Rumble RideNot long ago I built myself a little Rumble play bike, from an assortment of bits and pieces I had lying around in my garage. It’s one of the 2005 Rumble frames, in medium, and it’s really surprised me just how fun it is for XC. Even though we sell the rumble as a “do it all” bike, it is true that it’s been designed to withstand some serious abuse, and therefore gets categorised more as a free ride bike, than XC.
On the front I have a Revelation with 120 mm travel, which keeps the steering nice and lively, even though it’s a bit more travel than I’m used to for pure XC. Wheels are my trusty Mavic CrossMax, which are running with big fat Schwalbe UST tyres. I have got one of the new shadow rear derailleurs from Shimano on the back there, as well as a pair of well used, but still sturdy, set of Truvativ carbon cranks. The brakes are a personal favourite, the formula K24 with a few factory fitted prototype parts. Equipped like this, it’s a really nimble and lively machine on the single track. The backend is certainly stiff, but with those wheels and tyres it’s not at all uncomfortable. The great thing is I can get out and pedal, just like on a traditional XC rig, yet things like the super short stem and height adjustable seatpost really do change the character of the bike. Ton of FunI’ve just had a word in from Jim D, who has been riding a lot recently. He’s been putting the fury through its paces and says it’s a “ton of fun Bike”.
The pic was taken at Highland in NE USA, which is about as core as mountain bike destinations go. Super technical trials, with plenty of jumps and slopestyle features. We have an open invite to go out there and ride, I might have to start looking at airline flights… AddictedJust had to share this with you, could this be a world record?
Bootlegits been a long and dusty day out here at Bootleg Canyon, 30 minutes or so outside of the sprawling city of Las Vegas. As you know this is where the Outdoor demo takes place each year, a chance for buyers, journalists and shop staff to swing their legs over next year’s hot thing. As has become something of a tradition with Mountain Cycle, we were rushed off our feet all day. While we don’t have the biggest presence here, Nor we one of the biggest brands (in terms of sales volume) there is always a queue of people waiting to try our bikes…
As expected, this year’s hottest bikes for us were the Battery and Shockwave, though we were also pleased to be getting some really positive reviews of the Fury. In many ways the Fury is the perfect bike for out here, there are some seriously challenging routes in and out of the valley. The Fury just eats those up, the only sad thing (for us as riders) was that we just didn’t get enough time to go and ride! The highlight of the day, was a guy who had been riding a Heckler for the last few years. He could not believe how much fun the Fury was, and he certainly couldn’t believe us when we told him the retail price… In OzThis weekend by grabbed the chance to take a quick trip into the French Alps, to the tiny and very beautiful mountainside village of Oz en Oisans. if you have heard of the Megavalance, them the name might be familiar, as many of these infamous trails run down into the valley. Those same trails were this weekend the host of one of the rounds of the French national championships
Our team were there again, representing Mountain Cycle with seven riders. It’s always a real pleasure to see a rack full of well used Mountain Cycles, and even better when a couple of the guys are duke it out at the top of the points series! « Newer Posts — Older Posts » |
