Dirtscrolls

This is it folks. If you still had any notion that 27.5 was just a fad, forget it. Giant is going all-in with the middle wheelsize and 26 and 29-inch wheels are being pushed to the margins.

By Karl Rosengarth. Illustration by Stephen Haynes.

By Karen Brooks and Adam Newman

Mach 6

Pivot showed off three new bikes at their DealerCamp oasis. First off: the highly anticipated Mach 6.

We’re at a point in mountain bike history when factors are converging to create a fresh bloom of creativity—namely, the enduro racing scene and the 27.5 wheel size. Pivot’s been working on a bike that takes advantage of “Goldilocks” wheels to dominate this new form of racing.

By Karen Brooks

Between their excursions to “adventure by bike,” the folks at Salsa have been busy making improvements to their stable. We recently covered the 2014 Horsethief and Spearfish, which both got the Split Pivot treatment. At SaddleDrive in Snowbasin, Utah, they also unveiled a host of other changes to the 2014 model lineup.

By Trina Haynes

The $1,100 Eva Comp is one of three women specific 29ers from Raleigh for 2013. While it’s true that women don’t necessarily need a “women specific” bike, they do have a few known benefits: shorter top tubes, to accommodate a shorter torso and longer legs as well as a lower stand-over height than any of the men’s frames I’ve ridden. As someone who has knocked her pelvic bone off the top tube once… ok, maybe twice. I am pretty jazzed about the vag-drop.

By Justin Steiner

By Karen Brooks

The first day of Saddledrive—a dealer and media-only event put on by distributor Quality Bicycle Producuts—the whistle sounded (yes, really) and eager attendees stampeded toward the line of waiting demo bikes in a grassy area at Snowbasin Resort in Utah. Among those were some surprise new models from Surly.

Straggler

First off, the Surly bikes. (drumroll please…) They’ve finally put disc brake mounts on a Cross Check-style steel cyclocross bike! Cleverly enough, it’s called the Straggler.

By Karl Rosengarth

Don’t call it a comeback. Titanium bikes never went away. However, that whooshing sound that titanium heard in the 1990s was carbon fiber ascending to the top of the frame material food chain.

Back in the day, titanium mountain bikes graced the catalogs of a number of big brands. Who can forget the Tomac signature Raleighs of the early ’90s?

Remedy 9.9 27.5

By Eric McKeegan

Hot on the heels of the new 29er Fuel EX and Remedy, Trek just released info on two 27.5 models, the Slash and Remedy. I first caught wind of these changes a few months ago from some insider info passed along at Dirt Fest, but didn’t have anything else to report until news broke from Trek’s European dealer event, and a recently arrived press release.

We spent the weekend in Oakridge Oregon, attending this years Mountain Bike Oregon Festival—three days on some of the finest single track the state has to offer. The trails are great! A little dry perhaps, but hardly worth complaining. The scenery here is breathtaking and I’m already in line for another run! Check back for more updates and photos as well as a wrap up in a future issue!

Quality Bicycle Products’ annual SaddleDrive dealer and media show begins today, and news is quickly leaking out about some new bikes from Surly.

These are the only photos we’ve seen so far, gathered from across the interwebs. Stay tuned for more detailed reports from our editor on the scene. 

By Mike Cushionbury 

S-Works Enduro 29

Look for our long-term review of the $3,500 Enduro Comp 29 SE in Issue #172. In it, test rider Justin Steiner writes: “Specialized singlehandedly breathed new life into the long-travel 29er category by proving these bikes can be as fun and maneuverable as they are fast and stable.”

Dave Watson tried it back in 2002 but this year the gang from Encho Rage made it stick.

After 6 months of reflection, 1 month shape, a storm the night before that drenched runway and reception, and that forced us down emergency Annecy we got there.

There are so many variables in the preparation of such a jump that 2 hours before we had a lot of doubts about its implementation.

The BC Bike Race, the top ‘Bucket List’ event for mountain bikers around the world, maintained the highest standards for courses, food, safety and fun over seven days as nearly 1,000 people (staff, participants and support) travelled through six communities before finishing in Whistler.  

By Adam Newman

Scott unveiled its 2014 mountain bike lineup this week at Deer Valley, Utah, and as notable for what was there was what wasn’t: 26-inch wheels. Aside from some entry-level hardtails and the gravity bikes, the bigger 27.5 and 29-inch wheels have steamrolled over the range and secured their stay.

By Eric McKeegan

Recently Specialized herded a selection of journalists from all over the globe to France for a chance to see the new, 2014 Stumpjumper FSR and Camber models. These bikes are the “trail” models, sitting between the cross country Epic we wrote about earlier and the all mountain Enduro we reviewed in Issue #171.

By Adam Newman

Few trends have steamrolled the mountain bike industry as quickly as enduro racing. Well, maybe 27.5 wheels, but the two seem to go hand in hand.

The also go together with the 2014 Rocky Mountain Altitude Rally Edition. Offered in both 770 MSL and 750 spec, it features the same adjustable suspension as the standard Altitude, but comes decked out in a parts kit that is ready for the enduro starting line straight out of the box.

By Mike Cushionbury

By Adam Newman

Imaginate, Episode 5

After the release of Danny MacAskill’s most anticipated film to date, the final episode of MacAskill’s Imaginate looks at some of the challenges around the project and finally lifts the lid on aspects that up until now, have been a guarded secret!

By Eric McKeegan,

Kona continues to keep moving and shaking for 2014. With additional manpower in the bike design department, we’ve seen a ton of new bikes out of the Kona camp the last few years, and 2014 looks to be no different.

Most interesting is the Process enduro line up, which replaces the 26-inch, 150mm 2013 bike with three platforms, utlilizing two wheelsizes and three travel lengths.

The Santa Cruz Super Enduro is back for a second year at the Soquel Demonstration State Forest October 11-13, with the race itself running Saturday October 12.

The Santa Cruz Super Enduro will offer a larger, more inclusive field than last year’s inaugural event. However, spots are still limited and expected to fill fast — so would-be participants are encouraged to note the registration dates on their calendars and sign up as soon as registration is open.

By Adam Newman.

Ventana has been building mountain bikes in California since 1988, one year longer than we’ve been publishing Dirt Rag. It’s no surprise that the two would go well together, and we’ve written about several models over the years, and even took a tour of the factory in Issue #161.

By Harlan Price. Photos by Margus Riga, Todd Weselake, Dave Silver, Erik Peterson

By Harlan Price. Photos by Margus Riga, Dave Silver, Erik Peterson

Day Four of the BC Bike Race Presented by Ryders Eyewear woke early for breakfast and a transition to the Saltery Bay BC Ferries Terminal where most riders jumped on a ferry to Earl’s Cove. The ferry that runs from Saltery Bay is too small to move the entire race so some riders split off to take water taxis or the seaplane provided by Harbour Air.

By Harlan Price. Photos by Margus Riga, Dave Silver, Todd Weselake, and Erik Peterson

By Eric McKeegan

Niner has been on a steady schedule of redesigning its entire line of bikes. Earlier this year it was the RIP9 and SIR9, and now the JET9 gets modernized with changes to geometry, materials and suspension travel.

By Harlan Price. Photos: Margus Riga, Dave Silver, Erik Peterson, Todd Weselake.

Check out this amazing stop-motion video by Binary: 

"Take three parts equal love for shooting photos, editing video, and riding bikes. Next toss in that nagging impulse to do something different, even if it requires hours of torturous work, and this video is what you get.

By Harlan Price. Photos: Margus Riga, Dave Silver, Erik Peterson, Todd Weselake.

Tropical hot weather has smothered the racers on the opening day of the 2013 BC Bike Race Presented by Harbour Air, BC Ferries and Shimano. With temperatures pushing 90 degrees and the humidity soaring, race co-founder Dean Payne describes day one of the BCBR as the hottest and most humid on record.

By Rich Dillen. Photos by Brendon Purdy and Margus Riga.

With Rocky Mountain Bicycle’s recent relocation of their headquarters to North Vancouver, BC, what better place to get an introduction to the all new 2014 Instinct MSL? After the official ribbon (log) cutting ceremony, we got to find out what was up their plaid sleeves.

By Jon Pratt. Photos by Adam Newman.

By Geebeebeemedia

Walking into the workshop at BTR Fabrications, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in an ironmongers, a car repair shop or a man-shed of epic proportions. Surrounded by both familiar and ‘what on earth does that do’ engineering machinery, you quickly realise you’re at the heart of where something special happens. This is where bikes are born.

By Karl Rosengarth

Team Dirt Rag will be throwin’ down at the Cheat Mountain Ultra and Ultra Lite Sunday in Beverly, W.V. The fourth race on the WVMBA Ultra Series calendar sends Ultra riders on a 40+ mile romp through the rugged Cheat Mountain Wilderness, including a 12 mile gravel road climb that should sort out the starting field in fine fashion and avoid any singletrack logjams.

By Eric McKeegan

By Gary J Boulanger. Photos by Maurice Tierney.

Yes, there were winners and prizes in multiple categories at the 19th annual Skyline Park Mountain Bike Race June 23 in Napa, Calif. Yes, there was awesome wood-fired pizza served under the big oak tree afterward. And yes, local rider Levi Leipheimer won the Pro/Expert category at the site of the 2008 Singlespeed World Championships and the 1999 Grundig UCI World Cup cross country race.

Photos by Margus Riga and Dave Silver.

The BC Bike Race is ready to roll with a stacked roster of riders ready to race the "Ultimate Singletrack Experience". Day one begins June 30 in Cumberland and finishes in Whistler on July 6.

Coldwater Mountain in Anniston, Alabama, is a signature project and the "southeast trails laboratory" of IMBA Trail Solutions, which is leading the design and construction of up to 75 miles of bike-optimized trails over the next three to five years. As of June 2013, there were already 25 miles of trail on the ground, including the Southeast’s longest continuous descent.

By Mike Cushionbury

Tom Ritchey built his first 27.5-inch wheeled off-road frameset in 1977 (which he called a 650b) as a personal bike. It never caught on at that time but now, 36 years later, the industry and many riders have begun to create demand for the in-between wheel size. Though most brands are looking towards longer travel, a few companies with roots in cross-country racing are utilizing the wheel size for that application as well.

By Justin Steiner,

With the launch of the 2014 Spearfish and Horsethief, Salsa Cycles has become the first US-based brand to license Dave Weagle’s Split Pivot suspension design. For Salsa, this partnership with Weagle is their first collaboration with an outside designer. They considered redesigning their current single-pivot platform, but ultimately decided licensing an existing design would achieve better results and mitigate potential patent infringement concerns.

Today the UCI published the calendar for the 2014 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano.

Approved by the UCI Mountain Bike Commission but subject to approval by the UCI Management Committee, the 2014 calendar will comprise nine rounds in nine different countries.

On the cover

The one and only Missy Giove was caught in action at a secret location by Abram Eric Landies.

The Dirt

Issue #171 isn’t the first time Missy Giove has graced our pages. Check out these two interviews we pulled from the archives.

Issue #33 – October 1, 1993

Issue #105 – February 15, 2004

"Missy said she wanted a picture of me with one of the MANY Schwinn cruisers that were parked everywhere. I struck a Missy pose for the photo without thinking about it on account of being such a fangirl. She said ‘Oh, I see what you’re doing there.’ I was actually so insanely embarrassed for being called on it that I aggressively feigned ignorance."

Photos by A. E. Landes, Matt Kasprzyk and Maurice Tierney.

Then and now. On the left she is showing off Gonzo, the pirahna she wore around her neck during races. 

By Eric McKeegan

Fresh of the introduction of the redesigned Fury downhill bike, GT Bikes invited journalists from all over the world to sunny Park City, Utah, to ride the new Force and Sensor trail bikes. Both bikes are fresh designs, based on a new suspension system and 27.5 wheels.

Enduro racing is riding a tidal wave of popularity right now and as any sport matures, the products and technology are getting more and more specialized.

Mavic has been investing heavily in the enduro scene with riders like Jerome Clementz, Anne-Caroline Chausson, and Fabien Barel. Today it released two new products designed specifically for enduro racing.

ROS 9

Niner pulled the wraps off its newest model today, the ROS 9, a slack, all-mountain or trail hardtail designed around a 120-140mm fork. The name—Ride Over Shit—was chosen from hundreds of suggestions from Niner fans.

By Karen Brooks