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.
“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.”
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.”
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.
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.
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
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.
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
Story: Mountains & Music - The Story of earSHOTS
I love a good coming-to-be story, especially when the topic on hand is a Kiwi business. I think it’s something ingrained in all of us New Zealanders – we love seeing our own punching above their weight. I think there’s something especially rad about Kiwi companies trying to make their mark in our mountain biking community – riding is what we all love, and when a company tries to make that experience better for us, it’s hard for me not to get excited about it.
Along with riding, music is a big passion of mine and I spent a decent chunk of my teens playing in janky bars, community halls and houses around New Zealand. It’s tricky to combine riding and music – all the headphones I’ve tried have either been uncomfortable, constantly fall out, or both. There’s the option of strapping a speaker to myself or my bike, but I’ve never been able to bring myself to do it, knowing that for many, being away from the noise of our modern world is one of the things that draws them to riding. When local company, earSHOTS, reached out asking if I’d like to test out their headphones, I couldn’t say no and whilst waiting for the headphones to arrive, took it upon myself to find out more about earSHOTS and how they came to be.
When you’re designing headphones, there’s a few things you need to consider, especially if you plan on using them mountain biking. You don’t need me to tell you how rough a mountain bike trail is, so obviously retention is a big factor. Along with sweating, we’re also outside and exposed to the elements when we ride, so being durable is key. We go through saddles, shorts, helmets and more ‘til we find the gear that makes us most comfortable, so comfort is a big one and lastly, mountain biking is a dynamic sport made up of a bunch of different movements, so it’s important that our range of motion isn’t affected.
Banded headphones would help with retention but are obviously next to impossible to wear with a helmet so they’re a no go. I’ve had okay luck with in-ear earphones, but they’ve cancelled out any-and-all ambient noise and even then, retention is average. I’ve tried earphones targeted at active markets with the loop around your ear and all that fun stuff, but they’ve all had plastic arms that have been at best, tolerable, but not tolerable enough for me to use them regularly. When all was said and done, I decided riding wind rushing past my ears and sounds of nature would be my go-to.
James Bell-Booth, founder of earSHOTS, found himself in a similar boat. James was training for the T42, an event that requires a fair bit of fitness as I’m sure a few of you know, and was over spending his hours training in silence. Music, or podcasts, can make the monotony of training a lot more bearable particularly for endurance rides, and after trying a ton of headphones that were available, also came to the conclusion that there were no good options available. James wanted to create a set of headphones that were comparable to a watch, in the sense that they’re set-and-forget – once they’re on, you don’t need to worry about them.
Armed with a vision, James re-mortgaged the house, drew together some funds and hired some product designers, a move that didn’t work out in the end and left him empty handed. James wanted to utilise a magnet system to help retain the headphones, and along with co-founder John Grayson, came to the conclusion that they’d need to do a lot more protyping and development to get the headphones made before working on a final design. This started with James buying some moulding plastic and teaching himself how to create moulds by hand on his dining room table, which eventually moved into 3D-printed designs, before finally moving into real prototyping, so to speak.
One of the big hurdles James and John faced was the development of their magnet retention system. The earSHOTS have two magnets: one in the speaker that sits over your ear, and one in the part that loops over and sits behind your ear. These magnets had to be strong enough to keep the earSHOT from falling out, but not so strong that it was uncomfortable and pinching at your ear, which as you can imagine is a pretty fine balance. As well as the magnet strength, it was important to make sure their prototypes were comfortable on a wide range of people and over a long period of time, given that when you’re hurting and trying to push through, the last thing you want to be thinking about is how uncomfortable your headphones are and finally, they had to make sure that the headphones could stand up to the elements, not only did James and John have sweat to contend with, but they also had to consider anything and everything that mother nature could throw their way. When combined with their passion to create a set of headphones unlike anything else the world has seen, it took a total of five years’ worth of development to get to where earSHOTS are today.
earSHOTS now have a team of staff scattered all around the globe, however their roots are still firmly planted in New Zealand with James based in Palmerston North, with the Arapuke Mountain Bike Park pretty much on his doorstep, and their design team are based out of Queenstown. earSHOTS have opted to operate on a direct-to-consumer basis, meaning they charge less for their product as there’s no middleman to feed, and more importantly, they can engage directly with their customers. This benefits us, the consumer, greatly as it means our feedback gets back to the people who can use that feedback to then improve future iterations of earSHOTS, along with cutting out waiting times for warranty issues and giving you the benefit of working with a customer services team that know their product inside out. They’ll be tackling the NZ and Australian markets first and are currently working on getting some pretty rad Kiwis on board as ambassadors, before pushing into areas further afield.
Now that you know a little about earSHOTS and their coming to be, let’s talk about how they perform.
As mentioned earlier, James sent me a pair of earSHOTS about four weeks ago now, and I’ve been using them plenty out on the bike and even around the house instead of my Sonos system. The first thing I noticed was the packaging. In a world that’s becoming overrun with single use plastics, I was stoked to see the box the earSHOTS came in is made of recycled materials and is obviously recyclable itself. Upon opening the box, I was then stoked on the lack of cluttler, presented with nothing more than the earSHOTS case and the charging cable underneath. No instructions, instead they’ve printed a link on the inside of the box that takes you through to a tutorial section on their site , although the headphones are super simple to use and I managed to figure them out and get them paired and running without needing to check ‘em out. Points for simplicity.
The supplied case has two purposes, the obvious purpose of storing your earSHOTS, and a second purpose as acting as the charger, even featuring an internal battery so you can charge on the go. I’m pretty good at losing anything smaller than my phone, so the charging case is perfect.I take it with me whenever I go riding not only because it gives me somewhere safe to leave the earSHOTS once I get back to the car, but also because I know it means my earSHOTS will be charged when I reach for ‘em next. At home I keep the earSHOTS on my desk for those times I need to block out the dog barking or the neighbours kids, so I plug the case into my computer once a week to keep it charged and I’m yet to run the battery on the case, or the earSHOTS completely flat.
Now onto the important part: the earSHOTS. The earSHOTS are designed as earbud, meaning the speaker sits at the entrance of your ear canal, versus in it, as in-ear headphones would, and feature a rubberised loop that goes over your ear and sits behind it. The speaker and the backing both feature magnets, which are strong enough to be attracted to one another through your ear, but not so strong that you can feel it. The magnet system is earSHOTS solution to the retention problem, and I can confirm it works a treat. Each earSHOT features a small button for pairing and powering-on, along with a small LED to give you the status of your unit.
In terms of performance, the earSHOTS are awesome. The earSHOTS are thin and flexible through the middle, so they’ll conform to the top of your ears and the rubber outer doesn’t feel uncomfortable against your skin. As the earSHOTS are an earbud design, there’s no pressure inside your ear and they don’t feel intrusive whatsoever. In terms of sound quality, the earSHOTS deliver a good, balanced sound. Out of the box, I found they sounded a little ‘hollow’ through the mid-range, with highs that were a little bit more pronounced then I’d like, but after a quick tweak of Spotify’s EQ I got them dialled in to a setting that I was stoked with. It is probably worth noting that I’m lucky enough to have owned some really nice guitar amps and speakers over my time, so I’m pretty picky when it comes to sound. If you were to compare them to a set of standard headphones that sell for the same price, the standard heaphones would win out in a battle of sound quality but that’s not to say the earSHOTS are bad by any stretch of the imagination, and ultimately the earSHOTS are designed to provide you with trouble-free listening in environments where other headphones would provide you with nothing but trouble, and that’s exactly what they do.
I wouldn’t say you forget the headphones are there once they’re in, but they don’t move around at all and are uncomfortable in any sense. It took me a minute to wrap my head around how to put them on the first time round, although as admitted earlier I oh-so-confidently skipped the tutorial videos, but once you’ve figured it out they’re a piece of cake to put on and despite my hardest efforts, I couldn’t get them to budge. They don’t interfere with my helmet or helmet straps at all, and because each earSHOT is a standalone unit, meaning no cable or bar to connect them like some wireless headphones, you’re free to move your head however you like without fear of earSHOT ejection. The magnetic retention system works perfectly, and you don’t feel the magnets attraction to one-another at all. After a little bro-science, I concluded that the magnets are strong enough to hang the headphones off your earlobe like a pair of over-priced, mildly deformed hoops, but not so strong that you could do much more than just sit there questioning why you’ve got two headphones hanging from your ears.
The question I’ve had the most with the earSHOTS is do they have a microphone to pick up noise from the environment around you. The answer is no, but the earSHOTS aren’t an in-ear headphone and they aren’t noise cancelling either, so you can still hear what’s going on around you, unless of course your music is cranked up so loud that you should be worrying about your hearing before anything else. Probably also worth noting that if you need to be able to hear what’s going on around you, chances are you probably shouldn’t be listening to music. After chatting with James, it is something they’re considering in the future and I think that’s one of the rad things about direct-to-consumer companies – the fact that us consumers can have these conversations with the people behind the product knowing that our feedback will get through to someone who can actually utilise it.
When all is said and done, if you’re wanting to ride and listen to music, I’m not aware of anything on the market that will do a better job than the earSHOTS. They’re comfy, they sound great and they’re easy to setup. It’s really cool to see a business establish purely around designing headphones for mountain biking and outdoor sports, as opposed to being an after thought on someone else’s product line, so if you want to keep your money within our sport, consider picking up a pair of earSHOTS.
I’ve said it a bunch of times and I’ll say it again; getting to showcase local businesses that are bringing something new to our sport is one of my favourite parts of this job. earSHOTS are a great example of this, and I look forward to following their journey over years to come.
Want to win your own pair of earSHOTS? Head over to our Instagram, find our post sharing this story on June 10th, comment your favourite riding song and go in the drawer to win! You can comment as many times as you like, make sure you're following us and @ride_earshots though! Winner will be drawn at random on 23rd June. Competition open to people residing in New Zealand only.
Words: Cam Baker
Images: Cam Baker with production photos supplied by earSHOTS
Story: Heli's & eBikes?
I can see how this headline might raise a few eyebrows, but please, bear with me.
In November of 2019 I met up with two old friends from the Southern Hemisphere in Queenstown, New Zealand, where Henry van Ash lives. He is one of the people that invented/commercialized Bungy Jumping and made it a global thing and one of New Zealand biggest tourist attractions. He has also been a long time and passionate mountain biker with one of the most impressive bike collections he’s built up over the years. Recently he started a heli-bike company that transports adventurous mountain bikers to the remote back country.
Mountain Bike Hall of Famer, Glen Jacobs, was the other bloke who joined myself and my wife Carmen on this visit. Glen is from Australia and one of the most influential people in the world of mountain biking. His trail design company, ‘World Trail’ has over 60 employees and has built and developed some of the best bike destinations in the world, including Blue Derby amongst countless others. All three of us were equipped with pedal assist eBikes, not so much because we are lazy or old, but because of the fun factor, because of the different ways of riding and experiencing adventure, and new possibilities like riding longer, further, steeper terrain that’s hard to do or simply impossible on pedal bikes.
So why using a helicopter, you may ask? Well, because we had the opportunity and invitation, and to explore the remote backcountry that would be hard to access on regular bikes or eBikes unless dropped off. Outings like this, would normally require multi-days, which would mean we had to bring tents, sleeping bags, food, etc. We have all done traditional multi-day adventures before and they are always lots of fun, but the helicopter allowed us to be dropped off at pretty much any point and then pedal back home, especially in the alpine environment with overgrown and rocky terrain. The harsh alpine grass, rock fields and snow field would hardly be ridable or fun on a regular bike, but on an eBike it is possible to keep momentum in the rough terrain.
A workout was guaranteed, despite the category 1 electric pedal assist bikes; one was wise to conserve battery power along the way, especially when riding a route that hasn’t been ridden before or with the danger of getting lost and having to backtrack which could deplete valuable power from the battery and could leave you in a sticky situation if your battery runs out before the trail does. Full suspension bikes are a must in such technical terrain and the big tyres allow for better traction, not only because they have a bigger footprint/contact area on the ground, but also because they can be run with lower air pressure. One of the most underrated facts about eBike set up is the perfect tyre pressure, which depends on many factors, 1 or 2 psi can make all the difference. I can only encourage riders to experiment with their tyre pressures to find their own sweet spot, which will vary from terrain to terrain and riding style. Highspeed bike park berms and jumps require more pressure than slow and bumpy back country outings.
Queenstown is the adventure sports capital of New Zealand. The town, with its population of 42,000, sits on the shores of the South Island’s Lake Wakatipu. Set amongst the dramatic Southern Alps, it’s surrounded by pure nature and wild mountains. Many tourists come here every year, to enjoy the thrills of extreme and adventure activities. They also have a renowned bike park and nearby mountain resorts with world class bike trails. We went on three different outings with the helicopter while we were there. One can preview the route and pick lines as we fly over it. We would scout the terrain from the air, to find the best trails or valley’s that wouldn’t lead to a dead end or unpassable river. I have to say sometimes it’s nice to have ‘friends with benefits, and it felt pretty amazing to have a helicopter at your private service without time restrains - “can we first fly over there and look at the other options” or “can you pick us up half way down the ridge and meet us with lunch” or “how about a quick detour to fly over the famous Milford Sound Fiord”. Trust me these are not regular occurrences or options on any of my normal trips or rides. Travelling this way opened the doors for possibilities that I had not experienced before. My favourite day was when we were accompanied by Henry’s dog, Alfi, who joined us and loved running alongside us, always minding and respecting the bikes. He was a very tired dog at the end of that day.
Riding along endless ridges with breathtaking views with hardly any signs of civilization in sight. We came across some old mining sites and ghost towns, from the days of the gold and copper rush. Some of the old mining trails make great biking trails some 140 years later. On another day we were dropped off on top of an alpine mountain with no trails in sight, we had to navigate and pick our lines through rough rock sections and spree fields, patches of snow and endless ridges that would eventually join some old dirt roads or trails.
On day 3 Henry called the operators at Coronet Ski Resorts, since the bike park and gondola hadn’t opened for the summer season yet, we got permission to fly to the top and put first tracks on the freshly groomed flow trails. These trails are eye-candy and snake down the mountain side with one roller, jump or berm after the other.
Definitely an extravagant experience to get to participate in such a special trip and a great way to catch up with some good old mates.
Words: Hans Rey
Images: Carmen Rey
Locking Down Pt. 2 | YUM Granola
The people behind YUM Granola are as good as any, and they're a business I'm stoked we're friendly with not only because they make delicious granola and mountain bike, but because Sarah, Mike and their team do so much to give back, whether that be by operating a certified Climate-Positive business or by donating granola to local food banks. We caught up with Sarah to get an insight into YUM, and to find out how Covid-19 has affected them.
Tell us a little bit about YUM Granola, what you do and your ties to mountain biking.
We make YUM Granola here in Nelson, which includes everything from creating our own recipes, sourcing the ingredients, baking the product, photos, website and online content creation, packaging design, and distribution across the country. Mike and I started YUM down in Wanaka about 5 years ago when we were living there, and it really took off at the local market. Watching it grow on its own at the beginning was quite impressive. I've always believed when you do something you love and that fires you up, the finished product is noticeably different, and that’s one of the main reasons I believe YUM tastes as good as it does. We take it one step further and are conscious on every level of how what we do is affecting our footprint and how we can make it better.
While we are a small company, we punch above our weight on so many fronts - sustainability, contributions/donations, minimising packaging waste, paying living wage, eliminating the use of plastics. For us, it is the right way to do business and the only way to do business. We see other companies receiving awards for just being in business and it's always a bit disappointing because it would be nice to see how (or if) they are giving back to their community and the planet, not just looking after their own image and bottom line. So, we focus on what we do best and stick to our values, which is thoughtful to the whole process and keeps us tracking in a (somewhat) straight line.
YUM and mountain biking go hand and hand for us! We both are addicted to riding in our own ways. YUM was created initially to fuel our own adventures. Then, more and more people wanted it and we wanted to share its goodness. Funnily enough, the first delivery of YUM was on my Yeti SB95 from Lake Hawea to Wanaka. We are lucky in that YUM provides us a lifestyle now where we ride pretty consistently. We moved to Nelson a few years ago because of the riding. We knew the move would be good for YUM too but at the end of the day it is the getting out on the trails that brings balance (and breathing) to our lives. We've also just been able to ride together again. I had forgotten how much fun Mike is to ride with, so we have been getting out weekly again which feels like a treat. There have been times when YUM needs every minute of our waking days, and in the beginning there were no free weekends and little free time, but we now work pretty normal hours with the ability to go ride Nelson's amazing trails when the sun is out. YUM HQ is right in downtown Nelson, so just a few minutes ride to all the trails which we are stoked on.
What challenges have you faced over the past couple of months? From our entry into level four, to our move to level three and where we sit now, in level 2.
The night before lockdown I had a huge meltdown! It wasn't about the unknown of what was going to happen, it was more the fact we felt spread thin already and I couldn't imagine that on top of having Rai home from kindy all day every day. I knew it would be bonus quality time to be with her but having less time to drive YUM scared me to be honest. The irony was that Mike seemed happier and more relaxed than ever! This is why we are a good team😊 I asked him why and he said that he is always stressed about YUM and now it felt a little better because everyone was in it together. I guess for me, I feel that if you’ve started your own company , you find yourself in the red sometimes, but if you do it right, you learn how to be lean, agile, and smart. We know other companies who work with a lot of capital and because of that they just throw ideas and money in the air to see what will stick. We've never been able to afford to have that mentality and because of that I believe we have good general resilience.
We were super grateful to be an essential supplier to supermarkets and to be able to continue producing YUM through the entire lockdown. I remember the first day going to work in Level 4, riding my bike to YUM downtown and it was eerie. It felt like every person and every business had vanished in a way, virtually overnight. There was no one on the streets and it really left me feeling sad for all the people who had lost their jobs and the business owners that didn't know how or if their businesses were going to be able to continue. After a couple weeks at Level 4 while our supermarket sales had dropped a bit, our online sales were through the roof. We were essentially doing more production with half the staff in a fraction the time. I had to reprioritize and condense my role down to what was essential and only do a couple hours of work a day while Rai was sleeping. Mike was wrapping his days up by mid-afternoon, to come home and relieve me a bit with Rai. The irony was that because we weren't allowed to ride our mountain bikes during lockdown here in Nelson, we were forced to relax and breathe in different ways, and it felt pretty good to not feel guilty about not getting out. We just changed gears and did more hikes with Rai and found other ways to get out into the bush.
At Level 2, I came back to work at YUM HQ along with Rachel who helps us with all our store support. It felt really good to have the team back under one roof! Rai was probably equally happy to be back in kindy playing with other little people again.
Has/how has COVID-19 affected your plans for the year?
It's really interesting because just this week I went back to our Strategy Plan that we were working off pre-Covid. It was only a couple months ago and I have little memory of it. The world is a different place now, with shopping habits changing overnight as well. I am hopeful that some of the good habits we had over lockdown will continue. We've always commuted to and from work on our bikes and the amount of smelly cars on the road again are kind of a bummer. We've been asking ourselves what worked for us over lockdown and then taking that forward into planning for the rest of the year.
Tell us about how you’ve been supporting food banks around the country over the past few months
I remember getting to YUM the first day Level 4 was being discussed on the radio and Mike said, "I've worked the numbers and I think we can donate 1 x 400g retail bag for every 1kg purchased on our website". "What… Really?!" Our margins are already really slim compared to our competitors because of the organic ingredients we use, so I was pretty shocked at this coming from the guy who is pretty stressed on a daily basis around YUM's finances. He went on to explain that a lot of people were going to be out of jobs and not be able to afford the basics and it would be good for us to think of those people and help them. We had no idea how our business turnover would be through lockdown, but we knew this would help us maintain our focus and feel good about being able to continue baking YUM. So, that day we launched YUM's Breaky Drive and now we’ve donated over 500 bags to local and national food banks which is over 4,000 YUM servings to keep people going, and still growing. It has been pretty awesome to see how well received it has been from people and it makes us even more proud of YUM.
A lot of businesses, including us, have been able to put energy into projects that had been sitting on the backburner before Covid hit. Have you been working on anything over the lock down period, or has it been business as usual?
There was a lot of business as usual but one of the other silver linings to lockdown was that my creativity really kicked into gear and I came up with a couple new YUM recipes, as well as finishing a couple more. So, those are now new products in the queue for moving ahead which is pretty exciting in our world. We still get very excited for new YUM products as they are our own unique creations. Over lockdown we finished our audit with EKOS and received our certification for being Carbon Zero + Climate Positive, which really feels great as we don't know of anyone else in our category that has a similar commitment to sustainability. It also offsets our carbon by 120% with regenerative native plantings in Takaka, just over the hill from us.
Finally, what’s in store for YUM over the rest of 2020?
So much goodness! We have just started working with a group on the North Island who are going to help us grow YUM into more supermarkets which will grow our market share. This combined with our plan to switch over our entire retail line of YUM into home compostable packaging will mean that the more market share we have, the more packaging waste we will be eliminating, which is something we feel pretty strong about. We have switched all our 1kg bags already to home compostable packaging, but it is a large project for the retail line. We have wanted to do it for some time, but it was cost prohibitive. However, now it is looking more like a reality. We are going to roll our newest flavour, The Mighty Fig, out into retail packages as well as it really took off with our trial of it in 1kg bags. One of the recipes I came up with over the lockdown, will come out in the next couple weeks on our website and it is unlike anything out there as it will be from 100% NZ grown ingredients. It was a bit of a scavenger hunt to see what NZ grows and how we could create a granola with it. In a way the rest of the year will be continuing to get YUM out into the world while ensuring we are leaving the best footprint as its legacy.
Words: Cam Baker & Sarah Hedger
Images: Sarah Hedger & Mike Cowlin
Story: Waitangi Mountain Bike Park
When we think of Waitangi, the birthplace of our nation, we tend to remember the TV broadcasts and headlines reporting the cultural politics that surrounds Waitangi Day each February. For those of us who have visited Waitangi, we also marvel at its stunning beaches and its never-ending farmland. Nowadays, the old lawlessness of the nearby early settler ports has been replaced by a thriving tourist industry. Yet few people know that Waitangi Mountain Bike Park is nestled beneath the tall pines of the Waitangi Endowment Forest, offering riders some 40kms of smooth, feature-filled flowy trails built by Southstar Trails and Ryan Lovett.
In early October I, along with a couple of mates, ventured up to the picturesque Bay of Islands to investigate what this new park has to offer. Although mother nature wasn’t on our side that weekend, the rain didn’t hinder our enthusiasm and eagerness to get out and try riding every trail in the park within the two days we had. Our overall assessment: the little-known Waitangi MTB Park deserves to be on every mountain-biker’s radar.
Location, Location, Location
Waitangi is only a brief three-hour drive north of Auckland. This is pretty much the same amount of time that it takes most Aucklanders to drive to Rotorua, which many mountain-bikers do weekend after weekend. For the same travel time, a trip up to the so-called winterless north is well worth it.
Once we arrived at Paihia we were instantly captured by the slow pace of the place and we quickly adapted to the beach lifestyle. It felt so much like we were on holiday that we almost forgot we had our bikes to ride. Almost.
Me and my mates — John and Amy — are no human compasses as we never have any idea which way is north. If it wasn’t for Johnny, the operator of Paihia Mountain Bike Rentals, we would’ve got completely lost. Johnny was quick to provide the key information we needed, including which were the ‘up’ trails and other important places within the park, as well as recommending which trails were worth riding first.
With Paihia township only ten minutes down the road, we had all the coffee, food and accommodation we needed to get and keep going. The park is well sign posted and easy to find. There is plenty of parking, which is all situated around a highly informative and striking hub / base map station.
The Riding Experience
Although primarily clay-based, the lower parts of the trail network sit on a volcanic shelf, which makes for highly contrasting terrain as we climbed our way through the park. Starting off by meandering through gum trees and rolling over rocks, we then ventured up through young pine and into small pockets of native bush, erupting in bird song.
The park is divided into five zones, each with a different flavour and unique style of trail. Zones 1-3 were the first to be developed and feature 85% of the park’s trails. Luckily for us Zone 5 opened the day we got there: we had the honour of being the first riders to roll tyres over it. Situated at the very back of the park, and within the oldest pines on the property, these trails are built natural, rough and with minimal man-made features. While the trail surface was too soft and young for us to be able to really ride at pace, these mostly Grade 4 trails do have great potential for challenging riders on something other than a ‘bermed’ highway.
Zone 4 is yet to be developed, but is a primarily flat. Sitting on the same volcanic shelf as the lower trails of Zone 1, development will be slow and expensive, as trail building is incredibly laborious through all the rock. Their plans are to focus on building more grade 1-2 family loops and a skills park in due course.
Starting from the feet of the Pouwhenua, we rode through the gentle link trails of zone 1, up into the first trail forks of zone 2. Here, we began to wind our way up via a timid grade 2, 2km climb into the upper areas before dropping down into a section for grade 2 and 3 flow trails, or looping out and around Holland Days, a gentle XC loop than spans the lower, flatter areas of both zone 2 & 3.
Zone 3 is where the serious rider will spend most of their time. Littered with a myriad of fast, flow trails, with native sections and plenty of jumps, it is quite the playground. With all the trails in this zone linking back to the main climb, Te Rangi Hononga, it is easy to crank out laps without getting overly fatigued. Pakonga is the golden child within the park, a grade 4 jump trail that features large table tops and deep berms perched on the edge of a ridgeline. I also recommend riding Hookioi for the best mix of everything.
A Special Place
What really makes Waitangi Mountain Bike Park so special is the fact that it has been 100% community funded. Tiff Holland has really managed to rally the troops and unite the community to bring the park to life. The local ITM supplied all the timber for fencing and the hub area. The local jail provided prisoners to help clear trail, develop the grounds and do construction work. Tiff’s good friend provided a large amount of architecture and consulting free of charge. Everything for nothing — and all because they saw the same goal of creating something special for the local community.
It all started with a family trip to Rotorua some four years ago. The experience and epic trails captured Tiff so much (like it has for many of us), that her husband, Robin, exclaimed “How can we get one of these?” That quick remark set in motion the wheels on the Waitangi Mountain Bike Park project. Like anything in life, though, if it’s easy, then it probably isn’t worth the effort. Over the next few years, Tiff, who is the main driving force and front women for the project, set about scouting the perfect block of land, negotiating with several parties, including the land owners, local iwi, Department of Conservation, forestry management and Kiwi conservationists before starting the all-important fundraising efforts.
Final Reflections of a Happy Traveller
The quality of the park impressed me most. From trail design to signage, from drainage to dirt type, the park has been well thought out. We had to be strategic with our timing when venturing out from under tree cover due to the rain, but not once did we find the trails were drastically effected. Slippery in the odd spot, sure, but still plenty of fun with lots of grip and a big clean-up job after the ride - damn clay! The park does lack big elevation, though thanks to smart trail building, even the series rider will want to keep coming back. The trails are perfect for the family too, and even better for a brief holiday, giving yourself time for off the bike activities also.
Finally, I must say a big ‘thank you’ to Sauce Pizza Bar Paihia, The Scenic Hotels, Duke of Marlborough and Focus Paihia, as well as Tiff and Johnny for hosting us with a genuine friendliness which has always been a regional trait encountered by travellers heading North.
Words & Images: Cameron Mackenzie
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
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
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
Story: More Than ya Local
It’s not often I make the trip down to my local bike shop (LBS) but when I do, I don’t come back empty handed. These days, it’s usually only a spare tube or chain link that I walk away with and, very occasionally, my bike - if I’ve neglected it a little too much and can’t be bothered dealing with it myself but, that doesn’t stop them firing up the coffee machine and filling my cup for a caffeine-charged conversation comprising of bikes, life and general bike shop shit talk.
I feel like no matter how deep your loyalty runs to your LBS of choice, there’s always another shop that entices you, catches your eye and tries to draw you in. They have exotic brands you’ve only ever heard of, they have a beer fridge AND a coffee machine and, in the case of Cyclexpress in Howick, Auckland, they have a HAAS CNC Machine, a laser engraver and just about every other tool/machine you’d expect to find in a small engineering shop. And that’s before you get started on the collection of vintage mountain bike frames and all the little things around the shop that make you stop and stare.
Cyclexpress has been that shop for me for as long as I remember. Right around the time I arrived back in Auckland after a stint down south, I was wrenching in another Auckland store and caught wind of how Cyclexpress had just taken delivery of their new CNC machine. I’d known of Cyclexpress for a while and had always heard about how good their servicing was and that if you wanted suspension serviced locally, they were the ones with the tools and the know-how to get it done. The name Bruno kept popping up and, eventually, I managed to piece together that Bruno was the man behind the shop. This was a few years back now and it brings me a little bit of shame to admit that it wasn’t until this year that I satisfied my curiosity and went in to meet Bruno and lust over his setup.
The first thing you should know about Bruno is that he’s Swiss. With this in mind, it’s safe to assume you’re in safe hands with anything mechanical and that’s before you take his tool-making heritage into account. Over the past twenty years, he’s built up a reputation as one of Auckland’s best mechanics. Not only is this thanks to his tireless work ethic and constant pursuit of improvement, but also down to his active involvement in, and support for, both the mountain bike and BMX communities on a national level (prime example: he’s supported NZMTBR since Day 1). Over the years he’s evolved from a bike shop with a workshop, into a workshop with a bike shop. Bruno’s passion is working on bikes and problem solving and as he’s built his brand up over the years, he’s been able to put more and more into developing the workshop and rely less and less on the retail side of Cyclexpress. With his knowledge and ability to breakdown products from a manufacturers point of view, Bruno and his staff have been able to educate riders on what brands and products will work best for them. Because of this, Cyclexpress doesn’t hold a huge range of products, but you know that anything they do carry, they carry because it works. With some parts, however, you can’t always find something that works and as a result, Bruno’s been slowly upping his manufacturing capabilities over the past few years…
I’m a self-confessed tool nerd. In my bike shop days, I’d always supply my own tools - not because any of the shops I worked in requested me to, but because I couldn’t stop buying them. If you got ‘em, you may as well make some money off ‘em, right? Considering this, the first time I visited Cyclexpress it was a bit like walking into a dream. As I stepped out from the entrance corridor and into the open-plan space that makes up Cyclexpress, Bruno greeted me at their coffee-bar-come-counter and immediately had the espresso machine fired up to brew me a long black. Good start. We took a seat at their big shop table and the first thing I noticed was how established the rustic space felt. Cyclexpress has only been in their current space for a couple of years, but you wouldn’t know it and I wouldn’t blame you for thinking they’d been there forever. Culture is one of the reasons many of us support our locals and why we’re happy to wait a couple of extra days for servicing, or pay an extra dollar here and there for product. Cyclexpress have nailed the culture aspect, with knowledgeable staff who are always keen to chat, and a low-key atmosphere. Both Bruno and Dan, his mechanic, knew all of the customers who visited during my time there by name, and were more than accommodating.
The first thing I asked about was, of course, the thing that interested me most about Cyclexpress: their HAAS CNC Machine. The only other bike shop I’d ever heard of with a CNC machine is located in Canada and, from what I’ve gathered, they use theirs to manufacture derailleur hangers in a high-volume, busy workshop so, I was interested to find out why one worked its way into a small Auckland bike shop. Cyclexpress manufactures to find solutions, for two main reasons: the first being that we’re located really, really far from most of the rest of the world (something I hope you’d know). Even for big industries, this can make sourcing parts difficult, so for niche industries like mountain biking, it can be even harder to get our hands on products. If you’re cashed up, you can get anything here but even so, there’s nothing rad about spending the same amount on freight as you spent on the product itself, just to get it here. The second reason is to fill holes in the market - which really describes itself. Sometimes Bruno and the team identify ways products could be made better, or come across problems that they could solve by manufacturing a unique part, such as their GT Dogbone Upgrade Kit.
The CNC machine is located in what’s probably best described as a ladder-accessed pit, alongside the workshop. As Bruno set up the machine to CNC one of the faces of a stem he was working on, we got talking about the products he’s manufactured under his CXP Racing brand so far. From BMX crank sets and prototype mountain bike stems, to suspension top-cap tools and narrow-wide chainrings, they are all things that Cyclexpress either had a need for and weren’t able to locally (or easily) source, or thought they could do better. Cyclexpress has the unique advantage of also being a bike shop. Because they service bikes, they not only get to engage with their target consumer face-to-face but also, get to see and track the performance of not only their products but also, other manufacturers products. With this unique insight, Cyclexpress can tweak their products to make up for where other manufacturers products may have let consumers down. This is before you even consider the fact that CXP Racing have the ability to get product tested by real-world riders as well as athletes.
With an instore laser-engraver, Cyclexpress are able to brand all of their products in-house too, meaning the only thing they can’t do is anodize but, there’s plenty of local companies that can handle that part of their process. As Kiwis, we take pride in anything that comes out of New Zealand; be it athletes, products or television stars, so it’s pretty rad to see New Zealand designed and made products coming out of a humble old local bike shop.
Even with the fancy machinery, standard servicing is still a big part of Cyclexpress. A combination of mountain bikes, BMX bikes and even a Cannondale commuter bike, were all in queue to pass through the work stand and, to me, that plays a huge part in making the shop what it is today. Call this ex-mechanic bias, but to me a shop’s culture stems from the workshop and is built upon the unparalleled shit talking that takes place in said workshop. Mechanics dictate a shop’s vibe. If they do a good job, the customer stokes because they know they’re going to be able to ride all weekend, worry free, and that’s exactly what Cyclexpress does; a good job. Not everyone benefits from CXP’s CNC machine, but everyone benefits from a good service - and I think that’s ultimately what Cyclexpress’ success comes down to, they’re simply good people doing good things.
If you’re ever passing through Auckland, make the visit to Cyclexpress and have a look around. Bruno and the team are flat out, but they’ll always take time out for a chat and to show off whatever it is they’re working on at the time. If you’re super nice, they might even offer you a coffee…
Words & Images: Cam Baker