Innholdsfortegnelse for Feb-Mar-Apr 2019 i Mountain Biking Australia

Nestled in the south-east of New South Wales, bordering on Victoria, the Snowy Mountains area is relatively small and different to other alpine areas around the world. Mostly made up of high plateaus with sweeping valleys and high plains, it still provides plenty of opportunity for both winter and summer activities. I’m visiting the area to check out some new trails I’d heard about, ride some areas I’d not had the chance to, and catch up on some old favourites. Starting from the south-western edge of the ACT border, the Snowy Mountains reaches two thousand and twenty-eight metres (2228m) above sea level at its highest peak, Mt Koszciusko, and includes 4 of the other highest peaks in mainland Australia. First of all on the journey is a stop in at…

Sure enough I’m slowly but surely working towards my 'grumpy old git' diploma, and expect to graduate with honours, although I do have something of a backstory to back up my whines and memoirs. Being a couple or three notches to the wrong side of mid life, I’ve been riding and racing bikes of every kind all over the world since I was 12 years old, which was way back in the transitional days between sequinned disco flared strides and punk rock piercings and pogo dancing. That was a fair while before mountain biking was even invented – or rather before it was officially tagged, as most of us had been riding klunker like contraptions offroad and over pallet board jumps since we were old enough to eat chocolate. So,…

Hidden amongst the staggering beauty of the Aspen mountains are a series of gnarly, rocky and rugged trails and old dirt tracks that, when combined, come together to create one of Colorado’s premier mountain biking routes; the Power of Four. At sixty kilometres in length, with close to three thousand metres of ascent and maximum gradients reaching 40 per cent it’s not to be taken lightly… which would explain why for the annual race every July only a select group of riders gather at the start line. While my trip to discover the mountain biking scene in Aspen and Snowmass didn’t coincide with the official race I wasn’t about to let an opportunity to pit myself against the mountains pass me by, even if more than a handful of locals…

While Continental tyres continue to appear as original equipment spec on new bikes – especially with European based brands – their aftermarket presence has been close to non-existent in recent years. That has all changed with Velo Vita now serving as the distributor, meaning that bike shops Australia-wide now have easy access to this reputable German tyre brand. Along with a new local wholesale distributor, Continental has also revamped a number of models—the names may be familiar but the designs have changed quite a bit. The Mountain King and Trail King – two of their most popular models – have both been updated, so we decided to check out the latest renditions. Mountain King Now in its third edition, the Mountain King is Continental’s all-round trail tyre. It’s designed to…

I first moved to New Zealand from England two years ago to pursue my dream career as a Mountain Bike Guide with Haka MTB Tours. I knew of the world class downhill trails and bike parks scattered across the North and South Islands, but I wasn’t so clued up on the wealth of multi-day rides supported by an extensive network of back country huts, which let you venture deeper into the mountains with minimal kit. I travel the country a lot with work and I chat with loads of local mountain bike enthusiasts keen to share stories of their favourite rides. It doesn’t take long for the conversation to move on to the Heaphy Trail and The Old Ghost Road on the South Island’s rugged west coast. Their stories alone…

It can be quite an eye opener when you first walk in through the near-anonymous back doors of a Taiwanese bike or component factory. For many (even seasoned media pros) it spells a crushing the end of a lifelong illusion. In non-cycling terms, it’s a bit like that moment when you find out that Father Christmas is not real after all, or at least not as we know him. He most likely has a ‘Made in Taiwan’ label sewn into his big red sack of expensive goodies, the one that carries some fancy western tagline such as ‘Designed in Italy’ or ‘Assembled in the USA’. The chances are that you will see those familiar class dominating Taiwanese branded bikes and components coming of the exact same production lines as many…

Products Schmoducts I’m writing to show my support for the letter written by Jonathan Cowan. I absolutely agree that the magazine should not be devoted to reviews of MTB. The vast majority of us only purchase 2-3 in our lifetime, so devoting so much of the magazine to very technical descriptions of new bicycles holds no interest for me. I would like to see the magazine limit all bicycles review to a single page and have a web link for readers wishing to have more info. The magazine should focus on the reasons we ride; to be out in the great outdoors. Show us where the trails are, how to get to them and rate them. I would dedicate the bike reviews to trail reviews if I could. An example…

“That’s poison ivy,” says my guide. “Don’t touch it, or else in three days you’ll know about it.” Three days? What kind of weird plant is that? Of course, there’s all sorts of stuff that’ll make you itchy here at home, but the poison ivy in question – a beautifully beguiling mix of orange and red bush – lurks uncomfortably close to the side of these Californian trails. The trails in question are a true mix of mountain biking’s most fun tests; janky rock chutes, winding, flowing runs on hardpack, softy, blown-out loam skirting long drops and powder-dry wide-open terrain, all winding through countryside that switches between completely desert-sky exposed to Alice-in-Wonderland spooky to the silent, soft and simply awe-inspiring cathedral of California’s magnificent redwood forests. The Trione-Annadel State Park,…

Upgrading your MTB’s wheelset is one of the most effective ways to improve performance and drop some weight off your bike. Increasingly, carbon-fibre wheels are seen as the best option owing to that material’s weight to strength ratio but, at this point in time, carbon-fibre wheels are still relatively expensive compared to alloy hoops, and still do carry a certain stigma in terms of their impact resistance. So does that mean you have to sacrifice performance and/or weight if you wish to stick with alloy wheels? Well, no, and especially in the case of the DT Swiss Spline One XM1501 wheel. DT Swiss has grown its reputation for high-end, robust and reliable alloy wheels over the past decade; its schmick hubs and spokes have long been regarded as top quality,…

Mountain bikes have changed a lot in the last decade or two; suspension technology has improved to the point where it really is hard to buy a poor performing dually, composite construction has advanced massively and become far more attainable, big fat tyres and wide rims now combine to provide massive traction, modern 1x drivetrains keep things simple and quiet while providing plenty of gear range, dropper posts allow you to corner and descend with conviction at the press of a button … and the list goes on. But of all the advances we’ve seen, it’s the changes in frame geometry that have had the biggest impact on how a modern MTB rides. You’ve probably heard the ‘longer, lower, slacker’ catchphrase used ad-nauseam… but there really is something to it.…

Stella Yu, owner of Velo Saddles (and a major partner in Prologo) is probably the most powerful woman in the bike industry, as well as the worlds biggest saddle maker. With a clear detail for privacy Velo has 30 different designers, one for each major brand they produce for. There is no co-conspiring permitted; they only see each other’s products when the roll off the production line. Stella built the company from scratch. “In 1968, a Japanese customer decided that it was necessary to set up a trading company in Taiwan, and therefore, I was invited to work for his company,” she said. “In 1979, with the support of my boss, Velo was founded as a bike saddle manufacturer. “We chose to be in the saddle business because it was…

You've seen a few Whyte bikes come through the pages of MBA before, and that’s for a good reason; despite the English heritage, these bikes just flat out work for Australian conditions. The company itself too knows when to lead with a trend or, indeed, fall inline with said mountain bike trends. In fact, many other companies are currently chasing directions that Whyte has gone down in previous years. Case in point, the Whyte S-120C RS is a 120mm travel carbon trail bike with 29-inch wheels, with a ridiculously long front centre that’s mated to a short offset fork. Is this modern geometry as suitable to Australia as it is to the mother country? Let’s find out. On the stand The S-120 features a carbon fibre front triangle that’s mated…

Going Big I used to ride when I was a lot younger, and now it’s time to get back into it. The only problem is that I’m a pretty big guy (145kg, 190cm) and I’m finding it hard to get a straight answer about whether I’m too big for MTB any more. A lot of bikes appear to be rated to 120kg or less, but no shop seems to know much about this. There is a Specialized Rockhopper I have my eye on, and it’s rated to a higher number (137kg). The problem there is that the shop owner wants me to upgrade my wheels, which is $700 on top of the $1200 purchase price. Am I too big? The reason I want to ride again is to lose the…

We got a strange cold-call email the other month, asking if we’d like to test some new tyres (or tires, as the email said). Now, we get a lot of emails asking us to try new sorts of taps, or different kinds of metal grating, but tyres/tires is surprisingly uncommon. It’s not a known brand, either – at least in English-speaking markets. It’s called MCS, and it’s a part of a much bigger concern that’s based in Spain. The company makes everything you can imagine when it comes to pushies (including actual pushies), so branching out into tyres isn’t such a strange thing. They also claim to have been designing winning tyres for mountain bike racing for 18 years, and have taken that knowledge, invested in new moulds (not cheap)…

I got my first Deuter hydration pack in about 1996, and it simply refused to die. It was used as a day pack, a camera back, a long-distance race satchel and as a commuter backpack, and it easily lasted a full 20 years. Maybe not the best business model for product turnover, then… In the time since, I’ve had numerous bags come through the office, with varying degrees of bells and whistles attached. Some of them work, many really don’t… and often times you find out when you’re in the boonies dealing with a lost buckle or stuck zipper. None were as fuss free as my old Deuter. The crew at Velo Vita threw me one of the mainstay bags in its wide range to try. The Cross Air 20…

If you grew up riding mountain bikes in the late 1980s and 1990s, GT is a name that can’t help but evoke affection. It was one of the biggest names in mountain biking, producing some of the best early full-suspension bikes using the RTS and then the LTS system, before the untimely death of co-founder Richard Long in 1996. However, changes in ownership in the years following Long’s death saw the brand fall into the doldrums: a place from which it’s been clawing its way back from over the last few years. The mid-travel Sensor is one of two new platforms for the 2019 model year, alongside the longer-travel Force. Both models see the return of an updated version of the LTS suspension linkage, along with a modern geometry that…

Polygon has always taken the bit between its teeth when it comes to producing great value, well specced, well performing mountain bikes. It might not have the backing of a big brand name, but that doesn't let this Indonesian go-getter hold it back. Introduced late in 2018, the Siskiu N9 enduro 29er model really caught my eye with its understated looks, value for money componentry and A-grade suspension, all for a sub-$4000 price tag. How does it go out on the trail? In the stand, The N9 is a 29-inch wheeled 160mm travel trail bike, made from 7071 aluminium front and rear, with a faux bar linkage system that incorporates seat stay pivots, and is based around some of Fox’s best-value boingers. In fact, the suspension spec is one of…