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Product Picks

Oct 4, 2013

Chrome Cardiel Shank Hip Pack

Chrome's product lineup is aimed mainly at the urban side of the cycling world, featuring items like messenger bags, backpacks, sneakers and outerwear intended for the rigors of all-season city riding. The company's emphasis on durability makes many of their products appropriate for mountain biking as well, including the Cardiel Shank hip pack, which was designed with input from skateboarder and cyclist John Cardiel. This water resistant hip pack has a 4L carrying capacity that gives it enough room for the essentials like a tube, pump, multi-tool and maybe a light windbreaker. The pack is constructed from a Cordura outer shell combined with a truck tarpaulin inner liner, and uses a waterproof urethane YKK zipper to keep everything contained. Dimensions: 11 x 5.5 x 2". Made in the USA. MSRP: $60 USD. www.chromeindustries.com

A simple yet effective hip pack, the Cardiel Shank has a enough room for the essentials in its two interior pockets.

Before anyone gets hung up on semantics, we're fully aware that this is a fanny pack, plain and simple. However, we prefer calling it a hip pack, since that sounds a little less like what a crazy old man dressed in a matching sweatsuit would wear. The hip pack has been experiencing a bit of a surprise comeback in the mountain bike world lately, due to a number of enduro racers sporting them at events around the globe. What's the appeal? Well, for one thing, a hip pack takes a load off your shoulders, literally, and after spending the last decade lugging around some type of hydration pack, it's a nice change to shed the burden on those shorter rides. The Cardiel Shank is about as bare bones as you can get, with a simple one inch strap to keep it secure around the waist and only a mesh divider to help with organization on the inside of the pack. The capacity proved to be just right for shorter rides, providing enough room for the essentials without getting too bulky once loaded. Of course, for long, all day adventures a hip pack is probably not the right choice, since at a certain point a hydration pack makes more sense for carrying water than relying on multiple bike mounted water bottles (and many modern bikes can't even carry more than one water bottle). There's no spot to hold a water bottle on the outside of the Cardiel; in a pinch you could fit a smaller bottle lengthwise in the pack, but this comes at the cost of a eating up a good chunk of the carrying capacity. On the trail, the pack stayed in place much better than we expected, without any awkward shifting or bouncing even when packed to the brim with tools and a windbreaker. The water resistance is excellent as well - we took it out in a few steady rainstorms and all of the contents stayed completely dry. What's not to like? Well, at $60 this isn't as wallet friendly as you'd expect a fanny pack to be, and we wouldn't mind having a way to hold a water bottle on the outside, but don't forget that it is made in the USA from high quality materials, and comes with a lifetime guarantee. Otherwise, the Cardiel Shank is a durable, no frills accessory that works exactly as it should.

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Sombrio Silhouette Riding Shirt

The Silhouette Riding Shirt is Sombrio's long sleeve, snap closure women's riding shirt. Made of Dura-Tek (Sombrio's custom stretchable polyester fabric) in their Freeride fit, the shirt features mesh underarm panels, a front-snap pocket and wide, snap-closure cuffs. The Purple Haze is available in sizes XS, S, M, L, XL. MSRP: $99 USD. bike.sombriocartel.com.

Fall is flannel season, and the Sillouette is a comfortable, well though out option for cooler temperatures.

Simply put, Sombrio hit it out of the park with the creation of their Women's Silhouette Riding Shirt. With their modern freeride take on classic western styling, they've built a shirt that's perfect for fall riding in cooler temeratures. The plaid 'flannel' look of their extremely durable stretch fabric fits in wherever its owner chooses to place herself, be it ripping down the mountain or stopping post-ride for a cold beer. More than worth its price, the Silhouette was made with form, function and styling in mind; generously wide snap cuffs make easy work of rolling your sleeves up and underarm vents clear excess body heat without freezing the wearer out on those chilly fall rides. Overall, this shirt is the perfect answer to a growing demand, a highly recommended piece that can be worn every day of the week.

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Spring Time Kronos Ti Spring

Despite the increasing number of downhill race worthy rear air shocks, coil sprung rear shocks continue to dominate on the circuit. Take a look at the spring being used on a World Cup race bike and more than likely it's made of titanium. What the reasoning behind this? Well, the most obvious is weight reduction. Swapping a steel spring out for titanium can result in a weight savings of up to 40%, a quick way to shed some grams. Spring Time offers their Kronos titanium spring in a wide range of dimensions and spring weights to fit nearly every rear shock on the market, and they recently began offering springs to exactly match the spring rates of Fox shocks, with 2.5, 2.8 and 3.25” strokes now available. Kronos titanium springs use the company's Halcon Hard Coat, a clear coating that is intended to protect the spring from the elements and UV rays. Before the coating is applied the springs are shot peened to improve fatigue live and create a uniform surface appearance. The 450x2.8” spring we tested weighted in at 366 grams. MSRP: $247.69 USD. www.springtime.vg

Kronos' springs use a special clear coat to provide additional protection from the elements and UV rays.

The difference between the weight of the stock steel coil spring on our Fox Van RC and the Kronos titanium spring was about 60 grams, which was a little disappointing considering the claims that get tossed around about the incredible weight savings from a ti spring. While it is true that a titanium spring will save weight, the stroke length and the spring rate play large a role in how many grams are actually saved, and with a lighter, shorter stroke spring that number will not be as high. Once the spring was installed, we headed out to the trail, skeptical that there would be any performance difference between the steel and the titanium spring. Our skepticism proved to be unfounded, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the new spring felt noticeably more supple, especially in the beginning part of its stroke. The end of the stroke still felt the same, and we didn't find ourselves bottoming the shock out any more than usual, but the Kronos spring seemed to filter out the small bump chatter with a smoothness that hadn't been present with the steel spring. So, is a titanium spring worth the cost? It depends. For a top-level racer, there's no doubt about it - the better ride feel and weight savings make it worthy upgrade. But, if splurging on a ti spring means that you'll need to work more hours to recoup the costs, cutting into your valuable riding time, then we'd recommend against it. It's an upgrade that makes a difference, but not one that's earth-shattering enough to feel left out if a titanium spring isn't in your budget.