Posted by Jim on 09/29/08 |
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INTERBIKE 2008 - THE HAYES BICYCLE GROUP STOP...
One of my first stops out at Dirt Demo was the Hayes/Manitou/SunRingle/Wheelsmith (otherwise known as the Hayes Bicycle Group) booth to catch up with their field service rep and tech guru extraordinaire, Matt E.
First things first, Matt filled me in on a few tuning tips for the Manitou Minute 29er that should prove to be the performance boost I've been looking for these past few months (look for an upcoming post) and he also covered the topic of a pad compound option to get rid of the squeal from a set of Hayes Stroker Trail disc brakes I've been running on one of my bikes - great brakes, just a little noisy for my taste.
If any of you out there have had the same experience, then look no further than a pad replacement to get rid of the noise. Hayes has issued a semi-metallic compound that fits all current Stroker series brakes to quiet things down with the only down side being a slightly shorter life-span. Not to worry though, as the new semi-metallic pads only run $16.00 MSRP while the standard, sintered metallic pads run $23.00 MSRP. The lower cost of the semi-metallic pads easily offsets the shorter life-span issue.
The new Hayes brake line largely carries over with the Stroker Ryde and Stroker Trail marching forward unchanged. The Stroker Carbon will receive an upgraded semi-metallic, aluminum backed pad set and comes in at 386 grams with a 160mm rotor and all hardware. This new semi-metallic, aluminum backed pad set should also be available for sale by spring. Also moving forward is the Stroker Ace with it's four-piston caliper and oversized pads for those who like to play with gravity.
The new story for Hayes brakes is that it's Stroker Gram brake will be more readily available. The Gram features a scuplted master cylinder, the new semi-metallic, aluminum backed pad set, titanium hardware, carbon fiber lever blade and hits the scale at 339 grams for the 140mm rotor and 355 grams for the 160mm rotor versions.
Next up was the SunRingle Charger 29er wheelset which features 27mm wide Sun Equalizer disc rims, Wheelsmith double-butted black spokes and alloy nipples and your choice of either Sun Dirty Flea QR front/rear hubs or Jumping Flea 20mm thru front and Dirty Flea QR rear hubs:
Both hub sets feature sealed, cartridge bearings and a red anodized freehub body. Complete wheelset weight for the Dirty Flea QR hub option hits the scales at 1961 grams.
Last, but certainly not least, Manitou has added the new Drake line to it's stable of 29er fork offerings for 2009.
They've also brought back the Dorado name with a completely redesigned version of the Dorado downhill fork.
Something that has to make Johnny T all mushy inside and think about pulling an Armstrong for one last season on the DH circuit.
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