The highly anticipated first spy shots of Evil Bikes EMPIRE prototype downhill race frame are available to the public! This frame began its development cycle in 1998. Over the last 3 years, the frame design has evolved through countless hours of computer simulation and on track research and development.
[Read More]

I'd venture a guess that almost everyone who rides a fully hard has blown their rear shock. I know I have more times than I would care to remember. The performance of the Fox Vanilla RC is great, but for most of the Pinkbike crew, shock life is measured in days, not years! Earlier this year a friend of mine in Boston mentioned a company that was building suspension components using motocross technology. Avalanche Suspension was a company steeped in motocross experience that specialized in custom suspension tuning and setup of motocross bikes. Craig Seekins of Avalanche felt he could build a better mousetrap using his extensive experience, and set about building shocks (both front and rear) for the mountainbike market.[Read More]

Your Questions/Comments

Hi! I’d just like to have the opinion of some of you guy’s over from the US and Canada on our new video. Its 14.4 MB and you can download it directly from http://www.schlichi.de/downloads/BkM-Spring-Summer-2001.zip Or just visit our page at http://www.bombenkrater.de (German) and yes before you ask, the MX fork in the old downhill bike is just for fun and not to ride it I'm looking forward to some answers here or in our guest book. And if I get enough positive feedback I will get an English version of the page online. Greetings from the BkM in Munich (Town of the Octoberfest)


Your Questions/Comments

Keeping ahead of the demand curve that mountain bikers place on
their rides is no easy task. Just as soon as a freeriding or downhill
pro achieves the impossible stunt, another ups the ante. And there
are an infinite number of not so pros doing their damnedest to emulate
the craziness. Imagine if you will having to go through the phases
of bringing a rig to fruition, from an initial concept based on
consumer’s expectations, to a marketable production machine that
will undergo ever-escalating attempts to destroy it.
[Read More]


Your Questions/Comments

The Carnage begins at 10 am just outside of the steamwhistle brewery, on Sunday, July 29th. The trials comp with be an OTS event, while the freeride will be a " kill em all and let god sort em out " style.

First place trials - Norco team trials frame

First place freeride - Rocky Mountain freeride frame

Check out Dropmachine for more details.

Last weekend at Canada Olympic Park the masses turned out to compete and watch the Canada Cup XC #4. Hope everyone had a good time. Here are the results.

After hearing so many great things about 24" wheels, I decided
to give them a try myself. The 24" market is pretty slim in the
Calgary area. Doublewides seem to rule the roost here as Atomic,
Mavic, Azonic and other 24” offerings are just plain hard to find.
I have always been very happy with my D321's, but Mavic doesn't
make them in a 24" format. After much research, the 24" rims that
seemed to most closely match the combination of durability and weight
of my Mavics were the Arrow FWT's.
[Read More]


Your Questions/Comments

If you own one of these products. Magura 2001 Gustav M Disk brakes, Pazzaz Bike Handlebars and Bar Ends - Supergo Corp, Cannondale "Carbon Left" Suspension Forks and some other products, check out bottom of this page for Recall information.
Quote "The bicycle forks can break, causing the rider to lose control of the bicycle, fall and suffer serious injury or death." Ouch!

July 19th Update:
Since we left Calgary our trip has definitely become an adventure.
It has been wonderful not having to camp as much, as the prairies
are home to all of us ranging from Alberta to Manitoba and we have
been able to stay with a lot of family and friends.

We have had some absolutely wonderful days of biking and some not
so wonderful. Once we reached SwiftCurrent, SK. We picked up our
fourth member, Karina, and continued to Caronport where we stayed
with more family. [read more]

Whether you are into the race scene or you just like doing rippin' fast shuttles on a regular basis, face the facts chief, you need armour. The faster you go, the crazier the consequences of your wipeouts. And of course, you're not going to slow down, so what you've gotta do is pad up. Hockey gear was fine for Tippie in the Pulp Traction years, but armour has come a long way.

Read more...


Your Questions/Comments

After hammering the competition over the last 2 weeks only to flat on the final lap... twice, Roland Green (CAN,Trek-Volkswagen) finished on top in the long-course XC at Mammoth today! Seeing his training partner Ryder Hesjedal (CAN, Subaru Gary Fisher) cross the finish line in second place made the win that much sweeter. Kashi Leuchs, (NZL, Volvo-Cannondale) who led a large portion of the race finished 3rd and dreadlocked Seamus McGrath (CAN, Haro/Lee Dungarees) gave the Canadians another place on the podium in 4th.
'96 Gold medalist Bart Brentjens (NED, Giant Bicycle) showed he's still in form finishing in 5th.

Long time ailing Schwinn/GT bikes filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy earlier this week. The first to step in with an offer for the cash strapped bike divisions was none other than mass-merchant Huffy bicycles. Their $60 Million (US) bid is just the first and speculation is Huffy would keep Schwinn with GT being sold to Trek. Is there an upside? Schwinn's 300 employees certainly hope so. Let's hope someone else steps up to the plate to save the legendary brands!

Just wanted to let you know that I finally got a Monster T. I had a hell of a time finding one as Marzocchi was only selling Monsters with complete bikes, and I could not find a store that had them in stock. Then the other day I walked into Calgary Cycle and what do I see on the wall...a bunch of shiny 2001 monster Ts. Well I own one of them now, and I think there is at least two left, so if you want one, you know where to get it. Oh yeah $1699 CDN, sweet!


Your Questions/Comments

Don’t miss covering THE BIG EVENT this weekend in Canmore… Motorola 24 Hours of Adrenalin
1300 Crazy Mountain Bikers will be there, riding for twenty-four hours.

Starts at Noon, Saturday July 21st!

Editorial and Photo opportunities.
What it's all about

Your Questions/Comments

"This summer, FreerideTours.com is offering three freeride trips like
no other. Eight days of the world's premiere mountain biking meccas,
starting in Calgary and working west through Fernie, Nelson,
Rossland, Kamloops, an epic heli-biking descent in Lillooet,
Squamish, and finally the North Shore. Hearty gourmet meals are
prepared 3 times a day to give you the fuel to rip up the trails all
day long. Each afternoon you get driven to the next destination and
set up camp. As if a trip like that wasn't cool enough, you also get
to ride with some of the world's best mountain bikers. Dangerous Dan
Cowan is the main guide for the trips, and you'll get to pick his
brain about everything you ever wanted to know about biking on the
North Shore. Also, in each place we ride, we'll have a local
trailbuilder or pro biker show us around to all the good spots,
giving you all the dirt on the local scene. "
Only 2 spots left on the July 21 - 28 trip

Your Questions/Comments

Here are the results for last weekends Tower Quest races in Hinton Alberta. You'll need acrobat pdf viewer to open these.

Cross Country Race results and
Downhill Race results

Canada Cup #4 XC race will be taking place at Canada Olympic Park
with training on July 20 and 21 and the race on July 22.

You can register by fax or e-mail,
sorry no phone entries, up until 5pm on Saturday July 21.
For more information please call (403) 247-5452.

The race will be held on the newly extended Paskapoo Slopes course
on the east side of Canada Olympic Park. Each lap is approximately 8-9km. [read more]

This weekend is the Fernie Canada Cup. DH, Dual, XC. Today is your last chance to register for the DH and Dual. Here is the registration form (800KB). Just fax it in to 250-423-6644 and you're good to go. See ya there.

As the father of 2 wonderful children, aged 2 and 4, I have grown weary of responding to the usual "with a family, how do you find time to ride?" questions. Even with young children, riding is something that is very easy to find time for. I am lucky enough to live relatively close to work, and a bike ride in only adds 10-15 minutes to my commute. What I did find difficult was including my kids in the rides. A 4 year old's pace isn't much more than walking speed and getting in any cardio workout while riding together is next to impossible.
When Hannah was born I purchased a Chariot Carrier to use as a bike trailer and off road stroller. It worked great in both roles until my bikes had disc brakes, when it retired to the stroller set. The older style "hitch" wouldn't fit around the brakes. After 2 years of waiting, Calgary based Chariot has come out with an alternative hitch that works with disc brake equipped bikes. Since putting one on last month, My wife and I have taken the kids all over town and every ride is sure to be a physical challenge. Try riding a 47 pound bike towing a 20 pound trailer and another 80 pounds of kids and "stuff". The kids love riding in the trailer, and the safety and comfort provided by the Chariot is second to none (don't ask me how I know this).

Chuck from Freeride Tours took this video at the Grouse World Cup. Spectators were treated to more than just awesome racing action, including "Dangerous" Dan Cowan and his "Flow Show", Trials Demos by Ryan Leach and Kris Holm, Dirt Jumping demos by Chris Donahue and other crazy locals, and an great Product Expo. Grouse and Gestev did a spectacular job of putting the event together especially considering the short amout of time they had to put it together after Whistler was cancelled. The next 2 years should be even better, I can't wait!

A little while back we setup our own IRC chat server. Till now you had to use separate IRC client software to connect and chat, but it all changes today.
Now just click and chat from your browser. Thanks Tommi.

Pinkbike Live Chat

Dont forget -
Meeting of the Bow Valley Mountain Bike Alliance
And other Canmore Trail User Groups
Tuesday, July 10th, 2001 7PM – 9PM
Best Western Pocaterra Inn, Canmore

This is a key meeting regarding the trail closures in Canmore - its important that as many people make it out as possible.

See you there!

After chilling and watching the World Cup we decided to session some of the cool trails of Mnt. Fromme. On Sunday morning a bunch of the Cascadedownhillers and Pinkbiker dudes went out to check out some of the new stunts. Thanks to Shane from Balfa for the guided tour.
My new all time favorite trail is now Air Supply. This is an amazing ride. Double teeter, swivel teeter, skinny bridge work and and awesome set of about 7 or 8 doubles that flow so nice. Here are a few photos

After a brief delay due to starting gate problems, dual racing got under way both the men and women treated the crowd to some great action. On the women's side, the final was a classic match up between top ranked riders Anne-Caroline Chausson and Leigh Donovan. Leigh cossed the line barely a bike length ahead of Anne-Caro in a hard fought match. Yeti rider, Tara Llanes took third place, winning the consolation final against Tai-Lee Moxlow.
As expected, on the men's side Brian Lopes took top spot although fellow American, Eric Carter fought hard through the final gate. Chris Kovarik, after a great finish in today's DH was looking super smooth on the Dual course, but was beaten in the consolation final by Donovan's teammate Mickael Deldycke. The crowd was treated to some spectacular crashes resulting from rider contact and/or error but no one was seriously injured during the Dual Competition. We were able to get some great shots of the course and racing action and should have them posted early tomorrow... stay tuned!

Looks like the French had the short BC course dialed in. In the men's race, it was not the fenchman you would expect, Nico managed just 5th place at Grouse Mountain, 1.85 seconds off the mark set by fellow countryman Fabien Barel. Fabien ripped the course in a blistering 1:52.13. It seems the crazy Australians liked the course as well with Kovarick just 1/100th of a second off the mark and rookie superstar Mick Hannah osloer by just .57 seconds. Hannah's Global teammate Greg Minnaar rounded it out with a 4th place finish helping the Global team keep their World Cup Leading Team plates. Top North American was World Champion Myles Rockwell in 13th place 4.90 seconds down and top Canadian was Vancouver local Jordie Lunn in 20th spot. Dual racing starts soon, stay tuned for more results and pics!

True to form Anne-Caroline Chausson took first place in the Women's DH at Grouse Mtn beating Missy Giove by 1.25 seconds over the 1.3 Km course. Third place was garnered by Tracey Mosely riding for Team Kona Ford Focus. Crowd favorites Leigh Donovan and Marla Streb managed 8th and 9th respectively and the top Canadian was Cassandra Boon who was 10.12 seconds off the pace riding for Giant Canada.Women Photos

All around nice guy Shaums March suffered a broken leg after crashing during the DH Semi-Finals at the World Cup today. Shaums was wowing the crowd pulling a huge nac nac on the final jump of the course when he missed the landing and crashed across the finish line. I had the opportunity to interview Shaums yesterday about his Racing School and found him to be one of the most likable racers on the circuit. He has plans to get married later this month in Mammoth, looks like he'll be sizing that suit for a cast. No word yet on how the crash will effect his upcoming schedule.

I got in last night in to Vancouver about 9 p.m. First thing I did was hookup with the Rocky Mountain dudes at the Rocky Tent (Yes, they were still partying hard and closing down the expo). A couple of drinks and we were off downtown for a few hours of pre-cup urban action. Of course ,I broke my bike again. Luckily this morning I showed up with injured ride at the expo and was quickly taken in by the Fox Racing support team. A blown fox collar repair, caused by some ambitious stair gapping, was no problem for the experts. In fact, they took the whole thing in to re-valve and customize for my personal specs. Thanks to Dennis Wootten and the crew, you're the shit. And also thanks to Rocky for the wheel.
Photos
Now back up the hill to check out more racing action.

Steve Peat, current points leader in the World Cup standings, was injured yesterday with a separated shoulder. Steve said of the crash "It was my second time down... I was just cruising, hit a soft spot ,lost my hand and hit a tree" . Initial estimates put him out for 4-6 weeks. That should open up the field and puts Nico at the top of the list of favorites, with rookie phenom Mick Hannah not far behind.
Day 1 Vancouver World Cup Photos
Dual qualifying gets under way within the hour and as usual, Lopes and Bootes seem to have the narrow, superfast course dialed in. On the women's side, Anne-Caro and Leigh Donovan are ripping it up. I'm really looking forward to seeing head to head racing. This has been an eye opening experience. Watching the World Cup racers on the Dual course is a thing of beauty. The level of smoothness and skill is unbelievable. Got to blast, qualifying get under way soon!

Just arrived at Grouse Mountain, site of the World Cup Triple. The site is a hub of activity and frenzy with mechanics frantically getting bikes ready and riders warming up on rollers before their practise runs. I haven't had the chance to scope the Dual course, but the DH, while on the short side takes great advantage of the local terrain featuring steep rock drops, and fast tight singletrack. Designed by Vancouver local, Andrew Shandro who is fresh off a fourth place finish at the NCS in Snowshoe WV, the 1.3 Km course should see times in the 2 1/2 minute range. Stay tuned, we'll try our best to keep you updated over the weekend with pics and stories. If you're in the area, this is a must see event for all cycling enthusiasts.

The Whistler Joyride Bikercross results are in. This event was held on July 3, 2001.

The random number generator spins...and the winner of the Avro Canada Day contest is Andrew Belo from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. You win a pair of Avro Zum Eliminator Rims. Your choice 24 or 26 inch and 32 or 36 spoke. Congrats Andrew and thanks to Avro for sponsoring the contest.

The answers to the skill testing questions:

Which famous Canadian aircraft company is Avro Rims named after?

Answer: AVRoe Aircraft

Which side of his mouth, does the Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, speak out of?
Answer: Left

I think this video clip is from Crusty 4 moto video. Check it out cause its nuts and I highly recommend getting all the Crusty videos. Anyone know what happened to this guy?



Comments/Questions

Meeting of the Bow Valley Mountain Bike Alliance
And other Canmore Trail User Groups
Tuesday, July 10th, 2001 7PM – 9PM
Best Western Pocaterra Inn, Canmore

All members of the Bow Valley Mountain Bike Alliance (BVMBA) and other interested parties are invited to attend this special meeting to discuss the recent trail closures in the Canmore Area. The following is a preliminary agenda:

• Welcome to members of BVMBA and other groups
• Overview of the situation: Closures to date and closures planned, new trails
• Review of BVMBA’s official position & direction
• Summary of progress and accomplishments to date, further advocacy work planned
• Presentation of the letter writing campaign – call to action
• Formation of the Canmore Working Group
• Discussion on the formation of a multi-user group coalition

Please come early to get a seat, as capacity is limited to 150 people.

Also - we are kicking off the letter writing campaign. This is the key to making sure riding in Canmore is preserved for the future! We have written letters which everyone should download (CLICK HERE!!). Fill them in with the correct information following the instructions, and send them to the politicians indicated. We have pre-configured the letters but you can personalize them if you wish.
Its up to us to take action! Make your voice heard!!
Thank you!
Post Comments Here

First, thanks to all who participated in the Canada Day parade!!

Now for the good stuff: For those of you not familiar, the Trail Crew is an informal organization of volunteers working to preserve & build trails.

I have confirmed today with Steve Donelon two new trails (& possibly a third) that we can move forward to develop.

The first step will be to mark the trails followed by an approval by the government and then building the trails. Anyone is welcome to join in the trail marking this Sunday, July 8.

We will be meeting at the Coffee Mine in downtown Canmore at 9:00 and then going up to the trails. Instructions, maps and flagging tape will be provided. If you have any questions, please contact Ken Davies at email above.

So
you wanna ride in style? Now is your chance to look the way you
want to. Design your own Jersey and we'll make it! Check out the details
Comments/Questions

The Tower Quest Mountain Bike Race will be held on July 7 & 8,
2001 in Hinton, Alberta at the Athabasca Lookout Nordic Centre (ALNC).

The Downhill (DH) and Dual Eliminator (DL) races will be held
Saturday July 7. The Cross Country (XC) race will follow on Sunday
July 8. [read more]

Happy Birthday Canada! Hope most of you used the holiday to go riding. I did. Fernie was awesome!
To help you celebrate, Avro rims is giving away a pair of Zum Eliminator Rims to Pinkbike visitors. 24 or 26 inch and 32 or 36 spoke. Your choice. Fill in the contest entry and also check out the Avro Website for the goods. Contest winner will be announced on Friday.

Freeride superstar Richie Schley is running a number of Freeride Camps targeting riders looking to conquer their fears and ride terrain they've only dreamed of! Richie and his freeriding friends will be coaching students down the sickest lines, over the biggest drops and through the craziest Whistler terrain. The 2 day programme includes a Friday evening reception, two days of coaching, Whistler Bike Zone pass, lift pass, lunches and apres bike sessions. Participants must be at least 13 years old and have intermediate off-road skills. Courses will run on July 21st-22nd, August 4th-5th and 18th-19th. Price is $349 (Cdn) and rental packages are available. Contact (604)932-3434 to register or visit here for more information.