On The Pedals
The Daily Grind
Over The Bars
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Bike Bytes
What We're Riding | |||||||||||||
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 = We'd rather eat a soggy bike sock than buy this thing.
 = Pretty good. Could use improvement, but functional.
 = If someone gives it to you, maybe. It's a paperweight.
 = Sweeeeet. We'd buy it. It won't cure cancer though.
 = We'd use it if we were in a bind. Maybe.
 = Dude, it does everything including wash your car. It rules!
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First Endurance Optygen
In the world of cycling, everyone's looking for a bit of an edge, but there's limitations to how far you can go. Most of us are recreational cyclists and we're not interested in shooting up EPO or slapping a testosterone patch on our...bits. There are the occasional supplements that appear on the market claiming to reduce fatigue and increase endurance. First Endurance claims that their "legal and safe stimulant free formula" is designed to "optimize performance for endurance athletes." Translation: it'll make you kick ass, supposedly. Interestingly, Optygen has a blend of minerals and herbs that physiologically can increase performance. Containing Chromium (increases tissue sensitivity to insulin, allowing better utilization of carbohydrate), Cordyceps CS-4 and Rhodiola Extract (herbal supplements) and ATProTM Matrix (a blend of minerals used in aerobic and anaerobic metabolism) Optygen looks like it will work on paper. Supposedly, the herbal components of Optygen were first used by Tibetan Sherpas as they climbed Mount Everest. With claims of reduction of lactic acid, increasing anaerobic threshshold, increased ability to utilize oxygen and increased adaption under stress. After reading the research on First Endurance's site, I followed First Endurance's recommendations for dosage and maintenance dosage and tried this supplementation regimen over a week long riding trip. I knew I'd be kicking my ass by covering an average of 15 miles per day so I kept careful track of how I was feeling (isn't subjectivity wonderful) on and off the bike on a day-to-day basis. I'm a skeptic by nature, but I am ready to admit that I was able to recover faster during on-trail rest stops, and felt fresher in the mornings following hard days of rides. Perhaps it was just psychological, perhaps Optygen is a miracle, I'm not sure. For once, the claims are true and I felt substantially better using Optygen supplementation; you can bet I'll be using it again for races and multi-day efforts. -Rob Manning First Endurance
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X-Gen Front Derailleur
SRAM's cheapest front derailleur offering is right on par price wise with Shimano's Deore derailleur, but the difference is the X-Gen is only available in a high clamp bottom swing format. The derailleur itself is made using a fair amount of plastic with a steel cage that is contoured to supposedly shift better. The derailleur can be set up to work as a top pull or bottom pull model and works just fine either way. While the X-Gen is not a pricey part, it really does perform very well. The spring is really quite strong, which seems to be typical of SRAM products. Shifting wasn't bad with the X-Gen, but it was quite noisy. There was a definite feeling of the derailleur manhandling the chain onto the proper chainring when shifting. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly isn't the smooth action of some Shimano derailleurs. Also typical of SRAM derailleurs is the stiffness in the shifters when using the X-Gen. To be honest, it's unfair to compare this to Shimano's high end offerings, but since those are the benchmark for a front derailleur, that's what we'll do. The Shimano mechs are smooth and easy to activate while the X-Gen takes some muscle and is less than smooth in it's shifting as we mentioned before. It also seemed to be slower to shift than Shimano's offerings. These could all be a result of the stupidly strong spring in the X-Gen, although Shimano's XTR has a similar strength spring and has none of these problems. While it's a good budget mech, that's really all I'd recommend it for. The main issues I had with it was the rattling of the chain on the extremely narrow cage and the rust that appeared on the cage. By bending the cage somewhat, you can alleviate most of the overly irritating chain rub, but there's no reason a dearailleur should be rusting. These are both extremely disappointing since mechanically the X-Gen is a pretty solid, reliable derailleur. But as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. SRAM
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