Coming soon to a Trail near you

Around this time of the year there's a silent undercover frenzy in the bike industry. News of next seasons models break into the public arena via "leaks", press previews and product launches to distributors and dealers. As a self-confessed bicycle junkie I love this time of year although I must admit I also feel a bit jaded. However for the most part I look forward to what's new - especially from the smaller companies with limited advertising spend.

There are many launches that tout the "latest revolution" in mountain biking (let's face it the road bikes just don't factor in, although some "wow" us!), generally this relates to suspension design but most relate to nothing more than refinement of an existing design packaged in a new colour scheme and graphics dreamed up by the marketing guys. See, I told you I was jaded, maybe 'cos I was in that industry for many years or maybe cos like you I'm also a consumer of sorts. More over I need to know what's up so we can keep abreast of the industry and what we offer our customers.

Kona have refined the same same 4-bar linkage suspension design over a decade of improvements eaking out better performance year on year. Some swooping downtubes (now copied by almost everyone it seems) some years ago breathed new life into the classic conventional look. For 2008 Kona have really pulled out the stops and released the MAGIC link suspension design. Debuting on the awesome CoilAir (see pic above) the Magic link concept is quite "revolutionary" in that it the suspension self-adjusts according to rider or terrain inputs. It's takes quite a bit of explaining so I'll leave that for another time, suffice it to say that this is a major leap forward for Kona and interprative suspension design. We're hoping to get hold of some of these bikes toward the end of the year.

Of further interest to BikeHut is what GT and GIANT are up to according to some internet reports and leaked press releases. Rocky Mountain are laying low and are one of the few companies that almost stick to model years. If you think about it, it's absurd buying a 2008 model bike in the middle of 2007 (well almost). No other industry has this kind of approach. When did the motorbike or motor vehicle guys ever do this? I reckon it's daft and confusing when most of the time there's nothing more that a new lick of paint and restyled graphics from this year to the next.

No doubt you know that GIANT are Mr. Huge in the bicycle industry and their Meastro suspension bikes are good value and excellent performers so far, but there's always been a mismatch with the travel options they offered. GIANT seemed to ignore the fact that the 4" travel Trance range was screaming out for more travel, or at least another model with the same lightweight frame design. New for 2008 is just such a bike with a redesigned frame too, the Trance X - resulting in a weightloss and travel gain.

If you've been reading my blog you'll know that I reckon 5" travel is ideal for most riders around here. Provided that suspension design is efficient, a 5" bike can really do it all in SA. 6" travel bikes round these parts are mostly overkill, although the Reign bikes did a good job for all we sold too, especially if they wanted to push their boundries technically.

GT have long been in my bicycle stable from way back in my BMX days. The iDrive design is so underated in SA it's almost a shame. I rode various incarnations for a few years and even raced some Downhill for a time. For next season GT are relaunching the iDrive system as "Independent Drive" - dunno why but there you go. Marketing guys at work again and as asual changing a name when the system stays the same. Ah well - the new Sanction 6" travel bike is beautiful tho. That's not something you could really say about the previous years designs, apart from the Carbon iDrives that is. Interestingly there's two versions of the new 6" travel GT long-travel cross-country trail bike: one for light freeride and one for lightweight long travel. Guess which one I think's best for SA. Yup, the latter.


Seems like the big bike companies are really starting to finally pay attention to what the smaller guys are up too and what many riders are asking for - more travel and lighterweight chasis for genuine all-day all-terrain riding. Consider that Rocky Mountain had the Slayer for a few years now and Kona the Coiler/CoilAir since 2005. Things are looking good for trail riders!

The scent of a new season

What a winter. Those few sunny, berg wind wonders definitely keep the mind hopeful of better riding conditions! Especially if you braved the mud in Stellenbosch over the weekend. I hear someone has put a price on Meurants head. As if he could possibly have planned the deluge that made some of the course more like a monster truck rally mud pit. Ah well it seems that it's just human nature to want to pin the blame on somebody! Afterall somebody put a gun to your head and made you ride didn't they?

The one thing I always liked about mountain biking was that it was fairly unpredictable. Even well ridden trails can be a complete contrast when wet or even ridden the other way round. Take your regular route and ride it in reverse. Not sitting backwards of course (that would be something special) but riding in the other direction. That trail will be like a new adventure. Same distance, same trail, different rush. All of a sudden riding can be fresh and invigorating. That's a pretty important thing to consider when drumming up the motivation to tear yourself away from the arm chair you've occupied all winter! Afterall, thinking of riding your local route for the umpteenth time can be pretty depressing.

Heading off to new trails can always be a great way to get yourself into the riding mood. It may even require a bit of training to get you prepared, but with the thought of new dirt to buzz always helps get the legs moving. So get planning - there's a long weekend coming up and there are trails to be ridden!

I've got my eye on some myself!