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Oct 15, 2024

The Grinder 156: Formula Cura X brake, OneUp Alu bar, MSR tent, Specialized Method shoe and more – Singletrack World Magazine

Bits for your body, bike, and the happiness of those who share your shed. First things first, these brakes aren’t as powerful as the SRAM Maven or the Hope Tech4 V4 (the latter still takes the Best

Bits for your body, bike, and the happiness of those who share your shed.

First things first, these brakes aren’t as powerful as the SRAM Maven or the Hope Tech4 V4 (the latter still takes the Best Brake crown in my opinion). While they aren’t as powerful as The Most Powerful Brakes Of All Time, the Cura X are plenty strong enough for every type of non-e riding, if paired with proper size (203mm) rotors. And they do it without having four pistons. Yep, these are just two pot stoppers. In the real world this can be an advantage – easier to get a rotor-drag-free set-up and only one set of pistons to keep an eye on in terms of maintenance. A real highlight is the new lever. It’s a much better shape – flatter and hooky. The two twiddlers adjust reach and feel/power; you can eke more power out of the brake if you’re prepared to accept a bit more of a squidgy feel upon pad contact. Regardless, these are far and away the best two pot disc brakes I’ve used.

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The OneUp 7050-T6 aluminium bar has the same ovalised shape as its carbon bars but at a lower price. Stats: 800mm wide, 5°, upsweep, 8° backsweep. A tried and tested recipe. The USP of the bars is the increased damping and compliance through the use of that ovalised profile. Does it work? Yes, it does. The bars are the comfiest I have used. Based on ride feel, they are up there with the best. They take the sting out of rough trails without ever feeling like there is any loss of accuracy. When out of the saddle and yanking on the bars there is no noticeable flex, yet they add a muted level to trails and remove a lot of vibration. A lot of test bikes come with overly stiff (carbon) bars so I often swap them for something more comfortable. These OneUp bars have now become my control set. I’d happily run them on all the bikes I ride and test.

A light, waterproof and compact tent that can be mounted to both flat- and drop-bar bikes. It attaches to the bars with two straps, and there’s an elasticated bungee at the stem to fully secure the bag. The extremely lightweight spacers are removable and are an option for floating the bag away from your bars. The bag itself is waterproof, and there’s enough room inside it to include a footprint if you have one, and any other bits and bobs you may want to put in at the last minute when packing up camp. It’s not a squeeze getting the tent into the bag. The big sell for this tent is that the pole design has shortened the folded dimensions to a mere 30cm in length. Erecting the tent is fast and mostly foolproof, even when doing it alone. The poles are symmetrical and the snap-on hooks to attach the inner tent layer take seconds to pop on. The poles slot easily into the red anodised tabs on each corner of the inner pitch, and the tension system on these ground straps makes it very simple to get the tent up without stretching and forcing poles into place, as you just pull it tight once pitched. Little kickstands for the vents are extremely useful when you’ve hung your riding kit up on the interior clothesline, which is a new feature for this MSR model. This tent has decent headroom and it’s a real treat to have carried such a lightweight and small piece of equipment around to then have it transform into a really usable space. The four internal pockets are tech-friendly and have cable ports in the lower corners of them. Another new feature is the two roof pockets, which offer further organisation or a great place to place a bike light while you’re setting up your bed. Both the external and internal door zippers are smooth enough to use one-handed, and the outer door creates a ‘porch’ to put your shoes and bags in, so they’re sheltered and hidden yet not actually inside the tent. An excellent piece of kit designed to be easy to use while surviving heavy use.

Not a terrifically popular shoe it seems. Which is great news as it means they’re always being flogged off at pretty much half price if you do a quick Google. Which is double great news because even at full RRP they’re not expensive. These are my favourite riding shoes. I only ever don’t opt for them if the weather is really sopping (then I use Leatt 7.0 HydraDri). The Method 2FO shoes are supremely comfortable and supremely grippy and supremely well damped. They feel like pulling on a familiar old pair of jeans but a pair of jeans that er, grips really well(!) Yes, they are relatively basic in construction compared to £120+ premium pumps (no EVA midsole, no toe box bumper, no fancy insoles etc) but the proof is in the riding and these ride amazingly. As with most cycling shoes, you need to go up a Euro shoe size. I’d even say go up two Euro shoe sizes if you want to pair these with thick waterproof socks.

It turns out you don’t have to have a garage that permanently stinks like Mr Motivator’s sweatband that a cat has pissed on. Who knew? Probably loads of you who own some scented odour eliminator. And yes, you can just keep on using that if it’s working for you. It’s often cheaper than this stuff from Grangers. So why use Grangers Odour Eliminator? Three reasons. Firstly, it doesn’t have a super-fake scent. It doesn’t really smell of anything in fact. Secondly, the pump action dispenser is very accurate which leads to less waste and more efficacy. Thirdly, Grangers have a bit more of an eco-vibe. Not to mention being a smaller brand than the mighty behemoths behind more well-known spray-on scented stuff. Anyway, the main takeaway here is that if you’re a mountain biker, get some anti-stink spray in your life. Helmet pads, the insides of cycling shoes, goggle foam… so really anything that is not (easily) washing machine-able.

The 38 is Fox’s chunky stanchioned hard hitting enduro fork. As most people will know, the 38 in the name refers to stanchion diameter, making it Fox’s biggest single crown offering, and is only out chunked by the Fox 40 triple clamp DH fork. Our test sample is the top end Factory Elite model in 180mm travel. The Factory Elite is the top tier so it comes fully equipped with all available external tuning options along with the signature Kashima coated stanchions.

From the get-go, the 38 has impressed. I’ve had the chance to use a good few of this fork’s competitors over the last couple of years and I’d say that currently, the 38 is the best of the bunch. It strikes a perfect balance of support and suppleness. The sensitivity and plushness off the top are top class and it hoovers up low-frequency trail chatter and keeps the fork tracking the ground. You can commit to off-cambers and high lines across carpets of roots and the fork keeps the front wheel on line and tracking no matter how washboardy the ground is. The 38 uses its travel well, and sits in the sweet spot of the travel. It offers buckets of support for slow and steep tech and when hitting fast turns and berms, but still feels buttery soft and smooth through the travel. In the rough it remains calm and composed, letting you bulldoze through rough rocky sections. It’s definitely stiffer than smaller stanchioned forks but I’ve never had any harshness or pinging off line and while I have bottomed the fork out, there’s never been a harsh stop, more a measured ramp-up.

On the rear of the lowers, you’ll see raised bypass channels. These are designed to alleviate any issues of not achieving full travel due to increasing pressure as the fork compresses. The channels actually increase air volume, reducing the amount of additional unintended pressure ramping. On top of those channels, each leg also has a bleeder port. These allow you to quickly and easily (just press the button) bleed the lowers of any air that has built up, and equalise with the atmospheric pressure, making sure there is no loss of small bump sensitivity or issue with getting full travel.

Before the Grip2, I’d always found Fox forks to feel a bit overdamped. This fork has changed that. Its performance is top class and it has a massive range of adjustment that has a discernible effect on how the fork rides. Fox’s new GripX2 damper is starting to appear on forks now. I can’t wait to give that a go. I can’t think how it could get any better. Watch this space.

First things first, these brakes aren’t as powerful as the SRAM Maven or the Hope Tech4 V4 (the latter still takes the Best Brake crown in my opinion). While they aren’t as powerful as The Most Powerful Brakes Of All Time, the Cura X are plenty strong enough for every type of non-e riding, if paired with proper size (203mm) rotors. And they do it without having four pistons. Yep, these are just two pot stoppers. In the real world this can be an advantage – easier to get a rotor-drag-free set-up and only one set of pistons to keep an eye on in terms of maintenance. A real highlight is the new lever. It’s a much better shape – flatter and hooky. The two twiddlers adjust reach and feel/power; you can eke more power out of the brake if you’re prepared to accept a bit more of a squidgy feel upon pad contact. Regardless, these are far and away the best two pot disc brakes I’ve used.

*we will be sticking the new GRIPX damper into this fork for a contrast and compare secondary review

I typically don’t like knee pads. I usually can’t wait to remove them. They require far too much babysitting throughout an average bike ride. These YT ones are the only knee pads I’ve had that have stayed in place – requiring zero tugging stops – for the duration of a ride. It seems YT is one of the only brands that has realised that knee pads are actually held in place by what happens below the knee (and above the calf ). The general shaping of the sleeve may not be as overtly fancy or tailored as some but it totally doesn’t matter – the fabric is so light and stretchy that it just goes where/does what it needs to. The key things are the decent silicone grippers on the lower hem and, more importantly, the elasticated band on the lower rear that you can place exactly where you need it to be (hugging the top of your calf bulge). I’ve accidentally kept these pads on for hours after a ride has finished. Nuff said.

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Orange Switch 6er. Stif Squatcher. Schwalbe Magic Mary Purple Addix front. Maxxis DHR II 3C MaxxTerra rear. Coil fan. Ebikes are not evil.I have been a writer for nigh on 20 years, a photographer for 25 years and a mountain biker for 30 years. I have written countless magazine and website features and route guides for the UK mountain bike press, most notably for the esteemed and highly regarded Singletrackworld.Although I am a Lancastrian, I freely admit that West Yorkshire is my favourite place to ride. Rarely a week goes by without me riding and exploring the South Pennines.

Home › Forums › The Grinder 156: Formula Cura X brake, OneUp Alu bar, MSR tent, Specialized Method shoe and more

I have a MSR Huba Huba NX2 and have used it mostly while sea kayaking. The tent has performed quite well but the stiching on some the bits that the tent pegs go through came undone on a windy night while camping on Ulva at 3am. I spent the next hour collecting some big stones to hold the tent down.

My sea kayak coach nicknamed his the teabag tent after having to source a replacement while paddling the roof of Scotland.

Quite a nice tent and light but maybe not the most durable?

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What is the 502 Club?

Full Suspension

seriousrikk

4 days ago

Nottingham, England

1,300.00