Testing with SRAM

Doddy | Blog, Mountain Biking Uk | 21/11/2011 16:52pm

At the end of last week we went product testing with the suspension technicians from SRAM.

As part of product testing, we do come up against bad products here and there, and other products which work well, but could be better.

two tents of tech...

Some manufacturers can be tricky to work with, but we always try as what we want is for you guys to be getting your hands on the best kit you can- whatever your budget.

SRAM are one of the big companies out there that really understand how to get to the goal of the consumer being able to get the best possible experience from their bikes and kit.

SRAM sent two vans over, packed with SRAM wizardry, and complete with wizards to do the tweaking.

This time round we were working on shocks, and tried several different tuning options on a days riding in South Wales.

November. South Wales. EH?

Weaver took his trusty La Pierre with him, whereas I took a test bike I’ve been riding for the last couple of months- an Ibis Mojo HD.

Where Rob found he needed to up the compression slightly, I got to the ideal setting pretty quickly. The Ibis was originally specced with a Fox RP23, with a high volume body- which felt excellent. I thought a Rockshox shock might have been a tall order to compete.

A little different from production units. The sticker says so..

However, the Rockshox Monarch Plus body with piggyback reservoir and valving specially done for my weight and riding style by SRAM’s Torben ‘I have the biggest calf muscles known to man kind but am too nice to kick your ass up this climb’ Borrowy instantly changed my mind.

It’s too early to say how it feels all round- I’ll be spending some time on familiar trails riding it back to back with the Fox. Initially though, I noticed a few things I liked- the high-speed rebound felt brilliant. The piggy back should prevent it suffering from fade too- which air cans can suffer from on long runs.

Also, the fast low speed rebound offered fantastic grip and felt noticeably different. I played mostly between the mid setting, and off for the low speed compression.

In the off position, it was active as you may imagine, but the back end of the bike was a lot quieter.

A good thing, no doubt.

In the mid setting, the bike sat up- also as expected. But it didn’t feel harsh like some bikes can with Pro-pedal on.

Rob’s having his shock tweaked again, but I’m going to continue riding mine.

Look out for updates in the magazine.

: L to R. SRAM’s Torban and Julian, and MBUK’s beardy man Rob

: When do you see Afan looking like this?

: November. South Wales. EH?

: Somewhere in South Wales…

: Unlike the two simple straps on the old pad, there’s a sock that keeps it all in place.

: I got to try out the 2012 Alpinestars Morzine pad too. The 2011 was terrible, but this is a completely story. Comfortable and works- review soon…

: Guy looking typically Guy. Julian politely smiles, probably swearing under his breath

: Weaver’s Spicy gets the treatment too

: two tents of tech…

: Rob Weaver. And beard. And blue glasses.

: Gary Mullany giving the bikes a hose down after

: A little different from production units. The sticker says so..

: Fox up front, Rockshox out back. Whatever next?

This entry was posted on Monday, November 21st, 2011 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Blog, Mountain Biking Uk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.