Techwalk: Roc D'Azur 2015

Also on the Hope booth was this, discretely sitting in plain view: an Ohlins Pike damping cartridge. We can only speculate what is inside - but it clearly replaces the entire damper, with no obvious external rebound adjustment even.







We don't quite know where to start with this bike. The Caminade steel frame is certainly unique - although it should be remembered that in his pre-Devinci days Damien Oton piloted one of these in the EWS top 20. Although that was without the Motion fork... The linkage fork is based on a carbon leaf spring - you replace the spring (the green carbon strut in this instance) to tune the spring weight of the bike. Rebound is handled by an oil damper sitting in the head tube - it will fit any conventional bike with a tapered headtube, they say. The makers claim that this design is completely isolated from braking forces, so brake dive is completely eliminated, it offers a very progressive spring curve, has the lowest breakaway force of any mountain bike fork and they believe this fork will also be completely maintenance free. However, there is no compression control. The XC version weight 1.5kg and can be set to 80-120mm of travel and the more enduro-friendly version has 120-160mm of travel and weighs 1.8kg (so about the same as a Pike). They are available now if you have 1920 Euros ready...




Sunn are back! The legendary French brand has been bought by Intersport (a major mainstream chain of sport shops in Europe). There are no plans to produce entry-level bikes though, with the brand completely committing to IBDs and high-end kit. They had the production version of their Kern LT on display - the same bike that Thomas Lapeyrie has been throwing wild shapes on at the EWS this year (and was leading the field after day one at Samoens). As a return after a long absence, it looks good - sporting roomy toptube that almost venture into Mondraker territory and race-ready build kits. This top end version is pretty much ready to take to your local enduro races for 4,199 Euros, tipping the scales at just over 13kg with the aluminium frame. They will be available in France very soon, with the rest of Europe to follow soon. American distribution is still a way away though.







Radon is the in-house brand for the giant, German online retailer - Bikediscount.de. They have been working hard on perfecting their current offering and the 170mm Swoop may tickle the fancy of aggressive trail riders. Geometry looks modern and aggressive, and reports from riders have been good for the Radons. This isn't the final build (there is a Pike out front, for instance, which will be replaced by a Yari), but a very similar version of this bike will soon be on sale for just 2,200 Euros, which looks like a lot of fun for your buck.









Pierre Perrin was at the show with his first ever mountain bike - a steel-framed full-susser that is pushed along by a combination of a Gates belt drive and a Rohlhof geared hub. Younger readers may not recognise the suspension layout, but anybody who was riding in the wild and wonderful days of the 1990s will instantly recognise the unified rear triangle (URT). In the early days of full-suspension bikes, many designers didn't know how to deal with chaingrowth and other chain forces, so they solved the problem by including the bottom bracket on the swingarm. While this many have completely solved any chain issues, what it did mean was that your bottom bracket was moving under you as your suspension worked... The fact that younger readers may not have seen one of these before should tell you all you need to know about the development of suspension and the URT. However, Pierre has resurrected the layout to solve the problem of mounting the carbon belt drive. This is his first bike, but one can be yours with fully custom geometry for 2,000 Euros (minus belt drive and Rohlhof hub).




The 1990s were strong at the Roc this year - IRC are back! In the 90s IRC tyres were run by many of the sports top racers, but they lost standing as the years passed and aren't a name we had heard from in many years. They have revamped and resurrected their XC tyres - the Mythos and had their new and slightly more aggressive Mibros on show too. The even better news for any nostalgic downhillers is that they are bringing back the Kujo next year! They will be debuting them at the Taipei show, stay tuned for coverage of that in March.






Racer protection had their new mountain bike range on display. They are a ski brand that dates all the way back to 1927, but this is their first mountain bike range. They have a full range of gloves that cover everything from full-blown DH to XC (and heated gloves for winter), they are also doing body armour with a lightweight option on display that features extensive D3O protection and looks like it could do well for enduro racing.




100% had the final production colours of their impressive-looking full facer on show.