Benji brings you the details of his hard worn – and almost worn out – bike testing set-up. What’s he using and why?
Although I suspect very few people reading this have any aspirations to become a ‘professional’ reviewer of mountain bikes and mountain bike stuff, nevertheless the products and insight depicted below will be of interest. After all, testing bikes and stuff is pretty much the same as just riding, in a way. Sure, I’m forever fiddling and permanently trying new set-ups and adjustments, but I don’t think that’s all that far away from what a lot of regular riders get up to, even if it’s only for the first couple of rides on a new bike or product.
The items shown here are a combination of things that make life easier and things that act as a ‘known known’ baseline. Things that help me get things set up efficiently and effectively. Things that don’t distract, interfere or otherwise get in the way of investigating whatever bike or bike component I’m meant to be assessing.
Cotic RocketMAX Frameset
- Price: £2,099 frame only
- From: Cotic UK
The testbed mountain bike frame for pretty much all the components that are in for review. A capable and versatile frame with no odd standards or too much internal routing. Has the ability to ride up, along and down anything. Works well with coil or air.
Oakley Sutro Lite Prizm Trail Torch Glasses
- Price: £152.00
- From: Oakley
These things help me see clearly no matter what the conditions are. On the wide open fells, in the dense woodland. They’re extremely comfy and are far away the least troublesome eyewear I’ve had when it comes to pairing with different helmets.
HT PA03A Pedals
- Price: £39.99
- From: Ison Distribution
As a long-time DMR Vault-ist, I do find it hard to highlight another pedal. But the fact is that these HTs just keep going and going. I haven’t had to replace bearings or bushings in them yet. Just that little bit more fit-and-forget than Vaults.
ION Scrub Trousers
- Price: £149.99
- From: ION Products
Yeah, blue pants. I think there is an aspect of this selection that is to do with avoiding too many boring black clothes for photoshoot duties but, still, these are the best general riding trousers I’ve ever had.
SKS Air-X-Plorer Digi 10.0 Track Pump
- Price: £51.99
- From: ZyroFisher
On the one hand this track pump is really flipping annoying; it has no bleed release valve and it takes a second or so to ‘settle’ while pumping to show an accurate PSI. But, I live with these quirks, because SKS pumps are well built and the display is nice and clear.
SKS MSP Mountain Suspension Pump
- Price: £46.99
- From: ZyroFisher
There are dinkier portable shock pumps (Birzman Zacoo Macht for example), but this is as small as I like to go. Things get too inaccurate and time-sucking if I go smaller. Besides, I just really like the bleed release ‘tap’ on this one!
Bahco 396 Laplander Folding Pruning Saw
- Price: £18.00
- From: Bahco
Where I live and ride there are tracks that need a bit of clearing now and then. A lot of the time it’s due to storms blowing down weak-rooted trees. Sometimes it’s summer brambles going haywire. The Laplander can deal with it.
Spada MTB Waterproof Socks
- Price: £34.99
- From: Spada
I never used to wear waterproof socks unless I absolutely had to. They were all too stiff and pinchy. These waterproof socks from Spada are so comfy I find myself wearing them when it’s not even that wet out there.
Mudhugger FR mudguard
- Price: £27.50
- From: Mudhugger
To be honest, this could very well have been a similar style mudguard from RRP instead of Mudhugger. In the battle of the mudguards it’s very much a two-horse race. They’re both great.
Plastic Cup For Scraping Sealant Out Of Tyres
- Price: £N/A
- From: The kitchen
In these end-times in which we are living, we have to eke things out a bit more than we used to. Take tyre sealant. Rather than washing out the inside of a redundant tyre, you need to be gathering up that precious fluid. With a plastic cup roughly the same size as your tyre volume.
Pedro’s Downhill Tyre Lever
- Price: £18.99
- From: Raleigh
These days I just go straight to the Big Tool. Most of the time it’s overkill, but since when is making tyre swapping easier a negative? Never. This is the gentlest of the tyre lever brutes too.
Works Components Angle Headset
- Price: £69.99
- From: Works Components
This is a real behind-glass Break In Case Of Emergency item. Sometimes if I’m wondering if a bike’s potential is being held back by a steep head angle, I slap in one of these and make it 1–2° slacker.
Stumpy Ball-End 4mm Allen Key
- Price: £N/A
- From: Some sort of self-assembly furniture?
I spend an inordinate amount of time messing with stem bolts. Swapping stems, adjusting stem spacers stacks, turning bars for storage/transportation. This short-arm 4mm just fouls things less. It’s my metallic mate.
Fidlock Twist Bottle and Bike Base
- Price: from £39.99
- From: Ison Distribution
I don’t like backpacks. I don’t even really like bumbags. But I do like to drink liquids. Probably not as much as I should, but hey. Modern mountain bike front triangles can be complicated and cluttered. The Fidlock bottle system is by far the best solution to The Bottle Cage Issue.
