GT have put a big focus on centred on rider (C.O.R) approach and redefined the design of the bikes for next year. The new bikes have a complete new suspension design that GT say takes into account the way you, your tyres and your bike handle the trails.

They have designed bikes for every kind of rider, the Force for All-Mountain, The Fury for Downhill and the Sensor for Trails.

2014 Fury:

The new Fury GT boasts a complete redesign. Originally developed in 2008-2009, the revamped version is lighter and stiffer than the 2013 model and features a modern and progressive geometry and revolutionized Independent Drivetrain suspension system. For the first time ever, the GT Independent Drivetrain was completely redesigned for 2014 model.

Through collaboration with the GT Factory Racing team, GT have been able to develop an all-out fast and aggressive downhill bike. 2014 will see four versions of the bike released in team, pro and expert available in XS, Small, Medium and Large.

2014 Force Carbon:

For All-Mountain riding GT have designed the Force Carbon. The 2014 Force features all-new geometry. With a short stem, wide bars, a long front centre, and 27.5″ wheels. The Force is available at three different price points, the Team, the Pro and the Expert.

2014 GT Sensor:

The Sensor is designed for the aggressive trail rider it has 130mm of travel on both the front and rear, and premium suspension capable of riding a variety of trails. The GT Trail bike consists of a short stem, wide bars, and a long front centre. The bike also utilizes AOS for unmatched pedalling power.

Available in Carbon and Aluminium with 27.5″ wheels, once again it comes in three different price points, the Team, the Pro or the Expert.

See below for a gallery of the 2014 bikes:

For more information on the Force, Fury and Sensor visit the GT site

Mavic have been making wheels for what seems an eternity, they’ve been around since 1889, developing their first MTB rim in 1985, and they’ve become one of the largest MTB wheel companies in the world. With all that experience gained they’ve finally decided to branch out and new for 2013/14 they give us the Enduro Crossmax – Wheel Tire System. Yes that’s right, not only are Mavic making wheels they have branched out into tyres too! This ‘system’ (as in the wheel and tyre) has been specifically designed for enduro racing and they’ve had great feedback from enduro racers Jerome Clementz and Anne-Caroline Chausson, who have apparently been working very closely with the team at Mavic to ensure they have the best product for enduro racing.

The idea started at the drawing board (like every good idea does), where the team decided exactly what attributes they wanted the system to have. According to Mavic, they agreed that front and rear wheels need to be different, ultimately because they have two very different jobs, and this is where they established what they wanted from each wheel:

- Grip
- Stability
- Handling
- Comfort

- Responsiveness

- Rolling
- Traction

And of course on top of all that they needed to make something lightweight and strong. Mavic had all these things to achieve, and produced a wheel and tyre that on first impressions does a very good job of ticking the boxes…

The new Crossmax wheel is available in 26″ and 650b, but there is no 29″, the reason being that the Mavic team think that enduro races will be predominately fought on 26″ and 650b wheels.

Mavic have chosen to make the new wheels from aluminium instead of carbon: they don’t believe that there is enough of a reason to start using carbon. To save some extra weight Mavic use inner-spoke milling. There isn’t too much of an issue with weight as these wheels aren’t heavy by any stretch of the imagination, tipping the scales at 1660g (26″) and 1710g (650b) for the pair.

WHEELS:

The spokes are mounted in such a way that there isn’t any need to drill all the way through the rim, there are 24 straight pull spokes, which are cross-laced, which Mavic say is for stiffness and comfort. As Mavic are producing a tyre for a specific wheel, they are able to make the two work together. The rim width is 21c and the tyre is a 2.4, which allows the tyre to take the ideal shape.

The rear wheel spokes are mounted in the same way as on the front to keep the strength of the rim. There are only 20 spokes, however they are laced in Mavic’s ‘Isopulse’ system, which is supposed to keep strength under a lot of force.

Tires:

The tyre is made up of a very soft, slow rebound 40a rubber compound and is tubeless ready. The tread pattern has a lot of space for mud clearance with the outer knobs raised quite high to allow for a smoother transition whilst cornering. We were able to ride this tyre in a couple of different locations, and I found it to perform extremely well in mud, on slick roots and in dust too. So that’s a thumbs up. It held itself on corners, and under heavy braking in some not-too-friendly environments.

The rear is dual compound: On the inside is a firm 60a and on the outer is slightly softer 50a, to offer a little more grip in the corners. The rear tyre has been designed with pedalling in mind and for that reason it has much shallower knobs, which when combined with the harder compound makes for a faster rolling tyre.

THE RIDE:

After watching the presentation of the new wheels, I was itching to get out riding and see what they performed like out on the trail. The tracks out in La Clusaz are far from the safe tracks around my base in the Forest Of Dean, to put it lightly. I started by taking the loose corners pretty easily, but as the day progressed I found myself letting off the brakes more and more.

The front tyre was giving me huge amounts of confidence. Even when I found myself going too hot into a section, I could get away with some heavy breaking on somewhat sketchy surfaces. However, I found my back end getting out of shape all too often, and the roots my front tyre was gliding over, the rear ended up sliding off to the side. I know that the tyre’s purpose is for racing, but in the mud and rocks of, say, the opening Enduro World Series, not to mention pretty much any UK Gravity Enduro round, I can’t help but think that something more substantial in the grip department may have been a better choice. At the end of the day there’s nothing stopping you using a Charge on both ends of the bike.

In the drier conditions later in our ride the rear tyre felt incredible, it didn’t have any troubles hitting dusty corners and the speed it allowed me to carry was phenomenal (well, it was pretty exciting at the time).

We look forward to giving the Crossmax Enduro Wheel Tire System a full test in the coming months, stay tuned.

Photos: Jeremie Reuiller
Promo Video: Dominic John

Seven Intelligent Design Protection, Seven people with a Functional, Stylish, Design led approach to the requirements of male and female athletes.

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We like these grips a lot, but if we had to pick a fault with them it would be that we’d also like to see a version with some kind of half-waffle pattern. As they stand we reckon they’ll be ace in the dry, but throw in some wet and muddy conditions and we reckon they’re going to come up short in the grip stakes. You’d have thought what with Hope being UK based they’d have offered something with a bit more grip, but maybe that’s something that they’ve got in the pipeline…

Anyway, here are the tech details and a little video from Hope:

Extensively tested soft, durable and tacky rubber compound with classic grip pattern.
Optimised CNC’d billet aluminium locking rings with all unnecessary material removed.
Custom forged stainless steel fasteners reducing threads being stripped along with an ergonomic head design.
Fully moulded grip providing more surface area for hand contact.
Slip-free locking mechanism.
High impact resistant inner plastic core.
Integrated CNC’d billet aluminium end caps.

Weight: 94g pair (including all fasteners and bar ends).
Length: 135mm (including end caps).
Diameter: 30mm.
Colours: Available in translucent Black, White, Green & Red.

Price: £25.00

www.hopetech.com

 

150mm travel and
27.5” wheels to match, there’s been no half measures in the new Heckler’s development.
Legions of Heckler owners testify to the durability of the design, marching on through season after
season while other bikes at this price point simply rattle to pieces.

 

Santa Cruz offer a 5 year warranty for original owners, lifetime bearings warranty and a lifetime crash replacement warranty on all Heckler frames.

• Total frame weight: 6.76 lb (3.07 kg) M size with Fox Float CTD evolution shock.
• 6” (150mm) travel.
• 27.5” wheels.
• New 142mm x 12mm rear axle spacing – easier wheel installation.
• Collet axle pivot – locks in place without pinch bolts.
• Angular contact bearings maximize stiffness.
• Standard or direct mount rear derailleur hanger.
• ISCG-05 chainguide compatibility.
• 73mm threaded BB for creak-free riding and easy installation.
• Two colour options:
• Gloss black w/orange decals
• Gloss blue w/green decals
• Please see your local dealer for bike and frame pricing options and availability.

Price: £21.99 – £23.99

www.ison-distribution.com

The latest issue of Dirt Magazine (Issue #136) contains a big banger of a feature. One In Four. Steve Jones loaded up the Dirt van with the top four production carbon downhill bikes, the Santa Cruz V10, Trek Session 9.9, Specialized S-Works Demo and the Devinci Wilson and headed out to San Romolo in Italy.

The Parkin Bros give us a glimpse of what went on during the magazine bike test on the fast, rocky tracks of the Italian Riviera.

“Lightweight XC/Trail” is the description that Halo give these new ‘tubeless ready’ wheels which are available in all three wheel sizes. We’re going to try and get some in to test because as you’ll see below they look to be a great weight and even better price, so if they turn out to be decent they’ll be a stonking buy. We’ve got a feeling they might well turn out to be decent too as the hubs have been well proven in the past, as has the build and rim quality of other Halo wheels. Unfortunately though it looks like if you’re running a 20mm axle fork then you’re going to be out of luck with these wheels.

Anyway, below are the full specs and it’s interesting to note how there’s not actually that much weight difference between the three sizes. It’s not often you get to see such a direct comparison.

*Tubeless ready Vapour rims on superlight high performance Halo sealed bearing hubs laced with double butted spokes and precision CNC 7075 Halo alloy nipples.

26mm width double wall rims with stainless steel eyelets. Deep section T10 heat treated Niobium alloy with eye-catching graphics.

Front: XCD hub – with 15mm T-axle / 9mm QR axle kits.

Rear: Supadrive hub – with 120 point pick-up rear cassette hub with QR10mm axle as standard.
(optional extra axle T-axle kits in 10×135, 12 x 135 or 12 x142mm.)

Factory built wheel colour options:
Black: Black rim, Red hub, Black spokes and Red nipples
White: White rim, Red hub, Black spokes and Red nipples.
Silver: Polished rim & hub, Stainless spokes and Red nipples.
Red : Red rim, Red hub, Black spokes and Silver nipples.
Blue: Blue rim, Blue hub, Black spokes and Silver nipples.

26″: All of the above
27.5″: Black only
29″: Black or Silver

Weights:
26″: Front: 748g, Rear: 890g.
27.5″: Front: 785g, Rear: 929g.
29″: Front: 822g, Rear: 969g

Price: Front £124.99, Rear £194.99

www.ison-distribution.com
www.halorims.com

*Tubeless-ready rims have revised tyre bead hook/rim well and can be used with normal inner tubes & tyres OR with tubeless conversion tape systems.

This month we see a big ‘enduro’ sized gap filled, and some super fast 29′er tyres…

If you’re still sat there thinking ‘but I want something even more hardcore’ then don’t worry because as I said before Maxxis are bringing out new tyres all the time, and a little birdy told me that a 29×2.5″ Minion DHF with a Maxx Grip 3C compound will be out in the next few weeks, plus a little further down the line we’ll see both Maxx Grip 3C and Super Tacky versions of the 27.5×2.4″ High Roller II, complete with dual ply sidewalls. Now those are DH tyres if ever I’ve seen them!

Oh, and if you’re wondering what the deal is with all the different ’3C’ types then basically they all use three different compounds but are tailored to a specific task. As you might have guessed Maxx Grip is for DH use, Maxx Speed is all about…you guessed it, speed, and then Maxx Terra fits in the middle as a kind of perfect compromise for general trail use. Or do I have to say ‘enduro’ these days?

Anyway, what with Maxxis and several other companies really opening up the floodgates now on decent bigger tyres it’s really not going to be long before the selection becomes as wide as it is for 26″ wheels.

For full details on all the sizing and casing options, and the relevant prices, head over to www.maxxis-bicycle.co.uk

We loaded up the Dirt van with the top four production carbon downhill bikes, the Santa Cruz V10, Trek Session 9.9, Specialized S-Works Demo and the Devinci Wilson, filled up with travel sweets and set the satnav for the Italian Riveria.

43 minutes later after arriving at the “Italian Riveria Restaurant” in Newport, we swore at Barry the co-driver, recalibrated the satelite guidance system, paid for the three large stuffed crust margherita pizzas with side order of garlic bread, unwrapped a boiled sweet and set off again.

We did get to Italy. Honest. You can read the full test is in this months issue of Dirt Magazine, that’s number #136.
The Parkin Bros got there too. With their cameras aswell. And filmed the whole caboodle. Here’s the intro.