mmmBop review!

Here's a review from JJ on his new ride...

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The first Ragley Mmmbop in the Philippines...I think.

I have to be honest...I've never heard of Ragley, not since a month ago while going through some bike forums looking for a new hardtail project. Then I came across this ad for a Ragley. I had no idea what it was, where it came from or how it rode. So, I did my research. Went to some reviews looking for feedback and all I could find were praises for this simple yet very effective design. Thanks to Shedfire and Brant Richards.

I thought this was the perfect hardtail project! Thinking of building another bike aside from my full suspension trail bike, I contacted Lars from Blackcatbikes to checkout the frame in person. Fell in love as soon as I saw it. The color blue alone sold it. So the build began.

Transferring most of my parts from my trail bike to the Mmmbop, I was planning on building back my full suspension bike after leaving it with virtually nothing. But, after a ride on one of the more popular trails here in the Philippines, I decided that this one bike is all I need! It climbed well and went downhill even better. The geometry is perfect. I never thought just a slight difference in angles can improve a bike so much. With a Nukeproof 70mm stem (highly recommended), the bike rode perfectly*. I was never hesitant to point and shoot this bike anywhere from steep rocky climbs to fast downhills with some solid ruts.

What can I say... I love this bike. This one's for keeps!
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*Note from Lars: Can't stress this enough - the blue pig, mmmBop and Ti are designed from scratch to run with a 70mm OR SHORTER stem to get the best out of the bike's geometry... any longer, too much weight in the front and it throws off the balance :)

Pictures below, and his camera is way better than mine, that's EXACTLY how the blue looks! Wish we could get some better pictures of the downtube, there's a lot of tube manipulation going on that never seems to make it to pictures.

Milestone

Without using any form of Search Engine Optimization techniques, and using nothing more than Facebook, forum posts and word of mouth from the friends we started with and the friends we've made, www.blackcatbikes.com has broken the 1,000 barrier!

That's not just 1,000 visitors - that's 1,000 unique visitors from 33 countries!

We just want to thank everyone for coming to visit!

Apologies for not posting more often, the shop slave (me) took on a corporate job (the bills don't pay themselves), and the actual owner (the cat) doesn't really wanna post and is content with just sleeping and drinking lactose-free milk.

If you're new to the site (or maybe haven't looked at everything), the labels on the right are really helpful if you want to wander through old posts.

We'll be posting more over the next week, so stay tuned and RIDE SAFE!

Carnegie's - short and sweet review

Long time buddy, 29er pioneer and all around good guy Jay over at mynextbike wanted to give a Carnegie's a shot, so here's the skinny.

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Install

I’ve been trying to figure out my cockpit situation for my Siren John Henry 29er.

I was running a 90 stem but feeling just a wee bit cramped in the cockpit area. Fortunately the Ragley Carnegie Bars I ordered on a whim some time ago from Black Cat Bikes came in. I was originally going to put them on my girlfriends bike as a surprise, but when I saw how sweet I figured I’d use them for myself (Sorry Jo!). The Carnegies actually stretch you out by about 10MM or so which worked fine for me, with some seat adjustment to find my sweet spot. Being a flat bar also makes it ideal for a 29er which normally has a high head tube. Some people angle their position downward but mine are a bout level if not just a few degrees below level.

Performance

Wonderful bars! I tried Mary’s a while back and I found that although the hand position was nice, the bars were too narrow for my shoulder width, cramping my style. Not so with the Carnegies: just the right hand positioning. It’s a very natural position which is great for really long rides. Your technique also changes with the use of these bars. Instead of wrestling your way using your arms for extra torque and leverage, the bend tucks you in just right so you end up using your core instead. I think the Dirt Rag review said something along those lines and I have to agree with them. Its also less tiring using your core then just your arms which lends to longer rides with less exhaustion.

If you’re looking for Alt bars for any reason- comfort, efficiency or just because they’re plain cool I suggest you give these bars a shot.

You can check out more at his blog

I gotta say, I'm a big fan of the polished frame playing off the polished headset. Classy!

Blue Pig

Sorry for the long wait...
For your viewing pleasure... the BLUE PIG



Let's get down to the details on this piglet... (click to enlarge) Note - please pardon the dust (some of it is cat hair), and the glare on some shots - really hard to get it right, but hey, we try! :)





3 finger chainstays - MASSIVE clearance, can comfortably fit a 2.5 (as with the Ragley Ti and the mmmBop)




Chainstay mount for the BB - yes, faced to ensure a nice consistent to ensure aperfectly flat alignment surface for your disc brake


Check out the head tube gusset... SOLID




Seatstay brace - nice welds! (ignore the cat hair, please)



random shots of various weld points - very clean! The line in the 3rd shot is the factory sticker on the chainstay...



Blue pigs are available in Black and Skwosh (Orange)... Skwosh pics below...








More Blue Pig info here


And this is what happens when you actually build one with Nuke Proof and Ragley components...
(Ragley Logo Saddle - CrMo, Ragley Logo LockOn Grips, Nuke Proof Generator All Mountain Wheelset)











Clean bike pics are nice, I guess... I'd rather let the pig out to play in the mud, though...








Blue Pig SRP - Php 23,500

mmmBop in action!

Here's a video of a blue mmmBop, best to watch it in full screen mode!

My favorite part is around 3:40, pay close attention to how much the fork moves and how the rear wheel behaves when it hits the same area that causes the fork to compress... beautiful!

I just happen to have a blue mmmBop and a Lyrik lying around.... hmmm....

Frames have landed.... yes, blue pigs can fly.

Click the pics for some nice detail. You may have to tilt your head, I wanna make sure you're paying attention! :)

Let's mix it up a bit.

mmmBop.

Two flavors. Non-photoshopped, i'm not computer-literate enough to know how to use that stuff. Sorry, light kept changing throughout the shoot, but hey, we tried :) The shade of Blue is very accurate, but the Green is harder to capture... the shade is very close to the kawasaki green made famous by Santa Cruz Bicycles (my other, other ride) - needless to say, if you want the green, don't worry, it's a REALLY nice shade of green according to the few who've seen it up close.




I'm pretty impressed, it's hard enough to buy a frame with the head tube faced...


... and these frames have BOTH the bottom bracket AND the disc brake mounts faced, too! Taking off all that excess paint allows a consistently flat surface to mount your headset, bottom bracket and disc brake adaptor.



Some overall detail shots now...








Just look at how much the light was changing! Just remember, first two pics are the most accurate color-wise! :)

Detailed mmmBop info here

Now on to some Ti goodness...

Seatstay Bridge... nice welds!


Downtube Sticker


Disc brake mount, left chainstay



Some angled shots of the right chainstay - the three finger design gives LOTS of clearance!






Some profile shots...


Detailed Ti info here



My partner seems to like it...


now she's going to look for some parts to build it with...



WHAT??? Where's the Blue Pig?

Still recovering from the swine flu... come back in a few days :) (EDIT - here's the Blue Pig!)



mmmBOP SRP - Php 24,500
Ragley Ti SRP - 86,500