Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Spot Brand Longboard Belt Drive SS for SS USA

Spot Brand Bikes made the TWENTY TEN Longboard available for the Oskar Blues crew heading down to SS USA last weekend in Tucson, AZ. This beauty sports the next generation Spot Brand drop out...let me tell you this thing is slick, compact, set it-and-forget-it dialed. I've run the Gates Carbon Drive System for 2.5 years now & have had only one issue during the duration of miles & diversity of conditions. The drop outs & rocket adjusters in addition to the learning curve of "handling instructions" of the belt caused some issues for the masses. They were mostly in the "ease of use" or "learning curve" category & not the lack of performance category. As long as you paid attention to how you handled the belt (most noteably not to twist the belt) while installing it & made sure belt line was 100% on the sprockets you would more than likely chew up any conditions without any maintenance or lube...and I did from snow to mud, dust & rocks. The biggest issue was getting all of those variables aligned while having the trailside flat. This new system allows you to set it once & then forget it. Once the belt tension & aligment is set you only have to pop the wheel out of the drop out to change a flat, everything remains uber dialed. In addition to the slick new drop out the Twenty Ten Longboard went back to a smaller front chainring & sprocket set up. This allows less of a dimple on the drive side chainstay & increased strength on the stay. It also comes in this super-f*ing-dope Black Chrome finish that shows John's consistant & pretty welds. Cheers to Taylor & John for this product of craftsmanship & beauty. The Carbon Drive System in the sleak new Spot drop out....mmmmmm, pretty. You can really see the welds & "Black Chrome" finish shine on the non-drive side mounts. This finish is available on the Twenty Ten Longboards. Another view of the tight new digs. She sits ready for 47 miles & 6,000 ft of climbing AZ desert style....thanks Dejay & the AZ crew for throwing a quality SS event...YEP, SS USA is coming to coloRADo this year! Here is a peak of the old Spot Brand System. Still a pretty bike, Ten FIDY custom paint but clearly the new system is a large step forward. Cheers to the evolution of the bicycle, BEER & BIKES! CM

4 comments:

Scoty in Salida said...

SICKSICKSICK!
Gotta get one in Ti now!

Unknown said...

gotta get me some of them legs.

Matt Saunders said...

I want one of these... can you get me a test ride?

Melis said...

we'll work on it...it's a pretty new design to hit production so not sure if there are any demo rides available. we'll get you on one though.