As you probably know I’ve been running the Dartmoor Flare cranks for a while now. I had so much comments from people who love the looks of it. And I think no one can disagree on that one without lying. But how are these good looking 2.5 piece cranks their performances?

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After breaking my old LX cranks very badly it was time for some new cranks. I had been looking around a lot and these Dartmoor Flares really catched my attention: They only weigh 814g, are REALLY clean, and I heard some stories of these being very strong.

Later this arrived at my door:

It's not a laptop, but this box looks even nicer and more profesional than a box of a laptop..

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The last couple of months I’ve been running the KHE Mac2 Dirt tyres on my bike.

I’ve been testing it on street, dirt, pumptracks and skateparks.

STREET:

Since I’m mainly a street rider I’ll start off with how the KHE Mac2 Dirt tyres are on the streets.

When I started riding these tyres the first thing I noticed was the weight. The tyres weigh 477g/16.8oz each, which is very light. You can immediately feel the difference because it’s rotating weight. Just by fitting these tyres my bike felt a lot lighter while riding, and my bike became a lot easier to bunnyhop. Because of the low weight your bike becomes more flickable, which is a big pro for riding street.

Another thing I noticed after riding these tires for a couple of months was that I did not have any flats with these tyres! Since I’m mainly a street rider I have to deal with riding through a lot of glass on the streets. But where my old heavier tires went flat all the time, these lightweight foldable KHE Mac2 Dirt tyres hold out great!

Another sweet detail is the squeaky noise it makes when you skid or do tyreslides.

DIRT:

These lightweight foldable tyres roll really fast! And the grip is great!

Because of the low weight your bike becomes more flickable and manoeuvrable in the air, which makes your bike very easy to trick.

PUMPTRACK:

Good dirt tyres also have to handle well on pumptracks. These tyres really stick to the ground; I was able to shred as fast as I could through any corner (brakeless) without being scared to slip away!

From my experience most tyres let you down on pumptracks because they don’t have enough grip for fast corners. The KHE Mac2 Dirt tyre is definitely an exception on that!

The great grip of these tyres gave a very safe and reliable feeling while riding the pumptracks.

PARK:

I’ve ridden these tyres mainly on concrete parks, and they really stick to the concrete. With my old tires I didn’t really like doing spins on concrete parks because was slippery, but with these I could spin whatever I wanted to spin, because these tires really have a lot of grip.

Also for riding fast through skateparks and pools I really liked the KHE Mac2 Dirt tyres: they roll fast and grip a lot.

A SHORT OVERVIEW OF THE KHE MAC2 DIRT TYRES:

With their 477g they are probably lightest tyres on the market for dirt/park/street.

The grip is great, it doesn’t matter if you ride dirt, pumptracks, skateparks or street, these tyres are grippy on each type of ground.

This is the tyre I’ve been searching for:  It’s incredibly light and the grip is great!

These are definitely the tyres I’m going to buy again when these are worn out, they’re simply great!! 

Quote from KHE-bikes: 

“KHE was the first company Worldwide where made a foldable 20" Freestyle tire and what becomes today in BMX more and more the standard”

The KHE Mac2 Dirt is also available in 20” and 26”

KHE Mac2 Dirt test for PlusSizeBMX.com from Martin Knorr on Vimeo.

KHEBIKES.COM

KHE-MTB.COM

Ns Proof 2010:

Bars are not just bars. The people at NS-Bikes definitely know that.

The shape of the bars is one of the big improvements. Because of the long bended shapes on the bars they managed to get the stress over the whole bar, and not just on one point (at the bendings). This makes the bars stronger. Also the right angle up and back-sweep make this handlebar feel very nice.

Another thing I really like on the NS Proof bar is the weight. The Proof bar is with it’s 340g (weighed it myself) probably the lightest reliable handlebar out there with 3” rise.

When I started riding this bar I could immediately feel the 200g difference with my old 3” rise bar. This felt so much better.

The website of NS-Bikes said the Proof bars are good for suspension forks. But the NS Proof can also handle rigid forks without any problems! Erenes from NS-Bikes rides the Proof bar on rigid forks, and I’ve been beating the hell out of these bars too on rigid forks.  And it’s holding out great! This bar ‘Proofs’ that riding a rigid fork and aluminium bars can work very good!

They come in 720mm/28” width so people who prefer wide bars are also going to be very happy with these bars! If you prefer smaller bars you can cut them to your own favourite length.

When I asked Erenes from NS-Bikes he said this is one of the safest bars on the market. There are no cracked or bent handlebars reported!

The clamp diameter of the Proof bar is 25.4mm, which makes a great combination with the NS Quark Pro stem.

NS Quark Pro 2010:

The first two things I can say about the NS Quark Pro stem is that it looks really nice, and it is ridiculously light! The weight is 175g for the 2010 25.4mm version, which is around the same as an xc stem, but this one can take any abuse.

The stem is 40mm long, has 0mm rise and is available in many colors.

The reason why I prefer this stem over other light stems, is firstly because this one is even lighter, and secondly, this one has 6mm bolts. Most light stems use 4mm bolts, which won’t last long, because the stress of the bolts is being held on a much smaller area in the stem, because of the small diameter. That why in most light stems the screw-thread gets ruined and than you can throw your stem away. That won’t happen to you on the NS Quark Pro stem.

The Quark Pro stem is made of cold-forged 6061 T6 Alloy and is available in 25.mm and oversized 31.8mm

This stem shows that the small details make the big differences!   

Check out WWW.NS-BIKES.COM  to see where you can get your NS-Bikes parts!!

Lately I've been testing the 2010 NS-Bikes Proof bar and the 2010 NS-Bikes Quark Pro stem. The review will be online on PlusSizeBMX.com in a couple of days!

When these grips came out of the packaging I was almost overtaken with the grape smell that erupted out of the little plastic bag! I could not wait to get these things on my bike! I shoved them in my backpack with my change of clothes and laptop and went on my merry way. The next morning much to my surprise the truck, my bag, and change of clothes all smelled of grapes. I slid them on my Deity bars and was instantly impressed with the bar end plug construction. The bar plugs use stainless hardware with an expanding rubber core to keep them quiet and locked in place. The grips themselves have a softer feel than most grips I have ridden. Having said that, they are also thinner than the ODI longnecks I was running previously. They had no break in time and felt great right out off the bat. I have been running them for 3 months and they are holding up great, they even still smell like grapes. They have made many trips on the back of the truck in the snow with no change in feeling next time I rode.

Bottom Line: You need these grips! Fairly slim profile, unobtrusive graphics, grip pattern, good wear life and great without gloves.  They come in many different flavors and are inexpensive as well! I will continue running these grips until I run holes in them. Then I will go buy a different scent and run them again. I usually do not have this many good things to say about products, but I will be lucky if I wear these out before buying another pair. If you can deal with the occasional “What is that smell?” comment from your hands smelling like grapes after you ride, then you are ready to go! These things sell themselves with people asking about them!

Review written and performed by Andrew Avalos

I got a hold of a pair of the all new Tattoo Light Street/Park tires from GEAX. This tire comes in a regular weight version (26"x2.3=850g) and the Light pair (26"x2.3=590g) As a comparison a Holy roller weighs 865g in a 26"x2.4. In short the GEAX Tattoo is a great tire. The best feature of this tire is it's grip. The Tattoo has a durometer spec of 50a. Thats what a lot of sticky downhill tires measure. So these tires grip to everything!!! On some cement the tires actually sound like tape being unraveled. I mostly rode street on these tires. The tread pattern wraps from bead to bead. Which greatly strengthens the sidewall for street. I did get a flat the first night on these tires. But glass will do that to any tire. Then the skatepark test: The Denver skatepark is pretty legendary for its slippery surface. But the Tattoos stuck amazingly well. I would highly recommend this tire to anyone who's local park is at all slippery. The tattoo's will work!!! I would also recommend the Tattoo to street riders. If you primarily ride street you would probably be better served with the normal weight tires. But you will love this tire. The grippyness of this tire is sick!!! The Tattoo is also available in an all white version. Although only in the regular weight. (I believe) Go order yourself a pair and tell your Local shop to stock them for your friends. Hell Cam Zink rides GEAX why not you??? Later...