Product Review

Words Lester Perry
Image Cameron Mackenzie
RRP $579
Distributor Southern Approach

I was surprised by how much airflow the helmet offered, particularly considering the traditional MIPS liner usually disrupts airflow. The combination of large frontal air intakes, the strategically placed internal channelling, and the large rear exhaust ports worked exceptionally well. I could feel the air passing over my head, even on muggy late spring days; I found it more breathable than some helmets I’ve worn with more vents. Vents just above the ears are a nice touch, offering virtually uninterrupted sound, so you can easily hear your mates yelling at you to “get off the brakes!” Or maybe that’s just me?

I’ve yet to come across a full-face that doesn’t work well with goggles, and the Airdrop is no different. However, depending on how large your goggle frame is, there may be limited space from the top of the frame to the forehead of the helmet, so it’s worth checking whether your specific setup would work. Not all full-faces play nicely with glasses; however, should you want to go down that route, the two work just fine together on the Airdrop.

The Airdrop meets all the necessary safety standards here in NZ, but I wonder how much it exceeds them by? It’s something we’ll never know. Still, with fewer vents than some popular models and more ‘meat’ (and consequently weight) across key areas, my bro-science would tell me that this helmet may lean further toward a downhill helmet than some brethren. I won’t delve too deep into the subject, but there is a sticker inside the lid touting that ‘the chin bar meets ASTM F1952 Standard Certification’; essentially a certification for downhill helmets that are tested to a higher level than the usual standards we see.

The fact ABUS claims the chin bar passes this certification leaves some grey area as to whether or not the entire helmet meets the standard. This standard is tested across an entire helmet, not just a single area, like the chin bar. The bottom line is, the helmet is more than sufficient for its use case, and there’s some added comfort in the fact it also meets at least some of the ASTM F1952 standard.

I’ve been impressed with the ABUS Airdrop. It’s light enough, plenty breezy, has some nice features, and looks unique amongst all the popular models seen out on the trails. I’ve even had several questions and comments about how good it looks!

The fit won’t suit everyone, so if you think you’d be on the crossover between sizes, be sure to try both to ensure the best fit.

Words & Image Lester Perry
RRP $19
Distributor Southern Approach

Weldtite has a storied history. Starting out in London in the early 1940s, it initially manufactured and supplied puncture repair kits to British and Canadian paratroopers who, once on the ground, were getting about on folding bikes.

Eventually outgrowing its facility, Weldtite shifted to Barton, by the River Humber in North Lincolnshire, where it continues to develop and manufacture a wide range of bike maintenance products, to this day.

A lot has changed in the world of chain lubricants over recent years. New formulations, wet, dry, light, drip or melt; there’s now a lube for whatever style of bike you ride and whatever conditions you ride it in, not to mention options for both human and electric assist bikes as well. Whatever the style of lube or the name on the label, they’re all attempting to achieve the same goals: quieten the drive train, increase its efficiency, maximise its lifespan, and not attract contaminants.

I’ve spent a few months comparing the merits of two similar – but distinctly different – Weldtite chain lubes. Using multiple bikes and varied trail conditions, I’ve garnered a good understanding of each lube’s drawbacks and benefits.

Weldtite Ceramic Lube

This is an all-weather lube with ceramic additives for optimal efficiency, helping to conserve precious watts and decrease drivetrain wear. Its low viscosity allows it to penetrate right into the links of the chain, and its various additives bond to the chain’s surfaces, creating a hydrophobic barrier to resist water and contamination.

It’s reasonably light and has a runny consistency, so care was needed while applying it. I found it easy to overdo it, leaving the entire drive train susceptible to build-up of dirt and other contaminants. It literally only takes a small drop on each chain link to do its job. Once I figured the sweet spot between ‘too much’ and ‘not enough’, this lube was great. As with other lubes, one key to gunk-free riding is to begin with a completely clean system (chainrings, chain, jockey wheels), then apply the lube, leave it to sit a few hours, and finish by giving the chain a thorough wipe to remove any excess sitting on the outer surfaces.

In dry conditions, the drivetrain stayed clean, smooth, and quiet for many rides, with minimal gunk on the chainring or jockey wheels. I’ve been surprised at how well the lube has lasted; it could go multiple rides before needing to reapply. In wetter conditions, I found it didn’t last quite as long, although the bonus in the damp was how little grime the drivetrain collected, certainly less than many lubes I’ve used.

On a mountain bike, I’d reach for this lube over the summer, in dry to variable conditions. I’d run this lube year-round on a road or gravel bike.

Words Lester Perry
Images Lester Perry & Callum Wood
RRP $622 per end
Distributor Worralls

It’s been a while since I came across a new bike component that, once bolted on, offered a noticeable performance improvement from its predecessor. Often new releases are more of “a tweak here, a tweak there, and a splash of paint” rather than a complete redo, ending up with something vastly better than what was offered before.

In the space of just 12 months, SRAM has done just that – offering two groundbreaking new ranges, first with the launch of the Transmission ecosystem in March 2023, and now with the recent release of the Maven series of brakes.

The first and fundamental change that SRAM made at the outset of its quest for top performance was to design the system using mineral oil rather than its traditional DOT fluid. DOT fluid absorbs moisture over time, and its use means more regular brake bleeds as the oil’s properties eventually change as moisture is taken on. After a couple of years, the seals, particularly in the lever, needed replacement as they are ultimately eroded or swollen by the DOT fluid, rendering the brakes useless. Unfortunately, the cost to replace the seals is about equal to just replacing the entire lever (unless you do the job yourself), so guess where all these old brakes end up? Mineral fluid isn’t corrosive and doesn’t absorb moisture like the DOT so, theoretically, less maintenance is required, and the brakes will last a lot longer.

The combination of the new seal material and the mineral oil offers better performance across the heat spectrum in which the brakes operate. From the depths of a Queenstown autumnal inversion layer – where brakes may never heat up a lot – to lengthy laps on Whistler steeps, the idea is to offer a brake that performs more consistently across a wider variety of running temperatures and with less maintenance. The new seals and use of mineral fluid, combined with larger pistons and a new, gargantuan calliper, seem to have achieved this – from my experience so far.

For a brake to be powerful and consistent, it needs to keep enough heat in the system without overheating or excess cooling; not be too hot, not too cold, just right – like a good bowl of porridge. The greater thermal mass in the Maven calliper takes longer to heat up but, by design, balances the peaks and troughs of temperature, maintaining a more consistent and optimal temperature, ultimately providing a more consistent braking performance regardless of how hard you are on the brakes.

We installed a set of Maven ULT on my daily driver, a Trek Slash, and over the past few months I’ve been figuring out what they’re all about. I’ve been running the stock organic pads and 200mm HT2 rotors. In the past, with SRAM brakes, the stock organic pads would be first to go, instantly upgrading to a sintered option. In this case, I’ve had no complaints with the Maven’s stock organic pad compound. Apparently, like previous SRAM offerings, the sintered pads come into their own in wet conditions, but so far I haven’t seen the need to put the sintered pads to the test on these brakes.

There’s a limited edition Maven Expert ‘red splash anodised’ colourway that Liam (editor) has been running but, honestly, that red would have clashed brutally with my orange bike, so the polished silver and black version ULT suits my setup perfectly – and we all know looks are part of the performance package, right?

The lever feel is not too dissimilar to the latest SRAM Codes. There’s a nice, solid, woody feel, and you can tell when the pads contact the rotor. There’s a familiar feeling of modulation, just like other high-end SRAM offerings. With some heat in the system at speed, the lever remains comfortably consistent and doesn’t wander or pump up. Wet weather is no bother either. The combo of the 200mm rotor and the huge pad contact area provides awesome wet-weather power.

It’s nice to see a slight tweak in how the brake hose exits the lever body; compared to the Code’s ‘Stealth’ levers, the hose comes out of the lever and angles away from the handlebar rather than towards it like other Stealth style brakes. Having ridden bikes with the standard, angled ‘Stealth’ levers and their regular ‘slap’ noise as the brake hose smacked on the bars, I was glad to see this minor tweak. I’ll be interested to see if this change rolls into the rest of the ‘Stealth’ levers over time.

The Maven ULT edition features lever reach and pad contact adjustment. Although the lever looks quite similar to the Code Stealth lever, inside the lever body we find the necessary differences, including piston size, to optimise for the Maven calliper’s oversized pistons.

My favoured setup is to have the pad contact wound completely in (so the pads contact quickly) and the lever wound far enough in that it ends up near parallel to the handlebar, allowing for minimal reach and only a small lever throw before pads engage. The lever pull feels slightly firmer than a SRAM Code and considerably firmer than a Shimano brake. It’s a matter of getting used to it rather than better or worse in my book, and I’ve been running Shimano 4-pot brakes up until this set arrived.

The Maven is touted as providing almost 50% more stopping power and requiring about 30% less force on the lever to deliver the same power as the Code Ultimate brakes – some heady stats that, before riding them, I found a bit hard to swallow. After a couple of months aboard the brakes, however, I can’t argue with these numbers; there is a serious amount of stopping power on tap and my forearms aren’t complaining.

In seasons gone by, it’s been common to see downhill and enduro racers’ bikes fitted with the largest rotor size they could squeeze into their frames. Part of the impetus behind making the Maven’s so powerful was the aim to be able to scale down the power by running smaller rotors. Smaller rotors are less susceptible to rock or debris strikes, so staying straighter and having so much power on offer gives a rider the ability to tune their power to their needs depending where or how they’re riding.

Weight-wise, there’s an additional 60 grams per end on the ULT above a comparable level Code brake (calliper, hose, lever); my trusty calculator tells me that’s a 20% increase. It is considerable, especially when most of the extra weight is in the calliper. In fairness, depending on what size rotors are fitted, and whether or not they require adaptors, you could end up with a similar (or even lighter) total system weight compared to a Code with larger rotors. But, with more power and more consistent performance.

As you see, there’s a load of tech to unpack with an entirely new offering like the Mavens, but if what you really care about is how these units work in the real world, then read on.

There’s no doubt these brakes are the gruntiest I’ve used. I’ve ridden several powerful gravity- oriented brakes, but by no means a majority of what is available. The Mavens have surprised me, not just with their raw power but with how consistent the feel is; every time I’ve pulled the lever, the feel is the same and, even on longer runs where other brakes have suffered with heat issues or cooked rotors, I’ve learned to rely on the consistency of the Maven.

With immense power comes immense responsibility. Traction is more critical during heavy braking, and part of this is maintaining body position – something that takes some adjustment. With no worry of underpowered or overcooked brakes, there’s no reason not to brake later towards turns or go deeper into a chute before braking. Braking in a shorter distance means higher forces on the body and tyres over a shorter time span than lesser brakes – think a Stab rather than a Slice – and certainly something that takes some time to become familiar with.

Anchors on = slow down. Full stop. No story, straight to bed.

It’s taken some time to adapt my riding and change my ingrained habits to make the most of the Mavens, but it does feel like if I were against the clock, I’d see some time savings, particularly on high-speed and steep tracks.

On most eBikes I’ve ridden recently, the brakes have underwhelmed me. An adequate brake has often been let down by an inadequate rotor, and it’s been quickly cooked, rendering it nearly useless. Generally the brakes just aren’t consistently grunty enough for the weight they need to slow down. A note to product managers: a 180mm rotor doesn’t belong on an eBike! The additional heft of a complete eBike system (rider, gear, bike) makes a set of Mavens for eBike use a total no-brainer and a worthy upgrade.

As good as the Mavens are, they’re not for every bike, and for sure, they’re too powerful for some scenarios. In slick conditions, I think I’d like to try smaller rotors to detune their bite somewhat. Such powerful brakes make it a bit harder to keep the wheels rotating under braking when trails are super wet, and lockups come easy when there’s this much power at such little effort. Likewise, unless the brakes are fitted to a downhill bike, or you’re riding long, steep trails on an Enduro bike, then you’ll likely want to de-tune them to the point where their performance (outside of the mineral oil and heat advantages) would put them in line with a Code or similar brake. On anything less than a balls-to-the-wall Enduro or Downhill bike, where maximum power isn’t essential, I’d be reaching for a Code or something similar.

Spending time on these brakes has got me thinking; SRAM now offers eBike tuned suspension (under the Rock Shox brand), transmission drivetrain, Maven brakes, and even a collaboratively developed eMTB motor. Combine these bits with other brands in the SRAM family: such as ZIPP wheels, Truvativ cockpit, Time pedals, and a Hammerhead bike computer. These are all arguably top-shelf and market-leading (or close to it) items that all suit the eMTB market to a tee. There are only two pieces to the puzzle missing: a good set of tyres and a frame…. Hmmm what will the future hold?

Words & Image Lance Pilbrow
RRP $3600
Distributor Wheelworks

Way back in November 2022, I was lucky enough to get my hands on not one, but two sets of Wheelworks’ new wheels to review. These were the Flite Trail model; one set in carbon and another in alloy. The idea was to do something of a side-by-side test on each pair over the summer and write something up for print after giving them each a good thrashing.

Needless to say, they both flew through the tests (and I did an unusual amount of wheel and tyre swapping that summer). At the end of that I was a little torn; the carbons were lighter, stiffer and no doubt, won on bling, but the alloys provided serious value for money, and Wheelwork’s after (and before) sales support meant that either way, you would no doubt be a satisfied customer.

Even better, though, was the opportunity to hold on to one of the sets for a long-term review. “Are you interested in holding onto these $3000 wheels for a bit longer?” they asked. “Ah… Um, yeah!” (What kind of question is that?) By now I had grown quite attached to the carbon Flite Trail wheels, and though I knew one day I would inevitably have to give them back, I was going to do everything I could to put that day off for as long as possible.

Many readers might be unaware that long-term reviews of high-end products are not all that common in this industry. Often, something arrives, you have it for a month and then it’s back on the courier again to the distributor to be used in a demo fleet, or to be sent to another media organisation for them to do their own review. It’s just the way the industry works. However, these long-term reviews are the sort of reviews I think most people would like to see more of.

We all know most products will work just fine for a month, but a year or 18 months down the track? That’s when the cracks begin to show, and that’s the kind of information you really want to know when you open a magazine for advice.

So, enough background, but suffice to say, props to Wheelworks for believing in their product enough to trust it to be reviewed over almost 18 months.

A quick recap: the TrailLite Carbon wheelset comes in at 30mm internal / 36mm external width and it runs 28mm high. The wheelset I rode weighed in at 1650g grams including rim tape and valves installed. The carbon rims were matched to Wheelwork’s own Dial hubs and laced with DT Swiss Aerolite spokes. Mine came with red decals on the hubs, a small red ‘TL’ (TrailLite) icon, and a larger, silver Wheelworks logo that follows the arc of the rim. These are all customisable to match whatever colourway your bike is, because we all like to be matchy-matchy. They came pre-taped and with valves installed.

As I mentioned in the earlier review, Wheelworks really are all about wheels. That’s their sole focus, and that focus is part of what makes purchasing a set of wheels more engaging than just scrolling through an endless list of options on the internet. It’s personal. Prior to getting the wheels, I spoke with their team about my riding style, bike, weight, and what I was hoping to achieve or improve over my current set up. This conversation dictated the build, and having their expertise guide the process means that, as a buyer, you are going to be massively confident in what is a significant purchase.

So, 18 months in, how did they fair? Well, I’ve got to be honest… the Wheelworks decals have started to show some signs of wear. A travesty! Jokes aside, that is quite literally the only thing I can fault them on. Over the review period, I rode a Whaka 50, a Whaka100, some Enduro, as well as 18 months of just everyday regular riding. In that time I cased more jumps than I would like to admit and did zero maintenance on them. I had no reason to. In terms of ride quality, what I was most taken aback by was the impressive lateral stiffness and how that enabled me to track a line through uneven terrain; and the awesome acceleration they enabled.

When the day finally came to send them back, I thought I should see just what state they were in, just in case I needed to send an apologetic email to the Wheelworks team before they unboxed them at their end. Grabbing a few zip ties to make an impromptu wheel alignment jig, I realised that, yep, they’re still dead straight. I ran my fingers over the Dial hub bearings and, yep, still silky smooth – smoother in fact than when they even arrived. I am honestly really impressed. To be fair, these are a $3600 product so, yeah, I would expect them to be faultless, for a good long time. But mountain biking is a sport that is tough on gear. We seem to keep on asking our gear to be lighter, whilst also being stronger – and wheels are a perfect example of this. At some point, something has to give…. Unless there is a real commitment to maintaining quality and not cutting corners. I think the Wheelworks wheels hit the sweet spot with this. As I said, they weigh in around 1650gm. I think this is bang on for most trail riders. They feel light enough to have that ‘zip’ about them (and to also feel like you have a slightly unfair advantage over your mates in the Whaka100), but clearly still enough strength to go the distance. I wouldn’t say I ‘abused’ these wheels (especially not on record as I would quite like them to send me other wheels to review… ahem… Berd’s?) as, to be honest, I’m just not that sort of rider, but I like to think I ride pretty hard when I’m in the zone and often kid myself into believing I’m a better rider than I actually am…. That combo means that at least once, on most rides, I have that moment of wincing as I slam into a root or rock and think “doh! that is going to be a cracked rim.” But, after 18 months of testing, they really are still running as good as new; a real testament to the strength and layup of the carbon, and the craftsmanship involved in the build.

All in all, this is probably one of the least surprising reviews most of our readers will read. My final thoughts after 18 months of solid testing; Wheelworks wheels are great. About as surprising as saying water is wet. Wheelworks have built a business based around their reputation; a reputation for building consistently solid wheelsets, for backing them up with an outstanding warranty and after sale support and, ultimately, for creating a culture of really valuing their customers. When you do that wheelset after wheelset, it’s no wonder they are so consistently recommended.