Chumba Slackr Hardtail Review: Re-Centering Hardtail Geometry

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Chumba Slackr Hardtail Review: Re-Centering Hardtail Geometry

John took a Chumba Slackr hardtail home from the 2024 MADE Bike Show to review. Since then, he’s squeezed every bit of riding potential on the bike before winter set in early in Santa Fe, putting it and himself through a multitude of rides in the Southern Rockies. Find out what epiphanies he’s had while riding this Austin, Texas-welded titanium hardtail below…

2017 NAHBS: Shamrock Nature is Metal Road with SRAM Red eTap

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2017 NAHBS: Shamrock Nature is Metal Road with SRAM Red eTap

If the Necronomicog would ever come out of retirement, this would be its bike of choice. This year at NAHBS, SRAM had a four bikes on display, including this Shamrock road with eTap. The paint job is one of my favorites at the show. It’s not overly complicated, or bright and that’s why I like it.

Like tree branches reaching for the ground against a deep blue sky, this bike is reminiscent of those long rides where you’re trying to get home before the pitch black hits.

Endless Summer

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Endless Summer

The dog days of summer have landed in Los Angeles. After a completely amazing time in SF, I hopped on a plane and found myself in LA with an agenda unlike anything before: find a place to live and hopefully, an office to work out of. The stars aligned and my dirt sacrifices to the Necronomicog paid off. For the most part anyway. A new home base, somewhere to explore roads and uncover new experiences, or just spend time on the roads and trails with friends, old and new.

Los Angeles will be my new home town and this past trip was stunning on many levels. While this is by no means a story, it is a paraphrased visual showcase to just some of the rides we went on, many of which I’ll expand upon relocation to the west coast.

Coincidentally, because I can’t ever seem to leave for a ride without a camera, I managed to pull together some random photos, which make for a perfect distraction on a Friday afternoon.

Enjoy…

Absolute Black’s New Singlespeed Cogs – Made in the EU

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Absolute Black’s New Singlespeed Cogs – Made in the EU

Absolute Black not only has one of the best names, they claim to have the best singlespeed cog. Designed in the UK and manufactured in Poland, these cogs offer up quite the blast beats for your buck. As far as I can tell, they’re the first people to adopt and adapt SRAM’s “narrow wide” tooth to a singlespeed cog, which seems like a no-brainer for cross.

These beastly cogs fit Shimano freehub bodies, offer up a thick, 7mm base to prevent freehub damage and are constructed from cnc machined 7075 Txxx Aluminum, with a steel option on the way for the bigger riders.

18t is in stock for $39 with 16t and 20t on back-order until the 25th of June.

See more at Absolute Black and praise the Necronomicog.

Thanks for sharing this, Chris!

Firefly Bicycles: Black Metal Steed

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Firefly Bicycles: Black Metal Steed

Oh praise to the Necronomicog. Dear lord of the darkness and campfires, what have you manifested upon my eyes? What is this steed upon which you ride? I cannot get over how rad this bike looks.

Firefly’s bikes keep throwing me a curve ball. Just when I think I know what I want, I see a sinister steed like this. Hell, even a disc version would be killer. Yes, I just said that.

See more at their Flickr.

SRAM Introduces the new Guide Brakes

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SRAM Introduces the new Guide Brakes

Photo by Margus Riga

New found confidence? Or just summoning the Necronomicog? Finally, some photos of me riding gear in a review!

I think this goes without saying, but I’d like to thank everyone involved with last weekend’s trip, including Margus and Adrian for shooting such rad photos of the riding. One of the reasons why we were there was to test out the new Guide Brakes from SRAM.

I’ll be pretty honest here, I have never really liked Avid brakes. My bikes all have Shimano systems on them, from SLX to XTR. In the past, I’ve said that I’d never ride anything else. Coming off a weekend like this, it’d be easy to say that SRAM put us in this rad location, threw new products at us and expected some positive feedback but that wasn’t the case at all. They really were interested in what we thought and were open to critique.

Unfortunately, the only feedback I had to offer up was: “I didn’t even have to think about the brakes”. Period. Riding new terrain, on a new bike, the last thing you want to do is worry about if your brakes are going to feel good and perform up to par. They felt so amazing, even compared to XTR.

We all know I’m not a king of technical garble, but I think it’s safe to say that these exceeded mine and everyone else’s expectations. I didn’t hear a single squeal from the rotor, or person the whole trip.

These new Guide Brakes from SRAM are like night and day compared to Avid…

Check out more below.

#NatureIsMetal

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#NatureIsMetal


Photos by Kyle Kelley

I’m in Los Angeles today, en route for Santa Barbara and the ATOC tomorrow but before leaving town, I had to do a cross ride with Kyle. Some ups, just as many downs and a few spills made for a great ride. While my film sits in its canister, awaiting being developed, check out these two photos from Kyle’s Instagram. I forget how beautiful Los Angeles is, especially this time of year in the mountains. Nature is so metal.

Praise the Necronomicog.

If There Was an HC for Stokedness

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If There Was an HC for Stokedness

Well, we’re all back from Shifter Dan’s 40th Birthday Bush Bash. After two days, 180 miles and over 31′,000 of climbing, we’re all a little sore. That said, if there was an HC for stokedness, we’d all be there. More to come, but for now, here’s Dan finding his inner spirit animal while climbing into the birthplace of the Necronomicog.