Slack Randoms: Hydraulic Bikes, Bears 'Chasing' Mountain Bikers & More

Apr 23, 2021 at 9:32
by James Smurthwaite  
We use Slack as our workplace communication tool at Pinkbike and we have a #randoms channel which we use to share an assortment of videos and stories from all corners of the cycling world and beyond... We thought a couple of the moments from the past week were too good not to share with a wider audience, so here are some of the highlights.



A New Competitor for the Grim Donut


If you think flip chips are an innovative way to change your bike's geometry then you're lightyears behind Colin Furze, a perma-enthused YouTube inventor who has just revealed his latest project, the hydraulic bike. This franken-frame uses hydraulics in the fork and front and rear triangle to offer a near-infinite amount of geometry adjustment but, as Colin finds out, a pretty narrow spectrum of functional settings. The whole build process is very cool but the actual riding section starts at 7:36 for those of us who just want to watch the madness unfold.


A Bear ‘Chasing’ a Mountain Biker


bigquotesA quick reminder that Montana is not Disney Land... Black bear chasing a downhill mountain biker in Whitefish, MT—Montana Knife Company

Here's a clip that has even made it on to tabloid sites such as the Daily Mail and TMZ this week. Shot by the Montana Knife Company, this video, which was shot last summer but only posted this week, is claimed to show a bear chasing after a mountain biker on a trail. We're no animal behaviour experts but if you ask us though, the bear doesn't look to be that aggressive and could just as easily be running away from a rider above it. What do you think?


Greg Minnaar's Honda RN-01


Scroll through these photos for a look at Greg's Honda RN-01, one of the very last ones left in existence. Yep, still looks great.


A Wild Pair of Road Cycling Shoes


You'd better be pretty fast if you're thinking of wearing these.


Audi Nines on Snow


Audi Nines isn't just a biking thing and it actually started as a snow competition a few years before the dirt event. Here are the video-game-esque highlights from the 2021 edition.


A Skier on Fire


‘In Skier en Feu’ is a powerful visualisation designed to raise awareness on the impacts climate change will have on mountain sports.


The Classic 'Jib' MTB Film


bigquotesJIB from 2002 captures the brief period where urban freeriding was at its peak. Mountain biking without mountains, as director Thor Wixom put it. The trend didn't last long, but it was spectacular while it did. Lots of broken parts and one of the best crash sequences ever. (Video posted with permission of Thor Wixom.)


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100 Comments
  • 132 0
 That bear is a stravahole! Just look at him cutting across the trail.
  • 144 1
 Must be a french bear.
  • 41 5
 @nozes: indeed, that was just Yoann Barelli disguised as a bear. He loves to do that sometimes...
  • 20 0
 @danstonQ: Same hair, but Yoann and ahole definitely don't belong in the same sentence
  • 95 1
 @danstonQ: Are you suggesting it was Yoann Bearelli?
  • 5 0
 I bet one of the KOM that trail that day. Either the rider was riding like hell from the bear or the bear cheated by crossing the trail.
  • 3 0
 Flag that ride.
  • 10 4
 @jdendy:

French crêpe recipy:
PS: sorry for the translation / ask your friend Google :-/

FIRST:
250 g de farine tamisée ou fluide
4 oeufs
450 ml de lait légèrement tiède
2 c. à soupe de rhum ambré ou de fleur d'oranger, ou 1/2 verre de bière blonde
1 c. à soupe d' extrait de vanille ou 1 sachet de sucre vanillé
2 c. à soupe de sucre
1 pincée de sel
50 g de beurre fondu

THEN:

Faites fondre le beurre au micro-ondes et faites légèrement chauffer le lait qui doit être à peine tiède (ça évite les grumeaux)
Mélangez la farine tamisée, le sucre, le sel dans un grand bol. Vous pouvez remplacer 50 g de farine par la fécule de maïs pour plus de légèreté
Ajoutez les oeufs, le beurre fondu, puis progressivement le lait, en battant avec un fouet bien pour éviter la formation des grumeaux
Ajoutez la bière ou le rhum, ou encore l'eau de fleur d'oranger, la vanille et laissez reposer 30 minutes avant d'attaquer la cuisson
Faîtes chauffer une noix de beurre dans la poêle et disposez une louche de pâte
Faites cuire vos crêpes de chaque côté, qu'elles soient bien dorées
Au fur et à mesure, réservez dans une assiette en couvrant avec une feuille de papier aluminium pour les garder chaudes et moelleuse. Vous devriez obtenir entre 15 et 20 crêpes avec une poêle de 20 cm de diamètre.

HAVE FUN, your kid's gonna love that Smile

Cheers / bisous
  • 4 1
 I'll take, snakes and spiders any day of the week...
  • 2 0
 @nozes: defiantly not a Care Bear
  • 2 0
 @danstonQ: thanks. Funny after studying Japanese and Arabic for a couple of years, I can look at this and recognize half the words.
  • 3 0
 @uci please ban this hairy cheater!
  • 1 0
 @CSP: No chance. Never. No way.
  • 1 0
 I posted the actual story about the bear video below, Note; It may look like I was riding a Session but it was a Glory.
  • 3 0
 @CSP: I guess it's what you're used to, I grew up around black bears like this one, would rather deal with them. I've actually met one head on on a trail, he couldn't get out of there quickly enough.
  • 1 0
 He's Jo... The focus bear.
  • 49 0
 colin furze has great chaotic neutral energy, a banging taste in video soundtracks, and several maniacal 'bike' builds on his channel. check him out!
  • 7 0
 Chaotic good? Smile
  • 6 0
 Engineering genius & comedy gold :-D
  • 9 0
 Yeah i feel like he would deserve a front page article with that monstrosity!
  • 7 0
 He also has a hoverbike - which is the future of MTB clearly
  • 1 0
 His drift-trike series is very satisfying. Perhaps MTB should adopt safety ties.
  • 13 1
 I just want to see Sam Pilgrim ride the thing. Also, the collab video between those two guys would be the best kind of carnage.
  • 3 0
 I loved the simplicity of the bike frame made of giant springs.
  • 1 0
 @dcreek: Hoverbike is just air cushioning with more steps.
  • 6 0
 He has some old school BMX flatland skills as well! www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMS-u8iWiZU
  • 32 0
 no expert, but the bear does not seem to have any interest in the biker....just seems like a bear running and there happens to be bikers around
  • 12 0
 ...bear was probably running from the drone
  • 11 1
 @SATN-XC: Bear probably wanted to shred some flowy singletrack, but damn bikers kept messing with him.
  • 6 0
 @SATN-XC: That was shot from the lift, not with a drone.
  • 29 0
 I am the biker in the bear video. It was actually in the fall of 2019 on a stag party in Whitefish, MT, filmed from the chairlift by a nice couple from Texas. I don't know how this knife company got it but it seems to have made it big! I passed the guy eating berries on the side of the trail, didn't think anything of it (I live in Golden, BC there's lots of bears around) I heard some shouting and looked back and saw him cutting corners. After the video ends: Kept my shit together and rode fast through a couple more switchbacks, I saw him a couple times but thought I lost him eventually. Stopped right before a corner /berm and he came flying out of the bush and railed right into the berm at top speed, took off down the trail and never saw it again. Ran into this couple at the bottom later in the day and they showed me the video.
  • 33 4
 I would have Pooh'd myself if that bear chased me! Yes I recycled that joke off instagram. #dadjokes
  • 14 1
 I can bearly contain my laughter
  • 22 1
 Ah, knife maker from Montana subtly suggests that knifes are needed in Montana for your safety? Shocked I tell you.
  • 40 1
 Anyone buying a knife for a defensive fighting weapon against bears is a f*cking idiot, and on an unrelated note I have some "knives" I'd like to sell to those goobers.
  • 2 0
 @Peally: gotta have the domesticated cat mentality! carry a Rambo knife to act like it should be scared of you
  • 8 0
 @Peally: I mean, of course. But selling stuff by suggesting, or even explicitly inciting, fear has been effective since the dawn of advertising, whether is is logical or not. Also, there's an angle of 'Montana is tough, look at all the tough stuff here'. Lots to unpack with that tag line and video. But a 'hey look, there's a bear running down a hill in it's natural habitat', just doesn't have the same juice for a social media post.
  • 1 0
 @FMHUM: Absolutely, but damn does stupid marketing get real old.
  • 2 2
 Bear spray...pfft. I got my trusty Montana knife. If a bear has the coyuns to mess with me, imma gonna get up in there and stab him.
  • 1 0
 @Peally: unlike the people that believe it and encounter an actual bear
  • 2 0
 @ReformedRoadie: I would pay money to see that, but probably only Once cus yalla would be bear scat.
  • 1 0
 @Mac1987: I encountered many many many bears within a few feet of me. Big giant f*cking black bears that were quite brown. None of them ever gave 2 shits about me. I walked back the other way...they either didn't move, kept doing what they were doing, or walked the other way.
  • 2 0
 @DhDWills: I was talking about the stupid marketing Peally was referencing, making people they have a chance against a bear and that fighting is a good option. Proper education about smart behaviour around bears works much better.
  • 2 0
 They come on handy if you get tangled in your bike during a crash so you can stab yourself free
  • 12 0
 The spirit of enduro is strong in that bear.
  • 11 0
 JIB deserves individual article IMO.
  • 3 0
 Did you see how many crashes were caused by bikes just breaking? JRA, man...
  • 10 0
 Put a GPS on the bear. Guaranteed to get the KOM with the French lines.
  • 6 0
 If you're skipping straight to the riding on Colin Furze's video, you're missing out, the guy's hilarious and has got some serious fabrication skills. I had to laugh at all those hydraulics, but cable operated disc brakes.
  • 1 0
 Oh all the things not to have hydraulics.. breaks lol
  • 1 0
 Don't forget the one-piece/ashtabula cranks!
  • 3 0
 Screw your parktools and enduro bearing presses. That Colin dudes tools are literally what I dream of. Bike tools seem elementary toys compared to tig machines, lathes, hole saw dies for pipe notching, tube benders, and laser cutters.
  • 5 0
 For the price of an abbey tools chain breaker you can just buy a used lathe.
  • 4 0
 Speaking of old mtb films - does anyone have a line on ‘Run for your life 2’ a Darren Berrecloth and friends film? Tried YouTube and Google, already...
  • 3 0
 i live in north ashevile north carolina USA aka black bear capital of the known universe. i have black bears in my yard weekly. that bear looked unaggressive to my experienced eyes.
  • 1 0
 I'm not sure that bear is "chasing" anyone. Seems more like it's spooked and running away. There is another rider coming down the trail above it at the beginning of the clip.
The way the clip ends makes it hard to figure out if it just kept going downhill or if it turned on trail to follow the rider.
  • 5 0
 Colin Furze flippin' switches!
  • 1 0
 Bear got the shit scared outta of him by both the rider and the aerial craft; then bolted downhill making it somewhat appear he was trying to chase the rider.

Or for those that have poor judgement, the Bear thought the bike was a Rotwild and wanted it for dinner.
  • 1 0
 Quoting myself - "i don't like the shoes either" - an yeah i knew what they were inspired by because...you guessed it...i dig aircraft history.

still, someone (who i may think is tasteless) will buy them

and no amount of anyone "breaking it to them" will change that
and you will still sound just as stupid trying to hate on them from your soapbox.

So I stand by my point.
  • 3 0
 The Bear was the riders pet, he obviously decided to leave the dog at home and bring his Trail Bear along for his ride.
  • 3 0
 Came for the RN01, and was sorely disappointed.
  • 2 0
 They look so steep and short nowadays.
  • 4 0
 @CustardCountry: Don't care, beautiful-est creation ever.
  • 1 0
 Ditto... was it clickbait by the thumbnail on the main page??
  • 2 0
 Whitefish is one of the mountains that i didn't feel comfortable riding alone, for that reason
  • 1 1
 Yeah I ride with bear spray on the trails down just below the park. I saw some locals doing it...so I did it Smile
  • 4 0
 Colin Furze is hilarious
  • 1 2
 There is another video on Youtube of a Grizzly definitively chasing a Mountain Biking down a trail (www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0pO79YkvY). Rather surprising that the Grizzly did not catch him, but rather just kept pace (Grizzlies and Brown Bears can move really fast if they want to, 35mph is not unusual). Being based in Alaska I always carry a large volume bear spray with me as these beasts are always around but they generally like to keep to themselves and avoid people. Never run away from a bear, it'll catch you. Get behind something big or make yourself look big and always bike or hike with a group. Fun fact, there are allegedly 300 Black Bears and 60 Brown Bears in Anchorage Alaska alone (and far more Moose, about 1600).
  • 1 0
 Now moose will fuck you up
  • 1 0
 @DhDWills: They certainly will, especially if it's a cow with a calf (spring) or a bull during mating season (fall).
  • 1 0
 That bike of hydraulics is so cool! If each of the hydraulics was marked for the length and angle that could be an awesome prototyping test pig
  • 2 0
 Chromag bear don't take no crap...
  • 2 1
 All this hydraulic masturbation without any... hydraulic dropper post with external routing??? I quit.
  • 2 0
 Excuse me, but that man is on fire.
  • 2 0
 Reach numbers are getting ridiculous
  • 2 0
 Black bear, whatever, now if it was a Brownie...
  • 2 0
 jib...saw that flick countless times! great memories
  • 2 0
 I was supposed to be in it, but I was working instead. What a mistake that was. That schwinn straight 8 that danny swan is riding is currently hanging in my garage. Those we're definitely good times.
  • 1 0
 Colin Furze's inbox flooded with messages from the lowrider bike community in 10.... 9..... 8....
  • 2 0
 Is it La-key or Lake? Asking for a friend
  • 1 0
 Up voted for a friend.
  • 2 0
 That bear has seen a lot of trail dogs
  • 1 0
 I cant wait until the day some one puts any level truck hydraulics on a bike.
  • 1 0
 Until I saw those Lake Road Bike shoes, I had no idea that LIBERACE was even a cyclist !! lol
  • 1 0
 Hydraulic Bike FTW! That thing was hilarious, ingenious, and freaking awesome. Talk about a geometry test rig.
  • 1 0
 Ah Jib. Looking forward to Thor's intro monologue. IIRC, it's a classic.
  • 2 0
 What's an Ellsworth?
  • 1 0
 Someone has too much time on their hands.
  • 1 0
 Is it you?
  • 1 0
 Where is the Honda???? I just see Greg’s upper body...
  • 1 0
 Bike companies should use it to rapidly test new geo
  • 1 0
 New downhill bikes adjustable geo while you ride lol Thanks colin furze
  • 1 0
 Danny swan was king of the huge stair sets!
  • 1 0
 It is always good idea to rewatch ‘jib’ - this thing never get’s old
  • 1 0
 I couldn't bear to watch the 2nd video.
  • 1 0
 noice
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