Turning old into new: You can buy a bike every year so that you always have the latest. Or see what clever innovations are available for tuning. We've been doing this with our beloved Enduro 26 for some time now. Which parts make us particularly happy? Read for yourself!
1 Milled rear door Bikeyoke Enduro Yoke
Specialised is a world champion when it comes to system integration. They have taken this to the extreme with the rear shock: the rear shock eyelet has been omitted and a yoke is bolted on directly. Design advantage: no more worn-out shock absorber eyelets at this point. Disadvantage: No other normal shock absorber will fit. And especially in this area, there are always new things coming onto the market that you would like to have on your bike. Bollocks. The German mini-company Bikeyoke has taken on the problem and offers a whole series of shock mounts for Specialized bikes. The Yoke replaces the standard part and allows the installation of normal shocks. It is precisely manufactured and fits as well as the original. The highlight: with the appropriate part, you can even ride the old enduro bike with the new Metric shocks - if that's not future-proof! And the guys have many more tuning parts for telescopic stabilisers and other bike models in stock - check out their website.
Price: 89 Euro
Info: www.bikeyoke.mysimplestore.com
CONCLUSION: Useful tuning part for Specialized owners who would like to try out a modern rear shock.
PLUS Small component, big effect!
MINUS nothing
2 Lever crutch Lindarets Remount IS-D
Many older telescopic stabilisers have a problem with the lever. There are often these little fiddly things on the handlebars that you have to press down from above. And a huge cable loop winds its way to the front because the cable outlet points there. Unattractive and unergonomic. What to do? Buy a new support? We discovered the Lindarets brand adapter online. These are actually small aluminium stubs that can be fitted to all modern Shimano and SRAM brake levers using adapter kits. The stubs are then positioned at a right angle downwards away from the handlebars and serve as a mount for the old handlebar levers. This is rotated by 90 degrees for installation and moves ergonomically under the handlebars. The cable outlet is then parallel to the brake cable. Everything is very neat and tidy and just as good as the modern levers that are produced for current uprights. Clever.
Price: 30 Euro
Info: www.lindarets.com
CONCLUSIONS: Ingenious idea and very effective. Both cable routing and ergonomics are improved. Buy it!
PLUS Makes old levers more ergonomic
MINUS nothing
3 Air number eThirteen Tubeless Valve Set
But stop now, valves in the endurance test? Yes, valves. Because believe it or not, even this tiny component can be improved if you're smart about it! And the guys at eThirteen have been clever and literally turned the design of the tubeless valve on its head. This allows them to achieve a larger filling tube volume. The effect: significantly more air flows through the valve and a tubeless tyre is pressed more effectively against the sidewalls during inflation. With the valve, we were able to get three different tyre models airtight with the floor pump without any problems. With normal tubeless valves, we only managed to inflate one tyre with great effort. We say that these valves are a gain for mankind! At least for those who are serious about cycling.
Price: 27 Euro
Info: https://eu.bythehive.com
CONCLUSIONAnother reason to convert to tubeless!
PLUS the better tubeless valve
MINUS nothing
4 Bastard brake MT7-Saint-Mash-up
Okay, this tip doesn't exist. We would NEVER recommend something like this to you! Death and destruction to anyone who imitates it! Don't read this! That should be enough. We picked up the information in some forum discussion: "The best brake has the brake caliper of the Magura MT7 and the lever of the Shimano Saint." We didn't want to believe it and tried it out with the help of some friendly internet junkies. Magura lever off, Saint lever on and bled with Royal Blood. We made sure that the pistons were pushed back as far as possible and then set off - expecting instant death. But no such luck. The combination is awesome! Crisp, very direct and stable pressure point. Mega power, top ergonomics. The best brake in the world! Of course, none of this is true and it's just a dream. But we can recommend THE. We only use it to dream our way through the terrain. Without guarantee.
Pricealmost nothing if you have the parts.
CONCLUSIONThanks to this act, we have one foot in jail - but we'll do anything for you.
PLUS great, but we don't know anything
MINUS you die immediately when you try it
5 Axe reloaded Manitou Mattoc with IRT cartridge
The Mattoc Pro never quite convinced us. Light and sensitive, but simply not at the level of the RockShox Pike in the mid-stroke. Even with the compression damping, it was not possible to effectively stop slight bottoming out. Somehow the Mattoc was either too hard or too bulbous in its characteristic curve. Instead of throwing the entire fork in the bin and coming up with something completely new, the developers thought about how to do the end customer a real favour. The result is the IRT (Infinite Rate Tune) cartridge, which can be used to retrofit the current fork. The component has a floating separating piston and allows the user to change the characteristic curve in the middle spring travel independently of the response behaviour and the end progression. This requires a bit of brainpower when setting up, but the instructions online are great and so is the effect. With the specified values, the fork comes to life in a completely new way. Suddenly a combination of high sensitivity and very nice counter-pressure in compressions is possible. The Mattoc needs less compression than before and becomes even more sensitive on small bumps. Super!
Price: 60 Euro
Info: www.manitoumtb.com
CONCLUSION: For little money, the Mattoc is a top fork - awesome!
PLUS makes the fork a class above for little money
MINUS needs some time for tuning
6 Sprocket pizza eThirteenTRS Plus cassette 9-44 t.
1x11 gears are sooo over! Because recently the SRAM Eagle came with 1x12 gears. One more gear! At last! Nobody could stand that 1x11 rubbish! And 1x12 only costs something around 1200 euros, a laugh. The guys at eThirteen probably don't have a sense of humour, because they didn't laugh, but developed the TRS Plus cassette, which achieves the same effect for much less money. A greater gear spread, that is. And it does this without the need for a new crank, a new rear derailleur, a new shifter and a better-paid job. Supercleverly constructed in two parts, which are screwed onto the XD freewheel one after the other. This means that the smallest sprocket can only have nine teeth. In combination with a 30 t cassette, the heavy gears are still heavy enough and the light gears are sufficient for the toughest climbs. Shifting comfort is good, even if downshifting is a little more difficult than with the original. Extensive lubrication is mandatory, otherwise it can crack. But otherwise a brilliant tuning part!
Price: 289 Euro
Info: eu.bythehive.com
CONCLUSION: This makes 1x11 crisis-proof in times of turbo progress! Available in 2017 with an even wider spread (TRS Race).
PLUS Very wide gear spread
MINUS Shifts down a little "harder
