Issue 108

“I’m really not sure if you could make a knee pad comfier than these. I actually forgot I had them on while writing this review…”

G-Form has built a solid reputation for comfortable protection over the years. I’ve owned previous versions of their elbow and knee pads, and I’ve used them for enduro racing when I’ve specifically been looking for something that is minimal enough to pedal in it all day, but enough to take the worst out of any impact. The last set of G-Form pads worked just perfectly at this, but they were on the minimal side of protection, so I was interested to see their latest ‘Pro Rugged’ series release as it seems to take things up just a notch. All of the new Pro Rugged range use their Smart Flex product on the impact zones; a soft, slightly putty-ish-feeling pad that gets significantly harder on impact. The technical term is ‘viscoelastic’; it’s a cool bit of tech that means when you are just pedalling along, the padding has a more natural ability to flex and move with your body’s natural movement, but still offers the impact protection that you bought the things for. It’s also designed to actually absorb impact and transfer less of this onto the rider.

On both the knee and elbow pads, the SmartFlex zones are covered in Armor-Tex, a tear-resistant fibreglass reinforced material. It’s got a rugged feel to it, and importantly, makes the pads look a little more matte, a little more subtle and, to be honest, a little less alien-like than previous versions which had a bit more sheen to them.

The G-Form Pro Rugged knee pad is similar to what I owned earlier, it’s a Lycra-style sleeve with SmartFlex around the knee. On this version, it is all a little thicker than previous G-Form pads I’ve owned but the idea is the same. The Lycra sleeve material is also different to my previous pair, this feels like it’s both thicker and softer too. They have also added a compression quality to the sleeve material which helps with the goal of keeping them in place. Putting them on, I was once again impressed with how comfortable these pads are to wear. They really do fit like a glove (their gloves fit great too, as you’ll read later) and they don’t have any noticeable itchy spots from Velcro or material bunching. I’m really not sure if you could make a knee pad comfier than these. I actually forgot I had them on while I was wearing them, writing the review! There is an upper Velcro thigh strap to tighten if you need it, but the silicone strip around the top and the bottom, combined with the natural stretch and compression of the sleeve, mean that they stayed in place perfectly, so I never really needed any tension on the Velcro.

The pads are left and right specific, with the SmartFlex zone angling outwards as it moves down your shin, which puts it in a better position to protect against scrapes that would probably come from the outside of your leg. In terms of protection, they really are all about the knee; they don’t offer anything in terms of impact protection outside this zone. These are going to really appeal to enduro riders and those looking for something they can ride all day in, comfortably.

The elbow pads are, well, like the knee pads but smaller! The Pro Rugged elbow pads pack all the same ideas into a slimmer, elbow-friendly package. Same SmartFlex padding covering your elbow but extending a little further down to cover your forearm as well.

We also had the Sorata gloves on review at the same time. These apply the same SmartFlex material found in the knee and elbow pads, but minimally, to the outer edge – just that spot where you are most likely to smash into a tree on that corner you misjudged. We had the Tie-dye colour way, but they are also available in black, blue and green/ grey. Apart from where the obvious armouring is, they are a lightweight, slim fitting glove that feels great. Though you can definitely feel the armouring on the outside of your hand when you are wearing them, they strike a nice balance between offering just a bit of protection in the most likely impact zone, without going so far as to feel like you are wearing a cricket glove. There is no Velcro closure which is a personal preference thing, but I found they had plenty of stretch around the cuff, they went on and off easily, and the cuff band felt great – a little wider than other gloves I’ve had in the past.

Out on the trail with the whole kit on I was really impressed with how comfortable everything felt. Other knee pads I’ve owned either seem to slip down or need to be tightened up so much it feels like I’m losing blood supply. These felt great. What is more, even after longer rides I didn’t feel like I had discovered the chafe and rub that some pads give. A big part of this, I think, is down to whatever they have done to improve the sleeve material and make it feel less Lycra-y, and a bit more like a nice pair of my wife’s yoga pants. Trust me, it’s comfy stuff, and it stops the areas underneath the armour zones rubbing against your skin. I’d happily wear these for an all-day enduro where I knew I would have to be putting in some serious pedalling throughout the day. The same went for the elbow pads and the gloves – no news is good news! When you don’t have much to complain about, there is sometimes not too much else to say. It does what it says on the tin! They weren’t too hot, the fit was spot on, and they stayed nice and comfortable all day long. Is there much more we’re looking for in our gear? Highly recommended.

REVIEW: LANCE PILBROW
DISTRIBUTOR: EVEROUTDOOR
RRP: SORATA GLOVES $59
RRP: PRO RUGGED KNEE PADS $149
RRP: PRO RUGGED ELBOW PADS: $139

“We have been lucky enough to get our hands on the brand spanking 140mm Pike Ultimate and will be putting it through its paces throughout the year.”

Earlier this year, RockShox rolled out a major update of their range with an all-new Zeb, Lyrik and Pike, not to mention a bevy of new rear shocks. We have been lucky enough to get our hands on the brand spanking 140mm Pike Ultimate and will be putting it through its paces throughout the year. First though, the Pike was already a fantastic fork, so what have the SRAM engineers been tinkering with to make it even better?

For starters, one look at it and you can tell this is more than just tinkering, this is an all-new fork. The chassis and arch, in particular, look markedly different to earlier models, but the changes are worked throughout; starting from a blank canvas has meant that engineers have been able to make a unified approach to integrating all the best new ideas they had at one time. On the outside, you’ll see a new crown, upper tubes and lower legs and pressure relief valves on the rear, but the insides are all new too.

Previous Pikes spanned a wide travel range, but this has now been narrowed down to focus specifically on the 120-140mm travel range —smack bang in the middle of what SRAM see as the trail bike market. If you want more travel, you’ll have to go for the Lyrik; less travel, you’ll be on the Sid. This tighter range of travel means that SRAM engineers have been able to narrow the parameters of what they are working with and therefore optimise around that. The result, lower weight in some areas, and better torsional rigidity, meaning they are less likely to twist under braking load and navigating off camber terrain. Forks that don’t twist are free to move through their travel, so that rigidity creates a consistent, supple fork, even under the toughest conditions.

The new Charger 3 damper has been designed from the ground up and features a new spring backed, IFP cartridge damper. Fully sealed and self-contained, this new damper is designed to offer riders a much more consistent feel throughout the stroke, and an increased ability for riders to easily tune the ride to suit their riding style and preferences. The result? Totally independent High-Speed Compression (HSC) and Low Speed Compression (LSC) adjustments, and no “cross-talk” between the two.

On top, you’ll find new adjusters with a new twin dial layout, also with handy visual indicators so you can see at a glance where you are on the adjustment scale. They feature noticeably clearer indents between each setting too. Inside the forks, the bushing design is brand new too — these feature longer bushings now, which actually reduce the overall friction in the system.

On the other side is the new Debonair+ air spring, again, tailored to the specific needs of a fork in the 120-140mm range. The shaft is now an all-aluminum piston instead of plastic, there are improved glide rings, and a tweaking of the volume in the positive and negative air chambers. So, what’s the end result of all of this? RockShox believe the new Pike can initiate travel easier and that it will feel plusher off-the-top, while still having great mid-stroke support. It also means a higher ride height; it won’t dive through its travel under braking which means that you’ll be able to utilise every millimeter of travel when things start to get rowdy.

In terms of weight, ours weighed in at 1.90 kg with a 190mm steerer. That’s comparable with the previous generation, but the fact that they have managed to get 13.5% more torsional stiffness inside the same overall weight is pretty cool.

The final new idea that engineers worked in was the addition of what they call Buttercups. What are Buttercups, you say? Well, first, let’s talk about what they are trying to address. Ever felt like your hands have been battered after buzzing through a section of ripples on a fire road? Those are high-frequency, low amplitude vibrations. RockShox call it ‘trail chatter’ — those fast, small vibrations that ‘vibrate your eyeballs’ so to speak. As fancy as they are, fork dampers aren’t really designed with this specific example in mind; dampers are designed to absorb impacts, vibration-like trail chatter can often make its way past the damper without really activating it, up the fork, and into your hands.” Ok, so that’s what they are working to resolve — but what exactly are they? Buttercups live on both the damper and air spring shafts of Ultimate-level forks. Inside their gold packaging, Buttercups utilize rubber pucks and a metal plate to absorb frequencies that would otherwise travel up to the rider. These little Buttercups add about 4mm of vertical compliance to your suspension and RockShox believe they achieve an average of 20% reduction in vibrations from reaching your hands. Impressive!

Having owned the previous Pike, and a Fox Factory 34 (albeit the previous generation), I was eager to see just how the new Pike had improved over its previous version, and also over its nearest competition that had recently been upgraded.

Setting it up on my Banshee Phantom down-country bike, I was immediately impressed with the new look. The whole chassis has a modern, muscular look about it… and the silver was a great match too, which didn’t hurt. Straight away, I could tell that these were going to be a vast improvement over my previous Pikes in terms of small bump absorption — these things were smooth and would initiate into their travel with almost no force. The amount of stiction that is needed to be overcome to get the stanchions moving was almost non-existent. The first trail I rode, I could tell that these were indeed a whole new kettle of fish compared to the previous version.

The biggest realisation was how the first 30-40mm of travel seems to be noticeably more active. Whereas I was previously reasonably happy with my old Pikes (yes, regularly serviced) these new ones made the old ones feel, well… let’s just say, they’re not around anymore. Fast forward a few rides and the next thing I started to notice was how much more regularly I was using all the travel. I’d look down at the travel indicator O-ring and see that I had used all the travel, however, while riding I never noticed feeling like I’d bottomed out. They seem to have also improved the feel of the curve as you move towards the end of the travel to make it feel like you never really hit bottom.

This is just a ‘first impressions’ review but we are looking forward to putting some serious miles on these throughout summer and seeing how they hold up over the long haul, as we test them through a variety of conditions and have time to fully experiment with the various tuning options on offer.

REVIEW: LANCE PILBROW
DISTRIBUTOR: WORRALLS

“Every piece of clothing comes with a field repair kit containing fabric matching iron-on patches to keep you looking good after a crash.”

It’s no secret that this brand comes from the ‘roadie’ scene. But this means they know a thing or two about use of good fabrics and have been making ‘roadies’ look good for years. Rapha has now employed their knowledge around textiles to mountain bike apparel. Their focuses are on sustainability and longevity — and I can vouch for their products lasting many seasons. Rapha’s colourways are normally subtle, so you needn’t worry about being out of vogue whilst on the trail.

The Trail Short is a built from four-way stretch material that is Bluesign certified, meaning it is built from sustainable sources with minimised environmental impact. An integrated, contoured waistband allows for precise fit adjustment and there are four pockets, two of which have zippers with an integrated phone sleeve to keep items from sliding around. The cut is fairly form fitting but has been designed to work with or without knee pads.

The Trail Short have a relaxed and comfortable fit that slides over small to medium knee pads with no issues. Larger, downhill style knee pads may cause the shorts to bunch up and sit on top of the pad, though. I found they fitted my medium knee pads well and were also good without, too. The short is a little more form cut, which means there’s no bunching and they don’t get in the way when you’re pedalling. They certainly don’t have the bagginess of other shorts on the market.

The adjustable waist is neat and easy to use, locking in a personalised fit with no slipping of the belt. The size medium was a perfect fit in both the waist and length for me. Having had these shorts for a while, I found the breathability to be moderate even in the warmer months. They breathe well and don’t overheat, but a few vents would just allow a bit more airflow, especially if you’re wearing a bib-short underneath. The zippered pockets keep trail essentials secure, and the phone sleeve is a very well thought out solution to keep your phone from bouncing around. I really like this feature, and the position means the phone feels like it’s out of the way but always accessible for that quick pic or vid.

Rapha has priced these shorts consistently with the market and offers several services, such as free repairs and free returns if you’re not happy with them. Every piece of clothing comes with a field repair kit containing fabric matching iron-on patches to keep you looking good after a crash. Heck, if you shed some kilos they will offer 50% off your jersey in a smaller size. I’m a big fan of buying a quality piece once, rather than buying cheap stuff every year — and Rapha promises exactly that: quality and longevity, with repairs if you do happen to find a way to destroy it.

REVIEW: LIAM FRIARY
DISTRIBUTOR: IRIDE / RAPHA
RRP: $195 AUD

nar dapibus leo.