This week’s Fresh Goods has been dumped on slightly – with snow obviously – as the delivery men have kept away from our door due to a little bit of frozen rain. One brave soul did manage to make his way through however and we’ve finally seen our shipment of the much anticipated SRAM X0 10spd groupset land. This lot is due to go on Sim’s Orange Five Long Termer and, after a long a hard deadline week, he’s finally looking happy rather than suicidal.
First up we have the X0 10spd medium cage rear derailleur. There are three different lengths of cage available and, more importantly from a design point of view, four different colours on offer. In fact you can colour match the entire groupset to your bike or just make is clash horribly. The mech has a carbon fibre outer cage, sealed bearings and uses SRAM’s new Exact Actuation technology, which varies the ratio of the cable pull as you shift to keep things smooth.
Price: £209.99
From: Fisher Outdoor
The X0 group gets brakes for 2011, and these are the Avid Elixir X0 disc brakes. Superficially similar to the Avid CR Mag brakes, they have been redesigned to be more tolerant of air in the system and so are less sensitive to poor bleeding. As ever you get TaperBore technology for improved modulation, pad contact adjustment, reach adjustment and the lever blade is carbon fibre for low weight and, we suspect, bling factor. The lever is designed to work with SRAM’s Matchmaker X clamps to keep your handlebars tidy too…
Price: £249.99
From: Fisher Outdoor
The caliper is machined to keep weight as low as possible while offering more reliable braking under extreme conditions that the magnesium XX brake. Top loading pads should mean changes are easy too…
The SRAM X0 10spd trigger shifter is also designed with the Matchmaker clamps in mind and should integrate with nicely as well as offering ten ratios of joy. Sim’s gone for a 2×10 drivetrain, muttering something about how it’s the future, so he also has a twin ring specific trigger shifter on the other side of his bars.
Price: £212.99 for a pair
From: Fisher Outdoor
There’s a full range of SRAM front mechs in all styles and flavours for 2011. Sim’s testing the 2×10 theme so this is his X0 front derailleur, a twin ring specific low clamp bit of loveliness.
Price: £59.99
From: Fisher Outdoor
The SRAM XX cassette is a work of art and clears mud very effectively but it’s also insanely expensive. The SRAM X0 PinDome 11-36T cassette uses a similar, open design but is made from aluminium cog segments riveted together with steel pins rather than machined from a solid piece. The wide ratio means that, when combined with the twin ring setup, you should have a very similar spread of ratios to a convetional 3×9 setup.
Price: £TBC
From: Fisher Outdoor
Here’s the heart of the 2×10 system – the new SRAM X0 chainset. The crank arms are carbon fibre with an alloy spider carrying the twin rings. These cranks use the GXP system, but they are available in BB30 if that standard tickles your fancy.
Price: £429.99
From: Fisher Outdoor
Right, enough glamour. We’re back to the world of Real Cyclists and there’s nothing more realistic than having freezing cold hands that have turned a strange blue colour and lost all sensation. To that end we have the Bar Mitts. Made from nylon laminated neoprene, they aim to keep your fingers warm without having to resort to bulky gloves, although you can go for both if you want to play it safe. There’s plenty of space inside so you can continue to shift and brake as you like – well, until you fall over on black ice…
Price: £39.99
From: Bar Mitts UK
What are these cheeky little fellows? Yup, it’s a set of racy Marzocchi Corsa Superleggera forks. Air sprung with 80-100mm of internally adjustable travel, you get TST Micro cartridge damping and 32mm nickel coated stanchions to prevent any wear.
Price: £599.99
From: Windwave
The office is cold and stripping off all the nice warm jumpers Jon had on to model these lovely iXS Elict BC Pro jersey and iXS Commox MTB Elite shorts made him sad. They’re a bit big for Singletrack’s skinniest wretch too. On the up side the top looks nice, is stretchy as well as breathable and you get a goggle wipe hidden in it, which is also useful if the cold has given you the sniffles. The shorts come with a build in liner, have vent zips as well as four cargo pockets and have a water repellant coating.
Price: Shorts £109.99, top £49.99
From: Hotlines
We almost made it through Fresh Goods without some horrible pose that made you eyes sad didn’t we? Ahh well. Jon is shaking his money maker in a set of iXS Nepean All Weather Pro shorts. They’re extremely waterproof, have a stretchy waist and come with a cunning little bag to fold them into.
Price: £49.99
From: Hotlines
Did we mention Sim was happy about getting his SRAM X0?
Be safe, be seen. Chipps has been sent this Camelbak MULE NV pack which is rather nice and bright but more importantly should be very comfy due to the NVIS back panels which keep weight spread evenly while offering plenty of ventilation. New for 2011 is the new, easier to fill, 3L Antidote reservoir. You only need to turn the top by 90 degrees and it’ll be open. There are 16 litres of cargo space including a tool compartment, a furry media pocket and helmet carrier.
Price: £84.99
From: Zyro
Comments (18)
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“32mm nickel coated stanchions to prevent any wear.”
If they’re anything like the ones I had, it’ll fall off after a few weeks. Thankfully their warranty support is incredible, as is the length of the warranty.
How sweet does X0 look? :o)
Thanks heavens there’s finally a place to keep my furry media while out riding.
PS. £210 for a rear mech?! Pfffft
Those XO prices are beyond outrageous. £200 for a rear mech?
mechs shifters and crankset comes to over £900 already, bet that rear cassette is over £250 and the brakes are another £500
It’s expensive this mountain biking….
I like the look of X0, but is there really any benefit over X9? £250 for a rear mech is ludicrous.
Sram just have a different way of doing things with the sales emphasis on OEM rather than aftermarket – and price accordingly.
Think that X0 crank is the best looking of the new 2×10 SRAM range. Shame about the price.
Wish I’d had those mitts on my bike at 05:30 this morning. The coldest I’ve been on my bike. Only rode for 30 minutes but the pain in my hands was startling. Everything else was fine, even with a crust of frost forming on my jacket.
quote Sram just have a different way of doing things with the sales emphasis on OEM rather than aftermarket – and price accordingly.
That’s a rottern trick, flog it cheap to manufacturers then jack up the price for replacements.
I’ll carry on down the ‘blimey, that’s expensive route’. The iXS Commox MTB Elite shorts whilst looking tempting are expensive aren’t they, £110?? How come they are over twice the price of the waterproof shorts?
How many here know SRAM in Polish means “I’m having a poo” (sorry, the swear filter).
The guitarist in the band I’m in is Polish and he told me this too. Think he just said it means sxxt or should that be sxot.
Insert yet another comment that x0 looks great but I’ll certainly not be playing with it at those prices
Jon got that ‘aw mam do I have to wear that look’ on his boat…
crackers money for X0….hardly any performance or weight gain either…..
the more that buy it, the more the prices will continue to increase….
some things have high cost but offer good value. i fail to see how X0 achieves this ?
I bet there was some champagne ordered over at shimano hq when the pricing for x0 came out. Seriously, who would ever buy this? Top-flight racer will get xx but I can’t think of anyone who could justify those prices?
hmmm… I was hoping to build something up next year with an X0 groupset, but perhaps not. Going by that even X9 will be a touch on the pricey side.
Might just be sticking with 2×9 on the cheap, as I have now.
Then again, if I hold out long enough, it’ll reduce in price. Or maybe even shimano will see the light and release an SLX or XT 2x crankset for 2012…
Or maybe I’ll have to look at a complete, and flip parts; what a hassle!!!!
Buffalo Mitts: half the price of Bar Mitts and more versatile. Toasty hands on -6.5C commute yesterday.