Innholdsfortegnelse for February-March-April 2016 i Mountain Biking Australia

Way back when I started as editor of Mountain Biking Australia, I wanted to include great riding destinations in the magazine – especially Australian ones – but that was 15 years ago and it wasn’t so easy. All too often our trails fell into a ‘grey area’. Local mountain bikers knew about them, but in the vast majority of cases you weren’t meant to be riding there. It was either a walking track or a trail built without formal permission. That in itself wasn’t a huge problem; we weren’t doing any harm and nobody was going out of their way to stop people riding there. What you couldn’t do was spruik these ‘informal trails’ in a national MTB publication. A mass of riders descending on one of these areas would…

EASTER IN THE ALICE SET to take place on the 26-28th of March, the Lasseters Easter in The Alice MTB Muster is offering up a new challenge for 2016. For the first time the event will take riders up the slopes of Mt Gillen in the MacDonald Ranges—the oldest mountain range in the world. After a 4km roll out, riders will hit the 1km long climb. While a 5km stage may sound like a doddle, the climb is super steep; so steep that a section of the track has been tarmacked to increase traction! For added incentive, there’s a big prize purse up for grabs with $1,000 going to the first male and female riders to the top and $500 to the fastest male and female juniors. Even if you’re…

It’s hard to believe that Derby has only been on the MTB radar for 12 months. In case you’re not familiar with the story, around three years ago this tiny ex-tin mining town in north-eastern Tasmania was identified as area that held potential for MTB trails. The state government then pumped $2.4 million into the project with the goal of turning it into a world class MTB destination—simple as that! There was no local MTB population pushing for access, no underground singletrack network to start with, just a blank sheet and a goal to attract tourist dollars from far afield. While the area is far from pristine and untouched, you’d be forgiven for thinking the surrounding forests had never seen human habitation. It’s so lush with massive trees, huge ferns…

If you’re currently running ‘name brand’ Shimano, SRAM, Magura or Formula hydraulic brakes, you may as well flip straight to the next page. However, if you’re currently using cable activated discs or just dealing with old and flogged-out hydro brakes, then these stoppers may be just the ticket. The Clarks M2 brake set retails for $135. That’s for the complete setup; levers, callipers hoses and rotors for both ends of the bike. To put this in perspective, it’s roughly the same price as a pair of rotors from one of the better known brake brands! Out of the box, the styling exceeded our expectations at this price point. The one piece calliper is nicely finished with a red anodised bore cap for bit of added bling. The curved reservoir and…

BBB are a pretty big player in the general bike accessories market, producing everything from fenders to tools and panniers—if you need it for your bike, chances are they’ve got you covered. Most of their product is value oriented, but for 2016 they’ve decided to add a new more upmarket MTB pedal to their range. Dubbed the ‘Coolride’ (I didn’t come up with the name!), it is pitched as a premium pedal with a surprisingly modest price of $99. Numbers-wise, the Coolrides stack up pretty well against the competition. Our pair weighed 435g, which is about what you’d expect. The one-piece alloy body spins on a chromoly axle with one small outboard bearing and a long inboard composite bushing. The pedal is sealed with two separate rubber O-rings, so they…

MBA. When did you get into mountain biking and what was your background? FB. I’ve always been an active person and did my first MTB race in 1994. I was 14 and too young to race downhill so I started with cross country but quickly realised that it wasn’t my thing. In 1995 I did my first downhill races and I was the sweep rider at the Cap d’Ail World Cup, which was right near my house. That’s where I got my first pro contract; it was with the French Sunn team. MBA. So you would have been still at school back then? FB. Yes, I was racing as a professional and still at school – for sure. You aren’t allowed to sign a pro contract when you’re really young,…

Fuji has been around for a long time, well over 100 years in fact. Originally a Japanese owned and made brand, they’ve been in the MTB market since the early ’80s. They fell on hard times through the ’90s however, eventually going bankrupt before being bought by Advance Sports International; the same company that owns Breezer Bikes—another classic name in cycling. So the brand has quite a bit of history behind it, and much of this has been focused on the road and the competitive side of mountain biking. They’ve made some stellar race hardtails, sponsored World Cup XC riders and even won a marathon World Championship title thanks to Danish rider Annika Langvad. What they haven’t really had is a solid trail bike; that is something with a decent…

German brand Canyon is a big player in the European market. They sponsor Pro Tour road teams, podium level Tour de France riders and EWS winning mountain bikers. Despite their stature in Europe, they’ve never been sold in Australia—but that’s all set to change. ‘Another brand?’ I hear you sigh. Well yes, our market already seems crowded with choice but Canyon actually brings something new to the table. Probably the biggest point of difference comes with how they are sold; you deal directly with and purchase straight from the manufacturer. With most other brands the stock goes from the manufacturer to a local importer, then onto a bike shop and finally onto you. This trimmed back distribution chain is part of the reason why we haven’t seen them in Australia;…

For some years now it’s been recognised that lower tyre pressures increase traction. On rougher terrain, softer tyres can actually decrease your rolling resistance too. As a result, most astute mountain bikers have been trying to put as little air in their tyres as possible. There are, however, a couple of limiting factors. Too little pressure will leave you prone to denting your rims, pinch flatting tyres and burping air. Wide tyres and very wide rims help, as they increase the overall air volume and provide more ‘cushion’. Heavy sidewalls and better tyre beads also assist but Teutonic tyre tycoons at Schwalbe believe they’ve come up with a better idea. Their Procore system is essentially a type of tyre-in-tyre; the narrow inner tyre uses a tube and very high pressure…

Ilove marathon racing, absolutely love it! I’ve loved it since we called it ‘enduro’, not to be confused with #enduro. Big days out on the trail are great and as far as I’m concerned, you can’t have too much of a good thing. The personal and physical challenge that goes along with racing over a long distance carries a deep and irreplaceable satisfaction, as well as a little of that childish adventure element that even adults crave. In years passed I probably spent 15 to 20 hours a week riding. Not necessarily training but simply getting from A to B and riding for fun. Life moves on however and circumstances IMAGE © www.marathon-photos.com shift; jobs, kids, locations, family and so on—I think many of you can relate! By my reckoning,…

The 160mm travel Strive uses the ‘Shape Shifter’ system to adapt the frame geometry, vary the amount of travel and tweak the leverage ratio as you ride. In XC mode it has 130mm of travel with a firmer initial spring rate. Switch to DH mode and you get slacker angles and a lower bottom bracket for descending. With Fabien’s design influence, the Strive features a rather long front end and the bikes come stock with a stubby 40 or 50mm stem. Fabien is 180cm tall and chooses to run a large frame (468cm reach) with a 50mm stem. Fab runs his dropper post remote under the bar on the left with a small piece of adhesive backed sandpaper on the button for better grip. The stock Shape Shifter travel adjust…

Despite being in the bike industry for nearly 25 years, Polygon has managed to fly under the radar of most riders until just a few years ago. Based originally out of Malaysia, and with a large manufacturing plant in Indonesia, Polygon started branching out from their roots in city bikes around 10 years ago with a significant push into the mountain bike arena. More recently, they gained significant exposure with the UR Team, which includes Aussie stars especially Mick and Tracey Hannah, and just this year they sponsored Sam Reynolds and Kurt Sorge at the Red Bull Rampage. With the relative saturation of existing brands in the MTB market, Polygon initially struggled to get a significant dealer network in Australia. So instead of following the traditional distributor/retailer model, they decided…

Dropper posts are steadily becoming a ‘must have’ item for all types of mountain biking and even some of the staunchly traditional XC racing crowd is dabbling in uppy-downy posts. The most common hurdles in the uptake of dropper posts are cost, weight and reliability. Over the years KS has steadily been working to overcome these preconceptions with new designs, a highly refined manufacturing process and the steady trickle down of design features. Their new Lev C addresses the matter of weight with carbon fibre construction, titanium hardware and 65mm of drop—it’s definitely one for the XC racers and cyclocross crowd. Introduced around five years ago, their Lev post has proven to be one of the most reliable seatposts on the market and much of this can be traced back…

The modern smartphone has come a long way with its photo taking capabilities. Even Apple is advertising this, with massive billboard ads that use photos taken using an iPhone. However, that megapixel count that lets you print to the size of a house has little impact on the phone’s ability to capture amazing action photos—that’s why Instagram remains packed with less than impressive mountain bike photos. I’m not a camera snob. Whenever I get the chance, I’ll happily drop the 10kg of camera gear off my back and just ride with a smartphone. It’s just that my expectations and thought processes are very different when I shoot with something that fits into my pocket. I have seen mountain bike smartphone photos published in magazines and it’s all about understanding what…

Winner! AL BROWN Great composition here to catch the action with 10 year old William riding his dad’s NS Holy dirt jump bike. Will and his brother also have mountain bikes but he enjoys taking the dirt jump bike out in the Dandenong Ranges to really hone his skills. Nice work with the photo, Dad! BRIAN WOOLVERIDGE After some heavy snow up on Mount Wellington above Hobart, 80 year old Brian Woolveridge decided it’d be a good idea to go for a ride along the Pipeline Track. He managed around 7km before everything seized up. I sure hope I’m up to adventures like this when I turn 80—awesome effort Brian! RICHARD EDWARDS Admiring the view from the top of Mt Joyce Adventure Park near Brisbane. Richard points out that this…

GIANT APPRAISAL I hope you can help me out with some information relating to my prospective new steed. My previous two bikes have been bought after reading reviews in your magazine; both my 2012 Norco Sight and the previous bike, a 2007 Giant Trance X. Now I have my eye on the latest carbon Trance Advance 27.5 1, and I noticed that exact model being ridden in Nov/Dec/Jan 2015 issue. Will you be running a full review on this bike in the next magazine? I read a lot of magazines and online articles but feel your reviews are realistic and value them accordingly. Paul Matthews Hi Paul, We’re not reviewing that particular bike. Ryan Lennox was helping us out by modelling for our ‘how to’ photos and he works at…

Think of Swiss chocolate and there’s a good chance that you’ll picture a block of Toblerone, and on the packaging you’ll find a depiction of the Matterhorn—there’s something inherently mystical and entrancing about it. Swit zerland has no shortage of 4,000 metre high Alpine peaks but the Matterhorn is by far and away the most famous. So if you’re planning a Swiss getaway, there’s a good chance that viewing this prominent pyramid will be on your hit list. The tourist town of Zermatt sits right next to the Matterhorn, tucked into the upper end of the Matter Valley i n the canton of Valais, southern Switzerland (the country is divided into 26 ‘cantons’ or st ates). Whi le it is in a valley, the village already stands 1,640 metres above…

The Fizik website touts the M3B Uomo as being, ‘light, stiff and made for felling mountains’ but their intended use isn’t particularly clear. Open the box and the lid is adorned with random names and terms; freeride, Fort William, downhill, Houffalize, cross-country, hardtail—so the ambiguity only grows. Any confusion dissolves once you have the product in your hands. The M3B Uomo is almost a mirror image of their R3B road shoe; the uppers and closure system are nearly identical. The underside has full-length tread but it hides a stiff unidirectional carbon sole that wouldn’t be out of place on a road shoe—they are very much an XC race shoe. Looking almost like school shoes, the subdued all black uppers are formed from synthetic Microtex leather. This material was quite firm…

I’ve been fortunate enough to ride and review three of Lapierre’s ‘Zesty’ bikes over the last handful of years, and they’ve never failed to impress. It’s also been interesting to see them evolve given the fairly rapid rate of changing geometry, not to mention wheel sizes, over that time. Last year I rode the Zesty TR and really liked it; I thought it was one of the best 29ers I’d ridden. For 2016 Lapierre has evolved again and 29-inch wheels have been given the flick from the Zesty line-up—they’re all 27.5-inch now. Our Zesty XM527 also sports a newer and more refined version of the e:i electronic suspension control, so I was keen to see what had changed since I last rode it on a 26-inch Zesty a few years…

Many find it hard to love a hardtail. Every time the humble hardtail finds reason for being, technology moves forward and we end up on dual suspension bikes again. Even with elite level cross-country racing – a traditional hardtail stronghold – many top riders are frequently running bikes with bounce; in some cases they’re using them all the time, even on relatively smooth courses. Weight is increasingly a moot Ridden & Rated Article by Pat Howard | Photography by John Hardwick 72 l Mountain Biking l February-March-April 2016 point. Unless trails are super buff or all uphill, a dually can be faster and a bucket load more fun to ride, even if it is a little heavier. Modern suspension bikes are efficient to pedal and you’re unlikely to find issues…

While dropper posts are now gaining broader acceptance, a large number of riders remain sceptical of the benefits. Some of the most common rebuttals include: • I don’t ride steep descents and therefore don’t need a dropper post. • I can ride any drop or descent with my saddle at full XC race height – just you watch me! • Descending feels weird without a saddle between my legs and I need it as a reference point. • I’ve got a dropper post but always forget to use it; thinking of removing it as a result. • Dropper posts add too much weight. If any of those comments sound familiar, I suggest you read on. While I now stand as a dropper post evangelist, it hasn’t always been that way.…

Winner! ANDY We came close to shedding a tear when we read the tale behind this Readers’ Rides entry. Andy from Newcastle built this carbon Intense Spider 29er from a bare frame, assembling it with just the mix of parts he wanted. With a Shimano XT drivetrain and Easton Haven alloy wheels it wasn’t the most upmarket of builds but Andy went with function and reliability over all-out flashiness. Two years down the track and it still looked great, until he went to Rotorua for a MTB holiday. On the way back to the airport his bike box slid off the back of his mate’s ute and the whole thing went under a semi-trailer. The result was shattering to say the least! If there’s anything positive to come out of…