Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 157 i Australian Mountain Bike

In our 4th year sponsoring Rocky Trail Entertainment’s marathon race, the popular event is making a move. Not away from its home at Mt Stromlo in Canberra, but a move away from the heat of summer. While traditionally the race has been a season opener for the local marathon season, in 2017 the race moves to April 30th – well into autumn and some ideal riding and racing conditions. What hasn’t changed is the lap-based format, on a challenging course set by Martin Wisata. Riders have the choice of riding in one, two, three or five lap events. We have a few exciting things planned so you can make a weekend of it in 2017, se keep an eye on AMBmag.com.au for further news.…

The co-founder of Mountains Bikes Direct, Jen Geale, has been recognised in the Telstra Business Women’s awards for her work creating a successful online store. “It’s really exciting to be recognised for the effort that’s gone into creating Mountain Bikes Direct”, she said. “The judging panel were fascinated to hear about the industry, and in particular our efforts to compete with overseas retailers and to focus exclusively on the mountain bike sector.” The awards also recognise that the business she leads operates within a typically male industry. “This definitely came up in the interview with the judges. I explained that although I feel women are underrepresented in mountain biking, it’s generally not an ‘unpleasant’ industry or space for women - and I really hope to see more women getting into…

From the outside, mountain biking is a sport heavily reliant on very specific skills. If mainstream media is anything to go by mountain biking involves riders flying down steep mountainsides, over rock gardens, off drops, over slippery roots, around tight corners… all while going blindingly fast. And the reality isn’t far removed from that. Mountain biking involves mastery of bike handling in ever-changing conditions, across a wide variety of trail surfaces, and often when you are already working hard and not at the best of your ability for decision making. Decisions that can have a great influence on your health and well-being. To be a competent mountain biker requires a lot of time honing the right skill set so you can ride fast, fluidly and efficiently. So why is it…

Everyone has heard of Megavalanche, the French Alps, the baguettes and the iconic race is the first thing that comes to mind when you see an image of Falls Creek’s McKayos event. Only in its second year, you are less likely to have heard of McKayos, the race starts on the peak of Mount McKay where riders race through snow, down the road and over dirt to Bogong Village, several hundred metres below. Awesome right? So with the first year an all-round success we were chuffed when we got the invite to come race such a unique event. Our little road trip crew consisted of regular tester Lachlan McKillop and Bright pinner Sebastian Jayne. Loading up Friday morning we punched it straight down the mighty Hume, picking up Seb in…

I was the envy of all my mates when my video won the My Mountain Bike Life competition. The prize was the richest I’ve seen in any mountain bike competition – a trip to Italy to ride the trails around Finale Ligure and watch Round 8 of the Enduro World Series (EWS). And on top of that, they gave me a custom-specced Trek Remedy! Thanks to Shimano Australia, Trek Australia and Fox Australia for building such an amazing bike. Travelling to Italy isn’t the easiest thing to do. We were picked up in Milan after about 24 hours of flying, then had a two hour shuttle ride to Finale Ligure, which is located on the Italian Riviera. It’s a spectacular part of the world, with mountains that descend sharply into…

“THERE’S A LOT OF ‘IFS AND BUTS’ IN THE INDUSTRY SURROUNDING THE INTRODUCTION OF BOOST SPACING BUT IF IT MEANS BIKES ARE GOING TO RIDE LIKE THIS, THEN IT CAN STAY.” Unless you’ve spent a fair bit of time in Whistler, or other Canadian trail parks, you may not have seen a whole lot of Devincis getting around. The Quebec based company has been producing mountain bikes for coming up on 25 years, and have enjoyed a solid amount of International press most notably in World Cup downhill under the late Steve Smith and the current Australian National Series champ Graeme Mudd. In 2016 their factory sponsored team placed fourth in the Enduro World Series aboard the hard-hitting 165mm Spartan model. The 140mm Devinci Troy Carbon falls into the highly…

The Fox Float X2 is Fox’s premium air shock, born from the roots of its coil sprung downhill cousin and introduced to factory racers over the 2014 season, the production air sprung version was available soon after. Now in its 2017 incarnation development continues with the addition of a further compression switch and newer, easy to fit volume spacers. The Float X2 has adjustable damping for high and low speed compression and rebound, with the damping circuits remaining active even when the climb switch is turned. This adjustment, along with the infinite adjustment an air spring brings gives controlled damping to every stroke and impact that passes through it. And that is what is important to remember, all of your suspension movements transfer through your shock, from single pivot to…

Dropper posts are nothing new to Fox, but after several years without a new product in the increasingly competitive dropper post market, Fox have released a culmination of technologies, features and performance into the new Transfer. Fox’s first attempt at a dropper seat-post was the D.O.S.S, and although it was (and still is) pretty darn good for the time, sporting reliability that some other big brands could only dream of, it wasn’t perfect by today’s demands of infinite adjustability, and ergonomics. Sharing some technologies of the D.O.S.S, Fox began to develop the new Transfer dropper seatpost well over 2 years ago. During the early days of development, sponsored riders and Fox employees were seen testing ‘prototype’ versions of the new Transfer post, putting it through the demanding testing that only…

Shimano have been moving through their shoe range, revamping and updating many models, making the range as varied as mountain biking is. In the last twelve months we have seen the new all-mountain AM series released, and now the racier XC7 and XC9 for cross-country performance are out. Somewhere between the two is the Mountain Enduro (ME) Series, with the ME5 and the ME7 we have here. The ME7 combines features from both the AM9 I tested last summer, and performance XC shoes. Which is exactly what you would want for a shoe aimed at enduro racing and aggressive trail riding. The ME7 upper carries the higher cut on the inside for ankle protection from the AM line, but with a move to speed lacing under a cover and a…

In 2014 we all became familiar with what an IMBA (International Mountain Bicycling Association) Epic trail was, with the opening of the Alpine Epic Trail in Mt Buller. And while IMBA are reassessing their trail and ride centre categorisations, to this date an Epic trail had to be 80% singletrack, over 32km in length and take riders through a natural setting over demanding terrain. IMBA have rated trails as ‘Epic’ around North America, with few beyond the borders of the United States and Canada. A few notable trails beyond North America did get Epic status though, and one such trail truly deserving that title is the Bernina Express, in Switzerland. It is the only ‘Epic’ rated trail in the Alps – but I can assure you there are enough epic…

September and October are my favourite months to ride a bike – quite simply I think it’s the best time of year. But it has nothing to do with daylight savings. And it has nothing to do with new bikes and parts arriving in Australia about this time. It is much more universal, it is anticipation. Growing up in Sydney, in September and October you knew the cold mornings were going, and the daylight was increasing. Better than that, the crisp mornings made for great riding, without feeling trapped in oppressive summer heat – and it was always as if the number of mountain bikers had doubled over night, with more people out on the trails enjoying the clear blue skies. And if I’m honest I still enjoyed the occasional…

The National XCO Series sees three double-headers to cover 6 UCI C3 events: Round 1 and 2: Orange, NSW, 7-8 January 2017 Round 3 and 4: Armidale, NSW, 28-29 January 2017 Round 5 and 6: Bairnsdale, VIC, 11-12 February 2017 Oceania Championships: Toowoomba, QLD, 10-12 March 2017 The 2017 DHI National season visits three different locations: Round 1: Awaba, NSW, 13-15 January 2017 Round 2: Thredbo, NSW, 3-5 February 2017 Round 3: Mt Beauty, 17-19 February 2017 Oceania Championships: Toowoomba, QLD, 10-12 March 2017 And just as we went to print, MTBA confirmed the events for the 2017 XCM National Series: James Williamson Memorial Enduro: Wingello, NSW, 26th February 2017 Golden Triangle Epic: Bendigo, VIC, 25th March 2017 Easter in Alice : Alice Springs, NT, 14-17th April 2017 Bayview Blast:…

Heading across the ditch to New Zealand for a mountain bike holiday doesn’t need to be hard work. The whole country is behind tourism, and more recently operators like Haka Tours have done their best to take out any of the thinking for you! With week-long North Island and South Island tours, or epic 16-day tours, Haka Tours can take you helibiking, exploring, shuttling and shredding in style – and all with just a $99 deposit. Book your time off work, book your trip with a small deposit and let them do the rest. Simple. We’re really impressed by their thorough itineraries and their use of experienced guides – and you would be too. Head to their website for full details. hakatours.com…

 Much has been written about the small Tasmanian town of Derby since the opening of the first official trails in February 2015. The original 20km network, constructed by Glen Jacobs and the team at World Trail, blew minds. Not just domestically but of even the most well-travelled mountain bikers. And things have only grown. The unveiling of Stages Two and Three, including the unbelievably flowy and atmospheric Atlas trail, put Derby squarely on the international map as a ‘must ride’ destination, and it was with huge anticipation that I travelled to Derby for the opening weekend of The Blue Tier. “JUST GO NOW! QUIT YOUR JOB AND GO TO DERBY” DESTINATION DERBY On paper, if you ignore the next level trail network, the town of Derby doesn’t jump out and…

“ROOM FOR ERROR OFFERED BY THE BIG WHEELS ON THE WAY UP MEANT YOU COULD HOLD YOUR LINE, BUT ON THE WAY DOWN IT MEANT YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT YOUR LINE, YOU JUST CHARGE THROUGH.” Norco Bicycles have been exploring mountain trails and smashing backyard skid sessions for over 50 years. The Canadian company’s latest creations are certainly turning heads thanks to dialled colour palettes and riding experiences. Photos and videos of riding that come out of Norco’s home country all seem to end up in one place – Dreamland. The towering trees and loamy soils of Canada provide the grounding for the rough singletrack filled with rock drops and root chutes that most of us dream about. Even the climbs hold technical challenges waiting to be conquered.…

“I HAVE NEVER RIDDEN A BIKE, TRIALS OR OTHERWISE, THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN TO JUST MESS AROUND ON.” Why the hell are we testing a trials bike you ask? Let’s start with a brief word on the background of the sport. There was a time in mountain biking’s short history where there was no such thing as a trials bike. Not really. From the early days of the discipline, competitions were held based around two styles of bikes. Modified Trials saw riders on tiny, usually custom made bikes with twenty-inch wheels whereas the more popular Stock class was ridden on regular hardtails with no real changes other than the saddle being slammed as low as it could go, and maybe some brake tweaks to get as much grabbing power…

Anyone who follows the Red Bull TV coverage of XCO World Cups, or who tuned into the Rio Olympic mountain bike race will probably have noticed some bright red eyewear that looked like it’d be more at home at a music festival than a serious bike race. Gracing the faces of stars like Jolanda Neff and José Hermida, adidas have been climbing the rungs of the sports eyewear ladder for some time, and now rival Oakley for their popularity among pros and amateurs alike. Their latest offering is the zonyk, due to arrive in Australia by the end of October, and already taking Europe by storm. These bright and bold glasses might just throw the usual old sports eyewear aesthetic slightly off its axis (we think for the better). But…

For first timers, a mass start can be one of the most intimidating things you’ll ever do on your mountain bike. But, the truth is, no matter how much experience you have, starting will always get your heart going and have you a nervous wreck on the start line. One of the best ways to help with the nerves is to focus on your technique, rather than what’s happening around you. Going through the steps and process in your mind will not only take your mind off what’s happening but also help with making sure you get the best possible start. Starting with the ability to lean on something, already clipped in is easy enough; once it’s time, sprint as hard as you can! The foot down, randomly timed start…

Muscular endurance is a very important component of fitness for mountain bike riding. I would recommend that any serious mountain bike racer include muscular endurance training in their training plan throughout the season, in particular during late base phase and just prior to a higher intensity training period. It’s important to note here that muscular strength is quite often confused with muscular endurance; Muscular strength is defined as the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to exert force to overcome resistance in a single effort. Whereas, muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to repeatedly exert force against resistance. While muscular strength is definitely required during mountain bike races, it is muscular endurance that plays a far greater role in overcoming forces for…

 Back for 2016 and better than ever, the Cannonball Festival brings all things gravity to Thredbo soon after the season opens. Running from 8-11 December, the festival has 5 events with an All-Mountain assault added for this year. The other favourites remain with the Pumptrack Challenge, Whip Wars, Flow Motion Cup and Australian Open downhill. “INITIALLY ALL I COULD THINK TO WRITE WAS JUST GO NOW! QUIT YOUR JOB AND GO TO DERBY!” Whether you’re racing or riding, it will be an action-packed weekend at Australia’s premier summer gravity resort – don’t miss it! Head to thredbo.com.au for full details and accommodation packages.…

After a brief absence, KTM Bikes are available in Australia again, with a refined range of Lycan LT, Lycan and Scarp models being imported. Covering all-mountain and trail riding, the bikes are painted and built in Austria and sent to Australia. We visited their factory in 2014 (down the road and separate to the motorbike factory – if you’re wondering) and were really impressed by the level of attention placed on the build quality – they even build all their wheels in house! We’re going to pick up a 2017 KTM model soon for a long-term review in a coming issue. If you’re after further details on the models – head to their website. ktmbikeindustries.com.au…

Women on bikes. It’s a cool thing. Here in Queensland we have almost 60 elite level female roadies lining up at a Queensland road series race to go their hardest. On the mountain bike? 10. If we’re lucky. As the numbers sit we have around 10-20% female participation in local mountain biking events—barring, of course—the recent emergence of ‘women’s only’ mountain biking events. While there are a whole host of reasons why this may be the case, it’s hard to deny the effect of media on the participation rates of female cyclists and mountain bikers. At a time when Australia recently fielded more female than male athletes at the Rio Olympics, we continue to be faced with a stark disparity when observing female participation in grassroots and regional sports. In…

YT Industries is synonymous with gravity, the online-based German brand started off with pre-selling their high-end bikes over the internet. But in the last few years the brand has gone from strength to strength, starting off with a huge amount of support in the freeride scene with Cam Zink and Andreu Lacondeguy to their now newly dubbed The YT Mob downhill team. We can see that this relative newcomer to the market knows a thing or two about how a bike should go down a hill fast. And now with a team of distributors internationally, the bikes are popping up more and more. I’m sure a lot of us saw the marketing campaign for Jeffsy. The ads appeared with different images with lines like “I hate Jeffsy” and “Who is…

BMC are a Swiss brand, and a company known to have an eye for detail, with a range of cross-country, trail and all-mountain bikes in their range. We tested the fourstroke FS 01 a year ago, an excellent example of the Swiss brand’s devotion to precision manufacturing and ride quality. BMC were the first bike brand to get multiple World Champion, World Cup winner and Olympic medalist Julien Absalon off a hardtail and onto a full suspension bike – that bike really showed us why. The teamelite 02 XT is the second hardtail in the BMC family, the teamelite 01 sits atop the range of 29ers, offering the MTT (Micro Travel Technology). It’s a short elastomer damper that runs on two compression rods at the top of the seat stay,…

“IT’S GREAT TO SEE MANUFACTURERS LIKE MERIDA CONTINUING TO PUSH FOR BETTER GEOMETRY AND REGULARLY UPDATING FRAME DESIGN. THIS YEAR’S NEW ANGLES, LARGELY FORMULATED AROUND THE BOOST AXLE WIDTH, PROVIDE REDUCED STACK AND EXTENDED REACH RELATIVE TO LAST YEAR’S MODEL.” A few months ago Merida announced that it would be stepping away from UCI mountain bike sponsorship, severing its relationship with the Multivan-Merida team, which effectively folded as a result. Famous for sponsoring luminaries such as Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå and José Hermida, the team was the most successful of all time, with more than 30 World Cup wins, 15 World Championship titles, 15 European and countless national titles as well as an Olympic Gold and Silver medal over an incredible 16 years. While Merida might be stepping away from world-class…

Maxxis are somewhat of a heavy weight in the tyre world – with a range spanning a multitude of wheeled sports, with pushbike racing just one arm of their global business. So it’s always great to see that Maxxis is still developing new treads and casing sizes to keep up with the sport. They have some awesome Plus sized models available, and I was also keen to see the Forekaster – an aggressive XC tyre that has been added to the line. A CLOSER LOOK The Forekaster has open-spaced, tall tread blocks on a rounded profile tyre. At a glance you might mistake it for a Rocket Ron or even more likely, and IRC Mythos XC with some transition knobs missing. But it is neither of these, it is it’s…

A couple of issues ago, we had the Rider 100 and 310 put through their paces by two of Australia’s National representatives for the XCM World Championships. Both units were small, light, easy to use once setup, and also very reasonably priced. Bryton have recently launched the Rider 330 –not much bigger than the 100 or 150 and packed with 72 functions including turn-by-turn navigation and wireless connectivity. With a huge claimed battery life of 36 hours, and a high sensitivity GPS chip, Bryton claim that the Rider 330 is perfect for mountain bikers. SETTING UP THE BRYTON Set up for the Bryton Rider 330 is fairly straightforward, Bryton use an app to get the most out of the Rider 330 GPS unit. The app is a great place to…

Kris Ludwig submitted this photo of an adventurous night ride. “After crossing paths with wild horses, donkeys and buffalo I flatted near Mt Gardiner, NT, on a solo night ride. While throwing in a tube this snake crept up behind me giving me a fair fright, especially since I was 50km from phone reception. After I composed myself I realised it was just a tree snake.” Kris has won a CamelBak thanks to JetBlack Australia. Want to win a prize and have your photo published? Send your best riding photos in high resolution in to amb@nextmedia.com.au. Don’t forget, you can tag us in your photos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as well: @australianmountainbike @ausMTBmag #Australianmountainbike…