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The bikes that unite us – Part 3: A DH perspective!

With the podiums of most enduros populated with riders from all disciplines, there is now a large contingent of ex-WC Downhillers moving into the sport to test their skills and fitness.  Legends such as Cedric Gracia, Fabien Barel, Greg Minnar, and even Steve Peat have been battling it out, but in testament to the new sport the fastest men and women from DH have not always taken the top spot! Enduro has proven that it is more than just ‘easy DH’ you need to be skilled in every area of biking to dominate, but why would a rider move from DH, seen as the ‘ultimate’ form of racing into the relatively new sport of enduro?

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BRIT BITS: Fibrax Limited – Braking Products

Fibrax has amazingly been producing brake parts since 1902, and after moving to Wrexham in North Wales in the 1970’s has been at the forefront of car and cycle braking technology for quite some time. Often seen as an aftermarket option to your bikes’ fitted braking system, you may choose to go for the non original option when fitting fresh pads or replacing that bent disc. Seen here are Fibrax’s version of the 180mm disc and pad to fit the Hope Stealth Evo, they produce the big breaking organic or longer lasting sintered pad to compliment their round or wavy disc rotors.

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BRIT BITS: Review – HOPE Pro 2 Evo 650Bb wheels

HOPE PRO 2 EVO 650B wheels These were sent to me for my GT Sanction 26 to 650b conversion project, they did the trick for that and are still going strong 2 months later. These, built with the more xc type narrow Stan’s rim are a great lightweight solidly built wheel. They certainly retain the usual trick look of Hope merchandise, I have hammered them at some of our local rooty, rocky trails and various “tough on wheels” type races since then, and they are still as straight as James Bond’s labido! The hubs come made with stainless steel bearings, laced to Sapim race spokes and Stans Arch rims with the option of J-pull or S-pull for extra strength. Different axle lengths and thicknesses are all sorted by the use of different width and internal diameter cups, plus the hubs come in a variety of cool colours.

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Long Term Review: Hope’s F20 Pedals

Its sometimes tough reviewing bike products, it is easy to get swept up with the latest and the greatest technologies, blinded by clever materials and hi-tech acronyms. Sometimes you have to step back from the hype to see what you really need in a product. Pedals are an especially tough one, the choice these days is astounding, literally all shapes and sizes, and with prices ranging from the very reasonable reverse engineered far eastern products to ridiculous boutique offerings, which at the price you expect to be hand sculpted by Michelangelo himself. What do we really need from a pedal? Grip, feel and robustness seem to fall high on the list of my criteria.

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First look: Pimp your ride! Zumbi F-11 custom geometry framesets

Now most riders are happy to let the ‘industry’ design their bikes, trusting to caffeine fuelled  designers, labouring over suspension kinematic curves while sipping coffee from the latest ‘stay calm and carry on’ mugs.  But imagine if you could build your own enduro bike, designed to your specifications, tweaking the angles and tube lengths to suit your style of riding!  Not everyone has enough tools in the shed to knock a frame together, but the small bike Polish bike company, Zumbi, are offering a chance to customize their F-11 frameset to personal requirements.  Designing a bike from the ground up is always going to be an interesting proposition, allowing you to create something that will ride uniquely and tailored for the sort of trails that you ride.  What if you come from a WC downhill background and want something outlandishly low and long, embracing DH geometry but delivered up at an Enduro weight.  That’s exactly what elite rider Alasdair MacLennan dreamed up, and working with Zumbi, had crafted in metal.

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