11 SPEEDS - kill the front derailleur!

In the last 3 years, two biggest bicycle component manufacturers have released their 11-speed MTB groups, along with press releases, containing high quality picture and video content (aka "sick edits") creating the desire to own them. Just like in early 2000s, the true advantage of going "one more speed" was increasing gearing range. From Shimano side 9 speed hasn't really brought anything new to the table than smoother gearing ratios for those who (pretend to?) care. Some liked that shifting got smoother and less clunky but I myself still get pleasure-filled flashbacks of 9-speed Sram X0 shifter derailleur combo going Cling! Clang! Clong!, making me more than sure that the selected gear is on, VS Shimanos soft cleng-bfleee-click. 10 speed attracted many due to larger cog going from 34t to 36t which created a psychological illusion that NOW I can finaly crank it up on single chain ring. Unless you were riding a 29er, 2 more teeth didn't make much of an actual difference. Illusion or not, along with chain guide development, 10 speed drivetrains really made many people dare to go for single ring setups and that was great due to chain retention, less cables, less elements to fail or just maintain. Then clutch mechanisms in the rear mechs came and further decreased the chance of dropping the chain. I was still dropping it, but very very rarely. 

Commuter ready to huck

Gothenburg,Western shore of Sweden. Weather is not always nice but I ride to work every day. Many people say it is environmentally friendly, few more say: it's healthy. Batteries from electric bikes and fumes from cars inhaled at 140BPM+ heart rate make it totaly true... NOT. But I don't give a flying fuck, for me, it is simply convenient, despite the fact that there are next to no traffic jams here. It takes me around 15 minutes to get to work by bike, 20 by a car and 30-40 by bus/tram. GOing with a car is freaking expensive, due to parking costs, going by bus equals risk of catching infections, frustration due to waiting or simply hearing what people talk about. Whatever: here's my fantastic commuter bike, a reminder of achievements of huck to flat era. Hucking is the new enduro, and this bike with child seat provides opportunity for eternal wheelies. My friend accuses me of trying to be controversial, to mock Enduro sexuals that I could eventually meet on my way to work... naaah. I have not yet found an anti-fixie sticker. I still need 800mm bars and super loud freehub body to make it into a fixie smasher.

CRANKED mountain biking magazine

There's a new MTB magazine: Cranked. I am happy I could make a small contribution to the first issue. Magazine is quite different from anything else I have seen, in a good way. Good read, good pictures, few commercials. I like.