Park Tool DS-1 - Digital Scale Tool

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Trek has been building XC race bikes for over 30 years, and it currently boasts the Olympic XCO women’s champion and world champion on its books, so it knows a thing or two about building a great race bike. Scott says the new geometry takes inspiration from its full-suspension Spark XC race bike, while keeping the familiar characteristics of a hardtail. Wheel size: 27.5in | Frame sizes: S, M, L, XL | Weight: 14.52kg | Suspension travel: 140mm front | Rating: 10/10 Wheel size: 29in | Frame sizes: M, L, XL, XXL | Weight: 14.03kg | Suspension travel: 140mm front | Rating: 9/10 Rolls fast, more stable at speed and less interrupted by bumps, which makes them great on a hardtail, so long as the geometry is right. Wheels can be weaker and heavier though. What are the best components – like forks, brakes and tyres – for a hardtail?

Vitus Sentier can be ridden hard and provides ample thrills 4. Vitus Sentier 29 Smooth ride and quality frame Wheel size: 27.5in | Frame sizes: S, M, L, XL | Weight: 14.47kg (31.9lb) | Suspension travel: 130mm front | Rating: 9/10 It seriously impressed us, writing: ‘from the first pedal stroke the Procaliber took the lead in this test and never faltered. We were instantly won over by its effortless turn of speed, in part thanks to the carbon wheels, but it’s also about the more forgiving ride quality of the frame. Bumps just didn’t chip away at our speed as much as they did on the other bikes on test. And even when we were out of the saddle, the Procaliber was still the smoothest bike here.’ With the latest round of revisions, the Nukeproof Scout 290 Elite is a seriously accomplished trail bike. And even though it was the cheapest bike in our group test by quite some margin, it still managed to hold its own on the descents while nudging ahead on the climbs. So in that respect it makes for a seriously good allrounder, especially if you’re looking to cover some serious ground with minimum effort. Wheel size: 29in | Frame sizes: S, M, L, XL | Weight: 14.6kg (32.19lb) | Suspension travel: 100mm front | Rating: 10/10While most home-use luggage and fish scales are handheld and use a metal hook to dangle your payload on, bike scales are much longer, thanks to the addition of a stem piece that allows it to clamp onto a repair stand. Fish scales are often held by hand, making it quite difficult to balance a bike if you don’t have a proper setup. In addition to a clamping stem, all bike scales include a large, strong nylon loop that can be used to safely hang it from a nub, tree branch, or hook without tearing. Can’t I Just Use a Regular Scale? Sure, but that measurement won’t be quite as accurate as a dedicated bike scale's read will be. A bike scale is sensitive enough to provide the true weight of your ride, with many providing that measurement in pounds, grams, ounces, and kilograms, for easy conversions. Because they’re hooked, a bike scale can also account for anything that’s off-balance while weighing with a regular scale. They’re also more practical to use than holding your bicycle while standing on a scale at home. How We Evaluated Bike manufacturers use seat tube length to denote frame sizes. These can be in inches, or use descriptive terms like Small, Medium and Large. The problem is, there’s no standardised sizing tool, so one brand’s medium can be the same as another’s large. Like all survivors, XC racing has prospered by evolving. Long gone are the three-hour mud-fests on non-challenging terrain. Courses are now shorter and more demanding, challenging riders and equipment, while pushing the visual aspect to make it more appealing for spectators.

Wheel size: 29in | Frame sizes: S, M, L, XL | Weight: 14.31kg | Suspension travel: 120mm front | Rating: 9/10While most new bikes come with inner tubes inside the tyres, a simple upgrade is to go tubeless, using liquid sealant inside the tyre to seal the air and even fix minor punctures without getting your hands dirty. So look for tubeless-ready tyres and wheels, to make the switch easier.

Most brands will provide an online size guide, that will give you a recommended size based on your height. But be careful with these online size calculators as they’re not always that accurate. If in doubt, we’d recommend you go for the largest size you can get away with that still provides adequate standover clearance.And taken with the dialled geometry and finely tuned flex in Whyte’s alloy frame, the 909 X is the closest thing here to riding a soft-tail.

Either way, too hard and they’ll be harsh and offer little grip; too soft and you’ll be more prone to pinch flats and you may even roll the tyre clean off the rim. 2. Adjust your handlebar controls At the cheaper end of the market, try and choose a bike with an air-sprung fork. This will let you set adjust it to suit your body weight. Also try and get a fork with adjustable rebound damping at the minimum. Don’t worry too much about things like grips and saddles, as these can be changed relatively cheaply at a later date to suit your personal preference. Look for modern geometryYou’ll need tighter reins compared to a true down-country bike, but the Epic Evo is more than capable of winning on Sunday, shredding on Monday. A hardtail is a mountain bike that has suspension at the front (a suspension fork) but has a rigid un-suspended main frame and rear wheel. The term hardtail differentiates it from full suspension bikes – with suspension at both wheels – as well as fully rigid bikes – which have rigid forks as well as rigid main frames. What size frame should I buy? The Line T3-27 marks a welcome return for the Calibre brand to the this price category. With progressive trail geometry and large volume 27.5in tyres, there’s been clear inspiration from the Whyte 901 trail bike. Which is no bad thing, given that Whyte has been at the forefront of trail hardtail design for over a decade now. We tested the Trek Procaliber 9.7 a couple of years ago and it blew the competition away to take the top step of the podium in our grouptest, and the current model uses the same OCLV carbon frame with effective, trail-smoothing IsoSpeed decoupler.