News: Merida's new Big Trail
Hardtails are on the comeback, with more and more coming to market with geometry suited to the demands of modern riding at affordable price points. Merida's all-new Big Trail is designed to fill the gap between their XC-targeted hardtails and their range of full-suspension trails bikes. Read more below...
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"It almost feels like yesterday that some of the leading UK bike retailers gathered their wishes and sat down with our R&D team, for a German ‘Weissbier’ or two, to combine their experience and knowledge of the market with the design and development prowess of our German engineers. This plan simply had to work! The UK has been one of the driving forces in Europe if not in the world when it comes to taking hardtails on demanding trails and tracks, so combining these two groups of specialists would be the ideal team to create the new BIG.TRAIL. Today we often associate increased 'trail fun' with more and more full suspension travel due to the fact that long-travel bikes are getting more capable on the way down but also on the way back up again. At the same time, the trail hardtail has also developed quietly in its shadow and the new BIG.TRAIL is our take on this fun-packed, versatile, capable and rewarding ride category. After being absent from this segment, we are back with a bang, that combines a modern trail bike geometry with a long-travel fork and chunky 29er wheels for perfect trail performance and amazing corner grip.
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The BIG.TRAIL is a hardtail which is designed for trail riding. Geometry, suspension travel and features of this model are optimised for hitting the trails. But why would you use a hardtail when everybody is saying a full-suspension is the better choice? There are a few reasons: it's more affordable, easier to set up and it needs less maintenance than a full-suspension bike. So if the budget is small, it’s probably the better choice than a very entry-level dual suspension bike. It also has the benefit that it requires more riding finesse which in turn improves the riding technique and makes you a smoother rider than with an ‘all-absorbing’ full-suspension. This is due to the fact that the rider has to make smarter choices on the trail and that ‘going straight over everything’ with a hardtail is simply not the best idea. So especially for the young riders out there, a trail hardtail is a great bike to start and to hone your skills on. A one time learned clean riding technique will always stay with you!
For the BIG.TRAIL it is important that 29er wheels, specced with trail-ready 2.5" wide tyres fit into the frame. With a hardtail, the tyre choice is super important and has a big influence on thge trail performance. The bike is designed around a 55 mm chain line which allows for ample tyre clearance. This is important so that even during extreme manoeuvres or in super muddy trail conditions, the tyre doesn’t touch the chain or seat stays. The further advantage of using a 55 mm chain line is that it doesn’t require the need for a new wheelset, for example, a ‘super-boost’ wheelset. The fitted crank offers more off-set and allows for conventional boost wheelsets to be fitted into the BIG.TRAIL.
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The BIG.TRAIL geometry is made for trail riding. It features a 65.5° head angle which is what a lot of current enduro bikes are based on. Also, reach and seat angle are much more aggressive compared to our cross country bikes. A longer reach gives more space to manoeuvre on the bike and the steeper seat angle makes climbing easier. Furthermore, the long 140 mm fork makes life much easier on downhills and demanding single track sections. Another aspect that gives the rider more confidence and space to manoeuvre is the short seat tube and super sloping top tube. Because of this, a super low stand over height can be achieved and long travel dropper posts can be fitted. With the super low stand over height, the rider is encouraged to choose the frame size based on the preferred riding characteristics, rather than body height. The only question is if you wanna go crazy fast or super agile. If you are looking for increased stability at speed, take the longer (larger) size, if you are looking for agility, take a shorter (smaller) size."
Story: Destination: Wanaka Pt. 1
It’s 6:30am and I’m in the office punching out emails. I’m massively behind, having just arrived back from a week out at Crankworx, and I’m about to be out for another five days. Half an hour passes before my ride to the airport picks me up and we’re out. Ten minutes into the drive and we’ve stopped for diesel, listened to the last eight minutes of an audiobook about the founder of Nike, and now we’re accidentally bullying our way into a queue of Auckland’s finest rush-hour traffic. “The people behind us probably think I’m such an asshole,” she says. “We’re in a truck, it’s expected” I reply.
So far, this experience is a little different to my usual airport Uber - but then again, Casey Brown isn’t your typical Uber driver.
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The rest of our run goes smoothly and it’s almost a little unnerving. It’s at about this point in a trip to the airport where I remember what I’ve forgotten, hit unexpected traffic, or start stressing because I can’t remember what I’ve forgotten. This time around though, it’s all smooth sailing – the traffic is flowing and we’re chatting about a shirt Casey designed, as we cruise along the motorway.
I guess I should point out what we’re actually doing! Well, a few months ago, I was invited to visit Wanaka to check out Cardrona, ride the new Bike Glendhu, sample a couple of the local eateries and explore the region. A few setbacks kept bumping the trip back, but eventually we locked in the week after Crankworx - which was perfect, as Casey was in town. We convinced her to re-book her flights home and stay on for an extra week with us, then roped in a videographer, Haimona; and photographer, Callum, to come chase us around.
Back to the present and we’ve hit the airport; I check us in while Casey returns her rental car. Bag drop goes smoothly, we find Haimona, who has flown in from Gisborne, and breeze through security. I always set the goal of grabbing a coffee between passing through security and boarding, but the reality is that I’m usually late, so I have to settle for an average-at-best airline coffee instead. The smooth run continues, though, and before you know it we’re kickin’ it at a coffee shop, browsing Canadian SPCA websites on the hunt for a buddy for Casey’s dog, Snuff, before piling onto the plane and making our way down south.
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I love the flight into Queenstown. I lived there for a while after high school and every time I fly in, it feels a little like going home. Descending into the mountains served as a great reminder for what a rad few days I was in for - and what a rad week I’d just had at Crankworx. We touched down, repeated the airport procedure in reverse and were faced with our first challenge: getting two bike boxes, two camera bags, a drone case, three people’s worth of luggage, and said three people into a minivan. A bit of Tetris and we got there, before hitting the road to Wanaka.
We were due to spend our first two nights in an alpine apartment on Cardrona, and had originally planned to cruise up the mountain, dump our luggage, then venture into Wanaka to grab some lunch and some groceries. By the time we hit the access road, though, I was running on fumes and posed the idea of punching straight through to Wanaka. Casey was deep in a nap by this point, so Haimona and I made the call and kept punching. Once we hit Wanaka, we hit Big Fig for the first of two visits over our stay. After a much needed lunch, we did a quick grocery shop, struggled to pack everything into the van, then hooked a U-turn and headed for Cardies.
As you turn off the highway onto the Cardrona access road, you’re met with 14km of unsealed gravel, up the side of a mountain. Our buddies at Toyota definitely didn’t have these kinds of roads in mind when they designed the van we’d rented for the week, so we took it easy and cruised our way up the hill.
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As far as ski fields and, as a result, lift-access bike parks, go Cardrona is pretty unique. Typically, base buildings are found at the base of a ski-field, as the name would suggest. Cardrona’s different though, with the base building located halfway up the slope. What’s rad about this, is that as we pulled into the carpark, we could see riders tearing up the network of trails that run down the mountainside. By this point, it was pretty late in the day – we must have been pushing 3pm - and with all our bikes still packed up and the lifts only running ‘til 4pm, we decided to pack-in, build our bikes, then have a chill afternoon. This was where we ran into our first problem: the 8mm I had packed to do up/remove my pedals wasn’t up for the task of tightening pedals, and quickly stripped. Casey’s multi-tool had everything but an 8mm, so we ventured into the bike park to find one. Trust the media - and an athlete - to come unprepared! After this, we retreated to our alpine apartment for naps while Haimona broke out the drone to get some rad location shots. Upon waking, we went for a walk down to the base building to figure out our dinner plans. Cardrona have a restaurant on-mountain, making the choice easy – and after all the travelling we’d done, I wasn’t too keen on driving back down the mountain to visit the Cardrona Hotel! Whilst making our dinner reservation, we found out that our stay happened to coincide with a stargazing tour, something we had to check out.
Our dinner was nothing short of phenomenal, and our photographer for this trip, Callum Wood, showed up right on time. If you’re visiting Cardies, whether staying the night or just spending a day on the mountain, you’ve gotta check out The Mezz. We had the entire restaurant to ourselves, bar one table that left pretty soon after we arrived, and the food was amazing. As we ate, the excitement started to build – we’d made it to the South and we were excited to explore.
Stuffed full of food, we made our way back to our mountain apartment to hang out for an hour or two before we embarked on our tour. It was super nice to have our own space on the mountain. Staying in hotels isn’t bad by any means, but it was rad to have a kitchen, bathroom and living room to hang out in without the worry of other guests. On these trips, you tend to be in-and-out of places pretty quick, and we always have a ton of gear including bikes, camera equipment, regular clothes and riding gear, so it was rad to not have to lug our stuff across a hotel, as was the case the week before when we were at Crankworx.
We dug around the apartment and found all the board games Cardrona had graciously supplied, and by the time we started making the final decision of what to play, it was time to wrap up and head out to go stargazing. We met our host, Dan, at the base building and all piled into a van to head across the mountain to our stargazing spot. Earlier on in the day, we’d been told Dan was from Hawaii, so we spent all afternoon and evening trying to figure out if we’d be in for a super low-key Hawaii-style star tour, with plenty of shakas, or a more educational experience. As we unloaded from the van at Captain’s, we dove into the café and got kitted out with some huge winter jackets before heading out to Dan’s telescope, to admire the night sky. The moon was pretty close to full, so whilst the conditions weren’t the best for admiring the Milky Way and the many nebulas in the night sky, we were able to get a good look at the moon. I’ve got to say, if you haven’t looked at the moon through a telescope, you definitely should – it’s unreal to see. Dan showed us stars and constellations throughout the night and, to be honest, it was one of the standout experiences of the trip for me - I think mostly because it’s something I’d never have considered doing. Once we were all frozen solid, we headed back up to Captain’s Café for hot chocolate, before piling into a van and heading back to our apartment, where we all headed for bed.
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Good light is always a priority when you’ve got a photographer and videographer in tow, so we rose early the next morning to begin our first day on the bikes. I had a meeting in town, so whilst we all left at the same time, Casey and our content team headed up the hill on their bikes and I headed down it. As I drove down the mountain, I couldn’t help but admire the incredible sunrise, and I can tell you now that I spent the next few hours wishing I was up the mountain.
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As I turned back onto the Cardrona access road a little while later, I was beyond excited to get some ride time in and drove our rental van as fast as I could (which was still a good nudge under the speed limit) up the mountain. Today’s agenda consisted of exploring Cardrona’s trail network, before tearing down the Peak to Pub trail to finish our day off with dinner at the famous Cardrona Hotel. I hadn’t ridden at Cardrona since their opening season, and I’d heard nothing but good about the park since, so I couldn’t wait to get riding. Because we were visiting on a weekday, we practically had the place to ourselves and didn’t once have to wait for the lift. How good?! Before we took off up the mountain, we caught up with Graham Dunbar, or ‘Spy’ as he’s better known, for a quick coffee. Graham’s been working on the mountain for as long as anyone and knows it like the back of his hand, so he was able to give us all sorts of valuable insight that we otherwise would’ve missed out on. For what it’s worth, the team at Cardrona came through once again and the coffee was next level.
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Our first run took us right down the guts of the park, following close-ish to the Whitestar Express – the main lift in the bike park - coming down Grasshopper into Hi Vis, before making our way to the lift via Low Vis. This made for a solid Grade 3 run down the mountain before diving off into the advanced Low Vis trail. We spent the rest of the morning tearing up and down the mountain and, just as we were about to cruise back to our apartment for lunch, I got chatting to Cam, one of the bike coaches up Cardrona, and ended up putting in one last quick lap as the rest of the team headed back. The riding at Cardies is nothing short of rad. I love riding in the woods, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something about riding down the tree-less mountain that’s breathtaking. The views are amazing, and you constantly want to stop on the trail to admire vistas that seemingly go on forever. The best part about the lack of trees, though, is the ability to build almost anything you want. The main natural obstacle on Cardrona is rocks, which are easy enough to work into trails, and the end result is a trail network full of fast, sweeping berms, all the rock rollers, rock drops and rock gardens you could dream of and, for the most part, plenty of tussock to cushion your fall if you come off. I feel like the South Island, particularly the lower South, has a reputation for being gnarly Grade 5 riding, but that couldn’t be further from the truth – and a rider of any level would find plenty to enjoy up the mountain at Cardrona.
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We had a little downtime after lunch – we’d been up since about 5am, after all - so opted to get in a quick afternoon nap (yes, naps became a theme of our trip) before heading up the hill to get a couple more laps in before taking on the Peak to Pub – something we’d been counting down to all day. The Peak to Pub name sort of tells you all you need to know: it’s a ride from the top of Cardrona to the Cardrona Hotel at the bottom of the mountain. We started off at the top of Whitestar Express and headed down Arcadia, to the bottom. From there, we jumped onto Crankshaft, marking the start of the Peak to Pub journey. The journey down Peak to Pub is awesome, and has you tearing through tussock on a trail that lends itself to let-off-the-brakes-and-hang-on riding. Unfortunately though, our fun came to an abrupt end as the lower half of the trail (the part we were all looking forward to most) was shut due to pest control. We considered pushing on anyway, but when we noticed the ‘firearms in use’ warning on the sign, decided better of it. In the end, we took off down the access road and decided to figure out how to fit our three bikes in the back of our van once we’d had dinner and a beer.
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If you’ve been through Cardrona and haven’t stopped off at the Cardrona Hotel for a photo at the very least, I hate to be the one to tell you, but you did your trip down South wrong. The Cardrona Hotel is one of New Zealand’s oldest hotels, and I’d argue the most iconic. Built way back when in 1863, the Cardona Hotel was one of four hotels in Cardrona offering accommodation to gold miners and travellers. The hotel survived through to 1961, before the doors shut after the owner passed away. By 1983, the hotel had been restored, coming back from the brink of being knocked down, and has been taking care of those passing through ever since. We wheeled our bikes through the pub and out back to the garden. Walking into the pub is like taking a step back in time and the vibe was super relaxed, even though the pub was fairly busy. It was a beautiful autumn night, so we opted for a spot outside by the fire and were quickly greeted by a Jack Russell, who spent the rest of the evening hanging around our table in the hopes one of us would drop some food. We later found out he and his parents are regulars. After a meal you wouldn’t complain about from a restaurant - let alone a small country hotel - and a Cardrona Ale or two, we headed back to the car to begin the game of Tetris. We had three bikes, four people and two people’s worth of camera gear to get into a mini-van that was arguably closer in size to a station wagon than it was a van – and, once again, no mutli-tool to take any wheels off. After stuffing gloves, knee pads, jackets and shoes between the bikes, we managed to get them all in and then just had to figure out how to get the people in around them. After some creative manoeuvring, we got everyone in the van and began the slow trundle up the access road. We had a 4:30am wake up call scheduled for the next morning, so once we got up the hill we packed up and hit the sack. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon...
Words: Cam Baker
Images: Callum Wood
News: The new 2021 Canyon Sender CFR
Canyon's Sender downhill bike has been proven on the world cup circuit over the past few years, and the new Sender CFR is here for the 2021 model year. With updated geometry, adjustable reach and chainstay length, a lighter frame and a more progressive suspension linkage the new Sender CFR is only going to be faster. Get the full rundown below:
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"Time flies when you’re fast as hell. Consider the original Sender—a bike that instantly made a name for itself on the world’s toughest downhill tracks. Today we roll out the next generation of speed—the Sender CFR. We took one of the world’s best downhill racing machines and made it lighter, more controlled, and flat-out faster. But you don’t have to take our word for it. The clock never lies.
CFR — COMPETITION IS THE DNA
C-F-R… those three letters stand for Canyon Factory Racing, which might lead you to think “team bike”. But it’s more than that. Yes, this is the weapon of choice for Troy Brosnan, Tahnee Seagrave and shredders the world over, but competition isn’t merely a part of this bike’s DNA. Competition is the Sender CFR’s DNA. All of it. The hunt for the podium dictated the very carbon lay-up, the leverage curve, the suspension tune, every millimeter and angle of the Sender CFR. This bike was born from competition.
OUTSTANDING ADJUSTABILITY
Most riders don’t have a different gravity bike for every day of the week. They need one bike that gets the job done. The Sender’s reach and chainstay adjustability gives you the ability to tune the Sender CFR to the day’s ride. Want maximum speed and stability? Go long. Feel like boosting the playfulness for a day at the park? Go short. The Sender CFR is the rare, truly versatile World Cup race bike.
LONGER WHEELBASE
Modern DH courses are wider and faster than in the past. The Sender CFR’s geometry is perfectly in tune with that it takes to win. The new Sender CFR’s longer reach and rear center (the latter, spec’d on Large and X-Large models) lends stability at high speeds.
BIGGER WHEELS
The Sender CFR rolls on big wheels. Large and X-Large versions get the full 29er treatment. Small and Medium models go “mullet” (29 up front, 27.5 out back) for the win. Twenty-niner wheels improve roll over through rocks and roots. They maintain momentum like a champ. Big wheels are, in a word, fast. The mixed wheelsize option provides shorter riders with many of the same roll-over benefits, while also providing them (thanks to the smaller rear wheel) with crucial crotch-to-tire clearance on steeper courses.
FASTER THROUGH THE ROUGH SECTIONS
Pedal kickback is that tugging sensation you sometimes feel through the pedals as your rear suspension compresses. Scientifically speaking, pedal kickback sucks. It transmits additional force through your body instead of through your suspension, tiring and slowing you down. We spent years, studying the phenomenon and experimenting with suspension kinematics in order to reduce kickback. Partnering with SRAM and Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, we took everything we learned during Project Disconnect to make the new Sender CFR remarkably fast and smooth through the nastiest sections of trail.
BETTER BIG-HIT PERFORMANCE
We designed more progressivity into the Sender CFR’s kinematics, allowing you to ride hard and fast (and to sometimes come up short) without blowing through your rear suspension travel. Charge on.
SMOOTH, STABLE, AND CONTROLLED
It’s the holy grail—that ideal bike that’s smooth from the start, never wallows about when you are looking to accelerate, and doesn’t blow through its travel when the big hits come calling. Triple Phase Suspension is our key to making all of that a reality on the Sender CFR.
PHASE 1
The precise positioning of the rear shock and suspension pivot points provides outstanding sensitivity and responsiveness at the start of the stroke.
PHASE 2
Through the mid-stroke the suspension provides a stable platform, letting you put maximum power through the pedals and exit corners with more speed.
PHASE 3
The end of the stroke ramps up progressively, giving you bottom-out control on the fastest, most brutal courses
BUILT TO SHRED — SEASON AFTER SEASON
Our World Cup race mechanics helped us design a bike that is simple to work on and will endure years of hard racing. Double-sealed bearings, replaceable thread inserts, fully integrated, internal cable guides, and easily accessed pivots are just a few of the smart features inspired by our team mechanics’ years of experience, wrenching in the pits.
LIGHTER CHASSIS
We shaved more than 600 grams from the carbon Sender chassis yet maintained the durability needed to withstand seasons of abuse. Carbon chain and seatstays, a new upper shock-mount location, and precise shaping of every bit of the bike helped us cut weight without sacrificing strength.
QUICK AND QUIET
Simple truth—a world class DH bike shouldn’t sound like a box full of bolts being tossed down the mountainside. We designed the Sender CFR to run silently. Over-the-top chainstay protection, ample clearance between chain and chainstay, and rattle-free, internal cable routing keep noise to an absolute minimum so you can focus on the one thing that truly matters—your line.
LOWER CENTER OF GRAVITY
We’ve repositioned the rear shock within the Sender CFR frame—a move that not only cleaved weight, but also lowered the Sender CFR’s center of gravity. All things being equal, a lower center of gravity boosts control and improves handling. Low equals fast."
Review: Granite Stash Steerer Tool
OneUp Components pioneered the world of steerer tube tools. In fact, their EDC tool took the mountain biking world by storm when it was released. The OneUp tool requires threading your steerer tube, which can void your fork’s warranty, although you can now also purchase OneUp’s EDC Stem which negates this. If you don’t want to splash out on a stem and multi-tool, but still wanna stash tools inside your steerer, Granite Design’s Stash Tool may just be the ticket.
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The Stash Tool mounts cleverly inside your steerer, without the need for threading your steerer tube. Instead, the Stash includes two pieces, a tool housing and a threaded plug, that go inside your steerer tube and thread together via a bolt. Remove your existing star nut (or simply don’t install it if it’s a new fork), install the tool housing in the top of your fork not steerer – making sure it’s either sitting on a headset spacer or the top of your stem – and then drop the included bolt down your tool housing and pinch it up ‘til your headset is secure and there’s no play. Drop the multi-tool into the tool housing, press it in and you’re good to go.
The multi-tool itself consists of a 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm and 6mm hex key, along with a flat-blade screwdriver and a T25 Torx key. The tool also includes a 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 size spoke key, that can remove valve cores. The tools are well made, durable, and all fit their corresponding snuggly without risk of damaging the heads. If orange isn’t your vibe, the tool is also offered in black.
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I’ve already made the comparison to the EDC tool, and no doubt that’s what you’ll be comparing the Stash to as well. As far as quality goes, both are much-of-a-muchness, but when it comes to usage I’d say the EDC has a slight edge, with a little bit more leverage and a bit more reach on each tool. In practice, this doesn’t make a huge difference, but for that odd bolt that’s seized, or perhaps a recessed derailleur bolt, this could make a difference out on the trails. The Stash wins points back on ease of installation, considering there is no threading, and the fact that you don’t have to worry about warranty issues. It also comes in at a cheaper price, when you consider that with the EDC tool you’ll either have to buy the tap for your steerer (if you don’t have a buddy with one), pay a bike shop to tap your steerer for you, or fork out additional money for the EDC stem.
The Granite Design Stash is a great way to carry tools out on the trail, especially when combined with the Stash Chain Tool (also reviewed in this issue) and the Stash Tyre Plug kit. Installation is trouble-free and I haven’t had the headset loosen once. The tool stashes away securely and doesn’t rattle loose. All in all, a set-and-forget experience.
Words & Images: Cam Baker
News: The all-new Vorsprung Secus
Vorsprung have made a name for themselves in the world of mountain bike suspension, offering tuning, servicing and aftermarket parts for forks and rear shocks. In the pursuit of an air spring with "coil-like" sensitivity, Vorsprung have released their all-new Secus air spring for your fork, which they claim actually has a BETTER spring curve than a coil. Read more below...
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"Yeah, we know - “coil-like feel” from air springs has been marketed for years now, including by us. And over the years, air springs have mostly gotten closer to that predictable, plush feel coils give. But while the easy adjustability of pressure and end-stroke ramp have always been significant advantages for air springs, even our market-leading Luftkappe and Corset air springs never quite matched the linearity of coil springs for bump compliance, particularly in the early and mid travel. The reason for this is because whenever the initial stroke stiffness was reduced, the ending stroke progression was increased - eventually creating a practical limit on negative chamber size. We looked carefully at the limitations of traditional fork air springs to work out how to overcome those obstacles, and we’re excited about what we were able to achieve.
For the first time, we created an air spring with a truly better spring rate curve than a coil, without it actually being worse in any part of the travel.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Yes, it’s a big claim.
Yes, we can back it up.
It’s called the Secus.
Three Stages of Control
Initial stroke - enlarged negative air spring chamber delivers a soft, supple initial stroke for ultimate small bump compliance
Mid stroke - where traditional air spring rates drop off in the midstroke, our proprietary Midstroke Support Valve technology boosts the midstroke spring rate to maintain linearity, for support, predictability, ride height and compliance
End stroke - enlarged lower leg volume reduces overall progression even at higher pressures and allows for a wider range of end-stroke ramp options to be utilised with standard fork volume spacers.
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What’s it all mean? The Secus upgrade attaches to your factory air shaft assembly to deliver the first and only air spring system to really come indistinguishably close to the linear spring rate of a coil fork for the entire first 2/3rds of its travel, with the advantage of a gentle end stroke progression to prevent bottoming without the “wall of force” harshness that excessively progressive springs create.
By independently optimising the beginning, middle and end portions of the stroke, the Secus gives you the linear-to-progressive spring rate that coil springs and traditional air springs alike wish they had.
Secus Advantages:
• Distinctly improved small bump compliance, particularly in the early travel (yes, even compared to the Luftkappe)
• Midstroke Support Valve improves predictability and support beyond the sag point
• Reduced lower leg pneumatic ramp means better scalability of the air spring, particularly for light riders who previously struggled to use full travel
• Plush and predictable like a coil, bottomless like an air spring
• Allows full use of travel in both directions - fully extends to topout without any quibbles (including on Debonair B1 air springs) and fully compresses without excessive ramp
• Considerably lighter than coil conversions - adds approximately 130g
• Allows more lower leg bath oil to be used for superior lubrication
• Simple setup - inflate fork, bounce on it a few times, press MSV charge button, go ride
• Compatible with OEM volume spacers for end-stroke progression adjustment
• Compatible with other aftermarket top-cap systems such as DSD Runt and MRP Ramp Control
• Lower compression ratios mean a more consistent spring rate
• Transferrable between any Secus-compatible forks with only a footstud to change at most
Secus Disadvantages:
• Costs more money than not having it
• 130g is still more than 0g
• Can be damaged if you have it, can’t be damaged if you don’t
• Still has seal friction like any air spring - since we use the factory moving seals, friction is unchanged
• Bottom out control is not externally adjustable - need to use volume spacers which still entails removing the top cap
**12 Month Crash Replacement Guarantee**
We will replace any damage to your Secus in the event of a crash or accident for the first 12 months of ownership - no questions asked. Just email us a photo of what’s damaged and your proof of purchase and we’ll do the rest.
Compatible Forks
• Most Fox forks with Float NA2/Evol air springs (except StepCast forks or forks with footbolts recessed in the lowers). 32/34/36 available immediately, 38 and 40 fitments coming soon.
• Most Rockshox Debonair 2019-21 forks or prior year forks updated with 2019-20 Debonair air shafts. Pike, Revelation, Lyrik, Yari available immediately, Boxxer fitments coming soon.
• Not currently recommended for use with 2021 Debonair C1 shafts due to inadequate topout control and incorrect overall length - 2021 forks need to be retrofitted with the Debonair B1 air shaft assemblies from 2019-20.
• For full compatibility information, see our website.
Air or Coil? Secus or Smashpot?
We aren’t purists on the air vs coil debate - we offer the Smashpot coil conversion as well, because while this is flat out the best performing air spring on the market, air springs still have moving seals and the friction and service requirements associated with that. Likewise, coil springs work extremely well and have no friction, but are less adjustable in their spring rate and heavier."
Story: Bike Glendhu - Wanaka's Newest Riding Destination
The South Island is instantly recognisable and home to some of the best riding in the world. Trails like Rude Rock snake along the tussock-riddled slopes of Coronet Peak, and on any summer’s day you’ll no doubt find some of the big names of our sport on the lift at Skyline Queenstown. Bike Glendhu is the latest addition to the South’s arsenal of riding destination.
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Bike Glendhu, located in Glendhu Bay, is Wanaka’s newest riding destination, opened in January 2020 after a couple of years of development. John McRae, whose family has owned and farmed Glendhu Station for three generations, wanted to create a more sustainable farming experience for his family’s future generations. He partnered with Wanaka local, John Wilson, to build Bike Glendhu on 1000 hectares of the Glendhu Station. The big picture goal was to create a bike park that’s self-sufficient, both in terms of how they generate resources like power, and in the sense of having a positive impact on the land the park is built upon. The base is rad, with an on-site mechanic, bike rentals and a café (more on the café later) all built on the same ethos of preserving the natural landscape, whilst providing an awesome ride experience. When it comes to preserving and restoring, the land Glendhu’s built upon, they’ve already planted 4,500 native trees, with the goal of planting 30,000 total by 2025. The bike park also don’t print single-use trail maps, don’t sell single-use bottles or coffee cups and don’t print throwaway marketing material, instead opting to go for digital solutions like videos and supplying tablets to places like accommodation providers to showcase the bike park.
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Glendhu has two ‘hubs’ in their network: Jack’s Point, which is halfway up the hill, and Falcon’s Nest, located at the very top. The thing that makes Glendhu a little different to some of it’s South Island counterparts, though, is that (for now) you’ve got to work for your reward – no chairlift, no shuttles it’s all pedal power in the bay! With that said, it’s about a 45-minute climb to the very top at an easy pace, and the team has done an exceptional job of building a climb that meanders gently up the hillside so that you’re not too tired once you arrive. The lower half of the hill consists of flow trails, with the two I heard most about being Jairolla and Hare Time; Glendhu’s jump line. Every. Single. Person. I spoke to about Glendhu raved about Jairolla and Hare Time, and for good reason. Jairolla swoops down the hillside with flowy berms, some easy roll-able jumps and of course stunning views out over Lake Wanaka. Hare Time starts off small and slowly gets bigger and bigger the further down the hillside you progress and features hips, table-tops berms and rollers. Everything is roll-able, so it’s perfect for working on your jumping skills, because if the jumps get too big, or you want to try hit something bigger than you have before, it’s easy enough to roll it, or come up short, without paying a big price. You’ve also got a green trail down, along with a light blue so that your friends and family who don’t ride can still come along and have some fun. I think one of the things I appreciated most about Glendhu was simply the fact that the trails are built with a wide skill range in mind, so if you’re riding with a group with a range of skill levels, you can all ride the same trails (for the most part) and have fun.
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Something I really like about Glendhu, is that the trails aren’t ‘grouped’ by difficulty. It can be tough riding with a group with mixed abilities; what starts as a day with intentions of riding as a group can quickly end up with your group broken up as people go off to ride the trails that are more appealing to them and you go the whole day without seeing your buddies. At Glendhu, the climb offers the ability to ride with your buddies and tell your tales from the trails, before breaking up and heading down the trails that call your name once you’re backup to the top.
It goes without saying that I plan on getting back down to Bike Glendhu ASAP, and this time with the goal of spending a couple of days exploring the park. If you’re passing through the South, or have been wondering whether it’s worth making the trip into Glendhu, I can tell you it’s 100% worth it. For the next couple of weeks, up to the 14th August, Bike Glendhu season passes are available at an early bird rate. The goal is to open for the last two weekends of August, and then to extend hours into September.
Words: Cam Baker
Images: Callum Wood & Chris Wright
Story: The Zen and Art of Bikepacking
In retail they say convenience is king. That’s what global retail giant Amazon built its brand around. It bet that if it could make shopping more convenient it would trump almost all other factors. When it comes to bike-packing my mantra is this - comfort is king. I’m fast discovering that you can conquer almost anything and ride for almost any distance if you can just stay comfortable, and so Tour Aotearoa preparation for me has become less focussed on grinding out miles with the goal of building leg strength, but grinding out enough miles to trigger the next factor of discomfort.
Take your average beginner cyclist. They get on a bike having never ridden before, and likely it’s a cheap bike with a nasty seat. Within five minutes they are complaining about a sore bum. That’s typical, and they have triggered the first round of discomfort that they need to conquer before they can move forward. They can either suffer till they get well-formed callouses on their butt-cheeks, or they can buy a pair of padded bike shorts. If you’re interested in long distance bike-packing such as the Tour Aotearoa, you have probably been around bikes long enough that you have accumulated a few items that can help keep the comfort levels high on your normal one to two-hour ride, but what I’m finding surprising is the strange things that start to crop up when you start to go for extended time in the saddle.
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That good seat you bought that was comfortable for two hours of mountain biking turns to agony at the three-hour mark. Those SPD shoes that have kept you going for the last eight years force shooting pains in to your feet after the 100km mark. Your hands go numb, your shorts chafe and your helmet feels like an oven.
You can conquer almost anything if you can just stay comfortable, but that is no easy task in this game. Going in to this I had read up about people finding their hands going numb. This sounded a bit strange. After all, I had been mountain-biking for 20 years and surely the rough jarring of mountain bike terrain would be harder on your hands than anything else? We didn’t even have suspension then! But sure enough, my hands started to go numb too during training rides. A switch to the Jones Bar, a set of aero bars, and an extra layer of bar tape over the grips seems to have solved this problem. Next thing to tackle was the chafing. Riding for one day was no trouble at all in the chafe department, but only an hour into a second day and all of a sudden it’s like my lycra is lined with sandpaper. Strange. The aptly name Butt Butter quickly sorted this out, but no sooner has one irritation gone away than another seems to arise. The last two training rides I went out for were a perfect example of this. For some reason at the 40km mark my left foot started to get intense shooting, cramp-like pains. I had to get off the bike, take the shoe off, and wriggle my toes for five minutes before I could continue. Strange. It came on with no warning, and went away just as fast. A few days later out on another ride and as I look down at my speedo tick over from 39.9km to 40.0, all of a sudden the same shooting pains return. I was off the bike in the grass wiggling my toes in the exact same middle of nowhere spot as the time before. Weird. On top of this you have the strange way sleeping in a tent on a one-inch mattress can leaving you feeling as stiff as a plank, and now you’ve got to get dressed and jump on the bike for another eight hours. A little yoga and stretching goes a long way as it turns out!
And this is what has surprised me most about all of this. I am far from being at any sort of extraordinary level of fitness, but I’m surprised at just how many kilometres I can crank out if I can just stay comfortable. When I talk to people and tell them I’m riding the length of the country, they have this kind of astounded look on their face like I am some sort of Olympic athlete or something. Actually maybe the astounded look is because they look at me, sum up my mediocre-at-best physique, the combination of the task and the distinctly average human specimen they see before them. Maybe it’s more of a quizzical ‘has he actually gone a bit mad’, extrapolating out the five minutes of pain they felt last time they sat on a bike seat out over 25 days continuously. But I soon find out that they don’t know what I know. You can conquer anything if you can just stay comfortable.
So right now I’m actually in this kind of sadistic training mode. Literally. Yes, I’m trying to get a little bit of tone, a little bit of definition in the calf muscles, but more than that I’m actively looking to ride long enough, far enough simply to trigger the next round of pain, the next round of discomfort. Because at this stage of the Tour I can do something about it. I can buy Butt Butter, I can fit aero bars, I can tweak and adjust and make minute alterations in the hope of creating the ultimate Zen bike set up upon which all riding is good, all riding is calm, all riding is at peace.
Of course then I might start to notice that my legs are actually really really sore.
Words & Photography: Lance Pilbrow
Trail Builder: Backcountry Trust - Trail Fund Tells All
A few years ago, the Department of Conservation approached Trail Fund with an unprecedented query – would we be interested in collaborating with trampers and hunters in maintaining huts and tracks on public conservation land?
It was a bit of a leap for everyone involved but also the start of something great. Trail Fund was a relatively new organization, albeit with experienced people, and mountain bikers and trampers hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye on how tracks should be used. It’s safe to say there was a little suspicion on all sides.
The result of this, after many meetings and e-mails along the way, was the Outdoor Recreation Consortium – a partnership between Trail Fund NZ, Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) and the New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association (NZDA). The creation of this new entity was key to obtaining funding from the Community Conservation Partnership Fund, and it received a significant amount. Through that, Trail Fund has been able to distribute and manage funding of many mountain bike projects, from the Missing Link project above Queenstown, to the Craigieburn Trails west of Christchurch, to Te Iringa track in the mid-North Island.
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“Along the way, links between our organisations have grown and deepened,” says Trail Fund secretary and co-founder Nessa Lynch, who worked closely with FMC and NZDA on application and allocation processes. “We’ve realised that trampers, hunters, alpine recreationalists, and mountain bikers have more in common than we do differences.
“Many, if not all of us, are multi-recreationalists and, as a result, there’s been learning on all sides.”
The three partners have now moved to establish the Backcountry Trust, which formalises the relationship between Trail Fund, NZDA and FMC in facilitating and supporting volunteer-led maintenance of huts and tracks on public conservation land. This will allow centralised administration and management of grants.
Nessa Lynch and Guy Wynn-Williams (Christchurch- Ground Effect) will represent Trail Fund’s interests on the Trust. Three years of funding has been secured from the Department of Conservation.
What does this mean for volunteers? Trail Fund will continue its core business of funding, volunteer support and advocacy. This Backcountry Trust funding will be available for projects on public conservation land. The Backcountry Trust’s first funding round will be in February 2018, and existing grants are transitioning to the Trust structure.
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Have a project in mind?
Start thinking about any projects you might have on public conservation (DOC) land. The focus is generally on maintenance and upgrade of existing tracks rather than new builds, but the Trust is keen to hear about any ideas you might have. We’d love to hear from mountain bikers who would be keen to look after huts, as well as tracks. The vision of the Trust is that groups in an area would collaborate on projects.
In related news, Trail Fund has also made the decision this year to affiliate to Federated Mountain Clubs. This affords us access to advocacy and representation on issues such as land access, and gives mountain bikers a voice in the wider outdoor recreation community.
We are keen to advance opportunities for mountain bike access on public conservation land, and happy to hear of any ideas or issues that you have. Email us on grants@trailfund.org.nz
Words: Meagan Robertson
Images: Callum Wood
Trail Builder: Two Decades of Deliverance
Liberation. Release. Freedom. Since 1999, the aptly named singletrack has delivered all three sentiments, as well as a few dozen others, to hundreds of riders in Wellington, its surrounds and even much further afield. Located in dense bush, and rarely fully dry, Deliverance was the brainchild of an enthusiastic group of friends who loved mountain biking and wanted to contribute to its evolution in the Capital.
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“I can still remember how it started,” says Tama Easton, who worked at the nearby Mud Cycles bike shop in the ‘90s and was one of the half dozen builders committed from the get go. “We peered down from Wright’s Hill to South Karori with the enthusiasm of explorers setting foot in fertile unchartered country. With little to no experience, but all the eagerness in the world, we set out to build a much-needed connection that we thought would be done in about three weekends.”
With machetes and shovels in hand, Mike Houghton aka Mudzy (the owner and namesake of Mud Cycles), Jono Baddiley, Tom Werry, Seth Blum, Ricky Pincott and Tama couldn’t wait to get stuck in.
“It was the start of a golden era in Wellington mountain biking,” says Jono. “It really felt like a turning point in those days – mountain biking was approved on Mount Victoria, Wellington hosted the World Cup XC and building at Makara Peak was underway, with three singletrack trails completed.”
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Jono and Tama admit the crew didn’t know much about trail building at that point, but there was no lack of desire to learn. Even after it became apparent that completing the trail was going to take much, much longer – and require some proper tools – the eagerness didn’t wane.
“You get to a stage where you’ve committed so much time and effort that you don’t want to stop, you just can’t,” says Tama. “So we just kept pushing forward with this cheerful optimism that it would get done. We didn’t know any trail building theory but had a good rhythm going. We’d work out where the track was heading, tear into the dense bush and vines, someone would ride the new section, and if they deemed it “almost rideable” we could move onto planning the next section.”
When something wasn’t “almost rideable”, the crew would have a few goes to see if they were just having an off day. “There was this 8 metre shoot that we ended up calling Satan’s Crack, and after a few too many tries we decided it might actually kill people, so we chose an alternate line.” In reality, completing the build took about 18 months and on Easter weekend in 1999, Deliverance was declared open.
“By the time we went ‘right, this is done’, it was was deemed “rideable”, which meant we were sick of trail building and theoretically you could ride a bike from one end to the other,” says Tama.“Two weeks later James broke his arm on ‘The Chute’, starting a grand tradition of Deliverance chewing up and spitting out hapless riders. Luckily, Don McLeod came along and put hundreds of hours towards upgrading the trail to a more accessible level.”
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Not that it doesn’t still spit out riders, hapless or not. “It was built to be a feral trail and 20 years later, it’s still feral,” says Jono. “It’s always an achievement to get all the way down without dabbing.”
As if to prove a point, at the 20-year anniversary event in early May – which was attended by dozens of Deliverance disciples – Ricky, who helped build the trail and has ridden it hundreds of times, broke his wrist and ankle. “What can I say? It keeps you on your toes… or breaks them.”
While breaking riders wasn’t his goal, Tama, who came up from Nelson for the anniversary, says it’s great to know so many riders have honed their skills on a trail he feels such a connection with. “You can tell that it’s still loved, still ridden and still feral in places – I bought my first full suspension bike with the intent to ride it, and I hope it’s inspired others to do the same.I would highly recommend taking part in trail building – whether it’s the full shebang or just a section. It’s pretty special to, 10-20 years later, say I helped make this and thousands of people have enjoyed it.”
Words: Meagan Robertson
Images: Mike Hopkins
Story: Guilty As Charged: eBike Etiquette
One of the great things about any flavour of mountain biking, is its freedom. Outside the realms of competition, its lack of rules and regulations contribute to expanding the fun-factor of merely riding in the great outdoors. There are a few unwritten rules of the jungle, though; some obvious to anyone with a bit of common sense or riding experience; and others which are more abstract. The growing popularity of eBikes on NZ trails adds another dimension to the mix of what is considered ‘proper’ trail etiquette. Although I’d never be arrogant enough draw a line in the sand and say you must do this or that, there are factors at play with eBikes being a valid and growing part of our mountain biking culture, and these are changing some of the previous long-standing courtesies.
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A significant one is labelling other riders. You know the drill; you rock up to a trail head and size up any other riders there - trying to judge their ability by the kit they’re wearing, how pro-looking their bike setups are, and that indefinable confidence some riders exude. All this helps determine the self-seeding pecking order of who should head off down the trail first. We’re still at a stage where there are plenty of self-important elitists who swear they’ll never taint their riding pedigree by being seen astride a motor-assisted mountain bike. Woe betide any E-bike rider who arrives at a downhill trailhead at the same time as one of these purists, as they would instantly be tagged as old, lazy or just a cheat for making their climbing easier. That is a mistake, though. As a literal example - I’m aware of several local hotshots who spend their time equally between their regular bikes and their motor-assisted ones. If one of these guys is at the start of your favourite Grade 5 trail it doesn’t matter which bike they’re on, they’re going to beat most riders to the end of it.
On the flip side, E-bike riders shouldn’t gauge other riders by their own standards. Sure, eBikes are supremely capable, and in the hands of a skilled rider are quite the rocketship on descents, even when not pedalling. But just because an eBike rider can ride fast, doesn’t mean their concept of ‘fast’ matches up with other riders they share the trail with. I am thinking particularly of a different couple of local riders I know, one who is an elite triathlete with great mountain bike skills, and the other who successfully races at elite level across DH, Enduro and XC disciplines. I reckon they’d give the average eBike rider a run for their money on almost any style of trail, except for an outright gravel road climb.
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One of the points of difference when riding an E-bike is the sheer number of riders you’ll pass on climbs of all descriptions, from gravel roads to single-track. When riding an eBike, I’ve occasionally found a cheery ‘G’day’ is received with a bit of a grunt when passing riders on regular bikes. Sometimes, there will even be a mumble about cheating or some such nonsense. On particularly busy days in the forest, I’d try to minimise the effect by dialling down the motor assist or even turning it completely off. This serves to both reduce the noise of the motor whirring away to make the E-bike presence less obvious, and to pass the rider in question at a more moderate pace. There is no real requirement to do this, it’s just a small element of trying to be aware of, and courteous to, other riders.
Those aforementioned hotshots I was speaking of are at the stage of getting bells for their E-bikes. Although efficient - and even essential - for commuters, there is no denying that a bell is pretty uncool by most mountain bike standards. But… these guys are passing people so often, the bell serves a purpose to gently say, ‘hey, I’m here and I’m coming through’, without needing to engage in a more direct verbal interaction such as, ‘hey, how’s it goin’? On your right’. A gentle ‘ding ding’ sound should mitigate some of the mumbled comments about cheaters
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Just riding an E-bike doesn’t automatically make the rider polite and aware of their fellow forest users though. I’ve also seen the opposite in effect: a family of recreational riders on rental E-bikes. I’m pretty sure they were recreational - their attire of Canterbury rugby jerseys, short shorts and running shoes kind of gave them away. Nothing at all wrong with that, but there was plenty wrong with their riding manner. Their newness to mountain biking was further evidenced by their disregard of other riders around them. They were having a great time, to be sure - grins plastered on their faces as they wove between the riders on regular bikes, on the climb to one of the most heavily trafficked intersections in Rotorua’s Redwood Forest trail network. With speeds two or three times faster than that of anyone else around them, the potential for bringing down a rider was high. They got away with it. This time. The moral of that story is that E-bike riders have a responsibility to be aware of other riders around them and tailor their speed accordingly. Especially as they generally have more available speed on tap at any given time.
Don’t be tempted to make jokes at the expense of E-bike riders who need to team up in order to hoist their hefty rigs onto their bike racks or the back of their utes. There may well come a time when you make use of the ability of a rider with E-bike power to tow you uphill or to a ride’s end. I’ve used a simple makeshift set-up myself, so I can attest to its efficiency. All it takes is a couple of spare innertubes linked together, one end slung over the seatpost of an E-bike, the other wrapped around the bars and then held in place under the rider’s hand on the grip. The rider being towed on their regular bike, whether it be because of a mechanical issue, injury or any other reason, will be in for an effortless trip to their destination. In my use of the technique, I was towing a photographer with his 20kg bag of kit on his regular bike up a sizeable gravel road to get to a photo location. Left to our own devices I would have taken a fraction of the time on the E-bike, and been left waiting while he battled uphill. As it was, we were able to easily roll up the hill at 20kph.
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Don’t get too smug, joking that when an E-bike rider’s battery runs flat they’re stuffed. Sure, riding a heavy E-bike with no power is tougher than riding a regular bike, but it’s not wildly impossible by any means. I’ve done it myself, run an E-bike flat because I was having too much fun seeing how many technical descending trails I could fit into one day (I can’t answer the question of how many though, as I was having so much fun I lost count). The last hour of my ride that day was using the lowest of minimal power to eke out the final remnants of battery to get out of the forest, then dead flat battery riding the half hour of roads back to my house. It was a little slower on the climbs of course, but not ridiculously so. Therefore, don’t think an E-bike rider’s ride ends if the battery goes flat.
Them and Us. No matter which side of the equation you see yourself fitting into, there are perceptions about each – often completely ignorant. Ultimately, a rider’s abilities can lie anywhere on the spectrum from beginner to local legend, regardless of whether their bike that day is motor-assisted or not. One of the unspoken rules of mountain biking remains, and applies to both acoustic and E-bike riders: be nice to each other out there, we’re all mountain bikers at the end of the day.
Words & Photography: Nick Lambert