21 DH Race Bike Checks - NZ National Champs 2015
This year's New Zealand Downhill National Champs sees riders from all over the country flocking to Rotorua and the new DH track on Mt Ngongotaha. Along with all the country's big name riders comes a few overseas pros looking to get the sneaky advantage of riding the track before others pre-Crankworx Rotorua.
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 Ed Masters and his Bergamont Straitline. Ed was quick to point out the new leak valves on top of his fork. 26PSI in the front tyre and 28PSI in the rear this weekend. 780MM bars and total bike weighs in at 38 pounds. |
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| Ed's blow off valves. |
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| Jake 'WildBoy' Robinson and his new 2015 Transition TR500.Jake is running his bars at 777mm wide and 25PSI in the tires. |
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| The rainbow Ti Spring was a nice touch of flavour and fit well in Jake's new TR500. |
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| Current U19 NZ Champ Keegan Wright and his 2015 Giant Glory 0. Keegan's bike features the new 2015 Marzocchi 380 C2R2 fork and a Atomlab DHR SL wheel set with the new 102 points of engagement hub. Keegan is running 760mm bars, 23PSI in his front tire and 28 in the rear. Total bike weighing in at 16.5 kgs. |
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| Keegan Wright's bike getting the full WideOpen Team treatment. |
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| Keegan's Atomlab 102 P.O.E hubs. |
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| Caleb Burgess and his stunning mullet. This kid's a true rock punch and said if he wasn't riding he'd be home slashing string on his bass. Caleb is part of the Norco Racing NZ Development team. |
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| The Bulldog. Brook Macdonald is loving the new track and says its awesome to have a World Cup level track so central. Brook was running lots of cool trick bits on his bike including the full Fox RAD suspension treatment. Brook was running his bars cut down to 770mm and his tire pressures resembled something of a catalogue for wheel sizes. 26PSI in the front and 27.5PSI in the rear. He also was running a SRM Powermeter to help make thing easier to read and understand with training. |
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| Brook Macdonald's RAD Fox Shock |
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| Bulldog's Saint SRM Powermeter |
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| The local boy Louis Hamilton and his 2014 Commencal Supreme. Louis is running his bars at 780mm wide and is running his tires higher than most at 32PSI front and rear. |
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| Manuel Gruber of Radon Magura Factory Downhill and his Radon Prototype 2.0 Downhil bike. Manuel is an Austrian rider who is here for our summer season living in Queenstown with Bernard Kerr and the crew. The total bike was weighing in at 16.5Kgs. |
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| The business end of Manuel's Radon prototype 2.0 frame |
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| A custom short QR seat post collar lever for Manuel. He said it looked cool so that's why he has it this way. |
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| Bernard Kerr and his Pivot Phoenix Carbon. Bernard and his team have recently changed suspension sponsors so he was running the new team spec Fox Suspension Setup. Strapped onto his rig was a set of prototype Reynolds Carbon DH wheels. Bernard was running tubes and putting 24PSI in the front and 28 PSI in the rear, with his bars cut down to 768mm. |
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| Bernard Kerr's Prototype Reynolds Carbon DH wheels. |
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| Bernard was stoked on his cutting job on his Minon DHR's. He squared off every second knob so that it rolls fast in the corners while still biting like a demon. |
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| KB enroute to his bike check |
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| Kieran Bennets and his 2015 Santa Cruz V10.6 C. Kieran chose to run Maxxis Shorty tyres to help get some grip in the dust but still be able to pedal on the grass sections. Kieran is Sponsored by BOS suspension so was running the new BOS Idylee Air fork. 26 PSI in the front and 29 PSI in the rear tire. |
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| Kieran Bennett's BOS Idylee Fork |
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| Matt Scoles stoked on the track, life in general and his super sick WideOpen Supreme. Matt's running 800mm wide Gravity bars and is running 25PSI in his front tyre and 27PSi in the rear. |
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| Sophie Tyas and her sweet new 2015 3Sixty Racing Team Banshee Legend. Sophie was running 760mm bars to keep things proportioned for her. A 350 pound rear Ti-Springs Spring and 52 PSI in the fork keep things plush. |
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| Jack Fisher and his new Santa Cruz V10.6 CC. Jack swapped out the basic Fox 40's the bike came with for a custom Boxxer RC come World Cup conversion fork. Jack is running 780mm Bars and 27 PSi front and 29 PSI rear. |
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| The man with all the pressure on this weekend, George Brannigan. George is looking great on track and is making it clear to all the other riders that he wants to keep that NZ sleeve. |
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| Current NZ elite mens champ, George Brannigan of Trek Work Racing and his Session 9.9. George's bike was stock factory team spec. George is running his Carbon Renthal bars cut down to 760. Tyre pressures of choice is 24PSI front and 28PSI in the rear. Tubeless was the go so no punctures for him. Total bike weighing in at 33 pound with a Ti spring and no pedals. |
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| Liam Jackson and his Devinci Wilson full World Cup spec. Liam was running the new Rockshox SoloAir upgrade kit in his fork and "really hard" tires. |
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| Wyn Masters and his Bulls Wildcore. Wyn was running the mad setup with having 5 bottomless tokens in his Boxxer and a 325 pound rear spring. Wyn runs 760mm bars to keep things snappy. 30 PSI rear and 28 PSI front. |
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| Wyn Masters was also going for the cut down side knob treatment on his Schwalbe Dirty Dans. |
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| Shania Rawson and her little Devinci Wilson. |
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| Kyle Lockwood and his stunning brand new 2015 Pivot Phoenix Carbon. Kyle has his Phoenix fully kitted out with all the latest SRAM bits and custom Enve M90 rims built on Onyx Hubs.Kyle is running 4 Sram bottomless tokens in his forks. Tubelessed to help keep it extra trail bike weight like running his tyres at 25 PSI front and 28PSI rear. |
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| Kyle Lockwoods's Instant Engagement Onyx hubs |
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| Cole Lucas and his 2015 Banshee Legend. Cole is one of the headline riders on the 3Sixty Racing team and runs a full top spec team build including the mega quick engaging Halo Chaos wheel set. Cole is only 16 years old but runs a XL frame and makes it look small. Cole's bars are uncut at 800mm. Tube tyres being run at 30PSI front and back. |
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| Cole Lucas's shiny blue rocker links onboard his 2015 Banshee Legend. |
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| Cole's Halo Chaos wheels |
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| Sarah Atkin and her 26" Evil undead.Sarah is running 25 PSI rear and 20 PSI front. 780mm bars help keep things nice and steady. |
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| Sarah Atkin was all about accessorizing. She opted to take off her tassels seeing as it is a serious race but the bell is staying. |
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| Veronique Sandler and her YT Industries Tues. Vero has recently signed with Loose Riders clothing and is repping one of the coolest jerseys on the track this weekend. Vero was running a very soft set suspension set up, A 225 pound spring in the rear and the extra light spring in the front. 22PSI in her front tyre and 27PSI in the rear. |
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| Gianluca Vernassa of Italy with the only 2015 Devinci Wilson at the race. Gianluca's bike came bearing many little Italian treats such as some new titanium hubs. Gianluca is running his bars at 780mm. Tire pressure of choice for the weekend is 25PSI front and 27PSI Rear. He was running a Ti-Springs 7 speed drivetrain converter as he didn't want to run 10 gears but also didn't want to run his nice XO1 DH group set |
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| Gianluca's prototype titanium Italian brand hubs. |
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| The Marzocchi Moto C2R copper colour blends beautifully into the orange/red colour way of the new Wilson |
Must Read This Week
106 Comments
m.pinkbike.com/news/australian-dh-national-round-three-pro-bike-check.html
(Hint:look at the second comment)
Anyone who is sponsored should be jumping on detailed bike checks to get their sponsors out there. PB gets page views. Seems like a win for the rider, sponsor, PB, and readers.
The shaft of the fox rad shock is interesting. Not kashima from the look of it?
The red/orange/black looks fully sick with the coffee marzocchi fork!