Bike Check: Innes Graham's Nukeproof Giga

You could be forgiven for not including Innes Graham on your pre-season list of EWS podium contenders. Until recently, he'd never raced an enduro, never mind an EWS. Yet at the first round of the Enduro World Series in the Tweed Valley, he laid his cards on the table from the off, taking a win on the pro stage on Saturday. Then he backed it up with a solid performance on Sunday that was good enough for a third-place overall result.

Living just up the road from the race venue and having shown his talent on the World Cup Downhill scene in the past, perhaps that result shouldn't be such a surprise. But while most podium-level racers are full-time athletes with factory support, Innes works as a MTB coach at the Borders Academy of Sporting Excellence (BASE) and as as a photographer. I caught up with him just before he flew out to Petzen for round two of the EWS to get the scoop on the bike he rode so very fast.

Do you want to start by telling us a bit about your racing background?

So, I started racing junior World Cups in 2013 for MS Mondraker team and continued that up until 2016, which is when I retired, you could say, and then took three years off and then returned back to mountain biking, but from a coaching perspective. That was in 2019 I started doing that fully. So I've been coaching since 2019 up until now. And I've done a couple of enduros in the last couple of months as prep for the EWS.

So no racing in that interim?

I've done two races in the last eight years. The EWS was my third race. I did national champs downhill last year and then a Scottish Euro Series race at Nevis Range, which was the EWS qualifier that got me into the pro race.

What caused you to step back from racing then? What caused you to get back into it?

Um, so I had multiple injuries while racing downhill and the worst one was a broken femur that was in 2016. So I originally just planned to rehab and recover for that. But after six months off, I kind of lost the lost the love, lost the urge to be racing. So that was the end of that.

And then I raced national champs last year, just to help out a young racer called Stan Nisbet who lives here in Peebles as well. I went down to that to help him and give him a bit of advice and just lend a hand really, and really enjoyed that. And that gave me a little bit of a fire under my ass to do more. And then at the EWS last year was when I decided that it would be really cool to see what it takes to race an EWS. So since Christmas time last year I've been head down prepping for the EWS.

Did you say last time that you partly took up racing to get some respect from the BASE students you coach, or was that a joke?

Not so much respect, but I think a big part of me racing was to have a bit of credibility and just understand the enduro discipline, which is what probably 95 to 99% of the students are now. So that was a big motivator for me, to just understand enduro. Um, and also if I can do reasonably well in it, then they might listen to me more!

Nice. You had some solid results in downhill though...

I won national champs as a junior, same year that Laurie won it as a youth rider. So that was good. And then I've won a national round as an elite rider and then had a couple of podiums as well. So yeah, it was a good run for sure.

Let's talk about the bike. So you're on a size Medium, right?

On paper, I should definitely be on a large, but I have always ridden small bikes. I find it a little bit more fun, a bit more nimble and playful here in the Tweed Valley when you've got to duck your elbows around trees. For here it's amazing. It'll be interesting to see how it fares on more long, fatiguing courses.

And the Giga is a fairly big bike. I think the wheelbase is like 1,240 mm [post interview editor's note: I was thinking of the 29er Giga, the mullet version is nearer 1,230 mm long] or something from memory, which is like the XLs I was riding a few years ago.

For sure. The reach is 455 mm, I believe. I should probably mention it's a mixed wheel or a mullet. To make the medium work for me, I've had to put a bigger dropper on it. So it's a 212 mm BikeYoke dropper in there, just to give me that good climbing position, but I can still get it slammed.

So could you not actually get the seat high enough with the stock seatpost? Or do you like the seat really out the way as well?

If I could get an even longer one, I would. More is more.

But you were saying earlier that you don't find the clearance on the rear wheel an issue when riding a 29er, so why the mullet wheels?

I've never had issues buzzing my bum on a tire. The reason I went mullet was just to have an understanding of how it rode for, again, a coaching perspective and feedback for potential clients or students who just want to know how they both react. So that's the reason that we chose to ride a mixed wheel bike this year.

And did you have a choice between the Mega and the Giga?

No, it wasn't my choice. The shop, Tweed Valley Bikes, put my name down for a Giga originally. I was gonna get the spec below and a large. But then I rode a demo XL before receiving that bike and it was way too big, it made me realize that even large would be too big for me. I had to go back to them and be like, 'Guys, sorry, I've ordered the wrong size bike'. And it kind of worked out in my favour cuz I've got the top-spec one now. Cause it was all that was available in medium.

And you're presumably happy with that choice, if it's not a stupid question, on the medium versus large - you never feel like you could go bigger?

I never feel under-gunned whatsoever. It's a 180 mm front and rear, and like I say, I only really ride in the Tweed Valley. So I'll get back to you on that after Val Di Fassa.

And you're the lower, less progressive setting on the Giga's main pivot adjustment?

Yeah. I don't quote me on it, but I think it's a choice between 25 and 29% progression.

I've gone back and forth a couple of times and also played with spring rate. We're gonna do more fiddling with that tomorrow before I leave out to go out to Petzen for the next two EWS rounds. But I'm pretty set on the less progressiveness, the less progressive setting,

Are you feeling it bottom out much?

Maybe once a ride. But I just like the super supple sensitive feel... swallow things up a bit more.

But that's why I'm gonna try and test it just to have that confidence in your head.

And we measured your sag earlier; it looked about bang-on 30%. So nothing crazy there...

Just below, just under 30%, I think. Same for the front, I have it pretty balanced: soft and fast.

And what's your thinking behind that? Have you done a lot of testing in your downhill days with rebound settings or more recently?

Yeah, we did do a lot of testing in downhill. We worked with Marzocchi pretty intensely. So we did multiple days in San Remo and stuff doing back-to-back runs, but I generally go soft. So it minimizes fatigue.

Was the setup you had in downhill along the same lines (soft and fast)?

In downhill, I rode it pretty stiff. Now I just like it to be soggy.

Less fatigue, more grip. Yeah. I guess the rebound relates to your grip a lot more - it doesn't pack down so you've always got that tire contact in the ground. Yep. You've got to balance it though, because if it's too aggressively fast, then you'll just rattle your hands off the bars gripping even tighter. So I think it can be more fatiguing at a certain point. Rebound relates to rider speed a lot as well, I think. If you're going faster, you're hitting bumps harder and you need that fork to return to fill full travel before the next bump. You've got less time between the bumps too.

Compression settings?

Wide open.

And do you know what pressure you're running in the fork?

Three tokens, 49 PSI.

Three tokens is pretty progressive for 180 mm Zeb. Do you ever get to the bottom of it?

Rarely. But occasionally. It's quite progressive but quite soft on air pressure

It says I should be on 54 to 62 PSI and I'm 49. So yeah. Considerably lower than what they say. Soft but progressive. I think the fork comes standard with one token or no tokens. Low and high speed compression is all the way out.

What's your tire setup?

Maxxis Assegais. Downhill casing on the rear and then DoubleDown on the front. It's all I could get my hands on for the weekend. We're gonna run them.

Any inserts?

I ride an insert on the rear, but nothing in the front. Tire pressures were 21 and 25 psi. Pretty standard.

I've never ridden an insert before until a couple of weeks ago. So, so far so good. Love It.

Was that like a security thing rather than ride-feel?

More so a security thing just to be on the safe side.

Do you notice much of a difference in how the tire behaves?

I genuinely prefer it so much more. Normally I'd run like 29-30 psi in the rear. Otherwise, I just hit everything and it dings the rim.

If you drop like four PSI at the tire, that's so much. Very noticeable traction.

How are you getting on with the AXS shifting?

I hate that I love it! [laughs]

Did you find it intuitive when you got on it?

I've swapped around which button does what.. so the bottom one is a harder gear.

So the reason I ask is that for every test bike I get with AXS, I have to do that before I can ride it. I don't understand why it's that way around as standard. So I'm glad it's not just me.

Yeah, because to me that doesn't relate to a normal shifter.

Otherwise proper happy with it. It just looks better, doesn't it? From a racing perspective as well, it's a lot easier in case you have like a major mechanical, so you swap a mech without doing loads of internal cables.

Can you talk us through your cockpit?

I have 7.5 mm stack under my stem, 30 mm rise carbon Burgtec bars. At the EWS in Tweed Valley, I ran 720 mm width. So it was 736 mm with grips. I like to have my hands right off the end of the grip.

Is that what you always ride?

Yeah. Standard at home. So we got some fresh bars from Burgtec, but they're exactly the same. Just cut to 750 mm this time. Try something new... I definitely actually think I'll cut these down again tomorrow morning, to be honest. Just after just doing a couple of cuties down here just from the car park test.

And do you experiment with bar height a lot?

Yeah. Quite a lot. I'm settled with this. I'm really happy with it. I went between 5 and 10 mm, but it was too extreme both ways. So the two-and-a-half and the five are perfect.

Some people don't believe me when they say I notice the 2.5 mm difference, but I think I'm just a little bit more in tune with how my bike should feel now as I've grown older. And I pay more attention from a coaching perspective. Just being more in tune with how things affect another thing. I think it's just good to be able to notice and reflect and explain.

Any other changes for the next round?

I'm gonna go up a chainring size, so 32 to 34. I was spinning out in the field at the first round and I think a bigger one would be a little bit better. I'm gonna also throw an Ochain on just to test out, keep things a little bit quieter and see if it improves the ride.

It was quite noisy at the EWS, but my rear derailleur was completely clapped out and the chain needed replacing just from use. So we've replaced the chain and mech for the next two weeks just to try and minimize that.

And your pedals, they're the old Crank Brothers Mallet 3s?

Uh, I've just bought these new ones. So they're fresh. I've not even clicked in on them yet. I did have a set of Mallets that have been on almost every bike I've ever raced. So I think I've got them in 2012 or 2013, but they died at the EWS.

Oh wow, that is amazing innings.

Yeah. Far as pedals go. As I did the bearings, about three times on them in the last 10 years. So yeah. Time for them to go.

People complain about Crankbrothers pedals not lasting, but if you change the bearings you can keep 'em going. And lastly, how do you set your cleats - all the way back in the slot or further forward?

I use the rear of the two bolt hole screws, but slammed forward. So quite far forward. I find it easier to clip in and it's easy to always get the same position with new cleats, which is the most important thing for me. Both feel exactly the same every time. If it's in the middle or the ball on my foot, I can feel a bit clumsy.

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