Innholdsfortegnelse for Feb-Mar-Apr 2020 i Mountain Biking Australia

Well that’s just about a wrap for 2019 and what an eventful year it has been! Mountain Biking Australia has certainly been through some changes and we’re looking forward to an even bigger and better 2020. But before I go on to preview what’s in this exciting issue I wanted to take the time to ask your opinion. We love getting correspondence from our audience. You guys are the reason MBA exists, it’s your magazine and we aim to deliver what you want. You can send any emails to my address listed below, have a particularly interesting question or comment and you could feature in our Mud Clearance section. As always we have a lot of useful reviews and ‘how-to’ articles in this edition of MBA. Our resident testers take…

I can clearly remember as a kid during maths class being deeply captivated by the cycling magazines hidden inside my text book. The fabulous pictures of pro riders climbing the snow-covered mountain peaks of Switzerland had captured my imagination from a very young age. I had something akin to ‘adventure DNA’ and plenty of it! Being caged inside a building wasn’t going to be my life, 10-year old me thought. I take it you, dear reader, have some ‘adventure DNA’ as well, else you would have grabbed the gardening magazine next to this one. Welcome to the club. My most recent adventure has taken me to the Himalayas in Nepal where I will swap my trusty road bike for a MTB as I set off with a group of mates.…

‘One rider in this room will go no further than Stage 1 of this six-day race. One rider. Will you be the one?’ I asked that question every year during the race briefing at dinner in Thredbo, the night before our Mountains To Beach stage race began. This event took riders on a wonderful 400km journey between the roof of Australia and the south coast surf at Narooma. Stage 1 was short and steep; a descent from the top of the Kosciuszko Express chairlift to Thredbo village. Back then the only trail down the mountain was the Downhill Track. Each year we’d work with the mountain crew to create a route rideable by XC bikes. S-bends were mown into grassy ski slopes linking steep 4WD access trails and, indeed, sections…

Norco has been on a massive roll this past year, with a flurry of exciting bike releases throughout 2019, starting with the lower, slacker, longer trail-focused Optic and, now, the fully redesigned Sight, the Canadian company’s all-mountain brawler. Impressively – especially in this day and age of mega-buck carbon bikes – Norco hasn’t forgotten those riders with smaller wallets, and has released both the aforementioned models in alloy and carbon variants, in 29 and 27.5-inch wheel sizes. The Sight has been one of Norco’s most popular bikes here in Australia – and with good reason: the previous-gen model’s breadth of capability (think: capable climber and devastatingly effective descender), which ensured its appeal as that ‘one bike’ for a part of the riding population, as well as killer bang for your…

I never thought I would be writing a story about myself doing a ‘guided’ mountain biking trip but here goes! I have always travelled independently, with a past of long cycle touring trips on a heavy bike and an extremely light credit card, saving dollars to lengthen the trips. Riding huge mileage to see as much countryside as possible, a diet of PB & J sandwiches and roadside cooking isn’t for everyone, but back in the day, I loved it. The planning, navigating routes, camping, cooking whilst having to avoid the financial burden of standard touristy extras, my style could be described as ride all day…'get the photo'…ride all day…and maybe ‘get the t-shirt’. Regardless of how physically challenging it was, my Macpac tent was my home for 3 ½…

“So what does all of this have to do with mountain biking? Well, mountain biking is where Shit Getting Caught On Other Shit does some of its finest work.” It was in there somewhere. I knew it. Somewhere deep in my school bag was my house key. There was loads of other stuff in there too – maths books, yesterday’s lunch box, gym shirt – which made it that much harder to find anything. The bag slung over one shoulder, I kept fishing around blindly with my hand in there. All of a sudden, excruciating pain! I yanked my hand out only to see that a loose staple, which must have fallen out of my pencil case, had jammed itself deep under the fingernail of my index finger. Ouch! I…

MBA CHANGES Q: Dear MBA, Have been a big fan of your mag since returning to mountain biking in mid 2014 - after a break of over 20 years! I've bought every issue since my first in mid 2014, & have subscribed the last couple of years. Needless to say, a lot had changed & your mag has been invaluable, both in helping me catch up fast on new developments but also in deciding on a new bike. I came back on board during the whole 29" vs 27.5" wheel size debate & was pleased to have a front row seat as many other developments have flowed - the 'rise' (boom) of dropper posts, 1x drive trains becoming de rigueur, geometry evolution, boost spacing, etc, etc. In particular, I have…

When one thinks of Australia Zoo they tend to picture a certain individual dressed in khaki shorts, shouting a catchphrase whilst wrestling a large semi-aquatic reptile. But just up the road there’s hair-raising action of a different kind and it involves two wheels. The Sunshine Coast MTB Festival is an annual race held on 18 April, 2020. It's home is the Beerwah State Forest and more specifically, the banks of the Ewen Maddock Dam. But why should you don the helmet for the Sunny Coast MTB festival? Sub-tropical escape With an average temperature range of 13? to 26? in April, the Sunshine Coast is an ideal getaway for those wanting to feel refreshed. Those conditions are also perfect for mountain biking, not too hot, not too cold. For those in…

RATINGS IN THE STAND 8/10 ON THE TRAIL 8.5/10 OVERALL 8/10 In mountain bike design, there’s always been an undercurrent back to its roots, where steel-framed bikes met fat tyres for the first time in the hills of California. It’s in this flow of ideas that the new Torrent from Canadian brand Norco fits. Setting out to build an aggressive, modern long, low, and slack 29” wheeled bike out of cromoly steel, Norco have put together a bike that harks back to simplicity with a current touch. The Torrent HT S1 is what I’ve had on review for the past few weeks. Built around that long, low, and slack frame built from double-butted Chromoly steel, the HT S1 gets some of the latest gear from SRAM: a Lyrik Ultimate fork…

Have you ever needed to wash your bike but not had access to a hose? Maybe you live in an apartment with no real outdoors areas where you can break out a bucket of soapy water—not without making a soggy mess anyway. Perhaps you’re staying in a city hotel the night before flying back to Australia and need to get your bike sparkling for a hassle-free ride through customs. Water restrictions can also prevent you from running amok with the garden hose. With these predicaments all a distinct possibility, we thought it'd be wise to consider a slightly different approach to cleaning your MTB; the waterless bike wash! What You'll Need • Spray-on bike cleaner, preferably one with a degree of degreasing power. We used Krush Rapid Wash which is…

It would be fair to say that there’s no more successful family in mountain bike racing than the Atherton clan. The three Brit siblings have made a huge impression on the downhill racing scene over the past 15 years, collecting a ruck of rainbow jerseys, World Cup wins and other titles between them. Dan is the eldest of the three and arguably the least decorated – yet he is very much the driving force behind the glory of his younger brother and sister – Gee and Rachel, as well as the creator of the Hardline race, which is perhaps the toughest downhill race on the planet. A couple of years ago the Athertons announced a whole new team set up – one based around their own pioneering bike brand, which…

It’s that time of year again, no not Christmas, new bike season! Admittedly Christmas does have something to do with 2020's MTB range as people all over the world crossed their fingers for a bike-shaped present sitting beside their tree come 25 December. Hopefully it worked! We’ve run our gaze over 2020’s offerings and have come up with the ultimate guide to choosing a new bike for the new year. Santa Cruz V10 The V10 from Santa Cruz is certainly made to fit a certain purpose. Instead of an all-round rig designed to climb, descend, then do it all again, the V10 is purely a downhill machine. Boasting 29” wheels and 215mm of travel, it’s certainly a formidable beast, designed to be well and truly flogged down those runs. There's…

I've been riding mountain bikes since the tender age of 16, which by my own admission is now a very long time ago! I've had my fair share of MTB shoes over those years, and am stoked to now see more than ever a big selection of women’s specific shoes that haven’t been ‘shrinked and pinked’. It is great to see a wider range of high spec women’s specific shoes out there, but still there is a gap, with some manufacturers only producing a men’s version of their highest spec shoe. Come on manufacturers, let women have the same top end shoes as our male counterparts! If you are a female rider with large to average size feet that aren’t too narrow, then you might be able to get a…

RATING 8.5/10 Bike packing is one of the best things about mountain biking. It really is our answer or rebuttal to cycling’s grand tours. Sure, the French countryside is pretty but can you head into the bush for a week on a road bike? Like the name suggests, we aren’t restricted to predetermined routes. The world is very much our oyster. But none of that is possible without provisions and bush bashing on a MTB with a big backpack in tow is not ideal. New Zealand-based company Aeroe have been coming up with MTB storage solutions for a while now and we put their latest range of bags and mounts to the test. The full package All up, there are six different bag mounts to choose from and yes, you…