Damian Stones and Reon Boe spent a week in sunny Rarangi (the first left turn out of Picton) not long ago and banged out this damn sweet looking pump track. I can’t think of a better place than Rarangi to build a pump track; after three hours on the ferry the this little gem will be a welcome respite, and if you know what’s up you’ll know that the Whites Bay loop starts just over the hill! Banging!

Whakatane’s Karen Hanlen secured a stunning 2nd place at the latest round of the BMC Racing Cup in Switzerland over the weekend. In difficult conditions on a drying but still challenging race course and against many of Europe’s best athletes, Hanlen put together a fantastic race, ultimately only two seconds from winning. Switzerland’s Esther Suss prevailed in a sprint finish.

After the start, four women had formed the lead group by the end of the fourth of six laps. From there, Hanlen took command of the race at the front and quickly opened up a gap at the beginning of the penultimate lap, but this was soon closed down by Suss. “I told Karen it’s better if we work together,” Suss said. “Especially on the flat sections, where the track goes through the town of Solothurn.” During the last lap the duo distanced themselves from the rest of the field and headed toward the finish line locked closely together. However, Suss knew exactly where to attack with intimate knowledge of the Solothurn course having won here before, and passed Hanlen 300 metres before the finish to hold on for the win.

Hanlen is understandably very happy with this result: “Yeah, I’m so pleased, and a really nice confidence boost for next weekend, although I won’t get complacent as it’ll be all on!” The ‘next weekend’ is the third round of the UCI World Cup in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, where Hanlen will again line up with Wellington’s Rosara Joseph to continue the enthralling contest these two athletes are having on the world stage this year.

Other New Zealand athletes also competed at Solothurn, with Samara Sheppard (Wellington) 19th in the Elite Women’s race. In the Elite Men’s race, Rotoura’s Dirk Peters was right back into the international racing groove with a very strong 24th at this third race of his 2012 European campaign. Sam Shaw, also from Rotorua didn’t kick on as well, with a DNF in the tough conditions.

Brief Results, BMC Racing Cup, Solothurn
Elite Women
Esther Suss (SWI) 1:43:18 1st;
Karen Hanlen (NZL) 1:43:20 2nd;
Irena Kalentieva (RUS) 1:43:54 3rd;
Samara Sheppard (NZL) 1:53:48 19th.

Elite Men
Nino Schurter (SWI) 1:37:13 1st;
Moritz Milatz (GER) 1:37:16 2nd;
Christoph Sauser (SWI) 1:37:38 3rd;
Dirk Peters (NZL) 1:44:47 24th

Full Results Elite Women
Full Results Elite Men

Tim Pierce and Justin Leov took a roll around the Deans Bank tracks in Wanaka the day before the Teva Slopestyle a few weeks back and Tim has banged this rad little clip together…

“The Lake Wanaka region of New Zealand is renowned as one of the upcoming mountain bike hot spots of the world, with over 500km of tracks on offer. Justin Leov rides the Deans Bank trail, in Wanaka, New Zealand on a beautiful Autumn day. The trail is a 12km loop (approx 45 mins, Maybe for Tim at the deans bank 10 hour i think fast times where in the 28 minute and I banged out a 31 (maybe it was a little longer but those 29″ wheels are fast)) accessible to riders of all abilities with incredible views of the surrounding mountain amphitheatre and into New Zealand’s largest river – the mighty Clutha”

Director / DOP / Editor – Tim Pierce
Assistant / Titles – Bel Jones
Colour Grade / Soundmix – Piers Harding

This thing is MENTAL! Watch it now! We ARE bringing you premieres (I’m working on it right now…)

Strength in Numbers is a rally call to connect all mountain bikers, regardless of location or language or discipline. The film captures a true way of life, from the world’s best pros to those who are just learning to love the sport. Shot over two years in some of mountain biking’s most iconic locations, Anthill’s signature style combines compelling stories with core action to create a shared experience that unites all riders. Come join us!

anthillfilms.com/strengthinnumbers

Featuring: Graham Agassiz, Gee Atherton, Adam Billinghurst, Matt Hunter, Cam McCaul, Anthony Messere, Brandon Semenuk, Andrew Shandro, Wade Simmons, Rene Wildhaber and Thomas Vanderham. With appearances from: Rachel Atherton, Steve Smith, Aaron Gwin, Ryan Howard, Tracy Moseley, Tyler McCaul, Steve Peat, Greg Watts and Alex Reveles.

Communities: Aptos, California; Whistler, BC; Fort William, Scotland; Green River, Utah; Nepal; Kamloops, BC; Verbier, Switzerland; Vancouver, BC.

Seb was supposed to be here in New Zealand guiding the Easton crew around a few weeks back, but it turns out he got a better offer to attend Santa Cruz Bikes’ launch in Sedona. He knew Santa Cruz had a few things up their sleeves (mainly ’cause he’d been testing the long travel Tallboy) and now that the embargo has lifted on the final two of four bikes, everyone can now tell you about the latest two bikes to Santa Cruz’s huge lineup! The 135mm alloy and carbon Tallboy LTs. Seb says this bike is the business. Continuous cable routing, ISCG tabs, grease ports, 12mm rear axle and of course VPP suspension. And as you can see from Gary Perkins’ video (starring Seb, Ariel Lindsay and Abigail Hippley) everyone seems right at home straight killing it on these things.

Anyway here’s the press release:

“Are you sure you want to launch a new bike on April Fool’s Day? You know it’s a Sunday, right? Aren’t you afraid people will think it’s a joke?”

We heard a lot of that in the leadup to unveiling these, our newest bikes. And to be honest, those are some sensible reasons NOT to launch the bike today. But we were waiting, patiently and it would seem eternally, for Roskopp’s new van to get restored, and the time when we wanted to let the public know kept on getting pushed back. Finally, we had to cut bait, as they say down on the wharf.

As you can see, Rob’s new van/pickup is nowhere near done yet. That kind of delay is to be expected when one trades a couple hundred signed Roskopp Face decks and a used pair of Michael Toschi shoes to the local autobody guy and asks him to perform the ultimate sacrilege of chopping a relatively straight ’66 VW Window Van into a pickup. Someone, somewhere, is going to end up disappointed. Good thing they managed to talk him out of putting in that 302 Ford motor with a Pantera transaxle that he was eyeballing. Anyway, we finally convinced the boss that we could launch the bikes before the van was finished, otherwise the damn things might never see the light of day, and he gave us the okay.

We still have no idea when the van might get finished…

Meanwhile, we’ve got some new bikes that we are very proud to talk about. Please meet the newest members of the Santa Cruz family:

TALLBOY LT
The Tallboy has been a hugely successful bike for us. And it is clearly evident that the 29″ market is evolving, and the industry is figuring out how to make these bikes handle and perform well in a wider set of terrain than was thought possible a few years ago. (Somewhere we can hear Wes Williams laughing at us all) So, in order to meet the needs of riders who want aggressive allmountain bikes AND big wheels, here’s the Tallboy LT. It’s a 135mm travel bike with VPP suspension designed to run 130-150mm forks. The TBLT head angle is a degree and a half slacker than that of the Tallboy, seat angle just under half a degree slacker. Doing the apples to grapes comparison that inevitably crops up whenever people start getting into wheel size arguments, think of this as a bigwheel alternative to our Blur LT—versatile enough to handle daily duty as a doitall bike, but burly enough to run hard in the big ugly stuff. There’s a ton of features that are probably best handled by bullet points, so without further ado…

Features:
M, L, XL sizes
Hydroformed top and downtubes
Tapered headtube
Replaceable derailleur hanger
ISCG05 mount
135mm travel, 7.875″x2″ shock
Custom tuned Fox Float RP23 Kashima shock
Collet axle pivot hardware
Offset lower link (better chainguide clearance), recessed grease ports
Continuous cable routing, dropper post routing
Threaded BB shell (we think this is still the best, most userfriendly, widely compatible, globally serviceable way to install a bottom bracket.)

Available complete with R/AM spec for $3199 or SPX/AM spec for $4299
Colors: Gulf Blue/Orange,Gloss Gun Black/Black

TALLBOY LTc
Here’s where we get into the flagship of our flagships. We put a lot of emphasis on the suspension performance and ride characteristics of our VPP suspension-design tuneability of shock rates for individual designs, superb pedaling AND bump absorption characteristics, awesome chassis stiffness and ride dynamics, short stiff links with really good hardware, durability, ease of service—but we get real geeked out when we can build all that stuff into a carbon fiber bike. Carbon fiber processes are not all equal, and this is not all just random “black metal.” We are very proud of what we can achieve with carbon fiber, and the way we do our layup gives us the advantage to build bikes that are lighter AND stronger than just about everyone else. That said, this is the Tallboy LTc. Same geometry, same suspension, same intent as the aluminum version, but crafted from carbon fiber using our proprietary onepiece layup process. This is also our first foray into 142×12 rear axle territory. For lack of any better hyperbole, this bike is siiiiiick! 135mm travel, all the good juicy features already mentioned in the Tallboy LT blurb above, but also stiffer, stronger, and really, really effing light. Weight for a frame, with shock included, is 5.3 pounds.

Yup.

Features:
M, L, XL sizes
Proprietary onepiece carbon fiber layup
Tapered headtube
142x12mm rear axle
Replaceable derailleur hanger (optional Shimano direct mount rear hanger available)
ISCG05 mount
135mm travel, 7.875×2″ shock
Customtuned Fox Float RP23 Kashima shock
Collet axle pivot hardware
Offset lower link (better chainguide clearance), recessed grease ports
Continuous cable, dropper post routing
Leather seatstay, chainstay, downtube protector
Threaded bb shell (as in the paragraph above, our feelings are still the same. This is a good way to do a bottom bracket.)

Available complete with R/AM spec for $4399 or SPX/AM spec for $5299
Colors: Matte Carbon/Orange, Solar Yellow/Black

The first Tallboy LTs are in stock now and available as part of our Custom Color Choice Program for delivery by April 13th.
Stock colors will be arriving a week or two after that. The Tallboy LTc will be in stock and available for delivery by the beginning of May. For confirmation of whether this is real or all a hoax, contact your friendly Santa Cruz Bicycles dealer, or email us here. In the meantime, here’s some video candy of the Tallboy LT and the Tallboy LT carbon

Photo Patrick Fallon www.fallon.co.nz

Kelly and Tom have been working hard behind the scenes getting ready for New Zealand’s first ever slopestyle event. I just spoke to them and on top of these two booters they’ve also completed a fruit bowl (kinda like a mellow halfpipe that you can trick onto and out of) and a few other bits and pieces. Rumour even has it that a couple of US riders might be paying the comp a visit! If you feel you’ve got what it takes to hang with the likes of Luke, Conor, Kelly and Matt Harris, there’s still time to enter. Just email traverse@queenstown.co.nz. If you’re near Queenstown you’d be pretty stupid not to pop up to the Queenstown Bike Festival and check it out in person. Spoke will be there bringing you updates and videos throughout the festival so check back for updates from Sunday.

Patrick has a few more shots up on his blog here…

The Teva Slopesyle is happening on the 5th of April at the Ballarat Street Carpark, Queenstown. I’m pretty sure we’ve said it before but there is $10,000 in cash prizes up for grabs!!!

The Neistat brothers provide us with a little social study on bike theft in New York City. Casey Neistat and The New York Times.

Original post and Opinion piece here http://nyti.ms/xW8Zcv

Todd Couper’s race run at the 2012 Urban DH in Lyttelton on Saturday. Full report coming later today…

In the latest issue of Spoke Lester Perry profiled the newly formed Endura XC team. Well it seems Nigel Blanchard (Endura New Zealand distributor) sure can pick ‘em. The team took home four out of six possible junior titles at the Oceania’s this weekend and Kapiti’s Raewyn Morrison came first in the Super D and second in the XC Eliminator. Not a bad weekend really. Keep up to date with the Endura team over here on their Facebook page.

PRO ELITE
Raewyn Morrison 1st Super D and 2nd XC Eliminator

U23 MEN
Adrian Retief 8th

U19 MEN
Nigel McDowell 1st

U19 WOMEN
Amber Johnston 1st

U17 WOMEN
Jemma Manchester 1st
Harriet Beaven 2nd

U17 MEN
Jack Compton 8th

U15 MEN
Eden Cruise 1st

Keen followers of spokemagazine.com got a sneak peak a month back of Crank Brothers’ new adjustable height seatpost the Kronolog (that was before we took the post down at Crank Brothers’ behest; turns out it was a leak). Now a month later it’s all official. Hopefully we can get our hands on one to test soon. I’m still using the Joplin 4 on my Tallboy and with tender loving care it’s been going well, but a five inch version would be very welcome. Oh I just spoke to the distributor and we should be seeing the Kronolog sometime mid to late April. Full press release spiel below.

Since Crank Brothers has been in the adjustable seatpost category for nearly five years, we have learned a lot about what works. With that knowledge, we decided it was time for a better approach. With a fresh set of eyes, we designed a post that we believe in. It is technical, durable, and beautiful. Introducing the Kronolog.

The mechanical design of the Kronolog allows for very accurate, precise movement. It has 5-inches of travel, and is the only mechanical post that is infinitely adjustable. It is even possible to reduce the travel of the Kronolog in 20mm increments simply by adding a spacer. Although it functions mechanically, the Kronolog feels hydraulic. It is smooth, supple, and quiet. Air spring technology lets you adjust the preload and return speed simply with air using a standard shock pump, and air damping allows the saddle to return to a normal riding position in two, smooth stages.

The Kronolog has a unique keying system between the quill and shaft that virtually eliminates rotational play. It also locks into position both upward and downward. Improved cable routing means that the cable will not interfere with your riding – the cable routes from the post’s stationary body, so when the post moves up and down, the cable does not move.

The Kronolog seatpost is a very simple design with a limited number of functioning parts. Fewer parts means fewer failures. The Kronolog passes 2.7 times EN fatigue testing, making it twice as strong as other adjustable posts on the market. The Kronolog offers more travel, durability, and robustness, all at about 50g less than the previous Crank Brothers adjustable post. It is stronger and lighter. The Kronolog sets a new standard for adjustable seatposts.

kronolog
material – aluminum
post length – 405mm
weight – 465g + 28g (30.9mm + remote*)
477g + 28g (31.6mm + remote*)
adjustment range – 125mm / 5in
adjustment type – standard shift cable
diameters – 30.9mm and 31.6mm
standard colors – black & red, black & black
color kits – clamp & lever color kits
available in gold, blue, orange (sold separately)
warranty – 2 years with proper maintenance

“For trail riders, the drop post is one of those products that drastically improves the ride, regardless of genre, travel, or wheel size. It’s worth its weight in gold, and once you try one you never go back. Crank Brothers has been in the drop post game from the beginning. The Kronolog is something we’ve been working on for quite a while now, and it’s the evolution in adjustable post technology. I’ve been thrashing the Kronolog for months in different conditions, environments, and applications, with no play or failures. This is refreshing because I’m not a big fan of bleeding my post after a failure on the trail. It’s packed with features and refinements and is by far my favourite drop post on the market. Take one for a spin and you’ll understand.”
- Chris Van Dine

“I am not willing to compromise on a good descent, and the Kronolog post does what it’s supposed to do. The feel is smooth and consistent, plus reliable in all conditions. Adjustable posts make riding more fun.” – Jill Kintner

“It’s been a couple years of testing the Kronolog, and I’m happy with the many added benefits, like more adjustablility, less weight, better cable routing options, no saddle wiggle and a sleek look.” – Hans Rey

The videos show specific commuting routes from Karori, Melling (Lower Hutt), Miramar, Island Bay, Hataitai, and Johnsonville to the Wellington CBD, demonstrating different ways of safely negotiating traffic through various routes. Each video is accompanied with a JourneyPlanner map.

Check out the videos here: https://vimeo.com/album/1820689
There’s even some off-roading in there!
Kah is also running a short survey with the videos, so feel free to give him a piece of your mind: tiny.cc/ufcsn

Southstar Shuttles, in conjunction with the Rotorua Mountain Bike Club, have initiated a women’s-only shuttle evening with the aim of encouraging more women to get on their bikes in the forest. The idea of a Ladies’ Evening Shuttle came to RMBC’s Kim McVicker from “being a newbie on the shuttle”. Says Kim, “no longer do I have to struggle to jam myself between massive downhill bikes, whilst rushing to tie my own bike on under immense pressure from boys wanting to get up the hill ASAP. Instead we have a supportive environment where we can just take our time, help one another, and smell perfume instead of stinky blokes!”

The Ladies Evening Shuttle also has the added bonus of fresh home baking, which takes everyone’s mind off the hill they don’t have to ride up anymore. “At the top (when the bus driver has had enough of our chitter chatter) we all jump off, make our way down the various tracks and then we’re amping for another gravity (and cake)-assisted run!”

The Southstar Shuttle Ladies’ Evening: fortnightly Wednesdays from February 1^st, meeting 5:30pm at 8 Mile Gate. $10 cash paid to the bus driver on the evening, e-mail kimm@sportbop.co.nz to secure your seat. All welcome.