Mountain Biking
I’ve been reviewing Norco bikes for several years now. The crew at Norco is super-friendly and their bikes are always good for a ride–especially downhill rides. The first Norco I reviewed was the 2004 Norco Shore… a capable freeride rig that could still climb if prodded properly. It’s very evident that Norco designers value the downhill above all else because every bike I’ve ridden since has been a scream on the down.
For that reason, I’m always stoked to get on a Norco. They may not be as well-known here in the States as they should be, but that shouldn’t stop you or I from wanting to get on one. This year’...
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When Shimano introduced their Dual Control lever/brake combo, I was one of the first to denounce the move. Come on… we’ve already been down that road with the integrated brake/shifter combo before, but on top of that, the Dual Control was funky and extremely bad in practice on the trail.
Oh yeah, while I’m throwing out some of Shimano’s bad moves over the past few years, there’s no way I can overlook Rapid Rise derailleurs… One again, it may be a supposed advancement, but in practice, reversing the shifting pattern does nothing but confuse riders who have rock-solid muscle memory of how shifting should work....
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Iron Horse has really stepped it up over the past few seasons. Most of that success can be attributed to their adoption of the DW-Link suspension design for their top-of-the-line rides. And another part of that success is due to Iron Horse rider and current World Cup Downhill champion, Sam Hill. That guy blazes down DH courses on his Iron Horse Sunday faster than anyone on the planet.
His reign on the World Cup circuit has definitely attributed to the increase in sales of the Iron Horse Sunday downhill bike. Local DH bike shop, Go-Ride.com has seen their Sunday framesets fly off the shelves in recent years.
Even with the...
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IMBA World Summit comes to Park City this year. I’ve never been, but it looks like a great place to learn about advocacy and trail building from the experts. And, it’s in Park City! June riding in Park City is stellar.
Don’t forget… all World Summit attendees also get into the SEASONS Film Premiere on Thursday, June 19 at the Jim Santy Auditorium. Here’s more info from IMBA:
IMBA and the town of Park City are pulling out the stops for next month’s IMBA World Summit scheduled for June 18-21. The 3-day gathering will feature over 200 delegates from around the globe, 30 educational seminars from the best in the mountain biking game, and riding...
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Springtime in Utah calls for cool mornings and beat-down sunny afternoons followed by an inch of snow on your lawn the next day. It’s the good and bad about living along the Wasatch. Because of that, it’s always nice to have a variety of jackets on hand for just the right conditions for that morning trail run or mountain bike ride.
Critical to jackets for trail running or mountain biking is its ability to block the wind and its ability to breathe. On top of that, having just the right fit is also something I look for–you don’t want to have the sleeves flapping in the wind, catching on a passing branch or interfering with the...
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It’s funny how things can come full circle. When mountain bike suspension forks were first introduced, RockShox was the king of the hill. Their famous Mag21 fork was legendary and everyone drooled over the fold-flecked magnesium lowers and how plush 60 mm of travel felt. Ahh, the days.
Then, Marzocchi came on the freeride scene with all the grace of a 500-lb. gorilla just squashing both RockShox and Manitou out of the market. RockShox’s lone ray of hope was the Boxxer World Cup, which shined on World Cup courses and was and still is ridden by the DH man-to-beat, Steve Peat. Somewhere in between the decline, the ray of hope,...
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The French aren’t so much known for building mountain bikes, though there have been several Frenchman who have been ultra-successful at both XC and DH disciplines. When I think of France and bikes, I think of bikes of the skinny tire variety. Contrary to that stereotype, Commencal has been building a handful of downhill and freeride-type mountain bikes since 2000.
I didn’t really notice Commencal until freeride and DH phenom Cedric Gracia jumped from Cannondale to Commencal a couple of years ago. I haven’t seen much of Gracia lately, so I’m not sure if he’s settled into the European spotlight and dropped of the US radar or not. However, at the Interbike Outdoor...
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I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen thus far from Pivot Cycles. Building all their bikes on the successful DW-Link suspension design, every bike in the line is guaranteed to be plush and efficient–the holy grail of suspension design.
Complementing the Pivot Mach 4 and Mach 5 is the all-new Pivot Mach 429. Why 429? Well, because it’s a Mach 4 that’s been re-engineered around beautiful, trail-smoothing 29-inch wheels. I’m a believer in the 29-er revolution and apparently Chris Cocalis and the crew at Pivot are also. It is currently in prototype stage, but I’m sure it will be production ready come this fall when the Interbike Outdoor Demo rolls around again.
One...
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Sunglasses are uber-important pieces of gear for nearly every outdoor activity. Mountain and road cyclists typically have several pairs of sunglasses or at least a pair with interchangeable lenses. In my mind there are three imperatives with biking-friendly eyewear: 1) they must be lightweight and 2) they must stay put–even while sweating up a storm and 3) They’ve got to properly block the wind.
With high-end sunglass prices typically in the $100-$150 range, it’s hard to afford multiple pair or even that one do-it-all pair of sunglasses. Markup on a typical pair of sunglasses must be huge–either that or they are having to carry a huge amount of overhead with their behemoth marketing budgets. Either...
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Showing off some eye candy, Yeti Cycles is displaying two prototype bikes to the public to generate some buzz. Well, it certainly worked for me because these bikes look amazing! No, they aren’t for everyday riding on the local trails, but as far as big hit, park and slopestyle riding, these new bikes look to expand on Yeti’s innovative Zero Loss rail system used for several years now in the current 303 DH.
Full specs are forthcoming as these are purely prototype bikes. But, they look pretty darn refined for prototypes. I’m guessing they are tweaking angles here and there to get things just right.
Looking at the function of the Zero Loss Technology...
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A
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