New MRP G2's - in White!

MRP have released new White G2's and White Mini G2's! Available in January 09.

Moelfre training days...

News in from Matt Simmonds...

In collaboration with Borderline events and Rob Smith, Matt will be helping to raise money to re-vamp the 4X course at Moelfre.

Having visited there for the last time the Nationals were all held together in 2006 I can say it was an awesome venue and a good cause. Take a look...

http://www.borderline-events.co.uk/training.asp

Wideopen Issue 8 is ONLINE!

AXO is back

Chris at Riding High UK just sent over some sneak pics of the new AXO range. AXO have been around for nigh-on 30 years and started out making kit for MX racing before spreading out into mountainbikes. The new kit will out early next year and has been developed with the help of freeride veteran Richie Schley. You'll be able to see the Astrix Europe showing it off next season.

You can only get this stuff online through their upcoming website which will be at http://www.axo-mtb.co.uk/

Victory Trailer 2

You may have seen this already, but I just found this new trailer for the MTBCUT.TV movie 'Victory'. Can't wait to see it!

Dirt School DVD!

The DirtSchool DVD is now available from the website: www.dirtschool.co.uk

It's a very slow paced gentle affair with some good tips from Chris Ball on the basics of trail riding. Even if you're a seasoned rider (like me) there are a few nuggets in there and one thing is for sure, it's worked for the Scottish youth DH guys!

At less than £20 it's also a damn site cheaper than paying for a coaching session! I'll be trying to put some of it to use over the Christmas break, expect a full run down in Issue 9 along with a few words from the man himself.

Foot out Flat out DVD: get it HERE!

Check it out! The 'Foot out Flat out' DVD has landed and we're selling it HERE for a dirt cheap £12.99 (RRP £16.99).



Featuring the very best in style and undiscovered raw talent, Foot Out Flat Out brings you the most in-depth look at the British race scene ever. Packed with big names, and some you may never had heard of, hand picked from around the UK for their amazing bike skills. The film follows the 2008 NPS season, Fort William World Cup, Dragon DH and some UK BMX action.

Click here to order using our safe and secure paypal shop.

661 Mini DH: Forest of Dean

The 661 Mini-DH went down last Sunday at the Forest of Dean. Rowan Sorrell took the win for the chaps and Emma Wareham for the lasses. It was a great day out with some close racing down a shorty, twisty and frozen track. Massive thanks to Chris Roberts and the Naked Racing team. Look out for the next one at Chicksands in Feb.

Genesis Alpitude - new longtermer...

A MAHOOOOOSIVE box arrived for me here at Wideopen towers on Friday - inside was this beauty, a 2009 Genesis Alpitude, as previewed on this site exclusively a few months ago... courtesy of the good chaps at Madison.

First impressions on equipment and quality of finish are excellent. I look forward to hammering it around the Peak District and a few trail centres over the next few months.

Full photo set on Facebook - if you've not joined the group yet then why not?

Note - the forks are not pumped up yet hence the steep head angle and tiny travel!

Llandegla trails closed!

The trails up at Llandegla are all closed today thanks to ice. The visitor centre and walking trails are open for business though!

Stay tuned to www.oneplanetadventure.co.uk

Pump Urban Wear Christmas Shopping

Our friends over at Pump Urban Wear are celebrating Chrimbo with a bit of a price drop. All organic cotton tee's are now £16 and hoodies £32.50.

Save yourself trawling the high-street for prezzies and give em a look here.

Mono's latest.... Empire and Ben Deakin

Our resident video expert Mono just put the finishing touches to these two beauties. Pop the kettle on and enjoy...

RLS4X - Leamington 4x racing

The Leamington Spa 4X track locals have just formed a club and will be putting on some 4X races in early 2009.

The club is called RLS4X and is headed up by seasoned racers Jonny and Rich Cheetham. They're BC registered, supported by the council and (best of all) will be running regular races and gate practice at the track asap.

You'll be able to join the club early next year but in the mean time check out their webby at http://rls4x.com/

Meta 55 UK Ltd Edition

News of the latest instalment to the Commencal 2009 range:

Following on from the runaway sell-out success of the 2008 Meta 55 XT (a limited edition, UK-market only collaboration with Shimano celebrating the 25th anniversary of the XT groupset) Madison are pleased to introduce the limited edition Meta 55 UK – with sensible UK-friendly upgrades some of the most up-to-date kit currently available (Fox Float 140RL QR15 forks).

The bike once again features all-Shimano running gear, with a mix of the best parts of both the existing XT and new SLX groupsets. The frame is finished in a special black/green colourway and features all the 2009 Meta 55 frame updates; stiffer linkage, refined hydroformed toptube offering increased standover height, a stiffer swingarm, a slacker headtube angle and an integrated headset. To help keep things fresh the first batch will come through with white fork lowers whilst the later models will come through with black lowers.

These strictly limited edition bikes will be landing mid December and priced @ £2153.18srp (15% VAT).

For you local dealer please visit: www.commencal.co.uk

£2153.18srp (£2199.99srp @ 17.5% VAT)

Available: Mid Dec 08
- Fox RP2 Rear Shock

- Fox Float 140 RL 15QR Forks

- Shimano XT Servo-Wave Disc Brakes (180/160mm)

- Shimano SLX Shifters

- Shimano XT Shadow Rear Mech

- Shimano SLX Triple Chainset

- Shimano XT Hubs (15mm front)

- Maxxis High Roller 2.35/Larsen TT 2.00 Tyres

- Sun Ringlé Equalizer 27 White Rims

- SDG Bel Air SL I-Beam Saddle/SDG Micro I-Beam Seatpost

Wentwood Trophy - South Wales DH racing is back!

Racing is ON at Wentwood in South Wales!

It's going to be on Sunday 01 March 2009 at Wentwood forest in Monmouthshire. Entry is a bargain at £25 and you don't need to be a BC member to race!



Here's the basics:
- BC points.
- Great track.
- No uplift at this one... get pushing.
- Run to BC rules.
- 2 timed runs. Best run to count.
- Hardtails in age group categorys but with their own podium.
- First aid cover by Extreme Medics.
- Entry fee includes 'Parking' and number boards, no hidden extras.

Si reckons the track drops around 190m and takes about 2 min if your super fast! We popped over a few months back and loved it. Fun trails and super friendly locals. Well worth a visit.

Enter NOW at http://www.simplydownhill.co.uk/

Joe Barnes Blog

Just got a quick email from MTBCut.TV rider Joe Barnes.

He's off to New Zealand for a few months to escape the 'orrible Scottish winter and do some racing. He's leaving on Friday and will be keeping us up to date with how it's all going on his new blog.

You can check it out here: http://joebarnes.tumblr.com

Nike 6.0 'Writing on the Wall'

Add Writing on The Wall to your page

The Decors! Massive blunder on Foot Out Flat Out

I just need to make this massive apology to The Decors, one of the bands featured in Foot Out Flat out. The extras section featuring Will Soffe and Kris Rogers doesn't have a credit for the music which is actually "DROPKEY" by a band called 'THE DECORS".

Check out their MySpace page here: www.myspace.com/thedecors and give them some support as their music is pretty flipping rad!

Again, massive apologies to Jim and the guys and thanks again for their help with the music which was probably the hardest thing to do regarding the DVD (finding decent music)...

THE BEST OF BRITISH, EDINBURGH FILM NIGHT

Wideopen team rider Pete Scullion and I (together we are Steve Pete) are putting on the first Scottish screenings of Wideopen supported film Aaron ‘Mono’ Bartlett’s FOOT OUT FLAT OUT, and Callum Swift’s THE UPRISING. Watch Britain’s finest riding talent make their assault on the 2008 season through the lenses of two of the best new action sports film-makers.
The event is taking place in the Bongo Club in Edinburgh on Thursday 4th December. Doors are at 7pm with the first film starting at 7.30pm. Entry is £4 on the door. U18s are welcome and ID will be required at the bar.

Not only does your £4 allow you to see these two films, but every entrant will be automatically entered into a prize draw for goodies courtesy of Hotlines Europe.

Details of the venue:-

The Bongo Club
37 Holyrood Road
Edinburgh
EH8 8BA
0131 558 7604

Any queries can be directed to ste@wideopenmag.co.uk

The Welsh Downhill Mountain Bike Association

Great news for the future - the all new Welsh DH Mountain Bike Association is now up and running. Here's the press release:

We would like to announce that the Welsh Downhill Mountain Biking Association has been formed.

The WDMBA is a not-for-profit association, set up by riders from South Wales and has been established to promote the sport in Wales and surrounding areas. We aim to run in a similar way as Scotland’s SDA and will be running a Regional downhill series in place of Dragon Downhill for 2009. Other goals will be to give beginners and people on a low budget access to the sport, to allow riders to get hands on and give something back to their local tracks in a regulated manner, to raise the profile of the sport, to hold some great events and get riders together on a regular basis.

We are currently busy working towards arrangements for next years season, which is our main priority at the moment. But when thats underway we will be looking to find new areas to ride and working on promotion of the sport. keep an eye on our site, www.wdmba.co.uk for more information. We should be releasing some tentative dates in the next few weeks so watch this space!

James Tennant: Chairman WDMBA.

A few words from Jason Carpenter: Dragon Downhill…..
“Dragon Downhill wishes the WDMBA the best of luck for it’s future endeavors - I recommend a Volunteer Association to run DH in Wales based on the model laid out by the very successful SDA. I expect all DH riders in Wales to assist the WDMBA in it’s endeavors with Volunteer support across the board of event management and in Governance. In this way, the workload will be spread out ensuring that things are able to run efficiently and no one person gets lumped with too much work. Also, all income generated from the events can be ploughed back in to grow the sport in Wales. Dragon Downhill will continue to assist the WDMBA wherever possible. We have the hills, so lets go, ride them. Jason”

www.wdmba.co.uk

www.wdmba.co.uk

www.wdmba.co.uk

NPS4X 2009 Dates

Check it out - here's the dates for next year's NPS4X series... Venues to be confirmed.

April 19th Rd1
May 23/24th Rd2/3
June 13/14th Rd4/5
July 4/5th Rd6/7
August 9th Rd8
September 13th Rd9

And some big words from Chris Roberts:

"We want you to have great time racing so now its your chance to have your say on the forum Do you want more or less let us know so we can shape the 2009 season to the best ever.
2008 we had more riders then ever before with record turn outs, we expect this to grow even more in 2009,the nps4x series still represents the best value National mountain bike series in the country."

Hardtail Nation Update

http://www.hardtailnation.co.uk/
http://www.hardtailnation.co.uk/
http://www.hardtailnation.co.uk/

Borderline Events - Moelfre Uplift 6/7 December

Borderline Events will have one last event of the year at Moelfre on the 6th and 7th December.

It'll be the last one until March 'cos of the dodgy Welsh weather so book fast! All details are available at http://www.borderline-events.co.uk/.

You can contact the team on 01524 388388 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) to book and pay for the uplift or evenings and weekends on 07921 453033 (Unitil 9pm evenings).

Cost is as per usual at £35 for the both days including food on the Saturday night down the local pub.

MAN DOWN: Scott Hamlin

Diamonback's Lex just fired over some news on his team mate Scott Hamlin...

The pair of them were down at Motion in Bristol checking out the new ramps when Scott took a dodgy crash and "mashed his foot". Session over and Scott is now out with a suspected broken foot. Unlucky mate - get well soon from all at WO...

Check out www.diamondback.co.uk for some news from their sponsors.

ROBOFEST '08! Mon the Vibe!

The first ever Robofest went off last weekend up in Perth, organised by Vibes Mark Edgcumbe and fuelled by Rockstar Energy Drink. A weekend of slack riding and messing about on the triple led up to some fierce racing on Sunday, dominated by Tracey Moseley and Joe Barnes.

Our mate Ste popped over and bagged 3rd place on his hardtail, good work fella! His repo will be in Issue 8 (out soon...). Until then, check out Stu's great vid:

http://www.viberacing.co.uk/

TSG & Sam Pilgrim in Museum

Matt at Ison Distro just fired over something a bit different:

The Museum of Design in Plastics in Poole is part of the Arts Institute at Bournemouth and their new sports exhibition, Winning with Plastics, is finally up and running, and features TSG Helmet and Knee/Shinpads in the "protect" part of the exhibit.

They have been in contact with ourselves and Ruedi Herger from TSG and we have supplied them with a couple of Sam Pilgrim (signed) signature Evolution helmets and a pair of AM Kevlar Knee/Shinpads.



We have also supplied them with several photos of Sam riding which they may use as part of the visual display exhibit.

There are a couple of images of the overall exhibition as well as those of the cases that the TSG Kevlar knee and shin pad and the sam 08 helmet. The case is laid out like a body and shows examples of sports protection from the head to the feet.



They also have an in-house communication system, a little like a website, which we add the text and images from the exhibtion for their students to view. This means that when the actual exhibition comes down visitors can still see it in a virtual form.

We would like to thank Louise Dennis, Assistant Curator, for the use of TSG products in the exhibition.

Sam Hill on a Speccy footage

GUESS WHAT?! SAM HILL IS ON SPECIALIZED!! Oh wait... You knew that already didn't you? Oh well. Here's some footage of the Ozzy Nationals with some footage of the boy Hill on his new bicycle. Thanks for Freecaster.tv

4X and Bonfire This Saturday at UKBike Park

News just in from Chris at NPS4X.com

Join us on Saturday the 8th November for fireworks and a bonfire up at ukbikepark . Plenty of mums cake will be on offer and the usual laid back bikepark atmosphere is guaranteed

We will have 4X racing on the NPS track on Sunday the 9th November. Chris Roberts from naked racing will be bringing the NPS gate and we will have racing for all categories so if you have never tried 4X this is the perfect opportunity.

We are also running a DH bike category
All cats £15 to enter
Gate practice from 10.00
Racing starts at 12.00

http://www.ukbikepark.moonfruit.com/ or NPS4X.com for more

Aston Hill Trail Updates - DH4 Closed

Trail update from Ashton Hill. DH4 is closed until further notice. This is so that essential trail improvements can be carried out on the run.

The reason for the closure is partly to do with how wet it is at the moment, and linked to this that the trail will need time to settle after work has been carried out. Normally it is possible to carry out the work during the week and have it ready for the weekend, but in this case the amount of work will not allow this.

Ultimately all this work, as you know is to improve the quality of the trail network on Aston Hill, and I hope this is felt by all. It is essential that this trail closure is observed, as the track will not be safe to ride during this period due to the nature of the ongoing work.

Thank you all in advance for your patience, and as soon as the trail is ready to ride again we'll let you all know.

I know that will come as a blow to a lot of you but I am sure you realise it's better done now than during the busier drier periods of the year. Everything else will be open for business as usual so there is still plenty of fun to be had up on the hill.

Ben - www.rideastonhill.co.uk

2Stage Team Riders Wanted

Our friends over at 2Stage Bikes are looking for team riders for 2009. Here's the info:

2Stagebikes are on the search for 2009’s most talented race team. Do you have the stamina to race with the best of the best on the most fearless bikes known to exist?

We are looking for riders from New Zealand, Australia, UK, France, Spain and Germany

• Applicants must be planning to race regularly on 2009 race circuits in their region/country, and be able to submit an intended race programme.
• Youth, senior, elite or masters riders
• Applicants with race experience, i.e. place in the top 20, and have some experience with media relations.
• Applicants with the drive to succeed and the passion to represent a brand and a bike that will support and encourage the progression of their riding.
• Sponsored riders will be required to submit short race reports and photos, if possible, after each race.

We want PASSION, THIRST, DEDICATION, & A FEARLESS ATTITUDE!

Go to our website to find out more about how to apply and send us your application

Electric Goggles - For WINNERS only!

Have you graced the podium recently? If so, MTB-Direct have just launched these 'winners only' lime green Electric goggles to show off your colours...

"The fastest riders wear Electric goggles. We want to show this fact off to the rest of the world with an exclusive goggle offer.

Only those who managed to get on the podium at a British Cycling sanctioned event during the 2008 or 2009 season will be allowed to buy these goggles.

We're offering a third off the RRP of 47.50 and we won't be supplying these goggles to any other stores. We're the only place in the country you can get them from, and you can only get them from us if you can prove your credentials.

If you think you're fast enough to own these goggles give us a call and we'll check you aren't telling big fish stories!"

Give them a ring now on 01457 864606

Vote now - Singletrack readers awards!

Singletrack magazine are sorting out their annual readers awards and need your help! Email your nominations to ben@singletrackworld.com

The Categories will be:

Best New Product: Hardware
Best New Product: Software
Best New Bike (real world bikes here)
Bike Porn (dream bikes)
Best Photograph
Best UK Event, Show or Series
Best UK Trail Centre
Best Mail Order
Best Singletrack Feature

Best Bike Shop
Mountain Bike Personality Of The Year