Last time, we took a look at 10 outdoor and mountain bike products, and you guys wanted
to see more.
So today, we’ll look at another ten—for better or worse.
Let’s get started.
First, the Osprey Talon lumbar pack.
It’s a fanny pack for mountain biking.
The main advantage to these packs is that they eliminate the back sweat problem that
you get with hydration packs.
This one comes with two water bottles, which hold about 18oz each.
I find that this is enough for a 10 mile ride in hot weather.
As far as storage goes, it’s pretty impressive.
It’s enough for the tools and supplies that any rider would carry, and even enough for
a fair bit of my camera gear.
Because it’s so comfortable and easy to get stuff out of, the Talon is now my pack
of choice when I can get away with it.
However, lumbar packs aren’t for everyone.
If you have a small ass, it’s going to shift around and get annoying.
I don’t have that problem, so it fits great and stays put.
For what it is this was pretty expensive, but I’d have to say it was worth every penny.
Next are my Fiveten Freeriders.
This is my second pair, which I didn’t actually need.
These work fine, but they’re permanently filthy.
So, they’re now my bad weather shoes.
Now you’ll notice these don’t have cleats, and that’s because they’re designed for
flat pedals.
A lot of people ask if they grip pedals any better than a pair of Vans, and the answer
is no, not that I can tell.
But a mountain bike shoe should also be splash resistant, and be good for hiking.
It should have thick padding for protection, and super tough soles that don’t wear out
catching the chainstay or mashing on pedal spikes.
I’ve totally demolished skate shoes in the past, but haven’t done a lick of damage
to either pair of Fivetens.
They’re amazingly comfortable, practically indestructible, and I honestly don’t have
anything negative to say about them.
And that’s where our positive review streak ends.
Meet Formy grips.
The concept is that you send your measurements to Formy and they make you a pair of 3D printed
grips that perfectly match the contours of your hands.
Indeed, they do fit nice and are made of really good quality materials.
The only problem is that they’re no good for mountain biking.
With gloves on they just aren’t grippy enough, and with sweaty hands I’d imagine they’d
be worse.
I found these to be terrifying to ride with, and I think it’s mainly because their diameter
is so large, much more so than a pair of ODI grips.
The shape reminds me of what you’d find on a hybrid commuter bike, with palm pads
and an overall short length.
In fact, these might be great for commuting, but the company told me they can be used for
mountain biking which I strongly disagree with.
So only check these out if you’re struggling to find a comfy commuter grip.
Let’s take a look at my Smith Rover helmet.
I hesitated to get this helmet because so many people already have it, and now I see
why.
The ventilation is great and the straps lie perfectly flat on your face.
Twisted straps are a huge pet peeve of mine.
Another pet peeve is this stupid mechanism that never tightens up evenly.
The Rover uses the rotary variety, which is superior in my opinion.
Generally the rover is really comfortable, but I find that you need to tighten the back
a lot to get it secure.
So I’m usually messing with this depending on the intensity of my ride.
I don’t know if these honeycomb vents are for stiffness, or style points, but they’re
certainly innovative.
I’ve tried on a lot of helmets in a search for one I don’t hate, and I think the Rover
comes the closest, for now.
And here we have some more Crankbrother’s tools, which I’m only counting as one product
since we reviewed the bigger versions of these tools last time.
Let’s recap, starting with the F15 multitool and it’s counterpart, the F10+.
Last time we saw how the F15’s cover can be used for leverage, enough even for pedals.
With that leverage, a high quality finish, a nice chain tool, and detachable spoke wrenches,
it’s one of the best multi tools you can get.
The F10+ is exactly the same tool except it doesn’t come with the spoke wrenches or
chain tool.
So, we’re left with a nice compact multi tool with a cover that can be used for leverage,
and other things.
In my opinion, any multitool without a chain breaker should be super compact, super inexpensive,
or both.
I think the F10+ falls short of that, and so I’d recommend looking for something else
or going with the F15, which is hands down the best multi tool I’ve ever used.
On to the pump, the Klic HV.
Last time we looked at the Klic HV Gauge, which comes with a pressure gauge.
The tube comes out of the handle and screws on separately, attaching to the pump body
magnetically.
The result is a high volume pump that doesn’t put strain on your valve.
It’s as good as hand pumps get, but it won’t fit in my lumbar pack.
By shedding the gauge, the smaller Klic HV fits perfectly and still has all the other
features.
Even without the gauge, I think it’s an exceptional pump, so it’ll be coming with
me whenever I rock the fanny pack.
Now let’s look at my Raceface tailgate cover, an expensive replacement for a piece of cardboard
or carpet.
We’re not going to discuss the merits of tailgate covers in this video.
We’ll just assume that you do see the value in a good tailgate cover, like I do.
In terms of protecting your tailgate, I’d have to say this does the job.
The inside is a velour type material, which might even be overkill.
Speaking of overkill, there will come a day where I don’t even bother with these straps.
Between gravity and these big foam blocks, it would take a rollover for a bike to come
loose.
If you don’t feel like using them, the straps are removable.
What’s great about carrying bikes this way is that you could probably cram 6 or 7 on
a midsized pickup, The Raceface pad comes with 5 straps, with an extra block on each
side for a 6th and 7th bike.
There’s a velcro cover on it to access the tailgate handle, although it’s probably
measured out for a Tacoma, not a Ridgeline.
When it’s not in use, I’m able to fit this pad under my back seats, so it’s always
with me ready to go.
I haven’t used any other pads at length so my review is based on relative ignorance
of the subject.
Still I paid full retail for this thing and still feel I got my money’s worth.
Of course, you may not have a pickup.
Before I did, I used a Saris Superclamp 2 hitch rack, which I can’t give you a fair
review on.
You see my dad had a Saris rack when I was a kid, my first rack was a Saris, and when
I started my channel Saris was the first company to reach out to me.
They send me cards around the holidays.
So I’m a bit biased, but having used a lot of other people’s racks I always find my
Superclamp to be faster and easier.
From experience, I can also tell you it’s the most versatile.
Here’s a tall fat bike I brought all the way to Key West.
If it can carry that, I’m pretty sure it can carry anything.
On the rack itself you’ll also have access to two cable locks for pit stops.
The actual bike scoops are made to fit wide tires right out of the box, so it’s obvious
Saris is focusing on mountain bikers.
My one complaint about this rack is that the clamps can freely hit the mechanism at the
top of the arm, which you then need to pop back in.
A simple metal stop would prevent this.
Another way to prevent it is to not carelessly fling the clamp up, but I’m a careless person
and tend to do it anyway.
Even though I don’t need it now, I’m keeping my superclamp around for when my pickup bed
is full of stuff, or for lugging bikes on my wife’s car.
Speaking of things that hold bikes, I have extensive experience with wall racks, having
built, bought, and installed at least 5 different types.
The one I’m sticking with is the Rubbermaid Fasttrack.
I had this at my last house, and got another one for here.
These are sold at The Home Depot.
The 48” rail is $8.99, but then each bike hook is $10 bucks.
You can fit 4 on this rail, so you’re almost at $50 for that setup.
The metal piece has a bunch of holes in it so you just catch some beams and then slide
the plastic cover over it.
Having used normal rubber hooks to hold bikes I can say they’re not as secure, and the
rubber eventually wears through.
These are more durable, and the modular design makes the whole thing more flexible.
My only complaint is that the bike hooks don’t have any sort of wheel scoop to keep it off
the wall.
For $10 it seems like they could have put some kind of a piece there.
Next is my Park ADT-1 torque driver.
Many parts of your bike are designed to be fastened with a torque wrench, which allows
you to tighten a nut or bolt to a given torque.
When you reach the proper torque, it slips to prevent over tightening.
The Park ADT-1 is just a baby torque wrench.
Included in the handle are all the bits you’ll need for your cockpit or disc brakes.
The handle itself feels really solid, and the tool has some significant weight to it.
My only complaint about this tool is that you need an allen key to actually change the
torque value.
This is a minor inconvenience.
In some lighting conditions it’s also hard to read the numbers, but I solved that problem
with a magic marker.
Still, the convenience of having a compact torque driver around has caused me to actually
use it, which is probably smart for the sake of my parts and safety.
Finally we have the DJI Mavic, aerial videography drone.
It’s not mountain bike related, but I’ll review it as it would apply to mountain bike
video making.
The Mavic, like other copters, is great for getting an establishing shot, or giving the
viewer a sense of scale.
The video quality on this thing is a little better than a cell phone, but with the built
in gimbal it’s super smooth.
The remote lets you see the video feed through a smart phone, and I was pleasantly surprised
to find that it does this through an actual cable, not bluetooth or wifi.
You can see the the video and control the aircraft for miles in any direction, and the
battery gives you a solid 30 minutes of flight time.
Enough, I find, for 3 short flights.
The great thing about the Mavic is that it folds up small enough to fit in a hydration
pack.
This makes it practical to actually take with you to get shots, assuming you have legal
clearance or don’t care.
A lot of you have asked me about the follow feature, which is supposed to lock on to a
target and follow it.
It’s useless for mountain biking I assure you.
I’m able to use the follow feature for really tame stuff like this at most.
Because it’s compact, easy to fly, and useful, I give the Mavic really high marks.
My only complaint is that it’s buggy—and I don’t mean the software.
Hundreds of ants moved into my Mavic somehow.
I ain’t bringing it home inside the car.
Now, how to get these ants out.
By putting it in a bag and leaving it in the sun, it seems that all of the ants have evacuated
and died, with no damage to the unit.
The end.
So there you go, 10 mountain bike product reviews, for better or worse.
Let me know what you think in the comments, and do check out my last video for more reviews
like these.
I’m gonna get started on making a new list of reviews, so until then: Thanks for riding
with me today, and I’ll see you next time.