kamotE trails

I was looking for a dry lube that stays on longer.  I liked White Lightning's Clean Ride lube but wanted more durability from it.  I also tried White Lightning's Epic Ride for my daily commuter which worked well but still accumulated gunk at the end of the week. I found this Finish Line Ceramic Wax Chain Lube. It's from the same company as White Lightning.  It says its supposed to coat the chain with ceramic.  Less grease since it's wax and more protection. Maximum performance would be after 2 applications since the ceramic needs time to build up in the chain. Maximum Cleanliness It's a bit pricey compared to White Lightning and comes at a smaller bottle. Bottle cap needs a push and a twist to open. I tried it on my mountain bike and the lube was very light. After a slightly damp ride, I left the bike to sit for 2 weeks without cleaning.  I found some parts of the chain with rust. Performance was okay after the ride. Very clean chain. On m...

I got the Token Jockey Wheels to replace the stock wheels of my Shimano Zee rear mech. The stock wheels are already dried and stuck up which made pedalling harder. This gave me an excuse to have the jockey wheels upgraded to a sealed bearing alloy type although I have easily cleaned and greased the stock wheels. The wheels came with an adapter that I don't know what it's for. Installation is simple. The only problem is that you need to tune your rear mech again since the jockey wheels are a bit bigger than the stock wheels. You need to adjust your B-tension screw to accomodate the larger jockey wheels. What I noticed from this upgrade is that there is a metal noise when turning the pedals. This is attributed to the allow wheels coming in contact with the steel chain. Shimano stock jockey wheels are made of plastic so they do not produce that noise. You just need to get used to it. Overall, the deraileur feels smoother compared to the gunked out pulleys from before ...

After my Schwalbe Citizen stock rear tire wore out, I decided to get a new pair of tires.  I have heard many good things about Schwalbe Kojak in the local forums so I decided that this would by my next commuter tires. I got a pair of 20" Kojaks for 1800 pesos from a local bike store in Pasay City.  Both the tires were installed and the still good Schwalbe Citizen tire was set aside for the rainy days. The Kojaks were slick tires. They don't have any treads or knobs. I was worried that it would lose traction on wet roads but they held up pretty well.  I tried these tires from light rains to heavy downpour and the grip on the slightly suffered. I just have to be extra careful on those man hole covers and metal gratings. Schwalbe rates this tire with a Race Guard 4 level of protection.  So far, I have less punctures with these tires compared to the Schwalbe Citizen. I got these tires because of the advertised lesser rolling resistance.  They definite...

Specs: Weight: 135 grams Material: Aluminum Diameter: 25.4mm Sweep: 5 degrees Length: 580mm Color: silver Pros: If you want to go lightweight without breaking the bank on carbon bars, this is the handlebar for you. It's made of aluminum but still super lightweight compared to other aluminum bars out there. Cons: Scratches and streaks are easy to spot on the silver/raw aluminum color. You just need to keep it clean from grease smudges and its good.

Since I was having a lot of punctures lately, I decided to give the tire patch thing a try. I usually bring an extra tube during daily commute to work and just swap out the punctured tube whenever I have flat tires. I didn't want to use those cheap patch kits because the last time I used it, the patch didn't even stick to the tube.  Luckily, I chanced upon this patch kit from Birzman. The kit includes 3 patches, 1 tire boot and a carrying case with a built in scraping tool.  I also got extra patches to have spares in case I use up the patches from the kit. Patch Kit with 1 patch used The patches already have an adhesive backing. You just need to locate the puncture then rough up the surface with the scraping tool and apply the patch. The tire boot is supposed to be used when you tear your tire. Failures I've used the patch with varying chances of success. I've had a snakebite puncture and I used 1 patch for this. After a few weeks, air leaked out. It seems ...

I've been using White Lightning's Epic Ride for a while now for my daily commuter bike and my weekend mountain bike. I've nearly emptied the bottle so I think I can give a better assessment of its performance. The lube is meant to be somewhere in between a wet and a dry lube. It's advertised to stay on longer while keeping the chain relevantly clean. On my commuter folding bike, which I use 4 times a week, it performs good enough for daily use. It can last a 4 rides or more without me having to clean the chain and reapply lube. Rain Going through rain is another matter. The lube stays on for my 20 km ride during heavy rain but you need to clean the chain and reapply lube after the ride since most road mud and grit have stuck to the chain. Compared to the Orange dry lube I was using which washed away after just 5 km of rain, the Epic Ride lived up to its name. It stayed on during the rain. The lube was slightly washed away but not to the point that you can fe...

Specs: Weight: 338 grams Color: Titanium Length: 600mm Cost: 1200php I replaced the stock seatpost of my Tern D8 with this Litepro Seatpost.  I also replaced the stock metal shim with the Litepro plastic shim. Pros: It's very light compared to the stock seatpost. The surface is ribbed which is good since it prevents the post from slipping down while riding. Saddle adjustment uses 2 allen bolts compared to the single bolt adjustment of the stock seatpost.  The seatpost has height labels so it's easier to setup from the folding position. saddle clamping mechanism Cons: The seatpost can twist even when the seatclamp is overly tight. This can be due to the ribbed surface which is parallel to the twisting movement. A simple nudge can bring back the seat to its proper alignment. There's also this annoying noise it makes when you move the seatpost in and out of the clamp when folding. The ribbed surface rubs against the shim producing the noise. height label...

I recently upgraded the stock crank from my Tern Link D8. The stock crank is steel which has a lot of flex that eats up the power you apply on the pedals. It also has a cartridge type square tapered bottom bracket that is really heavy. I was contemplating between a Shimano 105 and Litepro.  I decided on the Litepro because of easy sourcing. Specs: Outboard bottom bracket 170mm crank length 56T chainring Aluminum crank for stiffness One piece CNC chainring with integrated bash guard Weight Weight is definitely a big change with this upgrade. The outboard bottom bracket and aluminum cranks reduced the weight of the bike by around half a kilo. Performance The stiffness of the cranks definitely improved the pedaling feel. It felt lighter to pedal even with a higher tooth count. The jump from 52T to 56T increased the top speed of the bike but the climbs suffered. The effect was minimized because of the increase in pedaling efficiency brought by the stiff c...

I have been having a lot of chain drops on my Tern Link D8 recently so I decided to install a chain guide. The stock chain guide doesn't seem to prevent the chain from going to the outer side of the chain ring. I purchased the Tern Mainstay Chainguide from an online source for less than Php 500. The package came with an installation guide which is very handy. Installing it would require a bit of bike technical skill and tools. You would have to break your chain and join it again after installing the chain guide. Fine adjustment is pretty straight forward.  Even with a modified drivetrain (11-36 cogs), the chain guide fits well. I am hoping that changing the chain ring from 52T to 56T would not present any problems. So far, I have not yet experienced any chain drops even with aggressive shifting. It does its job and also made the bike look a bit cooler.

My old Holy Shit grips are paper thin so I decided to replace them. I've had good experience with T-One grips from my folding bike. I've been using T-One Bricko II grips with bar end for my folding commuter so I decided to get that for my mountain bike. nice packaging I got the T-One Bricko II grips without bar-ends. It has a palm rest which adds comfort for those long road rides. The textured and hexagonally shaped grips provides very good feel and grip. The twisted look also gives additional grip. view from the cockpit I used all the "bricks" for my mountain bike setup. It's a bit longer than the previous grip but still fits well. I like the gold lock-on accents which adds bling to the bars. front view with I-spec levers I recommend this grip for train and bike commuting. 

The sweatband that never saturates. My usual head setup when bike commuting is a headkerchief(a one piece flexible tube cloth) to cover my nose and face and a bandana to soak up the sweat coming from my head.  I wan't to wear something on my head before putting the helmet so that sweat won't go to my eyes and glasses during the ride. I usually bring 2 scarf/handkerchief when going to the office. I use one going from home to the office and one for the way back. These soaks up the sweat for the long ride. I usually hang this on my office chair to dry before storing it in my bag. I discovered something new when I went to the ROX store in BGC. It's the Gutr sweat band. It's pronounced as gutter but they spelled it leaving out T and E. It's probably a marketing thing to make it look and sound hip. It's made of silicone with a rubber ring at the back. The ring comes in three sizes for proper head fit. It's secured with a velcro strap. The headband ...

Noise is a sign that something is wrong or malfunctioning on your bike. Having noisy brakes is irritating not to mention the loss in braking power. Most of the time, the noise is caused by contaminated rotors and pads. This can lead to irregular brake wear. world's lightest 1PC stainless steel rotor I have been experiencing noisy front brakes. This is extremely noticeable during wet rides when water comes to contact with the rotors. My front brake is a 180mm Alligator brand rotor. This rotor is the noisiest one I've used so far. My rear rotor is an Ashima Airotor doesn't make this irritating noise. Since I've had good experience with my Ashima, I decided to replace the front with an Ai2 Ashima rotor. On Paper The Ai2 is an upgraded version of the Airotor . It weighs 97 grams based on its label. It uses less mass so Ashima warns on fast rotor heat up but if proper brake application is used, this is not a big issue. The low mass enables it to cool down faster...

I've had this brake set for almost a year installed on my Merida HT bike. There are various reasons why I chose this brake set apart from other options in the market. Tidy cockpit with I-Spec technology I-Spec - this brake can be used with the XT I-Spec shifter that I planned to buy that time. Its also neat on the handlebar since there are less clamps that are cluttered on the bar. Brake pads with fins that are seen on the higher Shimano models can be used with this brake set. Value for money - nice brakes that won't break your bank. Squishy levers One thing I noticed after installing the brakes is the squishy lever. Coming from an Alivio brakeset where a slight squeeze will apply the brakes instantly, I feel that the new brake lever need to travel more before the brakes bite. I don't know if this is how a modulated brake is supposed to feel but it really doesn't feel right. noisy combination. Alligator rotors + Deore brakes I topped up the min...

I've got this grips 3 years ago and its still the shit. I got it for Php 500 at Cartimar when I first assembled my mountain bike. Dabomb Holy Shit Grips Build It's a "lock on" grip meaning it has clamps on both end that you use to secure it to the handle bar.  I prefer this kind of locking mechanism for the grip compared to the traditional slide on type. It's easy to pull out in case you want to change your brake lever or shifter. It's also easy to replace your handle bar. The other type of grip is such a pain to remove and it's also prone to movement when in use. Definitely find the "lock on" type of grip for your bikes. Feel The grip is made of soft rubber with embossed skulls all over. At first, I found the skull design a bit dorky but it grows on you. The feel is superb. It's soft and grippy. Very comfortable. Durability After some years, my grips are worn out on the outer palm side. It's understandable since that...

After I bought my Merida Big Seven frame, I needed to change my rear hub to a thru axle type. I looked around for a good but not too pricey hub in the local market.  Finding a 142x12mm hub is not easy unless you go to the bike stores in Cartimar or Quiapo. DaBomb + XT Cogs I had 3 hubs to choose from. A Shimano SLX priced at Php 2,500 but weighed a lot. A Fireeye Excelerant hub that is super light but costs Php 5,000 after haggling. And my pick, Da Bomb Rotate Hubs. A balance of weight and price. DaBomb Hub + 142mm Thru Axle Specs Bearings: 4 Sealed Bearing Material: Aluminum Holes: 32 Holes Weight: 355g Sound: somehow "Tunog Mayaman" (a term referring to the loud freewheel sound present in Hope Hubs)

Rainy days are upon us and its time to include a rain gear in your bike pack. You wouldn't want to ride in the rain for an hour without any protective clothing. I didn't like the experience of being drenched in rain and the head wind chilling you more. Cheap and Lightweight I was on the hunt for a cheap(relatively) and lightweight rain jacket that I can keep in my bag in case of heavy rains.  My search led me to a list of outdoor brands with costs ranging from Php 2,000 to Php 6,000.  I was hesitant to spend that much on something that I would just stash in my bag and hopefully wear at least once a year. I was locking on to buy an Adidas water resistant jacket in a outlet store up North but then I saw Uniqlo's Parka jacket.  It was on sale for only Php 990. It was perfect. Looks water resistant enough and lightweight.  It's lighter than the plastic rain jacket I used to carry around. Packable I folded it up real nice and packed it in a small pouch. You c...

Lightweight and durable Fits nicely with my XT - Deore drivetrain Weight is 253 grams for the 116 links. Chamfered inner and outer plates for smooth shifting. I'm not a fan of gold chains so I got the silver one. I know that the gold chain offers more than bling but gold is really not for me. I have used this chain for more than 6 months now on trails and on roads. My setup is a 2x10 drivetrain with XT cogs and Rear Mech, Deore Front Mech and Chainrings on my 27.5 hardtail bike. I have ridden this for more than 200kms and in most tropical riding conditions (hot, humid, and rainy). Performs as expected With a high-end chain like this, it is expected to perform well. No chain stretch up to this point. Haven't broken a link yet so all is checked for durability. Shifting is smooth. Partnered with an XT cog and rear mech, this chain shifts fast and fluid. Noisy I've noticed a significant noise coming from the chain when the chainline is not straight. I'm ru...