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I'm lucky to have had many high end end components over the last 20 or so years.... But not many modern components have make me go WoW out of the box.
Just had a Garbaruk 12sp cassette delivered, and it's a thing of beauty.....
What components have given you that WoW feeling....?
Not many tbh. But my new silver Pike Ultimates are as close to wow as possible when I opened the box. Hoping my new Marino will be similar when it finally arrives and I get it back from painting!
The cantilever brakes on my current MTB make me go wow 😯
Usually wow I can’t believe I eventually / actually stopped.
Not sure that was what you thinking of though 😉
I'm expecting a Gabaruk cassette in the next few days. I hope it is nice, I've waited long enough for it.
My Cane Creek shock and fork are quite lovely.
I was blown away by my Sunrace cassette to be honest. Beautiful machining and the contrast of the red spider and black chainrings is a thing of beauty.
Obviously now it's covered in oily shit and has countless grass stems wrapped around and between the plates... 😂
Not much, I've become too cynical towards MTB bling, too much of it ended up being fragile junk back when I was a childless man about town without kids sucking my bank account dry.
These days I've tapped into that seam of bit boring to look at, but work great stuff that keeps you riding month after month.
My Nicolai frame. Bought it second hand off this very forum a couple of years back now but I just love to look at it even now, so many details.
Cane creek cranks made me go wow when I saw them in work, otherwise not much these days! Actually thinking about it when I took my Mk5 Soul (mercury colour) out of the box I was pretty impressed! Chromag make some lovely stems and pedals and the new Transition bikes are stunning, but generally speaking I don't get that crazy wow feeling on much kit these days. Maybe working in the industry numbs me to an extent? Who knows but I think I find I appreciate well thought out engineering more than simple looks.
My time speciale 12 pedals felt pretty wow. Looked amazing felt super light and the maintance section of the manual said "no maintenance is necessary"
I think my 3D printed titanium cranks are pretty cool (but then maybe I'm biased):
Will second a Nicolai frame, they are works of genius, I still find bits on the frame where I think, that's well thought out, even now after seven years.
Also my Bike Yoke Revive dropper, it just works so well after battling with reverbs for years.
My EXT shock that came with a Geometron is indeed a thing of beauty with the performance to match.
Makes other shock out there look like they've been banged out ten to the dozen.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stu-b/30917961938/in/photostream/
Would love a pair of these to go on it but sadly my pockets aren't deep enough for them.
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My Nicolai frame.
I've had a yearning for a Nicolai since the late 90's.... Would absolutely love an argon fat pinion....
Dunno about the components, but was tidying the garage and found the box my XTR pedals came in. That is a nicely made thing! Considered putting it on eBay, fetch a few quid 🙂
I think my Exposure Toro is the blingiest thing I have...
The inside of a Charger damper cartridge is intricate and beautifully machined. Yet no-one ever sees it (insert ****y simile of choice here).
EDIT: I didn't even think it was a swear. You can substitute 'pretentious'.
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[url= https://flic.kr/p/2gcUyph ]
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[/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2gcUyph ]Ermagerrrrd[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/92694523@N06/ ]tom.howard.562[/url], on Flickr
Happily the WOW! continues when on the bike too 🙂
Hope to have something else to add to this thread tomorrow 🙂
Chris King anything. Never managed to quite convince myself to buy hubs from them but the smooth running of their headsets and bottom brackets are lovely.
On a more blingy note, the latest ergon factory grips with the petrol paint job are very chi chi. I smile self consciously every time I get on the bike that has them.
I can't say much does it for me really, I buy nice high end bits that are workmanlike rather than bling because I know what works after riding for so long. These days a lot of the components that make people go wow seem to just be disgusting anodized stuff which they then throw together into a monstrosity like this-
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Anything with a gearbox does it for me.
For stuff I own, just my frame. Also a Nicolai (Geometron G16).
When I pulled it out of the box it spent the rest of the day being poked and fondled and having the welds rubbed by all my colleagues.
For stuff I don't own... just those Trickstuff brakes and E-wing cranks.
I also learned years ago that most bling is fragile and useless and ends up in the parts bin.
The Intend USD forks and shock look very lovely, but I can’t bring myself to buy them as I can’t find anything that says they’re any better/offer more than other stuff that’s loads cheaper.
Gearbox lovers, watch this space 😉
As other have said - EE Wings cranks.
My purple Burgtec MkVs were glorious when I took them out the box. The quality of the ano is SO much better than Hope. Sadly they look rather less special now they've been bounced off some rocks.
The copper coloured SRAM Eagle chain and cassette look very nice in their packaging, but just look rusty once they're assembled into a complete bike.
XTR packaging always used to make me think wow. Nowadays I'd think that it's a huge waste for something that's going to be thrown away.
Santa Cruz chameleon carbon frame - that metallic bronze is beautiful!
A few:
Reset Racing, Headsets and bottom brackets, well engineered components, proper sealing and superbly made.
Nicolai, as other have said, simply amazing engineering, how it should be.
EXT, their mantra of cost is not considered, performance is king. The storia is such a good shock.
chromag pedals and stems look lovely when i see them in the bike shop cabinet, but i really enjoy the look of newly fitted tyre with its keen edged knobs.
edit - i’m also enjoying looking at all the lovely parts posted above.
edit edit - i still like looking at silver thomson stems. especially the elite with the wedge removed.
as much as i love the welding on nicolai frames, i’d like to see one with filed and polished seams.
My Newmen Evolution stem made me go ‘<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">wow’ when I got it.
74g list weight, actually 72g on my scales.
The packaging was heavier!
It’s not flexy, hasn’t broken and looks nicely understated. </span>
Probably be the bits you dont get to see normally like the internals of a Pinion gearbox...
Nicolai frame was still the nicest bit of kit I’ve owned. And the best thing about the raw finish was that you can give it zero love through winter muck and a few mins with the supplied Brillo pad and it comes up like new. No use for a G1 now, keep looking at the Saturn though.
I get a ridiculous amount of pleasure every time i use my one up EDC .
Cane Creek eeWings Ti
Treated myself to a full set of Pauls Klampers and Love Levers for my Stooge.
Lovely kit, so nicely made, and they stop you very well too 😎
nothing that I can think of - plenty of things that make me think that looks crap like those ee-wing cranks. They look shit
I get a ridiculous amount of pleasure every time i use my one up EDC
ive just experienced the same taking my Clockwork Evo for a night ride with my first experience of Exposure lights. The Clockwork never fails to impress me, but the Toro/joystick combo was awesome, especially the Toro’s Reflex in action.
My ancient XTR cranks. Because they were ridiculously desirable when they were first launched, and now they've been battered senseless for over a decade, so they look haggard and all the logos are gone and they're dented and faded. Posh stuff used right.
Also, 4.8 minions, even hardened mountain bikers soemtimes go wow when they realise how enduro your fatbike is, and kids definitely go wow.
There is something about a classic Chris King headset.
The Trick stuff levers look amazing but seem to contrast the calipers.
Didn't someone 3d print some titanium calipers? They looked pretty wow!
Didn’t someone 3d print some titanium calipers?
Yeah, but the Kickstarter didn’t get funded, and they had no levers to go with them (though they do now have some renderings.)
Radic performance was their name. Personally I still think they’re a fair way from production.
You can 3d print just about anything in titanium if you have deep pockets, it's just that it's not often that good an idea. Those brake calipers didn't really benefit from being titanium, forged or even just machined aluminium is an absolutely superb material for calipers. It's really useful for tiny product runs mind, which suits companies that are selling stuff purely on boutiqueyness and exotictude.
(it's kind of like CNCing stuff from billet- it's actually a pretty poor way of making a lot ofthings, but it looks nice and there are cool machines involved, so it weirdly became a selling point. While forging stuff still gets dismissed as "stamping stuff out" even though it's often better. So when Hope finally upgraded their production to using forgings for a lot of parts, they still said it was cnc'd from billet and designed the new brakes to have fully machined outer surfaces because they'd spent so long convincing their custoemrs that was the best way to do it, and had to design their forgings to be less good than they could have been so they had extra space for machining. Marketing-led manufacturing is weird)
Tioga disk drive
My custom made front light, when I turn on all 8000 lumens. Makes most people go 'wow' too..or is it 'OW'..
I see someone’s already mentioned it, but the bronze/turquoise colour scheme on my carbon Chameleon is a lustrous thing of beauty.
Not as shiny as EEwings, but they are a one off (for now at least)
Partly made to get a bit more Q factor on a pinion C line gear box, partly to drop some weight off the (450ish gram) cranks...
Here is the result of 18 months of making, testing, breaking, remaking till they didn’t break, some carbon cranks for pinion gearboxes.
I loves ‘em
153g each. For comparison, an XX1 crank arm, without axle, is 147g
Obvs I can’t take any of the credit here, this is all the work of Carbon Wasp in Leeds who have persevered with it. Top job indeed.
Dang, if I ever... Get a pinion, which is high on my list of wants. They would def be on the list.
Not so much "Wow" bling as "Wow that's clever", my RaceFace Turbine seatpost. Being able to adjust the tilt and the fore and aft position of the saddle independently is just a really good idea.
Largely superseded now we are all on droppers though.
For me, anything that feels hand made always enhances the wow factor.
In terms of mass produced kit, I do think that the SRAM machined cassettes (Red, XO1. XX1) take some beating compared to the stamped/riveted alternatives.
It is sometimes easy to take mass produced kit for granted, but I do find the likes of Deore and SLX to have a wow factor having been into mountain biking since the early days. That level of performance at that price is amazing.
In terms of the bits that I have personally bought, EE Wings and Trickstuff brakes are incredible in as much as they look amazing, but they have performance to match and justify the price premium over mass produced alternatives.
The Middleburn Uno crankset on my Sanderson Soloist. The organic look of the cranks goes perfectly with the sinuous stays of the Soloist. And, they're Middleburns, with all the history that comes with that.
@tomhoward they look great. Cool that we've been working on a similar project. It's also taken me 18 months to get here. I started off thinking I would have a functional prototype in time for summer 2019...
Interestingly we are at comparable weights. My non-drive, including the opposing bolts, comes in at 148g on my kitchen scale.
Does it have to be visual impact? For some reason I happened across a video of the explanation of a Nuvinci(?) Internal CVT hub. The scale of just how left field that hubs designer was made me go wow.
Also love the gates belt drive and its see through drive sprocket.
Auto watches, auto gearboxes, quirky engineering, i love all that.
@edd
What is the 3d printing process for those ti cranks? Do they have a grain structure as such, or are they more akin to a cast or sintered structure? Not knocking them, i think they're class, just interested in how they would compare to ,say, a forged crankset.
Beautiful work though.
my kinesis sync ti frame.
had wanted a titanium bike since the early 90's and finally got the sync 2 years ago.
still love looking at it (and riding it even more).
My custom Nic Helius always makes me smile, as others have said there are tiny details in there that just make perfect sense. It is paired with a Royce BB and Middleburn cranks. Over a decade old now it has never failed helping this old bloke get up, down and through my local S Wales trails and bikeparks, Scottish out there bothy stuff, Iceland and a whole load of Alps and Spainish trips.
It is brown and unassuming, built to obsolete standards and just the most wonderful machine I have 🙂
johnnymarone
Free Member@edd
What is the 3d printing process for those ti cranks? Do they have a grain structure as such, or are they more akin to a cast or sintered structure? Not knocking them, i think they’re class, just interested in how they would compare to ,say, a forged crankset.
IANE, but, that's a Renishaws job so probably the same powder bed as the Empire bike and Atherton stuff, there's some good case studies on their website.
For looks my soul mk5 frame is stunning but for functionality i treated myself to an AXS seat Post on C2W and it is absolutely superb.
One day, I'll have a nicolai.
I used to get wowed out by the lovely buzz of a Chris King hub, sadly now moved on, but get something similar from a ceramic Campag hub on the road bike. In motion, it's better to enjoy sounds.
Last 'wow' was the other day with a DT Swiss 180 EXP rear hub, just seemed impossibly light and really nicely made.
My lust is for a set of White Industries cranks. The freewheels are a thing of beauty, too. But I don't have a set of hubs that suit a freewheel, yet.
*Actually! I do have a set of Surly wheels that are going on the comuter / town bike, but that's suppose to be a very budget build.
The last component that I bought that had the 'Wow' factor was my Hope carbon bars. The finish on them is just superb, inside and out. I did a bit of composite work when in uni and it's easy to see where other manufacturers have skipped little details to save money without compromising functionality (fillers, mismatched herringbone patterns, internal surfaces being rough etc) but the Hope bars are very, very high quality. Same on their frames but I don't own one.
EE Wings and Trickstuff brakes are incredible in as much as they look amazing, but they have performance to match and justify the price premium over mass produced alternatives
curious to know why you think that. functionally those ee wing cranks do the same job as my SLX cranks so the performance is the same - same goes for the brakes.
That light is amazingly bright stevied!
curious to know why you think that. functionally those ee wing cranks do the same job as my SLX cranks so the performance is the same – same goes for the brakes.
The Eewings are significantly lighter/stiffer than SLX, and trickstuff brakes are more a different sport than different league to SLX brakes.
For me it’s my Chris king hubs. Not just for the red anodising and machined internals, but that they run so smooth. And have done so for 15 years!
Industry 9 hubs are a beautiful thing to look at, ride and hear. Chromag Dagga pedals are also have you looking in awe/terror.
These. Hot.
How do the chromag daggas ride?
I'm a cheapskate, I'd love to have the extra cash to splash it on some trick mtb stuff. The last bike I bought was pre-loved, a boardman fspro. It has pike forks, guide brakes and sram gx 11 drive train.
I have just ordered the oneup edc tool which as about premium as I'll get.
As someone said above, when you have teenagers in the household spare cash to splash is a rare thing indeed.
The £5.68 Wake 35mm stem that came from China in a week.
The Eewings are significantly lighter/stiffer than SLX, and trickstuff brakes are more a different sport than different league to SLX brakes
I wouldn't be able to tell the difference in stiffness TBH as one reviewer put it "you literally cannot feel the difference" and what do you mean a different sport for the brakes?
The cranks are only about 115g lighter for £900 more - that isn't what I would call worth it plus you can buy lighter cranks for a lot less. They look like unfinished prototypes as well.
I'm sold on the One EDC gear. I started with the 70cc pump & tool.
Now the tool is in the steerer with the plug kit & pliers & the pump has got a CO2. & they all work like they should.
Also quite impressed with the new Deore 11 speed 11-51 cassette. Not exactly bling but a nicely made bit of steel.
plus you can buy lighter cranks for a lot less.
How many of them come with a 10 year warranty? IIRC, the only ones lighter are raceface next SL G4s, (about 25g lighter) which are hardly the last word in durability.
As for the brakes, there’s no direct comparison from SLX, but XT vs Direttissima, the XTs made 78nm max braking force vs the DRT 114nm, and went from 45kph-0 in 9.3secs Vs the DRT in 6.2. Using the same pads too, and the trickstuff brakes are 140g lighter.
Only the customer can decide if that’s worth it, but to say there is no difference seems a little off the mark.
My Intend Edge fork is a beautiful piece of kit too stare at.
How many of them come with a 10 year warranty
How many slx cranks can I buy for the 900 quid saved though, on the very rare chance it may break?
Have to agree with poah, unless you are the fatest of fat you won't notice the flex in an slx crank set. You are basically paying 900 quid more for 140 odd grammes of saving and the look (Which Imo isn't even particularly nice)
Only really lusting after the EXT shock and the pink Helm here.
And the EXT is mainly because of it's reputed performance TBH.
I'm aware this won't be universal - and I'm not sure if a frame counts as a component - but I really, really like the fluting on my Stage 6...
the EXT is mainly because of it’s reputed performance TBH.
The performance is what attracted me to it but when you get to see the detail and craftsmanship with its construction it becomes a bonus.
Also the length they go to to get you set up right is outstanding.
Revalve and a few different spring swaps until I was happy were all included in the price.
Advice on setup is also just a phone call or visit to them away.
How many slx cranks can I buy for the 900 quid saved though, on the very rare chance it may break?
Would you agree that this is a completely pointless argument when you've deliberately joined a thread about aesthetically pleasing bike parts?
I could have bought 10 Carrera's for the price of my Geometron but I didn't.
Would you agree that this is a completely pointless argument when you’ve deliberately joined a thread about aesthetically pleasing bike parts
Not really in the context of someone claiming one of the benefits is a 10 year guarantee.
I’m aware this won’t be universal – and I’m not sure if a frame counts as a component – but I really, really like the fluting on my Stage 6…
Me too. But I’m a Four owner so might be a bit biased.
Recently put some XT trail pedals on it to replace the PD520 pedals it had before. They look quite bling, to my eyes anyway.
Not really in the context of someone claiming one of the benefits is a 10 year guarantee.
But that was against a lighter (but not by much) crank. The point is they're expensive because they’re light and durable. Cheaper ones are one or the other. Light, strong, cheap. Pick two.
As previous, if that is worth it is up to the customer, but to say they are the same is not accurate.