News: Giro Launch the Manifest Spherical Helmet
Giro have just come out with a new helmet featuring the spherical technology we've seen in some of theirs, and Bell's, latest offerings. We've got one on the way for review, but in the meantime, keep reading to learn more about the latest helmet in Giro's line up.
"Why compromise? For the riders that demand the best equipment, meet Giro’s new Manifest™ Spherical helmet. With Spherical Technology™, best-in-class ventilation, full coverage and luxurious comfort, Manifest is the most premium trail riding helmet available.
Among the Manifest’s extraordinary features is Spherical Technology which utilizes a ball-and-socket design that’s powered by MIPS® to redirect impact forces. Developed in Giro’s test lab in partnership with MIPS®, Spherical Technology allows the outer liner to rotate around the inner liner during a crash, and eliminates contact with a hard plastic slip-plane against skin. Another major benefit of Spherical Technology is progressive layering—dual-density foam liners designed to address high- and low-speed impacts for more comprehensive energy management.
As you push your limits on the pedals, you’ll appreciate this helmet’s wide-open airflow. The AURA reinforcing arch bolsters structural integrity while allowing air to flow freely into a series of massive Wind Tunnel™ vents and internal channeling. Comfort and sweat absorption are enhanced by quick-drying antimicrobial XT2 padding. You’ll notice this cooling power when you’re hammering in the heat and it’s backed up by our test results (Manifest runs significantly cooler than other trail helmets and rivals our class-leading Aether™ road helmet). Fit and positioning adjustments are achieved with a redesigned Roc Loc® Trail Air fit system that offers dynamic strength and UV-resistance while improving ventilation and comfort. And it almost goes without saying—the Manifest’s sophisticated style and compact design raise the bar for performance and style."
News: Moving the Needle Podcast
MOVING THE NEEDLE : The Andrew Neethling Podcast
"In this show, Andrew sets out to pick apart the minds and strategies that Top Athletes and Industry leaders use to reach the pinnacle of their Sport. Including their early beginnings, bouncing back from adversity, and candid untold stories from life on the road. As a professional international downhill mountain biker, and now commentator, Andrew “ Needles “ Neethling brings 18 years of experience in all aspects of the Cycling Industry."
There are two episodes available to listen to right now! You can find them here.
Story: Powering a legacy
BOSCH X ROTORUA TRAILS TRUST
Maintaining trails takes a lot of effort. It’s tempting to think that the trail fairies just magically appear each evening and fix everything, after we’ve all been skidding through on a wet winter’s day - but believe it or not, those ruts you’ve just made actually don’t just magically disappear! Hard to believe right? Actually, they grow to the point where they are wheel swallowing monsters and soon that trail you used to love is no fun at all. But, if you’re lucky, a dedicated team of local volunteers may actually cart their tools into the forest and spend their weekends digging and keeping their local trails in as best condition as their small team can muster.
That’s how a pretty typical local trail network might operate. But, the trails at Whakarewarewa forest in Rotorua have grown so much in the last few decades that the sheer number of kilometres of single-track to maintain, would vastly overwhelm that model. Luckily for all of us, the economic impact that mountain biking has on the Rotorua economy has meant that the Rotorua Trails Trust (RTT) has been able to emerge to play a pivotal role in keeping the trails in fine form. However, even for an organisation like RTT, the network is vast and the staff are relatively few. RTT Trails Manager, Damian Clarke, was excited when Bosch (yes think eBike motors and power tools) approached the organisation looking for ways they might be able to work together to create a fun promotion for Bosch whilst maximising the efficiency of the manpower RTT has.
“Bosch approached us wanting to do something for Crankworx, and their idea was something like an ultimate trail-building E-bike. That idea sounded good but the more we thought about it, the more we realised that actually what we needed was a way to transport tools around our network - and particularly, we realised it was about carrying more stuff, more than even a rider could carry on an E-bike,” said Damian. “After a bit of thinking, we thought ‘what about an ultimate trail maintenance trailer?’”.
The idea was born! Soon local fabricator, and all-round bike guru, Jeff Anderson of Jeffson Bikes was involved to get working drawings for a concept, ready for approval. Jeff said that it had been a fun project to work on. “It’s been great to work with the Rotorua Trails Trust, they’ve been been really understanding of the process because with jobs like these - where we’ve never done anything quite like this before - everyone has ideas, but no-one quite knows how it’s going to work out. The funny thing is, that after a few iterations and versions explored, we’ve ended up pretty much right back where we started, but that’s all part of the process.”
During the process of design and review, the decision was made that actually, two trailers would be better than one - but each unique and with a specific role. “We realised there are two quite different parts to trail maintenance. There’s just your regular touch-up, smaller-level maintenance, and then there are the occasions where you need bigger, heavier tools as well,” explained Damian. “So we’ve ended up with two trailers - one single wheel trailer, that is great for taking less tools through tighter, more technical terrain, something we think could go down a Grade 4 trail; and a two-wheel trailer that is suited more to Grade 2 Trails, but could haul at least 50kg of equipment”.
Part of the design process has been to work closely with the staff employed by RTT to build and maintain trails. Casey King is a Trail Builder for Rotorua Trails Trust. Casey was enthusiastic about the new equipment and had his own perspective: “It’s going to be great,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for us to have to haul a lot of equipment around the forest - 20 litre fuel cans for the diggers; sometimes the digger is in the forest and we need a ‘rock bucket’, a claw type attachment for the digger, and that weighs 35kg. To be able to put that in the trailer and ride in to where we are working and just get on with it, is going to save lots of time.” There are also some safety issues that this addresses which will be great for users like Casey. “So often we would just be riding in with tools strapped on our backpacks, and there is a safety issue there,” he explained. “So it’s going to be great to be able to put all our tools straight in the trailer and not worry about that at all.”
All of this has created an interesting design challenge for Jeff. “We have to remember we are still pedalling this in, even if it is on an eBike. It’s that challenge to make it light and strong, and also maneuverable. They are shaped a little bit like a boat, which might look a bit funny, but we hope they can just bounce and slide off the inevitable trees that they will probably clip out on the trail.” Jeff is also keen to be a part of an ongoing process with RTT and see how the concept might evolve. “It’s going to be interesting to get feedback from the users and see how they actually use them and what we can improve.”
Casey also liked the quick removal design, “It’s looking really good - we can unhook the trailer in two seconds. We’ve got our bikes right there with us, so we can actually spend some time riding the section we might have just been working on, to see if we’ve achieved the kind of flow we are looking for - which is great.”
Of course, all of this has been made possible by Bosch, Damian explains. “Bosch have been really generous to us, not only they have paid for the trailer to get made, and have donated literally thousands of dollars of power tools for us to use on an ongoing basis, but they have really listened to us and partnered with us through this whole process, and we think we’ve got a really good, practical outcome to show for it. We’ve also got three Trek E-bikes that have Bosch motors on them, so it’s great to be powered by Bosch all the way."
Bosch documented the entire project and have a video due to release on the 7th May 2020. Stay tuned!
Words: Lance Pilbrow
Images: Cameron Mackenzie
News: Wahoo & Zwift Shred Sessions
With many trails closed, and athletes choosing to ride indoors in order to more easily maintain social distance, Wahoo has decided to help mountain bikers connect with some of the sport’s biggest stars through the Wahoo Shred Sessions series.
The Wahoo Shred Sessions will kick off on May 6th and will continue every Wednesday and Saturday (Time zone dependent) in May, with three times offered throughout each day to ensure that athletes in most time zones will be able to join. Each ride will feature a different Pro MTB rider serving as a ride leader, who will be available to chat with ride participants and ensure that the ride stays at a civil, inclusive pace where cyclists can ride together and commiserate about the challenges facing our community during this unprecedented global health crisis.
“With trails closed in many places, or too crowded to allow safe riding, we wanted to give mountain bike athletes the chance to ride together and socialize in a safe environment,” said Colin Eustace, Vice President of Global Marketing for Wahoo. “For many mountain bikers, this is a special opportunity to ride with some of the sport’s biggest stars -- the kind of interaction that would be singular and memorable, with or without a global pandemic.”
EWS Rider Caro Gehrig said; "When I approached our sponsor Wahoo to organize a single ride for the Enduro World Series riders I never thought a few weeks later we would end up at this and find ourselves with a list of the most decorated riders in the world keen to take part in a whole series! With no racing happening it is an amazing opportunity for the athletes and fans alike to ride together. It's a cool way to stay connected and fit at the same time through these troubled times, I can't thank Wahoo & Zwift enough for providing this virtual meeting ground. I can’t wait to meet some other riders and MTB fans!"
While the weekly rides are intended to be casual and social, the month will conclude with an MTB ‘Royal Rumble’ to give everyone the chance to race each other, just for fun.
Rides leaders will include Troy Brosnan, Brook Macdonald, Noga Korem, Sam Hill, Anita and Caro Gehrig and over 50 other Pro’s across Downhill, Cross-Country and Enduro.
There will be a total of 24 rides over the course of four weeks covering all time zones twice weekly. Complete information on the rides, including a separate list of times in other times zones and instructions for signing up, can be found here.
Other virtual events hosted by Wahoo athletes include Pete’s gravel ride with Pete Stetina, Frodissimo Fridays with Jan Frodeno, and Team Charles-Barclay Track Club with Lucy Charles-Barclay. Complete information on all Wahoo virtual events is available here.
Story: The sauce on the pie
When I joined Nelson College back in 2014, mountain biking was only a small thing. Rugby was the big thing.
I started out in Year 7 at Nelson Prep, which is housed in two little buildings in the middle of the big college. At the end of Year 8, Head Teacher Richard Nott (Mr Nott to you), decided to take the class on weekly mountain bike rides. I was still riding my mum’s bike - a Merida hardtail - and seeing someone do a bunny-hop completely blew my mind. For most ‘preppies’, this was their first time off-road and, for a few, their first time on a bike. I had never been riding with a group, outside of my mates, and it was great seeing everyone crash - unfortunately kids didn’t have phones to film it all back then. Nowadays, lots of the preppies have spent as much on their bikes as they have on their phones, and full-sus bikes, bunny-hops and fail videos aren't such a big deal.
Mountain biking at Nelson College is now one of its most highly participated in sports. Rugby is still a thing, but now more kids are riding than playing basketball or running around with oddly shaped balls. Students can now get school colours and awards for mountain biking, and the staff have taken note with mountain biking being actively promoted as a competition and participation sport. It’s not too difficult to see why, considering some of the best bike tracks in New Zealand are just ten minutes around the corner. More students are catching on, and shin scars and odd tan lines are now part of the school uniform. Looking at bike parts online during English lessons isn’t yet in the curriculum, but it’s certainly educational.
The college has partnered with Gravity Nelson for some after-school coaching for beginners and experts. I participated in these lessons for a few terms and learnt quite a lot. One of the most valuable things I learnt, was to remember my light battery for winter riding and sunscreen for summer. Luckily the Gravity guys and girls are prepared for the less prepared, and carry spares. Lessons last a few hours, which allows more than enough time to climb to the top of the hill, session some tech lines and practice technique - such as banana bum, which might be one of Gravity’s proprietary teaching tools. For younger riders there is a programme called Krankin Kids. While this is aimed at young beginners, it doesn’t necessarily mean easy trails. Older students are able to help coach and can be paid - and there is still plenty of time to complete our usual light load of homework afterwards.
In term two this year, the college sent 27 boys to Methven to compete in the South Island Championships. The Nelson College team won, with most of the boys having attended the Gravity coaching sessions - which was not just a coincidence. The school treated the event like most other national sports competitions and arranged transport and accommodation, along with a social studies teacher, Vaughan Watson (Mr Watson to you), to accompany the team - he deserves a big thank you for being able to put up with all of the lads.
As well as winning national races, the college has created its own local ones. Tim Tucker (Deputy Headmaster) has designed an urban cross country which includes sections inside the school buildings. This very popular race allows riders to do skids on the carpet and get the hallways dirty, and has now been running for several years. Funds raised go to good causes. Mr Tucker has also just released a new race at our local Codgers Mountain Bike Park, catering to all riders, with the downhill on the flowy P51 and the XC around the Jack’s Track area (no relation).
There’s often a few too many things going on at the same time, and I missed this year’s event because I had rock climbing for outdoor education on the same day, but that’s no bad thing. The outdoor ed’ classes have NCEA credits up for grabs, with mountain biking as a subject. Outdoor ed’ is open from Year 11 to Year 13 and is a pleasant way to get credits – and, unlike a few of the other subjects in outdoor ed’, ‘excellence’ credits for riding are available (possibly one of the few ways I’ll be getting some of them on my report card).
Nelson College has two boarding houses with around 130 boys. With those bike trails just minutes down the road, there are plenty of opportunities for a good after-school ride. One of the boarding house masters - Simon Mardon - has encouraged the sport by giving boarders free rein to build trails up the back of the school. (I wish my rein had been free). The goal is to build a pump track where the shooting range once was. Rifles aren't allowed at college so it’s currently dead space. This pump track will be open to everybody at lunchtime and will be ideal for the boarders after school. I’ve ridden with a few of the boarders - showing a few out-of-towners the local scene - and most are in it for the social aspect rather than racing.
Our teachers have also got their own riding community and some of them are competitive. My legendary outdoor ed’ teacher, Stephen Garside (Stephen when he’s bantering with the lads), came riding with my dad and his mates one evening when I was invited along. He beat all of us on the uphill - by miles - but hit the dirt on the downhill, trying to keep up with me (he might tell you otherwise). He also got a flat and had to borrow my dad’s spare tube. He returned it to me at school the next day, and if it wasn’t for my speedy alt-tab skills he would have caught me looking at bike part websites during geography.
We’re really lucky to have Dulkara Martig as an outdoor ed’ teacher - with her incredible outdoor experience (and she remembers teaching me to swim when I was five) - and Vaughan Watson who delivers entertaining mountain bike news (in costume) when he should be teaching social studies.
According to 2017 Sports NZ data, 13% of secondary students in the top of the South Island mountain bike, while just 5.5% play rugby. The same data for ‘young adults’ - 16 to 34 year olds, without kids, who have left school - shows 12.6% mountain biking while only 0.4% continue playing rugby. This tells me that introducing kids to biking is more likely to lead to them riding and being active when they’re older, whereas rugby…. The Sports NZ trend data also shows growing participation in biking (my dad looks at this stuff for a living).
So, Nelson College is on the right track, encouraging mountain biking, cooperating with Krankin Kids and Gravity Nelson for coaching, and developing our own fun races. Mountain biking at school is like a mince and cheese pie. It’s just better with tomato sauce.
Words: Jack Greenaway
Images: Leo Secker
News: My Kona: Aaron Hogg
Aaron Hogg is a senior graphic designer at Kona and you might be surprised to find out that Kona actually have a couple of employees based out of New Zealand. If you're a Christchurch local, you may already know Aaron. If not, watch the video and get to know him.
News: Commencal Media Crew: Chapter #1 - JB Liautard
If you follow our sport, you'll notice that Commencal leans heavily towards competition. In particular DH racing, the Formula 1 of MTB! This is the most demanding practice, not only for the rider, but, also on the gear and equipment. Through both performance and reliability, it's our way of developing the best bikes and proving it to the world.
In addition to the energy we devote to performance we also spend an enormous amount of time producing images. Throughout the year there’s loads of photo and video shoots going on all over the world. Sometimes product oriented, sometimes rider oriented. We are constantly posting content.
For several years now, in order to carry out these shoots, we have our own media department. Today it's made up of 4 artists. Artists who live the brand from the inside, who know our riders better than anyone and who participate in the genesis of the evolution of new bikes and new ranges.
We decided to take advantage of this period of relative calm to put a spotlight on their talents.
This first chapter is devoted to JB. Capable of making incredible videos too, photography remains his favourite field. Rewarded at RedBull Illume, winner of Photo of the Year on Pinkbike, his talent is undeniable. We asked him to select his 25 favourite shots from the last three years and to tell us the story behind each of them.
I've been working closely with Commencal for the last 3 years, travelling around the world to shoot new bikes, adventures and documenting some rider's lives. During these years, I took a countless number of photos and even narrowing them down to 25 was pretty hard. So here are my favourite images that I've shot during this time.
Rémi Thirion - La Palma
I took this photo during my first assignment for Commencal Bicycles on La Palma Island in 2016. We spent our first day there exploring the island as we didn't know anything about it. Luckily we had a guide and he told us there has been a huge forest fire in the area a few months before and the zone was still burnt to ashes. We decided to go there and scout the zone to see how it looked. The forest was totally burnt and black for most of it but some zones were covered with these orange needles. This was some kind of unexpected and surreal landscape, right in front of us! There wasn’t any trail in the forest so we had to find our own lines to shoot. I remember I put so much pressure on myself as I knew I had to take a good photo in this unique and ephemeral landscape but I had no idea about how to make it. I think Rémi did all the magic when he started riding this gully and scrubbing this little dome. I wanted to keep the natural color contrast of the area so I didn’t use any artificial light and we just waited for the sun to disappear behind the clouds to shoot.
Louis Hamilton - Coronet Peak
Coronet Peak might be one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. We travelled to New Zealand to shoot the new edition of the Furious back in 2017. It was my first time there and the first thing we wanted to shoot was this hip, hidden somewhere on the side of Coronet Peak's famous trail near Queenstown. Louis flew from the North Island and he'd never hit this jump before, but the goal was to start the shoot at sunrise. We woke up really early and started roaming in the area with our headlamps to finally find this hip. We thought the struggle was over but after a few whips, Louis crashed and broke his saddle right before the sun peaked over the mountains. That was definitely not ideal and after 5 minutes of reflection, we headed back to the car thinking the day was over. On our way back, we crossed paths with 2 other guys going to the jump. They kindly accepted to lend us a saddle, and even if the tube was too small, we made it bigger with tape and finished our morning shoot thanks to these guys.
Cécile Ravanel - Tasmania
This was the worst shooting / riding day ever for a lot of people. In 2017, the second round of the EWS happened in Derby, Tasmania, and after ten days of perfect weather, the finals day might have been the worst in a long time. A big storm hit the area and it was pouring rain the whole day, until the very last stage. While I was trying to cover all my gear with my umbrella, I had the idea to use my flashes under the rain during the race run. I had to build the setup under the rain and ran to a tree in the middle of the track to hang my flashes together under a plastic bag. Luckily, everything went well and they didn't die. I waited for Cecile and took the photo while she was hiding the flashes in the background.
Yoann Barelli - Squamish
The Canadian west coast hides some of the most beautiful forest I've seen. But you know the reason why everything is so green if you've ever been there during fall, winter and spring. It's raining most of the time. I took this photo in Squamish in 2017 I think, we were coming back from a shooting day in the forest with Yoann and his dog, Jackson. This was shot just on the side of the shuttle road, just before we headed back home. British Columbia is really alive at this time of the year, salmon head up river and you can easily see hundreds of eagles fishing for them.
Rémi Thirion - La Palma
Forest fires are one of the worst things that can happen to nature, but amongst all their bad sides, they leave behind them a blank canvas. The colors are gone and ashes cover everything, which makes the zone really photogenic. I took this photo on La Palma Island, shooting for the new META V4.2 back in 2016, in the same forest as the first shot of this article, just a couple hundred meters away. Our bike was grey and so was Rémi's outfit, which made the whole scene almost look like a black and white picture.
Antoine Clément - Ardèche
I spend a lot of time in my car, driving to shooting, riding or camping spots and I saw this rock during one of those trips. After many times passing in front of it, I realised that the sun was going down in a perfect position from my point of view but only during the winter. So I called my friend and we decided to go their with our bikes and check this out. I had to be really far away and use a long lens to make the backdrop look closer. We were lucky with the weather as the sun set exactly where I imagined, giving this warm look to the picture and only showing shadows and mountain layers.
Jeremy Berthier - Bourgoin
Two things that I love when it comes to photography are silhouettes and reflections and I wanted to use both in a single frame for a long time. After a lot of drawings, I knew what I wanted but it took me six months to get the perfect conditions and final ideas. Jeremy‘s trail is a piece of art and this jump is definitely a highlight. I knew I wanted to shoot it from the side and get that reflection but it was really dry at this time of the year and of course there was no water around. When I saw a wheelbarrow hanging around by the jumps, I had the idea to fill it up with water to create a mirror. We didn‘t have any water hose that day, so I had to do round trips with water cans to a little ditch by the road. After spending a lot of time adjusting the wheelbarrow and cleaning the water in the afternoon, my mirror was finally ready for the evening shoot. We were lucky enough to have a few friends helping us with the fire that night and adjusting the smoke just as we needed. The hardest job was Jeremy‘s as he had to ride the trail almost blind. Riding bikes at night is so scary and I can‘t thank the athletes enough when they are in these kinds of conditions. After a few attempts, we got this one, just as I imagined it at the very beginning, and it was a great feeling to finally see the image I had in my head for months, displayed on the back of my camera.
William Robert - Green River
Utah is probably one of the most iconic places in Freeride history. When you're driving on the highway through this state, it seems to always be the same landscape on the side of the road, but the desert keeps changing the further you go, the color of the dirt is different, the shape of the rocks is not the same and the weather is different almost every mile. I've seen so many images from Green River over the years and as a photographer it has always been on my go to list. We had the chance to do a trip there last spring with William Robert and we were all impressed by those brown rocks standing on top of big piles of black dirt. The one in the picture was maybe the most beautiful as it looked like a meteor. There was nothing really rideable or fitting the framing I wanted around it so the only way was to shoot from the bottom with a very long lens, and William was riding a ridge a few dozen meters in front of the rock.
Jéremy Berthier - Lyon
When I found this forest not too far from my place, I immediately wanted to take a riding picture in there, but I also wanted to preserve it as it’s not the usual landscape in France. That's why Jeremy built a special wooden kicker for this shot, so we didn't have to dig in the forest. It was really hard to find the perfect run in for the jump and the timing was tight. The weather wasn't on our side at first as it was supposed to be really foggy in the morning. We waited under the clouds for maybe an hour and a half before the fog barely came in and stayed for 10 minutes.
Andreu Lacondeguy - Barcelona
I've known Andreu for a few years now, but this was the first time we had the chance to properly meet as he signed with Commencal earlier this year. We went to Catalonia to shoot a welcome edit and some photos in March and after spending a day in Osor at Pure Riding Bike Park, we moved to his house, closer to Barcelona. This photo was shot in his yard at the end of the day. I asked Andreu if he could hit that jump which is at the very bottom of his line, while he was shooting some video clips at the top. The trick wasn't hard to choose as Andreu might have some of the best superman in the game. There are usually insane sunsets there but we were not that lucky with the weather on this trip so a cloudy sky had to do the trick, which wasn't too bad in the end.
Kilian Bron - Lipari Island
This image makes me smile every time I look at it, probably because we were all laughing during the whole ride to our shooting spot. We were in the Aeolian Islands with Kilian Bron last December, and our only transportation and hotel was a sailboat. This meant we didn't have any transport to the shooting zones, so we had to walk, call taxis or even better, rent scooters. The trail we were about to shoot at sunset was on the other side of the island. We were running a bit late, so the only way to be there on time was to pull Kilian with one of the scooters, which was already pretty heavy with 2 guys carrying a photo bag each. We weren't as fast as it looks!
Jéremy Berthier - Bourgoin
There are some places where you've been so many times that you think you're done with shooting them. That's what I was more or less thinking after spending hours and hours at Jéremy's jumps looking for new ideas over the last 3 years. I never shot this jump before as it's the last one of the trail and it's not in an area directly hit by the evening sun. But this time there was a really big puddle on its side. Jéremy forgot to turn off the water the night before so it filled this big hole made by the rain. There was a lot of dead leaves on the surface though, so I spent a good part of the afternoon removing the leaves, and we started shooting at the end of the day with a small group of riders. The sky wasn't looking that great right after sunset so we waited a little and it suddenly turned pink. I asked the riders to do a few more tries in the dark. In the end, this one was the best image.
Daniel Fleury - Vancouver Island
My relationship with fog and flashes is pretty strong I would say. I shot this image during a trip to Vancouver Island with Brendan Howey and Daniel Fleury as we were shooting the new Furious BC edition. At the end of the day, we decided to shoot a trail in a clear cut. The weather was so foggy we couldn't even see 15 metres in front of us, I remember Brendan and Daniel had to remove their goggle lens’ to shoot because of the rain. Once we were done with the riding, I saw those trees, standing in the middle of nowhere so I asked Daniel to sit there for a second. I used a flash to illuminate the whole scene, as we couldn't see much without it.
Paul Couderc - Figeac
When we talk about mountain biking photography, we often see action pictures. While action is great to shoot, I love documenting what's happening before and after the ride as well. In this photo, Paul was washing his bike under the rain in front of his house. We all know that feeling, when you're tired from your day of riding in bad weather conditions, and you still have to clean your bike before you can even take a shower yourself. I used two flashes with orange gels to create this back-light effect and colour.
Paul Couderc - Figeac
I've been trying a few concepts with Paul over the last year and this was one of the last things we tried. We had the idea of using flour on the kicker to add some texture to a classic jump shot. After a few tries, we noticed that the flour on the kicker wasn't enough and Paul's brother, Adrien, helped us by throwing some flour in the air just before the jump. We did a few tries and we got this one on the last try with the end of the flour.
Jéremy Berthier - Bougoin
The moments before sunrise are often as good as the sunrise itself. We decided to try a morning shoot at Jéremy's jumps but we didn't really know what kind of weather to expect as his trail is at the bottom of a valley. I live half an hour away from his place and during the whole drive, I couldn't see anything because of thick fog. It suddenly cleared up when I arrived on location, but there was still some low fog banks over the fields surrounding the jumps so we tried a few shots there before the sun came up.
Myriam Nicole - Morzine
Fall season is my favorite. I never had the chance to shoot in Chile or Colorado at this time of the year, but the Alps aren't bad either. We decided to go to Morzine with Myriam for a week last October. With the world cup season, it's really hard to find time to shoot with downhill racers during the year, and it was only my second time shooting with Myriam outside the tape. The bike park was obviously closed but we still managed to get a few photos on the main lines. Those are not the easiest to shoot as the track is most of the time pretty wide, but at least it's fast and we didn't have to build anything. The orange trees all around the place made a classic trail look kind of special.
Paul Couderc - Figeac
Some jumps are perfect for riding but hard to shoot. This one is at the bottom of a field, with a forest on its side hiding the sunset light. The are not a lot of ways to get good light on it, that's why I chose to shoot it after sunset with a few flashes. I wanted to use smoke again to hide the dark background but covering such a large frame with smoke is not easy at all. We had to set up a good number of big fires all lined up on the side of the jump and then Paul's brother helped us creating the smoke by throwing some green grass on the fires.
William Robert - Les 2 Alpes
We worked on this project for 2 years. I've dreamt of a big hip jump in the mountains, with perfect evening light. This is pretty much the dream set up for any mountain bike photographer, but it's definitely not easy to make it happen. Thanks to Les 2 Alpes, we were able to dig a line on a perfectly exposed field up in the mountains. Due to some technical and logistic issues, William and two friends only had 4 days to dig the whole line and they didn't have time to make the hip as big as we wanted but in the end, it wasn't too bad anyway. A few days later, we went up there with William and the other guys from the media team for a week of shooting. A dream line, perfect light and William Robert, everything was in place to produce beautiful content. We had a whole line to shoot and to ride but we couldn't get enough of shooting this hip, which was obviously the highlight of the build.
Nicolas Mazzoleni - Grenoble
I've passed by these big walnut fields so many times and I always thought they were potentially interesting for a photo shoot. After spending some time on a map to find the perfect spot, I found this small and straight road right in the middle of a field. Then I asked one of my friends to meet at this place on a winter morning to see what was possible or not. I brought a big mirror with me to get this reflection at the bottom of the frame. This was just more or less a scouting mission, but in the end I like this photo and I never came back to shoot some action there.
Quinn Hanley & William Robert - Kamloops
In 2018, right after Crankworx Whistler, we went on a 7 day trip in BC between Spences Bridge and Kamloops. There was a huge number of forest fires all around the place, leading to a smoky atmosphere in a huge area. I remember landing in Vancouver without being able to see the ground from the plane until the very end. The smoke was so thick it blocked the sunlight and the only thing we could see in the sky was a red sphere. At least the smoke in the air was good for photos and that's why we went to Kamloops bike ranch on the last evening of the trip to shoot a little bit in those conditions.
Paul Couderc - Figeac
It took us 3 evenings to get this photo because we didn't calculate how hard it would be. The timing of a shot like this one has to be really precise as Paul had to hit the jump when it was getting really dark, but he could still see a little bit. Our first struggle was the smoke, even if there was no wind at all, we noticed that the smoke was going up the hill for the first ten minutes, and then in the other direction. It was super hard to control and the smoke was staying way too low on the ground. The next day we made bigger fires so the heat would push the smoke higher. Unfortunately the wind was blowing sideways towards the camera and it was impossible for Paul to see anything. On the third evening, we were lucky and as we learned from our previous errors, everything went smoothly.
Jéremy Berthier - Lyon
What I love when it comes to photography is uncertainty. Earlier in the afternoon, I had asked Jéremy Berthier and Nicolas Terrier if they were up for a sunset shoot on their home trail. We all thought it was a good idea as the sunsets are often crazy up there, with golden hour sun facing directly at the jumps. Once I arrived, I started to look for one or two photo ideas but in the end, none of them worked as big clouds arrived and we knew the sunset wasn't going to happen. I was a bit lost but just before the night, it started to rain and we focused on a single hip. I love shooting under the rain with speed lights but it's always challenging for my gear and the athletes. One of my flashes, the one on the right side, wasn't firing for most of the tries for no reason, but I couldn't loose time and solve the problem. I got lucky as it suddenly started to work again just for this photo. It wasn't an easy one for the riders but they know how I like to work in bad weather conditions so I guess they're used to it now.
Kilian Bron - Lipari Island
After a 5am alarm call on our sailboat, we had to reach the top of this hill for sunrise. Going up a sand pit 100m high at night and in the rain wasn't the best commute to a riding spot, especially when you're expecting good light for a morning shoot. Once we reached the top of this pumice quarry, we had a few minutes to breathe before the sun finally peaked under the clouds. It was still raining and rainbows started to appear in the background. The blue sea in the background is not a lagoon, but its color is due to the white pumice sand going down the quarry into the sea. I shot this photo after Kilian's first run down the hill, as he was going up for another one, out of breath, on uneven ground that could collapse at anytime.
Hugo Frixtalon - Sunshine Coast
This was for sure my favorite shooting day from last year. We were lucky enough to witness an entire day of thick fog on the Canadian Sunshine Coast. It was hard to pick a single photo from this shoot but as this one scored Pinkbike Photo of the Year, I thought it deserved its place here. We went down this trail during the whole day while shooting and this was pretty much the last section because the light was fading away. It was getting too dark to film so I tried to shoot this shark fin with flashes and we came up with this result after a few tries.
Words & Images: JB Liautard
Story: Outta' the Shed - Radic Brakes
The mountain bike industry is thriving and, thanks to social media, it’s getting easier and easier for those with an idea, to push those ideas to market. At the same time, it almost makes it harder to gain any meaningful traction, because there’s so much more noise to try and cut through to make yourself heard. I love hearing about all the small, passion-driven businesses and I get emails and Instagram DMs all the time, from people telling me about their garden-shed-based-passion-projects. While I’d love to be able to tell all of their stories, it’s a little harsh to say but there’s not a ton of them who are doing anything different. I can’t have stories on small clothing brands filling up each issue! One brand that is doing something different though, is Auckland’s Radic Performance.
One of the things I love about this job is being able to see things before anyone else does and I used this to my full advantage to get in with the boys over at Radic Performance. I wanted to catch up with the Radic team for a couple of reasons. One, because I love new tech and two, because I love hearing about Kiwis doing things differently. There are a few small suspension operations out there now, and companies like Box Components have slowly being vying for some of the drivetrain market that’s been largely sewn up by the two Big S’s for the last forever but the brake market has been pretty much uncontested. You have the likes of Trickstuff, but you’re looking at upwards of $1,400 and a 6-month plus wait for your brakes to be manufactured; a timeframe I could bear for a custom frame, but probably not for a pair of brakes!
Radic Performance was founded by Taylor Grey and Jake Powell, who met as students on the University of Auckland’s Engineering program. Taylor is a long-time mountain biker, having raced downhill and the like over the years. Radic came from nothing more than Taylor wanting to create a set of custom brakes for his mountain bike. Jake, who you could probably describe as a casual mountain biker (for the time being, at least), caught wind of the idea and wanted to be involved -purely because it sounded like an interesting project to be involved with. With Jake’s interest and a few other people commenting on how rad it would be to see someone make mountain bike brakes, Radic Performance was born. Since then, Taylor and Jake have been chipping away, designing, testing and figuring out how to push their brakes to market.
Like so many other Kiwi businesses, Radic started in, and is currently based out of, half of Taylor’s garage (his flatmates would only give up half) – which I’d argue is closer to a shed - and his bedroom. I rolled up to a nice old villa in Mt Eden, Auckland and was met by Taylor and Jake in the driveway before being taken to the Radic shed. The shed is pretty unassuming – nicely painted on the outside but a little dark and weathered inside, it’s definitely seen it’s fair share of projects. On one side a few mountain bikes and commuter bikes are stacked up, on another is a Trek calling out for a new front wheel and on yet another, you’ll find the Radic work bench, covered in prototypes, brakes from other brands and some testing equipment that I probably won’t ever understand. The setup is typically Kiwi and, as we talk, Taylor tells me about his bleed kit consisting of hose from Bunnings and syringes from the local chemist. How good? PSA: If you’re thinking about doing this, please soak your hose in whichever brake fluid you choose to use beforehand, to make sure it doesn’t react. Alternatively, just take the safe option and buy a real bleed kit or get your local bike shop to do it!
After a tour of the shed, Taylor showed me Radic’s office, which serves dual-purpose as his bedroom. His computer sits on a desk in front of a window that overlooks the Radic shed, and it’s from here that the boys work on designs, answer emails and do all the things that come with starting a company. Approaching the house upon arrival, you’d have no idea that inside two fairly fresh university graduates were pioneering an industry-first concept. Humble beginnings, huh. I’d say it’s pretty fair to assume that no one’s played in the market of manufacturing brakes because to manufacture them using any of the traditional methods we’ve seen, you’d be looking at a high cost of entry. Realistically, you’d be better off pursuing a CNC-manufactured product but, unfortunately, CNC machines don’t come cheap, tooling for CNC machining doesn’t come cheap and if you don’t have access to either, paying someone to do it for you also isn’t cheap. That’s before you even take into account all the other jobs your machinist has in their queue before they get onto yours. No matter which route you choose, you’ll be ripping through your capital faster than you can say “I think I want to make a brake!”.
When you’re a small, start-up company operating out of a bedroom and garage with very little capital to rip through, additive manufacturing, or 3D Printing as it’s more commonly known, is your way around this. 3D Printing comes with other benefits, too. Typically, disc brakes are constructed in two halves that are then bolted together to become a complete calliper. As you can imagine, most manufacturers are pretty hush-hush about how they make their brakes, but what I can gather - from hands-on experience and a bit of Googling - is that most are cast or forged into shape before having holes for pistons and fittings machined in, as well as channels for brake fluid to flow through. When manufacturing using the above method, or methods close to the above, you’re limited to what your machinery is capable of. It’s difficult to machine intricate passages and you also have to accommodate additional seals and bolts to join the two halves of the calliper.
With 3D printing, material is added layer by layer, giving the freedom to create things that simply couldn’t be replicated via traditional manufacturing methods. To break it down super simply, a thin layer of powdered metal is laid on a build platform before being scanned with a high-powered laser that fuses the powdered metal into one, solid metal sheet. After that the next layer of dust is laid and fused, with the process repeated until you eventually have a finished product. Like anything, though, 3D printing with metal has its own challenges that need to be addressed in the manufacturing process. Each time another layer of dust is fused, the entire piece heats up, before cooling again while the next layer of dust is deposited. Thermal stress can lead to cracks and warping, so support material needs to be worked into your design to ensure this is minimised.
Certain materials are also harder to work with than others. Radic have opted to use aluminium for their brakes, which is one of the hardest materials to work with when it comes to 3D printing. There was talk of using titanium – which is a much easier material to work with - to manufacture the brakes, but anyone who knows anything about metal will know that titanium is anything but cheap!
As the conversation moved on from manufacturing, we began to talk about the future of Radic. At present, there is one functioning Radic brake that’s getting put through its paces on Taylor’s bike. There’s a few different prototypes scattered around their garage that were all used to help lock in their printing process but now, the big push is on sourcing and designing packaging while they continue to test the brake and manufacture a few more to get other people testing them as well. With any luck, the first batch of brakes will be available in the first few months of 2020. Initially, only a calliper will be available with an option for both DOT and mineral oil. Levers and rotors will follow down the line.
Before Radic fully-fledged takes off, there’s still a couple of things to figure out; namely, how to support customers overseas. The mountain biking market simply isn’t big enough in New Zealand to support niche component manufacturers like Radic, so being available to customers that live overseas is a necessity and that’s where things get difficult. Shipping internationally can be ludicrously expensive (a problem we’re all too aware of!) so Radic are looking to setup a few international service centres, but the problem – again - is that it takes a lot of stock and requires staff to be trained. The great news is that most of you won’t be affected!
We’re made a little differently, down these ways in little ol’ New Zealand. With a special combination of ‘she’ll be right’, ‘how hard can it be?’ and perhaps a touch of naivety, we bite off more than we can chew and lead ourselves down the garden path. Is this uniquely Kiwi? I’d say probably not, but I’d say the whole ‘we’ve come this far, may as well see this out’ mindset once you’ve led yourself astray is - and Radic is a prime example of this. What was originally meant to be a project for some custom brakes to go on Taylor’s bike, quickly spiralled into what is now Radic Performance. It’s been exciting to watch Radic’s journey so far, and I’m excited to watch it continue over the years to come. I’ll have to do a catch up piece with the Radic boys in a year or two but, in the meantime, with any luck some brakes will soon make their way to my desk…
Words & Images: Cam Baker
Tech Tips: Contact Points
Preface: I wrote this last summer, but given that most of us have more time now than ever, I thought it'd be a good time to share it again with you all
I ride more in the summer than I do any other time of the year and because I usually have a bit of time off, I like to spend my riding time trying out different things on my bike to get it set up for the year ahead while I’ve got the time to stack up consecutive ride days. With that said, there’s no better time than now to talk you over some of the components on your bike that you can experiment with, and how they’ll change your riding experience.
STEM
Your stem is a fairly vital component to your bike. It’s responsible not only for transferring your bike handling inputs from the handlebars to your front wheel, but also for transferring feedback from your wheel to your handlebars. Stems come in varying lengths, each having a different effect on your ride. If you feel like your steering is a little twitchy and that your front wheel picks up a little easy when you're climbing, try a longer stem – this will slow down your steering and shift your weight forwards a little. If you feel like your steering is a little slow and sluggish, try a shorter stem. For reference, I typically settle on a 40-50mm stem dependant on the bike. You can also raise or lower your stem if you've got extra space on your steerer tube, but we'll save that for another article...
HANDLEBARS
Handlebars are a somewhat controversial topic. Carbon or aluminium? Wide or narrow? Changing handlebar width is something that immediately impacts your ride. The wider you go, the more stable you are, but the slower your steering. The narrower you go, the less stable you are but the faster your steering. Something to bear in mind though, is the wider you go the harder it is to squeeze between trees. For reference, I’m 6’1 and fairly broad across the shoulders and ride 780mm bars. If you’ve never tried narrower bars, you can try sliding your grips and levers in 5-10mm per side - just make sure to plug your bar ends with bar caps or plugs to avoid kebabbing yourself should you come off! This is an easy way to try before you commit to cutting them down! I haven't touched on handlebar rise or tilt, but stay tuned.
GRIPS
Like seats, I’ve found grips typically take a few rides to break in. Grips are easy to change so, while you’ve got time off, why not try something new? I’ve been riding lock-on grips for the last few years so this summer I think I’ll try slip-ons again. I’ll probably make a mess of it and end up gluing myself to something, but the comfort that comes with the extra-thick slip-on grips is pretty appealing. I’ll update you sometime in the future with how I fared…
SADDLE
Saddles are one of those things that can make or break a ride for you. I can usually tolerate average shifting or brakes that are subpar, but give me a seat that I don’t gel with and you won’t hear the end of it. The tricky thing with seats, is that they usually need to break in before you can really tell what they’re like. I’ve had seats that I loved on Day One and hated after a few weeks, and seats that I hated on Day One but have come to love once they were broken in. While you’ve got plenty of time to ride, try a new seat if you’re not stoking on your current seat. Comfy seat = quality ride.
PEDALS
Clips or flats? Everyone has their own preference. Mine is flats, at the moment. The main reason? The shoes are comfier, I've been crashing lots and I'm liking the bigger platform. You’ve got some time to kill so why not swap systems for a few weeks? The whole foot-out-flat-out thing is pretty fun in the summer’s dust and if you normally ride flats, no matter how good your technique is, it’s way easier to dance your rear wheel around accurately with clips.
If you haven’t already noticed, all of the above are contact points. Contact points are our source of feedback. We use that feedback to make decisions on the trail; when to brake, how hard to break, how much faster you can ride that section of trail. We also use that feedback to make decisions on what components to upgrade and what settings we need to change. Unlike the pros, we don’t have suspension telemetry and GPS data to tell us what’s working for us and what isn’t so, I think before anything else, we need to have our contact points dialled. Even if you aren’t interested in going as fast as possible, dialled contact points means a comfier ride - and who doesn’t want that?!
Words: Cam Baker
Images: Cameron Mackenzie