Here is a roundup of the most exciting things on show this weekend at Roc D'Azur
Schwalbe have been playing with their tyre range recently. You can decide what you find more interesting here, the fact that these are 27.5" tyres, or that this is, more or less, the tread pattern their World Cup racers will be running next year and that you won't be able to get your hands on until 2014.
That's not just any dust on Pierre Edouard-Ferry's Commencal Supreme, that's the rarified dust of Virgin Utah, fresh from the Rampage.
Caminade are small, new French brand and they had this their One-For-All on their stand. The name, One-For-All is a bad pun on the fact it has 140mm or so of travel. The frame is made from Reynold 853 steel, which allowed them to create the distinctive lines. We do like the way they have built it too - single ring, big bars, drop post, it looks like a lot of fun. What we don't like is the fact that they wouldn't let us take proper side photo of it, in case someone stole their kinematics...
Anne-Caroline Chausson is here racing anything and everything this weekend, we wouldn't mind betting she was winning too. With her was her Trans-Provence-winning Ibis Mojo HD enduro race bike.
The Forward Geometry on next year's Mondrakers has sparked a lot of debate. This is what the 2013 Sumnum will look like, the top tube is 3cm longer to compensate for the zero-reach stem. Only time on the trail and riders' feedback will say whether this is the future or just an interesting experiment.
There's something about a raw frame that just catches your eye. Exprezo had this 145mm frame to hand and metal connoisseurs will spot that it has an aluminium front end and a steel rear.
Merida isn't a name you hear too often here on Pinkbike, they may be the second largest bike company in the world, but they have traditionally stayed away from the gravity side of thing. That is until now, they are very keen on enduro and are launching the One-Sixty (that's how much travel it has) - this is the same bike Ralph Naf smashed to fifth in the Trans Provence this year. There are some nice details in here too, like the Reverb Stealth. It looks a lot like they thought about what they wanted from this bike and have put together a strong spec (if they ditched the 2 x 10, it'd more or less be a race-ready enduro bike).
Rockrider is a name you have heard here on Pinkbike more often, usually from European riders laughing at them... They are Decathlon's in-house brand and have been churning out low-end bikes for years now, but they have decided to move up the market. This Dropline is their new downhill bike and the detail you need to know is that it will cost 2,500 Euros. Looking over the spec, it has everything you would want from an entry downhill bike - downhill tyres, big brakes and chainguide. There's nothing on here you'd need to change before you could go and point it down something ugly and for that price it's great value too. They won't be selling them in Decathlon stores, at least not for now, you'll have to go online to get your hands on one.
I can't get past... everything. Not exactly what you'd expect from a bike coming out in 2012. And they're worried about someone poaching their design... seriously?!
Horribly steep geo = check! Upward sloping top tube to crush balls = check! Shock placed perfectly to get destroyed but dirt and stones = check! Stupidly long chainstays = check!
Actually they're likely more worried about Santa Cruz suing them... they're using a virtual pivot design with short contra-rotating links... and SC already sued Yeti for that in the past year or so. Nice execution of a full floater shock setup though. And I like that they did it in chromoly throughout other than the linkages.
@bloodbrotherbiker. Around 6 million pounds is what they said but you can get a frame and shock option for around 2 million. Not bad in this current economic climate.
Hardly any different that the shock placement on a lot of motorcycles including motocross bikes, and they kick up a lot more dirt and debris with the back tire than any bicycle.
looks to me like some kind of full suspension cyclecross contrapction if that could exist.
just waiting for someone to pick it up and run off over some logs.
" (if they ditched the 2 x 10, it'd more or less be a race-ready enduro bike)" I wonder what Ann Caro would say about that. Her Trans winnig bike sure looks like a 2x10 to me. That black yellow scheme is dead sexy.
No Fox forks are NOT 650B compatible as standard. Except for their specific 650B models, you either sacrifice your teeth, tire width, mud clearance, or hope to god you never actually achieve full travel in order to do it. I am running quasimoto 2.0s with my Talas 32 140 for example, and at full compression I don't hit the tire on the crown, but then the Quasimoto isn't actually 27.5" in diameter. I'd never run a NeoMoto 2.3 with this fork without internal modifications to restrict the compression stroke. Fox forks are officially compatible with a maximum tire diameter of 27.0" for the 32 series models and 27.3" for the 36 and 40 series models.
@mnroiss122 ,Nothing would happen to the head angle unless one of the wheels is smaller than the other ( reminds me a of a thread some one has made about ' why are back wheels are higher then front wheels ' )
rockrider!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! who would it guess a dh bike with a cool price and some interesting features, not bad, not bad at all keep it up maybe they could do something like dh for the masses. but they still can not override the yt industryes dh bike price its just to low to beat in my opinion
Caminade has so...strange geometry but it looks very comfy, even graceful and light.
Mondraker is nice.
But all in all, I understand that bike industry is developing but I can't stand this pursuit of fashion and money.
Don`t want to be seen on Decathlon stuff. Large stores full of bottom of the barrell goods at inflated prices and constant markdown (called "promo"). Fat people buy their trainers there.
Especially bikes are true sweatshop jobs. 60$ chinabox marked up 10 times. Astro Freeride frame is about 200$ in quantity and well made.
Whats up with the prototype Michelins? Kind of becoming a fan after riding on their Wild Grip'R2's that are new for 2012. They seriously should rethink their naming system.....
I'm a big fan of Merida and is reaaally looking forward to try out the one sixty. They make awesome MTB's, hope they someday put together a real DH/Freeride bike other than the UMF Duncan.
Blue was the 2012 color. 2013 Will be neon yellow. I think CRC still has some blue ones, or get one from Commencal directly. Or give Cedric Gracia a call, he might have some left (ProBikeShop). I honestly don't know where to get one in the States, I'm sorry
Thomas Genon won Crankworx on a Merida hardtail and also hit Rampage on the Meirda 160. Merida has been in the game for a while, good to be getting noticed!
To be precise, he used a 180mm Freddy on Rampage ( www.merida-bikes.com/en_gb/bike/2012/70/UMF/Freddy+1 ) But yeah, it's unfair to say that they haven't done many "gravity" bikes, they just use UMF brand for that...
Really? And just how many 27.5 tires have you seen? In real life... not just magazines and website photos. I have five different models of them within 30 feet of me right now, and those on the gambler do not look skinny to me.
Yep, it mounts the same as a standard direct mount stem. The problem is that you have to chop your steerer tube way short so the bars will sit directly above it. There goes the re-sale value of that fork.
" the top tube is 3cm longer to compensate for the zero-reach stem" Kind of the hard, expensive and weighty way to get extra cockpit room, when a longer stem would do.
Zero-reach takes out the ability to adjust the head angle by moving the stanchions up and down the crowns. Only option here is for full-slack unless you put a spacer under the stem. I do like zero-reach though... Nice feel.
Xprezo is a Balfa spinoff company, they've long done mixed steel/Al construction. For small builders who actually BUILD themselves, not just farming out production to others, steel is still a great material choice. Certainly a lot more durable for the application.
853 rides great for most xc/am situations. Personally i have a SC tallboy carbon, Ibis Tranny geared 11X1 and a niner SIR 9. Im fat lazy and like to go to fast for short bursts then sit around barely pedalling, much like most pb users and i find the bike i go to 90% of the time is the SIR , feels likes its got 3 inches of rear wheel travel. Its about time more steel rides are coming out. On a side, nothing i have ever ridden had as stiff as a back end as my balfa 2 step, broke atleast 5 upper shock mount bolts, 9lbs frame with coil shock for 5 inches of mildly linear travel, but stiff as hell. plus one steel and 4130 rear triangles.
Shame really as I'm a bit of a steel fanboy.
I wonder what Ann Caro would say about that. Her Trans winnig bike sure looks like a 2x10 to me. That black yellow scheme is dead sexy.
Especially bikes are true sweatshop jobs. 60$ chinabox marked up 10 times. Astro Freeride frame is about 200$ in quantity and well made.
They make awesome MTB's, hope they someday put together a real DH/Freeride bike other than the UMF Duncan.
Pisses the people off that load the bikes on uplift trailers because they are awkward to fit in the slots
One guy joked that he would cut them down with a stanley blade.
well i guess if it rides better...
every dromedary is an individual and might not meet class standards
check it out the second photo...
Unless you mean just out of this article then I get you.