PressCamp: Answer/Manitou, Sun/Ringle and Hayes

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A visit to the Answer/Manitou, Sun/Ringle and Hayes room here at Presscamp confirms that its design elves have been busy and we got to see a good selection of its new wares. Some is available now and the rest will be appearing later this year.

Manitou has been quietly making some decent forks despite not shouting about them that much. There’s the new-ish 29er Tower fork, which comes in 80, 100 and 120mm versions. The Tower features Manitou’s Hex-Lock system, which is a clever bayonet way of doing a thru-axle. Insert the hex axle, turn it 90° and then close the QR. Manitou reckons it’s as stiff as a 20mm bolt-up axle. The Hex Lock comes on the Tower and the Marvel forks.

A bevy of Manitou forks

 

Did you know that Manitou has a patent on any non-circular thru-axle?

 

Bayonet pins and a hex socket

 

Knurled bit on the QR is just to keep the lever tight when shut. Lever can live in any position around the axle.

 

What is this madness? What's with all the 20s?

Answer has a new ’20/20′ handlebar coming out. It features a 20mm forward sweep and a 20° rear sweep. This is designed to give a Jones bar style fit without having to swap your stem out. No doubt people will point out that similar ideas have appeared in Brant-designed stuff in the past.

The 20/20 bar comes in a 720mm width and should be out shortly

 

Nobody liked our 'Poirot's Moustache' name suggestion, so 20/20 it is.

 

Hayes has been making disc brakes for a very long time. They claim to have made the first bicycle disc brake, but no doubt Hope will have something to say about that. Anyway, through all this time, it’s rotor design has remained the same, so it was time for a redesign. The new rotors are built to dissipate heat better and also to weigh in a bit lighter – saving 20g-43g depending on size.

The 160mm rotor weighs 93g and the 180 is 123g
New Hayes rotors in 160/180 and 203mm
A look at the old (left) and new (right) rotors

Hayes also has a new, simple brake alignment system called the Crosshair. You attach the brake as normal, just loose enough on the Post-mount bolts that it can still move. You line it up against the far pad, then tighten the 2mm grub screws until the calliper is neatly centred on the disc. Tighten the bolts and there you go – one centred calliper.

Ta daa! A simple (and apparently patentable) way of lining up the calliper.

Hayes also has a new, one-piece ‘cross mechanical calliper called the CX Five.

With a cable adjuster on the calliper, it's going to be a simple (if a tiny bit weighty) way of adding discs to your 'cross bike. The CX Five will be pretty cheap, so expect to see many of them soon.

 

Sun/Ringle has a very close relationship with Stan’s rims, so you might be surprised to learn that all of Sun/Ringle’s mountain bike wheels some with Stan’s BST (Bead Socket Technology) for full tubeless-ready riding.

 

Here's the Black Flag PRO SL wheel, which should come in at 1450g for a 26in x 15mm version. Or 1600g for the 29er.

 

 

The wheels will come with caps to fit any axle sizes.

 

Rim is a 'proprietary blend' of 6000 series aluminium. Rim is 23mm wide O/D and is The rim Black Flag PRO SL rim is 1.5mm taller and 1mm narrower than the regular Pro, Expert and Comp.

The Sun/Ringle Charger Pro will come in the trendy new 650B size as well as in 26in and 29in. There’s a new hub that takes 9/15 and 20mm axles and all the rears too. It’ll come with Stan’s fluid, valves and two extra spokes just in case of accidents.

Who doesn't love a red hub?

 

 

 

 

 

Comes in 650B in Pro/Expert and Comp levels. Weights are 1780g Pro/1940g Comp/ 2040g Expert

 

 

 

 

 

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Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

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