Reading a race report on the African championships held recently in Namibia I see that a full suspension bike came out tops. Granted it was piloted by Burry Stander who has really picked up speed since he has been racing full time in the US with the GT team. But this is not the first time that Burry has won a cross country race on a full suspension bike. With most of his competitors opting for the conventional hardtails for the apparent benefits of acceleration and weight, it has to make you wonder?
Sure some sponsored riders have to ride what they are given. But when you are gunning for the top like Burry with Olympic qualifying on your mind, you take the best weapon available, as Burry puts it in his blog, “we were off to the track, i rode the ht at first to see how it would go but after two laps i decide to head back to the hotel and fetch the full suss. the gt marathon was the perfect bike for the job as the course was super rocky and the descents were long.”
Burry won that race by a comfortable 9min !
Sure some sponsored riders have to ride what they are given. But when you are gunning for the top like Burry with Olympic qualifying on your mind, you take the best weapon available, as Burry puts it in his blog, “we were off to the track, i rode the ht at first to see how it would go but after two laps i decide to head back to the hotel and fetch the full suss. the gt marathon was the perfect bike for the job as the course was super rocky and the descents were long.”
Burry won that race by a comfortable 9min !
The Marathon Team has a 100mm travel carbon fiber monocoque I-Drive 4 frame. The carbon rear swingarm assembly is new and is outfitted with a full XTR group and Fox 32 RL fork. The bike is stiff and light and both Todd Wells and Burry Stander have been getting impressive World Cup results on the new frame.
Check out Burry's Blog for latest news, http://burrystander.typepad.com/
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