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Pro Bike Check: Cecil Ravanel’s GT Force Carbon Expert
I first caught sight of Cecil Ravanel and Cedric Ravanel while riding the main lift in Val D’Isere. I watched the identical liveried pair drop into the main red run and proceed to tear down the trail, fully pinned you could see they were strong on the pedals. The French rider has been a dominant force in XC and the new XCE racing, and with the birth of the Enduro World Series switched focus to Enduro with her partner Cedric. Racing for team GT Skoda, Cecil put on an amazing performance finishing 2nd overall at the end of the season!
Cecil Ravanel and her new 2014 GT Force Carbon Expert. Running 650b wheels and weighing in at 13.1kg it is considerably lighter than her GT Force LE!
Cecil started the season on a 26 Inch wheeled GT Force but after extesnive testing switched up for the last few EWS events onto a 2014 27.5 GT Force Carbon Expert. Cecil is a big fan of the 650B, “it´s easier to ride over rocks” and the weight of the bike is 2 kg less. When we caught up with Cecil at Finale Ligure she was also testing out the new prototype Marzocchi 350 NCR Enduro Fork
There are few bike silhouettes as distinctive as the GT Force. Instantly recognizable!Cecil was testing the new Marzocchi NCR 350 (Prototype). The fork will not be available until April 2014 but ticks all the boxes, with 35mm stanchions, 650B options and weighing in around 1900 grams, it is likely to be very popular race ready fork.Cecil chose to run a Hutchinson Squale 2.5 front tire in the soft compound. Running on an American Classic 27.5 wheelset the setup was a good match for Finale Ligure rock!The fork uses an air main spring with a negative coil spring to help overcome initial seal friction, the seals themselves are SKF green units developed for motocross.There is a lot of new technology squeezed into the 350 NCR, available with a remote for the lockout, allowing on-the-fly adjustment. the fork also has a new Dynamic Bleed Cartridge (DMC), a semi sealed system allowing oil to circulate out of the top of the cartridge, this allows the oil to cool before returning to the circuit.Cecil favors Formula TheOne brakes for deceleration, combined with a remote for the fork and KS Lev Internal Seatpost! She uses Richley Trail Carbon bars running at 740mm width and a Richley Trail 50mm stem.The 350 NCR remote offers rapid adjustment of the forks lockout platform.Cecil is passionate about design, looking after all the teams design needs. Fittingly she has also designed her own S MANIE saddleThe GT Force Expert uses a Rocco Lite shock to drive the dual-bearing pivot 160mm rear travel.For drive, Cecil uses a mixture of Shimano XTR and XT.1×10 gearing from the ever reliable Shimano XT rear mech!The Hutchinson Python tire proved fast rolling and tough in Finale!Cecil Ravanel tearing down an EWS stage in Finale Ligure
