Mengatasi kemacetan Jakarta, beberapa orang menjajal alternatif lain, naik sepeda ke kantor. Meski banyak yang bilang itu nekat, dengan sepeda yang tepat perjalanan sejauh apa pun bakal terasa menyenangkan. Tidak harus sepeda yang bagus atau mahal. Asal enak dikendarai, nyaman di hati, dan pas di kantong.


Penulis : Thomas Tjahjo Widyasmoro

Haah?! Hari gini naik sepeda ke kantor? Kira-kira, begitu reaksi yang mungkin bakal Anda temui, saat pertama kali teman-teman sekantor tahu, Anda baru saja mengayuh kereta angin dari rumah. Belum lagi harus menerima tatapan mereka yang bercampur baur antara kaget, heran, kagum, atau malah mungkin rasa kasihan.

Jangan terlalu diambil hati. Di sekeliling kita setiap hari ada ratusan atau mungkin ribuan orang yang bersepeda ke tempat kerja. Motivasinya macam-macam. Menghemat uang transpor, kepingin berolahraga, sekadar hobi, atau malah berpartisipasi mengurangi polusi udara. Di Jakarta ada komunitas Bike To Work (B2W) atau "Bersepeda ke Tempat Kerja".

Jika sudah tidak ada kata gengsi lagi, sekarang tinggal memilih sepeda yang tepat untuk berangkat kerja sambil menyehatkan jantung. Syaratnya cuma satu: nyaman dikendarai di jalan raya.



MTB PALING TEPAT.
Menurut para pencinta sepeda, apa pun jenis dan merek sepeda, semua oke-oke saja dijadikan alat transportasi ke tempat kerja. Mulai dari jenis sepeda BMX, sepeda jengki, sepeda mountain bike (MTB), atau sepeda balap. Semua sepeda dewasa itu sudah dirancang agar nyaman dipakai sehari-hari.

Tapi khusus pemakaian di kota-kota besar, seperti Jakarta, ceritanya sedikit lain. Sepeda yang lincah bermanuver di jalan raya dan mampu menyelip di antara laju kendaraan bermotor akan lebih menguntungkan. Maklum, lalu lintas perkotaan yang tidak ramah sering membuat pesepeda menjadi seperti "warga negara kelas bawah" alias tidak dipedulikan pengguna jalan lain. Belum lagi harus berhadapan dengan tantangan seperti aspal berlubang, genangan air, atau banjir.

"Sama seperti bersepeda di alam yang tidak bisa dipastikan kondisinya, maka di sini diperlukan sepeda jenis mountain bike," jelas Ozy F. Sjarindra, penggiat B2W yang dua kali seminggu bersepeda dari kawasan Bintaro ke kantornya di Jln. Sudirman sejauh 17 km. "Kota kayak Jakarta, dianggap saja sebagai hutan dengan tantangannya."

Di kota-kota yang sudah menyediakan jalur khusus sepeda, seperti di Cina, Belanda, atau negara-negara maju lain, kata Ozy, semua jenis sepeda membanjir di jalanan. Umumnya yang dipakai city bike, sepeda jengki yang memakai sistem transmisi. "Makanya, pembuatan jalur khusus sepeda di Jakarta juga jadi impian kita semua di B2W," papar pekerja bidang teknologi informasi yang sempat merasakan nikmatnya bersepeda semasa berkuliah di Amerika Serikat.

MTB juga punya keunggulan lain, terutama bagi pekerja yang menempuh perjalanan jauh. Di Jakarta pekerja yang bertempat tinggal di kawasan perumahan di pinggiran kota, minimal akan menempuh 10 km sekali jalan. Sepeda balap atau road bike sebenarnya memenuhi syarat ini. Tapi akan merepotkan ketika harus berhadapan dengan kepadatan lalu lintas. Soalnya, konstruksi sepeda balap dirancang untuk melaju lurus, sehingga kurang nyaman digunakan untuk bermanuver.



BISA LEBIH MAHAL.
What you see is what you get, selalu begitu pesan Sudiono, seorang pencinta MTB kepada para pemula yang sedang bingung mencari sepeda. Artinya, beli saja sepeda jadi atau full bike yang dipajang di toko-toko sepeda. "Anda akan mendapat sepeda sesuai dengan dana yang sudah pasti," tulisnya di situs internet penggemar MTB. Pembeli dijamin tidak kecewa dan tidak bakal tekor.

Di toko sepeda, MTB tersedia dalam berbagai jenis dan harga. Mulai MTB buatan lokal dengan harga sekitar Rp 800.000,- sampai seharga puluhan juta rupiah karena menyandang merek terkenal. Sepeda-sepeda yang sudah jadi unggul dalam menjamin kepastian soal kenyamanan, karena sudah dirancang pabrik sedemikian rupa. Pembeli tinggal memilih sesuai kebutuhan.

Bagi pemula, ada alternatif lain, yaitu merakit sendiri. Cuma cara ini tidak gampang. "Selain merepotkan, kalau kita tidak tahu betul soal sepeda, total harganya malah bisa jadi lebih mahal," pesan Rama Wijaya, staf promosi toko sepeda Rodalink. Ada juga kemungkinan sepeda tidak nyaman dipakai untuk perjalanan jauh jika paduan rakitannya tidak pas.

"Tapi kalau memang niatnya mau merakit sendiri, juga tidak apa-apa. Hitung-hitung, sambil mengenal lebih jauh tentang anatomi sepeda kesayangan. Kalau suatu saat ingin ditambah atau dimodifikasi, jadi lebih mudah," kata Ozy yang merakit sendiri dua sepeda MTB berwarna hitam miliknya.

Pekerjaan merakit sepeda diawali dengan memilih rangka. Ada banyak jenis rangka, karena MTB sendiri adalah sepeda olahraga untuk berbagai jenis aliran seperti cross country, cross country race, freeride, trailbike, downhill, atau dirt jump. "Karena bike to work sifatnya on road, maka semua tergantung pilihan individu saja. Semuanya sudah jelas cocok," papar Ozy.

Yang justru penting yaitu soal ukuran rangka, karena mesti dipilih sesuai tinggi badan pemakai. Untuk tinggi badan rata-rata orang Indonesia (165 - 175 cm) dipakai rangka ukuran 14 - 17 inci (lihat tabel). Ukuran dihitung berdasarkan panjang seat tube atau batangan vertikal yang menjadi titik tumpu tempat duduk pengendara. Ukuran rangka harus pas betul karena bakal berpengaruh pada besarnya tenaga saat mengayuh pedal. Semakin jauh kesesuaian antara ukuran seat tube dengan tinggi badan, sudut yang dibentuk bagian belakang kaki saat mengayuh akan semakin kecil. Tenaga lebih terkuras, bahkan dapat mengakibatkan cedera lutut.

Bobot rangka sepeda tergantung pada bahan pembuatnya. Saat ini ada beberapa jenis bahan rangka sepeda seperti hi-ten (baja), aluminium, skandium, titanium, dan karbon, yang masing-masing punya kelebihan sendiri. Untuk kelas rendah, misal baja, lebih murah harganya tapi lebih berat bobotnya. Bahan aluminium tidak berkarat tapi lebih getas, sehingga mudah menghantarkan getaran.

Rangka yang sekarang sedang jadi incaran para pencinta sejati MTB adalah jenis rangka berbahan karbon. Harganya memang tergolong paling mahal, tapi bobotnya tercatat paling ringan. Walau masalah berat-ringan sangatlah relatif. "Kalau niatnya mau berolahraga, kenapa harus pakai rangka yang paling ringan?" begitu Ozy berargumentasi.

Sebagai penambah kenyamanan, pemilihan rangka sebaiknya juga mempertimbangkan pemakaian suspensi. Ada rangka jenis hardtail yang tidak bersuspensi belakang dan softail yang bersuspensi belakang. Peredam kejut ganda tentunya dapat menambah kenyamanan saat melewati jalan yang tidak rata atau off road. "Tapi jika dipakai di jalan aspal yang umumnya rata, malah membuang banyak tenaga. Akibatnya, sepeda tidak bisa melaju secepat sepeda dengan rangka hardtail," kata Rama mengingatkan.



TIDAK MELOMPAT DI JALANAN
Jika urusan rangka selesai, kita tinggal melengkapi dengan pernak-pernik sepeda seperti sistem pengereman, sistem transmisi (derailleur), pengendalian (steering), dan tempat duduk. Perlengkapan yang umumnya standar ini dibedakan menurut bahan dan kualitasnya. Mintalah saran kepada toko sepeda agar mudah memilihnya. Atau bisa bertanya melalui situs-situs para pencinta sepeda yang bertebaran di internet.

Agar tidak melenceng, pada tahap ini sebaiknya sadarkan diri Anda agar tidak melenceng dari tujuan awal, yaitu merakit sepeda sebagai alat transportasi ke kantor. Masalahnya, banyak bergaul dengan komunitas pencinta sepeda membuat kita gampang tergiur sepeda MTB khusus jelajah alam yang gagah penampilannya. Padahal belum tentu cocok dipakai di jalanan aspal.

Misalnya pemilihan ban, untuk pemakaian di jalan aspal disarankan memakai jenis semi slick yang lebar tapi tidak bergerigi. Karena jenis ban MTB biasa yang bergerigi hanya cocok dipakai untuk jalan tanah. Pemakaian ban di jalan aspal akan membuat hambatan besar sehingga terasa lebih berat saat dikayuh.

Suspensi depan (fork) juga demikian. Disarankan memakai yang secukupnya, yaitu yang berjarak main 8 - 10 cm. "Jika tidak pernah melompat di jalanan, tidak perlu memakai suspensi yang digunakan menahan lompatan di alam," kata Ozy yang rajin bersepeda off road saat akhir pekan. Maklum, semakin tinggi spesifikasinya, harganya juga semakin mahal.

Jangan main-main sama harga, karena ini "penyakit" terbesar saat merakit sebuah sepeda. Masalahnya, selalu saja ada godaan membeli barang yang lebih bagus dan mahal yang berakibat jebolnya anggaran. Padahal menurut perhitungan Ozy, kalau sekadar sepeda kerja, dana Rp 2 juta sudah lebih dari cukup. Ada juga sih segelintir orang yang merakit sampai habis puluhan juta rupiah. "Barang mahal kualitasnya memang bagus. Tapi sebetulnya banyak yang kualitasnya sama, harganya lebih murah," tutur Ozy. "Dan jangan lupa! Kalau sepedanya mahal, harus dipertimbangkan masalah keamanannya waktu melintas di jalan raya atau saat diparkir di kantor. Kalau hilang atau ditodong orang, bisa gigit jari nanti."

Jika sepeda Anda sudah siap, Anda perlu mencobanya di jalanan. Penyesuaian harus terus dilakukan sebelum benar-benar turun ke jalan dengan lalu lintas ramai. Masalahnya, ada saja bahaya bagi pengendara sepeda kalau sudah bersinggungan dengan kendaraan bermotor. "Salah perhitungan saat berbelok atau sampai tersenggol, bisa celaka," Ozy mengingatkan.

Jangan lupa, beberapa perlengkapan bersepeda di alam sebaiknya juga dipakai di jalan. Helm, sarung tangan, baju dan celana khusus sepeda (jersey), serta lampu di bagian depan dan belakang sepeda.

Nah, kalau sudah komplet, silakan ngaciiir ....

It has been quite some years that I’ve ride my Santa Cruz Blur LT and I am still loving her so much. This is all can do bike that most bike riders should have fallen in love with, the rear end is so smooth and stays put until it needs to suck up a bump. Nonetheless, the bike is so stable, precise and confident on single tight tracks while very comfortable hammering rough terrain with ease. In my opinion, this is one of the best all around bike for full range of XC and AM.

But early 2008, I was thinking to get more nimble hot-bike to attack uphill mountainous with better efficiency of pedaling. Hence, after doing so many searches and studies, I end up with Giant Trance-X as reviewed at http://ozy1.multiply.com/reviews/item/16. As I mentioned in my review, this is one of the most value for money of trail bike today.

After so many rides with my Trance, I feel something missing comparing to my Blur LT, which is a comfy riding on rough trails. Then I’ve decided to look for other bike to kill my curiosity, Blur LT 2008 was always on top of the list along with Ibis Mojo. Until, again I’ve discussed with my best friend HPW (Hendro Purwanto) that suggesting me to try Giant Reign. I was thinking, with a half price of Blur or Mojo why not give Reign a shot. I almost picked Reign-X with longer travel of 6.7”, but heavier frame and old shock-mount design was holding me back to Reign 2008.

Giant Reign won several awards from many Mountain Bike mags especially the frameset-only option. It shares almost identical frame layout and overall design as the 5 inch travel Trance ‘2008, but at generally burlier and more robust construction level. Reign ‘2008 frame lost more than 720 gram from last year’s model. The new downtube has been redesigned to accommodate shock mount. The bottom shock anchor is now mounted on top of the lower downtube. The tire clearance is also noticeably wider than Trance and the shock-mount construction is able to take 200mm shock.

Not too long after, I was lucky to get a beautiful anodized silver of Giant Reign’ frame-set only version equipped with Fox DHX Air 4.0. As usual, I contacted my talented bike mechanic to set everything up. Being in an “altered” state of mind and dense matter, I had planned to build a light semi freeride rig. First thing to happen was to put on Fox Talas 36 RC2 with 3 different adjustable travels. Next set is to put Crossmax XL wheel set with 2.10 Nevegal rubber on it, which I will soon replace with bigger 2.35 tyre on the front. To keep the weight down, I put XTR drive train components and dual cranks equipped with e13 DRS. For disc brakes, I still trust Avid BB7 with 6” rotor to handle the braking; even though, I may replace the front rotor with bigger one.

Well, I can’t wait to test ride this new born bike at the next morning in Rindu Alam, one of my favorite trail mountain. Make the story short; I set the Talas RC2 with 50psi air pressure, 150 psi for DHX main chamber and 160psi in the reservoir.


The first section of Rindu Alam trail (see http://ozy1.multiply.com/journal/item/11) was a perfect place to learn how Reign behaves for different type of terrains. I was actually blown away by how Reign is performs at that section. Reign is not a downhill nor freeride bike, it is a lightweight Giant performance that deliver outstanding ride comfort and stability.

MAESTRO SUSPENSION. I am becoming more impressed with an advanced design of Giant Maestro system. While the suspension can comfortably soaks up bumps ironing out the trail, Reign instantly feel accelerate forward under power. At the first section before the water pot holes, Reign feels very comfortable moving along fast rolling terrain. However after crossing the small river and moving through the jungle section until the tea plantation at Gunung Mas, the 6 inches rig and 160cm fork with fairly slack head tube make it bog down a little bit.

SUSPENSION. Let’s riding fast on loose gravel, rock garden or small drops, the Reign proved capable of handling anything that we could throw at it. The rear suspension was very active and performs very well on small bumps while ramped up enough to take the edge of big hits. The DHX Air 4.0 is the key in providing a very smooth ride and felt balance with the rear suspension.

CLIMBING. The 2nd and 3rd sections of Rindu Alam were basically pedaling uphill, which was about time to understand how the big boy feel during steep with various technical climbing. I found that Reign is an excellent technical climber, finding traction in all sorts of unlikely places and holding a line well during technical climbing (loose rocky mountain) near the end of Ngeh-1. I was able to keep pedaling from the beginning of Ngeh-1 until the end of this trip. This bike may not be the fastest, but there is no reason to get off and push the bike no matter how long or steep climbs became.

DESCENDING. Section 4 of Puncak trip ran from Ngeh-1 to Gadok, Ciawi. This section was mostly a downhill section which Reign handled the trails with ease, absolute blast downhills and fast rolling terrain. Fox Talas RC2 with a 20mm axle has added more stability during the blast and of course a very smooth ride. However, I found a little bit challenging on very steep descents on tight single tracks; perhaps due to longer fork dive as well the slacker head angle of 69 degree.

BRAKING. It’s like any other Giant that deployed Maestro suspension system, Reign remains very active under braking. There is no concern whatsoever during the braking, except I may want to replace the front rotor with a bigger one to dissipate heat better on long descent.


The bottom line is that I really like the Reign equipped with DHX Air 4.0, I'm so impressed, I'm thinking of riding this rig for most of my trail journeys ;-) This is not a full freeride nor downhill, but the one bike that can do it all, from epic cross country rides, a little jumping and light freeride.

Inspired by my good friend, HPW (http://hendropw.multiply.com/) who had set a new bike not too long ago. When I saw his action with his new toy in Puncak last month, I was amazed with how active the rear suspension reacting to the decent loose rocks at one of rather extreme section after the "water pot holes". The suspension looks becoming more active when hits from the bottom.

A week after the Puncak ride, I asked my buddy Hendro to accompany me to have lunch at Roxy... :-) We took a quick lunch at a famous "ayam goreng" restaurant nearby the bike shops. Then, we went to the shop, I asked the owner if he had the frame I was looking for. Luckily me, he pointed his finger to the frame hanging on the wall. Yeaah, that one, the size is right and the anodized black color is just perfect. What else I can ask ... ;-) The Trance has always been a great bike, especially the latest 2008 release with maximum use of swoopy hydroformed tubing.

Since I plan to set this bike as my pure XC, I've decided to put the original Fox F120 fork which came along with the bike. I brought the frame home and setup the bike to be ready for action. The total weight is about 13.2kg due to heavier Kenda UST tyres both front and rear.

Make the story short, I went to Rindu Alam again with my buddies Hendro who was riding his TranceX and Hendra Bitong with his new Blur LT. I've put 60psi air pressure into the fork and 100psi for rear shock. As usual, we started as early possible from Rindu Alam and planned to take our normal courses.

The steep decent rockie track beside mang Ade's restaurant is my first attempt to test the bike. Trance reacted very positevely, her stability has brought full of traction during this short section which instantly also built my confidence to this new baby.

On the way to Paralayang parkir lot, I can feel the rear end was very stable and the traction was very good even in loose gravel. So far it's an excellent ride with this particular XC bike. While, the Fox forks are plush from the off and soak up everything I throw at them too

We continue the course heading to the Gunung Mas which has long decent of rocks terrain. I put some more power during the decent terrain to test how the bike behave. Again, it's a very comfy ride and I can feel the 5" rear suspension doing a great job of ironing up the rocky terrain for me; of course not to be compared with Blur LT of Santa Cruz for instance. Another excellent point, rear end is still very active during hard braking which gives me more control of the bike.

We took a quick stop at Taman Safari parking lot before continuing our trip with steep climbing. I started with slow rolling at normal cadence, as soon as I pedal the crank feels firm under the feet and the Trance shoot forward; it seems the bike was very nimble on the way up. After awhile, I put some more power with higher cadence, the bike shown unnoticed bobbing, very good Maestro improvement over the old design. Moreover, under standing power I can feel a little kickback to control traction and give a sharp pedal edge, but not enough to knock off my pedaling rhythm. Excellent work of Giant parallel link suspension work.

Jump to the track section between Citeko and the end of off road tracks before asphalt road where different kind of track conditions were available; rocks, hard pack, loose gravel, swamp, wet damped soil and slippery rocks. When descending, it's perfectly progressive for sucking up medium drops and ugly rock sections, and it rolls over big rocks beautifully as well. It looks linear and high leverage ratio of Mastro linkages were working perfectly.


TEST RIDE at JPG, BSD
After having enough experience with Trance at Puncak areas, I want to test the Trance at tight single tracks environment with various technical sections; the best place is JPG, BSD. So, I went there with my buddy Rivo Pamudji who hasn't do off road riding for about 3 months.

The bike setup remain the same except the rear tyre had been changed with Kenda Kharisma-II which gives more grip compare with Nevegal for this kind of soil at JPG. In short, the Trance still turns lightly which gives a very confident feel of exactly where the front tire is pointed at extreme speed. The Maestro is always active and gives the back end plenty of positive tractions.

It climbs like a mountain goat yet it descends like real downhill bikes - full of tractions all the time. I had not put my feet on the ground for those challenges. Handling in single tracks is quiet responsive without getting nervous at speed. Trance's light feel benefits on the descents too which adding to the responsiveness in the tight technical sections.


In summary, this is the best bike I've ever tried for trail contour, Anthem's travel just too short for me and built for race indeed. I believe this bike is becoming the most wanted bike by trail riders, from the price, style and its performance. Perhaps the best value for money in its class. I think I will hold this bike for quiet some years.

BUT, I still want to compare the Trance with Specialized Stumpjumper ;-)


UPDATED @ 07 June 2008:
I've just been updated by my friend HPW who has just returned from his trip at Rindu Alam this afternoon. He has substituted his Trance-X2 with Trance-X0 which equipped with Fox Float RP3, the mother of all XC air-shock suspension ;-)

HPW clearly mentions that descent trails is now much more comfy with X0. I am suspecting this is due to the adjustable propedal on RP3 which capable to bring softer initial stroke of the shock. While X2, its Fox Float R has permanent pre-set compression damping on medium level.

Trance-X2 is comfortable enough to suck up the bumps and not much different on climbing compare to X0. In my opinion, X2 remains one of the best value for money trail bike along with other series of Trance.

Start:

Feb 15, '08 6:30p

BERITA RESMI DARI HUMAS B2W-INDONESIA:

Rekan-rekan yth.,

Dengan segala kerendahan hati, atas nama pengurus Bike to Work Indonesia kami mengundang rekan-rekan untuk berkenan hadir berbagi kebahagiaan bersama para B2Wers dan pengemar sepeda pada Peresmian Sekretariat Komunitas B2W-Indonesia yang akan diadakan pada:

Hari & Tanggal : Jumat, 15 Februari 2008
Waktu : Pk. 18.30 s/d selesai
Lokasi : Jl. Wijaya I No. 8, Jakarta Selatan
Acara : Peresmian Sekretariat Komunitas B2W Indonesia

Insya Allah peresmian akan dihadiri oleh Pelindung dan para anggota kehormatan Komunitas B2W-Indonesia beserta para tamu kehormatan lainnya. Selain itu juga akan tersedia berbagai merchandise kelengkapan bersepeda.

Bersama dengan undangan ini, kami juga mohon doa restu rekan-rekan khususnya bagi sekretariat baru dan umumnya bagi setiap aktivitas dan usaha Komunitas B2W Indonesia dalam mewujudkan visi dan misinya. Semoga Tuhan YME senantiasa memberkahi setiap usaha baik kita semua dalam mewujudkan udara yang bersih dan nyaman, alam yang lestari, serta masyarakat Indonesia yang sehat dan berkualitas. Amin.

Mari rame-rame ketemuan di 'rumah' baru kita bersama dan saling bersilaturahmi.
Mari kita rame-rame pakai sepeda untuk beraktivitas.

+rp
Humas Komunitas B2W-Indonesia

Following on my last previous review (http://ozy1.multiply.com/reviews/item/13), last Saturday, 02nd Feb 2008, I went to Rindu Alam with my MTB buddies to have a second ride test of the Collosus SX. The bike was setup with Manitou R7's fork, XT 2008 transmission and Mavic 819 with Kenda Nevegal.

We started at 0830 from Rindu Alam and straight to Gunung Mas as our first pitstop. In this section of the tracks which is XC category, Collosus has proved its ability to handle soft damped soil as well as fire roads. The initial setup for R7 fork was 100 psi and 70 psi with 4 clicks of rebound for rear-shock to accommodate my 60 kg of weight. But, I haven't got the best dial in yet, the bike acted a little bit harsh.

During the first pitstop at Gunung Mas, I re-adjusted the shock to 60 psi of air pressure and increase the rebound to 8 clicks; and reduce the fork's pressure to 90 PSI. Voila, I found better riding comfort compare to the first setting, which has improved the smoothness to roll on the fire roads.

Nevertheless, after a short riding from Gunung Mas to Taman Safari's parking lot, I felt the rear-end plays unnecessary travel, especially on steep climbing. As commented by om HPW when I was reducing the air pressure of the shock earlier; "the sagging is too much". Better take his advise, I increase the air pressure by another 5 psi. Now, in this setting, I rediscovered how fast a four-inch travel Collosus SX can move through variety of rough terrains in Puncak.

Then, we took 10 minutes stop in Taman Safari before continuing for long steep climbing as usual. I started slowly from the back of the pack because I was trying to sense if any bobbing from the rear-end. I also kept the shock un-lock and the "VPP" like design has resulted an efficient acceleration with very minimum pedal bob. I suspect, by putting higher grade of shock with pedal platform technology will significantly reduce further this effect while improving the small bump compliance.

Due to the weather condition, we decided to make the right turn on the middle of this climbing section and headed straight to Gadog, Ciawi. Some sections of the terrains are cross mountain (AM) category. I understand that my R7 fork is not intended for this terrain, but I kept pushing this bike into the limit to learn its performance.

The front suspension geometry gives the bike more than enough amount of descending stability. It gives more forgiving in technical situations during hi-speed descending on fire roads and soft damped soil.

Collosus SX will probably be set up to ride harshly by some cross country riders, because what is expected from a good racing chassis. At least I've set the suspension to perform as smoothly as possible and relied on Colossus' pedaling platform for energy conservation. When I did get airborne, the bike landed quiet firmly, but without the sense that its shock hit the end of its travel.

Enough riding offroad, on Thursday, 07 Feb 2008, I performed on-road test ride with my endurance partners at BSD area. The bike setup was the same, except I put Mavic Crossland wheelset with Schwalbe Racing Ralph rubber. Basically, on the pavement, it squirts ahead with each push on the pedals. However, I can feel a little pedal bob while in standing position; but activating the Lock of the shock, the bike gave a very firm and efficient acceleration.

In overall, the Collosus' chassis was very balance for XC-race class. In my personal judgment, I would score 7 out of 10. It's not the best bike in its class, but it's definitely worth to consider in its price range. The built quality is good, except minor bolts corrosion need to be replaced with better ones. (http://ozy1.multiply.com/photos/album/40#38)

It has been quite sometime that I want to set a nimble XC-race without losing the comfort of pure XC or event trail bike. Since I have owned one of the best AM for quite sometime and still very much like it; hence, I convinced myself that I should seriously consider this XC-race bike to counterpart my speed-buddies during BSD back country side touring.

Now, it came to the question which frame I should go with. There were Anthem and used-Racer-X came into the picture. Then about 2 months, I was struggling to find a reasonable (size, color and price) Anthem and Racer-X with no luck at all.

Therefore, I started to look for another alternative and I saw a review on sepedaku.com and Cycling magazine about Collosus-SX3; so, why don't I gave a shot to try this one. I quickly contacted the bike shop to get this bike frame and luckily enough; they promised me to get the bike in couple days. But, I am still not quiet sure that the bike will fulfill my expectation as it does with Racer-X or Anthem.

While waiting the frame arrival, I am curiously looking for opinions from other cyclist who have owned or experienced with Collosus SX. Most of them were suggesting me to go with Collosus AX, since it has longer shock travel and ready for All-mountain trips; but I have the AM already.

Soon enough, the frame was ready to be picked-up when they called me on Saturday afternoon. I quickly call my friend to help me setting up the components in the evening. The bike was ready to go at 2030hr for the first try out at Jalur Jatiasih on the following Sunday morning. I've just can't wait for testing this new baby born ;-)

Make the story short, I arrived at JJ around 0700hr and waited for several other friends who came for the 6th Anniversary of Jalur Jatiasih MTB track. At 0830hr, we started the trip and plan to attack a shorter track, so we can come back to the base-camp by 1000hr for "tumpengan" ceremony.

I was in the first group along with mas Yadi and Martha (BFEGTB athletes) because I want to push them a bit faster to give my new baby a bit of tests ;-) Even though, it's only 10KM traveling distance, I was able to feel its responsiveness on the single tracks, the easiness to do little hops, efficient pedaling during climbing and good stability during decent loosen track ("grand canyon" drop).

Similar with my former Santa Cruz Blur Classic, during hard braking, the nose was diving a little bit too early. I am suspecting this is due to the Manitou R7 which lacking of a slow compression control. Perhaps, this is also a factor of shorter top tube and wheelbase comparing to other bikes in similar size. I will change the fork with higher spec and see what the different. However, rear-suspension platform remains active under braking, it seems that the "VPP" design is working well here.

So far, I have no hesitation to give a good overall review of this frame. Furthermore, I have tuned the steering geometry by putting a new medium-rise handle bar to replace my scandium flat bar, which had stretched my riding position on racing attacking style most of the time. Thus, I have to pay with suffering lower back pain if I am going for longer traveling.

A slightly issue is the 31.6 seat post diameter which rather difficult for Indonesian market to find a good and light one, especially for XC purpose; hence, I currently use the FR/DH version with more than 100 grams penalty. [30 Jan 2008: According to my fellow friends, the stock should be plenty in bike shops]

The frame was setup with 2008 XT transmission, BB7 stopping device and Mavic Crossland. Wonder about her weight, it's definitely lighter than my Blur LT which has equipped with lighter components. I will have several more trips to see how this baby behave on different types of contours, like Puncak, Telaga Warna and JPG.

See you in next review.

Start:	Feb 17, '08 08:00a
End:	Feb 17, '08 12:00p
Location:	Jalur Pipa Gas, Desa Lengkong Gudang Timur, BSD

Komunitas JPG [www.jalurpipagas.co.nr / jalurpipagas@yahoogroups.com] mengundang rekan-rekan untuk hadir pada:

"TREND MOUNTAIN BIKE 2008"

Agenda:
- About 2008 Shimano
- Coaching Clinic
- MTB CLUB Exihibition
- BMX dirt jump competition
- Doorprize
- Free snack & lunch [bagi 100 pendaftar pertama]
- Free tune up
- RODALINK special discount
- MTB accesories bazaar