Durolux World Tour - Adventures With Buehler, Chubey, and More

Jun 20, 2017

by SR Suntour

Why did we do this? Because it's fun. We are riders just like you, we want to ride, we want to ride rad places and the Durolux World Tour (DWT) gave us the perfect opportunity to get our adventure on in Europe and North America with some of the best riders on this little planet. Being who we are, the plan was loose but the goal was clear: to ride bikes, share experiences, and take some timeless photos. Engaging in these experiences is our best tool to shape who we will become; this is what motivates us. Enjoy what we captured, what we witnessed, and what the "New Rowdy" means to each other, pros and bros alike. We do not take these opportunities for granted. Best of all, a plan based on fun usually does not disappoint.

The cast of our adventures is as follows and we are grateful to them call family. Thank you gents, road trips we will never forget: Garett Buehler, Kurt Sorge, Mike Hopkins, Eliott Lapotre, Guido Tschugg, Benoit Coulanges, Mark Matthews, Mike Jones, Brett "The Godfather" Tippie, Vincent Pernin, Max Gast and Mitch Chubey

Europe

The European tour started at Whyex studios in Freiburg Germany - tools of their respective trades

Buehler working out a long flight from BC

Black and White in the Black Forest

A quiet off-day pump track session

The journeys taken, Chaumont Neuchatel Switzerland provided the next backdrop

Big doubles in the woods can be fun and sometimes they can destroy things.....

Done blowed up

Glowing in Les Arcs

Sideways

A little effort to make it work real nice

Digging is apart of who we are, essential to fulfilling one's vision and a necessity at the black hills in Dignes-Les-Bains, France.

Up the stream without a paddle.

Lines for miles. This place is special - like Virgin, Utah...but not.

Hold on and send usually works.

It almost looks like Chubey is a funny colored tree.

Another gratuitous shot of Guido Schugg sending it.

Slashing...

One of nature's toilet bowls.

North America

Chuckanut

More Chuckanut goodness.

Benoit is a master at getting sideways and Galbraith Mountain provided plenty of repeatable places to make it happen.

Bellingham has the goods but not to make other trails jealous we were off to Canada and the border can be time consuming, so a beer was in order.

We woke up to some Vancouver Island sunshine, perfect for a day on Mt. Prevost

#Eliott likes Loam—and Shuttles.

Mark doing what Stevie would have wanted, going big.

There is a jump line at the bottom, which was sessioned this for hours.

Eliott always has his head down.

Next attempt: Cumberland trails, we tried but it did just not work.

Mark took a digger with his shoulder into a tree.

Escaping the rain to the Sunshine Coast.

Ever wonder how he does it all?

Sechelt's finest.

The trails at Coast Gravity park beg for trains.

The composure, one of our favorite photos of the trip.

Another Day Another Train

by SRSuntour

Views: 1,039 Faves: 2 Comments: 1

Beauty and Flow.

Waiting is always the hardest part Eliott.

'Til we meet again Coast Gravity Park.

The last ferry of the trip and Buehler is stoked. On to Squamish.

There is no shortage of options and rocks.

Rock rollers to start the day. Benoit nailed this line - it's way steeper than you'd think, and the end is vertical.

Maggs 99 provided Mr. Wells with a new friend.

There is such a variety in Squamish.

Tippie and Guido flowing some mellow.

Mr. Jones found the fast line on Pseudo Tsuga. So much good flow.

But wait, there's more! The 2K17 Rux World Tour is in full-swing, Follow along with us SR Suntour RWT

Locations:
Bellingham Washington; Mt Prevost (Stevie Smith's Home trails); Coast Gravity Park, Squamish BC; Les Arcs France, Chaumont Neuchatel, Switzerland; Freiburg, Germany; Dignes-Les-Bains, France.

All photo and videos: Whyex Productions

MENTIONS: @SRSuntour

Posted In:
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Author Info:

SRSuntour
Member since Oct 29, 2013
66 articles

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29 Comments

vinay FL (Jun 20, 2017 at 0:10)

Cool pictures! The big question that pops up of course seeing that this is a Suntour article, is that gearbox in the Nicolai by any chance a V-Boxx?

Cavalerie-Bikes (Jun 20, 2017 at 0:44)

Nope! lighter and better => effigear!

vinay FL (Jun 20, 2017 at 2:45)

@Cavalerie-Bikes: Cool, thanks! Is the rider there running a freewheel at the hub? PB reviewed the Anakin a while ago and they chose not to run a freewheel and ended up moaning about drag whilst coasting/jumping and the risk of rubbing your calves on the belt. But the rider in the picture here seems to be bothered

.

Curious though. I'm definitely interested in investing a bit up front in order to ditch a huge amount of maintenance (cleaning and lubing a conventional drivetrain after every messy ride) and component wear (considering the price of rear hubs, cassettes etc) but all of your current bikes have more rear suspension travel than I need most of the time. But you're teasing with a big question mark and a promising name Anatrail. So once you're ready to tell more, please publish on this website

effigear (Jun 20, 2017 at 3:47)

@vinay: He is riding a fix rear hub. About PB article I think that the rear brake required adjustment... none of our customer riding a fix hub give us this feedback.

Anatrail is on his way! J-3!

Kramz (Jun 20, 2017 at 0:22)

I feel bad I bought a white Durolux with kashima/whatever stancions, and painted the lowers black. Feels like a home improvement abortion now. Lol

trimakas (Jun 20, 2017 at 7:32)

Wow! That was one of the best series of photos I've seen. Amazing photography and amazing riding. Nice work.

picowatt (Jun 20, 2017 at 12:03)

@SRSuntour will you be re-entering the DJ slopestyle market again? an affordable and rebuildable DJ fork would be great right about now. Manitou circus is the only affordable and durable option. The Pikes are overpriced and have been having problems

SRSuntour (Jun 20, 2017 at 13:37)

@picowatt: We have something that works and works well, its not the lightest for that type of use (extreme Pumptrack use that is) but its solid. All of our slope guys are running lowered Durolux 26" forks with an extra firm negative spring which takes stress off the damper. 1 1/8" and Tapered, multiple damper options as well. Only option we will have.

picowatt (Jun 20, 2017 at 15:11)

That's cool that it woks, but that fork doesn't show up in the website. @SRSuntour:

picowatt (Jun 21, 2017 at 6:52)

@SRSuntour: Is that option available for people to purchase? Its not advertised.

Henk-K (Jun 25, 2017 at 4:12)

@picowatt: Older Durolux aren't complicated to change travel, but when I asked about negative spring i was told no. Mine wouldn't extend to full travel unless i had over 100psi in, which is way too much

Odinson (Jun 20, 2017 at 0:50)

"Durolox World Tour" - only available in North America and Europe.

Hyakian (Jun 20, 2017 at 8:05)

strong collection of riders, and that certainly does look like fun, look forward to seeing more. Rock on!

candidkumara (Jun 20, 2017 at 14:10)

What bikes are those guys riding? I can see the Knolly, the Rune and the Commencal and the Nicolai, but what other brands of bikes are chucked in there?

hance (Jun 20, 2017 at 7:02)

I had the previous generation durolux rc2 - the one with the gold stanchions.
While I really liked the over all performance (when working) - small bump sensitivity, mid support, and the ramp up during big hits is pretty nice, the reliability was another story. I am an experienced and knowledgeable bike mechanic and I've troubleshoot it enough times that I can work on it with my eyes closed. I've fixed some of the issues (damping, air spring, etc) but another problem would surface during hard usage. I really wanted that fork to work faultless but it takes so much of my time troubleshooting it. That experience made me wary of trying out the new durolux (or any suntour product) again.

loaded (Jun 20, 2017 at 7:16)

I could say the same about every Fox and Rockshox product I've ever had. Props to SR for really trying to step it up with their product... I'm ready to give them a try!

BoneDog (Jun 20, 2017 at 7:34)

@loaded: never had an issue with my fox fork. simple straight forward use of fasteners and hardware. No plastic BS, fully serviceable, easy access to replacement parts, availability of detailed drawing and part diagrams, and finally full service guide videos.

loaded (Jun 20, 2017 at 7:40)

@BoneDog: have you ever tried to service a Fox rear shock??? They are a nightmare and require proprietary tools...

SRSuntour (Jun 20, 2017 at 10:06)

@hance: It happens and yes some progress pains have been experienced. Will say that from what you were on and what is out today is different. Many internals and dampers have changed. Nothing from anyone is perfect and issues can arise, and things that get ridden hard need work yes, but we will say our support network has been built up to make sure any troubleshoot or issue can be resolved as fast as possible. We hear all, changes have been made and will continue to, we ride, we care.

Scotj009 (Jun 20, 2017 at 10:41)

I had to warranty my 2016 fox 34 4 times and eventually gave up and sold it, now running the durolux on another bike and its a million times better, i know they are different catagories of fork but the damping alone is on par if not better and its way more reliable

rynee (Jun 20, 2017 at 11:02)

@SRSuntour: I have a 2012 Durolux 26" on my full sus and am very happy with it. Super stiff, and in combination with the 20mm axle and a wide rim'd wheel it tracks perfectly. I have a PCS Auron 29" as well on my AL Honzo and could not be happier.
I love the fact that I can change the travel internally with no (Durolux) or only minor (Auron) additional cost.

Now my question is: when will the new Durolux 29" with Boost20 be available in Europe, and what will be the MSRP in Euros? Thanks!

SRSuntour (Jun 20, 2017 at 13:38)

@rynee: Soon, soon....... and similar pricing as the rest of our line

stevil-1 (Jun 20, 2017 at 2:13)

Too bad cumby didn't happen .... Such great trails and community.

vinay FL (Jun 20, 2017 at 3:56)

Yeah but then again respect to them for making it all the way there but not ride and destroy the trails in the wet.

betobi (Jun 20, 2017 at 3:38)

That vid was.....short :-(

Hyakian (Jun 20, 2017 at 8:04)

Yeah but it was a sweet train/whip sequence - probably just a tease for what is yet to come.

caradock FL (Jun 22, 2017 at 19:32)

Here's video of that sick slab table....

instagram.com/p/BG714uggL2h

tworldsmine (Jun 20, 2017 at 5:31)

Grammar Jesus wept twice. BLOWED?!

riffscreamer (Jun 20, 2017 at 7:26)

TIL Asia is not part of the World.