Australian Mountain Bike #209

L E A R N H O W T O H I T BIGGER J U M P S !

WE TEST THE SPECIALIZED EPIC EVO!

M E R I D A' S N E W ONE-TWENTY R I P S

#209

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BEAUTIFUL BEECHWORTH WEEKEND ESCAPES IN VICTORIA'S HIGH COUNTRY

HOW TO GET THE MOST RANGE FROM YOUR EMTB

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Photo: Outer Image Collective

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GRAVITY EDEN MTB TRAILS TATHRA, BUNDADUNG TRAILS

n o o s g n i m co OMEO, VICTORIA

NOVEMBER 8 - 10

NEWCASTLE & LAKE MACQUARIE, NSW

MARCH 7 - 9, 2025

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P HO T OGR AP HER : CL ANCY K ELLY (MAIN), JESSE CHIRIZZI (INSET) RIDER: ERIC OLSEN

On the third day of the 2024 Trans NZ riders arrived at Coronet Peak. The brilliant weather continued, and the trails? The photo tells the story. But, New Zealand being New Zealand, there were still a couple of delays from locals on course!

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PHOTOGRAPHER: JESSE CHIRIZZI The hills above Alexandra in Central Otago are unmistakeable. With rocky features, views for days and the ever present smell of thyme (not captured in photos, typically) the riding above Alex is pretty unique in New Zealand. The trails require commitment on entry, where the resulting line is typically hidden until there’s no turning back. Perfect for a multi-day enduro like Trans NZ!

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PHOTOGRAPHER: JESSE CHIRIZZI Let there be park! The final day of Trans NZ finishes in the Queenstown Bike Park, although it is never a walk in the... park.

But the variety of trails are just reward for 6 days of demanding riding that happens to be timed as well. It’s a sure fire way to earn a refreshment.

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Contents ISSUE #209

FAST TRACK 18 Editorial 20 News 37 New Products 40 Calendar 43 X-Factor 44 Trail Talk 47 Gravity Check 48 Mind Body Bike 120 Subscriptions

FEATURES 50 BEST TOOLS FOR YOUR BIKE If your time to ride is precious, or you just want to get the most out of your bike – make sure you pay attention to Olive’s top tools you should have at hand.

52 LET’S GO BIKEPACKING! We cover the basics for what you need to take to get out and stay out for a night – or longer. It doesn’t have to be complex, but your kit should have some thought put into it.

54 HOW CAN I GET MORE RANGE FROM MY EBIKE? Got range anxiety? We dig into some ways to help make sure you get the most range from your eMTB – on every ride.

58 RISE OF THE MACHINES  WHAT IMPACT WILL AI HAVE? We reach out to machine learning expert and mountain bike fan Dr Chris Pedder, to learn about how machine learning and AI can and is influencing mountain biking.

62 HOW TO BUY A KID’S BIKE We hear from skills coach Dylan Cooper on what the essential features to look for are when getting your kids on their next bike, to make sure they stay on two wheels into the future.

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68 WESTERN WONDERS Travis gives us the low down on the latest trail building boom in Western Australia, from local networks to expanding trail towns.

74 A BEECHWORTH ESCAPE Zoe travels to Beechworth and surrounds with her mountain bike and gravel bike in tow – just how many ways are there to spend a weekend in this idyllic cycling hub in Victoria’s High Country?

TESTED 84 Merida One-Twenty 600 88 Specialized Epic EVO 92 Superior eXF 9019 B 96 Merida Big.Nine XT 98 Superior XP 919 100 Merida eOne-Sixty 875 104 Merida Silex 700 106 Product reviews 122 Skills 124 Nutrition 126 Fitness 128 Workshop

COVER: Hayden lets the Merida One-Twenty slide Rider: Hayden Wright Photographer: Gerard Lagana THIS PAGE History was made in February as Gracey Hemstreet became the first woman to complete a RedBull Hardline course – at Hardline Maydena.

Rider: Gracey Hemstreet Photographer: Graeme Murray/RedBull

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Editorial enquiries anna@adventureentertainment.com Editor Mike Blewitt Art Director Allan Bender WORDSMITHS Anna Beck, Kath Bicknell, Zoe Binder, Mike Blewitt, Ella Bloor, Dylan Cooper, Travis Deane, Craig Meinicke, Chris Panozzo, Chris Pedder, Jared Rando, Bam da Silva, Imogen Smith, Olive Tutt, Ryan Walsch, Zoe Wilson, Hayden Wright PHOTO GURUS Tim Bardsley-Smith, Zoe Binder, Mike Blewitt, Jesse Chirizzi, Travis Dean, Clancy Kelly, Gerard Lagana, Jordan Riddle, Nick Waygood ADVERTISING Toby-Ryston Pratt toby@adventureentertainment.com +61 413 183 804 Publisher Toby-Ryston Pratt Founder & CEO Adventure Entertainment.

ABN: 79 612 294 569 Subscriptions E: magazines@adventureentertainment.com P: +61 2 8227 6486 PO Box 161, Hornsby, NSW, 1630

AMB (AUSTRALIAN MOUNTAIN BIKE) is published by Adventure Entertainment Pty Ltd ABN: 79 612 294 © 2024. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed by IVE Group, Sydney, distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Are Direct.

ISSN 1328-6854. The publisher will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material submitted is at the owner’s risk and, while every care will be taken Adventure Entertainment does not accept liability for loss or damage.

PRIVACY POLICY

We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide personal information through your participation in any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of AMB, this will be used to provide the products or services that you have requested and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products, services and events our company has to offer. We may also give your information to other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by getting in touch with our privacy officer, who can be contacted at Adventure Entertainment.

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NEW BEGINNINGS WORDS MIKE BLEWITT PHOTO GERARD LAGANA

The past decade has seen so much change; the rise and rise of eMTBs, the infancy and growth of destination mountain biking, the evolution of Enduro.

And best of all – untold growth of mountain biking. We have more trails to ride, more riders at the trails, and a far wider user group of mountain bikers than ever before.

Of course, since I first started as Editor of AMB in 2013 (75 issues ago) lots has stayed the same. While mountain biking seems to offer up so much change, so much stays the same. Do you truly enjoy riding trails more now on a better bike than you did one, two or three decades ago? Is the joy of ripping trails with friends greater on your new super bike compared to the bangers you started on? I doubt it. Experiences are created by many things we can’t always put our finger on

– but I’m certain it is more about the people we are with and what we are doing than the wheel size, tyre casing or gear system we are using.

And that is one of the reassuring things about mountain biking. It’s not truly tied to the latest and greatest gear. It’s not tied to specific people or places. While some people, bikes and trails are truly iconic, they are not mountain biking in and of themselves. While mountain biking itself will continue to evolve and expand, the core of it will be being outdoors and experiencing freedom.

And someone who gets that better than most is Anna Beck, a long time AMB contributor and all-time mountain biking super fan. I can’t think of anyone better to stand at the helm for AMB from here on in.

It has been a great decade with AMB, so thanks for coming along for the ride!

www.ambmag.com.au

Raptor | Raven The Raptor/Raven Series is so comfortable and stable that you’ll forget it’s there, making it easier to focus on your line. So get off the couch, pack your gear and hit the trail — that’s how the good days are made.

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A NATIONAL SNAP SHOT In March, the 2024 AusCycling Mountain Bike National Championships took place at Awaba, inland from Newcastle in New South Wales.

The popular downhill and cross-country courses had a complete refresh for the event, and new courses for the adaptive downhill and cross-country as well. Our full reports went live on AMBmag.com.au during the event – but here’s a snapshot from some of the newly crowned National Champions.

“To compete in those events and see what it could be in Australia, and come and compete in the first one that they’ve had … to see how many athletes are here with a disability, is just incredible – and so many more people that [will] come next year.” Daniel McCoy, 1B Adaptive Downhill National Champion.

“It’s great to be recognised. The sport’s only in its infancy. There’s just more and more people getting adaptive bikes and it’s just going to keep growing.” Renee Junga, 2B

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Adaptive Downhill National Champion.

“It’s something that’s pretty special and meaningful because it’s really the start of something,” Grant said. “We all collectively as a group of athletes here have a unique opportunity to forge a path for younger people who are coming through, and people who don’t even have a disability. To be at the forefront of it is a great honour and something that means a lot.” Grant Allen, 2B Adaptive Downhill National Champion.

“It was great to do, and to see so much variety of bikes and classes, the sport is just going to grow. To only having a few riders last year to this year, the sport is definitely growing.” Dean McSporran, 1B Adaptive XC National Champion.

“I feel like my roots are in mountain biking and BMX and I feel like this is a great amalgamation of those two disciplines and being able to put it all together.” Ryan Gilchrist, Pump Track National Champion.

“I love the pump track; go to it often, so it’s cool to take out that win,” Ellleni Turkovic, Pump Track National Champion.

I was worried that the course would probably not suit my tactic of the lightweight bike and lightweight battery, but it worked out pretty well, so I’m pretty happy.” Jon Odams, eMTB National Champion.

“It was a bit tougher this year; it was a challenge. My e-bike overheating, and all the challenges of the heat. It feels good to work

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for it this year, and it means a lot more.” Jess Hoskin, eMTB National Champion.

“It’s always great to win, but to do it with so many girls that I’ve just spent the summer training with, and we’ve all just been so supporting each other, it’s just unreal.” Zoe Cuthbert, Short Track National Champion.

“Short track’s not normally my strong point, so to come here and just start the weekend off with a win is really promising.” Dan McConnell, Short Track National Champion.

“It feels so amazing to get my second national championship, and it’s really special because this is my home downhill track. I felt a lot of pressure coming into the race, but super stoked I could get it done.” Ellie Smith, Downhill National Champion.

It’s a super tough course. If you don’t put it together in the rock garden you lose seconds, and down the bottom you’ve got to be super patient with a lot of tight turns. It’s huge to have the sleeve and represent Australia on the

world scene is pretty amazing.” Luke Meier-Smith, Downhill National Champion.

“I know that I’m fit, I’m strong and the slippery conditions worked in my favour also.

It’s a privilege and pleasure to be a national champion again. I had to do it pretty hard this week, so I’m really happy to get it done.”

Rebecca Henderson, Cross Country National Champion.

“This is at the Awaba Mountain Bike Park with Hunter Mountain Bike Association, and that was my first club. I grew up with a lot of these guys, and to have this race out here in front of some of my family; my best mates were out there, old riding mates, it was awesome.” Cam Ivory, Cross-Country National Champion.

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE MT TUMBARUMBA MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAIL NETWORK Construction has officially commenced on the new Mt Tumbarumba mountain bike trail network.

This moment is the culmination of over two years of effort from the Cycle Tumbarumba team and has been highly anticipated. The project is unique as the local mountain bike club raised funds through the support of the local community and businesses to purchase the land that the trail network is being built on. Mt Tumbarumba provides around 300m of elevation with a variety of topography, soil types, boulders, and rock shelves that will combine to provide amazing riding experiences.

A shuttle service will be incorporated into the trail design, while also including climbing trails to suit a wide variety of riders, including eMTB riders.

Cycle Tumbarumba is not only spearheading the development but will also manage the operations and maintenance of the trails post-construction. Multiple trail teams will be working on the build, with crews from Natural Trails, Iconic Trails and TRC Trails.

Project management will fall to the team from Blue Sky Trails.

We reckon the fact that the club owns the land makes this project very unique. Stakeholders claim that the Mt Tumbarumba network will be a premier mountain bike destination for Australia, and therefore will provide economic revitalisation for this part of NSW. You can expect to see the trail network open in late 2024.

Jump onto the Cycle Tumbarumba Facebook page to receive updates as this exciting project progresses!

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Fox always have something new in April, and this year they have gone deep, with three all-new GRIP dampers across all fork platforms, and a new Fox 32 SC designed for the marathon specialists. From the GRIP X2 for gravity riders, to the GRIP X for all-mountain fans and the GRIP SL for the fast kids - these changes make a difference in tuning options, support and total weight across every single Fox fork model.

THE FOX GRIP X2 DAMPER Thie GRIP X2 leads the charge in the gravity scene, and can be seen as a replacement for the GRIP 2 damper, but with a whole lot of changes. In fact, it is a ground up redesign. The valve size on the X2 has been scaled up by 20%, with three times as many valves handling the oil flow. What’s that mean for us? Fox state that there is a huge increase in how the damper can be tuned, with a big increase in support.

On the trail, this will play out in a fork that sits higher in its travel. This can be a real big bear for many, with

THE FOX GRIP X DAMPER Fox state that the GRIP X suits all-mountain riders, with lots of adjustment available and a firm lockout for the pedal ups. This damper is 120g lighter than the new GRIP X2, which won’t go unnoticed by many riders.

Tuning options are aplenty, with your air spring being the number one factor to get right, before you look at your rebound adjustment or high speed compresison

THE FOX GRIP SL Do you shave your arms? Then listen up. Fox have pared back their FIT4 damper for their new Fox 32 SC, and this one is all about the best performance between the tape. This damper is 60g lighter than a FIT4 damper in a 100mm variant, and it offers a 3-position damper with Open, Mid, and lock out.

THE NEW FOX 32 SC – IT’S NOT BACK TO FRONT When Fox released the new Fox 34 SC in 2021, it was the ideal fork for cross-country riding. The 34mm legged platform offered a lot more stiffness and control for XCO racers, and for those tackling the burlier terrain put into cross-country and cross-country stage race routes. But what about the pure marathon racers?

Many marathon events don’t have the same demands (although plenty do...) so Fox developed their lightest fork; the new 32 SC. Weighing under 1300g, this 100mm only fork is 40% stiffer than the outgoing Fox 32 SC, which should be a great

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plush suspension giving all the trail feel off the top, but struggling to maintain ride height in cornering compressions, severely limiting the traction available, the bike’s handling and the capability of the suspension to handle repeated hits.

The GRIP X2 damper will offer high and low speed compression damping, plus high and low speed rebound damping. That’s along with spring rate via air pressure of course. You’ll find the GRIP X2 damper in Fox 36, 38 and 40 fork models. Limited Fox 34 models will have the damper as well, but only on stock bikes.

and low speed compression damping. Fox have put the high speed compression dial on the fork top like a full lock out, so you can wind it around until it clicks, providing a firm platform for smooth climbs.

This will be handy for anyone self-shuttling, eMTBers, downcountry riders and even for some performance minded Enduro riders who want to optimise the whole day – liaisons included. You’ll find the Fox GRIP X damper on Float 34, 36 and 38 fork models.

Fox have delivered a firm lock out that still has a smooth blow off, for the unforeseen hazards in the finish line sprints. This one has a fork top and remote option.

The middle and open position have a supple initial stroke which ramps up with a lot more midstroke support, to ensure the lower amounts of travel aren’t wasted. You’ll find this fork in the Fox 32 TC, Fox 32 SC and the Fox 34 SC.

improvement on the trail.

With the GRIP SL damper, the 29” only fork has a zero offset crown, with the 44mm rake coming from the angle that the legs enter the crown. The fork arch is not only reversed, but it is also a matrix design to aid torsional stiffness. No doubt it will be harder to clean. Riders will be limited to 180mm maximum for rotors and of course 100mm travel and 29” only – but for the elite marathon specialists this will be fine.

Contact your local Fox dealer for more pricing if you’re due an upgrade, and expect to see these fork models on coming bike releases.

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QUAD CROWN SPLASHES DOWN IN EDEN! This September, the Quad Crown event team return to the stunning South Coast of New South Wales, for three days of mountain bike fun to kick off spring. The Orca arrives in Eden for September 6-8, creating a readymade long weekend by the beach to kick off spring.

One of the things we really like about the Quad Crown event formula is how mountain biking is important – but it’s not all-consuming for their events. Their mountain bike weekends take a unique formula, starting on a Friday afternoon. This is the perfect way to not only blow out the cobwebs from any transit to the event, but it is a surefire way to put any worries of the working week in the rearview mirror, as you stare down the barrel of a weekend of mountain biking, relaxing and spending time with friends. There’s a social function after each stage, allowing you time to have a meal, a drink, and watch the presentations in a comfortable setting. Of course, what you do with the rest of your time is upto you. The event plan leaves all of Saturday afternoon free, and same for Sunday. So head to the beach, cruise through a local market, get a jump on the traffic if you need to head home – or just roll straight into an extended stay. That is all up to you.

Friday afternoon will kick off with the Prelude at Gravity Eden. Predict flowing berms, rolling trails and good times aplenty. Your time here impacts your overall handicap for the weekend, if that’s important to you. You can expect about 10-12km of singletrack, the perfect amount to work up an appetite for dinner at the Hotel Australasia where the social function is booked in.

Stage 1 is up the road in Tathra, on some of the mountain bike trails that have brought mountain bikers to the south coast for decades. With a start and finish at the Tathra Hotel, this is the perfect spot to unwind for lunch and a slow afternoon after 35km of coastal trails.

Stage 2 is all about Eden, with a return to Gravity Eden for a stage that could well rival the Parklands stage at The Sunny 80 as a series favourite. Why? Because the trails are just epic! The town of Eden welcomes riders with open arms for this weekend, and the race starts and finishes right at the Hotel Australasia, with the roll out up the main street and onto the trails (yes, they’re that close!). Expect about 40km of trails and 900m of climbing, but the Quad Crown team will release the exact course details about a month out from the event.

It’s easy to get caught up with the biggest events around the country that suck up a lot of time and energy, or instead avoiding events so you can do your own thing. The beauty of the Quad Crown events is they find a middle ground, with professionally run and relaxed events across a 3-day weekend, which still allow plenty of time to relax and take in the sights. And even if you can’t make it for the whole event, you can just enter one day.

For more details head to the Quad Crown website, as they will also be visiting the new trails in Omeo for their final event of 2024! quadcrownmtb.com.au

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NORCO’S 2024 EMTB LINEUP Off the back of the 2024 Norco Sight and Optic, Norco released a completely new fleet of Bosch-powered eMTBs. From the lightweight, mid-powered Fluid VLT to the full-powered Range VLT and Sight VLT. The bikes have integrated Bosch motors from the SX and CX range, mullet wheel setups across the board and a custom Bosch Flow App to combine motor customisation and control with the latest bike setup guide from Norco.

All the bikes use Norco’s new 5 bike sizing, which adds crossover to the size range, helping more riders find the best fit possible. It is great to see Norco continue with size specific geometry, with a rear centre that grows or shrinks depending on the frame size.

ALL NEW FLUID VLT Norco have released two iterations of the Fluid VLT, with a light weight full carbon 140/130mm model, and a burlier 150/140mm model with either full carbon, or carbon/alloy frame kits. This is a huge departure for the Norco Fluid VLT. We last tested a Fluid VLT FS A1 in 2021, and while we liked many of its virtues, it also tended to miss the mark. It was too heavy, and the suspension was under sprung. The new Norco Fluid VLT looks nothing like that bike.

The Bosch SX system uses plenty of Bosch Smart System integration, which means a wireless mini controller and top tube system controller. There is no major head unit, creating a clutter free handlebar. The Bosch 400Wh battery is inside the mainframe and will mostly stay there for charging - but it can be removed if you want to pop your bike on a plane. Bosch also have their 250Wh range extender so you can bump up the ride

time. However, with 55Nm torque and a lower overall weight, chances are the 400Wh will take you pretty far anyway.

The Norco Fluid VLT C1 130 ($16999) is the most premium bike and the only model built around a 140/130mm travel mix. With the difference in travel it has slightly steeper geometry than the 140 models, but you get a steep seat angle to work with the pedal assist climbing, while the slack 65 degree head angle goes hand in hand with the long reach for confident descending at speed.

The three Fluid VLT 140 bikes have all the same frame components, but with a 185x55 Trunnion shock for 10mm more travel, and a typically larger fork to deliver 150mm travel.

The builds are also erring towards better price points. They have some slightly different geometry based on more travel - specifically a shorter reach and slacker head and seat tube angle - but it is really minimal at half a degree.

THE NEW NORCO RANGE VLT AND SIGHT VLT Each bike uses Norco’s virtual high pivot design with a chain stay mounted idler, licensing the i-track design straight outta South Australia. This allows the wheel path to move up and back to soak up square edge hits with ease, while offering very little kickback to the rider. Through extensive testing and use of prototype mules, Norco’s engineers are said to have tuned the dynamics of the suspension so the anti-squat provides very efficient pedalling and high responsiveness to pedal input in and out of the saddle.

Like the outgoing Norco Range and Sight VLT models, the motor is rotated for more ground clearance and to let the battery sit lower in the frame. This aids the weight balance of the bike, keeping more of the battery weight closer to the bottom bracket – which should improve handling and balance.

NORCO SIGHT VLT Matching the recently released Norco Sight, the 160/150mm Norco Sight VLT is designed for the rider who hunts out technical trails that go up and down. It suits riders who want a highly capable bike ready to charge demanding trail networks at speed. This is a full-power all-mountain bike for riders who want to find their limits.

The geometry is slightly more agile than the Range, with a steeper 64 degree head angle and a reach about 5mm longer per size. As such on a size 3 the reach is 472.5mm, and the seat angle is 77.5 degrees.

Norco Team rider and Product Engineer, Kirk McDowall has spent some serious hours with the new Sight VLT – through testing, development and as a training tool for the World Cup season ahead.

“The Sight VLT is fast, fun and maneuverable on the descents, and the Bosch CX system is sick - it keeps me smiling the whole way back up the hill for another lap!”

There is just one Norco Sight VLT model, and the C1 sells for $15999.

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GO BIG ON THE RANGE VLT Leading the, err, range, is the Norco Range VLT. This is the 180/170mm super bike, with the travel to tackle the jankiest terrain and the rowdiest lines. With the 750Wh battery riders can tackle the hardest descents and the most technical climbs. Sure – you could throw a Range VLT on a shuttle but you’re missing the point. Norco worked hard to make a long travel highly capable bike that can pedal and attack wildly technical climbs just as well. Get on and ride!

Matt MacDuff, a Norco Team rider, has been suitably impressed with the Range VLT. “Love this bike. The Range VLT is the ultimate tool for exploration and fun. When I ride it, I look for an entire trail network or zone and often have to tap out before the bike does.”

The Norco Range VLT is a MX or mullet wheel setup, with a 63 degree head angle through the 5 sizes. Reach is 467.5mm on a size 3, and seat angle is 77 degrees. All bikes have 165mm cranks and can fit a full size bottle.

There are two carbon models and one aluminium framed option – the Range VLT A1 is the only alloy eMTB in the range for 2024.

Norco have a claimed weight of 25.2kg in size 3. This build has a SRAM XO Transmission group set, with a Lyrik Ultimate RC2 fork and Super Deluxe Ultimate rear shock. WTB take care of the wheels with their CZR carbon rims and hubs, while Continental keep you gripping and ripping.

Norco’s new VLT models should be in store this winter – get in touch with your local Norco dealer for specific timing and specs.

NORCO VLT BIKES & PRICING Norco Fluid VLT C1 130 ................$16999 Norco Fluid VLT C1 140 ................$13999 Norco Fluid VLT C2 140 ................$11499 Norco Fluid VLT C3 140 ..................$8999 Norco Range VLT C1......................$13999 Norco Range VLT C2 ....................$11999 Norco Range VLT A1 .....................$10999 Norco Sight VLT C1 .......................$15999

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TACKLE CAPE TO CAPE: WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S MOUNTAIN BIKING EXTRAVAGANZA! When it comes to multi-day mountain bike events, Cape to Cape delivers an unparalleled mountain biking adventure amidst the breathtaking landscapes of Western Australia.

The Cape to Cape mountain bike event is essentially four days of great trails, mountain bike racing, camaraderie, and awe-inspiring natural beauty. Set against the backdrop of Cape Leeuwin, Nannup, Margaret River, and Cape Naturaliste, this event is not just a race—it’s an experience of a lifetime.

The 2024 event runs from October 17-20.

For those heading west from other states, we recommend flying into Perth at least a day before, or you can also fly direct to Busselton from Sydney or Melbourne, although the schedule is limited. All the more reason to stay longer and not rush home!

ON THE TRAILS IN WA The Cape to Cape course winds its way through some of the most spectacular terrain in Western Australia’s southwest region. This isn’t a point-to-point race, so you can base yourself somewhere for your stay and head to each stage location as needed. Margaret River 28

is a popular location but there are a number of options in the greater area.

Each stage of Cape to Cape offers its own unique challenges and rewards, promising an unforgettable journey for riders of all skill levels. The Cape to Cape organisers have also ensured each stage is able to be completed by handcyclists, with diversions in place as needed.

STAGE ONE - CAPE LEEUWIN The Cape to Cape adventure starts under the iconic Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, where the Indian and Southern Oceans collide in a mesmerising display of natural beauty. It’s also a place where riders from the east, west, south and north of the continent collide, ready to stake their claim for the event lead on stage one.

But don’t worry if that’s not why you’re here, wave starts mean those racing for sheep stations can do just that, without creating fuss for those there for the experience and personal challenge.

The trails here boast stunning coastal views, rocky outcrops, and technical descents that will put your skills to the test from the get-go.

STAGE TWO – NANNUP For the first time ever, Cape to Cape will head inland to Nannup and the Tank 7 mountain bike park, a trail destination that has quickly found popularity with mountain bikers all through the west. Moving inland means meandering rivers, and rolling hills that define this picturesque region. The trails in Nannup offer a refreshing change of scenery, with fast-flowing singletrack, plenty of build features and exhilarating descents that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.

We’ve heard that some of the best courses designers around have had their hand in planning out this stage, and we reckon this could well be the best course of the whole four days. So make sure you’re ready!

STAGE THREE - MARGARET RIVER Margaret River is the beating heart of Cape to Cape. Renowned for its world-class wine, gourmet food, and stunning coastline, Margaret River is a true gem of Western Australia. Here, the Cape to Cape course takes riders through towering karri forests, past

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sprawling vineyards, and along rugged coastal cliffs. It’s a feast for the senses, with every twist and turn revealing a new vista to marvel at.

Expect tall berms of hard-packed red dirt, fresh trails in the plantation, big built features to test your mettla, flat out trails along the river and some fast and loose descents that will keep you on your toes. With three stages done and just one to go, it’s a great day to sit back and enjoy the Saturday afternoon after the stage – and chances are your accommodation is close by too. So sit back and soak it all in!

STAGE FOUR - CAPE NATURALISTE As you approach the final leg of your Cape to Cape journey, the trails around Cape Naturaliste offer a fitting finale to your Cape to Cape adventure. Ride through ancient forests, past secluded beaches, and up challenging climbs that will push you to your limits.The Zone 6 and golf course trails are built for slicing and dicing, often with multiple line options so you can style it up for the crowds or take the fast line for speed. You can expect fast trail conditions and close racing for those at the pointy end.

As you near the finish line, take a moment to soak in the panoramic views of Geographe Bay—a fitting reward for your hard work and dedication.

A CELEBRATION OF MOUNTAIN BIKING AND CAMARADERIE More than just a race, the Cape to Cape mountain bike event is a celebration of everything that makes mountain biking great.

From the moment you arrive at the starting line, you’ll be swept up in the excitement and energy of the event, surrounded by fellow riders who share your passion for adventure and exploration.

Throughout the four days of racing, you’ll push yourself to new heights, tackling challenging terrain, conquering steep climbs, and descending heart-pounding descents with confidence and skill. But no matter how tough the trail, you’ll find encouragement and support from your fellow riders, as well as the enthusiastic crowds who line the course to cheer you on. Plus, it’s not a bad place to spend some down time and hang out after each stage as well.

And when the riding is done for the day, the fun is just getting started. It’s a chance to relax, unwind, and swap stories with fellow riders, forging friendships that will last a lifetime.

SIGHTS OF THE SOUTH WEST While Cape to Cape may be the main attraction, Western Australia’s south west

region offers a wealth of sights and experiences to explore during your visit.

From the rugged coastline of Cape Leeuwin, limestone caves, glorious beached and the towering forests of Manjimup, there’s no shortage of natural wonders to discover. Take a break from the bike and embark on a hike through ancient forests, or simply relax on pristine beaches and soak up the sunshine.

For food and wine enthusiasts, Margaret River is a paradise. Indulge your taste buds with world-class wines, gourmet cuisine, and fresh local produce, all against the backdrop of stunning vineyards and rolling hills.

And let’s not forget about the wildlife.

Keep your eyes peeled for kangaroos bounding through the bush, dolphins playing in the waves, and whales breaching offshore. Western Australia is home to some of the world’s most iconic wildlife.

Mark your calendars, gather your gear, and join the Cape to Cape event crew in Western Australia this October for the ride of a lifetime. Whether you’re a seasoned rider or a novice mountain bike, the Cape to Cape mountain bike event promises an unforgettable experience that will create long lasting memories and introduce you to some great trails.

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THE BIG BIKE FILM NIGHT IS COMING TO AUSTRALIA The Big Bike Film Night has become a popular institution amongst bike and film lovers. Combining a vast array of films on one night of entertainment, the Big Bike Film Night has won acclaim from many. The mission is simple: bringing the best cycling short films from around the world together for you to watch and enjoy.

The 2024 collection will display 2.5 hours of bike films that has should provide everything a cycle-centric audience could want – action, drama, humour, and plenty of inspiration; the evening is unashamedly designed and devised for the two-wheel devotee. You can expect to see a mix of riding, from the dirt to the road and back again. Bikes are at the core of the Big Bike Film Night, and The Big Bike Film Night will be touring through Australia from early August to early October with 10 films that cover all aspects of pedal power from spectacular mountain bike rides through South America and the South Island of New Zealand, to how a bicycle can change the world. You can book your tickets online – and by doing so you’ll be entered to win a trip to New Zealand!

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2024 BIG BIKE FILM NIGHT SCREENINGS

WIN A TRIP TO NEW ZEALAND Purchase a ticket to any Australian screening and, thanks to the Big Bike Film Night presenting partner Ngā Haerenga Great Rides of New Zealand, you could win an epic cycling holiday in New Zealand for two, with Cycle Journeys, on the scenically stunning Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail Great Ride. Terms and conditions apply – visit the website for all details.

Visit www.bigbikefilmnight.nz for tour dates and tickets

Geelong Melbourne | Hawthorn East Melbourne | Wantrina South Rosebud Yackandandah Canberra Wollongong Sydney | Northern Beaches Sydney | Upper North Shore Avoca Beach Sydney | Paddington Sunshine Coast | Caloundra Brisbane | New Farm Cairns Townsville Brisbane | South Bank Gold Coast Brunswick Heads Lismore Newcastle Grafton Brisbane | Wynnum Port Macquarie Coffs Coast Bendigo Hobart Launceston St Helens Dorrigo Adelaide Geraldton Busselton Perth Fremantle Albany

Monday 5th August Tuesday 6th August Wednesday 7th August Thursday 8th August Saturday 10th August Monday 12th August Tuesday 13th August Wednesday 14th August Thursday 15th August Friday 16th August Tuesday 20th August Wednesday 21st August Thursday 22nd August Monday 26th August Tuesday 27th August Wednesday 28th August Wednesday 28th August Thursday 29th August Saturday 31st August Monday 2nd September Monday 2nd September Tuesday 3rd September Tuesday 3rd September Tuesday 3rd September Wednesday 4th September Thursday 5th September Friday 6th September Saturday 7th September Sunday 8th September Tuesday 10th September Tuesday 10th September Thursday 12th September Sunday 15th September Monday 16th September Thursday 3rd October

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SHIMANO RELEASE GRX 2X12 DI2 After releasing 12-speed GRX in September 2023, Shimano electrified the 12-speed gravel riding experience in late May as they released 2x12 GRX RX825 Di2 components.

While Shimano’s 1x12 GRX offering shares plenty with their mountain bike group sets, the 2x12 mechanical iteration shares more with their road groups – and the same can be said for the 2x12 GRX Di2,.

As such you’ll see dual control levers refined for comfort and control, a Shimano Shadow Plus equipped rear derailleur for enhanced chain management, and a gravel-optimised front derailleur for seamless shifting. The 2x12 system is designed for gravel riders who value overall gear range and the chain security that a front derailleur offers, and the new 2x12 GRX Di2 should do that, with a wireless cockpit and a number of snazzy customisation options.

A CLOSER LOOK One of the benefits of the Di2 shifting is lightning fast shifting with near zero effort.

Better yet, the shift effort remains the same no matter the load or conditions. Shimano’s Hyperglide+ shifting means the 12-speed chains and Shimano Ultegra and Dura Ace cassettes have shift ramps to securely and quickly shift up or down the cassette under load. First introduced on the current generation of XTR, Hyperglide+ is a big part of what makes Shimano’s shifting so smooth on it’s 12 speed mountain bike group sets.

The electronic trickery on Shimano’s 2x12 GRX Di2 follows the lead from their 12-speed road group sets. As such, the shifters are wireless, using dual coin cell batteries (CR1632) and a Bluetooth connection to the derailleurs. These are linked by a cable and connected to a battery, for a long battery life and extended performance. Shimano state the coin cell batteries could last over 3 years – which is what we like to hear given the high burn rate of so many coin cell batteries on the market.

Given the rigours of gravel riding, the hood shape delivers a pronounced raised hood and textured finish for off-road use, along with a third button on the hood for added customisation of the electronic controls.

This could be a nice Flight Deck throwback for some, but the beauty is in how you can setup your ride – more on that below.

Shimano have also developed accessory shifters to sit inboard closer to the stem

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clamp, allowing you to ride in a more upright position while still having full control over your shifting.

Like the mechanical GRX 2x12, Shimano have optimised the rear derailleur with a tuneable clutch and a design to stay well and truly out of harms way. Riders familiar with Shimano’s electronic range of DI2 group sets and E-bike systems will understand that the magic comes via the E-tube app, and the ability to customise your equipment. That remains with 2x12 GRX Di2, giving you the ability to decide what button does what shift, and even how many gears can be shifted at once.

Shimano’s new Front Shift Next update means you can set the system up to programme a button to shift the front mech to the other chain ring – no matter the ring it is in. This is ideal for the rapid dump of gears when being brake checked in a gravel race, or quickly grabbing a whole lot of gear range for that big attack.

GEAR RANGE With 31/48 and 30/46 tooth crank sets and 11-34 or 22-16 cassette options (or tighter ranges) Shimano’s 12-speed GRX range offers all the range for burly gravel adventures through to rolling turns along Mt Paris Dam road – or at any gravel race that tickles your fancy. The close step shifting will suit the racers, or those who have one drop-bar bike to rule them all.

SO, IS THIS THE NEW DI2?

Well – yes. For systems with front derailleurs. But it looks like we’ll have to wait and see what Shimano are brewing for dedicated mountain bike Di2. This GRX system is a GRX Di2 update from 11-speed to 12-speed, taking the key technology from what has already been applied to Shimano’s road group sets. Shimano do have 1x12 Di2 group sets out already – they are right udner your nose on a number of eMTBs on the market. But these are still a wired system, which makes total sense on an eMTB which has a huge power source already.

However, for those waiting for a dedicated 12-speed (or 13 speed?) electronic mountain bike group set from Shimano – this isn’t really a hint at what is to come. So we are left to wait and wonder.

Shimano 2x12 GRX Di2 will be available as you read this – contact your local Shimano dealer for pricing or further details.

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S ENTRIELY 14 U CLOSE J24 20 G VOTIN C I L B U P ROM OPEN F AUG 4 JUL 22

SUPPORTING PARTNER

2 0 2 4 The AMB Photo Awards presented by Shimano are back again, after a huge year in 2023! Last year we had an immense volume of entries and voting, with a big influx of entries from young photographers. In 2024 were are following on from last year, so the AMB Photo Awards presented by Shimano will not only have a stand alone social media video category, but it will only be open to entrants from Australia and New Zealand. The subject matter can be from anywhere in the world.

As in previous years there will be four main categories. Each will have a winner, second and third place as voted by readers on a microsite from a short list put together by a judging panel.

There will be an overall winner for the most complete portfolio, selected by a judging panel including pro photographer Tim Bardsley-Smith, 2023 AMB Photographer of the Year Kristina Vackova and our editor Mike Blewitt. The youth category

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remains and is determined by being under 20 during the competition period. This will be a one off image submitted in any of the categories. This winner will also be chosen by public voting from a short list selected by our judges.

The social media video will need to be a raw upload without music, under 60 seconds and optimised for social media. We want you to capture being out riding and having fun. Let’s hear the trail, the stoke and the natural environment we get to play in. All videos will be uploaded to our social media accounts to be shared, but the winner will be decided by our voting panel.

Our judging panel will pick the overall AMB Photographer of the Year. The photography categories will have a winner, plus second and third place, as voted by readers from a short list.

The Raw Reels winner will be selected by our voting panel.

GRAVITY

XC WHOA!

WOMEN WHO RIDE

This category is about celebrating everything that is good in downhill, dual slalom, enduro, freeride, dirtjumping, high speed trail rides and push runs. We want to see the action, dedication and scenery that comes from riding with gravity. This could be a photo from your local enduro event, something from the Downhill World Cup, an image from your local trails where your buddy hits the fall line chute... we want to see high impact photos that showcase gravity riding and racing, with exceptional framing and composition.

Cross-country riding and racing has evolved, and this category celebrates that. Photos entered in this category may come from your club XC race, a big all-day pedal into the backcountry, action from the XCO World Cup, a marathon race, a stage race, or training for any of these events. What does XC mean to you? We want to see the grit and determination, the bar-to-bar action and the features and settings that really make XC come alive. Our judges will look for unique images that tell a story and capture the sole of XC, with top level composition and framing.

In 2021 we brought a category to showcase women in sport back to the competition.

Mountain biking is diverse and we want to ensure that it continues to be so and grows from here. Women have been underrepresented in the photography of the AMB Photography Awards, and that doesn’t match who we see riding and ripping the trails. This category is designed to encourage a broader representation of who makes up our sport. Make it fun, make it inspiring, and make it inclusive. A winning photograph in this category will be all about excellent composition, so make sure it’s unique to stand out from the crowd.

RAW REELS In this social media video category we want you to show us what mountain biking is for you via a social media video. Keep it fun, keep it raw and deliver some stoke! We want to see the trails where you get to ride and why it’s so good. Submit your sub 90 second video via the instructions on our competition page. We want the raw sounds, no soundtrack. This category will be judged on video editing proficiency and how engaging the video is.

AMB PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR OUTBACK AND BEYOND Away from the stacked loops, our playground is immense. A bike is one of the best tools for adventure out there, and it is only limited by your imagination. In this category we want to see the places your bike can take you. Show us the wild environments. Show as the vertiginous places, the serpentine trails along never ending ridgleines and capture the vast nothing in the centre of Australia. A winning photo in this category is going to give the judges a sense of being in the environment, and the dedication required to be there. We’ll still be looking for amazing composition and framing – but most of all we want to be inspired. We want your photo to capture our imagination to spur us on to get out and ride!

To win the overall title you need to enter a photo in each of the photography categories. You need to blow our judges away as the level to win the overall title has been set really high. Study the categories and shoot to suit. The winner will collect $3000 and a Shimano Deore XT M8100 12-speed group set, plus have a full feature in Issue #210 of AMB.

YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR In this category, our judges select a short list from all the images submitted by photographers under 20. So the entries can come from any of the four photography categories. We’ll be looking for proficient composition and editing, capturing the moment and really nailing the category. The winner will receive a Shimano SLX M7100 12-speed group set. There will also be an interview in Issue #210 of AMB.

HOW TO ENTER Head to photoawards.ambmag.com.au to enter.

Full terms and conditions along with all category details are online.

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You know what they say, new gear, new you. Here's a look at some fresh bits landing in Australia.

TRU-TENSION INNER TUBE SEALANT

This is one for the dedicated marathon and cross-country racers out there.

You may have spied this super low profile tread in use by a number of pro riders, but now regular plebs like us can get them! The Aspen ST has similar edge knobs to the popular Aspen, but with a centre tread that has mor in common with a file tread cyclocross tubular. The super-fast tyre is available in the Maxxis 120tpi EXO casing with tubeless ready bead and new Maxx Speed rubber – or a ‘team only’ 170tpi casing, which has a higher thread count for lower weight and a more supple ride. Both tyres are available in 2.25” and 2.4”. And the regular Aspen is also available in the new 170tpi casing as well.

If you’re a die hard user of inner tubes (and yes, they’re out there) then Tru-Tension have a sealant that will work for you. Seem silly? Those who ride in areas with thorns often prefer being able to run a tube with sealant, given the amount of punctures that occur. Some will also like how this option makes changing tyres less messy. The Tru-Tension Inner Tube Sealant has carbon fibre and graphene, claiming to mean it can seal holes up to 4mm. To achieve this, the carbon fibre strands assist in making a bridging surface for the sealant to stick to, while also filling the gaps. The structure creates a strong fix, given the carbon fibre strands. This should create a longer lasting solution and even a permanent fix.

From $99 kwtimports.com.au

$19.99 (250mL) FESports.com.au

MAXXIS ASPEN ST

BONTRAGER’S NEW RUBBER

Coming from the US, Kuat’s Piston Pro joins the ranks of the other brand’s racks now stocked by FE Sports.

The style of platform rack has been championed by many for fast loading and unloading, and being able to work with a wide variety of bikes. The speed and versatility is thanks to the dual arms that don’t contact your frame – they pivot from the end of the rack, compressing the tyres into the wheel well tray. The 2-bike rack has a weight limit of about 30kg per bike, which should be enough for just about any bike you own. Add ons are available and therre are add on light boards as well. Kuat have a semi-integrated cable lock for security, and with a foot pedal you can easily lower the rack for access to the rear of your car. Throw in Kuat’s No Worries Limited Warranty, and this could be a contender for your next bike rack.

We heard Bontrager have a new range of tyres coming, and recently we had two models from the PRO XR range come across the AMB desk. The Bontrager Sainte-Anne is named after the iconic World Cup venue in Quebec, Canada. The 60tpi casing is built tough for the rigours of World Cup racing, with the model being available in 29 x 2.4”, which is the modern XC standard. Tread wise, it’s a low tread height that has consistent coverage – designed to work as well on fast courses as it does on those littered with roots. The design has lots of edges to find grip, without adding too much drag. Dual compounds keep it rolling fast in a straight line, with stickier rubber on the shoulders.

The Bontrager Gunnison PRO XR is a light trail tyre, likely suiting its namesake which has desert trails that can take you into the dry alpine trails in Colorado. The tread is open, with a dual compound rubber on the 60tpi 29 x 2.4” casing.

Tread height is far higher than on something like the Sainte-Anne, and this tyre looks to replace te XR4.

Both tyres are also available in the RSL models – which are 220tpi and drop tonnes of weight!

$1899 FEsports.com.au

$TBC trekbikes.com/au/en_AU/

KUAT PISTON PRO

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Photo Credit: Jamie Parker

See Our Huge Range of Bikepacking Gear

wildearth.com.au

STORE LOCATOR: 25 Central Dr, Burleigh Heads QLD Skygate Home & Life, 30 The Circuit, Brisbane

CALENDAR

Want to race? Don’t know what, don’t know where? Well we’ve got all the details for you right here. Got an event coming up that’s not listed here?

Send it to amb@nextmedia.com.au.

XC/XCM AND THE REST

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16 June

Kalamunda 50

Kalamunda, WA

singletrackminds.com.au

22 June

Devil’s Cardigan

Derby, TAS

devilscardigan.com.au

13 July

Paluma Push

Paluma, QLD

palumapush.com.au

13 July

Collie River MTB Marathon

Collie, WA

ridecollie.com.au

25-28 July

Reef to Reef

Cairns, QLD

reeftoreefmtb.com

28 July

Hardwood MTB Marathon

Jarrahdale, WA

perthmtb.asn.au

22-25 August

Shimano Gravel Muster

Alice Springs, NT

rapidascent.com.au

25 August

WA XCO State Champs

Goat Farm, WA

auscycling.org.au

6-8 September

The Orca

Eden, NSW

quadcrownmtb.com.au

14 September

Dwellingup 100

Dwellingup, WA

dwellingup100.com.au

14-15 September

99 Bikes Epic

Grandchester, QLD

hiddenvaleadventurepark.com.au

5-6 October

QLD XCO State Champs

Gordonbrook Dam, QLD

auscycling.org.au

17-20 October

Cape to Cape

Margaret River, WA

capetocapemtb.com

25-27 October

Whaka 100

Rotorua, NZ

whaka100.co.nz

8-10 November

The Big O

Omeo, VIC

quadcrownmtb.com.au

NSW State Gravity Series

Stromlo, ACT

auscycling.org.au

GRAVITY 15-16 June 29-30 June

QLD Downhill State Champs

Townsville, QLD

auscycling.org.au

29-30 June

WA Downhill State Rounds 4 + 5

Nannup, WA

auscycling.org.au

6-7 July

WA State Enduro Champs

Geraldton, WA

wagravityenduro.org

19-28 July

Crankworx Whistler

Whistler, CAN

crankworx.com

27-29 July

NSW/ACT Gravity Series

Del Rio, NSW

auscycling.org.au

10-11 August

WA Gravity Enduro Rnd 5

Goat Farm, WA

wagravityenduro.org

31 August -1 Sep

ACT/NSW Gravity Series

Mt Borah, NSW

auscycling.org.au

14-15 September

WA Gravity Enduro Rnd 6

Nannup, WA

wagravityenduro.org

21-22 September

QLD Gravity Enduro Champs

Kooralbyn, QLD

auscycling.org.au

21 September

WA Downhill Champs

Dwellingup, WA

auscycling.org.au

28-29 September

NSW/ACT Gravity Series

Orange, NSW

auscycling.org.au

18-20 October

Gravity Enduro National Champs

Perth area, WA

auscycling.org.au

16-17 November

WA Gravity Enduro Rnd 8

Linga Longa, WA

wagravityenduro.org

www.ambmag.com.au

GROWING WILLPOWER

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WORDS ELLA BLOOR

ecently, I’ve found myself questioning: why do we race? Why do we get up in the dark to ride before work or school? Why do we push through and ride when it’s wet, cold or stinking hot? Why do we willingly challenge ourselves with a sport that often forces us to reach outside our comforts?

Riding bikes undoubtedly has substantial psychological aspects, and its benefits extend beyond our time on two wheels. For most of us, there is an undeniable addiction to the feelings riding our bikes brings us. Without deep-diving into the multitude of studies conducted to prove the physical and mental health benefits of exercising, I’m sure we can all agree on those! I wanted to explore why we pursue discomfort and what the benefits are.

Willpower is an interesting word often used to describe someone who is disciplined and determined. Willpower isn’t something you’re born with or are naturally talented at. Willpower and perseverance are something that can be grown, developed and strengthened.

Multiple regions in the brain are responsible for willpower or selfcontrol, but it’s the prefrontal cortex that plays a significant role in your ability to overcome impulsive thoughts when discomfort looms.

Studies have shown that practicing tasks that require self-control can physically alter the structure and function of the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex involves higher-order cognitive functions such as decision-making, planning, impulse control, and moderating social behaviour. It’s crucial for self-regulation and executive functions, which are essential willpower components.

Science has suggested that you can physically train and strengthen this part of your brain by doing various activities that challenge you and test your willpower over time.

If you’ve ever sat in a well-used portaloo before the start of a race and deeply questioned why you signed up to spend your weekend doing this but persevered and got yourself to the start, you’ve helped strengthen your willpower. Even more so, if you’ve pushed www.ambmag.com.au

past a distance you’ve ever thought you were capable of or ridden a feature you’ve been building up to try. Whenever we feel ourselves overcoming those intrusive thoughts for comfort, we inherently strengthen our willpower. Contrastingly, the more you roll over when your alarm goes off, the more you don’t follow through with a goal that you’ve set for yourself, the more it impacts your brain and the repeatability of not following through with a goal, challenge or pursuing discomfort increases.

People who are perceived to have greater willpower or determination are more likely to have just better convinced themselves why they do it—knowing why we chase discomfort is a fundamental part of growing willpower. For some people, the why is for the simple feelings of joy that you get from being outside and riding your bike. The underrated satisfaction you feel when you reach the top of a climb, or the first few pedal strokes in the early morning after you’ve battled whether you hit the snooze button. Or you’ve just completed an event in a distance you didn’t think was quite possible for you. Perhaps you bettered a time your old self would have been stoked to have achieved, or perhaps you failed but learnt something, or you picked yourself up to try again. The strength to even try should not be underestimated, as this all takes willpower and determination. For others, it’s in the competitive quest for bettering themselves or being the best, and wanting to see how far they can push their body’s physical capabilities. For some people, the challenge is motivated because they see the challenges other people don’t electively face and challenge themselves in honour of those who have suffered or are suffering. Through riding, at whatever capacity that may mean for you, we begin to develop these tools to help overcome challenges and hurdles.

Ultimately, the question of why you do something has to come from within, and embracing and persisting in our motivations helps us grow willpower, which often leads to some of the most rewarding and fulfilling emotions the human experience has to offer.

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GETTING TRAILS OPERATING LONG-TERM WORDS CRAIG MEINICKE

PHOTO GERARD LAGANA

I am lucky to work with land managers and clubs across Australia to develop, build, and manage new and existing trail networks. This gives me a unique perspective on the key ingredients that need to come together to deliver a successful project and to manage and maintain trails sustainably.

Mountain bikers are travelling more, they are experiencing new and exciting trails, and when they get home, they are expecting higher quality riding experiences from their local trails. This poses both challenges and opportunities for organisations who manage trails.

At the heart of any successfully managed trail network is a robust operating model that provides a framework to manage the trails and supporting infrastructure to provide a holistic riding experience, while also providing sustainable environmental and cultural outcomes. To be effective, operating models must align to the size and vibe of the trail network, along with defining how maintenance and management activities are funded.

THE INGREDIENTS

An effective operating model for trail management involves several key components: • Planning and design: ensuring trails are planned and designed to align with the defined user experience, difficulty rating, and longterm sustainability.

• Governance: establishing clear roles and responsibilities for ongoing management and decision making.

• Funding mechanisms: developing sustainable funding sources to support management and maintenance.

• Monitoring: implementing robust inspection and audit programs to monitor trail condition over time.

• Database: developing a methodology to capture, analyse and present trail data.

• Maintenance: implementing a robust trail maintenance program using available resources.

When implemented effectively, these ingredients work together to proactively manage trails, and quickly respond to issues as they arise.

NEW TRAILS

One area that often leads to issues is the handover of newly built trails from contractors to the trail operator. This phase is often where gaps in planning, in defining roles and responsibilities, and creating funding frameworks can lead to uncertainty, conflict, and insufficient trail maintenance as the trails bed in.

To avoid these pitfalls, it is vital that the operating model and framework are developed, implemented, and tested in advance of trails opening. This includes having detailed maintenance plans, trained people, and funding secured for at least the initial couple of years of operation.

EXISTING TRAILS

Historically trail management is often what I refer to as ‘key person dependent’. This is where one person or a small group of people know a trail network intimately and can proactively manage the trails based solely on their knowledge.

Trails managed under a key person framework function well until the person or group of people retire or move on to other activities taking the knowledge with them. Organisations who rely on key people should prioritise downloading the knowledge into operational documents to mitigate succession risks.

POLICY HURDLES

A significant hurdle in maintaining Australia’s trail networks are current governmental policies on grant funding. Most government grants available today focus solely on the development and construction of new trails. There is a notable lack of provision for ongoing maintenance funding in these policies, which places a substantial financial strain on clubs and trail management organisations.

This policy oversight means that clubs and trail mangers must rely on alternative funding sources, such as local government funding, sponsorship, private donations, or community fundraising efforts.

While these can be effective, they lack the stability and predictability of government-supported funding, making long-term financial planning for trail development and maintenance challenging.

To address these funding challenges, there is a pressing need for policy reform. Advocacy from trail users and local communities is crucial to highlight the importance of maintenance funding. A shift in policy could allow future grant schemes to include allocations for maintenance, not just construction, thereby ensuring the sustainability of trail networks.

MOVING FORWARD

The establishment of a solid operating models are crucial for the sustainable management of mountain bike trails.

Operating models provide certainty, financial stability, and optimise the use of resources. They don’t need to be overly complicated, but they do need to have enough detail to outline what needs to be done, who is responsible, and when key activities need to occur.

Operating models are also a critical element in demonstrating professional trail management which is the first step in addressing policy issues associated with securing funding for trail maintenance.

As the old saying goes, the best time to plant an oak tree was 10 years ago, the next best time is now. If your club or organisation is struggling to effectively develop and manage your local trail network, developing and documenting an operating model should be a priority.

Happy trails!

Craig Meinicke works for Blue Sky Trails, managing trail development, funding and governance.

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www.ambmag.com.au

17-20 OCT 2024

AL DENTE OUTCOMES WORDS CHRIS PANOZZO

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P H O T O C L A N C Y K E L LY

l dente isn’t a phrase you would hear very often amongst regular followers of Downhill racing. It is an Italian term used frequently when cooking or describing pasta to those that care for such things. It defines when something is cooked just right, subjective as that may be and ignoring the literal translation of “to the tooth”, the phrase is often accompanied by a gesturing of ones hand in a manner that suggests a complete grasp of Italian language and tradition, even if that might be the only word in your Italian dictionary apart from “extra hot cappuccino mate”.

Above the famous pasta town of San Remo in Italy lies the sleepy village of San Romolo, where in April somewhere in the back kitchen of a little Ristorante, the head Nonna of one of the big four UCI DH teams decided the time was Al Dente or “just right”. A press release containing a short video of the training camp currently under way on the famous Romolo DH track was released, in it contained some of the biggest transfer news to hit the Australian DH scene for some time. Oli Davis, a new signing to the Commencal Schwalbe team was on the move to the Santa Cruz Syndicate!

We have had Aussie riders on big teams before, and still do with www.ambmag.com.au

Brosnan holding a seat at Canyon, but the mainstream American following of the Syndicate, and the structure that exists to support the riders on that team creates a huge platform and room for a rider like Oli to grow, in parallel growing the support back here in Australia. There will be pressure to perform but not something I would classify as real pressure. When you look down the field and see riders living out of vans, working off a budget of pennies and scraping spares from the teams they aspire to be on; that I would suggest is what pressure looks like. Oli has been there and knows what that’s like, in fact it was what he had to do to put himself in a position to pick up a ride from a team like Commencal Schwalbe, but to make the jump straight up to a big four team reflects the character and speed he has been showing, and it is remarkably rare these days for a rider to make such a profound move like that.

It’s a pairing that feels just right in so many aspects, the team is getting a no-nonsense fast, mouldable rider who is eager to learn, while Oli has the seat that has previously delivered world championships to those that have occupied it. There is another Italian word that sums up the situation well, and you probably don’t need a translation for this one; Bellisimo.

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USING TECH TO IMPROVE THE WAY YOU MOVE WO R D S D R K AT H B I C K N E L L

P H OTO N I C K WAY G O O D

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hen it comes to riding well, a lot of the time we know what to do, we just don’t know whether, or how well, we’re doing it. The good news is this often means we already know what we need to fix the problem – or who to ask for help.

Read on for four ways of using tech to fine-tune what you think you’re doing on the bike and what you’re actually doing, and to come up with fresh ideas and strategies for what you want to improve on next.

Use video to see what you otherwise can’t

When our eyes are glued firmly on the trail, most of our awareness comes from how our bodies feel as we move. We can think something ‘feels good’ or ‘feels right’, but a few seconds of video footage can help us realise how the shape we’re making on the bike is not anywhere near as ideal as the one we think we’re making.

Riders new to the sport will often think they’re getting their butt well behind the saddle for example, only to be surprised when they learn that they’ve only moved backwards a centimetre or two. A more experienced rider might be surprised by the inefficiency of bobbing shoulders. Or a joint angle that explains the feedback they’re getting on a particular obstacle.

Recognising bad technique through video quickly helps your mind’s eye to recalibrate how you’re moving on the bike, what needs to change to move better, and updates your awareness of what ‘good’ really feels like.

Freeze the moment with a camera and play spot the difference

Have you ever gone through race photos after a ride or event and compared images of yourself riding over an obstacle to riders who are much faster than you? By playing ‘spot the difference’ you can learn a lot about body position, line choice, or skills to add to your ‘to learn’ list.

While video captures the longer movement, a simple photo can help you pick up on some important subtle, and not so subtle, parts of your technique. Compare a photo of a rider who you deem as skilled as a point of comparison.

Use GPS data to fine-tune your perception of speed

With Strava segments all over the place these days they provide a great opportunity to fine-tune your perceived effort, or perceived speed, with how you really rode. This can be great for confirming that yes, you were on a blinder, that you weren’t as slow as you thought or how one bike compares with another.

If you want to take post-ride analysis further, find a trail (or climb) you want to improve on that has a few sub-segments. These can be helpful for breaking down where you’re losing or gaining the most time compared to other people on the leaderboard and coming up with strategies for next time. Are you getting stuck in the tight turns? Lagging on a steep pinch climb? A few sub-segments may reveal it all.

Learn what your data means for you

Just like those Strava times, any data you analyse needs to be put into context. If you use power or a heart rate monitor for example, learn what the numbers you produce mean for you. Then learn a bit about the science of training with those numbers, and how to use them to pace yourself well over both long and short distances. (Talk to a medical professional if you’re seeing something that doesn’t look right).

Using data to learn how fast you can move, and for how long, isn’t a new concept for most riders. The trickier thing to build into your awareness is often the opposite: when to rest, and the relationship between quality rest and longer-term improvement. Tracking your accumulative ride time or using a program like Training Peaks that does this for you can Learn more about be helpful in this way too. using your mind to A huge part of riding well is being aware of get more out of how your body is moving in relation to the your time on the bike bike and the terrain. Using readily available from Kath Bicknell at: technology to your advantage to fast-track intelligentaction.cc that process and to boost your skills and consistency along the way! All these tools @Intelligent_Action are probably lined to your phone – you just FB: Intelligent Action need to put it into action.

Keep in mind that trail ethics are more important than Strava times or looking good for a camera by a ratio of about 1,000,000:1. Before putting any of these training techniques into practice, choose trails, ride buddies and times of day that keep mountain biking fun for everyone. Just like in a race, the goal is to ride well, in the conditions, on the day. Not to be an idiot.

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F

or many of us, our mountain bike is the most important tool in our toolbox for life, our method of escape from the responsibilities and stresses of the everyday. The way we use our mountain bike takes a different form for everyone, from cruising along fire roads and pedally singletrack for kilometres on end to pumping adrenaline to the max on challenging descents and technical features. No matter what your style is, we can all agree that when you’re desperate for a ride the worst thing in the world is when something goes wrong with your bike. Sometimes it’s just bad luck; but a lot of the time a ride-ending mechanical could have been easily avoided with some good habits and a few bits and pieces to make sure your bike is running at its best performance for as long as possible. To help you out we’ve found 6 tools to keep your number 1 tool in good nick.

WORDS OLIVE TUTT

PHOTOS JORDAN RIDDLE

CHAIN CHECKER The chain is a pivotal part of how your bike rides; it doesn’t matter if you’re derailleur is perfectly set up, if the chain is worn then your gears won’t work properly. You might notice the gears are slipping or taking forever to move between cogs; then, halfway up the hill your chain snaps. You buy a new chain and put it on, but your gears are still slipping; it turns out your old chain was so far past the wear limit it’s worn out your cassette and chain ring as well. Suddenly you’re $500 out of pocket – or more! A chain checker is an easy and inexpensive way to prevent this situation from happening. Generally, a chain should be replaced when at 0.75 wear to avoid wearing out the rest of the drivetrain and ensuring optimal shifting. Replacing your chain early means you may get years of use out of one cassette and prevent the annoying little issues in your shifting while riding. The Park Tool CC-2 Chain Checker, while a little more expensive than some others retailing at $40, is super easy to use and read. Having a chain checker in your kit and checking the wear every few weeks is the easiest way to ensure optimal shifting and save money by prolonging the life of your drivetrain.

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TRACK PUMP Tyre pressure affects two main areas of your riding experience: traction, control and efficiency; and the condition of your wheel system. Having the correct tyre pressure for the trails you’re riding means you’ll go faster; you won’t work as hard and you’re less likely to stack it in the most inconspicuous spot. So, we know pumping up our tyres helps the bikes performance on the trail, but a lot of people seem resigned to the idea that flat tyres and dinted rims are just a part of mountain biking; but they really don’t have to be. The easiest way to avoid flatting in the middle of a ride, damaging your rims and prematurely wearing out your tyres is to make sure you have the right amount of air in your tyres. Keeping an accurate and high-quality track pump at home or in the car and pumping up your tyres before each ride will optimise your chances of a fast feeling and incident free ride. The Lezyne Sport Floor Drive pump will set you back around $80 and ensure your tyres are always at the optimal pressure. Bonus points if you add a digital pressure gauge to the mix!

DIGITAL SHOCK PUMP

TORQUE WRENCH

A few psi makes a huge difference to how your suspension feels, pumping up your shock with a dodgy pump and saying to yourself “eh, close enough,” will probably give you a completely different set up to what you wanted. A digital shock pump takes away the guess work, allowing you to accurately tune your bike to the trail. It also gives you the agency to play around with your suspension set up and keep track of what works for you on what trail. The right suspension setup for you and your bike will also minimise the chances of damage to your fork or shock from running the wrong pressures. We all want to feel good on the trail and our suspension is one of the most important factors in that so having a digital shock pump handy gives you the controls for the optimal set up. The Rockshox 300 psi Digital Shock Pump is pretty trusty and comes in at about $100.

If you’re going to invest a chunk of money into one tool, then it should be a good torque wrench. A torque wrench is one tool where it’s very important that it gets it exactly right or your bike ends up being a dangerous ride.

Each fixture on your bike should be labelled with the required amount of Newton Metres (Nm) for securing; a torque wrench enables you to precisely set and tighten the fixture to that specification. Without a torque wrench we risk over or under tightening crucial components which can lead to failure, damage or injury. Ensuring parts like your handlebars, stem, cranks and seat post are secured with a torque wrench means you don’t risk an unexpected mishap while riding and you don’t compromise your body by riding an unsafe bike. The BBB TorqueSet Tool retails for $160 and will allow you to have full confidence in your bike as you fly through challenging terrain while giving you the flexibility to make improvements in your set up.

ALLEN KEYS AND A WORKSTAND We know our drivetrain is in good condition, tyre pressures are just right, suspension is ready for whatever the trail throws at us, and all the nuts and bolts are secure; but something feels slightly off. Maybe your brakes are rubbing, or the cable tension is a little bit out, having a quality set of allen keys and workstand to make your bike accessible gives you the freedom to make small adjustments that drastically improve your ride feel.

Investing in these 6 tools and building good habits around using them will give you a better riding experience and a longer lasting bike. Ultimately, you’ll spend less time frustrated on the side of the trail or with your bike sadly hanging in the garage and less money repairing preventable damage. More time out on the trails and a newly found budget for the post ride feed?

There’s not a lot that can beat that.

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W H AT D O YOU N EED TO GO B IK EPACK IN G ?

WORDS MIKE BLEWITT

B

ikepacking is so hot right now, but the realtiy is people have been getting out, and staying out, with their bikes for decades. Being able to take everything you need, but nothing you don’t, is quite a liberating way to approach your trip to the trails. But bikepacking doesn’t need to be about absolute self-sufficiency. While being able to camp on the trail is great, don’t be put off if you’re not keen on camping. You might choose to book accommodation to ride between – or once you’re really experienced, trim back your sleep system to the absolute bare minimum.

Regardless of what your approach might be for this extended trail time, there are a few essentials you should consider for a bikepacking trip – whether you’re starting out or going further.

PHOTOS TIM BARDSLEY-SMITH

MA K E A P LAN

All great trips start with a plan! But you want to take this seriously. If you’re going to be away from home for a night or more, leave a plan with someone responsible. Outline your planned route, where you’re staying, and when you expect to be back in touch.

You can plan this route on a map, or plot it online. While having the route downloaded to your GPS is great, make sure you have something failsafe as well. A real map is a good option, or you can use a range of mapping apps that let you download maps to access offline. Google Maps is not your friend if you don’t have reception. In terms of how far you can ride each day – do what you’re comfortable with, but bear in mind even if you’re carrying some clothes and staying in hotels, you still have more gear than usual.

Don’t plan around the longest distance you have ever ridden – keep it fun!

VA L U E A F ULL TUMMY

If you’re struggling for room, don’t skimp on food – just find something more calorie dense!

If you’re going to be active and outdoors a lot of the day, you will need more food.

Depending on your route this may mean more cafe stops. But it could mean packing enough food in. It is easy to get rid of excess 52

packaging before you leave, which also means you have less to carry out. If you’re camping, a few easy extras like hot chocolate sachets go a long way at the end of the day.

A GOOD N IG HT’S RES T

Have a good think about sleeping, as if you do a big day and then have one or more after it, sleeping is essential. You could carry a lightweight tent, or a bivy bag for your sleeping bag and mat – or even go for a fly or tarp style shelter. But there’s no reason to not use a hotel, pub room or hostel if it suits your route. There’s no ‘rules’ about where you stay. And staying in bricks and mortar accommodation can reduce the need for extra gear if you don’t own a compact sleeping bag, mat and tent.

If you are camping out – consider the essentials. I know someone who does a bunch of fairly challenging trips. He doesn’t take shoes and has minimal luggage – but does take an inflatable pillow and quality sleeping mat as they’re essential for how he sleeps. Tarps and bivy bags should be reserved for those more experienced. Plan a route around bookable accommodation if it is your first overnighter – you might as well enjoy it!

C A R R Y YO U R G EA R C O M F O RTAB LY

Whether you’re riding to a pub and back, or crossing the Great Dividing Range, you’ll need to carry a bit more than you usually do for a day ride. But – there’s no need to go out and order custom bikepacking bags from someone like Big Bag Dude (just yet, anyway!). Using a small backpack and any small saddle bags you already have is a great way to start.

Especially if you’re riding to a pub or hotel and back, where your gear load won’t be too much.

You can also get racks that work for a range of bikes, like those from Aeroe or Tailfin. If you’re keen to do more, then you will enjoy getting weight off your back and onto your bike. This is where spreading the load between a bar roll, large saddle pack or rack and a frame bag makes sense – but just ease into it with the gear you have.

There are some great off te shelf bags around, but custom made may be the end goal if getting out and staying out becomes your next favourite adventure.

WH AT B I K E ?

Probably the one you own. Choose a route that suits what you like riding, and where you want to stay. A gravel bike will suit long, smoother dirt roads better. But I always prefer my mountain bike if there is any true mountain biking. There’s no shortage of great mountain bike bikepacking trips, the only limit is your imagination with route planning.

The main takeaway here is, don’t stop yourself from heading out on an adventure because you think you need a lot of specialist gear. Just modify the route to suit what you have and your idea of fun. That could be an arvo pedal from Beechworth to Yackandandah before staying in a hotel and riding back the next day. Or it might be pedalling out along the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail from Ipswich to Esk for a pub stay, before heading back the next day. Or maybe, it is climbing to Falls Creek for a couple of days of riding, staying at a chalet and descending back to Mount Beauty via Fainters. Perhaps you just want to ride from Branxholm to the Bay of Fires with a stay at Weldborough Pub in the middle. There are plenty of adventures out there – just start small, have fun... and tell someone where you’re going.

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HOW TO GET THE MOST

R A N G E

OUT OF YOUR EMTB WORDS MIKE BLEWITT

G

o anywhere with a new eMTB, and chances are someone will ask you how far you can ride with it. Just like an electric car, the range of an e-bike is a huge deciding factor for riders when they’re considering whether to get an eMTB, and what eMTB to get. While there are a couple of obvious factors like the size of the battery in Watt hours (Wh) and the level of support you use, the best answer to the question on range is probably also the most frustrating one: ‘it depends.’

There are a lot of minor, and not so minor, factors that will determine the range an eMTB will achieve, and a few tools to help you understand what that range is, and how to get the most out of your bike each and every ride.

UNDERSTAND THE MODES OF YOUR SYSTEM This is probably the big one. While keeping your bike in Turbo is going to feel awesome, it might also mean that out of tight corners you’re also covering the brake more than needed and in general – wasting the capability of your eMTB battery to give you more range.

Clearly, sticking your bike in ECO is going to give you excellent range, but for many of us ECO feels like a bit of a fail safe if you get too 54

PHOTOS GERARD LAGANA

optimistic with the range you will have, and it doesn’t really equate to the amount of fun you could be have on the trail with your new eMTB. To help fight decision fatigue and wondering if you’re in the best mode for the riding you’re doing, Bosch have two dynamic modes. You can select TOUR+ or EMTB. Both modes offer a very wide band of support that adapts to how you’re riding. EMTB will give up to 340% of support, and on a Smart System bike will included Extended Boost, whereby you still get support for a very short period after you stop pedalling. With the higher level of support, and the ongoing assistance fot hitting jumps or clearing obstacles – this is the choice when riding singletrack. When you need everything the system has got, you’ll get it. But when you’re cruising, the system will cruise with lower levels of support, saving your battery and therefore extending your potential range.

The TOUR+ mode has all the dynamic response of EMTB but without the Extended Boost feature, and compared to EMTB mode you will find it has a slightly more natural feel at lower outputs on flatter terrain. While not specifically designed for the best mountain bike performance, this mode is another great one to use to optimise your range without losing assistance.

CUSTOMISE YOUR MODES With the use of the Bosch Flow App, you can fine-tune all the modes available on your eMTB system. The modes can be easily customised via a slider on your phone screen – and you can quickly restore default settings if you feel like you got it wrong. You’re adjusting the support at first, which is the overall level of assistance available. The next thing to adjust is how dynamic the support is – think of this as how quickly the support becomes available.

You can also reduce the top speed where the assistance cuts out, back from 25km/h. This may put more load on you depending on the terrain you are riding – but it can make a big difference to the range. Lastly, you can increase or decrease the level of torque, to the maximum of 85Nm. The higher torque provides more support, especially at lower cadences, which could include very steep climbing. If you reduce the torque here you will save on the work the system needs to do – and increase the range you can get. Some small adjustments across all the elements will add up! Of course, with the pre-programmed modes already offering different levels of support to find the right mixes between range and assistance – the Bosch engineers have done a pretty good job already. But if you like to tinker – you can.

LOOK AFTER YOUR BATTERY The battery on your eMTB is an expensive component, and a big part in getting the most range out of your bike not just on one ride, but for the lifespan of the battery.

Charging and storage are two key things to consider. A battery should not be stored totally full or empty, and Bosch recommend 30-60% charge when storing.

When you charge your battery, it is best to do it at regular room temperature. So if your garage is in blazing sun it is not ideal – and for those with cold winters, charging in a frozen shed isn’t optimal either. Bosch also recommend disconnecting the charger after charging. While their charges won’t overload the battery, it pays to be careful. Bosch also recommend avoiding running your battery to empty frequently.

In general, aim to store your battery as close to room temperature as possible, and prevent depleting it entirely too often or over-charging. All these things are small details on their own, but you’ll end up with more battery cycles and therefore greater use of the battery over its lifetime.

PLUG IN A RANGE EXTENDER Last year Bosch released the PowerMore 250Wh range extender. Many newer Bosch-equipped eMTBs like the Pivot Shuttle AM are compatible with this extra battery pack, and it is a surefire way to really boost

the range of your existing eMTB. Some bike designs are even opting for a Bosch 625Wh battery, to then be used with a PowerMore 250Wh range extender for big days. We love this idea as you end up with a lighter bike with plenty of range for most of your rides, but a whopping 875Wh for the big jobs. Or add 250Wh to a 750Wh battery and you’re packing 1000Wh to run the EMTB mode and Extended Boost for hours on end!

OPTIMISE THE SYSTEM – AND SYSTEM CHOICE In terms of the bike and rider, a few things come into play for optimising range. While your battery size in Watt hours can be looked at as a fuel tank, range is about how efficiently you can use that fuel. Using the modes as mentioned above make a big difference, but so do the motor type, bike type and system weight.

Bosch produce the popular CX system with 85Nm of torque and a 600W peak power, along with the SX system with 55Nm of torque and the same 600W peak power.

Typically the CX system will come with a larger battery and the SX system will come with a ligher 400Wh battery. However, given the maximum torque is lower, it will use the 400Wh more conservatively than the CX system. Unless of course, you tune your CX system to limit the overall support via the Bosch Flow App. So again – it’s a balance.

What won’t change is the weight difference between an SX motor and CX motor, which is close to 800g, and the weight difference of a stock battery, which may be a 2kg difference between a Bosch 400Wh battery and 750Wh battery. And herein lies an important point: heavier bikes, or rider and bike systems, will use more Watt hours than lighter systems.

Some differences won’t make a huge impact, but unfortunately a light rider is likely to get more range out of an equivalent system to someone 20kg heavier under the same kind

of use and terrain. You can consider a few changes, even things like tyre casings will make a difference. If you don’t need to heaviest casings, you could potentially save 600g of rotating weight, and likely increase the range of your system without changing any of the support levels.

Most bike brands take this into account, with the Bosch SX mid-power system being built into the shorter travel eMTBs with a more dynamic ride, and the powerful CX system and larger batteries going into the longer-travel, burlier and heavier eMTBs.

HOW WILL YOU GET THE MOST RANGE? There is a bit to consider here. Do you buy the bike with the biggest battery so you have the most range for a few big rides a year? Or do you get the bike that suits you most and purchase a PowerMore range extender?

Should you get an SX bike, or just tune your CX modes in the Bosch Flow App over breakfast ahead of a long day of trails? The big takeaway is understanding what you want out of your eMTB. If you want to rip trails hard and boost up the climbs – increasing your range is probably down to increasing Watt hours. If you want to explore big backcountry loops without getting stuck in the boonies without the support you want, you may be best to use the right modes. Either way, look after your battery and charge it correctly to get the best range, every ride, for more rides.

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HOW MACHINE LEARNING MAY SHAPE MOUNTAIN BIKING WORDS DR CHRIS PEDDER

I

t’s late September 2074. The current men’s XCO mountain bike champion is deep into the final lap of the last round of the Nvidia XC World Cup event, held on a track in the far south of Chile. He’s engaged in a three-way battle for the race with the Vietnamese National Champion, and a 15 year old wunderkind from what remains of Tuvalu. As they hit the final climb of the race, the Vietnamese surges ahead, and a bead of sweat appears on the otherwise impassive face of our champion as he responds. His XXXL World Champions’ jersey is already sodden with the effort of the preceding hour and twenty minutes, the air conditioning and dehumidifier in his living room working overtime as he plays chess at 180 bpm with his quarries. It’s 9am in his local timezone, and the mercury is touching 44C, normal temperatures in September in central Sweden bringing a relief from the summer heat, but making it the case that the same effort outside would almost certainly land him in hospital. The virtual avatars are ten deep on the final stretch of the climb, before the track opens out into a ferocious descent to the finish line. An attack over the top shows his determination to stamp his authority on this last race of the season, and he plunges towards the finish line at breakneck speed, taking new lines into the final sectors of the course to the adulation of fans and spectators alike. Sad to think that the course he’s racing exists only in silicon, having been destroyed when the forests of Bariloche were uprooted to make way for

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cereal production more than a decade ago.

The virtual experience podium ceremony and interviews in the metaverse over, he clicks out of the race, grabs a towel, and goes to shower before taking a virtual walk with his kids to recover, all from the comfort of his temperature-controlled sofa.

THE AI ERA THAT LIES AHEAD This man in the rainbow bands is the very model of a champion in the AI era - an answer to the problem we face today of the fact that “the greatest cycling champion who ever lived is out there right now, and has never ridden a bike”. With millions of profiles already collected, and advanced sensors that can measure and understand people’s genetic makeup, physical capabilities and limitations, it’s no longer necessary for them

to train either for fitness or reactions. We can simply measure, and by virtue of those measurements, know what it is possible for their bodies to do, and what training load they would be able to support with their own motivational profile. What wins races now is mental capability in the moment; the one place where sensors only go so far - racing has really become a mental game. The core technologies that can unlock this capability all rely heavily on AI and machine learning.

I realise writing this that my story sounds overblown, unlikely, impossible even. I want to spend the rest of my article convincing you that all this is possible, and that better than this should be our aim. So first, a bit of orientation. Let’s take a step back and understand what exactly AI and machine learning are, and then we can look at where they are already revolutionising the mountain bike world.

RISE OF THE MACHINES Whether we realise it or not, we already live in a world permeated by machine learning solutions. When you start up google maps to find the best route to the trail head, or when your bank rings you about that huge credit card payment for a new bike, machines are calling the shots. Essentially, machine learning is a way of allowing machines to make a prediction about an outcome (a “target”) from data that you can collect about a given situation (the “predictors”). This can be anything from whether or not there is a

‘THE VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE PODIUM CEREMONY AND INTERVIEWS IN THE METAVERSE OVER, HE CLICKS OUT OF THE RACE, GRABS A TOWEL, AND GOES TO SHOWER BEFORE TAKING A VIRTUAL WALK WITH HIS KIDS TO RECOVER, ALL FROM THE COMFORT OF HIS TEMPERATURE-CONTROLLED SOFA. ‘

cat in a picture, to what are the right, polite words to finish off that email to a difficult coworker. Crucially, this works best when the underlying rules are difficult to define.

There is little point in going to the bother of learning from data how to add 5 to a number, when a computer can just do it using simple arithmetic. Try defining a rule that a machine can follow to see whether there is a cat in a picture (when machines don’t know what cats are), and you can see where machine learning might be useful. The other important point to make is that these solutions are never 100% correct - even if you have a correctly-labeled dataset of millions of pictures of cats, these will not do a perfect job of representing all of the places

that cats can turn up in pictures, and so the model will still make predictions which are wrong some fraction of the time. More (and better labeled) data reduces this problem, but 100% accuracy is always an impossible dream. This means that we had better use these sorts of solutions in places where it’s okay for the predictions to be a bit wrong some of the time.

With that in mind, where can we see machine learning in the mountain bike world already, and where might it go in the near future? Well, the first place is in training plans. Tools which recommend workouts from user histories, and building training plans to improve cycling performance are already out there. Similarly, performance

monitoring tools which measure your level of fatigue, heart rate variability etc, and then recommend what you should do to improve are quite common now. Coupling these with live blood glucose monitoring could also bear fruit for improving overall health, reducing body fat, optimising meal times and nutrition. Text-based or even avatar-based virtual coaches are almost certainly next, aiming at giving a more holistic approach to training that is currently only available through humans. These virtual coaches could offer both physiological and psychological support to athletes – and even fill a gap in nurturing developing mountain bike talent.

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MACHINE LEARNING MODELS ARE ALREADY BECOMING ABLE TO MAKE SMALL CHANGES TO DESIGNS TO OPTIMISE THEM FOR WEIGHT, OR AERODYNAMIC DRAG WITHOUT HAVING TO RE-RUN THE WHOLE EXPENSIVE PHYSICAL CALCULATION. THIS WILL MEAN BETTER-REFINED BIKE FRAMES FOR ALL OF US THAT PREFER TO BUY PERFORMANCE THAN TO WORK FOR IT

What about those of us who aren’t so into the high performance side of things? Well, that notoriously computer-hungry task of designing bike frames and components using finite element analysis and computational fluid dynamics are also in for a shakeup too.

Machine learning models are already becoming able to make small changes to designs to optimise them for weight, or aerodynamic drag without having to re-run the whole expensive physical calculation.

This will mean better-refined bike frames for all of us that prefer to buy performance than to work for it. I definitely fall into this category these days!

Similarly, the recent improvement in text-based AI including chatbots like ChatGPT, and in image understanding will mean that our spannering woes will likely go the way of the cotter pin, as manufacturers start to provide more comprehensive tools to help us look after our beloved machines at home. Extended reality (XR) solutions to the problems we all face when changing bottom brackets will become more viable as the prices of XR headsets like the Apple Vision Pro fall to more feasible levels over the next couple of years.

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Further down the line, it’s most likely that these technologies will become more immersive, and more integrated into the experience of riding a bike. A mixture of measurements beyond just heart rate, power, blood sugar to give a more complete picture of our performance and potential will enable things like live feedback in training.

The same can be achieved with e.g. force meters and accelerometers for technical skills - giving you real-time performance tips

to improve your riding. Imagine having Rob Warner in your ear as you ride, giving you personalised tips on how to ride better. Or maybe don’t…

On the psychological side, we can imagine XR tools to improve your visualisation of technical sections of a course, and selfactualisation with convincing avatars of coaches offering you tips on how to deal with that tricky section on your local loop that gets you every time, or even how to ride the world championship courses like Nino Schurter or Vali Hoell. We can even go as far as full virtualisation of mountain bike racing of all stripes, making our niche sports vulnerable to the esports revolution currently going on in pure fitness-driven versions. Which takes us right back to my introductory paragraph.

IS THIS SET IN STONE? There is a catch, though. The current approach we are taking to AI and machine learning can only emulate human experience, but not replicate it. What I mean by this is that, in my opinion, it’s not possible for a

‘IT WILL BE INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT TO ASK OURSELVES WHY WE DO THINGS LIKE RIDING BIKES. IS IT PURELY A PHYSICAL TEST, OR A WAY OF DETERMINING OUR MENTAL FORTITUDE, OR DOES IT TAP INTO A DEEPER LAYER OF WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN IN THE WORLD IN WHICH WE CURRENTLY EXIST?’

machine learning model to achieve consciousness - it can’t be truly aware of its surroundings, or possibly more importantly, of its own internal state in the same way that we, and all living creatures are. Whilst these models might be able to ape human experience, they will never be able to truly experience it, and therefore their imitations will only ever be that; imitations with limitations. This sounds like a form of “carbon chauvinism” - that somehow carbon is more important than silicon, but because of the way in which we evolved, there is something special about being alive.

With our newfound understanding of the opportunities that new technology can bring, the key question now is how to avoid my dystopian introduction. There’s a concept of “uncanny valley” in robotics, which is used to describe robots which emulate human behaviours, but get it a bit wrong in ways that seem jarring to us. People exposed to these halflings have a visceral reaction against them - we find them disturbing and unpleasant to be around. I would argue that uncanny valley also exists in the behaviours that technology can create in us - we all know that watching YouTube videos instead

of enjoying a beautiful sunset is a bad idea, but we do it with a knowing guilt. The same will come to be true of deeper levels of human experience. In a world populated by stimulating but shallow experiences, it will be increasingly important to ask ourselves why we do things like riding bikes. Is it purely a physical test, or a way of determining our mental fortitude, or does it tap into a deeper layer of what it is to be human in the world in which we currently

exist? What is the role of competition in a world where all things can be measured, quantified, modelled, understood and predicted?

CLOSING THOUGHTS Whilst new technology will make us better, faster, lighter, more optimised, let’s not forget why we ride bikes, and let’s not let the means become the end. To me, the human part that AI will never be able to reproduce for us is the combination of embracing the natural world, spending time with friends and loved ones, and experiencing the world as it is, not as I wish it to be. As new waves of technology come, find your why, and hang on - it could be a bumpy ride!

Dr Chris Pedder is data scientist with a background in physics, maths, coding and bike racing. When not theorising about the new world order he rides bikes, climbs mountains and builds carbon fiber rockets.

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P

utting your child on a bike that fits well and is functioning properly are the two best things you can do to make their riding enjoyable and safe. As a skills coach and owner of RideTechnics, when coaching skills to children we see the huge difference it makes when children are on well maintained, properly fitting bikes.

Rather than choosing a bike based on age, the key is to know your child’s capabilities, so you can choose a bike that suits them and enables them to ride well and improve along the way.

Here are some bike set up tips to help maximise the fun your kids (and therefore parents) have on the trails.

TIPS FOR CHOOSING THE RIGHT MOUNTAIN BIKE FOR KIDS WORDS DYLAN COOPER 62

PHOTOS MIKE BLEWIT T, MANDY LAMONT

1. CHOOSING THE RIGHT SIZE There is nothing worse than a small, cramped and ‘twitchy’ bike, making riding unpleasant and dangerous. While it is tempting to buy a bike with lots of room to grow, being too stretched out on a cumbersome long/tall frame is also a hindrance, affecting bike handling and confidence.

HEIGHT AND STAND-OVER CLEARANCE A common misconception with sizing is assuming riders need to be able to touch the ground with flat feet while seated on the saddle. This method results in a bike that’s too small and/or a seat that’s too low.

We teach kids to lean the bike to the side they’re going to step off, rather than keeping the frame upright. This creates clearance over the top tube. If riders swing their leg around the back of the saddle (over the rear wheel), they shouldn’t have trouble hopping on and off their bike if it’s tilted to the side. This method means the frame size, saddle height and bottom bracket height don’t have to be too low.

REACH/LENGTH When coaching kids, the most common issue we see with sizing is the bike being too cramped in the reach from the saddle to the handlebars. Riders should be able to comfortably grip the handlebars, elbows slightly bent, but without fully extending their arms. Their arms will ideally be at a 90 degree angle to their torso. Too short is usually more dangerous than too long. Extra length means room to move and a more stable ride.

SEAT HEIGHT Most kids’ bikes are designed so they ride in a more upright position. They should be able to sit comfortably with legs slightly bent at the bottom of the pedal stroke. However, when pedalling, your child’s legs shouldn’t be excessively bent the entire way through a pedal stroke. One quick reference is to put one pedal at the bottom of the stroke while the rider is seated, heel on that pedal. This leg should be extended, but shouldn’t be fully locked out (slight bend at the knee only).

REGULAR ADJUSTMENTS Kids grow quickly and it’s easy to lose track. Therefore, checking the height and length of their bike for fit regularly is as important as maintaining the bike mechanically.

2. AIMING FOR A LIGHT RIDE Kids’ bikes are often heavy, making it challenging to get up hills and perform key skills. Unfortunately though, lighter bikes usually means more expense. Apart from buying higher end bikes, take off heavy accessories like kick stands, overly large saddles and unnecessary items. Light tyres are a good investment, given that rotational weight affects small/light riders more.

3. GOOD TYRES FOR GOOD TRAIL CONTACT Some mountain bikes in kid’s sizing still come with narrow tyres with minimal tread. This makes them less grippy on the trails. The key here is air volume. Within reason, the wider the tyre ‘bag’ (casing) the better, as it helps with traction and absorbing bumps, better than most budget suspension. 2.4” width tyres are usually about right if they fit in the frame/forks. Then run plush pressures that suit your child’s weight. 12-18 psi is usually a good range. As for tread, if the tyread blocks are at least 3mm deep in the centre and at least 4mm on the sides of the tyre, it’s hard to go wrong with most tread patterns.

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4. FORMING GOOD HABITS WITH FLAT PEDALS Flat pedals should always be the first step in any rider’s journey, helping form good habits and keeping things safe by allowing the rider to step off when needed. Pedals are key contact points, meaning that pedal grip is essential. With pedal studs sharp enough to grip their shoes (choose shoes with grippy soles), but not so sharp they cut their shins if they slip, kids should be able to ride comfortably over bumpy terrain. Keep them on flats for as long as possible. Clip-in pedals should only be needed if they start racing or doing extra long rides, given they help with connection at high speeds, pedalling efficiency and power output.

5. GETTING NICE GRIPS Being another contact point, grips need to be the right diameter and rubber compound, so kids don’t struggle to hold on. A smaller diameter with softer rubber is usually best, but your child will usually know if they feel good or not. And of course, they need to be the right colour!

6. BRAKE CHOICE AND LEVER ADJUSTMENTS While V-brakes can work well enough, modern disc brakes are better, especially if they’re hydraulic rather than cable brakes. The light action and power they offer is hard to beat, especially for smaller hands. But even good brakes won’t be effective if the levers aren’t positioned properly for your child’s hands.

Ensure they can brake with their index/pointer fingers inline with the tip of the lever (the middle finger too if they need to use two fingers). This may require you to slide the brakes across on the handlebars to line those up.

Then tilt the brakes so the lever lines up with extended fingers, both inline with the angle of forearms while in a riding position. Lastly, reach adjustment is important, so kids’ small fingers can reach the tips of the levers without contorting their arms/bodies. This is adjusted by turning the small screw/Allen bolt just inside the level, where it meets the pivot bolt.

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7. SUSPENSION IS NOT ALWAYS NEEDED FRONT SUSPENSION Cheap suspension is usually heavy and ineffective, especially for lighter riders. Often light-weight rigid forks are better, so children have a bike without a heavy front end. But suspension forks can be handy once speed builds on bumpy trails and features. If you can afford quality air/oil forks that can be adjusted to suit rider weight, it will make a big difference to how your child feels on the trail and the control they have. A worthwhile investment.

FULL SUSPENSION As with forks, rear suspension is only worthwhile if it’s plush and is activated by light riders. A good air/oil shock will help kids ride smoothly, but if a dual suspension bike is cheap or in bad condition it may just add unnecessary weight for riding around, without any benefit. Working on skills and using legs to absorb bumps is usually the better option until riders are moving fast enough to need extra plushness.

8. GEARS FOR GETTING AROUND WITH EASE While balance bikes and single speed bikes are great for a child’s initial part of their riding journey, once they’re skilled enough to ride up on proper mountain bike trails with climbs and descents, kids need a good range of gears for getting around the trails with ease. Look for at least five cogs on the rear and a single chainring on the front for simplicity/ reliability. The key is to have a light action shifter so small hands can change up or down easily. Grip shifters tend to be too stiff for kids, so a trigger style shifter usually works best.

Check them every now and then to make sure they don’t get stiff due to dirt or kinks in the cables. If it is hard for you to shift, smaller hands will find it impossible.

9. DECIDING ON DROPPERS As for adults, dropper posts are a great way to aid riders on steeper trails and features, allowing them to move around.

Kids are no exception if they can operate the lever without being distracted by it. Added weight and costs are the main drawbacks, but if it helps your child ride with better safety and control, they’re another worthwhile investment.

10. ACCESSORISE FOR FUN If accessories make riding more fun, get your kids to add streamers, a bell or bar toys. If they’re secured, won’t be a hazard and are reasonably light weight.

11. DECIDING ON HOW MUCH TO SPEND Everyone’s budget is different, so the key is to balance your budget with the benefits of the components and type of bike you choose. Considering the above aspects of bike choice, if you’re smart about which parts of the bike are upgraded, it’s possible to get the ideal bike for your child without breaking the bank.

12. USED OR NEW? If you know how to spot a well-maintained bike and know its value and are willing to adjust and maintain it after purchase, a used bike (or an online purchase) can be a great option, saving you hundreds of dollars. But if you’re at risk of missing potentially expensive flaws in a bike or don’t know how to choose the right size, it’s best to go to a bike shop. A good shop will help you pick the right size, adjust it accordingly and include a warranty.

Hopefully following these tips will ensure your child wants to keep getting out on the trails with a smile on their face.

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BUILDING AN EXPLOSION OF NEW TRAILS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA WORDS AND PHOTOS TRAVIS DEANE

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W

estern Australia is often known for its mining booms and associated worker shortages, but WA has also been undergoing a parallel mountain bike building boom, unfortunately with its own shortages of workers. Once upon a time the new trails and locations appeared at a maddeningly slow pace.

Nowadays it seems there is a new trail turning up every couple of weeks. What’s even better is that with more locations becoming available more people are closer to trails than before, cutting down the commute time to getting onto the dirt..

BINDOON MOUNTAIN BIKE PARK. Stage 1 of this new riding location snuck in just in time for Easter 2024 which is pretty good considering the planned opening was mid 2023 (did we mention a shortage of workers?). At just under an hour north from the Perth CBD this is the first network north of the city, so a viable option to the northerly residing Perthites.

Stage 1 has utilised a large hill overlooking the town.

The town side is dominated by open WA bush lending itself to natural lines through rock features and some great gradient to play with.

The back side of the mountain had been cleared for agriculture making it a natural fit for wide open flow

trails with berms and jumps aplenty. Stage 1 has something for everyone including a black descent line through natural bush and shared use green trails. Stage 2 will infill the network with a potential 11 more trails, including a tasty looking top to bottom double black and curiously a dual slalom track. There is already a dual slalom track at the Goat Farm and the last time we had a dual slalom race in WA the riders were rolling on 26” wheels from memory. Still, the open canvas of a new location looks as tempting as the local bakery. Bindoon main street has often been described as one of the last decent places to grab a feed heading north. With the new trails, Bindoon has just gotten extra tasty.

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PILE ROAD / WELLINGTON DAM This network near Collie has been undergoing expansion and evolution. Some of the first stage trails, now a couple of years old, have received their first revisit with some tweaks enhancing a few trails. But the big news was the infilling of the network between the Pile Road trails and Honeymoon Pool. This represents the biggest drop of the entire Darling Escarpment offering riders a decent descent. What goes down, must come up and the returning climbing trail is steep, sustained, techy and north facing.

For many a rider used to modern boring up trails, a demanding uphill in full sun is a rude shock. E-Bike riders might wonder what all the fuss is about. It’s great the adjoining River Road is slated to become dual direction making the new downs very shuttleable on bitumen road.

These trails had a soft opening late 2023 but signs are now in and they are just waiting on a track or two to be finished before officially cutting the ribbon.

The trails on the other side of the valley near the old Sika trail have also been added. These are all part of the wider Wambenger Trail network. If all this up and down sounds a bit too much, the Kylie trail near Collie was built late 2022 and follows the river for green flow trail that flows so well, you’d swear you were in Margaret River.

MOORE-BEELOO BRIDGE A pump track and jump track tucked under a bridge? In most places it would be used to shield riders from the rain, but in Perth this $1 million dollar facility has the newly expanded Tonkin Freeway above shielding riders from the sun and very occasionally the rain. The gradient is great for a jump track but for that coin you get some well made pump track for varying abilities, some terrain structures to play off of (skinnies, log rides, drops) and a couple of table topped jump lines. We wish they’d stretch the budget for a water tap and maybe a mural or a Troll or two under the bridge but the hardest thing about this new facility that opened in March 2024 is finding how to get there.

You use the carpark in Claughton Reserve at the end of Katanning Street near the boat ramp. Then just head towards the freeway on the PSP, which is the bike path.

Actually being on the bike path means you could really ride from anywhere on Perth’s lovely PSP network to access these jumps. If you could refrain from parking in the large parking bays specifically designed for vehicles with boat trailers we might avoid the odd anchor being put through the back window. For advanced jumpers looking for more of a challenge, you will find the Bayswater Skate park that was rebirthed Christmas 2022 with two sizeable jump lines offering more of a challenge. The Bayswater facilities are less than 5 minutes away up the freeway.

TOMS CROSSING, DWELLINGUP Known as one of the original gravity destinations in WA after hosting downhill races for many years, it is with much eagerness that a lot of riders patiently await the completion of the trail building that has been ongoing there throughout 2023/24 and is awaiting winter rains for the final touches before opening May/June 2024. The four new trails will add some solid blue and blacks to the existing network in the area. There are now a multitude of options to enjoy (and shuttle) in this part of the Dwellingup trail network.

They are fast, with the blacks testing the rider’s bravery. Riders may be brave to get down the blacks, but the most terrifying task of all falls to the trail builders, attempting new trails in a place where so many people have fond memories of what used to be there. Keyboards are set to stun!

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DIANELLA REGIONAL SPACE This is a nice pump track and skills area in the suburbs, the only thing missing were some jump lines. Well that got sorted late 2023 with three table top jump lines being added to the network.

BOOYEEMBARA PARK The pocket downhill park (Boo Park) near Fremantle opened mid last year. A unique urban downhill jump track with two lines was the smash hit for 2023. Quite unlike anything seen before in WA, this fast rolling hard surface gave riders two descents to tackle with some non rollable structures on the left line pushing riders. A great addition to a dead zone of riding in Perth being near Fremantle.

POINT WALTER POCKET PARK Opening June 2024 this pocket park will give nearby Fremantle area riders something else to ride while formalising the Manning Park trails moves forward at a glacial pace. With so many fun things to do nearby this pocket park on the side of the hill will squeeze in four gravity jump lines, bitumen pump track and a jump park catering for all levels even with an intimidating “Pro” jump line.

JOHN FORREST NATIONAL PARK Right on Perth’s doorstep John Forrest National Park has always been a popular destination to get into the outdoors with sweeping vistas of Perth in the background. The 41km Railway Reserves Heritage Trail has always been a popular dirt loop for users and with the explosion of gravel riding, this very easy dirt road has been rediscovered by a lot of cyclists. Utilising the Heritage Trail, 2023 saw the opening of the first Mountain Bike trail in the National Park. Interestingly although designed and built as a mountain bike trail, it is actually shared used, with signs saying walkers should yield to cyclists! We’d suggest being cautious approaching walkers as this is a new concept to many in WA. The new trail is a 16km long green trail. Named Noolbenger it is the local name for a Honey Possum hence the trail logos. Being a green trail it may attract riders of varying abilities but the Railway Reserves Heritage Trail cuts straight through the middle allowing riders to halve the loop. Most users park at the Peachy road carpark and ride up the gentle gradient of the the Heritage Trail until they drop into the green singletrack which is easy to miss so keep an eye out for the signs. The trail entrance on the right is the first to appear, but if you miss that, the left is your next option. Debate rages on which is the better half.

Both sides are of a similar temperament with the trail builders working hard to avoid the rocks and keeping the climbs easy. The next mountain bike track to be built in the park will hopefully be a blue trail and and have riders interacting with the environment such as the lovely rocks to keep the speed down but the challenges up.

Regardless, this is a great place to ride any time of year from summer with easy access to winter with waterfalls and babbling brooks. Riding through the wildflowers in spring is amazing. Of all the new places to ride, John Forrest produces the prettiest ride for the least amount of effort.

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Gold T

he Victorian High Country is a well established cycling haven, from the iconic road climbs to the epic ripping mountain biking descents in the alpine resorts and valleys.

We’re heading to historic Beechworth in Victoria's High Country, which boasts a rich modern Australian history. Originally inhabited by the many different traditional owners, the area saw European settlement when gold was discovered in 1852 near Spring Creek, prompting a rapid boom of prospectors and settlers to the region.

The town of Beechworth quickly grew into a bustling hub, with

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miners seeking their fortunes in the nearby creeks and hills.

Beechworth became one of the richest towns in Victoria during this period, with grand buildings, banks, and institutions lining its streets which gives it its unique heritage and character today.

The main street features well-preserved architecture, including the imposing Beechworth Gaol and the historic precinct. The region is now a centre of incredible food and drink, and passionate locals have created a world class road, gravel and mountain bike riding destination with the addition of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail that stretches over 150km.

Rush A long weekend in cycling’s unexpected Victorian capital WORDS ZOE BINDER

PHOTOS ZOE BINDER, ADAM MACBETH, GEORGINA VON MARBURG

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GRAVEL DREAMS

Exploring the best gravel riding and cuisine around Beechworth

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his weekend my partner Jake and I are spending three days exploring the best riding around Beechworth in Victoria’s High Country. It's a Friday afternoon in April and having driven the 8 hour journey from Sydney, we drive through the historic town in our van and take it all in. The area is obviously well-known for riding because I don’t think we’ve ever seen a main street with so many bikes on cars as we navigate through the autumnal streets.

We pull up to Project Forty Nine on the historic and quaint main street where we’re met with warm service and a fantastic coffee. I can feel myself relaxing and the stress of the week melts away as we sit in the sun and plan our afternoon of riding to kick off the weekend.

Today we’re riding a well worn gravel loop from Beechworth to Stanley then back via the Murmungee lookout. We make our way to the trail hub where Ride High Country suggests you begin most adventures on two wheels; the historic Beechworth Railway Station, built in 1876.

The only hard part about cycling in this region is choosing which variety of riding you want to experience. As a lifelong mountain biker, avid road rider and more recently dabbling in gravel, I was incredibly

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torn when planning. With only room for four bikes between the two of us, it was hard to choose, but Jake and I settled on our cross country mountain bikes (dual suspension) to maximise the fun on Saturday when we will ride the Indigo Epic Trail and Yackandandah MTB park, and our gravel bikes to help tick over some of the flatter gravel today and the rail trail on Sunday with slightly more efficiency. While we’re here for off-piste adventures this weekend, we were equally tempted by the long, flowing and scenic road climbs this area is famous for.

The entire High Country region in Victoria is such a well established hub for riding of all disciplines, and we used the extensive resources from the Ride High Country website to help us curate this trip to be both relaxing while allowing us to explore the area on two wheels.

We kit up and check out our 26km route on the map at the trailhead, before rolling through the Autumn colours on our way out of town.

This route today isn’t long and is perfect for an afternoon spin after a morning of travel to get to Beechworth. The route is initially narrower and more akin to a very gentle singletrack, and it meanders through the Beechworth Public Recreation Reserve and the banks of Hurdle Creek with some small bridges over its slow moving waters. We’re

reminded of the significant gold mining history at a few points when a string of signs warn us not to deviate from the trail as there are open mine shafts nearby.

The trail opens up and turns into the Pipeline Track, a well maintained gravel fire road that is fairly well trafficked by friendly locals. We pass a whole range of riders this afternoon, showing how well used these cycling routes are in the local community for not only leisure but transport. Once we hit the 10km mark we leave the native forest behind and emerge into rural farming country on our entrance into Stanley, with a string of roadside produce stalls along the gravel roads. Established in the 18050s, Stanley was initially a gold mining settlement that boomed during the Victorian gold rush, with miners flocking to the area in search of fortune. As gold reserves dwindled, the town transitioned into agriculture, particularly focusing on dairy farming and fruit orchards. Today, Stanley retains its rural charm, with historic buildings lining its streets and a strong sense of community, making it a real gem in Victoria’s countryside.

To make the most of the amazing food and drink in the area, we’ll be stopping in at the Stanley Pub, a newly refreshed gastro pub. We’re now about 17km into our ride and ready to fuel up. On the menu today is deconstructed duck bao buns, one of the best Bahn Mi I’ve ever had, all washed down with some Stanley Larger, local and fresh from the tap. I’m impressed by the incredible food offered here in this small village, and it certainly throws the traditional ‘Australian country pub meal’ ideal into the wind.

As we roll out through the Autumnal streets of Stanley we hit a well-groomed and gently included rolling fire road, Six Mile Road. It winds its way through the gums, eventually arriving at the top of the ride to Murmungee lookout. This climb, while steady, is undulating and has a very gentle gradient. The view at the top is spectacular, reaching Mt Buffalo and the main Victorian Alps. I’d recommend completing this loop in a clockwise direction like we have to avoid climbing the sharp hill on the other side that we’re about to descend. This is the most technical part of the route and requires some off-road handling skills.

We rip down it, smiles unable to leave our faces.

As we roll back towards Beechworth and the shadows are growing longer we pass Willem Kurt Wines tucked away on the side of the road. Only open for tastings on Sundays, this would be a great addition to the route if you were to do this as a ride on your last day in the Beechworth area.

The final stretch of this ride takes you back to town on the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail for a smooth, fast finish. The beauty of this route is that you’re very easily able to extend it at various points, and it’s a gentle enough grade to be super inclusive, depending on who you’re riding with and what your goals are. We head back to our accommodation before strolling a few hundred metres down the high street to Vino Bar, a European style bar that offers an extensive selection of local wines complimented by tapas-style share plates.

With day one complete and some excellent wine consumed, it’s hard not to fall for this Victorian town.

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LIQUID GOLD Riding the Indigo Epic Trail and ‘Yack Tracks’

T

oday we’re riding the Indigo Epic Trail that stretches from Beechworth to Yackandandah and while the area was originally famous for its gold, there is a new kind of flowing gold that draws the crowds. The trail is rated as an intermediate ‘blue’ rating and has about 1000m of climbing over its 56km length. It’s structured as a rough figure of eight loop, so you’re able to ride both ways on the purpose-built, directional trail between the two historic towns. We’re tackling 23km of it today and luckily getting a shuttle back into Beechworth, which is a great alternative if you’re eager to explore the food and beverage offerings in Yackandandah without a hefty ride back. This direction is largely downhill, and I suggest doing the trail this way if you’re planning on only doing one leg. This would also be a great option for families or groups less able to tackle the entire length in one day. E-bikes and shuttles are available for rent from several locations in town, including Ride with OBG and Beechworth eMTB. Jake and I begin in Beechworth and wind our way through a mixture of native bushland, pine plantations and lush fern-laden gullies. Along the way we encounter remnants of the past, from old mining shafts to heritage buildings, each telling a story of the pioneers who once sought their fortunes in this rugged terrain. The trail’s name harkens back to the gold rush of the 1850s when settlers also discovered deposits of the precious blue dye-producing plant, indigofera australis.

Though short-lived compared to the gold rush, the indigo boom left its mark on the landscape and culture of the region.

The highlight of the day is the 6km descent called ‘Homeward Bound’, which is a flowing ribbon of joy. It’s a rolling descent that has several A and B lines to cater to all ability levels. I let go of the brakes and let gravity do the work, pumping the entire way down to the trail’s completion.

Nestled in the valley at the bottom of the Indigo Epic descent lies the Yackandandah Mountain Bike Park (Yack Trails as the locals call it). It’s a great way to add extra technical riding to your day, and we choose to stop in here to explore. While the park does offer a diverse mix of trails, ranging from ‘green’ singletrack to blue loops, today we’re riding the more advanced ‘Carcass Canyon’. The canyon is aptly named after the looming skeletal remains strung up to trees, and suspended over the slot canyons along this loop. Some of these canyons are old water races, once used to sluice for gold. Some sections of the canyon trail are barely wide enough to get your bars through, and the track opens up and follows the contours of the reddish and sandy mounds and gullies right back to the trailhead.

The Yack network offers a plethora of trails catering to riders of all skill levels, from beginners seeking a leisurely ride to seasoned pros craving a rush. Trails twist through native forests, showcasing the region’s incredibly cared-for trail networks that are well used and loved by the local community. The park features five main loops called Shack, Yakonda, Diggers, Ground Effect and Kokoda, with additional offshoots. We were lucky enough to run into some smiling locals while rolling around and I remembered all over again why I love riding in new places - getting to share this stoke and remember that it bonds everyone on two wheels.

Whether you’re a seasoned rider seeking a new challenge or a family looking for outdoor adventure, the Yackandandah Mountain Bike Park promises an unforgettable experience amidst the beauty of the area.

Jake and I look at each other and while the ride food in my pocket has got me through until now, we’re both very keen for a coffee, some lunch and the afternoon of Gin and Whiskey tasting ahead.

We clip in and roll down the singletrack into the Yackandandah township along the historic river bed. The scars of the town’s gold mining past are ever present on this section of the bushland, and the 78

trail skirts the bubbling waters of the Yackandandah Creek. Situated perfectly on the banks of the river and with a gate accessible directly from the single track, we arrive at the Yack Creek Distillery. Its lush garden setting and sprawling tables on the lawn make this feel like a little oasis, made all the more special by having accessed it straight from the trail. We sit by the creek and under the grape vines and sip on my Lemon Myrtle Gin. Refreshed, we jump back on the bikes and keep rolling down the single track that winds through the Yackandandah Gorge and creek.

This river bed has an interesting historical significance as its form is far from its original state. During the gold rush starting in the late 1850s, this was carved out using picks and dynamite and reshaped as a tail race to sluice gravel. These days are over but it remains a scenic winding trail into the historic township.

I push on the pedals to get us up to the main township and we roll through, stopping for a well-earned lunch at Gum Tree Pies on the main street. Riding through this village is like rolling back in time, and the wide streets and grand buildings of Beechworth are replaced with smaller, tree-lined streets with wooden shop fronts nestled into the streetscape. It’s quieter but retains the same old-world charm. I crest the hill up to The Guard where we enjoy a coffee served from an old guard’s carriage, positioned right next to the Backwoods Distilling Co. We’re lucky enough to be given a tour of the Distillery and hear more about their entire process that heroes local ingredients and involves rigorous and high quality production. Their gin lineup is incredible but we opt for a tasting of their acclaimed Whiskey, some of which is aged

in red gum barrels.

As we settle down with our tasting paddle in front of us, a group of people in their late 80s turn around and admire our bikes parked by the door. “Where have you ridden from?” They questioned, and Jake and I told them about our adventure so far down the Indigo Epic Trail. I skip over some details assuming they had just been polite, but to my surprise, one of the women didn’t skip a beat and replied “us too!

Although you know we have e-bikes” and motioned a ‘brapppppp’ motorbike throttle-like movement with her wrist. I know I shouldn’t have been shocked, but it nearly left me speechless. This trail is made for everyone, any age and any ability level and is enjoyable at any pace or on any mountain bike. Fun for all. The group turns away with smiles and settle back into their gin tasting at 12:01pm. Now if that isn’t ‘life goals’, then I’m not sure what is. I think this whole interaction speaks to the joys of visiting this area. It’s inclusive, friendly, and adventurous and offers world-class food and drink at every turn (and you may need to get a shuttle back to your accommodation if you’re not careful and enjoy too much of the local delights!).

We’re picked up by Ben from Ride With OBG and shuttled back to Beechworth, then hit Bridge Road Brewers after some well earned showers. Over pizza and cold beer, we flick through the images we took, remembering the flowing ribbon of fun through the ferns that we’d enjoyed during the day. Before we leave I try the Eggster Triple Chocolate Ale which lives up to the name and rounds out the day on a sweet note. Victoria's High Country is shaping up to be one of my favourite places to ride a bike.

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FULL STEAM AHEAD Riding the Rail Trail

D

ay three on our tour of Beechworth on two wheels takes us along the stretch of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail from Beechworth to Yackandandah, but via a much more gravel bike friendly route along the sealed bike path. The trail, once a railway line, sketches over 150km in length and spans much of Victoria's High Country, moving through Wangaratta, Beechworth, Rutherglen, Bright and Myrtleford. The segment of the trail we’re riding today is an off-shoot of this larger trail and would be a great way to get a feel for this style of travel.

We start the day with a pedal through the streets and visit ‘Tiny’ for a coffee and toastie to fuel our 52km ride. This strip of the rail trail takes us through town and starts again from the Railway Station where signage, facilities and even a pump and tool stand make preparation easy.

We pedal along the sealed path bordered by Autumn colour and Jake rolls up beside me to check our route ahead on our bike computer. The terrain combined with the surface grade makes today’s adventure the most accessible of the three, and we pass multiple families with kids and grandparents in tow. As we rip through the countryside, we can’t help but marvel at the panoramic views of rolling hills and lush green

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fields stretching into the distance.

Starting from Beechworth station, the trail follows the general route of the old rail corridor around Lake Sambell Reserve. It then veers off, becoming a road-side path until Kibell Lane. From there, the trail transitions to Kibell Lane on a dedicated bike path for stress-free riding.. The rail trail then resumes, featuring more large cuttings and embankments through native forest and farmlands as it continues its descent to Wooragee and onto Yackandandah This stretch of the trail offers a blend of bush and farmland, undulating up and down as it descends 240 metres to Yackandandah. It’s strongly recommended to have a moderate level of fitness to ride back up to Beechworth, or to have an e-bike to help zip you back up the hill.

We descend into Yackandandah, with some swooping turns and then head back to our car in Beechworth. Before our drive back to Sydney we stop for one last coffee at Little NEV, a coffee van in a repurposed service station on the main street with a colourful collection of vintage cars. The quirks and charm of this town left a mark on both Jake and I, and we’ll be back to the area because three days is simply not enough when the riding and the food are quite this good.

W H E R E W E S TAY E D 1860: Heritage cabin ‘1860’ is perched right on the

banks of Silver Creek, and is in its third location since being built over 150 years ago. Its current location has been lovingly placed in the ideal setting and is the perfect adventure base for riding in Beechworth if a quiet getaway is what you’re after. All we can hear when we arrive is the hush of deciduous trees rustling and the murmur of the creek. As we step over the threshold we’re greeted with old-world charm complemented with modern comforts. Right by the huge hearth is a pair of bellows, repurposed as a coffee table.

Once we have the fire roaring and wine in hand, this simple cottage has transformed into an oasis that takes you back in time with their careful consideration to preserve the past but retain modern comforts. Every detail has been thought about and there is ample room for secure bike storage with our fleet of four bikes.

The Hive Apartment: The Hive Apartment,

situated in one of Victoria’s oldest bank buildings dating back to 1856, was once home to the local Gold Office.

Now, it features a luxurious three-bedroom apartment on the upper level offering views of Beechworth’s historic street-scape, while the lower level celebrates the town’s vibrant gold rush history.

In the late 1800s, Beechworth became a hub for honey production, with beekeepers establishing successful, high-quality apiaries. Over the years, Beechworth honey has gained recognition for its distinct flavour reflecting the local flora. Today, Beechworth remains a prominent centre for honey enthusiasts and apiarists, preserving a rich heritage. The Hive very kindly gave us a range of award winning local honey and mead to enjoy during our stay. Bike storage is easily accessible and its location on the main street makes it the perfect launch pad for all the local food, wine, beer and spirits offered in town.

Additional Resources & Special Thanks:

Thanks to Christina from Ride High Country for your route planning and incredible hospitality. Also thanks to ‘The Hive’ and ‘1860’ who allowed us to stay in such luxurious accommodation and be so accommodating with storing our bikes, making the logistics of this trip so much easier. Much of the riding in is easier with a shuttle and I’d like to thank Ride with OBG for supporting us. They also rent e-bikes, as do Beechworth eMTB who also do guided tours in the region. ridehighcountry.com.au victoriashighcountry.com.au 81

CLASSIFIEDS We have introduced this new section to make space for our community partners. Contact toby@adventureentertainment to get your spot in the AMB Classifieds.

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outdoorresearch.com.au 02 9417 5755

TESTED

THE HUB

There’s a world of choice in bikes and bike parts out there.

Our test team put bikes and products through the works.

The where, what, how and when of mountain biking, from industry professionals.

84 88 92 96 98

122 124 126 128

Merida One-Twenty Specialized Epic EVO Superior eXF 9019 B Merida Big.Nine XT Superior XP 919

100 104 106 108 110

Merida eOne-Sixty Merida Silex 700 SRAM Maven Expert S2S Frontier Kit EVOC Backpack

112 114 116 118 119

GME UHF radios Ohlins XC suspension Roam Nutrition Fizik shoes Fizik saddle

Skills Nutrition Fitness Workshop 83

MERIDA

ONE-TWENTY 600

PHOTOGRAPHER GERARD LAGANA

T

TESTER HAYDEN WRIGHT

he odds are that if you see a Merida at your local riding spot, it will be one of their ever popular and widely regarded E-bikes. Arguably the first brand to really nail a long legged, full power eMTB for the masses with their eOne-Sixty range of bikes, Merida as a brand are well known for making quality bikes that are both affordable and fun to ride.

Following in the footsteps of their thundering eMTB success is a fleet of newly updated trail and enduro bikes, including the One-Twenty I have had on test for the past few months.

Between you and me, the outgoing One-Twenty was the kind of bike I would never look twice at, however this new model is an entirely new beast. It now shares the same sleek silhouette as its siblings, with the shock being mounted in parallel to the low slung top tube and controlled by a linkage driven single pivot suspension design. The 600 model I was sent is the top spec version, carrying with it a modest parts list that screams ‘reliability’ at first glance. All this combines to deliver what Merida themselves tout as their all rounder, a 84

short travel trail bike that is “ready to ride whatever you want it to”.

This sub-category of mountain bike was really thrust into prominence thanks to the success of bikes like the Norco Optic, a favourite of ours here at AMB. Offering a goldilocks combination of sharp handling, sure-footed tracking and zippy pedalling there has been a lot to love from the ~120mm trail bike category over the past few years. For years, the idea of owning a bike in this category intrigued me. Can you really ride a bike that is a jack of all trades, master of none without feeling like you are leaving something on the table on certain types of terrain? Is 130mm of travel enough to get down the steep and technical trails I have locally? Could the new Merida One-Twenty 600 be a true quiver killer? Let’s find out.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS At the core of the One-Twenty range of bikes is an aluminium frame. Confusing as its name

may be, it has 130mm of rear travel which is driven by a small alloy linkage mounted just in front of the seat tube. This linkage is driven by a single pivot rear end that uses what is known as a ‘flex stay’ design. Reliant on a tuned amount of flex from the seat stays, flex stay suspension designs allow the linkage to cycle through its entire range of travel while doing away with the pivot point typically seen near the rear axle. In this design, think of the seat stays acting like a leaf spring. With some popularity during the 90s, flex stay bikes were a rare sight until a few years ago. A renewed drive for simplicity and better understanding of how to tune the flex character in the seat stays has led to more and more of this style of bike being released of late, particularly in the short travel market, although Merida employ them on bikes up to 170mm of travel!

Merida has designed this particular frame to be “poppy and snappy” while still maintaining small bump sensitivity. This has been done through the use of a progressive kinematic, relying on a novel shock tune to control

rebound speeds as the leverage rate drops away near the end of the stroke. Through the rest of the frame there is a mixture of design decisions and integrations I really like, and some I don’t.

Leading the list of positives is the geometry, which leans more to the side of mild than it does wild. Merida offer five sizes and I was aboard the X Long. A 66° head tube angle, 78.5° seat tube angle, 622mm stack and 505mm reach felt instantly comfortable when sitting on the bike for the first time and rolling around my garage. Sometimes, noticing nothing is better than noticing anything and this is one of those cases - the geometry and ergonomics of this bike fit me like a glove.

When combined with the 780mm bar and 40mm stem the One-Twenty delivers a very comfortable and upright rider triangle.

Another tick in the positives category are the multiple mount bosses within the front triangle, along with the integrated under seat

multi-tool and accessory tool strap… neat!

Finally, whoever chose the parts specification for this bike needs a pat on the back. A full Shimano Deore 6100 12 speed group set including cassette, a Marzocchi Z2 fork with a Grip damper, 200mm dropper post and Maxxis tubeless tyres all for under $3500 is impressive from a bike with local dealer support.

Unfortunately, that same Merida employee may have been the person who chose to spec this bike with headset cable routing. Not to beat a dead horse, but we need to keep this trend on the road and away from our beloved mountain bikes. It adds complexity where it is not required, leading to increased maintenance requirements and cost. I also think it looks absolutely garbage. Few things give me more joy than a beautiful set of trimmed and shrink-wrapped cables, draping their way around a head tube and into a frame port.

Don’t take that away from me Merida!

Setup for this bike began with converting the wheels to tubeless. Although the rims and tyres are compatible, tape and valves are not included - best to ensure you budget for this if you’re looking to buy your own One-Twenty 600 as it’s a must do. The Maxxis Forekaster tyres were a cinch to inflate, needing only a floor pump to seat the bead. This is a tyre I know well, however I would typically only use it for XC and light trail duties. It’s lack of braking traction and square edged corner knobs could make for a wild ride on steeper terrain - only time will tell. Before completing the setup I threw the One-Twenty on the scales and was surprised to see 15.85kg (XL) without pedals. That is much heavier than I had anticipated, and was curious to see how this would affect the climbing feel of the bike.

Following this, I set the fork settings as per the guide on the lower leg, and set the shock to the recommended 25% sag with the rebound on the faster side of things.

Hayden Wright RIDING EXPERIENCE: A little bit of everything on two wheels GENERALLY RIDES: Ragley Big Al, Commencal Absolut HEIGHT: 193cm WEIGHT: 78kg BIKE TEST TRACK: SEQ’s finest trails

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ON THE TRAIL Testing of this 130mm 29er took place through late summer and early autumn here where I live in south east Queensland. For every bluebird ride I had, I was seemingly also met with one that was either pre or post rain storm. As such, I really did get the opportunity to ride the One-Twenty on just about every style and condition of trail available to me.

Climbing and pedalling performance on the One-Twenty was a bit of a mixed bag all things considered. The neutral 100% anti-aquat rating kept the bike fairly stable under high cadence

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and low load pedalling, however I did find that there was a tendency to bob up and down more than I would have preferred. This was particularly noticeable on flatter sections of smooth trails and also while commuting to and from my test rides. Fortunately, the Rockshox Deluxe Select+ has an easy to reach and highly effective climb switch. With it flicked into the firm mode there was a fantastic platform on which to pedal that felt much more efficient, inspiring me to put more power through the pedals on open and smooth terrain. Technical climbing was a delicate balance on the One-Twenty. As mentioned

above, the shock was fairly active given its travel amount in the open setting, giving gobs and gobs of traction on janky uphills. When combined with the smooth action of the Marzoochi fork and upright seated position, the ONE-TWENTY turned out to be quite the mountain goat, albeit a lethargic one. Traction was held back by the limits of the Maxxis Forekasters, with overall climbing speed being held back by the bike’s overall weight. At 25% sag, there was a nice amount of bump absorption and tracking on the uphills. There was however quite a delicate balance with the sag setting, with the bike feeling a little

wallowy and untoward at anything above that 25% amount - both on the climbs and the descents.

Flowy and undulating trails are where this bike really came into its own. The playful geometry and fast rolling tyres worked in tandem to provide a ride character that is exactly what Merida had envisioned, “poppy and snappy”. With its short rear end the bike was happiest zipping in and out of banked turns where front end traction was not a priority. Similarly, rollers and jump faces were a blast on this little 130mm bike.

The fairly progressive nature of the suspension and relatively low amount of static sag leads the bike to responding quickly and positively to rider input, assuming you are getting things right. I was surprised how forgiving the suspension was on fast, rough sections of trail. You really can let this little bike eat through rock gardens and deep compressions, with the suspension eating up all the hits and coming back for more in a manner I would expect from a bike with much more travel.

On steeper more technical terrain I found there was a lack of weight on the front tyre, due primarily to the proportionally short rear centre on the XL I was riding. To remedy this I ran a slightly softer and faster fork than what I would typically prefer. While it did lead to some dive under heavy compressions and braking, the trade off was that I had increased tracking through steeper technical terrain - a worthy tradeoff. I also played around with shock pressure, but found anything north of 25% sag led to frequent and harsh bottom-outs. The traction available did also increase in the right scenario, but it was far too easy to find the limit of the rear suspension and as such I returned to the recommended 25%.

Merida recommends that aggressive riders who want to run more sag on their One-Twenty either add a few volume spacers to the shock, or swap the air chamber from the linear variant to the

progressive alternative.

As mentioned in the initial impressions, I was impressed to see a full Deore 6100 12-speed group set on this bike. The decision to spec a 4 pot caliper and 200mm rotor to the front of this bike was a smart one, with the 2 pot calliper and 180mm rotor on the rear having more than enough power to get the job done. Similarly, the 12 speed drivetrain was a quiet and reliable companion through the 20+ hours of testing, with no dropped chains or missed shifts to speak of.

The Maxxis Forekaster tyres were a fast rolling choice for this bike, however I think something like a Minion DHF would be a much more appropriate choice for the front. The lack of braking traction provided by the Forekasters can get a little terrifying at times, particularly when panic braking into, during or out of a steep section of trail.

OUR TAKE Merida have delivered a bike in the One-Twenty 600 that is reliable, comfortable and most of all an absolute blast on blue and black trails. While there are others out there that will make for a faster race bike, more agile climber or surefooted descender few will deliver this all-round much fun at such a competitive price point.

Riders who prioritise racing look elsewhere, but riders who are chasing a fun bike for weekends in the trees should give this one thorough consideration. With a few choice modifications like a more capable front tyre and potentially some shock tuning you should be set for years of trouble free riding. There is a more affordable version ($2599), however the higher level specification found on the 600 model is absolutely worth the extra money.

RRP $3399 WEIGHT 15.85kg AVAILABLE SIZES XS, S, M, L, XL (Tested) FRAME MATERIAL Aluminium FORK Marzocchi Z2, 130mm SHOCK RockShox Deluxe Select+, 130mm SHIFTER Shimano Deore M6100 12sp DERAILLEUR Shimano Deore M6100 12sp CRANK Shimano Deore MT512 175mm, 32t BOTTOM BRACKET Shimano BB-MT501 Threaded CHAIN KMC X12 CASSETTE Shimano CS-M6100 10-51, 12sp HUBS Shimano TC500 SPOKES Double Butted Stainless RIMS Merida Comp TR, 29mm x 29”, tubeless ready TYRES Maxxis Forekaster, 29x2.4”, EXO TR BRAKES Shimano Deore M6120F / M6100R 203/180mm STEM Merida Expert eTRII, 40mm HANDLEBAR Merida Expert TR II, 780mm wide, 18mm rise SEATPOST Merida Expert TR II, 34.9Ø SADDLE Merida Comp SL merida-bikes.com/en-au/

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SPECIALIZED

EPIC 8 EVO WORDS MIKE BLEWITT

E

PHOTOS GERARD LAGANA

arlier in 2024 Specialized released the 8th iteration of the Epic. As we saw from their 2020 release, their top tier cross-country bike would be available in two variants; the Epic and Epic EVO. Specialized have completely revamped the platform to again deliver two unique bikes – now built on the one frame. First up, the Epic, a genre defining all-in cross-country, marathon and stage race 29er full-suspension bike. The Epic EVO uses the exact same frame but has a burlier suspension spec, more fork travel, stronger tyres and bigger brakes. While they sound like small differences the changes drive a wedge between the two variants. The Epic lives on to conquer the wildest XCO course, marathons and stage races (all Brain free) while the Epic EVO lives for the burlier all-day rides, taking scalps on Strava segments and lighting up the downcountry scene.

Specialized aren’t known for doing things by halves, and there are two Epic EVO models available. One is the $14200 super bike as tested here. The Epic EVO Comp sells for $7500 and

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shares the same full-carbon frame but sees a different build kit around the suspension, brakes and drivetrain. Specialized claim that the Epic 8 EVO ‘sets the bar as the most capable 120mm bike on the planet’ which fits the typical marketing from the US hype machine. But they could just be right. The Epic EVO walks a line where many brands bump up travel on their XC rig, but with upgraded suspension Specialized do more than run a longer fork and a different shock tune. This isn’t a 120mm version of an XC bike – that’s what the new Epic is. This is built to be pushed harder with more control, so the Epic EVO goes head to head with bikes like the Transition Spur and perhaps a Pivot Trail 429.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS Fun fact: this is the first Specialized I have tested at AMB since the Camber in 2015. That was right before the Camber ditched the Brain, and the model disappeared altogether. So it is fitting that I’m now testing an Epic EVO, an Epic model that said goodbye to the Brain technolo-

Mike Blewitt RIDING EXPERIENCE: 42 laps around the sun and plenty more laps on the trails GENERALLY RIDES: Factor Lando XC HEIGHT: 178cm WEIGHT: 72kg BIKE TEST TRACK: Brisbane and surrounds

gy back in 2020.

The frame on the Epic 8 is the same across the Epic and Epic EVO models, and there is a lot to like. The carbon frame uses cable ports at the head tube, not in the head set, which is a popular move. There is also a steering block to prevent your controls smashing the top tube in a crash. The trade off is in bar spins but we haven’t seen Christopher Blevins do any of those yet, so it’s likely with his approval.

This is also the first Epic frame with SWAT storage, and a cavernous one it is. You’d have no worries fitting two tubes and most spares in here, and of course there is a SWAT tool in the steerer. Given the scope of the Epic EVO, this is a huge bonus for big days in the hills.

There’s tube in tube routing for a silent ride and easy maintenance, and of course you can fit two bottle cages in the main frame.

Specialized use a threaded bottom bracket shell, and there is a lot of frame protection for

chain slap, and a roost guard on the down tube on the EVO models. With a UDH derailleur hanger and flex stay with post mounts, this is one fancy looking bike.

Interestingly Specialized have kept S-XL sizing as opposed to S-sizing. That’s not to say the geometry is archaic – far from it. The large test bike sports a 470mm reach and 65.9 degree head angle in the high setting. The seat tube is 75 degrees which is fairly steep for a bike made for pedalling. The chain stay length is 435mm across all four sizes. The geometry adjust is subtle but does allow for making the bike half a degree slacker and dropping the bottom bracket height.

Overall, the finish on the bike is exquisite.

From the satin paint finish through to the very minimal branding. The spec on this model is what you’d expect for $14200; excellent. Specialized use Industry Nine hubs in their own excellent Control rims, with a tacky T9 and T7 tyre combination and an

exquisite SRAM XO Transmission group set.

The suspension setup really sets the Epic EVO apart from the Epic models, with a higher volume Fox Float with 2-position compression damping. The Epic has a 3-position damper that is custom tuned for race performance in the middle setting, with fully open and firm positions still available.

The EVO models have their own Ride Dynamics tune that factors in excellent seated pedalling, but really puts focus on big hit support in the midstroke while offering a supple initial stroke for incredible traction and control. Having a 130mm Fox 34 with GRIP2 damper in the front end delivers a whole lot of tuning options via a chassis stiffer than any long-legged XC bike has. At 12.28kg with empty SWAT storage before I put my pedals on, I was impressed by the build on the Epic EVO. Specialized label it a downcountry bike and I think it meets that narrow market segment well.

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ON THE TRAIL I am very familiar with how a top end cross-country bike should ride, especially one that has been built to be a little more capable than what many might consider an XC bike needs to be. For nearly 20 years I have preffered to have a capable XC bike as my main mountain bike. This is not what the Epic EVO is, despite being built on a genre defining XC platform. With a completely different suspension tune and modified build kit, Specialized have taken a modern XC bike and dialled up the trail sensibilities.

Taking off, the bike feels just like what you’d expect. It pedals directly, the position is purposeful with a long reach but suitable rise and width to the bars. And while the burlier and softer compound tyres drag more than pure XC rubber on the way to the trails – this isn’t their use case. My trails require climbing to descend, and I’m more than happy to earn my turns in that way, as is the Epic EVO. I felt no need to reach for the lockout pedalling up singletrack and rougher doubletrack. The suspension kinematics have been developed for World Cup

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podium success, and even with a trail oriented tune the bike still pedals like you’d expect. Only when you’re out of the saddle smashing up a smoother climb will you want to reach to firm up the suspension – of course a GRIP2 damper doesn’t offer that on the fork. But it has many other benefits.

As a short travel bike, setup counts for a lot. I spent a bit of time getting the suspension settings right, and that meant I hovered around 20% sag, with a fairly fast rebound. My preference is for a bike to be supported in its travel, using tyres for a lot of the small bump compliance, and erring towards more control at higher speeds. I guess the Specialized boffins felt the same, as it is really easy to get the ride you want with the tuning options available from the GRIP2 damper and the support in the Fox Float shock. I heard more complaints from wheels than I did from the chassis and suspension in the test period – and they were minimal anyway.

The Epic EVO really comes alive on the trails where being a passenger just isn’t part of the equation. When the trails err towards hand-cut masterpieces that lack consistent gradients,

suitable camber and general erosion control the EVO is in its element. It begs for more input, but doesn’t shy away from trail feedback. As I said on a first ride video on the gram, this is not a bike that isolates you from the trail. It lets you know what’s going on, it just wants some input.

On higher speed flow trails the EVO still rips, but I feel most bikes do the same in that setting. The Epic EVO is most at home on the narrow trails on the back side of your riding network, the steeper lines and less polished routes – it’s an excellent choice for mountain biking.

OUR TAKE When the Epic 8 line up was released, I was impressed to see Specialized rid themselves of the Brain on the Epic, and increase the capability of the Epic EVO. Truth be told, the arrival of the new Epic EVO sent a shockwave through the AMB Crew group chat, and that’s a sign that the bike looked to be hitting the mark.

Geometry tables, features and spec sheets are one thing, but how they play out on the dirt is what counts.

While I’m not the rider to push the Epic EVO to its limits, it is still the kind of bike I love to ride. The clean design is attractive and the quiet ride is appreciated. I also really like the cavernous SWAT storage and love the ability to easily fit two bottles.

But what really made me love riding the Epic EVO is how well it suited all my local trails and how I ride them. From the steeper singletrack or double track climbs, through to the machine built or hand-cut trails, it gobbled them up without ever feeling like too much bike, or too little. The shortcomings on the trail were only ever my own, and I think on so many of Australia’s trail networks a bike like the Specialized Epic EVO will feel at home. What it isn’t is a pure XC bike – the Epic is there for that. The EVO is heavier, but primarily the lack of remote lock out, trail tune and the slower rolling tyres would just takes away the pizzaz that an XC bike needs. You could easily, and cheaply, swap to faster and firmer rubber in the Specialized

range if this was a concern ahead of an event you’d like to do.

I did have my concerns about the slender seat stays on the swing arm, but this isn’t a bike to buy if you know you’re after a burly trail or enduro bike. It’s a bike for riders looking for a versatile ride. From all-day epics, some fun events, pre or post work hit outs and maybe some travel to some of Australia’s iconic trail destinations. This model is expensive, and the Comp is still $7500. But any bike that is going to wear the label downcountry will carry a substantial price tag, given the need for a high quality design, consideration of weight and a high level of performance from the parts. While I haven’t ridden every 120mm bike on the planet, I’d say Specialized are pretty close to the mark in saying it’s the most capable bike in that segment. Top marks for delivering a stunning bike that I believe lived up to the hype!

RRP $14200 WEIGHT 12.28kg (as tested) AVAILABLE SIZES S, M, L (tested), XL FRAME MATERIAL FACT 11m carbon, SWAT storage, 120mm FORK Fox 34 Factory, GRIP2, 130mm SHOCK Fox Float Factory, Evol LV, LSC/Rebound,190x45mm SHIFTER SRAM AXS Pod controller DERAILLEUR SRAM XO Eagle Transmission CRANK SRAM XO Eagle, DUB, 175mm, 32t BOTTOM BRACKET SRAM DUB threaded, wide CHAIN SRAM XO Eagle CASSETTE SRAM XS 1295, 10-52 12sp HUBS Industry Nine 1/1, 28h SPOKES Stainless, 14g black RIMS Roval Control, 29mm internal, 28h TYRES F: Specialized Purgatory GRID T9 29 x 2.4” R: Specialized Ground Control GRID T7 29 x 2.35” BRAKES SRAM Code Silver Stealth, 4 piston, 200/180mm STEM Race Face Turbine R 50mm HANDLEBARS Roval Control carbon, 20mm rise, 780mm SEATPOST Fox Factory Transfer 30.9mm, 175mm SADDLE Body Geometry Power Expert specialized.com/au/en

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SUPERIOR

EXF 9019 B WORDS RYAN WALSCH

S

PHOTOS JORDAN RIDDLE

uperior Bikes are a well-known brand in some parts of the world, but they’re brand new in Australia. In April 2024 BikesOnline revealed that they would now be stocking Superior Bikes via their popular webshop. With a range of bikes that covers road, gravel, XC hardtails, dual suspension bikes and eMTBs, this seems like a great addition for BikesOnline, to join their extensive range of Polygon and Marin bikes that are sold direct to consumer.

Superior hail from the Czech Republic, specifically from the Beskidy. This area is very close to the border with Poland and Slovakia, with a strong history in both cycling and cross-country skiing. The hills are steep, littered with trails that are themselves littered with rocks and roots. What better place to base a bike brand?

The Superior eXF 9019 B sells for $7999 at BikesOnline.com.au, as a Bosch-equipped 160/140mm travel 29er. Getting a trail ready eMTB into the sub $8,000 point without cutting back on important features has become quite competitive in recent years. So have Superior nailed it? At this price the Superior is in a similar 92

market to the Merida eOne-Sixty 675 ($8699) which has more travel and a mullet setup, and the Trek Rail 5 ($7499) which is also a 29” bike.

So who will the Superior eXF 9019 B suit?

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS As with all BikesOnline bikes we have received they arrive very well packaged and mostly assembled with easy to follow instructions and links to online reference videos. The Bosch 625Wh PowerTube battery was already fully charged and is housed in a 750Wh battery compartment within the 6 series alloy frame.

The Bosch Performance Line CX motor, delivering 85Nm of torque and 340% support, is at the heart of the eXF 9019 eMTB. It is a favourite of mine for its intuitive assistance and power, making steep tech climbs a heap of fun as the power is sustained when giving it the beans rather than fizzling out when you need it most.

The eXF has 29 inch wheels and 140mm rear and 160mm front travel, and some modern but still conservative geometry figures. Our size

Ryan Walsch RIDING EXPERIENCE: Racing, repairing, riding and braking bikes since forever GENERALLY RIDES: Forbidden Druid V2 overbuild, Trek e-Cargo HEIGHT: 178cm WEIGHT: 74kg BIKE TEST TRACK: Greater Canberra’s greater trails

large (19 inch) bike has a generous reach of 485mm and when combined with the 64 degree head angle takes the wheel base out to 1271mm long. Taking care of the suspension is the RockShox Deluxe Select R, it is an incredibly supple and robust unit however the RockShox 35 Silver TK fork does not compliment the bikes very smooth rear suspension as well as it could. It is stiff enough under brakes but lacks the smooth and supple performance of the finer RockShox offerings like say a Yari or Psylo.

The Superior rolls on Stars J30D tubeless rims and 29 x 2.6” Schwalbe Nobby Nic Performance line tyres, which unfortunately are not tubeless compatible. This is a bit of a miss but something than can be rectified pretty easily after purchase. We would always recommend tubeless tyres with a thicker sidewall and casing on a capable trail ready E-bike such as the eXF 9019.

Human power delivery is taken care of by the large range Shimano 12 speed Deore system, which shifts very nicely under load and enables the rider to keep cranking, maintain assistance and forward momentum.

Superior have also built the wheels onto a solid and E-bike approved Shimano rear hub with reinforced flanges, steel freehub with sealed bearings and much larger and stronger pawls than we would normally see in a hub – this is a smart move, creating a hub which will last years of service.

Lastly Superior have chosen one of the

most reliable brakes Shimano makes, the hydraulic 4 piston MT420. It has sadly been paired with an inadequate 180mm rotor on the front and rear which give it as much stopping power as a headwind on an eMTB. Swapping these out for a 220mm and 200mm rotor would be an immediate purchase for me. I wonder if a slightly cheaper 10 or 11 speed Shimano Linkglide system would have enabled the upgrade to bigger rotors, food for thought.

The Superior eXF has clean lines and a centralised seating position thanks to the steep 77 degree seat angle, the linkage and hardware appears to be well built and sealed and allows for a full sized bottle and on frame storage mount situated under the top-tube. Interestingly across all 3 sizes the mainframe shares a common 120mm headtube which is ok for the smaller two sizes but may impact taller riders opting for the XL (505mm reach). Thankfully the

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steerer has been left pretty long and its nothing a set of riser bars couldn’t rectify as the stock 760mm bars have a mere 12mm rise, a similar amount to a broom handle.

Setup of the eXF 9019 was simple, the Bosch system is brilliant, wireless mini remote paired and easily positioned into a very ergonomic placement unlike some more bulbous Bosch controllers weve grown to deal with over the years, top points there. As the tyres are non tubeless we slipped a pair of Tannus Armor in the tyres to give the rims a fighting chance against the sharp rim destroying rocks of Stromlo and dampen the feedback of the higher than normal pressures down a bit, they are heavy but work.

ON THE TRAIL At a whopping 178cm I normally float between a medium and a large or a preferred reach of 460-485mm. So I could really opt for either a medium (465mm reach) or the large (485mm reach) and given the middle of the length range rear centre of 446mm which is

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unchanged across sizes I decided on the large as the rest of the figures are erring on the side of conservative.

Superior have nailed the seating position, the riders’ weight is centralised nicely and with the help of a handfull or volume spacers I had the at times struggling RockShox 35 TK Silver sitting higher in its travel and tracking nicely with even support at both ends.

The powerful Bosch Performance CX motor with its huge 625Wh battery really makes the eXF. This system is superb and highly intuitive on technical climbs and has minimal drag when coasting on descents. There is minimal delay when ratcheting over an obstacle and power delivery returning, some motors cut out and take way too long to come alive and you end up stalling, dabbing and having to start again from the precarious position you were left stranded. As mentioned earlier the 625Wh battery is actually housed in a 750Wh downtube storage compartment which could be expanded if you liked. The higher spec model comes with larger battery and uses the same frame.

Air time feels balanced and instills confidence, geometry is right in the sweet spot and feels familiar, proficient jumpers or riders wishing to attack rocky sections or off piste jank will find the 35 TK Silver fork to be under gunned and more aimed at the blue trails. It does hamper how well the Superior’s rear suspension platform works.

These larger impacts did raise a concern with the down tube battery storage cover which was rattling and causing a hell of a racket on an otherwise very quiet bike. It ejected itself from our test rig twice, once doing a sweet jump with maybe slightly more than a Category 4 ebike rating of 3 feet or 120cm of air. The other instance was just pinging through some rocks. On closer inspection the very small keyway style latch that secures the cover has a very small and light spring which is not up to the task. I fitted a Velcro strap from my fanny pack and performed some race mods back at the shop.

I also packed out the small void between the battery and its cover with some bubble wrap which stopped the rattling and then packed

out the latch assembly with rubberised mastic tape which preloaded the spring and kept the latch from popping out of its notch. Both have been holding place securely and silently for the remainder of the test but I would love to see a slight rework. This is a very simple mechanism that makes a hell of a lot of noise and much fuss trying to find the battery cover on the trail. It is worth noting that I OFTEN come across battery and motor housing covers on the trails, from many different manufacturers who too find it hard to make an easily accessible cover that doesn’t eject at the sight of a feature.

OUR TAKE Superior have designed a strong full-suspensiong eMTB platform paired with a brilliant Bosch heart with the eXF. With a little refinement and perhaps a simple update to specs for the Australian market like larger rotors, tubeless tyres and a sturdier fork by means of pairing back spend on the wireless micro remote, the 12 speed Deore back to say a 10 or 11 speed Deore Link glide setup or the very nice Fizik saddle the eXF 9019 could hold its head up with some big names.

RRP $7999 WEIGHT 25.8kg (as tested) AVAILABLE SIZES Small, Medium, L (on test), XL” FRAME MATERIAL Alu X6 Ultralite FORK RockShox 35 Silver TK 160mm SHOCK RockShox Super Deluxe Select R (140mm) MOTOR Bosch Performance Line CX, 85Nm DISPLAY Bosch Mini Remote BATTERY Bosch PowerTube 625Wh SHIFTER Shimano Deore, 12sp DERAILLEUR Shimano Deore, 12sp CRANK ONE Race Alloy, 34t CHAIN Shimano Deore, 12sp CASSETTE Shimano Deore 10-51t, 12sp RIMS Stars J30D, 32h HUBS Shimano MT 410, 32h SPOKES Sapim Leader, black TYRES Schwalbe Nobby Nic Performance, 29 x 2.6” BRAKES Shimano MT 420 4-piston, 180/180mm STEM ONE ICR Alloy HANDLEBARS ONE Alloy, 12mm rise, 760mm SEATPOST ONE Sport Dropper SADDLE Fizik Aidon X5 bikesonline.com.au

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Mike Blewitt RIDING EXPERIENCE: More time on the ground than off it.

GENERALLY RIDES: Factor Lando XC, Norco HT 120 HEIGHT: 178cm WEIGHT: 72kg BIKE TEST TRACK: Greater Brisbane

MERIDA

BIG.NINE XT

WORDS MIKE BLEWITT

PHOTOS GERARD LAGANA

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erida are a juggernaut in the global bike industry and a main stay in the Australian mountain bike market.

Select Merida models have lead the way in their respective categories, and the Merida Big.Nine hardtail may be best known for the wide range of intermediate hardtails on shop floors, but the new 2024 Big.Nine is a completely different beast to the Big.Nine you think you know.

The Big.Nine has had a big overhaul for the carbon framed Big.Nine XT on test, alongside the alloy frame Big.Nine TR Limited. These two models sit apart from other Big.Nine models available at your local Merida dealer, thanks to a complete revamp on frame design, handling, features and geometry. Merida reckon the Big. Nine range are the backbone of their mountain bike range – so will that still ring true?

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS The large sized frame (the middle size of 5 options) has a dramatically sloping top tube, with copious amounts of standover room. The tubes are aggressively shaped, with a big

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down tube, flattened top tube, muscular head tube and shaped seat and chain stays to optimise ride feel, tyre and heel clearance. In the burgundy colour the bike looks fantastic, with very clean lines thanks to complete internal routing.

Merida use a UDH hanger for easy upgrades on the Boost spaced rear end, and the frame uses a flat mount rear brake. The frame has space for 2.4” tyres, and the stock Maxxis Rekon Race are one of the widest 2.4” XC tyres I have used and they still have lots of clearance. You can run a dropper post internally, and no doubt something with a very long drop, with no mounts on the seat tube. This means there are two bottle mounts on the down tube – although clearance for two cages will likely be an issue on a size smaller than large. There’s a threaded bottom bracket for easier maintenance although Merida do employ an Acros headset with internal cable routing. Having spoken to Merida’s engineers recently, they did inform me that they used the best quality bearings with a dual seal to improve bearing life and reduce service intervals.

The build is about what you would expect from a model called ‘XT’, with a nearly full Shimano Deore XT 12-speed group set. KMC handle the chain and Shimano RT54 rotors handle stopping.

Merida have bumped up the width of their rims to 25mm internal – a happy medium for an alloy XC rim. I feel wider is better, but wider alloy does get a lot heavier as well. Unfortunately rim tape and valves are still BYO, but with some from my work bench fitted, the Maxxis Rekon Race EXO tyres inflated tubeless with no issues.

Merida finish the build with their flat 70mm stem and 760mm flat bars with lock on grips, plus their own saddle atop an FSA carbon post.

They have their own tool dock on the saddle for an included multi-tool. This is a nice touch! A quick driveway test showed it was nice and quiet, testament to a quality build at the factory and some smart design features on the frame to make sure the internal elements are silent. With the bike setup tubeless, it weighed 10.48kg on my scales before I added pedals or cages. This is impressively light! But would it ping me from rock to rock?

ON THE TRAIL The Big.Nine looked super long, probably exacerbated by the low top tube. But with my seat height set the reach and balance was spot on. My large test bike has a reach of 472mm, and a low head tube of 105mm. With a 68 degree head angle and 75.3 degree seat angle, the numbers are right where I’d want them for a 100mm XC hardtail. This frame can run a 120mm

fork, and that would knock about a degree off the head angle (and seat angle) and reduce the reach about 8mm as well. The TR Limited has an alloy frame and 120mm fork and dropper, if you’re after a cheaper trail style hardtail on the same frame design.

It’s nice to see Merida employ size-specific chain stays on the Big.Nine. This isn’t something all brands do, but the 436mm length is a good match to the large, and for each of the five sizes they’re smaller or larger, to help maintain the right weight distribution between the wheels, and similar handling characteristics as well.

As I rode out my front gate for the first time, my immediate thought on handling characteristics was ‘rocket ship!’. With the fast engaging XT hubs and low weight, the Big.Nine just wants to take off. Compared to the geometry of other Big.Nine models, the longer and slacker geometry does require an engaged rider, it’s not for cruising, the Big.Nine XT wants to be ridden and pushed.

Once at the trails, the climbing ability of the bike was proven. Really, it was never in doubt. A bike at this weight should climb like a scalded cat, and it does. But it’s the geometry that helps here when you move from fire trails to climbing singletrack, with easy body shifts out of the saddle to manage step ups on the trail, with minimal effort needed to keep the front wheel tracking even on steep switchback corners. I liked the 34t chain ring as stock. I’d look at a 36t for my own bike but I’m glad it wasn’t a 32t. The Big.Nine wants to work!

On rougher trails you need to be totally alert on a hardtail – any hardtail demands input and response from the pilot. When you work the fork, when to lift the front wheel, what you should find a low air line across and what best be avoided all together. Some may say it is tiring, others will find it very engaging.

The Big.Nine is eager to go fast, and once you have the bike setup for you you’ll be surprised how easy it is to ride some rougher trails on a hardtail. Of course, extended rock gardens are not fun, but major features are totally fine with the right line and skills. Setup is key, and it is worth spending time finding the perfect tyre pressures and fork settings. I would certainly put a dropper post on this bike if it was my bike, to really

take advantage of the handling and stand over height. It really does make a big difference when working a hardtail in rougher terrain and on bigger features. Some may wonder if the head angle is slack enough, but with a 100mm fork you do need to run it reasonably firm to avoid dive, which also means it doesn’t get much steeper during use. Geometry typically involves some compromise and I think Merida have found a good balance for an XC hardtail.

The whole build kit really works as it should.

While Shimano’s Deore XT 12-speed group set is now 5 years old, it is still a leading mechanical group set, delivering incredible durability and performance for the price. I would have preferred to see even a 110mm air spring in the RockShox SID SL fork, but I think those setup changes can be done easily enough and some of those looking at this bike will find 100mm is spot on.

OUR TAKE Anyone looking at a carbon XC hardtail should understand that they are a precision instrument.

They need the right input from the pilot and good setup so you can get the most out of them. Personally, I don’t expect to be without a nice hardtail for many years to come. They are the kind of bike you can get out and ride, with little thought needed on maintenance compared to some full-suspension bikes. Of course, they aren’t for everyone, but for those looking for low weight, an engaging ride, and a great build kit for a lower price than a full-suspension bike, then something like the Merida Big.Nine XT delivers.

With the thoroughly overhauled design, the Big. Nine is a different beast to what you may expect.

Merida’s bike designers admitted that globally, the Big.Nine range is one of the most popular, and I think with this XT model and the TR limited as an alloy trail variant, they will continue to be. Not many bikes come through AMB that I seriously consider buying to hang in my shed, but this is one of them. Anyone looking for a high-value, high performance XC hardtail should look no further.

RRP $3999 WEIGHT 10.48kg (as tested) AVAILABLE SIZES S, M, L (tested), XL, XXL FRAME MATERIAL CF3 Grade 3 Carbon Fiber FORK RockShox SID SL, 100mm,remote SHIFTER Shimano XT M8100 iSpec EV, 12sp DERAILLEUR Shimano XT M8100 12sp CRANK Shimano XT M8100 12sp, 34t 175mm BOTTOM BRACKET Shimano BSA CHAIN KMC X12 CASSETTE Shimano XT M8100 12sp 10-51t HUBS Shimano XT M8100, Boost, 32h SPOKES Double-butted, stainless, black RIMS Merida Expert CC II, 25mm internal TYRES Maxxis Rekon Race EXO, 29 x 2.4” BRAKES Shimano XT M8100, 180/160mm STEM Merida Team CC III, 70mm HANDLEBARS Merida Expert CC, 760mm SEATPOST FSA SL-K, 0 degree, 30.9mm SADDLE Merida Expert SL merida-bikes.com/en-au/

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Mike Blewitt RIDING EXPERIENCE: Hardtail aficionado GENERALLY RIDES: Norco Revolver 120 HT, Factor Lando XC HEIGHT: 178cm WEIGHT: 72kg BIKE TEST TRACK: Greater Brisbane

SUPERIOR

XP 919

PHOTOGRAPHER GERARD LAGANA TESTER MIKE BLEWITT

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uperior Bikes come out of the mountains in the Czech Republic, and they are now available in Australia via BikesOnline. With over 30 years making bikes, Superior have had a recent push into the elite cross-country market, but not without ensuring that a strong foundation remains in a hardtail line up. Superior Bikes have a range of carbon and alloy hardtails, starting at $1999 and offering just about everything you would expect. This includes 29” wheels, boost through axles, wide range 12-speed gearing and great ergonomics. The Superior XP range clearly has a cross-country intent, and is therefore built around 100mm travel forks and moderate geometry.

I’ve got the XP 919 ($1999) on test, which is an alloy frame with a Shimano 12-speed group set and brakes, RockShox 100mm fork and a smart cockpit arrangement. Coming in at about $2000, the XP 919 sits at a very competitive part of the market. It goes up against the Marin Team 1 from BikesOnline and the Merida Big.Nine SLX. When we reviewed 8 hardtails under $2000 last year, we had one guiding question; is it fun to ride?

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

The Superior Bikes XP 919 arrived via courier at my front gate, or actually in my carport. The courier went straight past the warning sign about a dog being on the property but he got away with it. Like any bike from BikesOnline, the bike you buy will get delivered to your door. This means you need to navigate choosing the model that suits you, sizing, and then building the bike. BikesOnline have a 98

number of online tools to help with all of this, and a robust customer service team you can call as well. There’s even a free returns policy that lasts 30 days – head to their website for the full details.

The bike was a cinch to build, and you will only need to navigate fitting the handlebars onto the stem, putting the seat post in the frame and putting the front wheel in. Then you need to setup the cockpit for brake and shifter position, and bar roll, plus set the tyre and suspension pressure – and of course the seat height. I prefer to ride tubeless tyres however the Schwalbe 2.25” Racing Ralph tyres are a basic model that will not support tubeless, however the rim tap fitted may stay airtight if you buy some valves and upgrade the tyres. I fitted my own pedals (platform pedals are included) and put a bottle cage on, and finalised my setup for fit.

The glossy metallic red won’t be everyone’s choice – however the Superior XP 919 is also available in black. The frame has internal routing although the plug in the frame doesn’t look like it can support an internal dropper post if that was something you wanted to look at. The frame has modern boost axle spacing, and without a chain or seat stay bridge there is plenty of room for wider tyres and mud.

There’s a press fit bottom bracket shell, tapered head tube and room for two bottles in

the frame’s main triangle.

My large test bike has a 69 degree head angle and 74 degree seat angle. This is more modern than my last hardtail and not that far off my current one – although the reach is moderate at 455mm. This does suit a $2000 cross-country hardtail quite well, but more on that later.

ON THE TRAIL With wide 760mm flat bars and a comfortable Fizik seat, the XP 919 was a pleasure to pedal away on. Equipped with a 34t replaceable chain ring and a Shimano Deore 12-speed group set, the gear options wer plentiful with a full 10-51t range. Shimano’s looong lever blades on the installed model mean you may need to move the brake levers inboard to get the best setup, but I found the bar shape, stem reach and lock on grips all a good fit – the ergonomics are really good.

As an alloy hardtail with 2.25” tubed tyres, I did approach the first trails I rode with some trepidation. The balance on the bike was really good though, especially on hard packed rolling flow trails. The Racing Ralph tyres delivered better traction than I expected, and the air-sprung Judy fork helps keep the front wheel tracking. Being accurate with tyre and suspension pressure is key to getting the most

RRP $1999 WEIGHT 12.74kg (as tested) AVAILABLE SIZES S, M, L (tested), XL FRAME MATERIAL X6 Aluminium

out of these components – so invest in a good shock pump and maybe a digital tyre pressure gauge as well.

Zipping up a twisty singletrack climb was a fresh reminder that longer, lower, slacker is not everything. The XP 919 easily navigated the twisty trails with a comfortable pedalling position that kept the front wheel tracking around corners, with no extra muscle needed to bring the front wheel around. With a remote lock out on the handlebars, it was easy to lock the fork for a very smooth fire trail climb or road section as well.

The first descents I tackled were fairly flowing with some loose over hardpack and very minor features. The XP 919 responded really well to input to pre jump some bigger lips I had no interest in hitting while high-posting, and unweighting over the more pronounced edges that tubed tyres do not get along with well. With a slightly shorter reach than some large sized frames and therefore a slightly longer stem, it is easy to move the bike around at lower to middling trail speeds. At higher speeds on narrow trails a little more attention was needed when coming around corners blind – but the flip side of that is how responsive the bike is to changing lines.

On rougher descents with small rock drops, bigger exposed roots and more rock, the XP 919 still holds its own. Without a dropper and with basic tyres you need to be mindful of line selection, and understand that a Judy fork won’t have the ongoing midstroke support and balance through extended rock sections that a top-spec fork will have. Overall though, I was still really impressed. A lot of this is down to the ergonomics of the cockpit.

From saddle comfort to bar width, bar sweep and stem length, I was really comfortable with the fit and handling on the Superior XP 919. The bike offered no surprises and the overall performance is a good baseline to improve on with a few smart upgrades over time.

OUR TAKE Where the Superior XP 919 really shines is in the flowing hardpack trails and multi-use trails. It was fast, with a shifting and braking setup that didn’t miss a beat. The RockShox Judy fork has enough options for adjustment with an air-spring, rebound and lock out to suit riders looking at this type of bike – but the bike nor the fork are the right mix for someone who wants a trail hardtail. BikesOnline can serve that market with something like the Marin San Quentin 2 ($1999) which has 27.5 x 2.6” tyres, a burlier fork and slack geometry.

The XP 919 is for riders who want to get out and ride. Be that exploring rail trails, quick rides to the local trail network, mixed-terrain commutes or even bikepacking. Although the frame doesn’t have mounts for racks, the overall design could take some specific luggage really well, and the quality group set will go the distance.

At $1999 the Superior XP 919 sits in a very competitive part of the market. For riders looking for a fun bike to get out onto the trails it’s a great place to start. But for more off-road performance I’d suggest investing in tubeless tyres, valves and sealant – plus a shock pump – to truly take advantage of the bikes handling and characteristics.

FORK RockShox Judy Silver TK R, 100mm SHIFTER Shimano Deore M6100, 12sp DERAILLEUR Shimano SLX M7100, 12sp CRANK Shimano FC MT510, 34t, 175mm BOTTOM BRACKET Shimano MT500 BB92 CHAIN Shimano Deore M6100, 12sp CASSETTE Shimano Deore M6100, 12sp, 10-51 HUBS Shimano TC500 centrelock SPOKES Black, stainless RIMS Stars J25D, 25mm internal, 32h TYRES Schwalbe Racing Ralph 29x2.25” BRAKES Shimano MT410, 180/160mm STEM ONE Race HANDLEBARS ONE Race, 5mm rise, 760mm SEATPOST ONE Race alloy, 27.2mm SADDLE Fizik Terra Aidon X5 bikesonline.com.au

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MERIDA

EONE-SIXTY 875

PHOTOGRAPHER GERARD LAGANA

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TESTER MIKE BLEWITT

erida are a power house in the world of bikes, and especially in e-bikes. In my mind, they paved the way for eMTBs in Australia with their eOne-Sixty 900E in 2017. The bike looked great, had an excellent build kit, modern motor and handled like a long travel mountain bike should. It was also super competitively priced, helping gain traction around the country. And by all accounts, the Merida eOne-Sixty 900E did that around the world as well.

Merida updated their range of eMTBs once since then, with carbon front triangles, internal batteries and shorter travel models. Earlier this year Merida released their third generation of eMTBs, with two new models of the eOne-Sixty and a new eOne-Forty – with huge updates to the travel, handling and design concepts for their eMTB range. I spoke to some of the designers at their media launch at Hidden Vale Adventure Park in Queensland, including 100

product manager Benjamin Diemar, about the timeline of eMTBs with Merida.

‘In 2014 Merida had no eMTBs, they were really focused on e-trekking bikes, the e-systems at the time were also not great solutions for an eMTB. Shimano introduced the E8000 unit to us quite early, and with this drive unit we could achieve a geometry that makes sense, to ride more like a regular mountain bike’ ‘This was especially important with the rear end, so we could have the shorter chain stays’ added Hannes Noller from the design team.

‘We started the development of the first generation of the eOne-Sixty and our Taiwan HQ really saw great potential, and we worked very hard on the pricing structure. It let us step into the market with a big bang, and it was quite good.’

For years the Merida eOne-Sixty was seen as the eMTB buy. Lots of other great bikes were being released, but they were often judged

against the value and capability of the Merida eOne-Sixty. As such a lot of importance has been placed on the new platforms, and Merida have released three bikes to meet the varying needs of different riders.

‘The product was unique and the performance was outstanding. So with the new one we wanted to keep the DNA of the original, it had to be a bike for experts but also for beginners so they feel comfortable on the bike.’

There is a carbon eOne-Sixty with a built in battery and a lower weight with full support, full-support alloy models with larger removable batteries and the eOne-Forty with less travel but lots of range and full support. The latest Shimano EP801 system with 85Nm of torque and 600W peak power is at the heart of all the bikes. The latest firmware also allows extensive tuning of the modes to customise each setting to just how you want it, all via the E-tube phone app.

The alloy bikes have been designed to suit the majority of riders, with larger batteries, lower price points and a real focus on being user friendly, while still delivering the performance from a Shimano EP801 system and Merida’s

Mike Blewitt RIDING EXPERIENCE: Has done his 10000 hours.

GENERALLY RIDES: Factor Lando XC, Trek Fuel Exe HEIGHT: 178cm WEIGHT: 72kg BIKE TEST TRACK: Greater Brisbane

updated handling and suspension.

I’ve got the $9499 Merida eOne-Sixty 875 on test. This an alloy model, with a huge 750Wh removable battery. The bike is a mullet or MX setup, delivering 170mm of front travel and a whopping 174mm in the back end. There’s a flip chip if you’d like to run a 29” rear wheel, which drops travel to 160mm. Merida have completely overhauled the geometry, with five sizes now available that have a longer reach, steeper seat angle for better pedalling, and a slacker head angle for more capability. The 875 has a capable build kit with Shimano’s eMTB specific 11-speed XT LinkGlide and burly RockShox suspension. Along with the eOne-Sixty 675 ($8699) these two bikes share the same frame.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS My first thoughts when looking at the Merida eOne-Sixty 875 is how meaty it is! The larger down tube helps house the 750Wh battery, and Merida also built more room around the the motor attachment to make getting brake houses, gear outer or dropper cable outer fitted or replaced much easier. It’s a very neat setup and quiet too – partly with the routing through the Acros head set. I’m not a fan of it but Merida have their top seals on the

headset and for the bearings themselves.

And it sure is neat.

The frame design borrows a lot from the new One-Sixty and One-Forty that were released in late 2022, including the flip chips and the flexstay arrangement. The flexstay design is tuned by size, meaning it has more progression built in on the larger sizes than it does on the smaller ones. While the eOne-Sixty ships as a mullet (MX) configuration with 174mm of rear travel, you can change the flip chip to the 29er setting, fit a 29” rear wheel and get 160mm of travel instead, if you prefer the ride of a 29” bike.

The flip chip maintains the handling of the bike despite the wheel size change.

While the design intent of the alloy eOne-Sixty models is more all-purpose than the higher-spec carbon models with smaller, built in batteries – the geometry is pretty much identical. Merida offer five sizes and for my 178cm height I opted for Long. I also rode a Mid at the launch event but prefer the longer reach for my lanky arms. Like many brands, Merida have aimed to make sizing about reach, not seat height, and their adjustable dropper post gives tool free adjustment of the available drop from 30-240mm.

My Long test bike has a reach of 479mm, a

head angle of 64.4 degrees and a steep seat angle of 78.4 degrees. The chain stay length is 446mm across all fives sizes, it would have been good to see Merida move to size-specific stays to match with the size-specific flexstay progression.

This model has a built in Lezyne front light (to meet European standards) and the multitool and holder on the saddle. There are also mini fenders included, and the rear through-axle has a pull out tool that does 4,5 and 6mm allen keys, depending on the insertion depth. This is some handy built-in utility!

While setting up the bike I stripped out the tubes and rim tape to replace it with tubeless tape, valves and sealant. The tyres are tubeless ready with strong casings, but I think it is well-beyond time for Merida to equip their mountain bikes with tubeless tape from the factory, with valves in the parts box.

With the bike setup tubeless and before I fitted pedals it clocked in at 25.16kg. This is pretty meaty, but with an eMTB specific group set, alloy frame, 750Wh battery, huge 220/203mm rotors, a RockShox ZEB, strong wheels with appropriate tyres and such a long dropper post – it is about what you would expect.

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ON THE TRAIL If you were to look at the weight, travel, geometry and even the 3C MaxxGrip and MaxxTerra tyres that the Merida comes equipped with, you’d be completely justified in thinking that it will be a lot of bike to manage.

But – you would be wrong. While the Merida eOne-Sixty 875 is built to be ready to tackle steep and wild descents as you’d expect from a 170mm MX-setup eMTB – it is also an eMTB that is designed to be pedalled. After all, why have pedal assist if you don’t plan on pedalling?

My first ride on the new eOne-Sixty was at Hidden Vale Adventure Park, and on the 675 model. Despite a slightly soft setup, I was impressed. If you haven’t ridden at Hidden Vale Adventure Park, a few things always stand out to me. Firstly, overall it can be pretty rough. Some trails more than others depending where you are – but they aren’t short on rock. Also, there are just as many climbs as descents, making the park lots of fun to shuttle but also ideal for eMTBs. A trip out there on my XC bike is a good day out, pedalling to some of the long descents and trails that snake down hill sides and through gullies. But doing all that on an eMTB is way more fun – and this ride proved just how well

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a modern long travel eMTB like the eOneSixty handles it all.

I’ve said this before, but geometry counts for so much. Merida followed the handling of the One-Sixty very closely, dialing the geometry back by the smallest margins to create a bike that suited more riders. It has all the stability for high speed riding and steep terrain, but it is not a handful to move around at lower trail speeds. I was really impressed with the pedalling dynamics and how the steep seat angle keeps the front wheel tracking on climbing switchbacks.

Having ridden both the Mid and Long sizes, I’m aware that I do need to make some subtle shifts forward to keep the front wheel on course on the Long size, and that is something I am accustomed to with bikes that have a reach around 480mm. The trade off is the stability on steeper and rougher trails, which the Merida has plenty of.

Kudos to Merida for equipping the eOneSixty with a Shimano LinkGlide system. The 11-speed equipment is near bombproof, with slick shifts and chain security for the entire test period. I was also stoked to see proper sized rotors for the 4-piston XT brakes.

There’s still room for an upgrade to IceTech rotors if you need more braking power – but these had plenty of stopping power for the

Merida.

It has often been said that the extra weight of an eMTB is really good at charging rough lines – which is true. But I actually found the progressive nature of the eOne-Sixty meant that it responded really well to changes of direction on descents, you weren’t just left holding onto a big rig that was barrelling down hill. This isn’t something that all longer travel eMTBs will do, and while handling is one thing I think having a suspension system that has a supportive midstroke to push against really counts. Part of this is my personal setup preferences, and the downside is on some very lippy hits I did have a bit more kickback than expected. With such a long dropper post and short seat tube, it was easy to fully slam the seat and absorb the hit – as I’m not really one to use lippy jumps for all their value. But you do you!

Despite knocking out a few 50-60km rides, I never made much of a dent on the battery.

Each time I got home with about 60% of charge left. This is using Trail almost all of the time, with Boost on selected steep climbs.

I tend to ride an eMTB at a higher cadence than some, to get a better feeling of support.

Plodding at low speeds and relying on the high torque to get assistance seems to wear through a battery faster – so the range you

get will depend on your riding, terrain and system weight. Bear in mind you can get a 360Wh range extender for the Merida as well, boosting your total capacity to 1110Wh. So why cut your ride short?

OUR TAKE Merida have a strong foundation in eMTBs, and one that has been well-earned. Their original eOne-Sixty platform set a new benchmark, and the second generation built on that – however this third generation was beginning to feel overdue. When we saw the new One-Sixty in late 2022, it was clear that the third generation of eOne-Sixty eMTBs would be a ground up redesign – and that is exactly what Merida have done.

While keeping a lot of the DNA of the original Merida eOne-Sixty, Merida have split the bike models to best serve the wide base of users who will look to the eOne-Sixty platform as their first or next eMTB. The carbon models with built in 600Wh battery, high end builds for true allmountain and enduro capability are impressive in that they weight between 21-22kg as a fullsupport eMTB ready to rip. But for those who don’t live to ride at the edge of their limit and beyond, or for those who don’t want to invest so much in a new bike – the eOne-Sixty 875 and 675 have a different design brief. With the same suspension and eMTB system, they carry a bigger 750Wh battery for more range. It can be removed for battery swaps or travel, and the alloy frame and features based spec keeps the price in check as well. But the handling and eMTB ability remains the same. These alloy

Merida eOne-Sixty models ride in a far more dynamic way than their long travel and higher weight would have you expect. The design allows a full-sized water bottle to run inside the main triangle, and the updated sizing and geometry allows all riders to find the best size, with access to lots of seat drop for finding all the capability of the bike.

On paper, the Merida eOne-Sixty 875 looked like a battle axe – and in terms of handling it was anything but that. The very centred position when climbing lets you really get the most out of the Shimano EP801 system, and it climbs like a bike with way less travel. The high levels of anti-squat help as well, and it is all part of good design. The overall weight is high, but that is part of the ticket to entry into an alloy enduro ready eMTB with a big battery. With geometry that is mildly less wild than the One-Sixty, Merida have ensured the eOne-Sixty isn’t a challenge to handle. It gave me no surprises – and I was comfortable hitting gaps I often shy away from on other test bikes. Perhaps the biggest surprise is it doesn’t ride like a 25kg bike.

I think Merida have nailed the brief. While I haven’t ridden the carbon model, I can see that with a reduced weight and higher performance equipment the ride will justify the higher sticker price for those chasing the lower weight and top-spec parts. But, for the rest of us, Merida offer two great eMTBs with Shimano’s best EP801 system, a huge capacity battery (that can be removed) and a very well-thought out build for eMTB use. Add in brilliant handling, size options and Merida’s value... and this is an eMTB that is hard to look past for a do it all trail and allmountain eMTB.

RRP $9499 WEIGHT 25.16kg (as tested) AVAILABLE SIZES XS, S, M, L (tested), XL” FRAME MATERIAL Aluminium FORK RockShox ZEB Select 170mm SHOCK RockShox Super Deluxe Select, 174mm MOTOR Shimano EP801, 85Nm, 600W peak power BATTERY Trendpower 750Wh internal DISPLAY Shimano SC-EM800 SHIFTER Shimano XT M8130 DERAILLEUR Shimano XT M8130 LinkGllide 11sp CRANK Shimano FC-8150, 165mm, 36t CHAIN Shimano LG-500 CASSETTE Shimano LG-700, 11sp 11-50t HUBS Shimano XT 32h SPOKES Black stainless RIMS Merida Expert TRII, 28mm internal TYRES F: Maxxis Assegai 3C MaxxGrip EXO+ 29 x 2.5” R: Maxxis DHR II 3C MaxxTerra DD 27.5 x 2.4” BRAKES Shimano XT 4-piston, 220/203mm STEM Merida Expert eTR II, 40mm HANDLEBARS Merida Expert eTR, 20mm rise, 780mm SEATPOST Merida Team TR, 30-230mm adjustable drop SADDLE Proxim W400 STN merida-bikes.com/en-au/

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Mike Blewitt RIDING EXPERIENCE: Not his gravel first rodeo GENERALLY RIDES: Factor Lando XC, Factor LS HEIGHT: 178cm WEIGHT: 72kg BIKE TEST TRACK: Sunshine Coast Hinterland

MERIDA

SILEX 700

WORDS MIKE BLEWITT

PHOTOS GERARD LAGANA

M

erida completely overhaulled their Silex gravel bike in late 2023, with the new model even winning the 2023 men’s Gravel World Championships, just days before it was launched. While pro riders can win on a range of equipment, Merida did a lot of work on the Silex. By all accounts the original Silex rode well, but it had copped a flogging with the ugly stick. The new Silex is sleeker and a whole lot more capable both between the tape – and loaded up.

Merida have a wide range of models, and the Silex 700 on test has their LITE II aluminium frame and carbon fork, with Shimano’s latest 12-speed GRX 1x12 group set. Selling for $3399, it’s a great price point for a gravel bike, which is a second (or third) bike for many of us. This is a similar price to a Trek Checkpoint ALR 5, which is another gravel bike I consider to be very versatile. Merida say that the Silex turns ‘any ride into an adventure’ – so how true can that be?

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS Merida’s alloy frame is as neatly finished as you would expect from a company who are a manufacturing super power. The frame is nicely shaped for clearance with 45mm tyres, and there are mounts for racks and fenders, and 6 water bottle mount points! These are versatile mounting points of course, assisting with loading up the Silex with frame luggage 104

and storage systems – or strip it back and tape over the bosses for race day.

The frame uses internal routing through the headset – not a popular option amongst most bike mechanics, but it was neat, silent, and mud proof in the testing period. The Silex sports routing for a dropper post and the left hand Shimano GRX 12-speed shifter is the model that’s ready to drop the seat when you want to. Merida utilise a threaded bottom bracket and through axles at each end, plus some novel disc brake cooling fins.

Having tested Shimano’s new 1x12 group set at launch, it is great to see it right where Shimano intended; on wallet friendly gravel bikes, providing high level shifting performance with greater ergonomics and braking power. The 42t ring drives a 10-51t cassette, and the 180/160mm rotor combination have tonnes of power. The Easton EA 70 AX wheel set are a nice spec, with a 24mm internal rim letting the 45mm Maxxis Ramblers setup tubless easily. Valves were included – a nice touch not common on bikes from Merida.

I had a medium sent for test, and it is a big bike. The 585mm top tube is longer than I’d ride on a Merida road bike, but their Silex geometry is based off their mountain bikes, not their road bikes. With a short stem, steep 74.5 degree seat angle and tall 170mm head tube, the reach felt spot on. The Silex employs a 69.5 degree head angle to keep steering steady, which fits their brief.

ON THE TRAIL My first ride on the Silex was like most test bike first rides – straight out the front gate.

While the position felt higher than I normally ride on a road or gravel bike, it sure was comfortable taking off in the hoods and shifting into some higher gears as I got upto speed. Shimano’s GRX 12-speed uses the same HyperGlide+ shift ramps up and down the cassette as their top road and mountain bike groups, so shifting under load is about as secure as it gets.

Despite being taller than my own bikes at the front end, I had no strange sensations when climbing out of the saddle on small rises, the Silex just felt really balanced. What was really noticeable was how direct the whole bike felt. Despite being their alloy framed model – it’s not cutting corners, with the same fork and features that give steering and tracking accuracy. Moving onto some multi-use trails, I became more acquainted with the handling of the Silex. It was far more stable than my own gravel bike, although it did ping through rougher pieces of trail as you can expect an alloy frame to do. What I really enjoyed was how well the Silex responded to going fast. It holds speed really well, and can get pushed into dirt road and gravel corners with a confident stance as well as nearly any XC bike. Some gravel

bikes have the DNA of a road bike, and that’s fine.

But that is not the case for the Silex, it excels when ridden fast off-road.

Most of the hours I spent on the Silex were loaded up on a hilly bikepacking trip. I often talk about balanced or centered geometry, and that really came to the fore on the Silex on this ride. With lots of climbing, I certainly appreciated the steeper seat angle and slightly higher front end, meaning I could sit up, but not too far back, on long climbs into the hinterland. The wide gear range was used given I had several extra kilos strapped to the bike, and even when the soft ground turned to mud, I had very good clearance in the frame with 45mm tyres.

I feel the Silex really came into its own when loaded. It carries the burden very well, and while I’d thought about dropping the stem height for morning rides, the fit was ideal for a lightweight bikepacking trip, which took us on a wide variety of trails, some of which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone! I could easily get into the drops and slide down super steep slopes, or point and shoot on rougher sections. Conversely, the gear range afforded by a 10-51t cassette meant scaling steep climbs or pedalling out on flat routes was covered with ease. If this were my own bike, I’d be fitting a dropper post and getting a tyre (and liner) setup to suit my riding, to get the absolute most out of the bike. And that brings me to just about the only issue I had – tyres. The Maxxis Rambler is a popular gravel tyre but I do find even the EXO model can be prone to cuts. Otherwise I thoroughly

enjoyed my time aboard the Silex.

This of course comes with the reminder that the Silex is not a mountain bike, it’s not even close – no gravel bike is. It is an efficient bike for moving across a variety of surfaces in an efficient manner.

A gravel bike is an ok cyclocross bike, slow road bike and a rubbish mountain bike. But they are great for gravel, funnily enough.

OUR TAKE Merida state that the Silex can turn any ride into an adventure, and I agree. I’m not too fussy about what surface is underneath my tyres, but I do like to take a lot in. And a bike like the Silex lets you cross a lot of different terrain types. I found that whether that was for a pre-work jaunt, rainy day roll around or a muddy and hilly weekend bikepacking trip, the Silex played its role perfectly. Merida have taken the same design and handling from a World Championships winning bike and put it in an alloy package with one of the best value gravel group sets around. The result is a supremely capable bike that didn’t feel out of depth anywhere I took it. I have no doubt that the Silex would lap up any gravel events you might consider, just as easily as taking scalps on the daily commute or hauling you and your gear on multi-day rides.

With a wide range of alloy and carbon models to choose from, you will be able to find your next adventure buddy within the Silex range.

RRP $3399 WEIGHT 10.28kg (as tested) AVAILABLE SIZES XS-XL (Medium tested) FRAME Aluminium FORK Merida Silex II CF2 SHIFTERS Shimano GRX 820 12sp DERAILLEUR Shimano GRX 822 12sp CRANK Shimano GRX 820, 42t, 172.5mm BOTTOM BRACKET Shimano BSA threaded CHAIN Shimano M7100 CASSETTE Shimano M7100 10-51t 12sp WHEEL SET Easton EA70 AX TYRES Maxxis Rambler 45mm, EXO, TR BRAKES Shimano GRX 820, 180/160mm STEM Merida Team CC III HANDLEBARS Merida Expert GRII, 420mm SEATPOST Merida Expert CC SADDLE Merida Expert SL merida-bikes.com/en-au/

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MAVEN EXPERT BRAKE KIT

Full system approach for better braking

Evolving brake to suit evolving riding

Mineral oil is easier to get along with

Will you need this much power?

RRP: $999

psicycling.com.au

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Just ahead of Red Bull Hardline Maydena, SRAM upped the ante in the brake game, releasing the Maven - the new expert of brakes. SRAM’s new 4-piston brake is touted to the most powerful brake that SRAM have made, with 50% more power than SRAM’s own Code, which is already a very capable brake. But that’s not to say it’s all power without control. They also state that modulation is impressive as well. The Maven is a big and meaty caliper (366g), a world apart from the slim-line 4-piston calipers you see that are designed to shed weight and heat. The Maven is designed to use the heat of a brake system (to an extent) and the huge caliper houses big, meaty pistons for flex free braking.

SRAM sent me the Maven Expert Brake kit, which retails for $999. It has a range of rotor sizes, pad options, the brakes, bleed kits and mounts. You can also get the SRAM Maven Bronze for a bit over $300 per end.

Of course, with so many great brake sets on the market, is anyone really looking for stronger brakes?

This could be a case of not knowing what you needed until you have it. The benefits of stronger brakes are many: less fatigue, faster speeds with later braking points, and greater confidence.

ALL THE DETAILS: POWER, CONTROL, ERGONOMICS AND MORE SRAM reckon the Maven brakes have a 32% lighter braking force required for the same braking power as a set of Codes. This is where less fatigue comes into play, meaning on a race run or long trail arm pump will be kept at bay a lot longer. The four pistons are 19.5mm and 18mm - bigger than other brakes. More pushing force = more braking force. Simple.

SRAM also state that the brakes have more modulation, and this comes from SRAM’s SwingLink, which changes the leverage throughout the lever stroke. A light touch where you feather the brakes isn’t like hitting the anchors, but when you get hauling with fear and you’ll probably have more braking power than you know what to do with.

The power comes from a few places. Piston size is one of them, but so is reduced flex. The four bolts on the caliper aren’t for a a Mad Max Fury Road aesthetic, they’re holding the chonky caliper together under high braking loads. Any flex in the caliper will be felt in the lever and represents lost power. The Maven caliper prevents that.

The lever is similar, with the blade length, pivot point and contact point adjustments all close to the Code. This means ergonomics should remain similar for riders upgrading to a set of Maven brakes. The hose setup is the Stealth setup, which helps for a clean run close to the bars and into a head set routed frame – or sensible routing to behind the head tube.

SRAM do suggest rethinking your rotor size with the

Photos: Gerard Lagana

SRAM

Maven, and the kit comes with a range of sizes and the adaptors to suit. Your rotors may tell you what to do, with excessive glazing suggesting the need to upsize – and very little marking would show your system doesn’t get enough heat, you should drop a rotor size. The heft of the Mavens is designed to hold onto enough heat for consistent braking performance.

Like the SRAM DB8, the Mavens use mineral oil. While mineral oil isn’t a huge fan of heat, it typically extends service intervals, which I think all of us will appreciate. Mineral oil is also friendlier to your skin, the paint on your bike and the environment.

There are organic and sintered pads available, and I had organic fitted with 200mm rotors front and rear. The Mavens were fitted to a Trek Fuel EXe 8 alloy, replacing the stock DB8 brakes with 200mm rotors. While I hadn’t felt like the Trek was underbraked, almost any eMTB is always going to be a contender for optimised braking.

ON THE TRAIL Two things were immediately noticeable after the SRAM Maven brakes were fitted. First was the look, with the hefty calipers really noticeable along with the updated brake lever design compared to the DB8s. Second was how little effort was needed for gobs full of braking. My first driveway test showed that it was a very light lever touch to get plenty of braking... for a driveway. This light action is thanks to the SwingLink tech, which changes how the master cylinder is being moved during the stroke to the pad contact point.

My first couple of rides on the trails weren’t anything like learning how to brake again, but there was an adaption of braking effort required, and this was especially noticeable as some wetter conditions moved to drier conditions, and Queensland’s iconic loose over hard reared its head. This trail surfacepunishes over-braking.

Given I was dealing with an upgraded lever and caliper compared to the DB8s, I really enjoyed getting the lever feel just right. Sure, I could adjust this a lot on the DB8s, but with the lever on the Maven brakes I was adjusting it as I was using the lever differently. I actually set the blade closer to the bar than I usually do, as the

system had less flex and so I wasn’t accounting for that with the amount of clearance I needed.

In terms of outright braking, I’m not sure I ever truly hauled on the levers with everything I had – I never felt I had to. There was always more power through progressive modulation, with no grabbing.

The only times where it caught me off guard is when the braking power at the disc didn’t match the braking power at the contact patch. This can be just as much as pilot error (that’s me!) but it is a reminder about the factors that impact your braking. The system is one part, made of many parts, but so is your wheel system. You have to have traction for effective braking, unless you subscribe to the Tokyo Drift school of thought.

For those looking to really get the most out of the SRAM Maven brakes, you may need to rethink your tyre setup! I pushed the Bontrager tyres beyond their comfort zone a couple of times.

While I ran with 200mm rotors each end, I could have considered dropping rotor size on my reasonably flat local trails. My local trails have around 150m of drop, and while I really liked the precision braking on hand, given more time I would have dropped to 180mm on the back and perhaps the front – but the Trek e-bike was due to go back. I’ll likely try this in the future. But it therefore begs the question – do riders need this much brake?

VERDICT I think the answer there is easy – yes they do.

While not every rider will need the power of the SRAM Maven brakes, just about every rider will benefit from optimising their braking system. SRAM have really looked into that with the Expert set, providing the rotor sizes and pads so you can fine-tune the braking you need. The Maven brakes are clearly for those riding burly trails at high speed, on big bikes.

But I think any rider looking to push harder but still wanting to regain control will like the precision of the Maven brakes, and anyone on a big and heavy eMTB will as well. This is an exceptionally well-finished product, and for anyone who still has wariness of SRAM brakes from instances over a decade ago, the Mavens should totally finish those thoughts off.

Mike Blewitt 107

SEA TO SUMMIT

FRONTIER COLLAPSIBLE ONE POT COOK SET

Compact and low weight

Easy to use, even when hot

Quick to clean and store

Not the lightest option for bikepacking weight weenies

RRP: $224.99

seatosummit.com.au

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There’s one certain thing about the future of mountain biking in Australia – we won’t be short on places to ride. The past decade has seen a boom in mountain bike trail builds, and of course immense growth in the uptake of cycling at all ages. Getting to some of the trails builds is always going to involve travel, and traditionally Australians are a bunch who happily pack up the car to hit the road for a holiday. And anyone who has visited the likes of Derby or other mountain bike hotspots will know that camping is a great fit for singles, couples and families alike.

Sea to Summit are an Australian brand that has exploded around the world, with their outdoors equipment covering anything from sleeping bag liners to dry bags, an environmentally friendly soap, or snazzy cookware as tested here. While many camping setups will be all in for a camp kitchen, those of us living the van life, or camping out of the back of a car, will appreciate the low pack size and weight of a setup like this. And if you’ve taken to loading up everything you need and nothing you don’t for bikepacking trips, then saving weight and pack size on every item will be your regular programming.

A CLOSER LOOK In the one slimline package, Sea to Summit hide a 2.2L pot with pouring lip, 2 medium bowls and 2x 400mL cups. The whole setup weighs a verified 544g, 17g more than the 527g claimed. All packed up it is about 20cm wide and 5cm high, very packable for something with all the cookware you need for two people.

One of the first things to get your head around is that the cookware uses silicone, while still being stove friendly. Wild! The harmonious combination of a hard anodised aluminium base, rim and lid with silicone sides allow the collapsible function, and this construction method is employed in the cups and bowls as well.

IN USE My main use for this camp kitchen was on a 2-day bikepacking trip. My normal go to would be a 900mL SnowPeak Titanium cup with lid, which can store my fuel, stove and a rag to use as a grip and dampen the whole system. It’s light and compact, but clearly limited in capacity. Depending on what food you’re preparing, that isn’t a worry. Some freeze dried meals only need a couple of hundred millilitres of water, but some are closer to 500 or more. And of course, a 900mL mug isn’t fun for cooking pasta. With a mate in tow for this trip, the Sea to Summit setup would prove advantageous – to a point.

As a bike rider and not specifically a bikepacker, I don’t have much bikepacking specific luggage. But if I did, I’d struggle to carry this, given the width. If you

Photos: Mike Blewitt

have a large frame bag or use a pannier setup it won’t be an issue. But it won’t fit in the majority of bar rolls, or most regular sized saddle bags as well. I use a small backpack for trips, and it just squeezed into the Camelbak XCT that I own.

Setting up to use the cook set couldn't be easier. The removable handle holds the whole unit together, and you simply click it out and turn it 180 degrees so it functions as a handle. It’s very sturdy – ideal for managing a couple of litres of boiling water or the culinary masterpiece you created. The pot was quick enough to boil, with the lid fitting snugly thanks to the silicone lip. The silicone micro handle to grab is a nice touch – no need to find something to avoid burning yourself. Sea to Summit have also added a pouring lip on one edge. It suits right handed pouring, but does help when pouring into typically unstable freeze dried meal containers.

The bowls are listed at 680mL, much larger than they look. But they readily held a large serving of porridge for breakfast. Being a nylon composite and silicone they aren’t too hot to hold, which can be an issue for some items. The cups were a winner for me. At 52g the 400mL cup packs away to the size of a coaster, and are lighter than a Ti mug or tin cup I have for comparison. It’s far nicer to drink from with zero chance of burning your lips on the cup edge, and it has volume measurements on the inside if you need to use it to measure liquid for freeze dried meals or sharing your stash responsibly.

Like most people, I enjoy a coffee or three in the morning.

I use an AeroPress at home, but I don’t take one bikepacking. Instead, I torment myself with coffee bags as I’m a weight weenie. But in the interest of thorough testing, I did

a trial run with one of these COLLAPSIBLE mugs with an AeroPress at home, and as long as you create the stabilising force with your second hand, it’s no issue at all.

Sea to Summit also have a variety of other highly packable items, from their light weight cutlery set, a mini scrubber that also holds their excellent Wilderness Wash soap, an Ultra Light Frying Pan and even a set of oversized cutlery with a tongs adapter! Perfect for serving salad when entertaining in your camp. In all seriousness though, the range is expansive, with smaller and larger setups than shown here.

VERDICT For anyone who travels to ride and camps at their destination, having the right equipment can make or break the trip. While your sleep system and tent or van build carry the biggest load, so does meal time. The Sea to Summit Frontier range has a variety of cookware solutions that best suit those looking for a compact solution. Anyone car camping or living the vanlife will appreciate the low weight and minimal pack size, which doesn’t reduce the function. For the bikepackers, I think the use case for this specific setup is a little more limited, depending on their take on bikepacking. The ultra distance crew will just want something stripped back, but this is a nice combination for two people when combined with the right stove. I’d add their collapsible coffee pour over and consider myself set up! For now, I’ll be using one of the cups as a lid-free keep cup that is easy to have on hand at almost all times. And that’s a win.

Mike Blewitt 109

EVOC A place for everything

Handles heavy and large loads

Very comfortable – and versatile

2 open bottle pockets might be nice

Whether you’re getting to and from the trail, commuting to work by bike or mixed mobility, or travelling the globe – chances are you understand the need for a quality backpack to hold everything you need in a secure and comfortable manner. As a keen traveller and long-time cyclist I am always happy to take a look at any well-finished backpack.

There is a clear difference between a backpack that is made to store as much as possible with the least weight, compared to a backpack that is designed to be comfortable and easy to get along with for daily use.

The EVOC Mission 28 fits into the latter type of bag.

EVOC are likely the market leader in bike bags, with extensive experience in just about all bag types. The Mission 28 is designed for commuters and digital nomads alike, and should suit those getting to work by bike, or travelling to ride. At about $250 it’s not cheap, but this is about what you can expect to pay for a high quality backpack designed to go the distance.

ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS

RRP: $249.95 From: psicycling.com.au

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The EVOC Mission 28 comes from the school of thought that everything should have a place to go. Behind the

vented Air Pad back system lies an easy to access notebook and tablet pocket. The zip goes around much of the edge for easier removal and packing – no matter how full your backpack is. The padded shoulder straps are attached really securely, a bonus for frequent use with heavy loads, and the waist belt has small storage pockets. Many bags are erring away from waist belts but they are handy to have for a bike commute, and they can help a heavily loaded carry on bag appear a lot lighter on your shoulders at check in. There’s also a sternum strap that can be adjusted for different heights – or removed if you don’t need it The Mission is a hybrid design of a zip around flap opening and a top closing bag. The former is easier for seeing into a bag, the latter is great for adding some weather-proofing. The top flap is secured by two magnetic clips, and it could hold down an extra jacket if needed. The lid has a generous top pocket with key clip and there’s a compression strap on each side of the bag for keeping smaller loads closer to your back, or even helping secure out-sized items that don’t quite fit into a side pocket.

The front of the bag has a flat organising pocket. With a yellow lining it is bright to see what’s in there. It can held pens and the like, or it can easily carry SD card readers, a

Photos: Mike Blewitt

MISSION PRO 28 BACKPACK

multitool and snacks, your GPS – all sorts of small items can be separated and stowed securely.

The main compartment is a cavernous beast, with a slimline back pocket that is perfect for storing your copy of the latest AMB, and another internal side pocket to help keep items upright and out of the way.

More of the yellow lining is used throughout, helping prevent the loss of those small items that worm their way into corners.

There are also two handy exterior side pockets, one for a bottle and another on the left hand side of the bag (so accessible from your right hand side) for holding things like sunglasses or your security pass, which you might want to grab without taking the pack off. This pocket closes pretty securely with a top flap secured with magnetic clips.

With our sample weighing 950g, EVOC have delivered a comfortable, full-featured backpack that won’t be a good choice for an all-day mountain bike mission, but could well be the ideal partner on day trips to mountain bike parks, extended travel plans and a daily driver for the commute.

IN USE

I really loved the thought that has gone into the positioning of the pockets and sections of this bag. The left side pocket allows you to grab your security pass, wallet, phone, and other small items without taking the bag off, while your bulkier items, maybe gym clothes, computer, and so on, pack firmly away in the larger internal segments of the bag. There are plenty of individual pockets and sections for every sized item, meaning that as long as

you’re packing thoughtfully, you’ll be saved the indignity of fishing around in the bottom of your bag for a pen, or your phone.

Perhaps because of the excellent organisation of the bag, it seemed to hold more than the average 28 litre pack, and for this reason would be the ultimate hand luggage travel companion – the kind of hand luggage that allows the astute packer to travel with nothing else but a bike bag – oh the convenience! It also made us the fastest in the security queue. The externally-accessed computer section unzips over 180 degrees and made pulling the laptop out a breeze.

I also put the Mission Pro through the rigours of daily commuting by both bike and public transport. The bag is large – and while my typical approach to commuting is to take as little stuff as possible, heavy loads were no stress thanks to the comfort of the air pad system, which provides generous cushioning on the back with decent airflow, as well as the easily adjustable chest and waist straps.

The overall quality of the pack is high. It’s a nice bag to have along for any journey, whether to the local shops of the other side of the world. The Mission Pro 28 is attractive, robust, and finished with nice touches like branded zipper pull tabs, massively reinforced stitching, and a weatherproof seal on the top pocket.

VERDICT A good looking, robust, and functional pack that will fit all your stuff neatly and adapt from trailside, to workplace, to bucket list adventures.

Imogen Smith

111

XRS-660

Rugged, weatherproof build

Australian made

When it comes to exploring the rugged and unpredictable terrain of the great outdoors, communication isn’t just a convenience—it’s a lifeline. As avid outdoor enthusiasts, we understand the role that reliable communication plays in ensuring a safe and fuss free adventure with the group, especially when there is no service. Australia’s own GME have recently launch their extremely robust flagship handheld UHF CB radio, packed with features while retaining ease of use when communicating on the trail. As Australia’s only UHF CB Radio and Emergency Beacon manufacturer GME proudly displays the Australian Made badge with pride FEATURES AT A GLANCE

More features than our use cases needed!

A big, rugged unit to mount for riding

RRP: $549 From: gme.net.au

112

The units are made in Australia and carry a 5 year warranty. You can select 5, 1 or 0.1 transmission power to match your battery lift and range needs when on the trails. GME have made sure the unit has a robust design, including an IP67 water ingress protection rating – plus it has a military grade rating for durability!

The rugged radios have a 2 watt speaker, although you can use Bluetooth to connect to headphones for easier handsfree use. There’s a colour LCD display, but also a smartphone app for even easier setup. GME even have a GPS receiver if you need to relay a specific location!

The XRS-660 exudes durability and ruggedness, traits that are essential for any outdoor companion that needs to be relied on. The robust construction instils confidence,

reassuring you that it can withstand the harshest conditions Mother Nature throws your way. But beyond its tough exterior lies a sophisticated communication tool designed to keep you connected when venturing off the beaten path.

There are many new and exciting features on the latest model and some of our favourites on the XRS-660 consist of its Bluetooth connectivity, which seamlessly integrates with your smartphone via GME’s XRS Connect app. This neat application opens up a world of possibilities, allowing you to effortlessly manage radio settings, access advanced features, and even update firmware—all from the palm of your hand. Gone are the days of fumbling with complex controls or struggling to navigate cumbersome menus.

With the XRS Connect app, customisation is at your fingertips, empowering you to tailor the radio to suit your specific needs utilising numerous customisable XRS buttons.

IN USE ON THE TRAIL The real magic of the XRS-660 lies in its exceptional performance on the trail. Equipped with GME’s renowned XRS Connect technology, this handheld radio delivers crystal-clear audio quality and extended range, ensuring that your messages are heard loud and clear, no matter how remote your location. Whether you’re bombing your favourite singletrack, hiking through dense foliage, wading in deep gorges, or navigating alpine 4x4 tracks within the vehicle, the XRS-660 remains steadfast in its commitment to keeping you connected with your fellow adventurers.

I was lucky enough that GME sent out a pair of the XRS-660 handheld radios and so I tested them in a few scenarios. Firstly and most simply, four wheel driving into

Photos: Jordan Riddle

GME

a more remote area to camp, fish or hike with a group makes for simple and reliable communication between the parties, additionally for savvy outdoors folk GPS coordinates can be easily viewed and shared without the need for looking at your phone or other locating device, all possible on the XRS-660 unit itself.

The XRS-660 sports an IP67 rating meaning dusts and solids are unable to get in and it can be submerged in 1 metre of water for upto 30 minutes, making it a handy choice for all conditions. I tested this on a recent fishing trip, making communication between waterholes in a deep valley super easy without the stress of dropping your phone (if and when we had

signal) into the drink. In contrast, when running a local mountain bike event, the day of setup and most of the event the team were in the windy and wet conditions, standing, radios clipped to belts and backpacks on all day in the appalling onslaught, dropped in the mud, you get the idea.

Despite this, the robust units rinse off easily and have worked flawlessly amongst our test team. There are features that mean only other users on the network you setup can heard your communication as well – which really helps for clarity – and privacy.

I never though that a colour display would be important but it is actually quite a bit larger and brighter than other handheld radios I have used previously, easily seen even in bright and glary conditions – which we have a lot of in Australia.

OUR TAKE I have used hand held radios may times guiding and coaching on the mountain bike, managing larger groups with easy communication between lead and sweep riders can keep the group aware of direction or upcoming trail conditions. One on one coaching scenarios could also benefit with the approach of upcoming features, gear selection, body position, there is really endless possibilities. The XRS-660 could be paired nicely with a GME TX677 or one of GME’s neat and all inclusive Family Packs which consist of a Larger and more powerful unit and pair of smaller handsets which can be easily clipped onto pack, belt of other group members. The XRS-660 is a big unit, and for my more localised outings I would consider a smaller less powerful unit like the TX677. A good radio setup won’t be for everyone but for active families, mountain bike clubs, guides and coaches, they really do come in handy very often.

Ryan Walsch 113

OHLINS

High quality build and low weight

Supportive and supple suspension

Macthed suspension feel front to rear

High overall cost of the carbon variant

RRP: RXC34 M.1 CARBON $2349.95 ($1999.95 FOR ALLOY STEERER AND CROWN) TXC2 AIR $969.95

From: ohlins.com

114

Having grown up following motorcycle racing very closely, including racing them myself, I’ve always had admiration for brands that deliver excellent products to the highest performing machines and athletes in the world, yet don’t gate keep. Brands that allow themselves to find their place in the market for common consumers while staying true to their core. Which, in Ohlins case is knowledge, quality and race pedigree.

Recently Ohlins’ focus has broadened from gravity racing to the highly competitive, high performance, demanding world of World Cup XC racing, which has evolved to incorporate more technical (and high-consequence) downhill segments.

The Ohlins RX34 and RX34 M2 are good trail forks, Although Ohlins might be aiming at too much of a niche market by calling the RX34 M2 a down-country fork.

Although lighter than the RX34, it still didn’t have the pedigree to compete with the likes of the Fox 34 SC when it came to outright XC performance.

Ohlins recognised that to understand XC, they had to partner with a team with championship credentials – and the BMC Factory Team was the perfect match. Everything they’ve learnt from this close partnership can now be access by us common folk, who dream only to ride at a fraction of the intensity a World Cup rider can achieve.

Ohlins have supplied us with their absolute best for review. The RXC34 m.1 Carbon fork with the new XC-optimised OTX14 damper and the TXC2air shock with their race proven TTX twin-tube technology.

A CLOSER LOOK Both units came in the remote version, although non-remote are also available. The lock out is driven by their push-to-lock, double actuation, triple position lockout. It’s one of the best executed lock-outs I have seen. Furthermore, it even gives you the option to run your dropper post remote below the lockout remote,

which is a neat feature for those trying to keep their set up under-bar.

The RXC34 m.1 Carbon is one of the lightest forks in the market with a 34mm leg platform, weighing in at 1490g with expander. Opt for the 100mm and you’ll save an extra 20g. The new Fox 34 SC with Grip SL damper is lighter at 1422g, if you’re counting grams. The alloy version of the RXC34 is 100g heavier, a reasonable compromise for the drop in price and increased durabilityr. Seeing that this fork shares the same body as the original RX34s, it’s nothing short of impressive in regard to how much weight they have been able to shave off the finished product.

The carbon steerer in this RXC34 version is a beautiful component, saving not only weight but also giving the fork a very distinctive look, without being unnecessarily flashy. Form and function aligned perfectly. The added stiffness is an added bonus - more on that later.

The new OTX14 is an XC focused damper with different shim stacks to better manage the oil flow, optimising it for the demands of XC racing. The OTX14 has been combined with a new two-chamber air spring, which features a large negative chamber for a supple off-the-top feel and easy actuation, absorbing all the small bumps and deliver traction in abundance while still ramping up and supporting the rider when needed.

In terms of adjustability, the remote version tested here is limited to the 3 modes of compression damping and 12 clicks of rebound, while the non-remote version sees an added 10 clicks of low-speed compression. If you’re serious about racing, the remote option is the one really worth considering.

The TXC2Air shock is, at first impression, miniscule. For those mostly used to trail and enduro components (such as myself) it’s hard to comprehend how you can deliver so much performance and differentiated dampening feels out of such a low volume can. Weighing in at 250g, this isn’t even the smallest shock they offer, with the TXC1

Photos: Gerard Lagana

RX34 M.1 AND TXC2AIR SUSPENSION

getting an even slimmer body and lower weight.

The internals have been tuned to maximise traction while still delivering great support when both pedalling on the saddle, punching up a climb or attacking a sprint. Just like the fork, the shock has only rebound adjustment available to you on the remote version (12 clicks), while an extra 16 clicks of low-speed compression are added to the manual version.

SETUP The Ohlins set up was installed in place of my regular 2023 Fox 34s (non-stepcast) and DPS shock on my Norco Revolver. I’ve built this bike to be faster and lighter than my trail and enduro bike – but still with a burly build. Both Ohlins units deliver 120mm of travel and I had an immediate weight saving both in the front and rear, even though I had my reservations with how well I’d get along with the carbon steerer and crown.

Carbon steerers are no joke and even though most of us will likely be happy to install our own forks, maybe even cut steerer tubes, I happily gave that job to the pros. We confirmed the weight at 1490g for the fork and 250g for the shock (with an extra 70g for the remote).

Both manuals are a great start point for a base set up with basic information on recommended pressures, spacers (and max spacers) – very similar to what you will be seeing in other brand’s manuals. Fork pressure was set at 90 PSI as the base setting (sag at roughly 20%), with rebound at the middle of the road, 6 clicks out of 12. Shock pressure was set at 200PSI to start, as recommended, which gave me a good starting point.

Rebound was set at 8 clicks from closed.

ON THE TRAIL Riding the Ohlins RXC34 m.1 Carbon around my local trail network of fire road climbing and tight technical singletrack both up and down revealed a fork that is at home travelling across terrain efficiently. Yet it delivered great small bump sensitivity reducing small trail chatter and stood up to the challenging descents I threw at them. I left the bike in open for my first ride, except on fire road climbing, to judge how well the bike would perform without the easy to reach remote.

The initial stroke is noticeably forgiving, allowing decent traction when pushing uphill over slippery roots and rock, while still delivering great midstroke support while cornering and descending. I was surprised with how well the forks responded to the trail, punching well above its weight – a testament of how rugged modern XC has become. I found myself adding a couple of clicks of rebound to keep the fork more settled in open mode while descending, while still maintaining good sensitivity in the two other dampening modes. I was satisfied with the balance offered by the two volume reducers that come stock with the

forks, perhaps something to consider for bigger riders or for networks with more considerable drops and hard bottom outs.

The TXC2Air shock was less impressed with my riding style and approach in open mode, with some noticeable lack of support while trying to respond to the terrain. The Norco Revolver is not known as a very progressive bike, so I was not expecting a miracle here. Bumping up the air pressure to 215psi, adding 2 clicks of rebound and 1 volume spacer to strengthen its response, which made a great trail companion.

Once those changes were made, the shock responded with more composure, while remaining supple, providing a tonne of traction over roots and trail chatter. However, I admittedly found myself reaching for the remote lever often due to the behaviour of the shock, not the fork. This does speak to the design of the Revolver as much as the shock.

The 3 modes offer open, pedal and lock; they are distinctive and easy to set while using the very intuitive 3-position remote.

I am not usually a fan of lockouts, actively avoiding them on any trail or enduro bike as I have often forgotten to unlock shocks and forks before steep trails – however on the Revolver I find myself using the shock lockout frequently, due to the nature of the bike.

Having the remote at easy reach makes the riding experience really engaging, as all three modes deliver something different, with Pedal mode being a winner in my view – it delivered the best balance between suppleness and support, making the bike snappy and fast, allowing me to pump and push around berms and trail features without ever feeling nervous or unruly. The Lock-out mode, unlike other brands, is not a true lock out as it still allows the suspension to move at the top of the stroke, giving the needed suppleness and traction XC racing and riding demands. Hit a feature too hard and both the fork and shock will save your wrists and ankles paying for your poor judgment – great for when you’re red-lining in a race and your brain is a fraction of a second behind your body.

WHO’S THE OHLINS SUSPENSION FOR? I found the RXC34 m.1 Carbon to be a fantastic fork that would suit most riders looking to get world-class suspension in a package that has a meticulous build quality, plus a myriad of tuning options along with low weight. The shock is not hiding its XC orientation and will best suit riders with the intention to save any gram possible and add a well-balanced shock to their XC, Marathon or light trail bike.

Getting both together, with the lockout remote, makes for a very convincing option as it will deliver an extremely balanced, purpose built suspension set up that will be at home on almost any terrain you can throw at it. Racing against the clock or just racing yourself.

Bam da Silva

115

NUTRITION

Made in New Zealand

Certified product

Great tasting

Some may not like pea protein

Nut butter has premium pricing

roamenergy.com.au

116

Mountain biking and cycling sports nutrition is chock full of fairly sweet options for on the bike fuel. And that’s because it works. For most of us fuelling for 1-4 hours of trail time, water and carbohydrates work just fine in mild conditions and under mild levels of exertion. Things can need to get a bit more specific when the conditions change, the output required is higher, and your weekly volume changes. That’s where sports drinks with electrolytes and carbohydrates come in, and simpler forms of food to ingest play a role as well. No one really wants to eat an energy gel, but if you’re pushing hard in an event or crucial training session – they work.

When training, events or long days out push beyond a half day, most of us don’t really want anymore sweet food. This is why a post-ride burger or hot chips (or both) tastes pretty damn good after a big day on the trails – or why a can of Pringles disappears so easily on a drive home from an all-day epic.

This is where Raeana and her partner Andrius saw an opportunity. As long-time outdoor enthusiasts, these keen New Zealanders took a love of nut butters and the great outdoors to create some tasty alternatives in the nutrition space. Raeana experimented with some nut butter mills at home to get the mixes right, and fast forward to now and they have a range of products.

Their nut butters are based on a mix of almonds and cashews, and they also have a protein mix which uses pear proteins (plant based and vegan) along with BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) which may help stimulate the building of muscle in training.

ROAM ENERGY NUT BUTTER FROM: $4.50EA Each 27g sachet fits very flat, and the idea is they are easy to stash in a bag or a pocket. Roam have three flavours, all based on an almond and cashew blend. Espresso, Chocolate and Coconut are all very palatable, which is exactly what you want when you’re looking for an alternative to sweet and sticky energy food. The nut butters have over 15% protein, and the fat in the product is also very useful for longer forms of endurance sport, and to stop your stomach feeling like it wants to turn inside out after repeated sweet sports food.

Given I’m known to destroy a jar of peanut butter in a very short time frame, I was very keen to trial the Roam Energy Nut Butters. A quick squizz on the nutrition information shows that a 27g packet delivers 697kJ, with 4.2g of protein, 3.6g of carbohydrates, 15.1g of fat and 37mg of sodium.

If I were to compare that to a Pure Sports Nutrition 35g gel, it delivers 383kJ, 0g of protein, 0g of fat, 22.g of carbohydrate and 40mg of sodium.

So while the Roam Energy Nut Butter has nearly double the energy, it is primarily from fat – while the energy in the Pure Nutrition gel is primarily from carbohydrate. What I think is worth remembering is that one doesn’t need to replace the other for most of us – they should probably complement each other. And that’s how I tested these over the past few months.

The slimline nut butter sachet slips easily into just about any pocket. And like a gel, it is easy to carry one ‘just in case’, as well as a couple spare for a longer ride.

Photos: Gerard Lagana

ROAM

As a nut butter they do separate a bit – think of a nut butter jar when you open it. But if you give it a quick knead, then follow the Roam directions of folding it in half length ways, you’ll get all of it out. And it tastes just like putting a spoon into your favourite nut butter.

One of the benefits I found was greater satiety, or the feeling of being full, which was pretty handy towards the end of any longer excursion. The wrappers fold up easily to take home as well. All the flavours are great but I’d say chocolate was my favourite. It is worth noting this is less of a slam-itdown-fast product than some energy gels, but it is by no means hard to use. It’s easier than eating a bar and less time consuming than fiddling with chews. I think it’s an excellent addition to an endurance athlete or outdoors sportsperson’s nutritional arsenal.

ROAM NUTRITION PROTEIN $65 (500G) At different times of the year I use protein mixes a lot, or never. I’ve used a bunch of different ones over the years, and my preference is for one that mixes easily.

Roam Nutrition’s protein powder is a vegan plantbased peat protein, which has 22g of protein per serving. Like the nut butters, it is made in New Zealand and it carries HASTA certification. This is the only certification in Australia that is approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). So this certification carries some weight for anyone competing at a high level, but also those wanting to be sure they’re only putting good things into their body.

Roam sent their insulated mixing flask along as well – and I know I’m not reviewing that but it’s

great. I like that it is metal and long lasting, and has the measurements on the inside. I also like the built in plastic mixer in the top, reducing the need for the metal coil ball that gets stuck in dish drainers and washing machines alike.

You can mix the Roam Protein with either milk (of your choice) or water. I preferred skim milk, mostly for taste and consistency. For me, this was the most palatable. It’s still a fairly smooth texture and there is a natural sweetener to assist with the flavour. The mix is also quite palatable with water as well. I did note a slight aftertaste but I guess I’ve become used to that from different protein mixes.

What I did notice is that the after effect is minimal – which isn’t the same for some very high protein mixes! The drink is a good mix for after a ride, and should be in addition to a proper meal after a long ride or hard training session. There are sample packs (enough for 3 serves) if you’d rather see what you make of it, before investing in a full half kilo.

VERDICT I’m glad to see more considered sports nutrition on the market. I like the fact that Roam’s range isn’t trying to be everything to everyone, and that they are doing a select product range well. I’ve enjoyed having the nut butter sachets on hand for longer rides, or even in the pocket for a bush walk, and the protein mix has been easy to get along with – although most pea proteins do have a distinct texture if you haven’t used them before. Best of all, I like that Roam Nutrition is made in New Zealand, and pretty much an easy to use version of real food.

Mike Blewitt 117

Photos: Mike Blewitt

FIZIK

VENTO PROXY SHOES

Light, well-vented and fast drying

Great outersole coverage

New from Fizik in autumn, the Vento Proxy shoes enter Fizik’s competition range (Vento) with a mid-stiffness clipless pedal shoe that is aimed at cross-country, gravel, bikepacking, marathon and cyclocross use alike. They’re a simpler sibling to the Vento Ferox Carbon I tested a couple of years ago, notably with a simpler closure, and a midsole delivering an 8 out of 10 stiffness, as opposed to the 10/10 for the Vento Ferox Carbon. This also means the shoes cost far less than the top dogs.

A CLOSER LOOK

Easy to fit and remove

Only direct from Fizik

Single BOA won’t suit everyone

RRP: $380

From: fizik.com

118

The low weight and highly vented design are immediately noticeable on the Fizik Vento Proxy. And the colour of course, although they also come in black and a snazzy sky blue colour. My EU44.5 weighed about 360g per shoe before I added cleats, so they are seriously light.

The whole upper is synthetic, with a strong but light mesh polyurethane covered mesh with additional reinforcing externally around the toe, heel and inner edge. There’s also additional material inside the shoe for shape and support of the BOA lace attachment points, and a comfortable material with very light padding around the heel.

Notably, there is very little heel cup, and there is just one BOA dial. With a padded, offset tongue the shoe still offers plenty of nods towards comfort. The inner sole is very light on, and if you need more arch support then I’d suggest you bring your own inner soles.

The sole’s fiber composite mid-sole is covered toe to heel with rubber, with tread under the toes and heel, plus coverage of the instep and for pedal support.

There is also room to fit toe spikes if you’re into cyclocross or very muddy events. The cleat pocket is very long, especially compared to some of Fizik’s earlier shoe models. But given the latest models have a slightly narrower last, I did bump up to EU44.5 from my usual EU44, which has felt a bit tight in Fizik’s more recent releases.

ON THE TRAIL Autumn weather takes a while to arrive in Queensland, and it was still very hot when I received the Fizik Vento Proxy shoes – so their very breathable design was welcomed. Clipping in was as easy as any modern day clipless pedal shoe. Everyone has long cleat pockets with enough room either side of the cleat these days. I did find myself reaching down to cinch up the BOA Li2 dials quite early on as I settled into the fit. Since then, I have taken to giving the BOA lace a tug and wriggling my toes, to help it settle while not squishing my foot. I do find a dual BOA does make for a more secure fit, but the job of the lower BOA is very minimal.

On the pedals the sole feels plenty stiff. I tested the shoes with both Shimano XT and XTR Race pedals, and was happy with the support on both platform sizes. But the Vento Proxy just aren’t as stiff as an all-in race shoes. This is noticeable on hard, out of the saddle pedalling – the kind you do during race starts, attacking on climbs or sprinting for a corner. If you’re not racing much or with any real seriousness, this isn’t an issue. And to be fair, there’s plenty of races I have done where having some more tactile response would have been welcome.

Another notable feature for my feet is that the upper isn’t as supportive as some shoes. I think this stems from the coated mesh and the lack of much of a heel cup. It meant my foot could move around more, which is no bad thing for bike handling, but it certainly feels less locked and loaded like many XC shoes. Again, this isn’t a negative, and it will help the Vento Proxy remain comfortable on longer days and potentially in rougher terrain. I’ve had my raciest shoes really tear up my feet on long rides and routes with extended hike-a-bike.

VERDICT Fizik have delivered a performance shoe for the gravel, cross-country, marathon and cyclocross crowd that isn’t all about being the stiffest and most unforgiving shoe. They haven’t shirked on performance, creating a light, fast drying and comfortable shoe. While the Fizik Vento Procy does lack overall support and stiffness compared to their top-shelf shoes in the Vento range, this could well be exactly what some riders are looking for.

Mike Blewitt

FIZIK

VENTO ARGO X1

Minimalist shape with comfort

Long saddle rails to dial inyour position

Rounded edges for control

Mountain bike saddles have very different requirements depending on your flavour of riding off-road. About 30 years ago, saddle manufacturers did make big moves towards mountain bike specific saddles. Models like the WTB SST had a dropped nose, curved rear and extended sides, all to suit how dynamically a mountain biker uses their seat. And the Tioga DH was it’s own unique beast, with a massive length allowing for different positions while still weighting the bike.

Fizik have been making different saddles for a couple of decades, and they have different lines for different uses. Some of their early models like the Gobi were liked by many, but saddles have changed a lot, especially towards shorter and flatter saddles to allow a more stable position when seated – something very useful for off-road competitive use like gravel, cross-country and marathon racing. And that’s my jam.

A CLOSER LOOK

Covered relief channel to keep mud out of your chamois

Not many

RRP: $335

Photos: Mike Blewitt

From: fizik.com

In Fizik’s product range, Vento is their racing line. The Argo model is their wider and flatter seat for off-road use and X1 is one of their top lines, with carbon rails and the highest quality materials. It comes in both 150 and 140mm widths, and I was sent a 140mm model for test.

From the side, the profile is quite flat, with a slim line nose and more padding in the rear. The nose is wider than some for more support in a forward position when climbing, and there is a significant pressure relief channel. The back section has high quality but firm padding. This is exactly what you want for this type of saddle – padding that is too soft wears quickly and isn’t comfortable.

The rear has rounded edges to assist dropping behind the saddle and getting back on The clamping zone is really long, with a guide on the carbon rails. This made it easy to find the

position I needed and I had no issue attaching this to a Fox Transfer dropper post. The Argo X1 clocked 196g on my scales, and I fitted it up on my hardtail for testing.

ON THE SADDLE I’ve made a pretty wholesale change to shorter, flatter saddles over the past few years. PRO’s Stealth saddle has become a favourite in the 142mm width, although their carbon railed model is a bit light on for really long days.

A couple of other favourites are the Specialized Power saddle and the Fizik Argo Adaptive – both using a nifty 3D printed design.

Sitting atop the Argo X1, it feels noticeably flatter on top compared to it’s Adaptive equivalent, but that is not bad thing. On seated climbs, the shape lends itself to a centred position, offering lots of support and comfort with extra load – but given the smooth transition forward, it’s still a comfortable saddle when inched forward to weight the front wheel on the steep inclines.

On my full-suspension bike I have been using a pretty slim line saddle for the past year and I really like it. But that very pared back design does leave some abrupt edges when pushing the bike around with your legs. What I really like with the Argo X1 is the rounded edge along the sides and tail. It’s no big plush saddle, but plenty of racey saddles have hard edges or something very abrupt. And I’ve found the Argo X1 is just more comfortable when quickly slamming the seat down or doing your best to not get completely bucked.

A very firm saddle into the sternum isn’t that enjoyable.

VERDICT It is hard to recommend and review saddles, as they are pretty personal. In this case, if you’re wanting to look at a shorter, flatter saddle that is similar to a PRO Stealth or Specialized Power shape, then the Fizik Argo X1 is well worth a look. I feel the overall shape is a better fit for off-road use than that of a Specialized Power saddle, and the subtle rounded edge is more comfortable for getting on and off a saddle than the abrupt edges of a PRO Stealth.

With two widths available, this is likely to suit riders looking for a comfortable, sub 200g saddle designed for cross-country, marathon or gravel use. If you’re after something without the price tag, the Argo range has an X3 and X5 model with simpler materials.

Mike Blewitt 119

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HOW TO TACKLE BIGGER JUMPS WORDS JARED RANDO

PHOTOS NICK WAYGOOD

umping is a progression game which takes years and years to gain confidence and work your way up through the ranks. Patience, an understanding of your abilities and control of the bike are key to working your way up to tackling larger jumps. As you progress, there are a couple of things you really need to master before you start to take on larger jumps.

First, is a good understanding of speed and how your speed relates to jump length and the style of the jump.

Second, is the ability to control the bike in the air and land however you choose – be it front wheel first, rear wheel first or both wheels at the same time. These are things you should practice over and over on smaller jumps as you progress to ensure you have the skills and control necessary to hit bigger jumps.

Finally, don’t do it alone! Ideally look for a mate who has the skills to help, or a coach who can help you. Getting a “tow in” – that is following a mate to get the speed right and let you know if you need to pop a little or scrub a bit with the trail speed you have is one of the best ways to progress over larger jumps. In any case, once you’re ready, here’s some tips to help put as you progress and to get it done!

STEP 1: TAKE SOME PRACTICE RUNS The first thing you should do is take a few practice runs. If you can roll the jump you can roll over and if you can’t stop at the top of the lip. The key part here is to spot the landing each time as early as possible and visualise how much speed you’ll need to hit the jump. Keep doing this and visualising the take-off and landing until you have the confidence to go for it.

STEP 2: RELAX AS YOU APPROACH One of the key things on larger jumps is to stay relaxed on the bike. As you approach the jump, look up and focus on the lip as you come up to it so you can get your timing right. Stay relaxed, central and loose on the bike.

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STEP 3: SPOT THE LANDING

Ideally you want to spot the landing well before you hit the lip to make sure you have your speed right. One thing to remember is that you want to jump over the peak of the landing which you are spotting so your focus is to land your rear wheel just on the other side of what you’re spotting.

This should give you a good judge of speed and how you need to adjust on the lip; be it pop a little if your speed is on the slower side or press down if your speed is on the faster side of things.

STEP 4: LEAD WITH THE FRONT WHEEL

As you hit the lip, you want to lead with the front wheel and have the rear wheel follow.

When hitting larger jumps for the first time, I always lead up with the front wheel and keep the rear wheel down at first as a bit of a safety measure. That was if you are coming up short you can hold that position and case with the rear wheel rather than the front.

Likewise if you are going to over jump the landing you can aim to land rear wheel first which will help absorb the impact.

STEP 5: ADJUST FOR LANDING

As you take off, have your eyes on the landing. By this time you should know if your speed is right and it’s time to adjust for the landing. Follow up with your rear wheel which will also drop the front wheel to nose it in for landing. You’re looking to land safely on two wheels which means the front wheel will need to dip down to match the landing. Try to relax as much as you can in the air and don’t tense up. Keep your eye on the landing!

STEP 6: TOUCH DOWN GENTLY

As you touch down, be as light as you can on the bike. You’re weight needs to be central and use your legs as much as possible to absorb the landing. The lighter you can be on the bike the better as this will allow better control as you absorb the impact and roll on to the next one!

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NUTRITION FOR STRENGTH Hitting the gym to support your performance on the bike? What you eat can make a big difference to the gains you see. Try these tips to maximise the return on the work you’re putting in.

WORDS ZOE WILSON APD / PHOTOS NICK WAYGOOD, TBS, JACK FLETCHER

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ocial media will have you thinking that to gain muscle, you need to be eating chicken and tuna for every meal and spending hours in the gym. The truth is, with just a little basic food knowledge, you can make the most of a strength training program, and you don’t have to rely on supplements either!

Strength training breaks down muscle which then requires repair. The process of synthesisng protein to repair the damage means that the muscle rebuilds stronger and bigger.

However, for this process to be successful, you need to have the right nutrients available.

This means that what you eat, and how much, is key to gaining muscle mass. Adding strength training to your training program without enough nutrients can lead to loss of muscle. And, if you’re not eating well, there won’t be enough energy to get through those new strength sessions.

To make the most of the effort going into strength training, you need to eat: • Adequate protein to build more muscle tissue • Adequate carbohydrates to fuel sessions • More calories than you’re burning over the day.

In a nutshell…

• Eat 1.4-2.0g of protein per kg of body weight each day (but don’t forget timing and type!)

• Eat more calories than you are burning • Match carbohydrate needs to training volume • Make the most of the before and after training windows.

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PROTEIN FOR MUSCLE GAIN Let’s get to the big topic first. Eating enough protein is essential for muscle building. However, more is not better, and it’s also important to pay attention to the timing, and type of protein. In 2017 the International Society of Sports Nutrition published its Position Stand on protein and exercise with several key recommendations for protein intake. They recommend 1.4-2.0g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day to build muscle.

So, if you weigh 70kg you need to eat 98-140g of protein a day.

There are a few nuances to this recommendation. It seems that eating 20g of protein at a time is best. Not sure what 20g of protein looks like? Try 2 large eggs on toast, 100g of cooked meat or fish, 4 slices of cheese on toast, a bowl of cereal with milk and yoghurt, or 2 tbsp nut butter on multigrain crackers.

Timing is important, too. Eating 20g of protein within 30 minutes of a session will get you off to a good start, and then you can keep topping up during your meals and snacks throughout the day. Eating protein every 3-4 hours (at each meal and snack) is the way to help the body repair throughout the day.

DON’T FORGET THE CARBS! When it comes to building muscle, it’s not all about protein for muscle building - carbohydrates are also essential.

Carbohydrates are not only the major fuel for exercise, they also fuel the process of repairing muscle tissue. Carbohydrates support regular training and not eating enough carbohydrates can lead to fatigue and impair the immune system, making consistent strength training and bike sessions difficult.

Once you’ve calculated protein requirements, do the same for carbohydrate requirements. The Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Journal recommends the amount of carbohydrate needed to sustain moderate training for approximately one hour per day is 5-7 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per day and more if training more.

Timing is important when it comes to carbohydrates too.

Eating before, during and after a high-intensity or long ride, will mean you are better fuelled to hit the gym. Depending on the style of your strength training, fuelling before and after as part of your regular meals and snacks is important, too.

Great pre-training options include fruit, a piece of toast or a muesli bar. After a session, combine your carbohydrates with protein as part of your next meal or snack. Try a smoothie, cereal with milk and yoghurt, or a sandwich with meat or cheese.

EAT MORE THAN YOU BURN Finally, after protein and carbohydrate needs are calculated, total energy or calories need to be considered. Building muscle requires fuel so you need to eat enough to support training.

Not eating enough leaves the body with no choice but to use fat and muscle stores for energy instead, undermining the work you’re putting in.

The amount you need to eat each day will vary depending on your age, height, weight, and the amount of training and physical activity you’re doing. If concerned about also gaining fat, try slowly increasing calories until you notice results. If losing weight, you’re likely not eating enough to match your training demands.

Practically, eating more energy-dense snacks and drinks can increase your energy intake without having to significantly increase the volume of food you’re eating. For example, adding more olive oil, nuts, and seeds to your salad, or reducing the vegies to increase the pasta and meat sauce in your spag bol.

If you’re unsure about how much to eat, see a Sports Dietitian who can help you figure out how much to eat day to day.

DO YOU NEED TO TAKE A SUPPLEMENT? There is no need to go out and purchase supplements. It is likely possible to meet nutrient requirements with food without additional supplements. However, if for convenience, you struggle with eating enough, or if following a vegan or vegetarian diet, a protein & carbohydrate supplement, or some sports-specific foods like gels and bars may be helpful to add into the day. There is also good evidence for creatine when it comes to building muscle, but it’s best to speak with a Sports Dietitian and your GP before starting a supplement like this.

THE BOTTOM LINE Eating to gain muscle doesn’t have to be complicated or involve lots of supplements. Eat enough protein, carbohydrates and calories throughout the day and you’ll be building strength in no time.

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TRAINING FADS: FACTS OR FICTION? WORDS ANNA BECK

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n the land of mountain bike that we all live in we are lucky to be slightly out of reach of conventional wellness culture advertising.

While your mate may order a green smoothie or chia seed pudding at the post ride cafe, by and large the broader shapeshifting ‘wellness and fitness’ culture is more central to gym and health cultures.

That doesn’t mean that mountain biking and cycling are immune from jumping on fitness bandwagons, even if they are a little different from whatever the wellness zeitgeist deems is cool, like the David Goggins approach of “no pain no gain!” approach, or Gwyneth Paltrow’s rectally administered ozone therapy and coffee enema woo-woo.

Let’s go through some popular training fads we see within the performance sphere of mountain biking, and discuss their benefits and limitations.

HRV AND RECOVERY DEVICES While HRV or heart rate variability has been used in more clinical settings for a long time, it’s only been within the past few years that the public has had access to HRV-equipped wearables. Thus, an interest in HRV as a trackable metric has been born. In a nutshell, HRV—as the name suggests—is literally the variability between your heart beats: while your resting heart rate may be 60, there are micro-variations even within that steady rhythm that can be assessed using technology.

A larger variation is healthy and represents

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P H OTO S A N DY R O G E R S , DAV E A C R E E , N I C K WAY G O O D

that the body is reaching homeostasis or a sense of equilibrium well (and absorbing the stressors including training that you’re throwing at it) whereas smaller HRV may indicate your body is under stress and struggling to adapt.

In addition to this, many fitness wearables offer a range of other metrics including sleep duration and scores, training readiness and fitness status. But should we be using these numbers to train with?

VERDICT: Somewhere in the middle While the accuracy of HRV on popular wrist based devices such as Garmin’s and Apple watches have been validated to be around as accurate as a chest based ECG (the gold

standard), how this information is used can be the tricky part. The number itself is highly individual (for example I have had athletes that are feeling fresh and amazing at an overnight HRV of 50, and others that would indicate extreme fatigue and stress that would better sit at 80+) so it takes a while to build up the knowledge of what your HRV is doing and how that relates to your training. While it can be an accurate measure of what your HRV is doing, HRV itself results from all the stress going on within your body: not just riding stress. So while taking it easy on a low HRV day may be recommended in the face of your body not quite recovering and that could be a good option, it may more of an indicator of poor sleep and stress than training load which could lead to detraining if suggested more

recovery is required.

All black box metrics on these devices calculate your training readiness based on the information they have. If you don’t use the device for every session then it doesn’t have a full picture of what your training looks like and thus a short threshold session may send the device into warning mode, telling you not to train for 4 days when in reality it’s just a regular session.

While these devices are fun (I love checking my sleep status and duration as I currently get very little) they must be taken with a grain of salt. If you are someone who is likely to take a day of a session based on what your watch is telling you rather than cultivating an awareness of what your body is telling you, I would treat HRV with caution until you can understand what ‘fresh’ ‘fatigued’ and ‘riding the knife-edge of illness’ feels like in your body.

FASTED TRAINING Once hailed as the sole reason Chris Froome was so dominant, fasted training has snuck into cycling and broader fitness and wellness culture alike. While there is some good evidence that fasted training can be beneficial on forcing metabolic adaptations, there is less evidence on the impacts of fasted training on women and special cohorts, as well as during specific sessions. While there are a range of studies that indicate that specifically withholding carbohydrate prior to training may result in cell signalling that could potentially led to adaptations that improve endurance performance, many meta-analysis’ of the data has found that it doesn’t actually improve performance (1).

What it can do, however, is increase your hunger and potentially reduce your energy expenditure throughout the day which could lead to weight loss (of either or both fat and lean muscle) or lead to the athlete being in an energy-deficient state. Furthermore, fasted training tends to increase our perception of effort.

If you’re female, the evidence for fasted training is even more scant due to the majority of scientific studies being conducted on men, but there is some evidence that fasted training could lead to low energy availability and hormonal disruption in female athletes.

But perhaps the best reason to avoid fasted training in most riders is that it’s chasing a 1% gain where there are almost always much greater gains to be made with training compliance along with good recovery and nutrition. The training experience can greatly add to our sense of confidence when it comes to race day, so why would you choose to feel flat and underfuelled when training?

VERDICT: Fasted training may have some benefits in metabolic adaptations, however there are many drawbacks. If you’re interested in giving this a go, I would recommend really adhering to well fuelled training with a high level of compliance before adding any fasted interventions in!

HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER Since CrossFit emerged 15 years ago, there has been a trend towards harder, longer and more arduous training and race participation; the amount of people lining up for ultra marathons is at an all time high! Social media has also added to the perception of the ‘hero’ workout, really hard or long sessions: doing HIIT four times a week or 14 hour gravel riding epics. Even a popular training platform recently posted an article about doing 4x threshold sessions a week for maximum gains: not tempo zone threshold, but 100% threshold power threshold, which as a coach is absolutely unhinged.

The reality of training is that for mountain biking or any endurance sport, it’s a lot of easy riding with a bit of hard riding, and what that looks like varies throughout the year. HIIT sessions can have their place as can epic long rides, but either by and of itself isn’t a fast track to fitness.

VERDICT: The ‘hero’ ride isn’t a ticket to being fast and is more likely to lead to lack of consistency, likewise doing HIIT 4x a week is a fast path to burnout. If you’re touching the void every ride it’s far too much, even every week may be too much. For optimal results gradually increasing your weekly duration with mostly easy and some moderately-hard work and sometimes, at the right times, going super deep and touching the void is a key to sustainable training leading to meaningful gains.

WITHOUT THE GYM YOU ARE NOTHING It’s super popular to see all your favourite athletes in the gym. For disciplines like gravity and DH stability and strength can be very

important, but if your choice is between a long ride once a week or a gym session once a week, a long ride is going to get you race fit more efficiently than the gym. Don’t get me wrong, the gym is great and begets good vibes and discipline specific strength, but if you are only able to ride 4-6hrs a week and gym time cuts in to that ride time, skip the gym and do pushups and squats at home.

Some people may benefit more than others from time in the gym: specifically those recovering from injury, with bone density issues, older riders and those who have obvious strength deficits. For most of us, however, the small 3-6 hours a week many people have to ride their bike would be better spent riding if cycling performance is the goal.

VERDICT: For an athlete with injury concerns or specific deficits, the gym can absolutely address many of the myriad of ills we pick up living in the modern world staring at screens all day. For the time crunched athlete, prioritising 2hrs a week in the gym instead of increasing their hours from 2-4/week won’t likely assist the cardiovascular demands of mountain biking.

1. Gejl, K.D., Nybo, L. Performance effects of periodized carbohydrate restriction in endurance trained athletes – a systematic review and metaanalysis. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18, 37 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-021-00435-3 Anna Beck is a Level 2 cycling coach and 2018 XCM National Champion, and coaches a range of athletes. gritcoaching.com.au

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TOOLS REQUIRED

HOW TO GET THE RIGHT CHAIN LENGTH WORDS RYAN WALSCH

PHOTOS JORDAN RIDDLE

Every drivetrain manufacturer has a different way of measuring the required chain length, which can differ between series of their components. While it may seem easier to assume the chain length on your bike currently is correct, we see a high percentage of new bikes and bikes with their original chain installed coming through our workshop that have the incorrect chain length. Knowing this, it is safer to assume that it is incorrect and to measure it properly each time you replace a chain.

First up, consider that your rear derailleur has two jobs; to shift or derail the chain onto either the cog above or below (easier or harder), and to keep tension on the chain. A failure to do so will result in the chain falling off or slipping under load.

By understaning the derailleur’s function in keeping tension on the chain and considerations such as a dual suspension bike requiring a longer chain to accommodate the rear wheel’s path, calculating the chain length across all systems is pretty easy. Too often we see a chain that is too long for the bike, and then to keep tension on the chain, the B-tension screw is wound in too far to increase tension on the chain.

Each system or manufacturer has its own unique way of calculating the length of a chain, they do however all follow the same principles and we have a simple method that takes these into consideration.

As the derailleur is trying to keep tension on the chain at all times, the chain MUST be long enough to rotate around the largest front ring, the largest cog on the rear (1st gear) and travel through the derailleurs spring loaded cage and jockey wheels.

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With the derailleur in the hardest gear (smallest cog on the rear) we now have easy access to drape the full length chain over the biggest cogs front and rear.

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Use a quality chain tool to cut the chain. Once cut, install the chain, shift into the easiest (biggest cog) and into the hardest gear (smallest cog) the derailleur should keep tension on the chain at all times.

2 Pull the chain taught until the next male/ female links meet, add 4 links (2 male and two female) hold the chain together and visualise and mimic the tension a cage would apply to the chain. A 45 degree angle is a good guide and will ensure enough length is left to accommodate chain growth on even a long travel bike, High Pivot bikes may require more and most manufacturers like Forbidden Bikes will give recommended lengths for each size of their bikes. If unsure, add two links and install, you can trim links and make the chain shorter as many times as you like!

Shift up into the largest cog, how does the gap between the upper jockey wheel and largest cog look? The closer it is without interference, the crisper and more precise the shift. We like to adjust the B-tension screw in 2nd gear or the second largest cog. When the derailleur is in 2nd gear, we adjust the B-tension screw so the top tooth of the upper jockey wheel is lined up (but not touching) the largest cog of the cassette. This will allow for the closest possible position to the cassette without the derailleur interfering with the cassette and causing damage to the derailleur, chain or hanger.

Now that the B-tension screw is set, we shift down into the hardest gear (smallest cog) and check the chain still has tension and the chain “wraps” around the smallest cog sufficiently, a failure to do so could result in the chain slipping under load.

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CHAIN LENGTH CHEAT SHEET SHIMANO SYSTEMS Shift derailleur into Big and Big Find the Zero Position • Hard tail bike with connecting pin + 5/6 links • Hard tail bike with QUICKLINK + 4/5 links • Full suspension bike with connecting pin + 6/7 links • Full suspension bike with QUICK-LINK + 5/6 links SRAM EAGLE SYSTEMS Shift derailleur into Big and Big • Hard tail bike with QUICKLINK + 2 • Full suspension bike with QUICK-LINK + 4 SRAM TTYPE TRANSMISSION Go to the SRAM AXS app Go to Other Tools Chain Length and Setup Enter your bike brand, Model and chainring and presto it spits out the chain length and follow the installation steps, the most simple process ever!

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