Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2020 i Mountain Biking UK

Just months after Fox unveiled their stout 38 fork, RockShox have countered with the ZEB. This all-new enduro fork also has 38mm stanchions, with travel options ranging from 160mm up to a stonking 190mm. RockShox are offering it in 650b and 29in guises, with a choice of offsets for the smaller wheels (38 or 44mm) and a 44mm offset on the 29er fork. The ZEB looks like a beefed-up version of their new SID cross-country fork, with a similarly sculpted, angular brace and forged and then CNC-machined crown. RockShox claim they’ve made it 21 per cent torsionally stiffer than the 35mm-stanchion Lyrik (previously the chunkiest single-crown fork in their line-up), so steering should be impressively sharp. Fore/aft stiffness is only upped by two per cent. Despite being stiffer, RockShox assure…

Travelling with your bike, riding the world’s best trails, making new friends – it’s the stuff that mountain biking dreams are made of. But what happens to our favourite riding destinations when the dust settles? Are we helping to build a sustainable local economy in these areas or are we strip-mining the world’s best singletrack? Trail access varies enormously from place to place. Just imagine explaining the UK’s own footpaths-versus-bridleways system to a rider visiting from another country. In France you can ride most trails outside the national parks, unless there’s a local law forbidding it. In Slovenia most singletrack is theoretically off-limits, but if you’re with a local guide you’ll be OK. Over in Switzerland some of the cantons have made all their walking trails more bike-friendly while others…

Unlike a conventional box-section carbon rim, Zipp’s 3ZERO MOTO rim is single-walled. The idea is that this allows some radial compliance, to give a less harsh ride, and also lets the rim flex sideways, enabling the tyre to maintain better contact with the ground and lessening the chance of side impacts knocking the rider off-line. While the 30mm internal width is pretty standard for enduro/trail applications, the 3ZERO MOTO rim weighs slightly more than some other carbon options due to its thicker, single-layer construction. Complete wheels are built using Zipp’s ZM1 hubs – although an option with Hope Pro 4s is coming soon – and Quark TyreWiz pressure sensors are included as standard. £670 rim/£1,875 full wheelset, www.zyrofisher.co.uk…

After months of hitting up local trails, we made our first trip over the border for the reopening of BikePark Wales (below). The uplift wasn’t running, but it was still a blast. We’re stoked to be able to ride some of our favourite Welsh spots again. Our first team ride (p46) was a great laugh. However, we’ve decided to fit Chris with a tracking beacon so that when he gets lost again (which he inevitably will), it’ll be easier to find him. Seeing the action from the NotARace iXS Cup test session was excellent. It was a brilliant idea from Wyn Masters, well pulled-off by iXS. It would be great to see more of these, with even more big names, in the future. At the time of writing, it looks…

Richard Lloyd proves that sometimes it’s the places you know best that can really catch you out. “I was hitting the local woods, having a quick ride before work,” he explains. “While I was on my last descent before heading home, the front wheel washed out and sent me flying. I landed head-first on a massive lump of flint, which cracked my helmet open (the hospital said it would’ve been lights out without one – so always remember to wear one!) and left me in a load of pain. Four X-rays and a CT scan later, and it turns out I have a nice little compression fracture to the spine. That means I now have to wear this beauty for at least eight weeks. The part that hurts the most,…

Laurie may appear casual and laid-back, but the 23-year-old racer makes no secret of the fact he’s training harder than ever now he’s felt what it’s like to stand on the top step of the World Cup podium. For us amateurs, the life of a top-flight racer can seem like a dream, and in a lot of ways it is, but serious hard work goes on behind the scenes to perform consistently at the top level. To get an idea of what’s involved and what the last off season looked like for Laurie, we spoke to his coach, and friend of the mag, Olly Morris. “The key elements Laurie needs to prepare over the winter are strength and fitness, covered by trainer Andy Wadsworth; his bike, which is managed by…

ROB WEAVER With two decades of riding experience, Rob knows what works and what doesn’t TOM MARVIN The only thing Tom loves more than his clapped-out VW Caddy is hammering test kit RUSSELL BURTON Long days outdoors mean photographer Russ needs kit that won’t let him down SEB STOTT No slouch on the race track, Seb’s passion for engineering helps him pick products apart ALEX EVANS Many years of breaking bikes means Alex can give reliable buying advice JAMES COSTLEY-WHITE MBUK’s editor has 27 years of riding experience and an eye for the details that matter…

Almost all of us here at MBUK now wear knee pads on all but the most XC of XC rides. That’s because your knees are generally one of the first – and most painful – parts of the body to hit the ground in a crash, and yet, as a moving part, are also vital to protect, not least so you can keep on riding into your autumn years! In the shorter term, wearing pads is one of the best ways to keep you on your bike, rather than resting on the couch. Knee pads vary wildly though. Some are super- lightweight sleeves, more for scuff protection than big hits, while others wouldn’t look out of place on a motocross bike. As such, the padding can vary from simple Kevlar-wrapped…

When riding on roads, being easily seen is the best way to prevent yourself being hit by something bigger, faster and heavier. While the subtle tones of your favourite riding kit are great for the trails, not so much in town. Fluoro clothing and reflective details will help you stand out. It’s the law in the UK that after sunset cyclists must display a red rear light and white front light. These don’t have to have all the bells, whistles and lumens that trail lights have, and commuting lights are generally much cheaper and easier to put on and take off the bike. Many can be charged via USB. The law also requires you to have reflectors on your pedals and the back of your bike. This is rarely enforced…

GETTING THERE Tidworth is located just off the A338, on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border, south of Marlborough and just north of the A303. Use the postcode SP9 7TE. FACILITIES Parking, toilets, sign-in hut NEARBY BIKE SHOPS Mitchell Cycles, Swindon www.mitchellcycles.co.uk Just Bikes, Andover www.justbikesandover.co.uk CONTACT www.b1ke.com OTHER RIDING Wind Hill B1kepark Less than 40 minutes down the road is Wind Hill, also run by B1ke. The park offers similar features, with progressive freeride lines and more techy natural trails. www.b1ke.com Southampton Bike Park Head south and you’ll find this compact but free-to-ride bike park on the edge of the city. It’s great for building your jumping confidence and learning to rail berms. www.facebook.com/ southamptonbikepark VERDICT Tidworth Freeride have squeezed a lot of fun trails onto a small hill and have really…

It may be called Hellsend, but we’re pretty sure it’s heaven to ride! The Hellsend Dirt Compound is a backyard riding spot like no other. Located on a farm outside Stellenbosch, South Africa, the backdrop and scenery may look familiar. That’s because it hosts a round of the insane FEST Series freeride tour. However, the absurd DarkFEST line isn’t all that it’s got to offer. The compound also boasts world-class dirt jumps, sculpted by renowned builder Justin Novella, and hosts jump jams. There are multiple rough and raw downhill tracks too, along with flow trails to suit all abilities, freeride lines with massive jumps – a stepping stone to the gnarly DarkFEST line – and pretty much everything else a mountain biker could wish for, including a new tech line…

“During lockdown, I found myself spending more and more time in my bike shed. Coming and going from my daily ride, then staying out a bit longer and tinkering away for hours at a time. I built the shed seven years ago with my dad, and we certainly took on the project with a healthy amount of passion. To say it grew arms and legs is an understatement. Bike storage, workshop and a gym/hangout upstairs to boot. Back then, I didn’t realise how grateful I would be in 2020 to have my own place like this right in my garden. “My favourite lockdown project was the hardtail I built up to ride. I spray-painted the Orange Crush frame myself and built it up for riding on the small trails by…

STAR LETTER AHEAD OF THE CURVE Here’s a case of idle hands, lockdown and a silly idea that turned out great! Remember RockShox’s Totem fork? Well, I always loved mine, but since 650b/29in wheels took over it’s been gathering dust in the garage. Fast-forward a decade, to a world in lockdown and a night of fettling. Out of curiosity, I offered up a 15mm-axle 650b wheel to the Totem and the clearances looked OK. Hang on, could I be on to something?! Fortunately, my bike has a 44mm-diameter head tube, so I sourced an external headset cup to take the Totem’s 1.5in straight steerer. Next up was a 20mm-axle, non-Boost 650b wheel. I got it fitted, and the tyre clearance was about 10mm all round – fine, as long as…

Tag your Instagram pics with #mbukletters. We’ll pick four each issue and our favourite will win a DMR Wingbar and Defy35+ stem courtesy of www. upgradebikes.co.uk. Usual T&Cs apply. WINNER! 11-year-old @mazieharper_ sending it on her Nukeproof with a banging pan shot. Definitely a rider to watch! Is there a better start to the summer than laps with the Fox guys and Loris Vergier? @milan_dh doesn’t think so Getting this month’s arty shot is@mtb.stefan with his Saracen resting in the bluebells This silhouette of @ben_s_mtb06 was captured at the perfect time…

DARREN BERRECLOTH, RICHIE SCHLEY AND GEOFF GULEVICH pioneered lines, styles, locations and tricks. Appearing in countless video segments and on myriad magazine covers in the ’90s (Schley) and 2000s, they jumped bigger and longer, rode sketchier slopes and chutes, and all in a steezier way than anyone else before them. But for me, they’re also some of my best buddies. People I love to hang with. Richie, the entertainer, has endless stories and always keeps up the conversation. Gully, the Ryan Gosling of freeride, is super easygoing, not talking much but always ready with a sly comment when it’s needed. And Darren – The Claw, the Vin Diesel of mountain biking – is the super-dialled guy who has the plan that makes more sense than yours… most of the time.…

Alpinestars Paragon Pro £55 SO GOOD… The inner sleeve is thin, breathable mesh with a large cutout. This keeps things nice and cool, with no seam to dig in. The thicker outer sleeve is woven with aramid fibres to resist abrasion. NO GOOD… Protection comes from a substantial rubber elbow cup, which is wide, rigid and lacks enough pre-formed curve. This makes the pads bulky under a jersey and prevents them moulding to your arms enough to stay in place. Rider movement and trail vibrations invariably caused them to migrate down to our wrists, with the sleeve material being too thin and stretchy to prevent this. www.zyrofisher.co.uk 100% Teratec £52.99 SO GOOD… These pads have some great features. The pre-curved elbow cup is housed in a long elasticated sleeve, making…

SPECIALIZED STATUS 160 £2,399 The Status vanished from Specialized’s line-up some years ago, likely due to just how capable and versatile their Enduro became. With the latest, carbon-only Enduro starting at a whopping £4,500, the US brand were lacking a more affordable big-hitting machine. That’s where the new Status 160 fits in. There’s just the one model (in the UK, at least) and it’s designed to take a beating downhill but still be easy enough to pedal back to the top. CANNONDALE SCALPEL HI-MOD 1 £6,800 This latest iteration of Cannondale’s XC race bike gets a whole new frame, with flexible chainstays instead of a rear pivot. Its geometry has been overhauled too, with a degree-and-a-half coming off the head angle, reflecting the ever more technical nature of XC race…

D3O A special material that’s normally flexible and soft, but in an impact stiffens up to mimic a harder plastic. On a knee pad, flexibility adds comfort, but hard materials spread impacts over a wider area. SLEEVE The sleeve is the base material around which the pad is built. It’s the part that’s in contact with your leg, so it needs to be comfortable and held in place so it doesn’t slip around during a crash. SILICONE GRIPPER This band of grippy synthetic rubber inside the top hem (and sometimes the bottom one too) is designed to stick to your leg, helping to keep the pad in place. Some people have skin sensitive to silicone. HARD SHELL Term for the plastic knee cup found on the outside of some pads,…

To make the most of your commute, a little route planning is essential. Yes, it may take you a little longer to get to work if you deviate to take in the odd off-road section or bit of singletrack through the park, but it’ll make it a whole lot more fun. There’s no getting away from the fact that to link sections of interest up, you’re going to have to get some road miles in, but it beats sitting in the car or on the bus or train, and will keep you fit in the process. KOMOOT Komoot is a multi-sport route planning and navigation app that lets you plan on- and off-road routes to make the best of your local area. STRAVA If you want to turn your ride…

It was a long lockdown for UK trail centres and bike parks, but by the time you read this many, if not all, venues should be open again, and it won’t be long before uplift services are back up and running too. These places may not operate exactly as you remember, with strict social-distancing measures now in place, but they’ll ride just as well. In fact, many of the trails will be even better than you remember, with months of hard work having been put in while they were closed. That’s certainly the case at BikePark Wales (pictured), where they celebrated reopening with the launch of their new 5km green trail Kermit plus first runs down a new-look Insufficient Funds, facelifted Norkle and refreshed Willy Waver. We popped over to…

It’s not often that a shot on Instagram stops us in our tracks, but this one did. And it turns out that it’s not just the terrain and line that are seriously dramatic. Photographer Ale Di Lullo explains… “Richie [Schley, see p59) and I had planned to go on this line, pioneered by Kenny Smith, for years. When the trip to Moab, Utah, finally happened, I thought about inviting [Brett] Tippie. Tippie came, rode the line first AND posted the shot on social media before me... This may sound worse than it actually is! It’s just a never-ending good fight between these two pioneers of the sport who are also best friends and have loved to battle and push each other since they invented freeride together 30 years ago. It’s…

When the Cotic Soul appeared on the scene in 2003, the hype was all around full suspension, and hardtails were seen as a budget option. The days when UK-designed bikes topped riders’ wishlists – from the stalwart Orange Clockwork to the radical Pace RC200 – were over, and American brands ruled the roost. But Cotic founder Cy Turner (Cy Cotic, geddit?) knew British riders were different to their more XC-focused European and American counterparts. They rode in grit and claggy mud, which clogged tyres and wore out suspension hardware, and were just as keen on mucking around in the woods as they were on all-day epics. Enter the Soul – a hardtail with big clearances, no pivots, geometry designed around a (for then) slack head angle, short stem and wide…

DT SWISS 1501 SPLINE ONE WHEELSETS £1374.98 (pair) Swiss steeze Revered by pros and privateers alike, DT Swiss’s 1501 wheel range gets some significant updates for 2021, including a switch from alloy to carbon fibre rims. There are three different rims available, each tuned for its intended discipline – XC, trail or enduro – but they all share a 30mm internal width and are laced to the same 240 hubs, with DT’s lauded Ratchet EXP System at the rear, boasting 36 points of engagement. The wheels are built using lightweight DT Competition Race spokes, which are claimed to help offset the additional stiffness of the new rims. DT Swiss say they’ve tuned the new carbon hoops to ride similarly to the outgoing alloy models. Our EXC 1501s (the enduro-specific option)…

TOM’S HOPE HB.130 £6,585 Some head-to-head testing has brought out the best in the Hope What a change a season-and-a-half makes! My last ‘real’ ride on the Hope, back in early March, was a frustrating one. I literally couldn’t get to grips with the bike, thanks to a clogged rear tyre and slippery roots making even the Maxxis Shorty up front struggle. Fast-forward a few months and suddenly I find myself rolling fast and free, and absolutely loving the HB.130 on steep, dusty, jump-heavy tracks – lots of which seem to have appeared during the course of the lockdown. I did a bit of back-to-back riding on the Hope and the new Yeti SB115 recently, not just for testing purposes, but also because I’d been videoing the Yeti for…

Frame M5 aluminium alloy, 160mm (6.3in) travel Fork Fox 36 Rhythm GRIP, 160mm (6.3in) travel Shock Fox DPX2 Performance Drivetrain SRAM NX Eagle (1x12) Wheelset Roval Traverse 29 (f) and Traverse 27.5 (r) wheels, Specialized Butcher GRID Trail GRIPTON 29x2.3in (f) and 27.5x2.6in (r) tyres Brakes SRAM Code R, 200mm rotors Bar/stem Specialized, 800mm/Specialized, 40mm Seatpost/saddle X-Fusion Manic, 170mm/ Specialized Bridge Comp Weight 16.3kg (35.9lb), size S3 with pedals FrameBallisTec carbon fibre, 100mm (3.9in) travel Fork Lefty Ocho Carbon, 100mm (3.9in) travel ShockFox Float DPS Factory EVOL DrivetrainShimano XTR/Deore XT with Cannondale HollowGram cranks (1x12) Wheelset Cannondale HollowGram 25 carbon wheels, Schwalbe Racing Ray EVO SS ADDIX SpeedGrip (f) and Racing Ralph EVO SS ADDIX Speed (r) 29x2.25in tyres Brakes Shimano XTR, 160mm rotors Bar/stemCannondale carbon, 760mm/ Cannondale, 60mm Seatpost/saddle…

VELCRO STRAPS Being able to tighten things down with a Velcro strap adds security, but also weight, warmth and faff. If you want the best protection, though, Velcro-secured pads are likely a good option. BEHIND THE KNEE The area behind the knee is often where pads cause the most skin irritation. Thinner, more breathable materials tend to bunch and chafe less. Some pads have a cut-out here, which may add cost, but can definitely help with comfort. ARTICULATED OR NOT? Your knees bend thousands of times during a ride and your pads need to be able to move with them. Soft pads articulate easily, but harder designs may have cut-outs to help them flex as you pedal. SIDE PROTECTION While the front-of- knee protection is most obvious, some designs have…

SLIPPERY GRIP Q Call me old-school, but I can’t get on with lock-on grips. I don’t like losing bar real estate to the collars, and I find the plastic sheath on the inside makes them harder than I’d like. Can you recommend some slip-on grips, and the best way to secure them? James Crawford, via email A That’s fair enough – lock-on grips can often feel different to traditional push-on grips. You’ve got fewer options though, because lock-ons are more popular these days. If you want the ultimate in grip, you can’t go far wrong with Renthal’s Push-Ons. They’re fairly cheap (around £11) and come in a range of firmnesses. You can trim the flange if you don’t like it. If you want to save weight and get loads of…

Antony Worrall Thompson’s pub in Sonning Common, The Greyhound, offers great-quality grub in a lovely oak-beamed building with wonderful staff and excellent service (https://awtgreyhound. com). It’s more of a restaurant than a pub, though, so if you don’t want something quite so special, formal or pricey, we highly recommend The Packhorse, a little further on, by the A4074 (www.brunningandprice. co.uk/packhorse). This large, friendly boozer has a big garden where you can keep an eye on your bikes while you pick from a wide range of excellent food and drink. Alternatively, if the tearoom at Mapledurham Watermill is open (and you aren’t too muddy!), on a nice summer’s day this cafe in the refurbished coach house and tack room of a picturesque Elizabethan stately home makes a wonderfully twee setting for…

TRAIL STATS Trails:5 downhill and 3 freeride trails plus a skills area Climbing: Push-up track takes 5-10 mins to the top Time: 1+ minutes Grading:Blue, red and black WHY RIDE HERE? A good mix of technical downhill and freeride tracks with progressive jumps, making great use of a compact hillside RAD… Easily accessible from many parts of southern England Well-maintained, clearly-graded trails with some big features Small size means it doesn’t take long to get back to the top BAD… Chalky surface is very slippery when wet There isn’t much for beginners No cafe – but you can buy refreshments at the kiosk…

“Anyone riding must hold a valid membership – it’s free, but there’s a paid option for regulars wanting access for a year. Once registered you must pre-purchase a day pass. If you join as an annual member, you just need to book one of the Network member day passes (which are free). Although the park is designed to offer a ‘progression pathway’ for new riders, coaching from our team will help you get the most from the site. If in doubt, ask a member of staff!”…