The Latest Mountain Bike Tech Products & News! | GMBN Tech Show Ep.4

- Welcome back to the weekly GMBN Tech Show. This week coming up on the show, we've got some information about great tech products, and of course we've got all the usual stuff. (ebullient music) Guys, so this week we're going straight in with Tech News. There's a whole bunch of products I'm going to tell you about. Seeing some of this stuff online, being sent some of these really cool products, and I've also been to the U.K. Trade Show and checked out some in the flesh. So first up we've got the

O'Neal B50 magnetic goggles. So, that is your regular pair of goggles, but with like a magnetic lens system so you basically don't have to fiddle around popping lens in and out, which smears them and scratches them. They literally just pop on and off depending on which one you want. Now, I checked these goggles out, and they come in two options. They come in the standard, which just comes with a single lens, just normally mirrored lens, and then there's the Pro Pack. Now, in the Pro Pack, there

's the googles, 10 tear offs, mudflap system, a clear spare lens, a blue spare lens, a red spare lens, and a patch for it. Now, they're really, really good goggles, and the lens real estate they have is absolutely huge, so it is a lot of good vision for you. But they do come at a price. So, just the standard option, about 90 euros with a single lens, but the Pro Pack, you're talking just under 200 euros. Now, you know I'm all for the tech, but I'm very much of the opinion that goggles should be

cheap. So that's some information. Brand new news is Nukeproof have got the Horizon wheel set out. So Horizon is the high-end range of prices. Your pedals already are not clipless and flats. And then they've got these new wheels that come in 29 and 27 1/2, and both fit enduro and downhill application. So, each hub and rim, they're laced with Sandvik double-butted spokes. They've got brass nipples, and each set of wheels comes with eight spare spokes, so that's really thinking of the end user. It

's an 84 point engagement with a 4.2 degree of pickup on there, and with 29 millimeter internal rims, and they've been developed in conjunction with WTB, so you know they're going to be good quality stuff. Again, they represent really great value. A lot of the Identiti wheels we talked about in last week's show, and the U.S. price for a set of those wheels is $486, and the U.K. is about 350 quid, and in euro that's 440 euros, so nice one to those guys for developing really good, sort of flexible

wheel package with a real nice, high-end feel. Next up, I've been getting a ton of calls in Instagram. Now, Tyler is definitely one of my stylish riders out there, and he's been on GT for a while, and you know what he's like on a bike, but he's just released two pictures of his new bike. Now, one of the things I really like about his bikes is the black frames, and then he's got the old school-looking tan-walled tires. Now, somehow, even though they're not black, they do manage to make a bike lo

ok quite mean and very long as well. But what I really like is on his downhill bike. He's got a pair of FOX 40's on there painted red with Marzocchi Bomber decals on. Now as you know, the Marzocchi group were purchased by FOX, so they're kind of like a sister company now, and they're using the same factories and production facilities and stuff, and some of the riders like Tyler are having a bit of fun with that because I guess he really liked some roots of what Marzocchi did in freeride world, a

nd he's showing that off with a pair of downhill FOX 40's with Marzocchi getup on them. Check them out. And next up, I was checking on Gee Atherton's new race bike when I was at a cool bike show. Now, as you know, he's on Trek, but he's got a few different sponsor changes for 2018. So the first immediate one when you walk in through, and you see the bike, is he's got pair of Renthal bars and stem and grips on there. So it's all changed, so it's a brand new setup out front for him there. Now, it'

s kind of nice to see him on the brand. It's a British brand, and lots of racing history and pedigree there, but of course, what he was running previously was pro, and that's Shimano's whole range of products. So, you look at the bike. He's got no Shimano products on there at all. So, he's running a partial SRAM system, but also with Hope. He's got Hope brakes on there, Hope cranks, and he's got a Hope seatpost, so that's a little trick, to combine it with a few different extra things on there.

We were looking at the tires on there. They're Bontrager's as well, and those things are super tacky. Like to have a look at those at some point. So the next one is a bit of a throwback for me, actually. Panaracer tire company have re-released or reissued the Smoke and Dart tire combination. So, in the 90's, one of their tires that worked, like Farmer John's Nephew's and a whole bunch of stuff that just simply didn't work with the Smoke. So the Panaracer Smoke was a rear tire, although when it f

irst came out they used it front and rear. Very open paddle-based design, really good, and a lot of tires today take a lot of that sort of information carcass design straight through. Now Panaracer opened up the Japanese original molds, and they're remaking those exact tires. They're not replicas. They're exactly the same as they used to be, and you can buy them in regular 26 by 2.1 size and also the front addition, which is the Dart. So, the idea between the two was, your rear ones were about d

rive and your front one was about steering control. Really progressive design, and it's great to see them back, so I know there's going to be a lot of retro lovers out there getting those tires for your retro bike builds, because tires of that year, if you've still got them, they're likely to perish, so you can get brand new versions with tan walls, and it's the real deal. So, a couple of weeks back on the show, I was asked about the Giro Chamber shoe, and of course that's a really popular shoe

anywhere with a gum sole on it, and it looks good, like a skate shoe, quite a robust thing. Now, for 2018, they've got their new model out, so there's a revised sole on there. The upper is slightly more lightweight on it. It's a bit of an improvement, and I actually think it's a really nice-looking shoe. Now, I didn't get to see all their colorways, but this is one of them, and it's pretty damn nice, I've got to tell you. But the shoe that actually impressed me more was previously I had the Jack

et, which was their flat pedal shoe, but it was a bit more of just a trainer to start with, a bit more like a skate shoe. So, great if you work in the bike industry. Perhaps you want something to wear to work that looks less like a cycle shoe and more like a trainer, but not quite as good out on the trails. Now, the new one's called Riddance, and this is perfect for you flat pedal guys out there. So, it's got kind of a mid cut. They did do a low one as well, but the mid is the real mountain bike

r's shoe. It's got an upper strap for keeping everything secure. You can tuck the laces under that so nothing's going to get caught in your drive chain. It's got a slightly softer compound Vibram rubber sole on there that looks a lot better than the first incarnation, which was a good sole, but this is certainly going to be grippier on the pedal. Now, the inside of the ankle's got raised protection there as well for that dreaded smash on the cranks, and they just look so nice. I want a set of th

ose; they look wicked. U.S.E., which stands for Ultimate Sports Engineering, are a company that have been on the British mountain biking scene for many years, and they're already famous initially for making seatposts, and they did them in anodized colors, and it was a single-sized post of different lengths available, and you shimmed them out, and they sold the shims as well. Now, they've been really producing a lot of really, really cool stuff, but I noticed when I was looking at their seatposts

, they've got a brand new post called the Helix, which is a dropper post. So it kind of felt logical for them to do that, because they've kind of developed this same sort of concept in the past with their suspension seatposts. So, they already had the telescopic thing down, but there's more focus on comfort rather than performance. Now the Helix post is going to be available in 125 and 165 mil drops and the usual 30.9 and 31.6 mil. They did tell me that there's going to be a 27.2 at some point d

own the line, but due to the narrow size of that, it's going to take a little bit more refining just to make sure they're happy with it before it goes to production. The operating lever itself kind of reminds me of the Crankbrothers one, really nice position on the bike. You've got the barrel adjuster on there, and a slotted ball socket so you can move it around to your preferred position. But the thing that's really cool about the Helix is it's got a clutch design inside so it's infinite drop s

o you can have it wherever you want, and it's actually got a return adjustability speed on it for the air valve that's just under the seat clamp, so you can adjust how fast you want it to come up. Personally, I like them the faster the better so it can constantly adjust while I'm riding. Some people don't like that. They want it to be a bit slower. With the U.S.E. Helix, you can pick it your way, so that's a really nice product. Now, it seems these days that everyone likes to strap more stuff to

their bikes and carry less on their person, and that's kind of been led by the racers of the Enduro World Series, and for good reason as well, because that stuff, for example, like an inner tube that is just strapped under your saddle rails or on the frame. It's really fast access. You've got a puncture, you can get it done super fast, get back on the trail. Now, I was checking out this Cannondale, and Cannondale's got their own little sort of retention straps now to hold an inner tube, couple

of CO2 cartridges, just in the sort of nook of the frame there. That's really neat, but I also noticed on this particular one at the show it had the Fabric cageless bottle, but under the cage mount, they had a pump bracket, and the pump bracket seemed to hold perfect-sized Fabric tool on there as well. It was just a nice example of carrying everything you need on the bike, nothing on your body, hit the trails free. It feels really good. So, we've been using Ergon grips here for some time, and I'

m quite a big fan of them, especially the GD1's. You can get them in different sizes, so whenever I ride broad places like Whistler or the Alps, I like to go for the bigger grips. It's a bit more comfortable 'cause I did have a previous wrist injury, so it flops around a bit, and sometimes I have to wear a wrist support. So, I'm always looking out for the next thing, and I've got a new grip called the GA3, which has got a slight wing on the back of it. Now, Ergon used to make a lot of comfort gr

ips for the commuter bike market and endurance cross-country sort of grips with built-in bar ends and those sort of rings. Now, this is new Enduro's old mountain version of that grip. So, it's a high-performance grip made out of soft rubber with various different options available, but it's got this wing on it. Now, a lot of riders are not going to like this sort of thing, but personally, it looks perfect to me, so I'm going to get a set of these, and I can actually see myself having that on the

right and the GD1 on the left. Just a little bit of support for the heel of my hand where I need it, so just something to factor in if you have got any sort of injuries yourself. Okay so now it's time to look at what you were talking about on last week's show, so comments sent out to you guys. Of course we were talking about what sort of bike tech do you take for granted and what stuff do you think that you can't live without. So first up, Bike MTB says, "I think suspension "is the best thing t

o mountain biking "as you can unscrew your saddle or pull your brakes harder "but nothing helps more on a black rock garden "than a 150 mil front shock. "My arms thank the inventor." Yeah, do you know what? I do agree with that. Suspension is phenomenal, what you can do off-road, but I stand by my original thought, though. I think the dropper post is actually more beneficial in the long run, because you have a dropper post on a rigid frame, and it really helps your ability to get off away from t

he saddle, keep your center of gravity low. But of course, this is a preference thing, and that's why we're talking to you guys about it. In response to yours, Bike MTB, says Aljowen, "With rim brakes you can't just pull them harder. "If they get wet and muddy, you are not stopping, "no matter how hard you pull." Do you know what? I remember the terrifying days of really poor rim brakes, especially cantilevers. Flying downhill, you reach for the brakes, and literally for a split second, nothing

happens. Oh god, never again. Give me disc brakes any day. Water Bottle. "I don't have any of that tech that you named. "I live without all of it. "I've got a hard tail with 60 milli front fork travel. "Yeah, it's bad. "Yeah, there's horrible v-brakes and no dropper post "and flat pedals. "But I go out and ride every trail possible "every minute I get." Yeah, you know what? That's the best way to be. Tech doesn't actually matter at the end of the day. There's all this stuff that we like to enhan

ce the way we ride, but you don't need any of this stuff. You can just get out and ride on any bike, so that's a great response. I like that. Tom Eikelenboom. "Hey Doddy, can you do a video "about hanging your three by nine drivetrain "to a one by 11 drivetrain? "Great video, keep up the good work." Yeah, actually, that's a really good idea. I'm definitely going to do that one. I'm going to get a few more budget bikes in and show how to get the best sort of maintenance stuff and how you can impr

ove those bikes and make them better for you guys. So, doing three by nine to one by 11 is a great thing to do when you've worn out your transmission. You don't want to do it straightaway 'cause it's just going to cost you money, but in the long term, you're going to get a good range of gears but also save a bit of weight off your bike, so we'll definitely do that one. Florian. "My dad told me a while ago, about ten years back "when he bought a simple hardtail, "he had the option to get Shimano

Deore XT dual control. "Could you tell me a bit about this "'cause it seems very unconventional. "Love them videos, by the way." Well, thank you for the video comment, that's great. Shimano dual control, yeah. I think that one's firmly gone. So, in the road world, you have your brake lever hoods, and then on the hoods, when the lever dangles down, you can change gear by pushing the shifter in and out. And Shimano thought it was a good idea to bring this to the mountain bike market. And whilst th

ey did work really well, you've got to bear in mind that when you're riding in an off-road situation, you need your brakes to pull in like this. As soon as your fingers are dangling around and bumping up and down in a rough terrain, so easy to change gear accidentally. After this, the fact it were to rapid rise, so you changed gear the opposite way around to normal, so let's just think about this. So, if you change a gear normally, you're clicking down, you're expecting it to drop one way. Click

ing up, you expect it to put up the other way. You imagine that working the opposite way around. That combination with the dual control, bit of a nightmare, to be honest, although I do know two riders who still use that stuff and swear by it, and one of the things I do like is the rapid rise. Actually, it makes it really easy to change gear up into a lower gear when you're riding up steep hills because the spring works with you, not against you. So, pretty cool stuff, but I think that's done and

dusted as far as the mountain bike world goes. If you want to have shifters that work in that sort of way or integrated into the bar, grip shift is really the better option, I think, and it weighs virtually nothing. Liam Moore. "If you are building your own bike cave as you say, "you should do a series of videos about building it." Yeah, actually I'm just going to throw you to something now. Okay, so welcome to my unfinished workshop. I'm still working on it. As you can see in the corner, I've

got stuff like the boiler boarded up in here. My bikes are going to be on this wall. I've got this really cool industrial rubber flooring. It's chemical-proof and all that stuff. I've got a workbench all the way along the back here, L-shaped. Having a sink on the top, washing machine, dedicated for bike stuff here. All the tools and that stuff. Outside I'm having a hot and cold temp with a hot showerhead so I can get clean before coming into the house. And then up here, this is going to be a pla

sterboard ceiling. Hard to imagine as it is, but it's going to have lights, and we'll have hanging stuff on there as well. And then I've got a bit of storage up here as well for whatever's boxed up. But I've actually been lucky enough to build this place. It was an old coal bunker with an outdoor toilet, and that's the last remnants of what the toilet was. So, to have a dedicated workshop, that kitchen window came from what was the old kitchen in the rest of the house, so we're recycling everyth

ing we can as well, and all the bricks used to build this are from other parts of the house that we knocked down during the building, so pretty cool. And I'll present an episode of GMBN Tech Show from here when it's done. But that's all you're seeing for now. Nice. And the last one of all, this is a big one. So Thomas Vanosmael says, "Doddy, I am a father "of five children. "The oldest is 12; the youngest is three. "I'm having a hard time finding good mountain bikes "for kids. "We, I, need bette

r kids' bikes with parts "we can replace and maintain "so I can pass on my oldest son's bike "to his younger brother. "Even for children, "a good lighter bike makes a lot of difference. "Things I upgrade are a one by 11. "I mean, three by nine and square bottom bracket "is just horrible and heavy. "Better brakes, better rubber. "Am I a snob?" No, you're not at all, actually. So, you bear in mind how much stuff is on a mountain bike. When you want to try to get that price point down, and sort of

compress them for kids' bikes, you're left with what fundamentally is a really heavy bike. So, there are a few bike brands out there that simplify this and do this specifically for kids. There's a brand called IslaBikes, and that stems from Isla Rowntree. He used to be a cross-country pro rider, and he dedicated himself to making the best kids' bikes from the early sort of walk-around bikes all the way up to like 26 inch wheeled bikes. Now, check some of these bikes on screen. They're developed

specifically and specced for kids and lighter riders. Also, British brand Hope. They're famous for their brakes and their anodized bits. They've got a thing called the Hope Academy. Now, on the Hope Academy is a subscription-based bike sales service for kids. So, the idea is you buy a bike for your kid, it's obviously quite a high-end bike, so it's a lot of money, but you subscribe, so you're paying a monthly cost. When your child grows out of that bike, you simply trade it in for the next size

up, and then they service the bike and it goes to another kid. So, you're constantly paying a fixed fee, and you've got the option of chopping and changing bikes as your children grow. Now, that is a really cool service, and I'd actually like to see that implode from more places because getting kids on bikes is a really expensive thing, and not everyone can afford to, as you are, converting kids' bikes with really good stuff like one by 11. I think kids should have that sort of right to have a d

ecent bike and not be stuck on something really heavy in the future. Okay, now it's time for Bike Cave. You guys have been flooding us again. Can't get you all in this show, unfortunately, but we are going to start putting some of these on our Facebook page, so keep your eyes peeled if you haven't made it in. So, our first up is Colin Smith. Oh, nice, oh, you're got a dog in there as well. Blake would love you if he was here. Nice, tidy bench set up. Nice. Oh, a bit of an old school Porsche in t

he background there. Bit of biking memorabilia, tires, 661 helmets. Nice. I particularly like your workbench setup. That is pretty industrial. He's even got a sofa. So you can have a power nap if you need to. So, Dan Whittly from Plymouth is next. Oh, that is nice. What's he got in there? A new Nukeproof Scouts? Two of them. Oh man, you've got some nice bikes hanging up in there. Next up, I see you got some kids' bikes. Good man. Bringing in the future of mountain biking right there. E.J. Bosley

. Ohhh. Now, that is a crammed workshop. Race plates in here. Oh, I see some Gorilla tape right there. Paint. He's got all the lubes and stuff in the world. Shimano mineral fluid. Nice, you're definitely into your home mechanics if you've got all that gear. Even got envelopes. Santa Cruz 5010 parts. Santa Cruz HR, it says. Oh man, I love your setup. There is so much going on in there. I could spend a lot of time. Quite therapeutic in a place like that. Next up we've got Matthew Logan from Northe

rn Ireland. "Taking over your dad's garage." Yes, that is the way. Man, you've got some sweet bikes in there. You've got YT and a Cove. Nukeproof up the back. Man, how many bikes have you got? All right, a good amount of tools as well. I see some Stanley stuff down there. A roll cab. Decent tool board. Man, you've definitely done your dad's garage justice. I can see some Alpinestars boot set and motocross tire. Mmmm, looks like you're into some other good stuff, too. Marko Richer. "Hey, GMBN, I

love the show and everything about it. "For my setup, I've had to deal with a small space, "so I've had to work out a double duty unit, "so I've got a storage unit for my gear "and put it on rollers and screwed in a pegboard." Oh man, this is great. So the front side of this unit is your regular sort of unit. You can put it up on its end for storing all your stuff in, and you flip it around, and it's a pegboard with your tools on. That's a hack and a half. Fact, that should be a Top Mod. That is

really good. Even the workspace as well. Bike Cave meets Top Mods. Mountain Brothers. "Here's my bike cave. "I've got a Commencal HT all mountain race in it, "two fixed gear bikes, a trials bike, and a BMX. "What else should I add?" Dude, you could almost have an indoor track there. Look at the size of that garage; it's massive. You definitely need some posters and some artwork going on. I reckon a sofa in there, and judging by the amount of bikes, you get a beer fridge in there, too. You could

turn it into a proper den. Really into that. Definitely get some color in there. Get that one nailed. What else have we got? Oscar Burgess. "Love the new channel. "Here's my Bike Cave which also doubles as a home office." Well, what he means is it's a bike cave, and he just stuck a computer in the corner. Man with good priorities there. He's got a wheel jig as well. Whoa, definitely into home tinkering. Nice. Like the Orbea as well. It's a really nice color you've got there. Sweet. All right, l

ast one is from Tony Chambers. "Think I need to tidy up again." No, you know what? You don't need to tidy up that. It's wicked in there. Loaded. Oh, I can see a GMBN sticker on the cabinet as well. Oh, good man. Nice Santa Cruz you got there, too. Sweet. Love seeing those. Make sure you keep firing in your Bike Cave entries. Use the hashtag when you add them in on the comments below and when you fire them in on email, and of course, tag us on Instagram or Facebook as well. Love seeing that stuff

. Okay, now it's time for Rewind. This is a retro corner of the show where we check out where stuff is coming from and where it is going to, the development of parts, and of course, all your retro goodies. And we're still getting so many in that I'm going to be able to have a break from telling you guys about this stuff because I'm just enjoying what you're sending in. So first up this week from Aaron. Aaron in Portsmouth actually, I recognize your name and what you said about your Orange G2. I

remember you entered that into Bike Vault when we gave that. It was super nice because I remembered the XT Shark Fin on there. So, it's pretty cool that you're sending in some stuff, and the first one is your Bullet Brothers chain tensioner, so if you imagine pre-clutch mech days, this would basically go underneath your quick release on the back of the bike, poke out the back, and that spring would hold the cage of the mech up to give you loads of supreme chain tension and really silence the bik

e, help stop the chain coming off. It worked really well, but there's a downside. They would nick at the springs in your rear mech after awhile, because there's so much more friction going through it. And also if you remember, using those in the long term, it would actually make it really hard to change gear with your thumb because you're fighting that really powerful spring that comes in there. But great trip down memory lane. Next up are a pair of Shimano Deore thumb shifters. Seven speeds, oh

man, I remember those things. It's funny because really good memories of it but I did use some thumb shifters there for a time, and it's just, they're pretty crap, really. You know, but they were so good at the time, and they worked really well. Next one I absolutely love. A Gorilla fork brace. So, this is like a brake booster. Back in the day when you started using more powerful cantilever brakes, what would happen on bikes is the force in the chain stays sort of forcing the seat stays or the

fork apart, so much so that your brake could feel spongy. So, to retain that positive feel that you want for your brakes to get the most of your power. Lot of after-market companies of Gorilla, and Odyssey used to do them as well, made these brake boosters that would go on the front. Now, they basically have big bolts that go straight through your brakes and into the brake buses and hold it altogether. Really nice, but they used to clog up. Do you remember that? Never that good, that was. Next u

p we've got Greg Supelak. His more retro ride, a 1998 Kona Stab. "It's a bit of a crossover into your scratch build topic, "'cause I built the frame up, "sourcing all original parts online." Yet you know, I remember these things as clear as day because I used to have kind of a Stinky which came out just before these. And the Stinky was like a five and a half inch wheel travel, but Stab, I think, was six, and it was loosely based around this turn of suspension system, although Turner used to have

that FSR link on the chain stays, whereas the Kona uses the four-bar style seat stay pivot. So, it's not quite as active, but look at that paint job on that. It's got the old flames. He's got a big headtube gusset. Is that a FOX or is that a Noleen shock? I've got a feeling it might have been a Noleen on those. They've got Junior T's up front. Man, those things were so nice when they came out. Super plush, and also notice on the front. You've got big Azonic stem on there, so they called it Shor

ty, but ironically, it's a lot longer than the short stems of today. I see some Yeti handlebar grips on there. Azonic risers, Magura. Don't know if they're HS 33's or not, but Magura hydraulics. And then they look like Mavic rims to me, the CD finish. When they wore, they'd be 131's, maybe? Nice. Nice effort, really into that. Next up, Tom Jackson. Ah man, 1994, Fat Chance Buck Shaver. That is seriously nice. XTR on there. He's got Smoke and Dart tires on there. That's probably from the first ti

me around. That's pretty cool to see those. Those are the tires I talked about in News. And what pedals are on there? He's got some sort of gnarly-looking old pedals on there. Syncros stem, Pace RC35 for the reverse fork arch. Nice wishbone on the frame. That's a really, really nice, all handmade steel frame. Well into that. Tony Spalding is next. "Firstly, guys, your show is great. "Informative at all levels. "I thought I'd send this picture in for Tech Rewind. "It's me racing in the early 90's

. "Yes, I'm old." Nice work. He's riding a Rocky Mountain Blizzard here, so that's really cool to see. In fact, I was looking at Rocky Mountains, literally the other day, so if you look on screen, you can see a Rocky Mountain Blizzard. I managed to find one from '96 and another one from '93. I think your one, it's hard to tell there, but it might be about '95 or something like that, although you could say early 90's. But that's great to see you out riding, even though you're doing that thing tha

t we always did back then. You've got city shoes on. You've got a Specialized top, Specialized helmet, and you're riding a Rocky Mountain. What's that all about? Either way, you look so rad to see you out on a bike, and I did like the way you said, "I detest road cyclists "as I've always been a mountain biker, "but I've now got a road bike last year for sprints "and for my own training. "You've got to get Doddy out on one for the show. "I'm sure he can do it." Yeah, do you know what? Like, I'm n

ot a stranger to road bikes. I used to race cross-country. I used to train on a road bike when I was a lot younger, so I do know what it's about, and it's fine. It's just, to be honest, my riding time, like most people's, is pretty limited, and if I get a chance to ride in a day, I'm going to ride a mountain bike every time even if it is on the road. I just love them. So, straight to Top Mods, and I'm really impressed. They're flying in now, and they are ranging from all sorts of stuff from just

putting some tape on your chainstay to silence your bike to crazy cab design stuff, so I want to see them, everything you can possibly send in. Keep them coming. In the meantime, I'm just going to throw you to two really particularly interesting ones this week. So the first up is from Stewart, and it's with his 1995 Kona Explosif. So, kind of a retro bike from Rewind as well. And he's been building it up into a retro trail bike. One of the problems, though, is it didn't have disc brake tabs, an

d he wanted to put disc brake on it, so instead of welding a tab on the bike 'cause he might've wanted to return it to its older period correct build, he's made his own 3D cab model of the frame with a scanner and made a bracket to fit, and he's also done FEA testing to see if it'd be strong enough. Now, this is insane, the detail some people go to, to put disc brake on. But I don't blame you. I wouldn't run cantilever brakes ever again. So, that is like, really, really good, so. I guess that's

a hack, like, rather than a mod, 'cause you've definitely improved something that was okay, and you've made it better. Next one you've come up with a number plate mount. Now I'm really into this because number plates when you race can be a pain. You're just putting it on with cable ties, and they're really messy. I like the fact you've used reflector brackets on there. It looks really clean and tidy, and I guess you could reuse the bracket, and just put your next number plate on for the next rac

e in the same way. That's a really good mod, and I think I should look. You guys that might race want to have a look at that. And the next one. This is a particularly long story, so I'm only going to put a little snippet up here now, but I'm going to put the full letter on Facebook, because this is a bit of a crazy story. So essentially, says Philip Martin, and he's from Innsbrook. He's 30 years old, and he works as a medical doctor. In 2016 he had this massive crash, and he broke his back. So,

he broke his collarbone, his shoulder blade, some ribs, and also two vertebrae, L1 and L4. So the fracture of his lumbar vertebrae one was so bad and unstable, they had to go into surgery and basically bolted some of his vertebrae together so his lower back was bonded for eight months. So after a five month recovery, he the all the pins removed from his collarbone and his back and stuff. And the doctor asked if he wanted to keep some of the metal. So he obviously knew what he was going to do wit

h that, and he cut some up and made this little mod for his Reverb. So he's basically got part of the bolt nut that he carried in his back for eight months. With a bit of resin, he's put it on his dropper post remote so not only is it a little reminder of how lucky he was to survive that thing and still be riding a bike, but it's actually really functional because he's added more attraction to the dropper post. That is one of the best mods I've ever seen. But to top it off he's done something ev

en better than that. The helmet he wore in the crash that arguably saved him, he's turned that into a lamp. So he's got one of those really cool Edison bulbs that look really fancy, but it's LED ones that don't heat up and he's got that as his kitchen lamp at his kitchen table. That is just absolutely brilliant. But check out on our Facebook page. You can see all of his pictures and read the full story. There's a lot of detail to it, and he's really inspired by Martyn Ashton, like a lot of other

people that have had to cope with really severe injuries. Definitely have a look at that. So Tech of the Week, this week, directly relates to modern progressive bikes. And what I'm saying by that is they extended wheel-based bikes with a longer reach on them. So, I'm talking about bikes like the Nukeproof Mega's, the Mondraker's, the Pole bikes like the Machine. There's a lot of them, and it is getting more of a thing that people like to size up, so that means having a longer reach bike and the

n shortening the stem length. Now this actually came from Mondraker, who developed this system first. When they put out this crazy little stem. That's effectively a 10 millimeter stem, and the way they got around that was, let's just say the bike was a size medium. The front end would actually be for large, X or an XL of a normal bike, but it would have the medium height, and then to bring the handlebars back into the same position you would normally have, they have this tiny stem. So you're not

just putting this short stem on any old bike to get that feel. You've got the bike that fits you properly in the cockpit because of the stem, and you've got this really good direct response, and the steering just feels unbelievable. Now, these are, like, really cool, but the downside of them is that you did have to trim down your steerage tube and commit to it, because they sit on top of it. It was the only way to get them that short. Now, as things progressed, other companies came up. Renthal

got this. Race Face made them, Easton, to make this very expansive, make these tiny little stems. And this is a 30 mil stem, and that's as short as you can possibly go without interfering with anything. But a tech I want to talk to you about is the Pacenti PDENT system. So, it looks like a regular set of bars. So, right about a 15 mil rise, 25 mil rise, and they've got a five degree angle, and they've got seven degree backsweep. It's carbon fiber bar, but the cool thing is, the stem is only 20 m

il. How do they get around that? Because of the profile. That sits around your steering tube. It can still allow for a certain amount of movement for setting up the roll of the bar. I'll show you in the stem, there. You'll see it doesn't interfere with the steerage tube. You've got this tiny little compact setup. It's one of the nicest-looking solutions I've seen and certainly a lot nicer than the original sort of pioneering stuff that Mondraker did. Granted, they've done that stuff, but Pacenti

, look to what they've done. They've taken it the next step forward. That is progression. That is a really cool bit of mountain bike tech. So, that is the end of this week's GMBN Tech Show. I hope you enjoyed the ride with me. It's been really good fun. So, make sure when you're commenting, and you're sending emails on the address on the screen there that you use the hashtags, 'cause it makes it a lot easier for me to get that stuff faster, and that means it's more likely to be on the show next

week. So the hashtags are #bikecave, #rewind, that's for the retro. I know a lot of you send that stuff in, and you say retro. Just #rewind, that means I can find it like that. And then of course, #topmods. Keep that stuff firing in, and hopefully you guys will make it on the show next week. If you want to see a couple more really useful videos. Click up here if you want to see Blake's video on how to jump doubles. Don't we all want to jump? That is the video. That is the one that teaches you ho

w to do it. Now, for four ways to maybe improve your winter riding, click down here. As always, click on the globe to subscribe. Tell all your friends about the channel, 'cause hopefully we're going to be able to help them out with some really good tech info. And of course if you like the video, give us a thumbs up.