Full Suspension vs Hardtail

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 !

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/

Ryan cox R.I.P.

It is a sad sad day for anyone related to cycling. Ryan Cox one of South Africas great cyclists passed away today.

He was a two-time SA road cycling champion, also won the Giro del Capo and the Malaysian Tour de Langkawi and represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne last year and part of the Barloworld team.

He died after recovering from a recent operation to fix a knotted artery in his leg. More on this

Long live his memory and what he achieved in cycling.

Ryancox.co.za

The Dope Fest

Cycling is under assault by the dope show. Being a mountain biker, roadie, downhiller whatever, you can’t help being drawn into this and being tarnished with the poisoned needle. I cannot agree more with the harsh penalties being dished out, there must be consequences and standards, and if you want to win the game you must play by the rules.

But it makes me wonder if it is going to make it all go away. Are we treating the cause or are we treating the symptom. The big stick approach seldom works because often you are beating an already broken man. Should we not be trying to fix this broken man. I wonder if we really understand this doping thing, I mean really understand it. Where does it all start, what drives someone like Vino to dope knowing the risks of being caught? What is someone’s state of mind when they make this decision?

Why is taking an illegal substance worse than taking a legal substance, are you not improving your performance artificially in both cases?

David Miller a reformed doper talks about and understands these things. He points out how grey the area is that when these guys start it is not for the glory and the money but more like desperation, obligations etc. Only they will know, and when no one is really talking how will we ever know what it really is all about.

But I guess for now the only route is the UCI stick route, but somehow that just seems to damage and make for the worst PR ever.


Maybe the pain we all feel is the way it is meant to be. Fact is it is happening everywhere, denying that is they got here in the first place. So the fact that everyday someone gets booted out is the right thing for now, but it can’t be the only long term solution.

South Africa on the international MTB Map

In today's Transalp stage 6 Brandon Stewart and SA Marathon champ Kevin Evans crossed the line first! They edged out Cape Epic winners; Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm in a sprint finish.

It is truly a great day for South African Mountain biking! Everyone here at MTBOnline just want you guys to know that you ROCK!!


http://www.bike-transalp.de/englisch/

Join an MTB community

Mountain biking communities are alive and well on the web. Infact they have been a real contributor to the growth of the sport in the last few years. The oldset and most estabilished is probably the warthogs group. Based in the Cape and setup as a ride notification list, this group is still as active as ever. Run as an e-mailing list you subscribe to it and can then receive all the mails and post replies. The other major mailing list out there is the spinman group which has most of its users based in Gauteng. Also an e-mail list this group of mountain bikers discuss anything and everything related to mountain biking. these lists are great to get to meet fellow riders and join on some of the informal rides organised. Find out more of these lists here



But if you are not into e-mail lists and the inevitable volume of mail, chit chat and addiction that it brings then maybe a web based forum is more for you. The recently re-vamped MTBForum is a dedicated online mountain biking forum for South Africa. It is just the place to pop in and find out some relevant info or see what is going on. There is also a facility for buying and selling bikes through a free classifieds forum. Organisers and event managers are encouraged to make use of the events forum to share information about there events.

Specialized Stumpjumper 2008 - Carbon tweaked

The new specialized stumpjumper trail mountain bike has been unveiled in Spain recently. It has not taken specialised long to re look this model. Average guy reviewed the specialized stumpjumper 2006 just the other day, and already there is a new one!

Specialized has really made some drastic improvements to the stumpy. If this isn't a sign that carbon is here to stay then I don't know what is. Just about every improvement on this bike relates to carbon tweaking. They took some design cues from the enduro and shed 200g of weight off the S-works carbon frame with a bunch of improvements. Carbon fiber seat stays shave weight, down tube is larger in diameter and now spans the full width of the bottom bracket shell and the drive side dropout is also carbon fiber.

Other weight saving comes from further integration of the frame and the fork which are now a matching set so you can't swap out. Although it is limiting for customising it makes sense from a weight and control perspective. It is a great looking mountain bike with a serious name behind it.

The verdict from Average Guy:

That bike really looks awesome! I just can’t believe that Spaz has such Cr@p cable routing!! Did you see the bottom of the bike. Dit lyk soos n hoers nes!!!!

Read the full story with pics of the Specialized Stumpjumper 2008

More new Specialized bikes

New Bikes 2008

It is that time of the year again. Bike shop stocks are low and the latest and greatest sits on the horison. News is coming in steadily of new mountain bike releases, model upgrades, lighter bikes, new dealerships etc. New bike designs and specs for 2008 are wrapped up. They are now into production to make the deadline launch dates for later in the year.


Cannondale is busy testing the new Scalpel. For 2008 Cannondale is redesigning its cross country race bike the Scalpel. It now looks like the bike will be sporting around 100mm of rear travel using flex chain stays and a swing link suspension. Rumours are that the bike will be tested this season and once all the angles and tweaks are confirmed they will be producing a carbon version.

Read the full Cannondale Scalpel 2008 story

Other news in SA is the arrival of some premium bike brands from the USA. From August you will be able to get hold of Tomac mountain bikes as well as the super cool Ibis Mojo full suspension carbon trail bike. Also set to receive a boost in our local market is the Intense range of mountain bikes. The agency was recently acquired by Probike who are set to inject new life into the brand.

Fizik Gobi 2008 - spy shots

Fizik is improving their popular Gobi saddle. Can it get better you ask? With many many endurance mountain bikers opting for the comfortable Gobi with wing flex, it seems like there is nothing to improve?

Well our spy pics show that they have improved on it.

Looking at the saddle you will notice that there is less of a curve in the middle and the nose is wider. This improved design also means that there is more flex at the end. Sounds like good improvements to me, making climbing a bit more comfortable, as you shift weight onto the front of the saddle there will be a bit more real estate to perch on.

But how do they know that this will work? Because the test it with a saddle bashing machine, check it out

So look out for the new Fizik Gobi saddles

Mountain Bike Blogging

This is my first post on Average Guy's blog. Being the average guy means that day job and life pressures don't always allow for plenty postings. That is where bUnDi comes in, the secret force behind average guy, propelling him to fame and fortune. That is mostly off the bike, on the bike it is a different story. I will share some of my experiences on and off the bike and bring you some bits and pieces from my wanderings on the Internet.

Anyway I have just updated www.mtbonline.co.za with a new page featuring some of (read only) South African biking blogs. There are some really interesting folks out there sharing their riding and biking experiences. Some ride more than others but they never the less have a passion for cycling and specifically mountain biking.

From keen mountain biker Japie to bike shop owner Steve to bike industry main man Brandon Els of Raleigh. Take a peek into their worlds and see what they are on about.

Find the links at http://www.mtbonline.co.za/averageguy/blog.htm

2008 Shimano XT

Kevin Evan's 2008 Bike

Not even Kevin Evans has seen this.

2008 Raleigh FS Sneak Peak

Raleigh 2008 Sneak Peak

STANDER EDGES OUT EVANS TO TAKE FOREST TO FALLS

Burry Stander continued his run of good form when he outsprinted national champion Kevin Evans to win the Mazda Forest to Falls 70km mountain bike race in Graskop at the weekend.Stander (Mr Price GT) started the race as the favourite, having climbed up to ninth on the UCI world cross-country rankings in recent weeks following a string of impressive results at international events. But he’d not yet won a local marathon distance race in 2007 so was under pressure to do so before he departed for another round of overseas racing.And he responded superbly to that pressure.

Stander was part of a lead group of five riders with 25km of the scenic 70km race remaining. He was joined by Mr Price GT teammate Johan van Zyl and the Raleigh MTN Energade trio of Evans, Melt Swanepoel and Mannie Heymans.

Heymans was doing most of the pace-setting on what is one of the easier marathon race routes on the calendar, allowing Evans and Swanepoel to sit in and save their legs for the end. But with 15km remaining, Swanepoel’s hopes of victory vanished when he punctured, leaving just four upfront to fight out the podium places.Having won Forest to Falls in 2006, Evans had the experience of how to ‘play’ the finish, but didn’t quite bargain for Stander’s cheeky response.“Like last year, I put in a mock attack on the second last climb just to see who had good legs,” said Evans. “I got a small gap and Burry came with me, then he kept on going which played well into my hands because I was on his wheel and he was setting a fast pace to the finish.”

Evans added one last big attack but Stander had practiced the run-in to the finish the day before and instead of easing up slightly for the right-hand turn drop-off onto the finishing straight, he kept his pace high and virtually flew past on the inside of Evans into the final metres. Evans tried to come back but couldn’t and watched his rival take the win in two hours 36 minutes and 46 seconds.

Evans finished one second later with Van Zyl (2:36:51) and Heymans (2:37:05) third and fourth respectively. Shan Wilson (Adidas William Simpson) rounded out the top five in 2:38:06 and was the first Veteran home.The battle for the women’s title proved to be most dramatic. Pre-race favourite Yolande de Villiers (Mazda Merida) crashed out after 20 minutes, virtually handing chief rival Yolande Speedy (IMC Mongoose) the win on a plate. But instead of storming to a comfortable victory as most would have predicted, Speedy struggled and was seen weaving up a climb, head hanging down in third place behind Tania Raats (Maverick Momentum) and Amy Jane Mundy (Jeep).But Speedy, a dominant winner of the Subaru Sabie Classic in February and Mixed category champion at the Absa Cape Epic in March, managed to pull herself together and mustered up a solid finale. She first passed Mundy who’d had to contend with a broken pedal and then managed to pass Raats on her way to the win in 3:05:31. Raats finished in 3:08:55 with Mundy rounding out the podium in 3:15:35. The Velotex King and Queen of the Mountains prime came after just 8km up a near vertical ascent on a wide piece of singletrack. Wearing the jerseys that denoted them the leaders in the Series mountains competition, Stander and Mundy didn’t disappoint and led the men and women respectively over the summit of the tough ascent.After three events in the 10-leg Mazda Series, Evans and Raats still lead the men and women’s categories respectively. Both have had one first and two second places. The fourth event in the Series, the Big Induna at Hazyview, is on 16 June and doubles as the 2007 South African marathon championships.Mazda Forest to Falls, 70kmGraskop, MpumalangaSaturday 5 May 2007

Leading results:

Overall men

1 Burry Stander (Mr Price GT) 2hrs36min46sec

2 Kevin Evans (Raleigh MTN Energade) 2:36:47

3 Johan van Zyl (Mr Price GT) 2:36:51

4 Mannie Heymans (Raleigh MTN Energade) 2:37:05

5 Shan Wilson (Adidas William Simpson) 2:38:06

6 John Paul Pearton (Mazda Merida) 2:39:33

7 Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Exel Specialized) 2:39:55

8 Jaco Venter (Exel Specialized) 2:40:16

9 Melt Swanepoel (Raleigh MTN Energade) 2:40:23

10 Francois Theron (Mazda Merida) 2:42:10

Senior men

1 Burry Stander (Mr Price GT) 2hrs36min46sec

2 Kevin Evans (Raleigh MTN Energade) 2:36:47

3 Johan van Zyl (Mr Price GT) 2:36:51

Sub-veteran men

1 Mannie Heymans (Raleigh MTN Energade) 2:37:05

2 Melt Swanepoel (Raleigh MTN Energade) 2:40:23

3 Shaun MacKenzie 2:52:49

Veteran men

1 Shan Wilson (Adidas William Simpson) 2:38:06

2 Damian Booth 2:52:39

3 Bryan Strauss 2:58:04

Master men

1 Tim James 3:11:47

2 Robbie McIntosh 3:22:49

3 Barend Bester 3:25:25

Overall women

1 Yolande Speedy (IMC Mongoose) 3:05:31

2 Tania Raats (Maverick Momentum) 3:08:55

3 Amy Jane Mundy (Jeep) 3:15:35

4 Marissa van der Merwe (Proline) 3:15:50

5 Carla Rowley (Raleigh MTN Energade) 3:23:30

6 Ellane van Wyk 3:26:21

7 Petruschka Constancon 3:34:43

8 Alma Bester 3:34:499 Carla Freysen 3:50:30

10 Adele Drake 4:01:17

Sub-veteran women

1 Yolande Speedy (IMC Mongoose) 3:05:31

2 Tania Raats (Maverick Momentum) 3:08:55

3 Carla Rowley (Raleigh MTN Energade) 3:23:30

Veteran women

1 Petruschka Constancon 3:34:43

2 Alma Bester 3:34:49

3 Louise Jacobs 4:19:23

Master women

1 Sally Mawson 4:29:26

Shangai Show 2007

I am just back in my hotel room after walking around the show all day, and I didn't see everything! These shows are HUGE. I took some pictures of some of the more interesting things on show. It seems that white parts are in for the new season.

That's right, these are carbon MTB Wheels!

Cool Flat Pedals.