Team Dirt Partner with Propain Bikes for 2016

We’ve always supported young, up-and-coming riders, many of whom have gone on to great things, and the 2016/17 race season will be no different. We keep some old faces and bring in some new ones… and of course we have some new (major) sponsors on board. Team Manager, Ben Reid takes up the story:


“When one door closes another one normally opens and I am pleased to say we couldn’t have been more welcomed by our new title sponsors; Propain Bikes and Zelvy Carbon who will make up the new title position of team ‘Propain Dirt Zelvy’ for 2016 and 2017. I’ve been really happy with how the team has progressed the past few seasons and it's nice to see the hard work by everyone paying off, having more choice for sponsorship than any other off season in the past it has really allowed us to pick and choose and I feel really confident in the brands we are moving forward with."


"Within days of talking to Robert Krauss from Propain it was clear that the understanding of what it takes to support a World Cup race team was there, and from some of our first chats with Robert he was already offering custom frame sizes to ensure the bikes would be a perfect fit for each individual rider considering their size, style and preferences. I spent a fair amount of time looking around the Propain booth at Eurobike this year and the undeniable quality and attention to detail of these bikes stood out to me, following this up by studying the suspension kinematics of the Propain Rage it was clear what I was looking at had a lot of thought put into every detail. At that time we had several frame manufacturers to consider but testing the Propain bikes sealed the deal for us."


"Zelvy Carbon is a company who make a lot of high tech carbon products and they will be supporting us with their carbon wheelsets whilst joining Propain and Dirt to make up the team title. I was really impressed by the information Greg Geldard, from Zelvy was able to show me from all the testing they have carried out. Zelvy make some of the fastest and best value carbon wheels on the planet and we had been eyeing them up for some time and watching them sell their wheels all over the world. I know Steve Jones, Deputy Editor at Dirt, has been testing a pair for almost a year now and from what I understand he might never give them back! We know they’ll give our team an advantage over the rest, with the added stiffness of the carbon riding with precision it is a lot easier, and even keeping the bike rolling as things flatten out is much more efficient. Greg had talked about improvements they made to help tyre stability and to eliminate burping, which has been a problem in the past, so it’s great to know they have covered every detail. Our partnership with these guys is something we are very excited about and I firmly believe their products will go a long way in helping our guys in their chase for results."


"Another welcome partner to the team is Funn Components, who we have signed with for both season as well and I am pleased to say they will be decking our bikes out with their bars, stems, grips, cranks, chain guides, chain rings, seatposts, saddles and seat clamps. Funn is a company I used ride for myself back in my Iron Horse days, for me these guys really set the standard with modern handlebar geometry that a lot of companies seemed to follow. I remember getting way too attached to my Funn ‘Full On’ handlebars and have since found it hard to have the same comfortable feel. The team is also proud to be working with Crank Brothers pedals and again the passion these guys are showing for the team at such an early stage is unbelievable and they are already talking about custom team coloured pedals, a relatively small detail but pretty cool all the same. X Force will be keeping the muck out of our eyes as the team’s new eyewear partner, another company getting on board and offering the team custom colours. Last but not least Slik Graphics have been a big part in the image of the team and will continue to make all our team graphics for the frames and forks."

Full sponsor list for 2016:

Propain, Dirt, Zelvy, X-Fusion, Bliss, Funn, Juice Lubes, Bell, Schwalbe, Giro, XForce, Crank Brothers, Works, Slik and Atlas.

We'll be pumping out the videos once again in 2016 so stay tuned for those. See you at the races!

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MENTIONS: @FUNNMTB / @blissprotection / @JuiceLubes / @BellBikeHelmets / @schwalbe / @crankbrothers

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