Well, I kinda didn’t have to. The nice people of kaliprotectives.com are so very convinced of the quality of their stuff, they send me their Durgana helmet to test for them. It arrived yesterday and so far, it’s so good! I’ve never had a helmet that’s so slim to the head as this one, it’s also very lightweight with compromising the safety (EN1078 and CPSC).

The best thing about it, it’s not shiny as the picture shown (have to make one of the actual product asap), it’s mat and silky and that looks awesome!

So I now have another excuse to go bikeparking asap, and I’m thinking… what if I add Trek Session to my wish list, will some nice people of Trek then send me a Session 88 to review for them?? :-P

Chances are that you’ll find MULE bars in your local (dutch) bikeshop soon, because it’s now being distributed here in the Netherlands by Greenwickedfoods.com. MULE bar is the labor product of Alex and Jimmy who thought energy bars tasted and digested poorly. If you’ve ever tryed and Isostar bar, you’ll agree.

So they decided to cook up their own special brew, made of real and organic ingredients and Fair Trade accredited when possible (two out of five bars and they want to improve that score!). To top that of, they donate 1% of sales every year to environmental groups protecting our natural world, governed by 1% For The Planet.

Eat and do good

So eating a MULE bar is the best thing you can do for your body, the environment and and making the planet a better (work) place for some others. Need more?

You might be picky about taste. I’ve tried the Pinacolada: pineapple + coconut + some Chinese Ghoji berries (vitamin C) =  343kj of calories per 100 grammes. Pineapple and coconut: my favs. You know what I only like more? You won’t believe this because they HAVE a bar with my favorite stuff in the whole wide world: liquorice! I’ve yet to try one of these, but I’m sure it’ll be heavenly!

Other bars on the menu are called: Mango Tango, Hunza Hut, Chocolate Fig Fiesta, Strudel and Chocolate Fig Mud. You can find details and ingredients on this page here, if you’re allergic to nuts and stuff like I am, it’s good to know you’ll find out exactly what types of nuts are used.

I’m not sure when they hit the stores, I’ll let you know when I find out. And more important, if the Liquorice Allsports bar delivers!

So my new bike arrived today and, with only a tiny tune-up, I couldn’t help myself. I took the Remedy for a short ride near Apeldoorn, the sights where beautifull because of the snow and I was counting my blessings. My mates where hard at work, and I found myself enjoying my new bike.

The Lyrik is allready everything I hoped it would be: bloody awesome! The Fox RP2 also delivers and setting both up to my standards was a piece of cake. The SLX cranks look sexy sweet! And yes, the Remedy does pedal as well as promised! It’s light too.

I am, however, ordering some new stuff for the cockpit. Not at all pleased with the low-riser (1″) and (somewhat) long stem (80mm). I knew buying this bike, the toptube would be a bit on the long side. (A size smaller would have been too small). So I’m ordering some new goodies that make me more comfortable. Hopefully saturday this saturday a longer ride, with the new gear on board, along with my beloved Conti’s and the Joplin.

Just the other day I posted 9 things to do in 2009, and I’ve already jumped on the bandwagon in order to get things crossed off my list. Good thing for me I have a birthday coming up; so I arranged #4 on my list to be a present!

Don’t you just hate…

… how helmets look cool on others and make you look even geekier than you already do. I’ve tried on Giro helmets and it’s ridiculous! I guess it’s safe and all, but the helmet is both high and wide and make my head shrink like a peanut. (eventhough thát’s slightly better than make you look fat…). So I banned Giro for the moment and got side-tracked by a nice CG-signature fullface helmet by Bell. Even Though I won’t buy it, because it lacks vents, I wanted to see if Bell had any cool helmets for my goal: xc-Allmountain-trails-freeride-enduro-downhill type of riding. They didn’t. Another brand popped in my head: Met. And as it turned out, they have really nice xc-Allmountain-trails-freeride-enduro-downhill type of helmets. The Met Kaos comes in two versions. The one that weights 250 gram (WTF?!) and the one that weights about 195 grams.

195 grams is a bit to skinny to my liking, but the Kaos does look pretty and I have had a Met helmet before. Oh and it has nice features, don’t you think:

• New compact Integral double In-molding construction
• 22 air vents
• Rear vents
• Safe-T X retention system
• Washable and anti-allergic internal pads in Coolmax®
• Lockable side strap divider
• Removable & ventilated peak
• Anti pinch buckle
• 2 sizes: M 54-57/ L 58-61 cm
• Weight: 250 g

I’m somewhat concerned about the big vent in front, what if I crash there? But on the other hand, let just not crash there ;-) Plus it got a good review on BikeRadar.com Okay, so my birthday present is in the mail, just a little preview for you:

Met Kaos bought at Chain Reaction Cycles

So one thing crossed of my list! Erm… well… a half thing… still a new fullface helmet to go… *grin* got any pretty (well vented, light but not TLD-priced) suggestions for me?

It’s been a LONG time sinds my last blogpost. I’ve been enjoying my last rides with the Switch. Had the best time with the dutch marketing team from Trek. Which was good, because I have had my eye on that Remedy of theirs for a while now. Unfortunately they didn’t bring a medium sized one.

But okay, the Switch is going back to the sponsor sometime next year, ending what has been 2 excellent years of sponsoring by Stappenbelt.com. The best LBS if you ask me, and I’m still gonna support them, whenever I can. Leaves me without a bike however, so I’ve been thinking about what would make the best bike for me. And I know what that is: A Rocky Mountain Switch on a superdiet with a little less travel. It has the best geometry, especially when I run the forks at 140 mm (almost always) and it’s even fun on and xc ride. In my own pace that is ;-)

So my shortlist:

• Trek Remedy 7
• Lapierre Spicy 316
• Cube Fritzz
• Canyon Torque ES 7.0

Allmost made the cut: Specialized Enduro SL (boring), SC Nomad (Hot, expensive and doubtfull about VPP for me), Scott Ransom: too many horror stories, Norco Fluid: dunno, Mongoose Teocali/Khyber: LOVE ‘EM. Poorly distributed here (often no mailorder in foreign online shops). Khyber seems a bit to heavy, Teocali skinny on the travel-side. Slayer: wheelbase is too long, plus a bit heavy.

So what constitudes THE All Mountain Long Travel bike for me?

• Around 14 kg,
• Travel 150-160 mm,
• Geometry: Short wheelbase and chainstain. Rather steep stering- and seatangle,
• Adjustable fork; preferbly Rockshox Lyrik U-turn(coil),
• A good/smart setup, parts can be upgraded,
• All day ride, once for Alpes/Ardennes and for Bikepark-flow and fun.

Breaking it down

Trek Remedy 7

Cost: 2599 euro
Pro:

• Lyrik U-turn (coil) with Fox Float RP23: excellent setup. Good enough specs.
• Rave reviews, can’t find a bad one.
• Good distribution and warrenty network.

Con:

• Did a short testride on a previous model, not sure about the rockerlink, direct feel.
• Rave reviews, can’t find a bad one.

Lapierre Spicy 316

Cost: 2299 euro (could pick up a 2008 one for 2000 euro)
Pro:

• Hothothot + Vouilloz,
• Light, 160 mm

Con:

• Float R shock (checking if it’s upgradable)
• FOX 36 VAN R fork, not adjustable
• Rather basic parts, however, could upgrade some parts along the way and end up with dreamy bike.

Cube Fritzz

Cost: 2599 euro
Pro:

• Rock Shox Lyrik 2StepAir (eventhough I’d prefer the U-turn with coil),
• Good specs for the cash,
• Goed reviews.

Con:

• It’s a CUBE…

Canyon Torque ES 7.0

Cost: 2399 euro
Pro:

• RockShox Monarch 4.2 (very curious about that one) TALAS RC fork (adjustable at least)
• Horstlink,
• Good reviews,
• Rob J rides for Canyon (ex-Rocky Mountain),
• Great specs for the cash

Con:

• Not sexy!
• Sounds good on paper, but is it really…
• Long estimate delivery.

So what do you think? Can you help me out? Comment below.

I can’t figure it out any more. They all seem like great bikes and my preference switches (no pun) daily. Would they all cost the same, with the same basic spec? I might choose the Lapierre Spicy…