Interbike - Truvativ

Editors at bike magazines like to ramble on and on about the latest products. Usually, we know what were talking about, but sometimes, when products are new or have yet to be tested, we have to make “educated” guesses about the products' performance and how they will be received in the marketplace.

The Holzfeller Urban crank

That would have been the case with TruVativ's latest components, which looked great on paper, but we had yet to test 'em. Luckily, we have the opinions of the product gurus at SRAM to rely on in this case. If you haven't heard, SRAM bought TruVativ at the end of September, and more often than not, a company won't buy another company if the products are junk.

Although TruVativ has loads of new designs for next year, two products worth mentioning are the HMC Team cross-country stem and the new Holzfeller Urban cranks.

The HMC Team cross-country stem

The sleek, 135-gram Team stem is made of forged aluminum with a high-modulus carbon (HMC) faceplate. It is only available with a rise of +/- 5 degrees, but comes in six lengths from 75 to130 millimeters. The stem has only a 31.8 mm clamping diameter, since TruVativ will only make bars in that width for 2005.

The Holzfeller Urban crankset is designed to withstand all the abuse street and park riders can throw at it. The company claims the forged aluminum crank arms are stiffer, lighter and stronger than any steel cranks it has tested. The crankset comes only as a single chainring setup with a CNC machined º-inch thick sprocket (34- or 38-tooth versions are available) and a tough polycarbonate bashguard.