My non-Fixed Gear Bike (ХВЗ Start-Shosse)

Sometimes I need a citybike to ride to work, or when I don't want to drive my car. My trail mountain bike (Corratec X-Force) is not as good for it as a road bike, that's why I've decided to build a city bike using a road bike frame (ХВЗ "Kharkov bicycle factory" Start-Shosse).

Review: RaceFace Narrow Wide Chainring

Last winter I have bought Race Face Narrow Wide Chainring for my Trail Bike.  The idea was to through away front derailleur with shifter and chainrings, to decrease the weight of my bike. The weight of this chainring is less than 50 grams (0.11lbs).

I've been trail-riding with this chain ring for couple of months and can say some words about it.

Review: Shimano FC-M552 Crankset

FC-M552 is a cheap OEM crankset from Shimano. Usually it is installed at budget complete bikes for Cross Country or All Mountain such as my Corratec X-force 0.3 2012. These are my first Hollowtech II cranks and I'm very impressed with this crankset system. Big alloy axle of these cranks is very strong, reliable and lightweight. There is no need in any special tools to take off cranks from a bike. I've been using these cranks for two seasons, and I can say that Shimano FC-M552 has only two minuses:
- they are a little bit more heavy than SLX or XT;
- they are rather flexible in comparison with some rigid DH cranks, but I didn't noticed any problems with this flexibleness. Maybe it gives me some aditional suspension for my legs?? :)
Pluses of this crankset are:
- price;
- it's strength is enough for trail riding or enduro.