Twenty6 Products f1.2 stem

Twenty6 Products f1.2 Stem - Green Ano

Product Name: f1.2 stem
Steerer: 1 1/8″
Rise: 0°
Length: 50mm (only)
Handlebars: 31.8mm
Stack Height: 44mm
Hardware: 4mm allen hex bolts
Material: 6061 T6 Aluminum Billet
Weight: Actual 183g
Recommended Use: Agressive AM / FR

The one defining thing about Twenty6 products is “Design”. At a glance, you notice the details of what’s important. There’s no excess in materials used, and it’s there where you need it. The form factor is sleek and sexy and moto all wrapped into one.  Overlay that with the floral pattern etching and you’ve got yourself a piece of art.

A stem is a stem is a stem. They all clamp bars and steer tubes well. Where this one differs from what everyone else is offering is the wedge style clamping system. This provides a smooth uninterrupted flow of material around the steer tube which gives it a elegant look but also reduces the chance of your pinch bolts catching onto any part of your body or clothes when you get your “whips” on. It’s a nice integration of a design you’ve seen on the old Thomson XC stem. It works.

WHERE TO GET EM:
Best price on them is at hucknroll.com.

GOOD: Bling Factor!!! Match these up with the Prerunner pedals and some Gascaps (bar ends). Show up at the local spot and get around the “No Dig, No Jump” policy.

BAD: Known for their light ass pedals, this would be a sick stem if it was 150g. Stack height could be shorter. Spendy pay to play factor.

Reviewed by Qwan Pham

American Classics

Chris King

E*Thirteen

FOX Racing

ODI

Osprey Packs

NC-17 SUD Pin III S-Pro CNC Pedals Review

NC-17 Sudpin III S-Pro in Black Ano

I was running a set of flats that were on the big side and usually that means heavy. That lead me on a search for pedals that had the right profile, were light and durable. So looking around, in the $80-100 range my options were limited to Crank Brothers, Azonic, Wellgo, Atomlab, Transition and a few others. But all these were heavy and I wanted something under 400g.

Then I came across these pedals I’d never heard of before (NC-17 SUD Pin III S-Pro CNC Pedals), I purchased them from a website in the UK as they are not available in the USA. They looked good and were made in Germany. I figure, you know the bearings had to be good cause it’s a known fact that Germans make the best bearings right? Well at least I can vouch for this part of it, let’s take a closer look:

Technical Facts:

– Weight: 399 Gram
– Material: 7075-T6 Aluminum CNC-made
– Cr-Mo axle
– pedal size (LxWxH): 90x90x15mm
– sealed precision cartridge bearings
– replacement Pins included
– laser engraved
– Colors: black, green, white and red

NC-17 Sudpin III S-Pro in Black Ano

DESIGN
They look great, there’s not much not to like. They have a nice full squarish shape. Pin placements are in good spots you’d expect. At about 400 grams, they were over 100 grams lighter than most pedals in this price range. CNC pedals have a nice finished quality to them and obviously strong. They roll very smooth and there is no perceivable play when turning and pulling them by hand. They felt really solid under foot.

FUNCTION & PERFORMANCE
This is where I have mixed feelings on these pedals, as I know potentially, they would have been excellent. Here’s where they missed… a 90×90 surface area is a little small for even a modest shoe size (I’m a size 9). That’s why the NC17 (No children under 17) name is a mismatch; as they’re better suited for kids under 14 years of age and less than 100lbs. That said though, if you’re coming from a small body clip-in pedal, they’d be perfect. The upside is, you end up not hitting as many trail rocks, branches or whatever as they’re smaller in profile.

I’ve ridden them now for 6 months and was conscious of them for a month or so (just being small) — but I hardly notice them anymore. They grip pretty well with the Five Ten shoes (what doesn’t), they’re light and strong for their size. Having ridden them for this long, I thought they would have been toast by now but they’ve held up well despite some of their short-comings.

Riding on the NC-17 Pedals. Photo Jason Cardilo.

STRENGTH & DURABILITY
Stregnth wise, these pedals have held up strong. I’ve taken a few big jumps, dumps and the occasional whack to rocks and they continue to be straight and smooth rolling. After 6 months of good use, there is no play in the bearings.

Durability wise, it’s a miss. If I started off by removing the allen hex pins and phillips screws and loctited them in place, I’d say pretty good. But the fact that I’ve lost a few pins after hitting a few dirt hills or loose rocks, I think that’s where these pedals come up short. The drilled holes for the hex pins are shallow, so they don’t provide enough threads to bite into the pedal body. The outer pins, loosen up easily and I’ve had a couple just flat out stripped. There’s a reason for why they come with extra outer pins, but this provides little relief if threads are missing from the pedal body. For being a German made product, this part of the construction seemed overlooked.

GOOD: These pedals are strong and roll very nice with the precision cartridge bearings. pedal body is nice and thin. Weight is respectable at 400 grams at the $100 price point.

BAD: The biggest obvious thing is the surface area. It runs on the smaller side (some people may prefer this coming from perhaps clip-ins). Shallow pin bores and thread strength at the outer pins. These pedals would be awesome if they solve this part of it. Overall, for agressive riding, these are more suited for smaller riders. Not advised for DH use.

Reviewed by Qwan Pham

When they arrived, it was like Christmas. The box was a sexy matte black. Well thought-out design and color choices (impressive). I was giddy and was just so careful to open the box – just like the time when I got my new iPhone home. With care of a surgeon, I opened the lid to see the goods. The Elixirs did not disappoint. Oh man, these ARE sexxxiiii. I installed them and took em out for a ride immediately.

Great feeling levers. Contact and reach adjust (no tools)

Bedding in took a few small hills, but once they were bedded in, you could feel that they grabbed very well and that they displayed a fair amount of stopping ability — this impression is also helped by me running 203mm rotors front and rear.  My Knolly DT weighed in at a respectable 35.5 lbs at the time with them on, and it appeared to me the brakes were more than the bike needed. But my preference for brakes is that I don’t like to pull on them unless I really have to, (and generally) I wait longer than the average guy, so big rotors provide a big comfort.

Sleek, small profile and light weight.

Functionally speaking, these brakes are easy to adjust. The big red barrel contact adjustment is nice (just turn it in either direction using the directions printed on the barrel itself) — but one thing to keep in mind is that they only have 2 full revolutions from full open to full contact (they don’t actually make full contact). With gloves on, the reach adjust near the lever hinge is tricky to turn (you couldn’t do this while riding) and still pose a challenge even with bare fingers. Perhaps Avid has corrected this, but from my experience using this feature, I’ll rate them as poor. Luckily, once you set them, you don’t do anything for a while until your pads start to wear.

The levers have a good form factor and feel substantial without being bulky (very comfortable actually). Pulling on them is light and almost effortless on my first few rides. As they broke in, they started to feel better and worked smooth like butta. The Calipers are a sleek, shiny black and mount on without a hitch. Centering them was just a matter of pulling in the levers and then tightening down the 2 anchoring bolts.

I mainly used them for trail riding and light free riding and they did fairly well initially. They were responsive, had a good amount of power. The modulation felt good — I felt pretty confident on them. Although this was all about to change.

All-in-all the honeymoon period lasted about 3 months of flawless use. It was around this time that I started to notice a degradation in performance. The brakes felt hard in terms of feel; the modulation had disappeared. It reminded me of how a set of v-brakes would work. Hell, at one point, I think v-brakes would have been better. I’d been riding a lot of dusty trails and mixed in a few stream crossings; on top of that, I probably hosed the bike off a couple times. So giving them the benefit of a doubt, I figured it was time to service them.

I purchased a bleed kit and proceeded to bleed them. This was fairly easy, even with the myriad of little brass fittings and syringes. After a couple trial runs, I got the hang of it. I spent about 30 minutes to do this and it took me roughly another 30 minutes my first time. I was being careful with them. I figure doing this, I’d be golden. After I bled the calipers and levers, I went to work on the rotors and pads (there was still plenty of material left on them). Using a piece of wet sandpaper, I lightly resurfaced the rotors (and cleaned them with alcahol); then with 200 grit sandpaper I took the glazing off the pads (using a figure 8 motion). Got the bike back together and took it out for a ride. Problem solved…

Indeed, this helped, the brakes felt normal again… uhhh, for a couple weeks. Then, the hard feel along with vibration and howling started to creep in (I’ve also had the very same pattern of issues occur with a set of Avid Juicy 7s on my XC bike). I figure, ok, maybe it’s water on the pads from the streams and so I resurfaced the rotors and pads again. That helped for maybe a couple downhill sections but the problem persisted. I wasn’t willing to give up yet, I rebled the brakes within a 3 week period and no success there either. I went a couple rounds, doing this and that and just came up empty-handed. Now, I’m starting to lose patience. I threw up my hands and decided to just ride them and see if they get better and just to blow it off, since I could still stop. Albeit, not that great. I just had to deal with a little vibration and the ‘effing’ howling.

Fast forward to roughly six months after I put them on my bike and It was time to part ways. The Elixirs in my book are more hype and don’t provide the durability over the long haul and I would rate them similarly with my Juicy 7’s. Based on my experience with these avids, I’m not a fan. There are too many quirks for my liking. For me, time is of the essence. I squeeze in my rides here and there; and am very lucky I can get to my trails without getting in the car. So I’d rather spend time pedaling than fussing with stuff on my bike.

GOOD: Looks amazing. Interfaces well with SRAM Shifters. Lightweight and good stopping power for AM and light duty FR use. They worked as advertised for 3 months.

BAD: So where do I start. Like I said, after 3 months, V-brakes might have been better. They’re no better than my Juicy 7’s. Lost of lever and brake feel after 3 months is unacceptable. Vibrations and howling is a nuisance and a confidence eroder – Grade F.

Reviewed by Qwan Pham