Innholdsfortegnelse for May - June - July 2017 i Mountain Biking Australia

It’s often said that Australia is a land of extremes. From crippling drought and fire storms to flooding rain and cyclones, from desert heat to summer snow. As a mountain biker, it’s also apparent that we face wideranging extremes when it comes to trails. With this I don’t mean the trail types, I’m referring to our access to trails—the one thing that’s most critical to the uptake of our sport. Look to Tasmania and trail building is going gangbusters. Derby has gone from a near ghost town to being on the destination bucket list and hosting a round of the Enduro World Series, attracting visitors from across the globe. Trails are also brewing at Maydena near Hobart with plans for a massive bike park there—see page 13. And it’s not…

An old favourite riding spot is back on the very short list of legal trails in Sydney, thanks to the hard work of a small collective of passionate trail builders and advocates. Mill Creek Conservation Park in Menai, south of Sydney, has been in use by a wide range of recreational groups long before industry and urbanisation caught up with the area. Bicycles were ridden in the dirt (and on the rocks) in Menai before the activity was known as mountain biking, while the tyres of motos and four-wheel drives had been pounding the terrain for decades. The old laissez-faire approach to trail access left mountain biking at a standstill back in 2012, but Menai is open again with trails that’ll give experienced riders a thrill and newer riders B-lines…

New Zealand brand Ground Effect is best known for their clothing but they also have a couple of unique bike bags in their range. They’re unique in that they take a relatively minimalist approach. Rather than using a tank-like hard shell or a heavily padded outer with wheels and a sub-frame, the Ground Effect version is basically a cordura nylon bag. When I first saw a Ground Effect bag, over 10 years ago now, I was surprised by how simplistic the design was—soft single layer fabric construction with no additional padding. A mate of mine had one and my initial reaction was, ‘how the hell is that going to protect your bike?!’ I was told that it all comes down to how you use it; take your time to pack…

There once was a time, not so long ago, when riding a bike with suspension at both ends was the reserve of downhill specialists and/or the very wealthy. Back in that time, in the infancy of dual suspension, there were some designs that worked reasonably well and others that, quite frankly didn’t. Step forward to the modern day and MTB design has matured markedly, to the point that there really aren’t any bad suspension designs on the market any more, just a whole lot of good ones. The thing is though, that as people all go through the pimples and growing pains of adolescence to emerge as (reasonably) competent adults, we don’t all come out the same; some have curls and some not, some are brunette whilst others are crested…

It has long been assumed that 29ers are best suited to short travel applications. When you don’t have a lot of travel on your hands, the big wheels definitely help with tracking over the bumps; they improve stability and settle the ride a little. However as the travel increases, it becomes harder to shoehorn the big wheels in. This has typically led to compromised geometry, with long chainstays being virtually unavoidable on big travel 29ers. With the long stays adding to the wheelbase, manufacturers often compensate by increasing the head angle to speed up the steering response. This combination of a long rear end and a steeper than usual head angle often leads to awkward handling with a more forward weight bias than you’d typically want on a good gravity…

CRANK BROTHERS KLIC A new design from Crank Brothers, the Klic pump uses a flexible hose that connects via a high powered magnet. This combined with a one-way valve within the hose makes it faster and easier to setup and begin pumping. Crank Brothers offers the Klic with a range of options; some include a pressure gauge while others have a CO² adaptor built into the handle. Prices range from $59 up to $89 for the fully-featured topend model. www.lustyindustries.com NORTHWAVE SCREAM PLUS Selling for $229, the Scream Plus is a performance oriented trail and XC shoe. The nylon sole features fibreglass reinforcing for added stiffness and they’re said to weigh 720g a pair. A dial closure tightens a broad closure flap which serves to reduce pressure points and result…

The bunting has been lifted on the freshly completed Commonwealth Games trails at Nerang, but this is far from a new riding area. Nerang is located about 30 minutes drive north from the Gold Coast Airport or 20 minutes directly west of Surfers Paradise. The trails are best accessed from the Nerang Velodrome on Hope Street. Nerang has long been popular with cross-country and allmountain riders, with many kilometres of rocky old-school trails running through the forest reserve. Around 20km of this has been formalised but there’s a whole lot more that stretches of f into the Nerang National Park. The original network was scratched out by hand continues to be maintained with the limited resources of the local trail care group. Back in 2012 when the Gold Coast won…

Whether you agree with them or not, ebikes are the fastest growing segment of the bicycle market and within this category, the e-MTB constantly appears as biggest growth area. Last year we put together a detailed overview that explained what ebikes are. Due to the commonly held fear that ebikes may compromise trail access, we also spoke to trail advocates and track builders to see how they viewed this emerging category. The general consensus was that increased trail wear was unlikely, as the output from a 250w pedelec isn’t sufficient to roost up the trails. They may increase trail usage by opening the sport up to new riders; this could lead to more wear and tear but hopefully the popularity would also increase our volunteer base—fingers crossed anyway! Possibly the…

The Jam is an all-new 140mm travel, 27.5 wheeled trail bike from Focus. It serves to fill the obvious gap the German brand had between their 160mm travel gravity based Sam and the 120mm travel XC/trail oriented Spine (reviewed in MBA ASO 2017). In itself, the introduction of a trail bike isn’t such a big deal but Focus used the opportunity to introduce their new ‘FOLD’ suspension system—it’s not just a slimmed-down, cut back version of the Sam. FOLD is an acronym that stands for Focus Optimised Linkage Design. We’ll delve deeper into the suspension a little later but it’s worth noting that Focus has employed the same system on their new 100mm travel O1E cross-country 29er and the Jam², which is the e-bike equivalent of the Jam. Jam Selection…

Tristan Clark Great composition on our winning shot,taken at the Whip Wars competition during the Cannonball Festival at Thredbo. Shaun Lorenzelli A good-old fast and sharp action shot from Karissa Field with her partner Shaun Lorenzelli riding the Castle Hill MTB trails in South East Queensland. Chon Hogan Fatbiking Down Under generally revolves around the beach and sometimes the desert. Taking a hire fatbike out in winter at Mt Stirling offers a very different experience! David Lloyd Amanda tackling the dunes of the Simpson Desert Bike Challenge. Dave helped as support crew and photographer. Apparently Amanda also completed an Everesting ride the weekend before as a warm-up! Warren Steinicke Riding the famous Mescal Trail in Sedona. Warren rode the trail with his wife Veronica; stunning scenery and amazing singletrack he…

Music & MTBs at Melrose Located at the southern end of the Flinders Ranges, around three hours from Adelaide, the small town of Melrose is gearing up for their annual 18-hour MTB event. More than just a mountain bike race, it’s a festival that gets the whole community involved. This year the event takes place on September 1st and 2nd and follows a ‘can’t stop the music’ theme. It will run in conjunction with the Burning Bike Festival to provide non-stop entertainment. There’ll be live bands playing throughout – including out on course – and a novelty shenanigans shortcut for those who dare. Racing kicks off at midnight on the Friday and continues through to 6pm on Saturday. With the racing wrapped up, the party will kick off in earnest…

It’s no secret New Zealand is blessed with some epic multi-day rides. You’ve probably heard of the Old Ghost Road, the Heaphy, the Queen Charlotte Track and the Timber Trail, but the Nydia Track stands as a relative unknown. The Nydia is located at the top end of the South Island, in the Marlborough Sounds region. Look at a map and you see the coastline is dissected by a maze of sounds and inlets. It would be easy to assume the Marlborough Sounds were created by glaciers like other sounds in New Zealand. Uniquely, the Marlborough Sounds are formed through sinking land masses and associated flooding from the sea. Queen Charlotte Sound is undoubtedly the best known – the Cook Strait Ferry uses it en-route between the North and South…

Secrets are hard to keep in the bike industry, especially when it comes to new groupsets from the main players SRAM and Shimano. Embargos and the signing of non-disclosure forms is commonplace but there’s always somebody who lets the information slip. That’s exactly what happened with SRAM Eagle, as catalogue images marked ‘confidential’ started popping up on the internet at the start of 2016. While the images appeared legit, it was still hard to believe that SRAM was about to launch a 12-speed MTB drivetrain. I mean 11-speed really hadn’t been out for that long, so the leap to 12 seemed fanciful at the time—like April fool’s had come early. As it turned out Eagle was real, along with its comically oversized 50-tooth cassette, and we’ve now had our 12-speed…

While many remain sceptical of carbon rims in mountain biking, they are definitely becoming less of an oddity. And despite what the naysayers believe, you don’t see an abundance of exploded carbon rims littering the trailside. With most modern carbon wheels, the goal isn’t pure weight savings. The main drawcard with carbon is that you can get wide and sturdy rims without suffering a sizable weight penalty. Wide rims offer better sidewall support for regular MTB tyres, which means lower pressures and better traction without tyre squirm or burping. The main pitfall with wide carbon wheels is that you usually the price. Nextie is one of the more affordable carbon rim brands— one that you’d typically order direct from China, but does that mean they are no good? Well most…

Without doubt Yeti is one of the most iconic and most desired bike brands in the world. Despite a history spanning at least three decades, they’ve somehow maintained a very grass-roots feel as a ‘rider driven’ company. As with all things iconic and desirable, they’re not cheap; small production runs and high tech inevitably keep costs high. Our XTR equipped ‘Turq Series’ Yeti’s SB5+ will set you back a jawdropping $11,490. Even as a frame only you’ll be looking at $5,190. In Australia there are four standard build kits with prices ranging from $9,690 (Shimano XT) up to $11,790 with SRAM Eagle XX1. All these builds offer top-shelf performance but Rowney Sports (the Yeti importer) are quick to point out that virtually all of their sales are customised to some…

Nope, it’s not a motorbike but it’s hard not to associate this bright orange monster with the iconic Austrian dirtbike brand. Both may share the same name and livery but KTM Bike Industries is an entirely separate entity to the petrol-powered KTM. KTM has been around since 1934, starting out as a mechanical repair shop before going into the manufacture of motorbikes in the 1950s. They made their first bicycles in 1964 and have produced well over four million bikes in the past 50-odd years. Midway through the ’90s, KTM Bike Industries split from the motorbike brand, although they maintain their Austrian roots and both companies are still based in the town of Mattighofen. It may look bright in print but rest assured the new Scarp 293 is even louder…

Why is it that sometimes you come back from a ride totally buzzing, and sometimes you don’t? Maybe it’s a ride where you finally clear a feature that’s always stumped you in the past. A feature that’s put you on your butt or your face, or one that just looked scary enough to make you avoid it. Maybe it’s a ride where you clear that feature really well, and not just by hanging onto the bars and hoping for the best. Perhaps it’s a ride on an unfamiliar trail; one where you’re not quite sure where to go or how it will link up, but it turns out great and has some brilliant sections. It could be that ride where you’ve got a little extra time to do a second…