Urge To Race EWS - Video

Nov 16, 2017 at 0:23
by Urge Bike Products  
Urge BP

Urge To Race EWS reflects a 5 year-long commitment at the highest level of the sport, at the very heart of mountain biking – the Enduro World Series. Following an initial experimental year to test the waters in 2013, with our young riders selected from the French MTB talent pool, we decided to go all in. Which is why we joined forces with our Canadian friends, Rocky Mountain.

Urge BP

Thanks to a sustained team effort, the quality of our products and the dedication of our riders, the team reached heady heights in the competition over the past 3 seasons: 2nd in 2015, 1st in 2016 and 2nd again in 2017. A unique experience which unearthed some amazing talents, such as Jesse Melamed, Isabel Courdurier, Florian Nicolai, Andréa Lanthier Nadeau, Alex Cure, Seb Claquin or Rémi Gauvin. A real foundry, moulding champions who stay grounded. Here, riders from the 2017 Team unveil their personal insights into competing in Enduro racing at the highest level, giving their all for their sport and passion.

by urgebikeproducts
Views: 7,707    Faves: 7    Comments: 0


For all these riders, and after 5 years filled with constant learning, from doubts through to victories, Urge BP is more determined than ever to design the best MTB helmets, the one and only calling of the brand. Our beliefs have evolved and been strengthened, and with each passing year, we gain more certainty about the product enhancements that we should bring to the table.

Urge BP


Urge BP

The 2018 range has already benefited from this wealth of knowledge, and a wide range of new developments are on the way thanks to our experiences in this competition. This adventure has drawn to a close for us but Rocky Mountain will continue down the trail we first embarked upon with our team. We wish them and the riders branching out into new partnerships and endeavours all the best. Urge BP will always be closely involved with Enduro, but in a different way from now on.

Urge BP

Urge BP

Urge bike products, driven by our roots.

Pictures by Urge BP and Dave Trumpore.

MENTIONS: @urgebikeproducts / @RockyMountainBicycles


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Member since Feb 16, 2012
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57 Comments
  • 48 17
 nice team, nice bikes.. ugly AF helmets
  • 55 4
 Yeah, well, you know that's just like... your opinion man
  • 4 0
 I love those helmets. Fit like a glove, take a hit like Sonny Liston and they are light. Why would you bash the helmet? I have ridden a cosmetically beautiful TLD but it was heavy and hot. I feel sorry for you man, you are pretty shallow.
  • 2 0
 @Kamba6: u are the Dude Smile
  • 2 0
 @Hektor1: hajahaha you are right on those features, they are still ugly, to me. I have "ugly" helmet that grew on me though, an airoh fighter..Wink
  • 20 4
 I think a better question is why only men are interviewed in the video while there's a girl on the team (Andréane Lanthier-Nadeau) and why a ratio of 4 to 1 between the gender.
  • 9 5
 @dagen123 Good question. Not sure. Maybe more men want to race Enduro than women at the pro level? Basically, supply and demand?
  • 7 1
 @CaptainSnappy: so enduro women are in low demand because they’re so high in supply? ...lol
  • 12 0
 I'm just guessing here because I don't have anything to do with the team any more, but it looks like the interviews were shot in Finale and I believe she was nursing an injury at the time. Definitely a lame oversight, but Fred and Manou from Urge have been big supporters of ALN over the years and I wouldn't read too much into it.

As for the men:women ratio, sports marketing is a weird thing and having strict 1:1 policies would be hard to maintain effectively as a company. As much as gender politics can be a tough topic, we should explore them more on PB.
  • 5 4
 Maybe she didn’t want to get interviewed... not always the mans fault.
  • 2 1
 Yeah, I suppose that putting his head in the sand by pretending that she doesn't want visibility anyway is easier but it doesn't change the fact that no women will want to evolve in an industries where you don't give visibility to a top 5 racer.
  • 24 0
 @dagen123: Hi! Although Urge and Rocky fully supported my season after my podium in Ireland, I was technically not "on the team" because of previous budget cuts. Moving riders from one end of the earth to the other is costly $$$. Budgets have limits and decisions are made. I was not aware of this video, probably because it was shot in Finale as mentioned in comments above. The feminist within does love to see some concern about women's visibility and support in the biking industry. Cheers!
  • 2 0
 Maybe because ALN has been hurt and was not at the Italian race where this appears to have been filmed .....she is a ripping racer and if she takes the start and doesn't crash out is generally in the top 5 ...so excited to see what she will do next year ..wishing her an awesome hurt free 2018 season
  • 1 0
 @CaptainSnappy: the numbers clearly still have more pro men racing then pro women, part of this comes from the fact that there are simply more men racing then women...but that is changing, more women racing and I love the fact that the EWS always ensures that there is a platform to promote women's racing ...now it's up to the teams and sponsors to pick up and develop more female grassroots racers that are ready to take the next step...is it really that hard to have at least one female racer on your team of 4-5 racers ...still plenty of teams without a woman on their rooster...but at least times are changing ...so I look forward to seeing the 2018 teams and I hope to see some of the girls that did well last year being picked up by a team so they can really shine instead of scrape by
  • 5 0
 Why wasn't Andréa Lanthier Nadeau included in this piece? Being ranked 11th overall in the 2017 EWS as a member of the RM/Urge team seems worthy enough to get photos included or be interviewed, regardless of gender.
  • 8 1
 It urges me to write something about ugly helmets.
  • 4 0
 Summary Enduro is awesome we created an awesome team we love with Rocky Mountain, we love Enduro it is what we do Just not with Rocky Mountain. Really it is us not you. Lol
  • 8 3
 Good to see RM hooks up Frodo some capable rig for his travel to Mordor.
  • 5 2
 I also cannot get out of my head that Jesse looks like Frodo, lol! I thought it was just me!
  • 3 1
 Serious question: how the hell does RM financially justify a 4 man EWS team? I'd estimate that must cost in the region of half a million bucks
  • 18 0
 Economy of scale. If you're going to the effort of supporting one rider, 75% of the work is already done for the other 3...
  • 5 0
 If you're in a highly competitive industry dominated by big brands you basically need to have the capital for this kind of advertising. To not be present in the media guarantees you'll never grow outside of your home market.
  • 3 0
 I cant remember the last time i seen a Rocky mountain on a trail over here, At £4500(6000USD) for a slx/xt build slayer that wont be changing soon either. I imagine they sell quite a few more back in Canada/USA tho with out our silly import duties...
  • 2 0
 there is a clue in the massive price of there bikes. like the fact urge have not followed the mx style of helmet design, it is mtb specific ,a bit Marmite though
  • 4 1
 @willaasss: i have a 2016 Maiden and 2017 slayer and they are great, very understated bikes in the UK. It is a similar price the the carbon 2018 Nomad with comparable spec, Rocky Mountain just dont have much of a following in the UK but they do produce awesome bikes, i have owned them for over 13 years.
  • 3 0
 @frampo: I'm not knocking them in the slightest fella. I'd love a BC edition Instinct or a Slayer! I haven't long got back from a Whistler trip(sept), i could have bought one out there and payed for the hol for the same price near enough you buy them here in the UK....

A mate flew to the US recently to pick up a IBIS again for the same reasons.
  • 1 0
 @frampo: well there is very little amount of slayers imported. i want one badly.
  • 2 0
 @willaasss: I live in Canada, albeit in Ontario, but I very rarely see any of their bikes. I imagine for the same reason as you've stated. I wanted to buy one, but couldn't justify the premium on the purchase price.
  • 2 0
 @willaasss: i completely agree with what your saying are price comparisons from canada but most prices are published without the sales tax and when you work it out with import tax and VAT added in the UK if you were to get caught it will work out the same or more expensive plus manufactures are aware some people do travel to buy their bikes cheaper so dont always allow the warranty to be carried to a different country.

oh and go get yourself a rocky you wont regret it!!
  • 1 0
 @trauty: if your after one and they dont have one available speak to greenover the uk distributor as they may be able to get one on the next delivery! its an awesome bike and i love mine, rides very similar to my maiden.
  • 1 0
 @frampo: lol If only the price was right... ;-)
  • 2 0
 @cky78: I've owned 'em since '98 (still have that bike as wall art...when do you see "Made in Canada" these days?!). My experience with service and warranty is stellar. And..compared to Trek, SC, Devinci or any other major brand, price seems on point these days... They are all equally expensive! Frown
  • 2 0
 @willaasss: I am a hour away from their home and I never see a Rocky Mountain bike! ! !
  • 2 0
 Just depends where they want to put marketing dollars. I would argue that the Transition supported team of the Seagrave's DH team is the same concept.
  • 3 0
 @willaasss: their three best sales regions in order:

1. Western Canada
2. Washington and surrounding states
3. Germany
  • 1 0
 @MX298: I see them all the time: underneath local riders, at LBS's like Lynn Valley Bikes, and Comor NV, being loaded into the RM demo van outside the RM office down the hill and sometimes a few pre-sale goodies in the Godfather's garage.
  • 1 0
 @MX298: That's because Transition is where you are and their prices are excellent (along with their bikes). I have both a Scout and a Thunderbolt (Built more like BC Edition) and both of those ride Mt Seymour and Fromme technical trails with no problem. Yes, the Scout is better price (not a carbon frame) and a fantastic bike and therefore you'll find them more than RM bikes even in Vancouver.
  • 1 0
 @j-t-g: that's quite interesting. I live in Germany and raaarely ever see a Rocky Mountain. But based on media coverage and the awesome bikes they brought out recently, it seems their popularity is growing again.
Over here it's mostly Canyon, Specialized, YT and Santa Cruz out on the trails.
  • 1 0
 Some rough maths:
RRP mean average of a RM bike roughly $4000
Trade/distribution price roughly $2000
Cost price to RM after parts, build labour, logistics and other overheads roughly $1000


So let's say they clear $1000 in profit average per bike.
To break even on a $500,000 marketing project, they'd need to sell 500 bikes with an average retail price of $4000.

Just doesn't seem like much of a return.

I also don't think that the costs of running a 4 man team would be any cheaper than 4 times the cost of a 1 man team. Plane tickets, hotel rooms, bikes and kit - you don't get bulk buy discounts for any of them. You might save a few quid on hire cars, but that's about it
  • 1 0
 @IllestT: What about logistical and management costs? someone needs to be paid to wrench on bikes and facilitate all the things you mentioned there.
  • 1 0
 @j-t-g: hah, I was actually being generous with figures. In reality, I suspect it's more like closer to 1000 high end bike sales are required to recoup the costs of running a 4 man EWS team (plus mechanic and manager).
It just seems like a financial loser
  • 2 0
 @MMOF: it's funny you say that because our local EWS qualifier enduro had no transitions. All the local fast guys ride something else!
  • 2 0
 @willaasss: Here in Alberta, id guess every 4th or 5th bike i see on the trail is a Rocky.
  • 3 0
 lol drove to the Forest of Dean in England today for a change(and it was raining in Wales ha) and I seen one! Nearly shook the guys hand! Ha

Good to hear there's a few about!
  • 2 0
 @willaasss: bought my first RM this year (altitude) and thought I was being all original, turned up in Hamsterley the other day and met a lad in car park with the exact same bike. Also had the exact same look of disbelief!!

Awesome bike....
  • 1 0
 @MMOF: I've had a few Rocky's over the years and am currently on an Intense. I am a Vancouver rider and see the odd Transition, which I like, but I must see 50 to 1 RM's. If I head down to Galbraith in Bellingham it's different. Lots of Transitions, Konas and Evils. Some Rocky's. Lots of people ride the regional brands it seems but Transitions outnumbering Rocky's in Vancouver? Not even close.
  • 2 0
 @greg1: Actually you're correct. I rode Seymour and Fromme this past weekend and the more I look around, there are actually quite a number of different RM bikes riding. I did see a bunch of Patrols and a couple of Scouts and the DH guys had a mixed bunch with some Transitions thrown in. The trail riders (up and down) were a mixed bag with Giant, Kona, Norco, Ibis, Specialized (including 3 e-bikes) including RM and Transition, etc. So yes, there are more RM than Transition on the North Shore, so thanks for correcting me.
  • 4 0
 Is this the equivalent of a break up text??
  • 2 0
 Great vid! .... 19:56 - Miranda Miller = Best. Congrats to her on a killer season! Congrats to RM team and especially @jessemelamed!
  • 4 1
 "Isabel Courdurier", really?
  • 1 0
 Love this team! Hope Rocky Mountain can or has found a new partner that will keep the team going and at the top of the standings.
  • 1 0
 RM just had a 2-day demo in Bentonville, Ar. I suspect we'll start seeing more in the midwest
  • 2 0
 I was bummed not to see ALN on this video!!!
  • 1 1
 Lol I was wondering what that ugly-a** helmet Jesse Melamed was wearing not too long ago
  • 1 0
 Meant to reply
  • 1 1
 Next thing people will come ou t with Enduro hair cuts .????????????
  • 1 0
 Jessie is the boy







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