Welcome to the reviews page, you know how it is, your looking for a new piece of kit, you have read the MTB magazines and been on the forums but your still not sure where to spend your money.
Just like us we go through this every time we buy something new for our mountain bikes. Scared to believe the forums due to to many "Brand Fanboys" that probably don't even own the new kit your after, and still not convinced by the magazine articles. Well we are here to add to your decision making. We will provide impartial reviews of kit we own and that has been on the bike for at least 6 months so the honeymoon period is over and tell you exactly what we think of a product and how it performed. Did it turn out to be a lemon or a diamond. Select the links below to take you too the review of that product.
DMR V8 Peddles - Hope XC/FR Oversized Stem - Maxxis Minion DHF - Ergon GR2 Grips - Superstar Nano Thru Pin Peddles
DMR V8 Peddles - 
Before you use them you have to add grease and this is one of the faults as DMR do not provide enough. After 3 months use they were making some lovely grinding noises and needed , cleaning and re greasing. This job is not hard requiring only a few tools but be careful not to loose any of the loose bearings, DMR V8's are not the best sealed peddles as plenty of dirt had got in.
The grip from them is OK but not as good as some and the pins do not survive rock strikes very well as this is the next fault. The pins are replaceable but if sheared off near impossible to remove.To be fair to them they are cheap at £25 and could be replaced at the end of a season but for a little more money you could buy some fit and forget peddles that would last a lot longer. SR
Hope XC/FR Oversized Stem -
Hope Technology have some lovely looking products, so when I decided a shorter stem was needed for the bike Hope seemed the obvious choice.
I ordered a lovely anodised 50mm stem and it looks fantastic even after a year of riding, not showing any battle scars and still holding the bar firmly. Weight wise its not much more than a Thomson Elite and it looks a lot more substantial.
The only negative and this is being really harsh is that the square profile means it can feel sharp if for some reason your trying to pick your bike up using the stem, but that’s it. At around £65 its not massively expensive either. SR
Maxxis Minion DHF -
I have run both the Super Tacky and the Maxxpro in 26x2.35 tyre sizes for over a year. What a fantastic tyre, zero punctures and able to run it with really low pressures and that’s with an inner tube. Fantastic grip no matter what surface you are on be it fireroad, wet roots or rocks.
The harder you push the harder the Minion works to the point where you can hear the rubber gripping the surface, not the lightest and definitely not as quick rolling as say a Nobby Nic but if you want oodles of grip this is the tyre for you. The tread will wear out before the side walls as I have had both of mine on the bike for over a year and only just replaced and that includes a lot of tarmac riding. Cheap as chips, able to pick these up from £20 which is massive value. So if you are more of a trail centre rider than XC get a set of these. SR
ERGON GR2 Grips -
My personal review of the Ergon GR2 Grips I added these grips after reading a review in one of the many mountain biking magazines that we all buy, they got a fair review, however most people said they were ok but just a bit unconventional.
I bought them for the bar ends as they are nice and discreet, after putting them on I soon realised just how comfortable they actually are, the handlebar grips are designed so they spread the load over the palm of your hand rather than having an almost clenched fist over the grips, I really like this as I find it a much more comfortable position for your hand to be sat in. Dont get me wrong my fingers still ache a bit after a long ride but i think that is more a case of me hanging on to the bar a bit too tightly, so in summary I think that the Ergon GR2 Grips are very comfortable and definately worth investing in. MC
Superstar Nano Thru Pin Peddles -
These peddles scored 10/10 in MBR so I decided to get some instead of the usual DMR V8. The main advantage is the pins are a lot easier to replace due to large allen key heads on the underside of the peddle unlike DMR's which tend to get damaged or even snapped off.
So they have been on a year and other than the usual paint coming off on rock strikes they have not missed a beat, another advantagee is they tend to stay in a horizontal position so if you do loose your footing you can soon get your feet back on them unlike DMR's which tend to spin round and take some skin of your calf's. They are also massively grippy no matter what footwear you have on and still don't need servicing. An excellent buy and not that expensive either, the anodised look also seems to last longer than gloss paint on other peddles. MC