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

Black Recon Shorts

And the winner is….Paul Morrissey

Congrats Paul and enjoy the shorts!

Shop talk is back, this time we headed over to Hampshire to see what Crank Cycles had to say for themselves.

Who works at Crank Cycles?

Martin and Sam, plus Saturday ‘Newboy’ Dan

Who’s your old timer?

Sam – At 27 he wouldn’t class himself as an ‘old timer’ but the others may disagree!

And who’s the best person to ask for if you’ve got a set of blown forks?

Sam knows his way around a pair of Boxxers pretty darn well, but either of us will get you sorted.

How long have you been running for?

15 months.

What are your main brands?

Bikes – Kona, Nukeproof, Lapierre, and Ghost.
Parts – Raceface, Leatt, 661, One Industries, CamelBack, Fox, 100%, Urge, Endura, Renthal + Lots more!

What’s your biggest seller?

Gotta be Spicys and Zestys at the moment; everything from the humble Zesty 214 all the way up to the mountain eating Spicy 916 EI.

What would you like to be your biggest seller?

I love the personality of the big-hitting Kona’s (Operator/Entourage) so I’d love to see them going out on a daily basis (Sam).

26, 27.5, or 29″….good thing or bad thing?

We’re staunch supporters of the good ol’ 26”, and not really interested in 29ers, but gotta admit that 27.5 is looking very strong at the minute.

And what’s the oldest/most random bit of stock you’ve got?

It has got to be our prized racing delivery-trike circa 1920-something. What a ripper!

Who makes the best cup of tea?

We would say Newboy, but we recently discovered that he’s a ‘milk-before-water’ type of guy so it’d have to be the boss man Martin.

Who always rocks up late and hung-over?

Sam is most likely to be hanging but is very rarely late, Martin definitely takes that accolade.

What’s your favourite workshop tool?

The trusty hammer is a classic, but I reckon our shiny Enduro Seals bearing press is the most satisfying to use. Although we did have our ‘tyre sitter’ modelled by a customer recently so we could blag up a free calendar from Unior Tools!

Have you got a race team?

We support Thomas ‘Weasel’ Davies as part of the Kona Grassroots DH team, as well as a couple of BMXers, trials riders and a national level triathlete.

What question do you get asked most often?

Can I get you a drink?….at least that’s what I imagine happens. Realistically it’s more likely to be “Do you have an inner tube?” or “Have you got one of these…(pulls out random bolt of unknown origin)?”

Do you have a shop dog?

Sam’s Greyhound ‘Jack’ pops in every now and again, but he doesn’t know the length of his own face so he’s constantly bashing into stuff…that goes for his propeller-like tail too!

Percentage of nice customers to nightmare ones?

75%-25% on an average day, but there are always THOSE days where you get the opposite.

On that note, any funny stories you can share with us?

We do have a particularly friendly lady who comes in to see her ‘nephew’ Martin for kisses and cuddles every now and again…..

What’s the best custom bike build you’ve done recently?

Nukeproof Mega AM with full Saint groupset, Fox 36 Talas, Stealth Reverb (when it arrives!), custom wheels and other shiny shiny finishing kit. She’s mean!!

Any good tunes wafting over the shop airwaves?

DJ Sam is always on that: everything from D’n’B and techno through to atmospheric house, psy-trance, ska, blues, rock and metal; there’s always a party going off!

Staff toilet…Buckingham Palace or Trainspotting?

Meh, nothing special either way (though it does take a pasting!). It does however have quite a ‘chatty’ nature and will often pipe up (pun intended) of its own accord.

Best place to go riding locally?

For a little DH/FR, look no further than Rogate (who we support as a main site sponsor). Sam is heavily involved in the local DH scene and is always happy to give advice on the current hot-spots.
For trail bashing duties the Surrey Hills, Swinley and QE are all within easy reach.

And finally, why should someone shop at your shop?

We are a young and friendly shop with a lot of enthusiasm for all things two-wheeled. We’ll give you a smile and chew your ear off given half a chance, whilst offering the cheapest and fastest turn-around on servicing in the area.
We are also situated within a short drive of both QE park and Rogate DH, allowing for a bit of mid-ride retail therapy or a quick fix to get you back on your way if it comes to the worst.
We stock over 120 bikes, everything from kids’ bikes to race-ready DH rigs; plus all the P&A you could require from Hope, MRP, Nukeproof, Spank, Renthal, Race Face, Schwalbe, Maxxis and more.
Our extensive stock of clothing and protective’s from brands such as Leatt, Endura, Fox, 661, Giro, Bell, One Industries, Thor, 100%, Urge and others will leave you looking fast and feeling safe.

We are also the biggest Leatt supplier in the South; carrying a full range of neck braces and 3DF armour, plus the knowledge to correctly fit them for you.

We also have a great coffee machine!
Website – Facebook – Twitter

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

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To celebrate the release, Danny did a Q&A on Reddit yesterday afternoon, to answer questions from fans. Here is an insight into the project, Danny and his riding.

Q: So….how many attempts did it take to bounce from the ball to the track in your new video?

Answer: The ball front flip to the train tracks took about 250 takes…it was a lot harder on the cameraman than on me! He was having to run up and down with a steady cam. We worked out he ran about 6 Km in about 2 hours. I was dizzy by the end

Q: Hey Danny, big fan! What tips would you give to someone wanting to learn more advanced tricks in trials? Also is there anything you’ve found away from the bike that helps you develop your skills back on it?

Answer: Learning flip tricks it’s a good idea to go to your local skate park that has a foam pit, that’s where I first learned to do front and back flips. For more advanced tricks, you first have to master the basics – it’s all about working up to the more complex tricks, and they’ll come in the end.

It’s been a busy time for Danny, working solidly on Imaginate over the past few years and filming for the past six months, working alongside Red Bull he has most certainly been able to go all out on his most ambitious project to date. Director of Imaginate, Stu Thompson worked alongside Danny to bring the project to life. It’s been a long time coming, and a lot of hard work, but most definitely worth the wait. Check out the gallery below for a preview of the set of Imaginate, and some behind the scenes shots. You can take a look at more videos over at Red Bull to see what Danny had to say about the project here.

MS Mondraker team’s video has just been posted through the letterbox!

Next to fall from the World cup tree is the Specialized team video.

Followed by Hutchinson UR, with some hair snipping fun!

Next up is the Gates Nicolai Mountain bike team video.

First to feel the pull of Dirt’s gravity is the Lapierre Gravity Republic’s video.

It’s here! See the latest video from trials ace Danny MacAskill in his new riding clip, Imaginate.

You’ve seen him battle through his recovery from injury now watch MacAskill ride to glory in his most ambitious project to date.

Danny’s previous projects had always been limited by what already existed, for Imaginate he started from scratch with the only limit being his own imagination. Transforming Kelvin Hall in Glasgow to an enormous playground and training ground. From giant toys, to elephants nothing was off limits as Danny sought to create the ultimate playground for his tricks.

From the start we joined Danny as he underwent surgery for an old back injury and saw him fight back to fitness whilst undertaking his biggest personal challenge yet.

Once he was back on his bike there was no stopping him as he pushed his riding further than ever before and pulling out an arsenal of impressive new tricks. From tackling a custom built 6ft loop the loop, to front flipping over giant swiss balls and taking on a full size tank this is Danny MacAskill as you’ve never seen him before.

Imaginate has followed Danny along the way as he battled back problems and now back on form we can finally see just what he’s capable of.

Seen as his most ambitious project to date, ‘MacAskill’s Imaginate’ promises to be a move away from Danny’s previous riding clips, such as ‘Inspired’, ‘Way Back Home’ and most recently ‘Industrial Revolutions’.

Danny will answer as many questions as possible via email and video. To get involved set-up a Reddit account if you don’t already have one and send your questions over.

You can also Tune in to Red Bull to watch the Imaginate trailer to catch the exclusive premiere of a clip from Imaginate. The project has been pretty secret up until now, but will be unveiled tomorrow.