Friday, 07 December 2007
http://www.sram.com/en/srammountain/components/x0/rearderailleur.php
By now I have become an expert on some of the reasons the XO RD is better than the normal.
The outer cage being carbon fibre is a real help when you hit “stick or rock central”. I have broken two of these cages in a rock garden and a stick festival! Both occasions the cage just smashed to pieces and saved the mechanism from any further structural damage. Monza imports (http://www.monzaimports.com.au/ ) even sell XO RD repair kits for this reason…you can re build your beloved RD and give it a new lease on life minus the carbon cage…and you and never have enough spare RD’s lying around!
Of course, the other awesome concept is the 1:1 actuation technology of the gear change mech. In chick talk,” when I want to change up or down a gear, I just do it and it happens…bang!”
Oh…and it also looks pretty sexy with its 20th anniversary GOLD bolt and graphics…ooooo! Bling for free!
I used to use the XO shifters, but Rob Eva sent me a pair of AMY grip shifts and one slight click of the grip and “bang” again, the gear is changed…I just leave my finger free for braking only, no gear changes required.
http://www.sram.com/en/srammountain/cassettes/9speed/pg990.php#
In conjunction with the XO RD, the rear cassette it is a treat to look at. I have the SRAM 9-Speed PowerGlide II™ Cassette. This is lightweight cassette, and I race a lot of long endurance events, I have replaced it once in the 12 months of using it. But it is to be expected when you race nearly every weekend plus training. If you were just an occasional racer and weekend rider, no doubt you would get a much longer life from it.
the Red anodized Alloy spider is of course, sexy in its red SRAM style. Stands out from the crowd!
http://www.sram.com/en/truvativ/mtbcranksets/noirmtb/xc33tm.php Ok…I have talked about my SRAM components like they were hot looking guys I was checking out from afar…but I can’t help it. Even guys come up and “want to see my crank set!” when I rock up in this number!
The Truativ NOIR is hot. Yep, its lightweight and all the rest, oh and I have also knocked the cranks around a bit on rocks and logs and falls, but the stiffness and lightweight properties of the carbon cranks are the hottest things going on any decent XC MTB at the moment. Who cares if you can ride or not…put these on and you just look good! I will be getting one of these cranksets for my duallie next year.