Enduro EVOlution, FOX DHX RC2 coil shock, Fox 36 170mm fork, and chain guide.
This year Specialized has introduced a strain of highly evolved bikes into its expert range of bikes. The Epic, Stumpjumper HT, the Stumpjumper FSR, and the Enduro all get the EVO tune which are designed to serve the evolving needs of certain riders. There are limited numbers of these bikes being produced but what it means is that Specialized can cater to sub species or niche markets of MTBers who want slightly more aggressive or faster builds. Some models lean towards more aggressive styles of riding (EVO), with wider bars, slacker angles, lower standover, more travel, meatier tyres etc, while other models (EVO R) are XC race-leaning thoroughbreds with ultra lightweight and efficient specs. Yes, that paragraph sounds like the press spiel I was fed last week, but honestly these bikes are very very exciting offerings because they are bikes that relate to me, you and the average Joe. Who has an above average income of course. READ MORE
Just got in from watching the Crankworx Slopestyle finals where KELLY MCGARRY finished FIFTH PLACE! This is a well deserved accomplishment for Kelly, who has been chipping away at the big contest for years now. He stacked his run with lots of flips and twists. His run went like this: 3 drop, flip up then 3 off the Kokanee trailer, alley oop table the quarter bank, then something up the pink elephant to 3 off, massive flip no hander the super mega big booter jump (that only four guys even hit), tweaker up the Monster drop to super drop off, then something off the moustache, to tyre grab up the SRAM levitator berm, to X-up off, to huge flip table into the throng of adoring lady fans. READ MORE
Dane Searls has been a visitor to our fair shores here in New Zealand a few times and he’s known to go HUGE. He’s teamed up with one of his sponsors, UNIT, to build some dirty big dirt jumps. Watch the above vid, Giants of Dirt part 1. Coming up short on a 50 foot booter, damn.
Bumping up the travel, the SX Trail now replaces the void left after the Demo 7 gets 86'd.
A day late, but here’s the lowdown on more of the gravity bikes in the 2011 Specialized range. I didn’t get to ride these ones as I was having too much time doing a bad impression of Brendan Fairclough aboard the Demo on Crank It Up for two days straight. My bad. Talking of which, where are the GT bikes release photos Caleb? Come on, you know we are all dying to see them.
I’m sure Caleb is very busy tanning himself raw with a bottle of the finest olive oil on some Italian nudist beach. Watch out Wellington, the seven foot tall slice of streaky bacon is on its way. READ MORE
Crankworx festival is going down at Whistler this week, with the event finishing up with the Slopestyle competition. Looks like it should be good; there’s plenty of Kiwis (and Seb) over there in support of Kelly McGarry who’s riding it!
Episode 7 of The Atherton Project season 2 begins back at The Athertons’ home in Wales. Dan and Gee are training on the jumps behind their house when Dan tests a new line and disappears behind one of the jumps for a lot longer than seems normal. Gee and Clay rush to investigate to find Dan on the ground, it’s a neck injury and it’s not good. It turns out that Dan is lucky to be alive and it’s at least three months off the bike for him, which has him thinking about the bigger picture. This episode is dedicated to the fallen riders who may not have been so lucky.
I first met Karl about 10 years ago, mid summer at Nelson BMX track. There was one dirty big dirt jump built on the in field for Karl to hone his craft and perfect his bodily contortions in preparation for the ‘X-Air’ competition being held in Hamilton the following month. What struck me back then still reigns true today; how can one dude go so much higher than everyone else on the same jump with a similar bike setup? Well Karl’s that guy….
Fast forward a bunch of years and I’m in Wellington riding the infamous Island Bay trails up the back of the house where Karl was living. Again, Karl was boosting larger than anyone else and while he wasn’t throwing the hugest, latest ‘fad’ tricks he had better flow, boost and style than most of the visiting US pros at the session.
In the last few years, Karl’s focus has blurred from solely BMX shredding to MTB dirt jumping, onto downhill and now even XC. He’s also recently taken on the Black Market distribution in Aussie under the Private Distro flag. He’s a true all-rounder and is “jack of all trades, master of them all” which not many people can claim. He’s super friendly and a blast to ride with, and if there’s two wheels under him he’ll have a huge smile on his dial and be totally amped on whatever it is you’re riding.
And if you’re wondering how Karl boosts so big, he let me in on the secret: “Just pump your tyres up real hard, go fast and pull back heaps.” Cool.
Ladies and gentlemen, Frankly Thursday with Karl Bensemann…… READ MORE
With Caleb sipping wine and eating olives in Italy to help digest the GT bikes launch, it was left to North America Spoke correspondent, Seb Kemp, to smash out some lairy wet laps in the Whistler Bike Park aboard the 2011 Specialized big bike range. READ MORE
Justin Leov looks like he’s bouncing back from his nasty off at Val fi Sole the other week, taking 2nd at the Garbanzo DH race. Trek has the breakdown…. READ MORE
Transition has been dropping new framesets recently and here’s the latest. The TR250 (sounds like a moto name to me), a slimmed down version of the TR450. Looks like this would be some fun! READ MORE
Transition has been dropping new framesets recently and here’s the latest. The TR250 (sounds like a moto name to me), a slimmed down version of the TR450. Looks like this would be some fun! 
