the worse for wear.  

The last key point with these shoes is the three strap velcro closure...meaning that there are no buckles.  Pearl's literature states that this is primarily so save weight, but after having trouble with buckles on other mountain bike shoes I think that there are performance benefits as well.  I have had buckles break in crashes and be twisted badly enough to end my ride.  I've also had them pop open when my foot brushes up against some passing trail debris.  Downhillers and Super D racers don't usually have ratchets on their shoes, and I think that's partly why. 

All in these are great shoes.  They offer a great fit with a stiff sole and a low overall weight.  They've held up great so far, and I like them enough I got myself a second pair.  The only thing I'd like to see on future models is a grippier cat's tonque fabric on the inside of the heel cup, but otherwise these shoes are awesome and look to be in service for a long time.  

For more information visit pearl izumi's website.