Knolly Bikes is pleased to announce our newly formed partnership with Ryan Berrecloth. Ryan will be utilizing Knolly Frames for his various riding endeavours and we look forward to mutually benefiting from this professional partnership.

 

Q&A with RYAN BERRECLOTH

Hey, my name is Ryan Berrecloth. I’m 29 years old living in North Vancouver BC. I’ve been in Roam, CKD and Kranked 7

**What’s new and exciting?

Just signed with Knolly Bikes!!!

**Which projects are you working on this season?

Just finished my Kranked segment and I’m beginning work on CKD 2. I have a trip in May with Harookz, Baxter Redfern, Ambrose from CKD and Knolly teammate Ross Measures. Our plan is to drive into the heart of BC to scout some lines and camp for a few days. Should be an epic trip! I’ve also been hired on to build the Seymour portion of the Red Bull Round Up going down in June. If you haven’t heard about it you will soon.

**How long have you been riding?

7 years. I got into riding late after playing 5 years of college baseball.

**Goals? Riding Philosophy?

First and foremost is to have fun. I’m super fortunate to have the sponsors that support me. They make the best gear in the industry so my goal is to promote them as much as possible through various media outlets. If everyone had the same set up of which I’m lucky enough to run, everyone would be pretty stoked. My goals are simple, promote my sponsors, do my part to grow the business and have fun.

**What got you into riding?

My bro. After I was finished my college baseball career I wanted to try something different. Darren told me riding bikes was fun so I tried it out. Turned out he was right.

**What has played the biggest part in getting you to this point in your riding career?

Determination and having a general understanding of the business and how it works.

**Who are you representing this season? Who or what has helped?

Like my *EDIT-I THINK YOU CAN FIGURE THIS OUT* the list is long and distinguished. Ha. For real though I’m supported by the following:

• Knolly Bikes – Noel Buckley, Chris Glew
• Race Face – Julian Coffey, Craig Pollick
• Sombrio – Dave Watson, Andrea Kraft
• Giro – Sean Estes, Jim Henney and Kevin Franks
• Spank – Sven Mack
• Syncros – Pete Roggeman
• Adidas Eyewear – Ron Muehlboeck, Christian Jany, David Weisenshofer
• Marzocchi – Naz, Bryson Martin and JP
• Dakine – Chico Bukovansky

I also receive great support from Decline, Bike Magazine, Freeride Germany, NSMB and Pinkbike.

**With so many young riders bursting onto the scene would you say you are under a lot of pressure?

Not at all! There is a huge talent pool of athletes coming into the sport which is awesome. The only pressure I feel is what I put on myself to accomplish my goals.

**What would you say is your biggest goal this season?

To elevate my riding level and to represent my sponsors the best way possible.
What is the future of mountain biking in your own words?

The future of mountain biking is on the shoulders of the young talent tearing up the scene right now. The young talent combined with our sports icons will continue to push the sport in new directions and make the current formats more exciting. I think for competitions we are going to see big mountain and traditional slopestyle continue to merge. I think this is already happening with comps like Crankworkz and the Bearclaw Invitational, but it still has some room to grow.

**Young rider that’s going to make it this year?

Tough to say…I’m not sure about a younger am but for younger guys already tearing it up I would say watch out for Semenuk this year.

**Favorite trail or trails and why?

Whistler…enough said.

**Shout outs?

Family, friends, my sponsors mentioned above and anyone who I have missed.

Look out for Ryan representing Knolly Bikes and all his other fantastic sponsors.

KNOLLY BIKES

www.knollybikes.com

info@knollybikes.com

source: Chris Glew

Maribor, Slovenia was host to the first World Cup event of 2008, where e.thirteen athletes shined once again on Eastern Europe soil. Maribor was the location of the last World Cup event in 2007, and riders were looking to better their times from the previous event so they could start their seasons off on the right foot. e.thirteen athletes won both the men’s and women’s elite downhill, and captured an amazing eight out of ten of the top positions in the elite men’s downhill.

The 4X race was an extremely difficult course, with a flat and loose first corner, followed by a tight second corner. In most cases, the winners of each heat would be decided in the first two turns of the extremely technical 4X track. The Maribor track also featured roots and grass, convincing riders like Cedric Gracia and the eventual winner of the women’s 4X, Anneke Beerten, to switch over to their full suspension bikes.

e.thirteen athlete Dan Atherton qualified first in the 4X, followed by many other top racers. The course became even more technical and difficult when four riders were fighting for lines (as opposed to the single-rider qualification runs), and many top names didn’t make the final due to crashes, or riders crashing into them. This left a lot of space open in the final for some unknown riders to shine.

Cedric Gracia was a rider who suffered from a wild crash during one of the last heats leading up to the finals. He came back in full force during the small final, though, winning fifth place.

The downhill race in Slovenia was packed with riders – over 300 men were signed up for the race on Sunday, making practice quite hectic and also wearing the course down over the weekend’s practice sessions. Spectators of the event were able to spot every color of e.thirteen product, as the White, Seafoam and RPM Orange Limited Colorways chain retention devices were in heavy use during the event. Sam Hill was also running a custom Monster green–colored direct mount bashguard on his bike.

The women’s downhill race was really between two women at the end of the day. Rachel Atherton qualified five seconds ahead of the entire field in Slovenia, and defending world champion Sabrina Jonnier knew that she would have to throw down in order to compete with Rachel. The two girls pushed each other super hard, but in the end, Sabrina was able to put an edge of .18 seconds on Rachel for the win at the first World Cup event of 2008.

Chain Reaction/Intense rider Julien Camellini qualified first on the Slovenian World Cup downhill track, making his presence known in Maribor. Camellini landed in third place at last year’s event, and he was on pace to stand on the podium again. Peat followed Camellini, then Sam Hill qualified third. By comparing the qualifying times to last year’s final times, everyone in attendance knew that all of the top riders had plenty of room to cut time on their race runs and waited in anticipation for two p.m. to roll around, when the racing action would begin.

Andrew Neethling came through the finish line at 2:56, setting the pace for the top 20 men, but was unseated shortly thereafter by Justin Leov (2:52), who was then unseated by Gee Atherton. Gee sat in the hot seat for quite a while, until Fabien Barel came down with a lightning fast time on his new Mondraker/Subaru ride.

Barel sat calmly on the hot seat while all eyes turned to the television monitor for Sam Hill’s race run. A brief silence rushed over the crowd while Sam pinned it out of the start gate. Sam set a blistering pace through the top half of the course, smashing Barel’s split by over two seconds! By the time he arrived at the bottom of the course, Sam had cut nearly another two seconds off of Barel’s time, leaving Sam at 2:47, handily taking over the top spot for Maribor.

The first place qualifier and last rider to run was the prodigy of e.thirteen athlete Nico Voillouz, Julien Camellini. Camellini has a good history of results on the Maribor course, and felt confident all weekend during his practice runs. He put together a great run, but no one was able to catch Sam Hill and his Monster/Iron Horse Sunday. Camellini came down just ahead of Peaty, bettering his third place podium spot from 2007 to a silver medal in 2008.

The Freecaster crew interviewed Sam after yet another amazing victory. Freecaster asked Hill how he was able to go so fast on the Maribor course, and a relaxed Sam Hill replied, “Actually I didn’t feel that fast. I was hoping to go faster.”

The e.thirteen sponsored Animal/Commencal team of The Athertons snapped up the lead for overall team points in Maribor.

e.thirteen is proud to support the world’s best racers through the World Cup series, putting our products to the test on the most grueling downhill and 4X tracks that the world has to offer. Congratulations to all three of our riders who stood on top of the podium, and also a hearty congratulations to all of our other athletes that slayed it in Slovenia this weekend!

e.thirteen components is a small, rider-owned and operated company that strongly supports dozens of grassroots races, series, contests and other riding events all over the world every year. Founded in 2001, e.thirteen’s innovative, functional, simple and lightweight chain retention systems have made them a world leader in this category, and the choice of top pro and amateur riders and mechanics alike. They support a worldwide distribution network and take great pride in offering devoted customer service.

source: Aaron Lutze

The weekend of 8-9 November 2008 sees the 4th running of the Highland Fling Mountain Bike Marathon. The race, which again doubles as the Australian MTB Marathon Championships, takes place in the beautiful Southern Highlands of NSW with the event centre in the town of Bundanoon, 2 hours south of Sydney.

The event has sold out each year and in 2008 entries will again be limited to 1300 riders. Entries for this year’s event will open on 23 June 2008 on www.wildhorizons.com.au. The event will include the Full Fling (approx 110km), Half Fling (approx 55km) and 100Mile Fling (approx 160km). New this year will be The Casual Fling, a 16km outing for those people keen to ride but not so sure of their ability to go the longer distances. Entries in the Casual Fling are additional to the 1300 rider cap.

Following on from the successful initiative last year as Australia’s first Carbon Neutral cycling event Wild Horizons, the event organizers, will again make the event Carbon Neutral, including allowing entrants to offset their travel to the event. The event will also expand upon the programmes introduced in 2007 to reduce the waste produced by the event and increase the rate of recycling at the event.

As well as the existing Major Sponsors VAUDE, Virgin Blue, Ground Effect, Specialized, GU and Forests NSW; a number of new Major and Support sponsors will be announced in the coming weeks.

The website www.wildhorizons.com.au will have fully updated details in the coming weeks.

For any further information on the event please contact the Event Director Huw Kingston on huw@wildhorizons.com.au , Tel 02 4883 6509, Mobile 0418 977609

Thanks for your interest!

Wild Horizons
www.wildhorizons.com.au

source: Huw Kingston

 

KONAWORLD (May 12, 2008) - Hitting jumps and impressing the crowd of 25,000 at the biggest course of the year at the Nissan Qashqai Challenge event in Munich, Germany over the weekend, 12 riders battled it out in the finals for top honors.

Competing in Munich’s Olympiapark, the site of the 1972 Olympics, Kona CLUMP riders Paul “Bas” Basagoitia and Andreu Lacondeguy faced some stout competition at the third event of the four-gig Qashqai Challenge series. Riding a course that featured two doubles in the upper section which transitioned into a big drop into the lower section that concluded with two huge jumps, “Bas” held on to fifth place overall, while Lacondeguy, who was coming off a first-place finish at the Madrid event last week, took 12^th. With his top-five placing, “Bas” remained in contention for the overall series title which will be determined at the final event May 24 at London’s famous Tate Modern Gallery.

 

 

source: Keith Cozzens | Base Camp Communications

 

San Luis Obispo, CA; Levis, Quebec; May 12, 2008:

Lambert is now Lezyne’s exclusive Canadian distributor. Lambert covers all parts of Canada, and with its well-established and extensive network, brings Lezyne products quickly and easily to Canadian shops.

“Lambert is a very professional company,” said Lezyne CEO Micki Kozuschek. “It’s one of the best organized distributors in Canada.”

Lambert has been in operation since 1945, and is among the largest cycling distributors in North America. “They’re a great logistical partner with a long history of business,” said Kozuschek. “They’ve made a substantial commitment to our brand.”

Patrick Giguère, Lambert Product Manager, explained that “Lambert was extremely impressed by Lezyne’s product functionality and design, and attention to detail. There is a huge potential for Lezyne in Canada for cyclists looking for innovative and distinctive accessories. With this partnership, IBDs nationwide now have access to a very competitive product lineup and consumer-driven brand.”

Lezyne and Lambert recently joined forces in March 2008 to sponsor the North Shore Ripper Series. The four-event mountain bike series focuses on fun, and sends teams of riders into several adventurous races that blur the distinctions between racing and exploring. More events with Lezyne and Lambert will be forthcoming.

Lezyne USA has been distributing products world wide since fall 2007. Standing for exquisitely designed, intelligently engineered, and functionally complete cycling accessories, Lezyne brings a clean, professional approach to the sport. Stay tuned to Lezyne’s website for upcoming new products, as well as revisions to current offerings.

For more information about Lezyne, visit www.lezyne.com.
For more information about Cycles Lambert, visit www.cycleslambert.com.

source: Jeff Kendall-Weed

SANTA FE, NM - Back in May of 1993 two bike industry guys got together and decided to start a parts and service company in Ashland, OR. Unlike most distributors at the time, BTI chose to focus on one aspect of the market and to do it well - bike suspension components. A lot has changed since then, here’s a re-cap of BTI’s first decade and a half in business.

• BTI’s first catalog was a twenty-four page newsprint flyer with illustrated schematic drawings of every major fork design. That same year, BTI introduced the first “Shock Treatment” program – a factory-trained service center that bike shops could send shocks to for tuning and repair. This hands-on approach gave BTI its reputation as the experts in bicycle suspension.
• By 1996 the company was looking for a more central location from where they could serve dealers on both coasts. With the help of friends the young company packed up its inventory and relocated to Santa Fe, NM. It didn’t hurt that the new location boasted 300 days of sunshine and abundant riding opportunities.
• Within a few years BTI had established itself as a top distributor in the Southwest. Spurred by both vendor and dealer demand, BTI would gradually expand its selection of shop essentials and services to cover every aspect of the modern bicycle. Staffing BTI with trained enthusiasts became central to the company’s recipe for growth; to this day BTI recruits only the most knowledgeable employees - mechanics, riders and industry veterans with experience and a passion for cycling. Whether it’s XC, Downhill, Road or urban fixie bikes - there’s someone who rides it at BTI.
• BTI has rs. BTI now stocks over 18,000 unique products from 300 brands. Those two guys who founded the company are still hard at work every day of the year; even organizing rides and company events in their spare time. As a team, BTI staff is dedicated to making the company #1 in accuracy, speed, integrity, innovation and to bringing its customers the best products and services - made fresh daily.

Co-founders Andrew Wright, President and Preston Martin, Vice-President would like to thank BTI’s customers and vendors for their support in reaching this milestone - join BTI as we celebrate 15 years in business this month.

———————————————————–

About BTI
Bicycle Technologies International is a global wholesale distributor located in Santa Fe, New Mexico USA. BTI stocks 300 unique brands of bicycle components, parts, accessories and clothing - in all over 18,000 items to choose from for 2008.. Please visit us at www.bti-usa.com

source: Bill Lane

May 11^th, 2008: Martin Soederstrom wins a captivating final in Munich’s Olympiapark as the biggest crowd of the year was treated to a nail-biting final on the biggest Qashqai course of the year! It was an amazing event across the board, and the final round at London’s famous Tate Modern Gallery is sure to provide a culminating final to the 2008 Nissan Qashqai Challenge.

The wind subsided enough for an absolutely stunning final today at the 1972 Olympic site. Massive jumps, a live hip hop show and good local DJ crew a huge crowd, and it didn’t hurt that KISS played a sold out show that night in the park. The course was great, two doubles in the upper section fed into a right-hand berm that sent the riders down a grassy slope, popping out of the trees and off a big drop into the lower section where during the whole day in total about 25,000 spectators awaited the two huge final jumps.

In the finals, Martin Soederstrom’s unequivocal consistency took the show, he didn’t bobble once on over a dozen 360 tailwhips throughout the weekend. In his final run he pulled a clean truckdriver into a 360 tailwhip to pedals, tabletop off the drop, and was the only rider to tailwhip over the big 9 meter double, capping the run with a clean nose dive 360.

Top qualifier Trond Hanson was close with a 360 x-up into a tailwhip, moto whip off the drop, clean 360 over the big double, into an opposite 360 to finish. Brandon Semenuk solidified his third place performance with a tailwhip into a 360 truckdriver, followed by a no-foot can can off the drop, to a seat grab indian air, riding out of a double tailwhip over the last jump. Lance McDermott and Paul Basagotia rounded out the top five and stayed in contention for the overall title. All twelve finalists rode incredibly well, and at one point in the second round the top four riders were separated by only four points. In the end, the riders all agreed with the final results.

On the podium, when asked if this was the biggest success in his young career, an elated Soderstrom replied, “This is the best day of my life!” The level of riding was extremely high in Munich, and with many riders in contention for the overall title and biggest prize purse of the season, the final round at London’s famous Tate Modern Gallery on Saturday May 24^th is sure to provide a culminating final to the 2008 Nissan Qashqai Challenge.

Final Results:

1 Martin Soederstroem SWE PEAK PERFORMANCE
2 Trond Hansen NOR SPECIALIZED
3 Brandon Semenuk CAN TREK
4 Lance McDermott GBR SCOTT
5 Paul Basagoitia USA KONA
6 Benny Korthaus GER SPECIALIZED
7 Phil Sundbaum USA HARO
8 Jamie Goldman USA SANTA CRUZ
9 Amir Kabbani GER CANNONDALE
10 Kurtis Sorge CAN GIANT
11 Sam Pilgrim GBR DIAMONDBACK
12 Andreu Lacondeguy SPA KONA

General admission to all the Nissan Qashqai Challenge events is free. If you were not able to make it to the event, you can watch the competition LIVE on Freecaster at: www.freecaster.tv/mtb

 

source: Tarek Rasouli, rasoulution

 

JULIEN CAMELLINI places 2nd at World Cup round 1 in Maribour

Julien Camellini put in an amazing run for 2nd place in the World Cup final today in Maribor. After qualifying first in the morning Julien kept his nerve and focus to put in an amazing final run to place 2nd behind World Champion Sam Hill. This is Juliens best World Cup result to date riding his new Intense M6. This is a fantastic result for Julien and Chain Reaction Cycles / Intense. We are all super stoked with this result to start off the World Cup season.

Chris Kovarik also put in a fantastic run to place 7th only 0.67 seconds behind 3rd place. This is a great start to the World Cups for Chris after a dissapointing season last year. Chris is right in with the top guys again where he should be and this will give him the confidence to start winning World Cups again like we all know he can. All of us at Chain Reaction Cycles / Intense are stoked to have Chris on the team.

Matt and Ruaridh both put in great runs in a stacked field with all the top guys in the World riding at their limit. Matt managed 23rd position only 10.62 second down on the winning time and Ruaridh has overcome his knee injury to place 33rd only 11.97 seconds down. We are stoked to have these 2 brilliant young riders onboard the team. They are now both two of the favourites to be selected for the GB team for the World Championships in Italy.

We all worked hard as a team for this weekend and we couldn’t be happier for this great start to the World Cup season.

We look forward to the next round in Vallnord on the 1st June. We now head off to Morzine tomorrow and Chris and Ruaridh are racing at the Lisbon Downtown next weekend.

Todays results:

UCI World Cup Round 1 Maribour

1: Sam Hill 2:47.54
2: Julien Camellini 2:50.62
3: Steve Peat 2:51.85
4: Fabien Barel 2:52.11
5: Greg Minnaar 2:52.19
6: Gee Atherton 2:52.34
7: Chris Kovarik 2:52.52
8: Justin Leov 2:52.56
9: Brendan Fairclough 2:54.23
10: Andrew Neethling 2:55.49
23: Mathew Simmonds 2:58.16
33: Ruaridh CUNNINGHAM2:59.51

–
source: Nigel Page Team Manager - ChainReactionCycles/Intense
Sponsors:
Chain Reaction Cycles • Intense Cycles • Black Market Bikes
Mantou • Hayes • Maxxis • Sun-Ringlé • CaneCreek
Royal Racing • SixSixOne • THE • RaceFace • SDG • e13
Winter&Summer • Pedros • Burgtec • High Five •Goodridge

#####

PEATY 3RD, MINNAAR 5TH IN WORLD CUP OPENER IN MARIBOR, BRYCELAND INJURED

The first NISSAN UCI World Cup was met with much anticipation and excitement. Websites were buzzing all week with news from the event and journalists and television crews were all over the beautiful Pohorje Mountain situated on the outskirts of the city of Maribor in Slovenia. The outing for the Syndicate was successful and dismal all in the same day with Steve Peat and Greg Minnaar headlining the highlights as they finished 3rd and 5th respectively while Josh Bryceland suffered a massive get-off at the end of the rock garden while having a screamer of a run.

Here’s how the week went:

The Maribor downhill course is a popular one. Starting on the ski slope, it quickly enters the dark, root filled woods, and is known for it’s long rock garden section, even though some of it is man-made and cemented into place. The course is flowing but fast and pretty rough in places. Race morning Josh Bryceland says, “My practice has gone really good so far. I’m feeling really confident after last weeks race in Italy. I’ve been doing things on the track here and I am really excited about the race today.” Peat says, “Practice has been going good. We’ve made a couple of changes to my bike and it feels way better, I feel solid on the course. My mechanic ‘Rick Bobby’ has been making my bike feel like a new bike each day.”

The Santa Cruz V-10’s were dialed in each run by the ace Syndicate mechanics, Doug Hatfield, Rick Clarkson, Nigel Reeve and Iain Bryceland. Hatfield says, “Each run here we’ve made changes to the bikes. It’s all a progression going forward. Every change to the bikes just leads us up to the start of the race. We’ve adjusted the suspension settings and made brake changes sizing rotors up, and then down, and changing pad compounds. The track has been wicked hard on the brakes at this event.” Clarkson says, “The training speeds have been getting faster and faster each day, so we’ve made all the adjustments accordingly. The bikes are dialed.”

(click on thumbs to enlarge)

DOWNHILL QUALIFIER:

The qualifier went pretty well for the Syndicate boys with all of them placing in the top ten. Steve “Old School” Peat delivered the goods with a second place finish to Julien Camellini just .16 behind him. Minnaar posted the fastest split time of the morning, then came fourth to Sam Hill’s third place finish, just .15 behind Sam. The competition is fierce with less than a second separating the top four. Peat says, “You’ve got to push in the qualifier, it’s a world cup and you get points for it. My run went pretty good and I pedaled hard, and I made some mistakes. I know where I can take some time off.”
Minnaar said, “My run was steady and smooth on top, but I made two big mistakes at the bottom, but I would rather do it now than later.” Rennie made some mistakes and came 10th. Bryceland was not pleased with his effort but still cracked the top ten ahead of Rennie with a 9th place finish.

DOWNHILL FINAL:

As the downhill unfolded Rennie was the first of the squad to attempt to improve on his qualifier, but couldn’t get past the arm-pump and finished 21st. Bryceland was on the hill at the same time Rennie was finishing and all eyes were on the big screen. With Freecaster broadcasting the race live, much of the world could see Josh pinning it into the rock garden and witnessed his crash which spit him into the air, superman style, pummeling him into the stumps at the bottom. Cedric Gracia describes it saying, “He was 4 meters high, and flew so far, he was going so fast. He slammed into the ground, I can’t believe he didn’t die.” After a few minutes we could see on the big screen Josh walking away from the crash…but his injuries weren’t apparent right away.

Next up was Minnaar looking like he was having a good run, and his efforts gave him a 5th place finish. Normally that would be a podium finish, but UCI has decided to make the podium a 3-person presentation rather than the traditional five, so it was quite a disappointment that he wasn’t on the podium. The decision is not a popular one, and riders and teams are against it. We all want UCI to change back to a five-person podium and will lobby for reinstatement of this.

Peaty’s race run was solid and proves that “Old School” has what it takes to stay on the blocks in this sport. As Bryceland was in the ambulance he asked the driver to wait a moment so that he could watch his mentor race by, and Peat raced to the bottom placing 3rd to Julien Camellini, and race winner, Sam Hill. Peat says, “I’m happy to finish on the podium. I feel really confident on my revamped V-10. I’m not happy to get beat by Julien or Sam. The track got a lot drier and I made some mistakes on the top, then settled into my run and picked up my pace, but it wasn’t enough.”

Minnaar says, “I knew I had a lot more in me after the qualifier, at least a few seconds. I think I tried too hard at the top of the woods and overshot a few corners and didn’t have much flow up top. Exiting the woods I didn’t carry as much speed as I wanted through the middle and at the bottom I tried to make up time. The middle worked well, but the bottom I tried too hard and lost time. I’m happy with my result, but not with my race run.”

In the meantime, Bryceland was met at first aid by his mom, Luisa. On radio contact she reported that it appeared that he was badly bruised, had a chipped tooth and was okay. Yet as they were leaving the tent he became nauseous, and his smashed up helmet was clear evidence of a concussion. He was then taken to the hospital for observation and it was revealed that he suffered a leg injury, which at this time appears to be a quad muscle torn from the bone. He will be flying home to the UK to have surgery to repair the damage.

4X Notes:

The 4X was a funny one, looked more like a bowling alley with racers littering the lanes in nearly every heat. 20th place qualifier, Nathan Rennie, aka: the “Beast”, raced the 4X here and survived the crashes that he got tangled in, and was eliminated in his second heat. Brian Lopes got caught up in the gate in his first round, then his skewer came loose and he was eliminated in the first round. First place qualifier, Dan Atherton had his hopes dashed in his second heat as he was eliminated and American; Ross Milan 4th place qualifier was out in the second round with Nathan. “These guys don’t even know how to corner a bike. It was just carnage everywhere. Two guys crashed in front of me and I had no choice but to hit them. One guy was hurt for sure and the other guy’s bike was mangled,” said Rennie.

Next up for the Syndicate, we are off to Lisbon for the annual Lisbon Downtown Race.

DOWNHILL FINAL RESULTS:

1) SAM HILL (Monster /Iron Horse) 2:47.54
2) JULIEN CAMELLINI (Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense) 2:50.62
3) STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:51.85
4) FABIEN BAREL (Subaru) 2:52.11
5) GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:52.19
6) GEE ATHERTON (Animal Commencal) 2:52.34
7) CHRIS KOVARIK (Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense) 2:52.52
8 ) JUSTIN LEOV (Yeti) 2:52.56
9) BRENDAN FAIRCLOUGH (Monster/Iron Horse) 2:54.23
10) ANDREW NEETHLING (GT/Mongoose) 2:55.49

21) NATHAN RENNIE (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:57.76
DNF: JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE)

DOWNHILL QUALIFIER RESULTS:

1) JULIEN CAMELLINI (Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense) 2:52.66
2) STEVE PEAT (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:52.82
3) SAM HILL (Monster Iron Horse) 2:53.21
4) GREG MINNAAR (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:53.36
5) FABIEN BAREL (Subaru)
6) FLORENT PAYET (Subaru)
7) MARC BEAUMONT (MBUK/SANTA CRUZ)
8 ) CHRIS KOVARIK (Chain Reaction Cycles/Intense) 2:55.
9) JOSH BRYCELAND (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:56.76
NATHAN RENNIE (SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE) 2:57.08

Thanks to the SYNDICATE Sponsors:

Santa Cruz Bicycles
SRAM
RockShox
Truvativ
Avid
Maxxis
DT Swiss
WTB
Crankbrothers
Lizard Skins
Clif Bar
Troy Lee Designs
Chris King
Five Ten

source: Kathy Sessler

 

www.pointoneracing.com

(Sorry for the sniffle, it was windy and a bit cold in Pacifica.)

The Quick: The Good: 137g w/o top cap bolt. OMG that is lightweight! Stiff and strong. Beautiful, slick craftsmanship, precise engineering. No top cap. Super narrow back to save the knees. #4 wrench for all bolts.   The Bad: No top cap? Have to cut steerer tube to fit. Don't loose, damage, flanged top cap bolt. Normal one will cause damage. Price, ($119.00) for some.

 

Review: Point One Split-Second 50mm Stem $119

Point One, a small start up component company out of NorCal, has decided to go straight after, and frankly out do, the top product manufacturer in the stem market, Thomson.

 

I had never heard of this company until Sea Otter. A friend showed me two stems that he was going to be using that year. FYI - this friend won semi-pro DH 2008. No slouch of a rider, but he is a lighter guy. Can't quite put the force down on the stem for testing. That's where I come in. I was especially interested in testing this stem when he told me it was 50gram lighter than a Thomson Elite X4. You had to think for a minute, where did they cut weight? Thomson makes one of the lightest DH stems out there. These guys are lighter, and they are just as strong? Let me try that!

 

When I got the stem in the mail, held it in my hand, comparing the Thomson Elite X4 in my other hand, I could tell right away the Split-Second was noticeably lighter. On the scale is came out at 137grams w/o top cap bolt. Adding the bolt adds 5.5grams. The Thomson 50mm Elite X4, w/o top cap and bolt 178grams, add a Chris King top cap and it comes out to 188grams. This Split-Second stem is a full 40-50grams lighter. I am well aware that this fact doesn't rock everyones boat, but for those wanting to make the lightest race bike you can, and especially take some weight off the front end, this is the stem for you. Point One shaved a ton of weight by hollowing out the inside of the stem as much as possible. To make the stem strong enough its design is noticeably tall. Five or so millimeters taller then my Thomson. Which at first irked me, but after a week, I could not have cared less. And bar height, rise, is not effected.

 

(click on images for bigger versions)

One quickly notices that this stem is a bit different, there is no place for the steerer tube to come through. No top cap? It is all supposed to fit neatly inside the stem. I was a little distraught at first over having to cut my steerer tube shorter. If this turns you away right off the bat, well, Point One isn't try to sell it to you then. This is race oriented, lightweight, cut your steerer tube! We're shaving grams off here people! So, the no way to keep your steerer tube length long didn't really bother me too much after I got everything cut and set up. I did have some question as to how short to cut the steerer tube. It would be nice if Point One put a little marking line on the outside of the stem so one knew what the correct length should be from the top of the last spacer. If it is too long, the stem can't clamp down and you'll have a loose headset.

 

I have run this stem now for a couple weeks on both a single crown and a double fork. I noticed no flex or bend in the stem when switching from the one to the other. The steering feels just as responsive as when the Thomson was on. The stem's pinch bolts are also very well thought out. It uses a number 4 for all bolts, which are very beefy, well done bolts. Not the cheap kind that can accidentally be stripped out. The back is super narrow and on my single crown there was no need to worry about hitting my knees on it. A stem not only for DH but for dirt jumping too. My only concern at this point is durability. There is nothing evident that piqued this concern, it is just a new product, so, it hasn't had any prolonged testing. I will follow up with this review in 6 months to let you'll know if anything has gone wrong.

 

So, any bad news, or is it all sunshine and glory? Well, the only problem I had with stem, which is really just a problem with me, is that I lost the flanged bolt that comes with the stem. I used a regular bolt in its place, and the regular bolt sliced out the flanged hole when it was being tightened, several times over. So, as long as you are not an idiot like me, you wont have this problem. My fix, a small washer. Problem solved, and it is still super light. Just not as clean looking.

 

On a side note. I will get the right bolt and re-take photos. My work around pretty much screws up the slick lines of the stem.

 

Overall, this stem is absolutely great. Very light weight, very stiff and strong. You'll find this on my rides from hence forth.

Value Rating:

4 out of 5 Stars

I give it 4 stars for value because $119 is pretty darn expensive. Hopefully price will come down after it catches on.

Overall Rating:

4.5 out of 5 Stars

4.5 stars for overall, because this stem rocks! Light, stiff, strong. What more do you need? Though .5 point off because I am still somewhat undecided if cutting the steerer tube all the way down is good or not. This I think really will make or break peoples opinion of the stem. Though if you want to watch the weight, you've got the trim the fat.

 

 

A word from Po1nt:Utilizing fully CNC machined aluminum and advanced manufacturing techniques, the Split-Second Stem cannot be matched. Our uniquely designed stem not only offers superior strength, but is extremely light weight, thus creating the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio of any stem we have tested. Such impressive torsional rigidity is due to its oversized 55mm clamp width and unique split-clamp design. Proudly made in the USA.   Lengths: 50mm, 70mm, 90mm Clamp Diameters: 25.4, 31.8 Colors: Black, Limited Edition Nickel Weight: 137g (50 X 31.8), 128g (50 X 25.4) Zero degree rise. Integrated top cap design, eliminating unnecessary pieces, and thus eliminating unnecessary weight (Saving up to 20g). Stiffness Test Results Installation Guide

Buy it here: www.pointoneracing.com

 

Point One also makes a direct mount Split-Second Stem, and some sick headset spacers.

 

Click Here to see MTBR users reviews

 

Snow Melt Photos Show the Coming of Another Great Riding Season

May 6 2008 Downieville, CA - Spring is here! And Downieville Outfitters is posting bi-weekly status reports on our website with pics through spring so you’ll know when the downhill is fully rideable. With the pictures you can see the melting down of the snow on top of Packer Saddle at the Sunrise Trail trailhead.

Snow melt began in April and we plan to open and start shuttling May 24th - Memorial Day weekend.

Check the latest conditions reports here:

http://www.downievilleoutfitters.com/conditions.php

Downieville Outfitters is also giving away full day shuttle rides to 10 lucky riders!

The winners will get a day of shuttle rides for themselves (2 shuttles) for use anytime during the week of May 24th to May 30th. That includes Memorial Day weekend! Give it a shot here:

http://www.downievilleoutfitters.com/shuttles_free_tickets.php

About Downieville Outfitters:

Downieville Outfitters is Downieville’s longest running bike shop. Now offering higher end models of Specialized and Ellsworth bicycles to accommodate the growing need due to our intense geography.

source: Patrick Cavender