Spokewrench Cycles: Other

Cane Creek Double Barrel New Look!!

A customer ordered a Cane Creek Double Barrel from us recently and here is the new look for 08. The body is now anodized gold! It looks fantastic. The gold body really makes the shock stand out. This will be going on a Specialized Enduro and we think it's going to completely change and improve the way the bike handles and feels on the trails. This is a beautiful shock. We'll be getting a Ti spring for it as well for our customer so we can weigh it and compare it to the steel spring.

Team Spokewrench

April 20, 2008 in Other | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cane Creek Double Barrel

If you do a search on the web today and type in Cane Creek Double Barrel review, you will see words like

"If I had to describe the cane creek double barrel in one work it would have to be “Awesome”." - Descent-world.co.uk

"The D.B. offered up the best traits of quite a few different shock designs on the market with none of the downsides" - Pinkbike.com

And other reviews go on pretty much the same.

They're made to order by Cane Creek and each one is tested and tuned. When we ordered ours for our El Guapo, we got a print out of the test results. Tell me which other shock manufacturer does that? Cane Creek recommends a 30% sag to start, however they do recommend getting and extra spring one spring rate lower than recommended. The reason being that the spring rate is simply another adjustment the rider can adjust to suit the trail he or she is riding. This shock is so tuneable that the riders should take advantage of every adjustment available to them.

The spring is very reasonable priced so when ordering your Double Barrel, consider ordering a spare spring. Cane Creek also offers a Ti spring option for the Double Barrel and that'll save about 1/2 lb and looks pretty slick. We have a soft spot for Ti, we admit it.

Who this shock is for: downhill, all moutain, all terrain riders who are looking to maximize and dial in their rear suspension. You need to take the time to understand the shock and how each adjustment is affecting the bike. Adjust one parameter at a time and work slowly. We suggest you go out alone and adjust the rear shock without other riders so you can ride without having to worry about leading or keeping up with other riders. Ride a trail that you are very familiar with so you know what to expect and how the bike should handle. Make notes if necessary. Take the time to feel how the adjustments are affecting your bike. You may need to ride the same section of trail several times to get the right feel. Something that may be hard to do if you're bombing around with your buddies.

Who this shock is not for: XC racer that only wants to adjust sag, rebound and lock out. Air shocks has it's place in the mountain bike world and does a very fine job at it. Fox is second to none in their air shock technology offering light weight, tuneability and performance. We love our Fox RP3 for our XC ride and wouldn't trade it for anything else.

We're getting a new Cane Creek Double Barrel shortly that is going to be the new colour option for 2008, stay tuned!

$650 with Steel Spring
$850 with Ti Spring

We ship Worldwide. Email us at info@spokewrench.com for more information about our shipping special.

Team Spokewrench

March 26, 2008 in Other | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rohloff Maintenance

So far the only maintenance we've done on the Rohloff Speedhub has been to take a hose and wash off the dirt. Even after the muddiest race at the Icebreaker event where the mud was so thick it was hard to walk through, all we did was hose off the bike.

Rohloff recommends that the oil be changed annually or every 5000km. So we thought we'd change the oil before the season gets underway just to see how long or difficult it'd be. The Rohloff Oil Kit comes with a syringe, oil filling tube, 25ml of cleaning oil, 25ml of all season oil and a drain screw with a new seal.

The first step is to remove the drain screw and put in 25ml of cleaning oil into the hub. Time - 5 mins. The cleaning oil is used to thin the existing oil and clean out the internal gears. Reinstall the drain screw.

The second step is to either ride the bike for about 1km or spin the bike in the bike stand for approximately 3mins. This is to make sure the cleaning fluid does its job and dilutes the oil so that it'll be easier to drain. Time - 3 - 5 mins

The third step is to turn the wheel so that the drain hole faces down and let gravity do the work for you. Time - 15 mins. We took this time to clean the chain and the cog wheels on the chain tensioner.

The fourth step is to remove the drain screw and using the filling tube and syringe, remove ~50ml of oil/cleaning fluid from the hub. Time - 5 mins

Last step is to fill the hub with 25ml of new Rohloff oil and install new drain screw with the new seal. Time - 5 mins

Total time is under 35 mins. This is for a whole season of riding. We used to spend that much time after every ride. Not to mention lubing and replacing shifter cables, housing, worn cassettes, chains, etc. The Rohloff uses full length cable housing so that the cable stays clean throughout the season and since the chain is not used to shift up and down a cassette, there is less wear and maintenance is minimal.

The Rohloff hub is not going to replace the derailleur system anytime soon but definitely offers a strong alternative that is on par or better performance wise and better in terms of longevity and maintenance. Now if the Rohloff can shave 1/2lb to 1lb off the hub, then it'll really make a case for itself.

Team Spokewrench

May 30, 2007 in Other | Permalink

Sci-Con Bike Defender

There's nothing worse than taking your bike on a road trip and by the time you get there, the front of your bike is littered with bugs and just about impossible to clean off.