We just received a big order from rockman, and they included some new goodies for my bike. I'm also testing a new revision of the spade prototype fork. The last one i had broke very quickly, likely due to the internally butted steerer. I worked with adam (bigman) on revising the dropout to distribute braking force more evenly across the fork, and the steerer is no longer butted. even with these changes, the fork is more than 20g lighter than the previous one. after cutting the steerer, my fork tips the scale at 692g. the new fork is also constructed with u6 alloy.



the new disc side dropout. the dropout thickness is reduced in non critical areas to save weight, and there is an extension to distribute the braking force to a larger area of the fork legs.


the steerer is now thicker, and no longer butted


non disc side dropout remains the same (as far as i know)


the fork is extremely wide. tire clearance definitely will not be an issue


because the fork is a prototype, they didn't bother with the finish. i actually prefer this look.


ive been using the 2010 echo sl cranks/ titanium freewheel/ pedals/ for over a month. they are holding up great. the freewheel has yet to skip on me. very solid setup. the pedals are very grippy, and feel much better than mg-1 because of the thinner profile








the oldest part on my bike. i really like the echo sl rear hub because it uses a splined cog rather than a threaded one. i don't have to worry about strpping the threads on the hub when i change cogs. the cog on there is the new SL titanium. while it is only 11g lighter than the regular sl, i noticed that the cog is much harder. the teeth on the cog has absolutely no wear. this may not be a good thing, as the chain may get worn out faster.


i love the tnn integrated booster. there is definitely a big difference between this setup and my trialtech carbon booster setup. having the booster between the mounts makes for a much stiffer brake.


i cut two grooves on each pad roughly 4mm from the end. i did this hoping to get the pads to vibrate a little bit more, giving it a little more bite. it definitely improved my braking.




because of the +20 disc mount on the prototype fork, i am back to my 180mm try-all rotor. the 160mm ashima/rockman rotor worked well enough, but i definitely missed the extra power


i've been using this rb lever for over a year, and it still works amazing. i don't think i can ever go back to a standard magura lever




the new rockbar carbon. it is the same bar as the no war, but has a 3 month warranty, and is a lot cheaper.






some other new things worth mentioning :


the slate2 frame is now available in a new grey color. the newer batches are also lighter at 1468g.

here is the 20" 3d stem. the stem is the same as the try all 3d that benito is using on his sky

引用 Kevin 的文章-

I'm also testing a new revision of the spade prototype fork. The last one i had broke very quickly, likely due to the internally butted steerer.

天佑世人!!有時代工廠測試零件可能要先買保險...不過從前怎都沒聽提起過,前叉豎管原來不能抽管滴....
本來阿貓前叉也想抽,我看還是算了...

If the butting was done gradually, rather than in 90 degree angles, i think it would be bettter. having it thinner at the stem clamp is a bad idea though.

i'd really like to see some tapered steertube/headtube on trials bikes soon. 1 1/8 on the top of the headtube, and 1.5 on the bottom. This has done wonders for mountain bikes, and i feel it would open up a whole new level of fork designs. it feels like we are always a couple years behind the mtb technology.

引用 Kevin 的文章-

If the butting was done gra...

The maker surely know all the new technics, but they just do'nt want to use them at a time, so they can have new bikes very year.....

Well, i think the biggest problem is the feasibility. If they do make a new fork with a tapered steerer, all the old frames would be useless. Also, the trials market is very small, and I'm not sure the reception of the new technology would go that well.

If a bike is of the best quality, people will still buy it even the parts are not interchangeable with others as long as they can still buy the parts from the maker.

Some people want scarcity and high price of a product because they are the subject for brag.