The heat bounces off the tarmac and back up around my pasty knees as I step out of my fully tinted big, black pick-up into the Arizona heat. Massive shades firmly in place, I saunter across the parking lot and through the doors of Pivot Cycles where owner/designer Chris Cocalis is waiting. Hand outstretched he greets me and beckons me into a meeting room where coffee is ever-flowing via a sultry secretary and together we spend the rest of the day chatting and designing up my next bike…

Of course, this is all ballocks but it’s always nice to dream.

My time is nearly up with my Pivot Mach 5.7 long term bike and a new ride is on the cards. The Pivot is not perfect but it’s scarily close – improving on that will be tricky.

So, what would I change? In reality, nothing but if the above pro-factory scenario were to actually occur, what high-faluting, pro-rider style changes would I make/demand for the 2012 bike*? For arguments sake, let’s give the project the working title ‘Pivot Mach 5.7 Superleggera Competizione  RM01′…

- Carbon rear-end. I’m all for the move to carbon/the jump to hyper-space but I’ll keep the front triangle made out of alloy, please. As with the Yeti ASR5 Alloy, this will bring the signature bike into the range beneath the full carbon number in terms of price. Again, as with the Yeti, I love the feel of a carbon rear triangle and it would further trim some weight. Also, can I have more tyre clearance please? It’s not horrendous at the minute, but when running the reasonably chunky Hans Dampf’s it’s a bit tight in the sort of mud present down my local woods. Oh, and a custom linkage guard too. Would gloss finish be do-able? Lovely stuff.

- E-Thru rear axle. I’m constantly writing about the millions of changing standards in mountain biking but the one which makes most sense to me is the Shimano E-thru rear axle. QR simplicity with increased stiffness and feel? One of them please, Chris.

- Shimano HollowTech II bottom bracket. I’ve already done one BB30 (ok, it had the Mega to contend with…) and there’s a very subtle knocking coming from my second one already. HollowTech II is easy to use, easy to install and lasts. Let’s go with that…

- Custom Fox Kashima-Coated FIT 34 fork. There are rumours that the 34mm legged 26in wheel Fox fork isn’t far away (they do one for the wagon-wheelers already). The FIT 32′s on my bike are  my favourite fork but I miss the supple yet unbudgingly stiff feel of the 36′s I ran at the Mega. So, I’m sure it can’t be too much to ask for a custom set to be whipped up… We could even sticker them up as 32′s and leek them on Facebook?

- No bottle cages bolts. I just use bladders so we could probably bin them off. Bill it as weight saving? Lovely.

- Carbon fibre lower link. The gorgeously sculpted upper link in the Piv’s DW assembly is one of the sexiest parts of any bike ever. True fact. Now, there’s probably a very good engineering reason why the lower one isn’t carbon fibre too but I think my signature frame should have one. Maybe with some sort of signature logo or something?

More HobNobs please, Tiffany… (Are they even available in Arizona?! I don’t know – I’m drunk on power…)

- Titanium hardware. Let’s go for the good stuff all-round – Allen head bolts too, proper deep ones to avoid rounding-out. Alright, it may push the RRP up again but come on! This is a signature frame! Ok, just give me £30 and I’ll buy the bolts for my own bike and have my mechanic fit them…

- Paint. It’s a custom rig so lets go mental with the paint – Kawasaki green for the front triangle with the carbon rear getting a deep gloss lacquer and matching graphics. Remember the green the Iron Horse Mrk.III used to be available in? Yeah, that’s the badger. But brighter.

- Bottle opener. You see those front triangle shock mounts? Can we make the non-drive side into a bottle opener? No? Ok.

So that’s it then, the Pivot Mach 5.7 Superleggera Competizione  RM01is finished and what a bike she’s shaping up to be. Seriously though, my desk and head are a mess with catalogues and ideas as to what should replace the 5.7 when the fateful day comes when I have to box her up for the last time. Such, SUCH a good bike… Any suggestions?!

Keep an eye in MBUK Magazine and this here blog for some all new long term machines very soon.

*NB – For 2012 the Pivot Mach 5.7 will be available in carbon fibre. This will be the equivalent of the Millennium Falcon in terms of speed.

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.

Well, it’s finally finished! I say ‘finally’, Andrew and Joe from Timber Landscaping got my shed built in no time at all really. Four and a bit days from oddly-shaped baron moonscape to full-sized bike hanger to be precise.

Thursday night in the McLaughlin house-hold was a bit like a poorly-choreographed celtic version of Challenge Anneka. We had friends coming to stay so the wife needed the spare room bike-free… The gauntlet was thrown down.

One of the best things about tidying up bike clutter though is finding stuff you’d until then written off as being simply ‘lost in the ether’. Prize finds included replacement lenses for my long-suffering Oakley Radar’s, some Pedro’s tyre levers, a Crank Brothers multi-tool and two or three random titanium bolts. Not a bad hawl…

With everything in place and some tidy No Limits bike hangers on the wall my best mate Alan and I hung-overly went about man’s work… Putting up a clothes line and making a ‘shadow-board’ (tool wall).

The first bike job that needed doing was installing a press-fit BB into my BMX Bandit machine. With everything to hand and a decent bench to facilitate rubber mallets and cups of coffee it was pretty sweet finally working on one of my bikes in my very own shed.

The best thing about shed ownership so far however has been the arrival of loads of shed-related mini-tasks – you constantly find excuses to tackle small jobs. My Santa Cruz needs taken apart, cleaned, sorted and put back together (ok, not that small a job), I need to get some lighting in there and I need to track down a paint splattered Aiwa radio tuned exclusively to Five Live…

Anyway, I can hand on heart say that if you’ve got a bit of space to spare, a few readies saved up and have been thinking about getting a shed – do it. At the (tender) age of 26 I’m a complete and utter shed convert – your bikes will get tighter, your house is less cluttered and if nothing else, you’ve got a fantastic excuse to hammer nails into bits of wood!

Superstar pride themselves on ‘cutting out the middle man’ and offering up well thought out products at fantastic prices straight to you direct from the Far East. For 2011 they’re set on continuing to diversify their product range and from what we’ve seen it all looks bob on…

First out of Neil’s magic box of new stuff was the Plasma chain device. Features include ISCG and ISCG 05 fitments, bash ring or non-bash ring options and a smattering of colourways. Superstar are focused on offering customisation and thorough after-sales care with all their products so the Plasma will be available in tons of colours and each individual part is fully replaceable.

They’re also producing an XCR single ring guide too for just £16. We reckon this will make a lot of sense for people toying with the idea of going single but who aren’t convinced it’s for them yet.

For the shovel-handed amongst you, they’ll soon be adding 150mm long lock-on style grips to their line-up. They’re ideal for the big of paw or just those who want a bit more room.

Neil also had a new Trizoid rear DH hub with him. It features the whirry goodness of 120 point engagement, 12x150mm sizing and some meaty Japanese EZO bearings. It’s ridiculously easy to service too and retails at £159.99.

Trust us when we say that Superstar have some BIG things in the pipeline so keep an eye on their soon-to-be-updated webber. In the mean time though, there’ll be some thorough wrecking and rating going on in the mag very soon…

My Dad always says ‘you get what you pay for’ usually just after a bargain I’ve found breaks. I’ve never found  those true either – especially when you’re buying a bike. So, just what can you expect to get as you move up through the road biking budget?

£300

£270 is pretty much the lowest you can go if you want a brand new road bike, with Decathlon offering the Sport 1 model. Spen £350 on the Viking Roma and, like the Sport 1, you’ll get a basic aluminium frame and steel fork combination with an 8-speed Shimano drivetrain, although components come from the Shimano 2300 range instead of the 2200 level kit of the Decathlon for slightly improved shift performance.

On budget bikes the rest of the components like stem and saddle, are compiled from a range of manufacturers in order to meet tight budgetary requirements. While many of these items function well it is worth checking reviews – if you can find them sites like Bikeradar – to weed out possible problem areas.

We chose to try out the Claud Butler Criterium as on paper it offers the best frame within this price bracket, with vibration damping curved seat stays a real bonus. Unfortunately the 7-speed Shimano gears are downgraded in order to squeeze the higher spec frame in on the £319.99 budget.

Claud Butler Criterium is a decent starter choice

A tall head tube means that the bars offer a high, distance friendly position and help inspire confidence in riders not used to aggressive ‘racy’ positions. As a result the Criterium feels smooth and stable most of the time, but when cornering at speed the rearward weight distribution and reasonably flexible wheels does mean that it suffers from noticeable understeer.

Press hard on the pedals and the combination of flexible chainstays and heavy 30mm deep alloy rims make progress feel slow. Pedal gently, though, and the lack of frame stiffness is not an issue. In that respect it represents a reasonable entry point for riders looking to make an inexpensive start on the road,  however improvers might out grow the Criteriums softly-softly character as their fitness improves.

Shifting gears with the centrally mounted levers does require moving your hands away from the brakes and releasing your grip on the bars which isn’t idea. Although gear shifts are faultless once the gear is selected, we feel not having the simultaneous access to both gears and brakes provided by integrated gear and brake levers (STIs)  is too large a price to pay for the better frame of the Criterium.

It’s easy to be snobby about £300 bikes but although the Criterium is a bit weighty at 11.6Kg it’s still fun to ride. However  if you want to test your mettle with harder efforts then it isn’t quite up to the task.