MARCH 2018 mbr 17
came with a Suntour shock front and rear so we
swapped them for RockShox,” David says. The
bike’s squarely aimed at Cycle to Work scheme
buyers, hence the £1,000 price point.
So what’s the catch? Number one, we don’t
know if it’s actually any good without riding it,
which we’ll do very soon. And number two, that
fork comes with a 9mm quick-release rather than
a 15mm bolt-through. If that’s not enough fork
for you, there’s an up-specced Dakar A1 £1,
that comes with a thru-axle, a dropper post, a
SRAM 1x drivetrain and a Race Face chainset.
SUPERSIZE ME
CRANKSET
What’s the best carbon
crankset on the market?
For years now the answer
has been the superlative
Race Face Next SL for
its blend of light weight,
stiffness and price. Now
though, SRAM is set to
turn the screw on Race
Face with a new crankset
called XX1 Eagle DUB SL,
claimed to be its lightest,
stiffest and strongest yet.
How has SRAM turned
the tables? Simple, it has
beefed-up the axle size and
the width of the BB, a move
SRAM has called Durable
Unifying Bottom Bracket
(DUB). The oversized axle
actually allows for a lighter
and stronger system, SRAM
says, largely because the
old 24mm diameter steel
axle has been replaced
by an oversized bonded-
in aluminium version
(measuring 28.99mm, if
you’re interested), and
there’s less material on the
chainrings too.
You have to be rich to
upgrade to DUB then?
Not exactly. DUB isn’t just
confined to the top-end XX1;
you can also get it at XO
level, and even GX’s alloy
cranks, as well as Stylo and
Descendant — in fact,
SRAM will have an
equivalent DUB
crank forSRAM cranks get lighter, stiffer
and stronger
all SRAM, Truvativ and Eagle
cranksets. You can also get
the new DUB system to fit
all existing BB standards —
BSA, BB30, PressFit30 and
PressFit.
The new XX1 DUB
crankset with 175mm
cranks, BB and 32t chainring
weighs 498g, 80g lighter
than the old GXP system
and 20g lighter than the
Race Face Next, according
to SRAM. Race Face still has
the edge on price though,
although not by much, with
the new top-end XX1 Eagle
DUB coming in at £510-
depending on chainring
size. To run the DUB cranks
you do need to buy a new
bottom bracket though,
which costs an additional
£32-44 depending on
your BB type.
SRAM has already
delivered best-in-class
shifting with Eagle, and
could now prove stiffer
and lighter than the
competition too.