First up is the Gravity Lite crankset. It’s now in a new 7050 grade aluminum. It’s hollow-forged, which makes it light and super solid. Brook MacDonald has been running them on his World Cup bike this season.

Chris King was new to Wide Open this January. All Chris King product is made in-house, which means they’re able to maintain higher levels of  environmental awareness. All the swarf from the machining processes is retained and recycled. The hubs and bottom brackets have a five year warranty, and are very simple to service. They don’t use sealed bearings, so it’s easy to pull them to pieces and pack them with new grease (the BB has a tool that allows for easy grease replacement). BBs are available in both steel and ceramic bearing models for both SRAM and Shimano crank configurations.

MRP 2x guide. Caleb has had one on his bike for a while, and it’s a charm on the now very fashionable two chainring configuration. Under 140g weight (with skid plate; you can remove the skidplate to save another 40g). Plus they’re available in a bunch of colours.

ODI are still one of the strongest players on planet grip. This photo doesn’t really do justice to the assault on your eyes that the fluoro orange Troy Lee grip brings.

ODI also have these excellent fork bumpers to replace your boring old stock bumper. They were designed by Brent Foes (Wide Open head honcho Matt Whitaker used to work for Brent back in the day). There are models for the three major manufacturers (888, Boxxer and 40s), in four colours. They’re slightly lower profile than a stock bumper, so you’ll get a slightly tighter turning circle. They’ve also got loops so that you can easily zip-tie a raceplate on.

Tioga have a new addition to the Psycho Genius range. The Venture is available in sizes up to 2.5″, and has a more open tread pattern than last year’s version. The model we saw had a super-soft rubber compound that will be stickier than a sticky thing. Tioga also have the zero pedal, possibly the world’s thinnest flat pedal. It’s 7mm at its thickest point.

Finally, we’ve got Marzocchi. Marzocchi has sorted the quality issues that plagued their line-up from a couple of years ago. The 2011 888 Evo Ti and 55Ti were really well regarded by us here at Spoke. The 2012 888 Evo Ti now comes in white, with a new compression shim stack. But most interestingly they’re now running an international standard (Boxxer) bolt mount pattern, so you can fit aftermarket stems.

Wide Open Crew, Team and hangers-on: (rear, L-R) Conor "somebody please spell my name right" MacFarlane. Matt "I'm switching to XC" Scoles, Matt "the boss" Whitaker, Brook "Jack Russell" MacDonald, Jono "Local Knowledge" Drew, Jono "I can fix everything" Baddiley; (front L-R) Brett "family man" Frew, Jono "hair farmer" Church, Dean "bikes are a serious business" Cameron, Kelly "my arm has a vagina" McGarry.

Matt has flown all the crew in for the week. Expect to see more killer shots from Team Wide Open over the coming months.

The WideOpen product launch was held in rainy Rotorua today, and Spoke Magazine grabbed the best seats.

FSA have released a new Compact MTB Crank – 386. Dual ring. 3 bolt standard (new) – 27-42 gearing. In carbon and aluminium

FSA also have a limited run of white road bars. This is the kwing compact…

Matt Whitaker demonstrates the WideOpen stance. The Gravity 777 bar – flat bar for DH and agressive trail riding. 777mm wide and perfect for smashing your knuckles on trees

Marzocchi have made huge changes across the product line for 2010. Gone are the Air travel adjustment, and in are new titanium springs, much lighter weight, and more subtle graphics. Shown below is the 888 RC3 EVO Ti. The EVO bit is all about adjustments – you can pull out the compression shim stack and mess everything up all by yourself.

A bunch of new stuff and incremental updates from Atomlab. The General Issue (GI) rims are gone, to be replaced with a rim provisionally called the P.Lite. A new PimpSuperlite has been released. It’s a narrower profile, and lighter weight. All Atomlab rims now ship with Tork nipples and a nice nipple key.

Wideopen have also changed their approach to Atomlab wheelsets. They’ll still be bringing in the G.I. wheelsets, but will offer a custom wheel-build service where you can select your own rim, spoke and nipple colour, and your choice of hub. All this will be at the same cost as an “out of the box” wheelset. Nice.

Atomlab also have new plastic pedals. Light and cheap. And in Green, White, Red and Smoke, so you can decorate your christmas tree with them

Gravity have a light chainguide. It’s got a plastic construction, with the idea being that it will deflect slightly when taking a hit rather than bending or breaking your ISCG tabs. Available in ISCG, ISCG’05 and BB Mount.

And finally, for those with a weight-loss addiction, the new Tioga Twin-Tail Spyder saddle. Guaranteed to get more air in your, er, hair.