A lot of the stuff we saw at trade shows towards the end of the year hasn’t arrived in the shops yet but here’s the gear that’s around and we rate.

Forks

Rock Shox seem to have sorted the wobbly bushings of their Psylo out, and Marzocchi’s fabulously smooth MXC takes over where the old Z4 – Z5 left off, giving great performance for £165. The real cat amongst the pigeons though are the new forks from rear suspension maestro’s Fox. Steering stiffness, damping control and smoothness of stroke are a whole league ahead of the others in terms of overall performance. After several months of riding them and swapping notes with all the other testers and riders out there it looks like they aren’t revealing any maintainance or durability worries either. Expensive, yes. Worth it? we definitely think so.

Transmission

Shimano Deore is officially (well in this office anyway) the spiritual succesor to Shimano DX. Slightly heavier (only marginally if you swap the steel chainrings) but more durability and willingness to work in horrible conditions than the more expensive groupsets. Hollowtech cranks (“Octalink” splined sets coming soon), full 9 speed and even OK hydraulic and cable discs (though they need bigger discs in our opinion) means excellent performance on bikes from £500 up. It’s also the ideal option for powering that ultimate frame/fork/wheels ‘rolling chassis’ making totally sorted build ups on £1000 + frames a reality at sub £2000 prices. Hurrah!

Brakes

The Hope Mini is light, has loads of feel, masses of power and no fade or pump on long downhills. The only pain is the squeal but a dab of grease on the back of the pad and a light chamfer of the leading edges normally does the trick. If that sounds like too much fuss already, then look for Hayes’ new semi plastic ‘Comp’ brake or the marvellous minimalist B4 units from Formula if your bike’s on a diet.

Stuff

If we were to stop the list now that’d be pretty damning of technological progression but we really can’t think of anything that’s really become the hot new product in 2001. Specialized’s 2002 Body Geometry saddles seem to fit better, there are more lightweight carbon handlebars and seatposts around, but Easton, Race Face and Thomson still hold onto the wish list pole position. The world of wheels hasn’t changed much either with Mavic X317 and X517 rims still dominating XC hoops and 521 for tougher hoops. As or hubs Hope and Shimano are still rolling happily in the centre of most wheels while Chris King is the option for the lottery winners.

Tubeless tyres are more common but they’re still very much ‘great when they’re working, an absolute nightmare once they start to leak or puncture’ and we wouldn’t recommend them for general trail use. Instead plump for something conventional from Panaracer (we love their 1.8″ Trailblaster for speed or the Fire XC for anything) Continental, Michelin, IRC or the ever growing range of performance rubber from Intense and Kenda.

So there you go. That rather short selection was our list of shakers and movers that arrived in 2001 but don’t be downhearted if it seems meagre, the truth is bike shop shelves are already groaning with really well sorted kit and it’s just getting harder for new stuff to make real advances on what is already available.

Next round up; the 2001 cycling couture collection – or – “what to wear this season”.