it was bound to happen at some point...

lawman
lawman Posts: 6,868
edited April 2012 in MTB general
650b is taking off it would seem!! First 650b forks from magura, rockshox and now fox with the 34, now intense have got in in the act...

http://bikemagic.com/gear/intense-cycle ... ealed.html

532841_10150759665319182_364069399181_9515116_1154001620_n.jpg

new tracer and carbine, the carbine looks like it could be a sweet ride!

how long before others join them...

Comments

  • warpcow
    warpcow Posts: 1,448
    That does look very nice, but mainly because I don't think it looks any different to the standard Carbine. Is there any real difference in the frame, or is it just in the dropouts?

    I know my hardtail can take 650b (not the current fork though), and I think I might be interested in trying it out in future.
    Commie Meta SL
    Evil Sovereign
    Santa Cruz Heckler (gone)
    On One Inbred (gone)
    Ragley Mmmbop (gone)
  • jehosophat
    jehosophat Posts: 108
    I pity newcomers to the sport buying spares and/or trying to do home maintenance these days. When I first got into mtb there was one type of bottom bracket, one size of headset, one wheel size, one axle format, brakes were all pretty much the same and pads interchangeable, and so on. Not so easy now... I suppose with our throwaway modern culture it does not really matter as not many people will be affected - they'll just buy a new bike!
  • craigw99
    craigw99 Posts: 224
    +1 for above fed up with standards changing every 6 months no such thing as future proof people are coming up with a solution and looking for a problem to fit it...
    opinions are worth exactly what you pay for them ;-)
    2012 boardman team F/S tarting has begun..
    1992 cannondale m1000 still going just
  • jehosophat
    jehosophat Posts: 108
    Just had a voicemail from the LBS where I took the Blur for a headset to be ordered/fitted. I took it in on Tuesday morning, they still have not had a headset come in! It is 1 1/8th to 1 1/2 taper - some of the LBS I called were clearly flumoxed by this so I selected one that is high end and sounded confident, looks like it will take a week and a half. They seem to want me to take it off their hands and take it somewhere else from the tone of the voicemail.

    In the old days plenty of LBS would have had choices of the one size available - indeed I have some old style RaceFace Deus headsets "in stock" in the garage since they are £20 on Ebay now and last forever in my experience...
  • lawman
    lawman Posts: 6,868
    i'm all for new standards if they mean genuine improvements, changes on frames mean little if you're happy with what you have, its not like spares instantly become a nightmare when a new standard comes out. If you have to have the latest kit, my guess is you aren't gonna be to bothered by the outlay, as most of us are more than happy with the kit we already have.

    of course they're are certain things that we wish we could have, "stealth" style dropper seatpost routing being the main example, but frankly the rest isn't really relevant unless you are changing frames. speaking of which, closer inspection of the tracer linked above shows it has exactly that style routing, here's hoping they've addressed the iscg tab issue with the carbine!
  • lawman
    lawman Posts: 6,868
    jehosophat wrote:
    Just had a voicemail from the LBS where I took the Blur for a headset to be ordered/fitted. I took it in on Tuesday morning, they still have not had a headset come in! It is 1 1/8th to 1 1/2 taper - some of the LBS I called were clearly flumoxed by this so I selected one that is high end and sounded confident, looks like it will take a week and a half. They seem to want me to take it off their hands and take it somewhere else from the tone of the voicemail.

    In the old days plenty of LBS would have had choices of the one size available - indeed I have some old style RaceFace Deus headsets "in stock" in the garage since they are £20 on Ebay now and last forever in my experience...

    that's more down to the LBS' shortcomings than changing standards, they should be more than aware of any changes in standard. something as simple as headset fitting should be bread and butter stuff for an LBS, a tapered headtube is hardly voodoo these days!!
  • jehosophat
    jehosophat Posts: 108
    Yes but the trouble is there are all sorts of different tapers, internal and external versions of each, etc etc

    It was a Hope - you'd think that would be available fairly quickly!
  • lawman
    lawman Posts: 6,868
    jehosophat wrote:
    Yes but the trouble is there are all sorts of different tapers, internal and external versions of each, etc etc

    It was a Hope - you'd think that would be available fairly quickly!

    cane creek have a website that details exactly what headset you need, its so simple even a simpleton could use it. I would expect most decent mechanics would be able to work it out anyway from the diameter of the tube, like I say its hardly rocket science.

Categories