- The Taipei Cycle Show is stacked full
of great new mountain bike tech.
And then there's an awful lot of stuff here
that you don't normally see.
Unfortunately GMBN viewers, you have me as your guide.
But, don't worry, I'm gonna start you off with something
seriously good, something you don't see
a lot of on this channel.
But somewhere I feel very at home, in fact.
Lycra.
Oh yeah.
What do you mean I can't have Lycra in this video?
What're you talking about?
What?
Can I have bar ends?
Not even bar ends?
What're we gonna do then?
(upbeat music)
We're getting a little bit of a headstart here,
with this, the G-Spec Quadiem from TRP.
It is, of course, Aaron Gwin's signature brake.
Not gonna be launched for another month but, well,
why wait when it's in front of you.
Now, this is the brake that Aaron Gwin effectively
tweaked from the existing Quadiem.
Most notably, in fact, the lever shape,
which went through 15 iterations, as they say,
before they arrived at the perfect one for him.
He also wanted even more power, so we've got a slightly
longer lever blade, and of course the pistons are tweaked
to give you the same lever stroke.
Then, also, you've got better insulation of the pads,
so there's now a composite layer
on the centre of the pistons.
And then he also wanted tighter pad tolerance as well,
so they've done exactly as he asked.
There's also an indexed reach adjust at his request.
And that's 'cause he is, apparently, very particular
about the position of his levers,
as you would be,
and having it indexed means that his mechanic
can actually count the number of clicks, to make sure
the lever blade is always in exactly the right position,
no matter how many brakes he swaps or bikes he swaps.
Check this out.
Found it,
perfect for Blake.
It's a mini ramp set.
Portable ramps and it's also
available in green.
And look!
There's even a guy with bar ends on it.
Over at the SRAM Fam, we've got a couple
of new bits to show you, firstly, the Quarq ShockWiz.
Now, you may well have seen this little gadget
on the Dirt Shed Show when Scott
talked you through it a few weeks ago,
but it is still new, so just in case you missed that,
here's a quick run down.
It basically is a little device that allows you
to quantify the performance of your suspension.
So you plug it in
to the air chamber there,
and then it will sample the air pressure
a hundred times per second.
That data is then fed in to the ShockWiz app
that lives on your smart phone.
And then from there, it will tell you how your Shock
is performing, and then the really clever bit,
depending on which ride preferences you choose,
it will then give you advice on how you can optimise
the Shock to perform even better.
I like the sound of that.
Then, behind me, we have the RockShox
full line up of suspension forks.
These two here are the new ones,
although, for mountain bikers who are maybe slightly older,
you may well remember the name.
RockShox Judy was actually retired in the early 2000s,
but it is back.
Don't be deceived, though, the entry-level fork
is a very modern fork.
It's got boost compatibility, it's air sprung.
A little bit simpler to tune, it's just got external
rebound, compression is a full lock-out, and then
you can actually add a remote to that as well.
It's, the more cross country end of the spectrum,
travel options are 80, 100, and 120 mil,
and it is also, obviously, for 27.5 and 29ers.
From RockShox to Cane Creek.
Now, mountain bike historians should
find a link there, but anyway.
Cane Creek are just showing their new suspension fork.
In fact, I see, despite having been involved
in mountain bike suspension for a long time,
this is their first ever fork.
It's called the Helm.
It's dedicated to Endruro riders,
only available in 27.5 inch at the moment.
Boost compatible.
Travel is adjustable from 140 mil to 170 mil
by swapping out tokens.
You've got your high-speed and low-speed compression
damping, you've got your rebound damping.
35 mil stanchions, and then, one of the nicest little
touches is that they have, reinvented the through-axle.
So they now have a locking, quick release, through-axle.
Nice little touch.
Now, I know the GMBN guys get to use ergon products
on their bikes.
One thing I've never seen before
are these, the GS3 team addition bar ends,
so don't worry, Donny, Scott, Blake.
I've picked you up a few pairs
and I promise you, once you put them on your bike,
it will totally revolutionise your riding styles.
Thank me later.
The good people at Box have clearly been very busy of late.
They started shipping their new drive train, the One,
which is one by 11,
with
intuitive push-push-shifting function.
Which is kind of cool.
They started shipping that back in December.
But then over here,
they've got these, their new wheels,
which aren't actually on sale yet,
so they're trail wheels, they say,
and they've got three different types
with different internal rim widths.
They're measured on external rim width, though.
So this is the TR-41, which is the fattest of them all.
Then they've got the TR-36 and the TR-33.
Now, they say their quite intuitive because they have
an asymmetric rim profile, front and back.
And then the hubs, the hubs very cleverly ship
with both your XD driver and also
Shimano cassette option as well.
Over at WTB we've got a couple of new tyres for you.
Firstly, this, the Ranger, which is a cross-country
tyre launched early this year but proven, apparently,
in World Cup races last year.
It's a damp-to-muddy conditions tyre.
2.25 inches wide, but then perhaps even more interestingly
is this one over here, which is the TCS Tough version.
Now that was launched, literally, at this show
and it uses WTB's proven tough casing, making it,
as you can see here, a perfect tyre for bike packing.
This bike is actually off to Nepal, apparently,
for two and half weeks.
Kinda wanna go with it.
Microshift have quietly been going around their business
for a long, long time now, but this
is their new electronic shifting system.
It's called the EXCD.
It's one by 11,
run 11 to 46 cassette on there,
and very neatly, the battery pack actually lives here,
up at the shifter.
So you've got all your controls you need
within reaching distance of your right thumb.
You can adjust the indexing up here,
as well as, of course, actually
changing the gear.
Apparently the battery lasts about 10,000 shifts,
when you've got it in clutch mode.
Turn the clutch off, you get about 16,000 shifts out of it.
They're hoping to release it at the end of the year
and the best bit is that the whole drive train
should come in for less than $600,
which is not bad for electronic.
Innova Tyre have just won an award here
at the Taipei Cycle Show for their Integrated Tubeless Tech.
It must be said, this is remarkably difficult to describe
but effectively, they have created something that feels
likes you're inflating the very carcass of your tyre.
Now, they say that gives you all the benefits of tubeless,
so no pinch punctures, but then you also have
all the benefits of a standard inner tube.
So it mounts really easily to standard rims
and you inflate it first time, every time.
You do still need sealant, so that you can stop
getting those sharp thorn-type punctures,
but the sealant would then be contained
inside the actual carcass of the tyre.
Interesting to see whether that works.
Well, it feels like we've only just scratched the surface
of the weird and wonderful tech here
at the Taipei Cycle Show, but right now I'm actually faced
with some kind of a quandary.
I cannot work out how I'm gonna fit this in my luggage
to take home, but I can't resist it.
Let's face it, Neil is gonna absolutely love it,
and even better than that, there's also space on the back
for Martyn, Scott, and Blake.
That's right, it's a new GMBN party bus.
Yeah?
While you're mulling that over,
do make sure that you subscribe to GMBN.
It's very easy.
Just click on the globe.
And then if you're after more content,
then why not check out Neil's look at one-by versus two-by,
that's just up there.
Or, indeed, check out the new Dirt Shed Show,
that's just down there.
What happened to three-by?
I used to love that stuff.