Cycle08 - Welcome to the Jumble

Every year the cycle industry pops down to Earls Court in fancy London town for a bit of a get together and to show off their latest and greatest. It's a bit of a funny affair, with most of the 'new' stuff already splashed all over the web from the previous Interbike and Eurobike shows.

Still, it's not all bad and me n' Nouveu popped down to oggle some new bikes and meet the faces behind them. We also popped out for a fry up. Here's a few pics, I'll put something proper together for issue 8:

Turner bikes are back in the UK!

Quick bit of news from the guys at Silverfish who will now be distributing Turner Bikes in the UK. That will include the new DW equiped Turner DHR that we've all been oggling on the forums...

Stock is expected to start landing in November so get saving.

For further details visit

http://www.silverfish-uk.com or http://www.turnerbikes.com/

Leatt Neck Braces now in the UK!

Leatt Neck Braces have been gradually appearing all over the place this season with heaps of riders checking their necks and investing in some decent protection. Makes sense to me, You'd (hopefully) not race DH without a helmet, so why ignore the next most important thing?!

The good news is that major UK distro Madison are now bringing Leatt's into the UK. As of early November you'll be able to get the full range from your local bike shop. Let's hope it'll help keep the serious injuries down in '09.

In the mean time you can check out Leatt's website here
Madison homepage here

Phil Ashbridge rockin a Leatt at Bala for the kids

Dialled Bikes - The Next Generation

Are you looking for a really special 20" race frame? Dialled bikes have got something for you... Introducing the new MX20R.

Here's Mike from Dialled: "People have been asking for a while now when the new dialled bikes BMX frames will be available and we can now announce these frames will be here in late January/early February 2009.

The new MX20R (”R” because this new frame is a “Race” version of the original MX20 frame) will be made of Reynolds 853 air hardened double butted cro-moly tubing (widely considered to be the best bicycle tubing money can buy) and will be available in 6 sizes:

Expert: 19″ top tube (same as Brad Spick’s prototype frame)
Expert XL: 19.75″ top tubePro: 20.5″ top tube (same as Jack Smallpiece’s prototype frame)
Pro XL: 21.25″ top tube (same as Shaun Andrews’ prototype frame)
Pro XXL: 22″ top tubeCruiser: 21.5″ top tube (same as Jon Moore’s prototype frame)

Weights will be around 3.9lbs (for the Expert frame) upto 4.3lbs (for the cruiser frame) and there will be 2 colours: The Expert, Pro, Pro XXL and Cruiser frames will be pearlescent blue; and the Expert XL and Pro XL frames will be pearlescent red (same as Jon Moore’s prototype frame).

These frames will be limited in quantity (less than 20 of each size) so we’re asking people who really want one to pre-order and pay a deposit of £150. The incentive to pre-order is you’ll get the frame for 20% less than the full retail price. So instead of paying £280, you’ll pay just £224 (which includes free delivery to anywhere in mainland UK). That’s a ridiculously low price for a Reynolds 853 frame - just check out the price of Reynolds 853 mountain bike frames and most will be almost double that price!

We’ll also be doing some great packages with these frames (e.g. MX20R frame and Sinz carbon forks = £365; or MX20R frame and Shimano DXR cranks = £399), more details nearer the time.

To coincide with the release of the new Reynolds 853 MX20R BMX/cruiser frames dialled bikes will be registering a BMX race team with British Cycling Federation for the 2009 BMX national series under the name of Dialled Bikes Support Team.

Anyone who purchases one of the new 853 BMX frames and races the BMX national series will be entitled to register with BCF under this team name and at the end of the 2009 BMX season the Dialled Bikes Support Team Rider who amasses the highest points total will be refunded the purchase price of their dialled bikes MX20R/cruiser frame. This offer also applies to anyone who wins a 2009 British Champs 01 plate on a dialled bikes MX20R/cruiser frame.

So, if you want to pre-order the next generation of dialled bikes BMX frame, please e-mail info@dialledbikes.com for details.

www.dialledbikes.com

2Stage AM8 proto - Wideopen first look

Pete from 2Stage bikes just popping over to off-load a Zed8 for us to test. Hiding in the depths of his van he had something a bit special.... This one of a kind HammerSchmidt equiped 2Stage AM8. I couldn't resist a quick fiddle and a few snaps for the website.

The AM8 is the newest in the 2Stage range to hit the UK - built around the same tech as the Elite and the Zed but trimmed down for XC and all mountain riders. 8" front and rear, slimmed down frame and a carbon seat tower, which may or may not make it onto the production bike. On the downs it's designed to be a big hit machine, on the climbs the 2Stage magic automatically locks the travel down to 4".

And this fruity looking gizmo has been setting the forums on FIRE over the last couple of weeks, Truvative's HammerSchimdt crankset. 18 gears using 1 ring up front and a 9 speed block on the back.

The advantages? No front mech, no chain device, more clearance, lighter, improved chain line, makes forum kids wee their pants. Like a gear box you can also shift without having to pedal. Sadly, the proto didn't have the ISCG tabs to hold the Hammerschmidt in place so I couldn't take it for a spin. Giving the cranks a spin and shifting through the gears it seemed to work nicely. Clickety click and it shifted whether you were spinning, back pedaling or free wheeling. I'll look forward to giving it a sceptical pasting out on the trails in the near future!



Look out for the Zed8 test in Issue 8 of Wideopen....

2Stage Bikes

Hammerschmidt

Wideopen - by Thierry Neau

Apparently the slightly smutty name of our magazine is so bloody cool it's being used by mountain-bikers around the world. There's (of course) us at Wideopenmag, there's a Kiwi distro called Wideopen and now... There's Wideopen the DVD by Frenchman Thierry Neau.

It seemed rediculous not to take a look at Thierry's vid here at WO so after a couple of emails it dropped through my letter box and went straight into the lap top for a first viewing.

Wideopen is a 100% race DVD, feauturing footage from the '07 World Cups and the French Nationals. There's footy of all the World's best riders, including a good selection of the UK guys.

Essential viewing for race heads - Gotta keep this repo brief but see Wideope (the magazine) Issue 8 for more.

http://www.fastlinesproductions.com/

Maxxis Medusa Tyres - First Look

The very kind folks over at mtb-bitz.co.uk sent me these Maxxis Medusa spikes to check out. Judging by how dark and sloppy it was in the woods last night I reckon it's about time to get 'em on the bike...

They're designed as a wet weather XC race tyre, but the 2.1 version looks like a pretty decent 'all mountain' tyre for a trail bike or a hard tail...

The nobbles are nice and tall to cut into the mud and are widely spaced so they don't clog up. They're also meant to work pretty well at low pressues for plenty of grip. I'll give 'em a good thrashing and let you know how they go in Issue 8.

They're available in 1.55, 1.8 and 2.1 and in various combos of 62a and 70a. Price is about £20 each.

If you want something a bit more heavy duty, maybe check out the amazing Swamp Things or Wet Screams, both great tyres.

Give MTB-Bitz a shout for more info here: http://www.mtb-bitz.co.uk/

Fat Face Night Race - 1 week to go!

The latest from Chris Roberts:

The Fat Face Night Ride comes to Scarborough on Saturday 4th October and the event is already at capacity of 300 mountain bikers, despite the event having only just been announced.

This will be the first time ever that Fat Face has taken a Night Series event to Scarborough and has chosen South Bay, against the epic backdrop of the castle. The riders will race a fast, furious and as yet, undisclosed city route course towards the sea front and across the man made obstacles the whole way down.

All will be racing for the accolade of being crowned Fat Face Night Ride Champion 2008 and a share of the £1,500 prize pot!

The Night Ride is the final instalment in the Fat Face Night Series, which also featured skiing, sailing, surfing, wakeboarding, mountain boarding and windsurfing across the UK, the whole summer. The formats are the same for all the events – amateurs competing against professionals with heats held throughout the day.

All 300 competitors will compete at night, with the fastest going last, under the glare of the spotlights and the assembled crowds who will pack the streets. Only the elite few will make the finals from the original cast.

Last year the Night Ride in Edinburgh was a massive success, with the title and fastest time of the day going to Gee Atherton in 47:62 seconds, who beat 300 other eager riders down the Edinburgh course, in front of the castle and over 6000 spectators!

Event director, Chris Roberts explains: “I am really excited the Night Ride is going to Scarborough, on what promises to be a very fast course creating incredibly tight competition!”

Ian Williams, Fat Face event manager echoed these sentiments: “The buzz around the event was huge last year and this year is no exception. To reach capacity so soon is testament to this. “The Fat Face Night Ride poses a massive challenge for the riders who not only have to get down a tight course, fast, but at night which brings its own complications. “We’ve been made to feel incredibly welcome by Scarborough and look forward to bringing them a top national Fat Face event.”

Locals are encouraged to come and watch the event which offers excellent spectator viewing and is free for everyone to come along and watch, although if you’re watching from the castle it’ll be the standard entrance fee of £4.

http://www.nakedracing.com/
http://www.nakedracing.com/
http://www.nakedracing.com/

All photos are from Fat Face.

Pearce Summer Series - FINAL

Pic shamelessly pinched from Jim at fattyre.co.uk

The final of the Pearce summer series is going down at Hopton this weekend...

Entries are packed out but there's still plenty of room for spectators and they're gagging for marshalls. As usual any marshalls will get free lunch and expenses!

Alongside the racing there's going to be a chance to demo the 2Stage bikes range, which Pete will have ready and waiting trackside.

Weather forecast is looking good... Why not get down and support what's probably the best race series in the UK?

http://www.pearcecycles.co.uk/

The Uprising Premier - This Friday

Callum's premier will be THIS FRIDAY at the Golden Lion in Bristol. Great pub and looks set to be a great movie. It's £3 to get in, a live band, a DJ, drinks offers and loadsa good beers on tap. See you there!

KTM in the UK baby!

KTM Bikes are a gonna be dropping into the UK from early October.

They'll be making their debut at Cycle in Earls Court - on stand D4. If you're gonna be there, Matt and the team would be really happy to show off the new bikes.

In the mean time check out http://www.ktm-bikes.at

Here's a couple of snaps of their new range.... How good do these bikes look?!

Aphex - 225mm

Caliber 38 185mm

Lycan 120mm

Foot Out Flat Out Trailer

Here it is!
http://www.footoutflatout.co.uk/

Mono


More Mountain Biking Videos >>

Alan Leaves Riders Retreat

Wideopen regular Alan Milway just got in touch to say that he's decided to leave Riders Retreat.

Alan and his mate Paul have been running Riders Retreat for 6 years, providing top quality accomodation for riders in Morzine and Les Gets.

Alongside Riders Retreat Alan also does loads of MTB and MX journalism (including writing for Wideopen) and runs MXfitness.co.uk which specialises in training 2 wheeled athletes to get top results. I'm sure whatever he's moving on to will be pretty cool... Best o' luck to him and also to Paul. If you fancy a holiday in the Alps you should definitely check out http://www.riders-retreat.co.uk/

Here's Alan's email: "After 6 fantastic years running Riders Retreat and 10 summer seasons spent in Morzine, I have decided to move on.

I started Riders Retreat with business partner Paul after leaving University and we have built up a business from scratch that has continued to grow in size and reputation. Currently we have 3 summer chalets and 1 winter chalet, spanning 3 resorts, and with a capacity of nearly 50 guests per week during the summer.

Although I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Alps, I have decided that I want to focus more on the 'two wheeled' side of things and look at some other options away from Morzine itself, so am moving away from the business. Paul will continue to run Riders Retreat alone.

I am very grateful for all the help and support I have received from Hope, Orange and Oakley throughout my time with Riders Retreat. It has been a privilege to have the back up and support from such great companies, which has been such a help to my riding, and I hope that I've been able to offer them good publicity and feedback throughout the work I have done. I certainly hope to continue my relationship with these companies as I still remain very focused on riding and training.

The opportunity is now there to offer more to the riders I fitness train, spend more time working on articles for Dirt Bike Rider magazine and Descent World website, and also look for other possible job opportunities within two wheeled sports.

Many thanks

Alan"

Nico's Roadtrip Episode 4 - Les Gets and Morzine

Episode 4 from LMTest on Vimeo.

Nico's Roadtrip Episodes 2 and 3 - Metabief and Chatel

Almost the weekend, here's a couple of vids to help it roll around a little bit quicker. Episodes 2 and 3 of Commencal R&D dude Nico's Alps road trip. The first one is posted below and I'll stick the final one up tomorrow. Enjoy!

Road Trip - Episode 2 - Metabief from Laurent MENARD on Vimeo.

Road Trip - Episode 3 - Chatel from Laurent MENARD on Vimeo.

AND - if you missed Ste's post earlier in the week... Here's Stu from MTBCut's vid from the Fort Bill No Fuss Endurance Downhill. Looks nuts!

More Mountain Biking Videos >>

Nico's Roadtrip Episode 1 - Lac Blanc

Road Trip - Episode 1 - Lac Blanc from Laurent MENARD on Vimeo.

Remember Nico from Wideopen Issue 6? He works in the R&D department at Commencal in Andorra and had a big hand in the new Supreme bikes and the hardtails.

Turns out Nico and crew just went on a road trip round the Alpes and captured the whole thing on film. Here's part 1 of their road movie which has been put together by Nico's bro Laurent. Give 'em a look when you get five - i'll pop the others up in the next couple of days.

Cheers guys!

Downhilling Scotland.

A lot has been going on these past two weeks. The first weekend of September saw the No Fuss Endurance Downhill race held at Fort William. Basically a mad race to see who could do the most runs of the Fort in 6 hours. Known as being one of, if not the toughest and most punishing track (on both rider and bike) in the UK, riders had to pace themselves for a long day on the hill and also have to hand any spares they might need. At the end of the day six riders managed a mamoth 18 runs! So the winner was the man to do them in the least amount of time, that man being Fergus lamb who managed to do back to back, sub-6 minute runs.
Expect to see a full write up in the next issue of the mag, and for those that can't wait here's the video Stu from MtbCut.tv put together...

More Mountain Biking Videos >>

Moving on one week and we find ourselves back at Innerleithen for the final round of the SDA series. The track was perhaps a little less technically demanding than others we've seen this season, but made up for it by being a very fast pedally track that was over 4 minutes long for the majority of us. With only three elites not making there way out to the World Cup it was guaranteed podiums all round. Fergus Lamb, obviously well recovered from Fort Bill, put in a blisteringly quick first run with a time of 3:35. That was more than enough to make him the fastest man of the day as well as giving him the overall series win.
Again cheek out the next issue for the full report and series results.

This weekend Inners is playing host to the final round of the NPS, with Pete Scullion hopefully bringing you the news as it happens so stay tuned...

Diamondback XTS EXCLUSIVE!

The very kind chaps at Diamondback have just sent us another world exclusive.... Remember the XTS frame that we featured a few weeks back? Here's the finished article built up into 'freeride' mode. The green and white paint job will be specific to the FR version of the bike.

The full bike with cost about £1500, with a frame kit for £850. There's also going to be a bigger DH version available in a different paint job. We'll get some photos of that one soon as we can....

Check out Diamondback.co.uk

Fenwicks are rolling on 2Stage

2Stage bikes are taking over the Fenwicks DH team. 4 of the team's riders are now rocking Elite 9's and absolutely love 'em.

Tom 'Silverspoon' Clarkson and his new 2Stage

Andy, Tom, Will and even old man Jon Smith himself have all been for a test ride and decided to dump their existing bikes for a 2Stage. They'll be riding them all winter and racing them next year in the Pearce and NPSDH series. Track 'em down at the races and I'm sure they'll give you a spin on the bikes in return for a couple of beer tokens.

In between buffing caravans Jon said "I was blown away by the plushness of this bike…it sprinted & jumped more like a hardtail than a 9inch travel bike. I have never experienced both the buttery smooth suspension travel and sprinting power in one bike before. Both have been done before but never in one bike!". Rumour has it he liked it SO much he's decided to come out of retirement and back onto the race track!

If you've met the guys you'll know that they're all damn good riders and know a thing or two about bikes. A pretty decent testament to the bikes if you ask me.... I'm waiting on the Wideopen test bike to turn up so I can decide for myself. Stay tuned to issue 8 for that one.

Check out 2Stage in Wideopen here

Check out the 2Stage website here.
Check out the Fenwicks website here

2Stage Elite 9

World Cup Aftermath

The WC is over and Rach destroyed the women's field, taking gold in the final and the overall title. Absolute domination!

Top spot went to Greg in the men's field followed by Sam Hill then Gee. Here's a quick final round up vid from MTBCut.tv...

North Wales

Evening all! We're currently in deepest darkest North Wales enjoying a few beers after a hard couple of days of riding.

We missioned up from the South West on Thursday night and rode Llandegla on Friday. Good trails, a chance to check out my new Dialled Prince Albert and amazingly mine and Producer James' first meet up! The trail was pretty fun with loads of nice corners and little jumps.

After a bloody good burger and mug of tea we headed over to our basecamp in Bedgellert and rode the Marin Trail at Bedgellert. I'm knackered. There is a LOT of climbing on that trail... All good though.



Tomorrow is either going to be a play up in the wilderness or a trip to Machyncleth. We'll see how the legs feel in the morning!

In other news, Rach and Greg won the world cup. Great news in my opinion. See you when we're back in the real world!

STOLEN: Nigel Page's bikes

Nigel 'no wage' Page has had his fleet of bikes and his van pinched by some thieving scummers. All the bikes are custom builds with one off components so it won't be long till they pop up somewhere. Keep 'em peeled and lets help reunite Nige with his bikes.

Give him a shout on nigel@nigelpage.com

The bikes and van are:

Intense 6.6 Slope Style. Custom Build.Intense 6.6 SS frame - Suspension Mountain Bike, Medium size (Nigel Page edition stickers union jack colours), Chain Reaction team blue. (one off) without the RC stickers on. It also had white Strokers not silver.Cane Creek Double Barrel shock (not many on these type of frames as they are an expansive upgrade)Manitou Nixon suspension Fork (Blue) 160mm travel with holes drilled in the Fork crown.Cane Creek Headset Brugtec ridewide handle bars (black)Raceface lock on grips (black)RaceFace Diabolus D2 Stem (black)Race face Atlas cranks 170mm (black)Burgtec (black)e.thirteen LG1 chain device with white taco guardSDG seat (white) and post (black)Wheels - Sun MTX29 rims (white) Sun/ringle jumping flee front hub (black) with Nuke proof rear 135 hub (black) black spokes and Maxxis TiresShimano XT rear mech and rear shifterHayes Stroker trail disc brakes front and rear (white)

Black Market Riot. Custom BuildBlack Market Riot 21.5 Frame (raw colour) ie looks like unpainted metal but with a clear coat to stop rustManitou Minute 100mm Front Suspension fork (white)Black Market Bada Bing Handlebars 2" rise (black)Black Market Underboss stem zero rise (black)ODI lock-on mushroom grips (black)Profile 175mm Cranks (brown) - very rareProfile Imperial chainring 30 tooth micro drive (tangerine colour)Burgtec (bronze)Wheels - Profile MTB single speed rear hub and 20mm front hub (tangerine colour) Black Atom Lab 26" rims (no stickers) with black SpokesFont Tire - Atom Lab Comp 3 style (black) 2.2Rear Tire - Intense Micro nobby 2.1One Rear Hope disc brakeBlack Market seat and seat post (black)

Intense Tazer. Custom build. Intense Tazer FS with custom Chain Reaction Cycles team colour and the only one in the world custom Cane Creek Double Barrel shock made for this frame.Manitou Minute 120mm Front suspension fork (white)Burgtec ridewide handle bars (black)Raceface lock on grips (black)RaceFace Diabolus D2 Stem (black)Race face Atlas cranks 175mm (black)Burgtec Pedals (Snow Camo)e.thirteen LG1 chain device with white taco guardSDG seat (black) and post (black)Sun Ringle Charger 26" AM Wheelset with Maxxis Tires 2.35 Super Tacky High Roller fron and High Roller XC rearShimano XTR rear mech and rear shifterHayes Stroker trail disc brakes front and rear (white)

Intense M3. Custom build with Intense USA factory build kit.(This bike was apart boxed up in a bike BOX ready to be shipped)Intense M3 Suspension frame small with FOX shock (midnight blue)FOX 40 RC2 Suspension forks GreyMavic Deetrax Wheel set (black with yellow Mavic logos) with Intense 909 2.35 TiresEaston Stem and Handle bars (black)Intense lock on grips (black)Easton Seatpost (black)THE saddle (black)Shimano Saint Disc brakes front and rear with (dark grey)

And the Van - VW Caddy.

Bristol Trails Group - New Website

The Bristol Trails Group have got a new website at http://www.bristoltrailsgroup.com/



Bristol is super lucky to have loads of decent trails within 10 minutes ride of the city centre, with a nice mix of swoopy XC, rocky single track and even a few short downhill runs. The trails group are the local heroes that get out and keep the trails running sweet and get stuck in to persuading the council to let us have new places to ride. They're all volunteers, they don't make any money and they're all in it for the love of building trails and riding bikes.

They host dig days every month as well as rides, BBQ's and all sorts of other get togethers. If you ride in Bristol you should definitely give them a shout and give 'em a hand if you can spare an afternoon.

Check out their new site and get involved if you're in the area. Support your local trails!

!!!!!!!!NPS Round 5 Venue Change!!!!!!!!!!!

NPS ROUND 5 IS NOW AT INNERLEITHEN.

Firstly apologies to everyone as we have had to change the venue at such short notice. The race pit field is so water logged we are unable to stage the final round of the NPS at Carlton Bank.

With more predicted heavy rainfall this week we reluctantly have had to move the venue.

Many thanks to everyone at Carlton Bank who have put such hard work into creating an awesome track. We very much look forward to racing at Carlton for an NPS in 2009.

Please forward all entry enquiries to Steve Parr - steveparr66@yahoo.co.uk

Many Thanks.

Steve Parr and Si Paton.

Dragon Round 4 Mtn Ash

The penultimate round of the Dragon series went down this weekend over at Mt Ash.

Looks like Nikki Whiles took the win for the chaps and Haby Blu-Cann for the girls. Big surprise Lee Huskinson won the hardtails!

The final round will be at Pen-y-Rheol farm on the 11/12th October, to include a night race on the Saturday night! Get involved....



Full results are here
Dragondownhill.co.uk for more

Photo is of 2nd place Elite Ash Mullane, pinched from Milki's site.

WIN a custom surfboard with PumpUrbanWear

Our mates over at Pump Urban Wear have got a mega competition to win a custom made Matt Adams surf board.

I haven't got a clue about boards but apparently it's an intermediate one that's been hand crafted by a top UK board maker. Pump's Rick D. reckons it's a pretty sweet set up!

I popped my surfing cherry this summer and despite being utterly useless am now totally hooked. Enter the comp and give it a go!

Head over to their site and enter without delay here

Nissan Qashqai exclusive vid - better late than never right....?

Nissan Qashqai London 2008 from jamie on Vimeo.

Back in May the freestyle crowd descended on South Bank in London to do a heap of stuntz. Tailwhips were thrown, Gee Atherton landed on his head a lot and Sam Pilgrim took the top spot.

Diamonback's Lex was on the scene with video camera in hand. 4 months later and we've finally managed to track each other down and get the footage online. Typical Wideopen efficiency.

Cheers to Lex for the hard work....

Dialled Bikes are on board...

We're really happy to announce that Dialled Bikes have hooked up with Wideopen for another year.

We've been working closely with Mike since day 1 and we're mega excited to keep the friendship going. We want to fill the mag with companies that we love and that really do their bit for the UK race scene. Dialled fits that 100%.

They'll be helping to keep our team rider Chris rolling and - really importantly - making sure that the mag stays FREE for you guys to download.

Check out their ads in the mag and make sure you enter the MASSIVE competition to win a Dialled frame of your choice.

http://www.dialledbikes.com/
http://www.dialledbikes.com/
http://www.dialledbikes.com/

Click this for more info:

Genesis bikes 2009

Here's a quick preview of the 2009 Genesis range. On paper they look blooming good. Well specced, great angles, designed around longer travel forks and up for a bit of abuse on the trails. We'll be giving them a good ragging in the mag... Here's the marketing stuff.

Altitude Ti £2099.99

"Here at last! In development for a long, long time, this one just had to be right! The killer combo of a full XT groupset and the new Fox F120R fork with QR15 15mm thru axle mated to the Ti frame, which offers a rare combination of low weight (3.45lbs in 19”) and high lateral stiffness rides every bit as well as the spec list suggests. This ain’t no overly-whippy, vague tracking handful of a Ti bike! Using oversized PG tubes where needed the most, as well as tapered and butted tubes where we can lose weight and add compliance, means that the Ti Altitude keeps on-line over terrain that would overwhelm over Ti bikes. All this without loosing the characteristic spring and comfort that make it the perfect choice for a trail bike. "

Also available as a frameset option (16”, 17.5”, 19”, 20.5”) - £899.90

- 3/2.5 seamless Titanium disc only frame (O/S PG top and downtubes, thin butted seattube, tapered thin walled stays
- Fox F120R fork with 15mmQR
- Shimano XT complete groupset incl hubs
- DT Swiss X430 disc rims & Continental Mtn King 2.2 folding tyres
- Shimano PD-M520 pedals

Alpitude £1399.99

"When an intrepid staffer took the 853 Altitude to the Alps last summer it was a harsh test, but the bike passed with flinching. This spawned the idea for a bike with real Alpine traits – not so overbuilt that’s its too weighty for normal everyday trail use but still tough enough for 150mm forks and with great standover clearance. The 853 frame (5⅓lb in 18”) is stiff yet under pressure rewards the rider with all the advantages associated with a steel frame. Perfect for those that aren’t swayed by the comfier/faster tag associated with full sussers but enjoy the challenge and buzz of riding a hardtail over challenging terrain. The enviable spec continues with a new Shimano SLX 22/36T chainset and brakes, RockShox Revelation 140mm Maxle-Lite fork, Continental Mountain King 2.4” tyres and an XT Shadow rear mech."

Also available as a frameset option (16.5”, 18”) - £359.99

- Renolds 853 disc-only long travel frame
- RockShox Revelation 140mm travel 20mm Maxle Lite Dual Air U-Turn (95-140mm) forks
- Shimano XT Shadow medium cage rear mech
- Shimano SLX 22/36T/Bash chainset
- Shimano SLX shifters and disc brakes (160/180mm rotors)
- Shimano SLX hubs (20mm front)
- DT Swiss X430 rims & Continental Mtn King 2.4” tyres
- Shimano PD-M520 pedals

Abyss £1049.99

"Designed for riders wanting to go one step beyond the Core series and who’s riding verges on the ballsy! Based on the proven Core design and sharing geometry with the Alpitude (geometry tweaked to suit 140mm travel), this bike climbs every bit as well as it descends. Big techy loops in the Peaks or Lakes? This bike will lap it up and keep coming back for more! The low slung top tube adds manoeuvrability and sizing is best measured by reach as opposed to seat tube length."

- Available in 16.5” and 18”
- ALX9 TB gusseted 3D tubed aluminium frame with cold forged dropouts and disc mount
- Rockshox Revelation 409 140mm Maxle Lite forks
- Shimano SLX/XT transmission
- Shimano FC-M545 22/36T chainset
- Shimano SLX disc brakes
- Shimano M535 Centrelock hubs with Alex XCR-100d white 24mm rims
- Continental Mtn King 2.4” tyres

Check out www.genesisbikes.co.uk

Matti Lehikoinen Injury Update

It's been a season to forget for the Finnish Pinner, with his latest crash in training at the Canberra World Cup taking him out of the 2008 season.

Matti returns home to Finland tomorrow, Monday, after it was decided to have surgery in his home country and not in Australia. He has broken the radius in both hands with the right hand being worse than the left.

There's still no 100% confirmation on the condition on his scaphoid bones in both hands at the moment, but the possibility of fractures does exist and these need to be explored with his doctors. Right now the estimated recovery time is at least 8 weeks..so Matti will now start looking to season 09.

Before boarding his flight home, Matti had this to say: "This season was really bad for me. 8 weeks recovery time means that I will have been out of game for 7 months of the past 13 months. So now I can forget this unlucky season and concentrate on next year."

Thanks to Martin at 23 degrees for the news and MASSIVE GET WELL SOON to Matti.

If he can stay rubber down in 09 he'll be set for big things.

http://www.23degrees-sports.com/
http://www.mattilehikoinen.com/