FAST VS FUN? SCHOOL’S OUT! AUGUST 2023 l mbr.co.uk RIDING OUTFITS RATED BARGAIN BOMBERS Best value play bikes on test from Canyon & YT HOT NEW BIKES FROM PIVOT, COTIC SPECIALIZED AND RAGLEY FAST VS FUN? Mullets & 29ers go wheel-to-wheel BOSCH’S NEW LIGHTWEIGHT MOTOR And become a faster rider THINK LIKE A RACER Give your kids the best summer ever!
BIKES IN THIS ISSUE Canyon Torque Mullet AL 6 94 Cotic Flaremax Gold XT 38 Intense Tracer 279 20 Intense Tracer 29 20 Pivot Firebird Pro 75 Pivot Shuttle LT 29 Team XTR 30 Scott Genius ST 900 Tuned 74 Sonder Signal ST GX 72 Specialized S-Works Epic World Cup 42 YT Industries Capra Core 2 GX 98 BIKES & GEAR FEATURES O N T H E C OV E R 30 FIRST RIDES Pivot Shuttle LT 29 Team XTR, Ragley Big Wig Race, Cotic Flaremax Gold XT, and Specialized S-Works Epic World Cup 72 LONGTERMERS The Sonder Signal, Pivot Firebird Pro, and Scott Genius ST 900 Tuned report in after another dusty month on the trails 76 PRODUCT Reserve 30 HD Wheelset, Rapha MTB Trail Hip Pack, Leatt Airflex Hybrid Pro knee pads, POC Oseus VPD knee pads, Fizik Tensor Flat Team Edition shoe, Hope Dropper Post Lever and more tested O N T H E C OV E R 82 TESTED: JERSEYS AND SHORTS Summer’s here and we’ve got five outfits to keep you looking and feeling good O N T H E C OV E R 90 BIKE TEST: MULLET PLAY BIKES Whether you’re racing or playing atthe park,the Canyon Torque and YT Capra will see you through; check outthe head-to-head enduro battle O N T H E C OV E R 48 TRAINING WHEELS Riding with your kids is a awesome, here’s how to nurture their skills, encourage progression, make the rides work, take them racing, develop girls mountain biking, and – above all – have fun 56 INTERVIEW: OWEN PEMBERTON It’s time to get technical, we chat to Forbidden Bikes founder and engineer Owen Pemberton about the high-pivot idler design, geometry, suspension set-up and loads more HOW TO O N T H E C OV E R 66 SKILLS: RACECRAFT PART 3 Dirt School’s Innes Graham is a veteran when it comes to racing at a top level, he’s got the skinny on how you can prepare for race day and control the controllables REGULARS 12 BIG PICTURES 16 THE BUZZ: SHEFFIELD Ride Sheffield has done it again, rebuilding the DH3 trail at Grenoside with volunteer-only donations, and a lot of hard work 106 COLUMN: GUY KESTEVEN How to stay calm when when the race is on, p66 The slickest mullet on the singletrack, p90 Forbidden fruit: picking the brains of the Owen Pemberton, p56 Taking the Pivot Shuttle LT out for an inaugural spin, p30 AUGUST 2023 mbr 9 ISSUE 292 AUGUST 2023
E D I T O R ’ S L E T T E R MEET THE TEAM Decades of riding and writing about bikes goes into every issue, this is who we are... DANNY MILNER EDITOR Been hooked on mtbs since the late ’80s, and testing them for three decades. Dream ride? Lush Oregon singletrack MICK KIRKMAN CONTRIBUTOR Spent years racing BMX, then 4X and DH, and is still ultra competitive. Has been testing mountain bikes and products fortwo decades. ROO FOWLER CONTRIBUTOR Photographer Roo will destroy mostriders up, down and along any trail, even with 15kg of camera gear strapped to his back. mbr.co.uk facebook.com/MBRmagazine twitter.com/mbrmagazine youtube.com/user/MBRmagazine instagram.com/mbrmagazine S ome of my strongest childhood memories revolve around riding a bike. That time we moved house and I rode head-on into a tree in front of all the other kids in the street. Pretending to be a Californian Highway Patroller aboard a Harley cruising around a model street system complete with working traffic lights in North London. And that soulcrushing moment when I went to a BMX track with my new Grifter and the other kids sneered that it wasn’t actually a BMX at all. I could go on. Bikes equalled freedom as a kid, even if it was just riding around the block, they opened the door to the world beyond my front door, and adventures at every turn. As the schools break up for summer holidays, this issue we take a look at ways to maximise the magic of bikes in your kids’ lives. We’ve got tips on motivation, practical ways to keep the whinging at bay, and advice on well-designed kit that doesn’t cost the earth. We’ve even covered five great spots for riding with your kids. I’m going to need all the tips and more, because my seven year-old has refused, point blank, to ride his bike for several years now. Although it could be something to do with all the scars I’ve collected over the years. My goal this summer is to inspire just a tiny bit of the passion I have for riding a bike, and hopefully create a few memories that will stay with him into his adulthood. Hopefully you will be able to do the same with your kids. Editor, mbr School’sout! Keep your kids entertained and your sanity intact this summer SUBSCRIBE TO MBR FROMONLY £25.99 Turn to page 46 for details ON THE COVER It’s good to Torque: JD tests Canyon’s park bike against the YT Industries Capra. Photo: Roo Fowler JAMIE DARLOW FRONT SECTIONEDITOR JD’s been withmbr since 2008. Gave up a career as a financial journalist to muck about on bikes. Now penniless but happy. ALAN MULDOON BIKE TEST EDITOR Started atmbr in 2001. Gets to the bottom of every bike he slings a leg over, even if it’s not on test. Don't let him ride your bike. Less screen time and more singletrack, p48 FREE MUC-OFF BIKE CARE KIT WORTH £35! 10 mbr AUGUST 2023
12 mbr AUGUST 2023 B I G P I C T U R E Big picture There were signs last year that a new era in downhill was just over the horizon, but few would have predicted that two out of the first three World Cup DH races would have been won by 18-year-olds, fresh out of the junior ranks. First Jordan Williams delivered a clinical run in Lenzerheide to win the opening round. Then Jackson Goldstone narrowly missed victory in Leogang with a small mistake in sight of the finish. But with a maturity well beyond his years, the Lilliputian Canadian skimmed and skipped his way down the brutal Val di Sol track to take round three ahead of legends such as Loic Bruni and Loris Vergier. Could we be witnessing the changing of the guard? Karolina Krasinka / Red Bull Content Pool
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14 mbr AUGUST 2023 B I G P I C T U R E
AUGUST 2023 mbr 15 Big picture It’s almost impossible to talk about mountain biking in the UK without mentioning Sheffield. Steel city is where Steve Peat cut his teeth, ragging an old rigid Kona down the steep slopes of Grenoside. More recently the city has been at the forefront of the jibbing sub-culture, and benefitted from trail-building projects that have brought worldclass trails within easy reach of the masses and created templates for further developments around the country. And this month, on page 16, we visit a couple of classic riding spots renewed through the hard work and dedication of passionate locals. Mick Kirkman
STA RT YO U R R IDE H E R E Edited by Jamie Darlow G E A R R IDE S FA ST & F IT I N S P I R AT I O N GET STA RTED 16 mbr AUGUST 2023
AUGUST 2023 mbr 17 DI Y D OW N H I L L S heffield is a city that just gets things done. New trails and jumps grow with amazing regularity, seemingly due to the sheer will of the riders, regardless of whether the powers that be are on side, or the funds available. This is the punk ethos that put Sheffield – a relatively small Yorkshire city – on the map. And this DIY attitude permeates into Sheffield’s mtb scene too, where it runs so deep that many (almost all) of the tracks and trails developed over the last 15 years or so stem directly from a proactive community of riders and advocates. With Ride Sheffield close to the heart of it all, locals have essentially built up an ever-more effective culture of fundraising and action. Unsurprisingly then, the two newest trails Sheffield has produced are Sheffield riders have funded, planned and reworked two of the city’s most iconic trails organic, rider-funded and generated. This being egalitarian, unflashy, Sheffield, both spots are also completely free for riders to use, in terms of parking and access, and represent the good things that can be achieved when riders work together and play nicely with local councils and landowners like the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. None of this would be possible without physical and financial support of local riders in numbers though, so make sure to get involved if you’re based in the vicinity and donate at ridesheffield.org.uk and bolehills.com to help out. T H E G R A S S I S A LWAYS GR E N O S IDE The DH3 trail up at Grenoside on the northern fringes of the city has been completely reworked. It’s one of the most iconic downhill trails in the Greno area. There have been DH trails of various levels on this hill since the infancy of mountain biking, and it’s J P H A S A GR E AT EY E F O R T R A I L A E ST H E T IC S B U T N E V E R L O S E S S IG H T O F T H E N E ED F O R F L OW
I N T RO D U C T I O N 18 mbr AUGUST 2023 JP’s trails are pinballfast but you don’t need to be a wizard to ride them even where local legend Steve Peat cut his chops as a kid growing up hustling sketchy, steep-angled, fully rigid bikes. Greno has evolved and modernised in harmony with bike technology over the decades though, and its current incarnation – a kind of mini DH bike park – is easily the best-ever iteration in terms of trails on offer. The pumpedup bike park vibe is even more evident with local trail building artist JP Sculpt on the scene over the last couple of years. He’d already reinvented the Steel City race track, always the most popular trail here, and the results were so popular the task of rebuilding DH3 was handed on to him too. The cash came from the Steel City event itself, with the DH3 track just 20m away on the same hillside. Driving the diggers that carve all the features, James Pettitt is a local rider who, like many trail builders, honed his skills unofficially before going legit. In his case at the legendary ‘Wharncouver’ over the road in Wharncliffe woods, a sprawling zone of dozens of raw and technical steep DH tracks that perfectly complement Greno. JP’s signature is incorporating decorative rock piles into features to create the beautiful cairns and spires familiar from any of the 50:01 videos featuring Josh Lewis, Josh Bryceland and Craig Evans. With both main tracks now shaped and groomed, Greno is a totally newschool destination with deep bucket berms, fancy lips, rollers and sharkfins, rather than the roots, mud and sketchy technical riding of yesteryear. Moving with the times also sees the latest tracks ramp up the speed and excitement, overcoming a lack of sheer elevation with speed-generating shapes, linkedup flow and a huge number of features. There are also some pretty big tabletop jumps out in the open you might need to build up to. JP has a great eye for the aesthetics of building, making everything darn pretty. But he never loses sight of the flow that’s critical to trail speed and to ensure features are perfectly positioned for riders of all abilities. DH3 toboggans you down the hillside, provided you’ve got the skills to milk the speed available and the nerve to get off the brakes and handle the g-forces. The precision and rapid reactions of good riders are well rewarded then, but what’s great is how well JP’s trails work for less skilful riders too. Those less fleet of wheel can still ride all the beautifully linked corners and rollers with no sketchy or out of position features to catch them out. As all the tracks at Grenoside lie in a small block of woodland, pointing downhill and looping back up to the top via mellow fire roads, riders can pedal back round to the top for another go in about 10 or 15 minutes. And judging by the spot’s ever-growing popularity, the local mtb community loves what’s going on here and what Ride Sheffield is delivering.
AUGUST 2023 mbr 19 M O U N TA I N O U T O F A B O L E H I L L Closer to the city centre, Bolehills is even more established as a riding spot, having been around since 1983(!) in its original guise as a BMX track, before morphing into an urban/mtb jump spot. Multiple generations of mountain bikers have adopted it over the years, performed various remakes you can see and read all about on the cool Bolehills website, and organised themselves to raise the cash for maintenance. More than that though, they’ve been able to completely transform and pimp out the jumps and features many times over. The latest updates for 2023 use a supersmooth crushed aggregate surface that is beautifully sculpted and manicured into offset shapes, hips and hardpack lips that make it look like a world-class dirt jump spot rather than a local park. On a sunny summer evening hemmed in out of the wind by trees, there aren’t many city-centre hang-outs we‘d rather be at. It gets even better when the community puts on events and get-togethers, incorporating loads that’s great about the city’s music scene. Bolehills is somewhere that kids and adults can just muck about at, or improve skills on smaller pump track-style rollers, before switching it up to medium-size tabletop lines, and eventually progress to the bigger sets and hips that can really send you skyward. After visiting and riding these two spots, you can’t help but leave Sheffield on a sunny evening with a grin on your face. The whole welcoming, communal spirit and pride locals have for the city is as big a part of the trails as JP’s digger dumps and Bolehills’ spade work. It made us think that the future will always look brighter when riders sort stuff out for themselves. Sheffield is something of a lesson in trail advocacy and access, and proves what’s possible when you step outside of the usual mainstream routes to trail building. In fact, what the passionate hardcore bikers in Sheffield get up to feels like the perfect antidote to the corporate, profit and marketing-obsessed world we live much of our lives in. The can-do attitude here, great fun trails and the idea of looking after yourself and others without any hidden agenda is exactly what today’s mountain biking world needs loads more of. The sky’s the limit when everyone is pulling in the same direction Bolehills: great trails, community spirit and an amazing history T H E R E A R E N ’ T M A N Y C I T Y- C E N T R E H A N G- OU T S W E ‘ D R AT H E R B E AT
G E A R 20 mbr AUGUST 2023 While the majority of bikes on the market are 29ers, brands are increasingly offering mullet configurations as an alternative. And while the early mixed-wheel models were little more than frankenbike mash-ups, the bikes you can buy now are usually bespoke variants without compromises in geometry. But why would you choose one? What are the pros and cons? And can you feel the differences on the trail? Armed with two versions of Intense’s latest enduro bike, the Tracer, we set out to find some answers. T H E T H E O RY Some of the oft-repeated generalisations about mullet bikes are that they are more agile, playful, and indeed more fun, than full 29ers. Hand in hand with that is the assertion that mullet bikes change direction more easily, and that they take less effort to manual or lift the front end. Additionally, the smaller rear wheel gives more bum clearance, and helps M U L L ET V S 29 Do mullet bikes really turn in easier, are 29ers better at carrying speed, and will big wheels buzz your bum on steep stuff? Time to find out the truth… with acceleration and braking, but at the expense of improved bump rollover and high-speed stability. T H E B IKE S The Intense Tracer gets 170mm of travel front and rear and comes in two wheel size options, with near identical geometry and specs, making it a really good choice for trying to isolate and identify any differences on the trail. Indeed, when we measured the two bikes, the only real difference was in the chainstay length, with the Tracer 279 mullet bike running a short 437mm rear centre, and the Tracer 29 coming in at a more common 450mm. Intense fits the Tracer with a flip-chip, with the 29er in the low position and the mullet bike in the high position. The biggest spec difference between the two bikes is the shock. On the mullet there’s a coil, while the 29er gets an air shock. We ran both bikes with 28% sag. Other minor variations include the tyre treads (Minion DHF/DHR II on the mullet, Assegai on the 29), but the casings and compounds were the same. On the scales, the 29er was the lightest, although only by 150g. What’s interesting is that while the rear wheel is lighter on the mullet bike – as you’d imagine – the shock is heavier, so the Tracer 279 actually has a marginally better sprung-to-unsprung mass ratio. With the same size chainring and cassette on both bikes, the actual gearing on the 29er is slightly taller because of the larger rear wheel. Fitting a larger 32t chainring on the mullet bike would even things out. Equally, the brake rotors are 203mm on both bikes, but the larger rear wheel on the 29er would benefit from a bigger rotor on long descents. T I M ED RU N S We undertook timed runs on both bikes, using a short downhill and a gradual fire road climb. An A-B-A pattern was used, with two runs on the mullet bike, followed by four runs on the 29er, and finishing up with two runs on the mullet. The downhill was deliberately chosen to favour the mullet bike, with a sequence of alternate turns down a
AUGUST 2023 mbr 21 Ono T H E 2 9E R WA S 4% FA ST E R O N T H E C L I M B S The 27.5in wheel has a 45mm smaller outside diameter than the 29er 437mm chainstays add agility and forward weight bias to the mullet A coil shock adds plushness to the mullet’s terrain tracking Mixed wheels proved quicker downhill but only by a whisker
G E A R 22 mbr AUGUST 2023 fairly steep hill. A straight, fairly smooth, moderate-gradient fire road was used for the climb. Effort was kept low (under 140bpm) using a heart rate monitor and restricted breathing. On the downhill there was not enough variation to draw any conclusions from. The mullet bike achieved the fastest run, but there was only a 1.1% variation in the average times. However, there was a 4% advantage to the 29er on the climb, combined with a slightly lower average heart rate. R IDE R F E EDBACK The first thing we noticed when shifting between the two bikes was that the 29er felt roomier – like a slightly bigger bike. This is because we shifted our weight back between the axles when standing up to compensate for the longer chainstays. Conversely, the mullet bike felt smaller, because the shorter H U M A N S A R E A M A Z I N GLY G O O D AT A DA P T I N G T O S M A L L C H A N GE S Different tread patterns on each bike but the same casings and compounds The 29er’s longer chainstays give it a roomier feel... ...while an air shock aids adjustability
AUGUST 2023 mbr 23 chainstays encouraged us to shift our weight forward to keep the same weight distribution. We reduced the pressure in the fork on the mullet bike by around 10%. This is because our weight was further back over the rear axle relative to the 29er while descending, leaving lots of unused travel and the front end feeling too high. On the descent, both bikes felt equally manoeuvrable and willing to turn, although we buzzed our backsides on the 29er every run. We swapped bikes a third of the way through the test, when both riders were really tuned into the handling. At that point, the rider switching from the 29er to the mullet bike used too much force to turn, while the rider who had just jumped on the 29er ploughed straight on at the first corner. Clearly we had calibrated our inputs to one bike, and switching to the other had thrown them out. The mullet bike needed less effort to change direction, while the 29er needed more. But, while that run showed a marked difference, on the next descent we had both recalibrated our brains and the handling felt completely natural. Neither rider felt there was a noticeable difference in climbing ability between the two bikes, despite the clock saying otherwise. L I M I TAT I O N S More runs, a wider variety of tracks, and test riders of different heights would add more depth to the testing. Fitting the same tyre model (casings and compounds were the same) and air shocks to both bikes would eliminate any slight variables. C O N C LU S I O N S While not a definitive test, our little experiment did raise some interesting points. The main one being that there’s not the yawning gap in performance and handling between the two bikes that you might believe from the marketing. Equally, humans are amazingly good at adapting to small changes. One run was all it took to make the subtle change in steering force when switching between the 29er and the mullet bike. Was the mullet bike more agile and easier to turn? Yes, but not enough to lose sleep over. Was it more fun? That depends how you define fun. The one thing you can’t argue with is that there’s more bum clearance on the mullet bike, and if you’re riding steep tracks, and you’re of average height or less, then that could be a deal maker. Conversely, if you’re racing enduros then the 29er will save you energy on the climbs – a gain worth having. For the most part though, deciding between a mullet bike and a 29er will come down to your height. If you’re between 5ft 9in and 6ft, then you can choose either bike depending on your priorities. Anyone under 5ft 9in will be better off on a mullet bike, not only for the extra clearance, but because the front and rear centres are better proportioned, it will be more agile, and will feel smaller than the 29er even though the reach is the same. Which means those of you over 6ft will be better served by the 29er, for the opposite reasons. Intense Tracer 29 Intense Tracer 279 (mullet) Flip-chip Low High Head angle 63.9° 64.0° Seat angle 72.7° 72.8° Effective SA 77.4° @ 740mm 77.6° @ 740mm BB height 343mm 343mm Chainstay 450mm 437mm Front centre 820mm 820mm Wheelbase 1,270mm 1,257mm Down tube 756mm 756mm Seat tube 450mm 450mm Top tube 620mm 620mm Reach 478mm 478mm Bike weight 16.18kg 16.33kg Rear wheel weight 3.25kg 3.01kg Rear wheel diameter 749mm 704mm Rear mech clearance 140mm 120mm High gear 88.5in 83.2in Low gear 17.4in 16.3in Little and large: the mullet and 29er go wheel-to-wheel
24 mbr AUGUST 2023 HO T ST U F F M O ST WA N T ED G E A R WHAT WE’RE EXCITED ABOUTTHISMONTH B O S C H P E R F O R M A N C E L I N E SX M O T O R It had to happen eventually – Bosch has finally entered the ‘lightweight’ world with the new Performance Line SX system. The new motor looks familiar to us, like a shrunken Performance CX unit with a magnesium casing and two-bolt mount. Weight is a reasonable 2kg – not the lightest on the market, but still competitive with the 1.95kg Fazua and Specialized SL 1.2. It’s the output where it really shines though, pumping out an impressive 600W of peak power, putting it on par with most full-fat options and way ahead of its lightweight rivals. At 55Nm, peak torque is more in line with expectations, meaning it won’t be able to crawl up near-vertical pitches like a full-fat. Supplying power to the SX is a new 400Wh internal battery backed up by an optional 250Wh range extender. This gives it the biggest potential capacity of all the lightweight units. With a battery weight of 2kg, you’re looking at a 4kg system – 3kg lighter than Performance CX – and complete bike weights in the sub-20kg range. Operating the familiar modes – Eco, Tour+, eMTB, and Turbo – is the existing wireless mini-remote and top tube-mounted System Controller. The latter uses a series of coloured LEDs displaying the current power mode and remaining battery charge. Friction within the motor has been reduced by a claimed 50% over the Performance CX, and the Q-factor is 15mm narrower to promote more efficient pedalling. That’s an important point because the Performance SX sings most sweetly at high cadences. Bosch hasn’t neglected the details, either: it’s compatible with the Smart System and that allows you to tune motor characteristics in the Bosch Flow app, as well as giving detailed information on battery status, security features and in-ride navigation. A brief ride revealed a motor that’s powerful enough to keep up with full-fat e-bikes and a technical climbing prowess that mirrors Bosch’s Performance CX, even down to the extended overrun that lets you ratchet up rocky pitches without clipping pedals. The biggest question mark remaining is range: will all that power burn through the 400Wh battery before you’ve got enough riding in? We’ll let you know once we’ve had more time on the system. bosch-ebike.com
AUGUST 2023 mbr 25 DRY C L E A N I N G Motul has moved into bikes, it now makes Chain Cleaner (degreaser), Tire Sealant, both dry and wet Chain Lube, and dry and wet Frame Cleaner. The products are all eco-friendly and come in recycled and recyclable packaging, Motul says. Our pick: Dry Clean, which leaves a water-repellent protective layer. £11.49 (Dry Frame Cleaner), motul.com W Y R M H A S T U R N ED Part of the Racing Lab range, the Hutchinson Wyrm is a down-country tyre for mixed conditions that uses Hardskin casing for puncture protection and triple-compound rubber. The Wyrm weighs 950g and comes in 27.5x2.4in and 29x2.4in versions. £TBC, windwave.co.uk S U U N WO R S H I P With a ludicrous 60 days of battery life and solar charging to top it up, Suunto’s new Vertical smartwatch should go longer between charging than any other. Features offline maps, route and POI navigation, dualband GPS, and multiple sport modes (including mtb). Made in Finland using renewable energy. £725, suunto.com 250Wh range extender gives this diet e-bike an outsized appetite Pics: Bosch eBike Systems
26 mbr AUGUST 2023 G E A R S W I S S RO L L DT Swiss says the new rim profile of its FR1500 Classic gravity wheelset has better impact resistance, 17% improved puncture protection than the old FR 1950 Classic, and weighs 7% less. 1,928g; 30mm internal rim width; 240 classic 36T Ratchet EXP hub; 28(f)/32(r) spokes. £339.99, freewheel.co.uk DA B V E ST The Endura MT500 Protector Vest uses D3O’s flagship LP1 armour inserts on the chest/back with a neoprene/mesh vest with Velcro waist closure. It’s light, flexible, claims better breathability than rivals and meets CE EN 1621/1 standards. Comes in three sizes. £129.99, endurasport.com 30% O F F 100% The 100% Ridecamp shorts now come with a liner for £99.99, or without for the ridiculously good sale price of £42. Highlights include a DWR coating, two-way stretch fabric, mesh fly, Velcro cargo pocket, zipper pocket, clever adjustable popper closure. £41.99, silverfish-uk.com B R A I N B O O ST HUX says its Nootropics supplements boost focus, cognition, memory, mood and overall brain health, thanks to 500mg of Citicoline and 300mg of Lion’s Mane mushroom, which increase blood flow. The jury is still out although some small studies do indicate a benefit. £45, huxhealth.com AC ID H O U S ED True to its name, the Acid Husk 24 has 24 tools secreted inside its two alloy tubes, including hex and Torx bits, flat and Phillips screwdrivers, a chain tool, spoke wrench and spare link. It’ll fit inside your bar-ends or to the bottle cage, via additional mounts. £99.95, cube.eu T O P B O T T O M S Premium roadie brand Assos now does mtb stuff too, including the Trail Tactica High Performance Liner. Crocheted elastic straps, three pockets with tabs for easy access, a 9mm perforated foam chamois and removable 7mm thigh pads. £170, assos.com
AUGUST 2023 mbr 27 S R A M GX E AGL E A X S T R A N S M I S S I O N £ 1,1 80 Back in the spring, SRAM finally released details of its latest drivetrain. Called Eagle T-Type Transmission, it eliminated the need for a mech hanger and bolted straight to the frame, introduced unheard of strength and superior alignment, and shifted better than anything else out there. It also cost £1,800 for the groupset, so you probably didn’t race to the bike shop to order one up. Chances are it’ll feature on complete bikes only rather than being a go-to upgrade. Inevitably there’s now a GX version, it’s two thirds the price of the XX launch edition but still carries the same functionality. Yes £1,180 for a groupset is still out of this world for most of us, but if you want the best it’s a more palatable price. (Hey, this is called Most Wanted after all, not Most Realistic!) That functionality then revolves (pun intended) around the Universal Derailleur Hanger, or more accurately, where the UDH usually sits. GX Transmission does away with this once-crucial part of a bike and bolts straight onto the frame, sandwiching it like a clevis joint. SRAM says this means it’s easier to set up, with no limit screws to adjust, and proves much more durable if you clonk it into a rock. It’ll shift better for longer then, is the claim, and indeed we found that to be true when testing the XX version (find it at mbr.co.uk). You can read about the T-Type Transmission in our review, so we won’t go into the details here. What’s interesting is the difference between GX and XX – not a lot, in short. The GX cassette isn’t as light as the top-end XX or X0 because it doesn’t use the X-Dome design – essentially a cluster of sprockets machined from a single block of steel, with the three largest cogs pinned on. Instead, with GX, you get SRAM’s Pindome design for gears one to 8, and a single-piece mini cluster for 9-12, all stamped and pinned together in the usual way. The mech is different too, with no Magic Wheel found on the XX groupset, a feature that lets the lower pulley wheel rotate, even if a stick pokes through the holes. GX Transmission takes AXS one step further forward, it’s compatible with the rest of the T-type parts (XX and X0) so you might start to see it cropping up on new bikes in a mix and match way. Any frame with a UDH can run the new drivetrain too, and after five years of patient work by SRAM there are plenty of bikes out there with the standard. The complete GX Transmission price includes rear mech, cassette, crankset, chain, pod controller, AXS battery and charger. sram.com
R IDE S 28 mbr AUGUST 2023 B E ST P L AC E S T O R IDE W I T H YOU R KIDS Five top venues to keep the nippers entertained this summer DA R E VA L L EY G R AV I T Y B IKE PA RK, S O U T H WA L E S Have you ever taken your kids to an attraction, only for them to find the gift shop/coin-press machine/ dead bird in the car park infinitely more interesting? Of course you have. Take them to Dare Valley Gravity Bike Park this summer, though, and they’ll struggle not to be entertained. For starters there’s a brilliant tarmac pump track right by the car park that’ll distract them from the rotten bird. The main attraction, though, is a five-minute trail in the finest tradition of blues, that is safe enough for new riders and kids to learn on and enjoy, but with doubles and supported berms for more experienced riders too. Trailcraft built it with two additional pump tracks on the trail – break off from the main loop and hit the fun tables before flowing back down the trail again. With 100m of elevation and an easy access road, kids should be able to manage a couple of laps on this free-to-access trail. But pay £13 for a morning or afternoon session and they can be shuttled up, packing in an average of eight runs. There’s also a mechanic on site, a bike shop, bike hire, really decent ice cream, and BikePark Wales and its green-graded Kermit trail is just one valley over if you want to make a weekend of it. Head to the Dare Valley Gravity Bike Park Facebook page (not darevalleygravity.co.uk) for more information. G L E N T R E S S , S C O T T I S H B O RDE R S The Glentress Masterplan set out some big changes for the famous trail centre, specifically 16km of new green, blue, red and black trails to link into the existing network, and a multi-user path if your kids are really dinky. On top of that there are taster trails of all grades, short loops that mimic the real thing but can be completed in minutes, with easy options to session it all. Glentress says work is going well, but you’ll need to wait till after the Worlds in August to ride them. After that date there’ll be a new Skills Loop built too, in place of the start-finish area, and featuring the same graded, easily sessionable loops. Dare Valley’s kid-friendly blue will leave your kids tickled pink
F O R E ST O F DE A N C YC L E C E N T R E , F O R E ST O F DE A N Little Fodders is an institution over at the FOD; it’s a kids’ mountain bike club for 5-14 year olds with BC qualified coaches, and a focus on learning new skills and having fun, run by WyeMTB. The waiting list is as long as your arm, but you can easily head along to the pump track and skills areas at the Forest of Dean Cycle Centre and ride for free. There are non-member Little Fodder sessions throughout the year too, from monthly girls-only groups to DH Development Camps. L O U G H R IGG T E R R AC E , L A KE DI ST R IC T We love the descent on Loughrigg Terrace, it’s not steep and is mostly smooth-going so riders of any ability can tackle it. But there’s potential to go as fast as you dare and gap over the rougher bits to keep more experienced riders entertained. The views are bonkers too, and you get a real feeling of exposure without it being dangerous. The only thing holding back little legs is the climb, or rather two of them: with 350m of ascent over a 9km ride, you’ll need plenty of Jelly Babies. Check out our GPS route at bit.ly/LoughriggRide S W I N L EY F O R E ST, B E RKS H I R E Swinley Forest comes alive in the school holidays, look a little lower than the Go Ape rope bridges high in the trees and you’ll find a labyrinth of easy-going trails that suit young riders perfectly. The blue trail opened in 2013 and the fun berms, rollers and tabletops still make for great progression; and now there’s a new section called Blue 10 that puts the smooth flow back. Swinley also hosts ‘The Summit’, a skills club giving its members a dedicated coaching timetable and use of its skills area.
30 mbr AUGUST 2023 £ 1 2 ,0 0 0 • 2 9 i n • s a d d l e b a c k . c o .u k NEED TO KNOW O Pedal-assist version of Pivot’s popular Firebird enduro bike O Full carbon frame and 29in wheels make it light and fast O Shimano EP8 motor is paired with Darfon 756Wh battery to extend range O Fox Factory suspension delivers 170mm up front with 10mm less on the rear O Shimano XTR drivetrain and brakes make for a Gucci build O Four frame sizes, with generous reach measurements and short seat tubes O Also available with an SLX/XT build option for £10k PIVOT SHUTTLE LT29 TEAM XTR Can Pivot’s enduro e-bike justify its top-end price tag on the trails? SWINGING A LEG OVER WHAT’S HOTTHISMONTH N EW B I K E S I find it ironic that my news feed is constantly presenting me with horror stories about the potential dangers of AI. Yet, the feed itself is driven by AI. Maybe it’s trying to tell me that my days as bike test editor at mbrare numbered, and soon all bike reviews will be compiled by ChatGPT. Too late… I think some already are. But what’s this got to do with the Pivot Cycles Shuttle LT 29 Team XTR? Well, it’s blatantly obvious that the model name has been configured to satisfy a search engine, rather than provoking the desired emotional response in a living, breathing, human being. On the plus side, it does give you a pretty good snapshot of the bike rather than a fuzzy feeling of wellbeing. Clearly it’s a full 29er, has XTR brakes and drivetrain and it’s long travel. How long? Well, the top-end bike of two uses a 170mm-travel Fox 38 Factory fork combined with a Float X shock to control the DW-Link rear suspension that pumps out 160mm travel on the money. In short, it’s a pedal-assist version of the Firebird. Assistance comes in the form of a Shimano EP8 motor with its 85Nm of torque. Shimano remains tight lipped about peak power, but it doesn’t feel as punchy as offerings from Bosch or Specialized. In fact it even seems to have been superseded by Shimano’s latest EP801, but what the EP8 lacks in grunt, it makes up for in efficiency, as it’s noticeably less energy-sapping when pushed past the 15.5mph assistance limit. Shimano’s e-bike batteries tend to deliver less range than equivalent units from third-party suppliers, so Pivot has been smart in speccing a 756Wh battery from Darfon to boost the range of the Shuttle LT. It uses a custom charging port and the battery slides out the bottom of the down tube in a similar fashion to the Specialized Turbo Levo, Canyon Spectral:ON and Whyte E-160. Handy for aspiring racers, charging the battery indoors or simply razzing around in Boost mode with a spare battery in the car for round two. Battery swaps couldn’t be more straightforward either. Simply undo the two bolts in front of the motor and the motor cover swings back to reveal a web of wires. Unplug the connector from the battery and it slides straight out. The battery weighs 4.02kg. To make the bike feel more dynamic, Pivot has been very weight-conscious with the LT build; the complete bike tips the scales at 22.6kg. The full carbon frame obviously helps on the DW-Link suspension delivers 160mm of supple yet supportive travel
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32 mbr AUGUST 2023 N EW B I K E S scales, but so does the XTR mechanical drivetrain. Yes, Shimano’s 12-speed derailleurs are prone to exploding without warning, but the replacement cost, even for XTR, is a fraction of SRAM AXS wireless units. Sizing on the Shuttle LT is generous, so generous in fact, that instead of instantly opting for a size Large, which has a 488mm reach, I downsized to the Medium which still boasts a 469mm reach, putting it right in line with the S4 Specialized Turbo Levo and the size Large Nukeproof Megawatt. The frame has asymmetric pivot hardware in the rocker link where it connects to the seatstays, which act like flip-chips to deliver two geometry settings. And like most Pivots we’ve tested, the low setting is still pretty high, the BB height measuring 345mm. HOW IT RIDES After some Surrey Hills shredding for a quick shake-down ride, it was clear that Shuttle LT needed more extreme terrain to challenge it. So I met up with an old friend, Craig Robertson, from Ride On Bikes in Rawtenstall for a day of hammering on rocky exposed Short head tube and lowrise bar called for spacers to raise the stem Battery is a cinch to remove from the down tube XTR brakes lack bite with the Galfer rotors Shimano EP8 motor is no longer at the cutting edge
HIGHS Snappy handling. Great suspension. Fast everywhere. It takes a full-size water bottle. Battery swaps are a breeze. LOWS Shimano XTR brakes with Galfer rotors is not a winning combination. BB height could be a hair lower in the low setting. It’s expensive and doesn’t have the latest Shimano EP801 motor. Needs a higher-rise bar. 1 ST IMP R ES S ION SPECIFICATION Frame Full carbon, 160mm travel Shock Fox Float X Factory Fork Fox 38 Float Factory Grip 2, 44mm offset, 170mm travel Motor Shimano Steps EP8, 85Nm Battery Darfon 756Wh Display Shimano Steps SC E-8000 WheelsNewman Evolution A.30, 110/157mm, Maxxis Assegai Maxx Terra EXO+ 29x2.5in tyres Drivetrain Shimano EM600 34t, 165mm chainset, Shimano XTR r-mech and shifter, XT M8100 10-51t cassette Brakes Shimano XTR M9120 four-piston, 223/203mm Components Phoenix Team low-rise carbon 800mm bar, Phoenix Team 50mm stem, Fox Transfer Factory 175mm post, Phoenix WTB Pro Volt saddle Sizes S, M, L, XL Weight 22.6kg (49.83lb) GEOMETRY (LOW SETTING) Size ridden M Rider height181cm Head angle 64.2° Seat angle 72.2° Effective SA 76° (@740mm) BB height 345mm Chainstay 439mm Front centre 816mm Wheelbase 1,257mm Down tube 745mm Seattube 400mm Top tube 620mm Reach 469mm AUGUST 2023 mbr 33 trails of the Lakes, followed by a day on the steeps of Golfie in the Tweed Valley. Now, given the variety of terrain covered, and the fact that I never clipped a pedal once, I think it’s safe to say that Pivot could could drop the low setting on the Shuttle LT by a hair. And the BB height doesn’t just impact pedal clearance, it also influences the handlebar height. With Pivot’s Phoenix Team low-rise carbon bar and stubby 120mm head tube, I was running 30mm of spacers under the stem just to get my hands high enough relative to my feet. So in the same way that bikes with longer chainstays require higher bars to get a rearward weight shift, so do bikes with higher BBs. I found my sweet spot though, and I even had to double check that the bike was in fact a full 29er, given the speed with which it snapped around corners, and because I never buzzed my ass on the tyre once. Two possible advantages of being positioned slightly higher on the bike I suppose. Now, the key reason why most e-bike manufacturers use mixed wheel sizes on e-bikes is to package the suspension layout around the motor more effectively, which in turn stops the chainstays getting too long. Not Pivot – the Shuttle LT boasts a 439mm chainstay length on all four frame sizes with 29in wheels. The short back end gives the size Medium a 1,257mm wheelbase, which definitely makes it easier to navigate tighter, tech trails than some monster trucks. Sure, you forgo some of the straight-line speed and confidence on more open sections, but drop into the tree line and the numbers all add up. Chopping the 800mm bar down a touch would also be a good idea. Dropping in on the first trail at Golfie, I was instantly impressed by the rear suspension on the Shuttle LT. It offers stacks of support mid turn, without ever feeling harsh on braking bumps or webs of roots that are too sprawling to bunnyhop in one go. And while you have support in spades, the rear end never seems to hit an unexpected wall in the travel, hook up abruptly on square-edge hits or kill your momentum. So you carry speed everywhere. Pivot seems to have nailed the overall stiffness too, not so stiff as to feel harsh, but not so flexy as to compromise precise handling and confidence on faster trails that generate higher g-forces. The frame feel, combined with the overall suspension response and relatively light Newman Evolution A.30 wheels, makes the bike feel like you’re running the 2.5in Maxxis Assegai tyres a couple of psi lower than normal. No bad thing given how many runs you can smash out with the 756Wh battery. So the Shuttle SL is comfortable, without ever feeling soft. Which just encourages you to ride it faster. The rub, then, is that the Shimano XTR four-piston brakes simply aren’t up to the job. As the days progressed and fatigue began to set in, I had to switch to two-finger braking just to stop the Shuttle LT running away from me. Now, we’ve ridden some XTR brakes and been super impressed, so I suspect the Galfer rotors could be to blame here. As heat builds up, the brakes make themselves heard. And with the variable bite point creeping in on occasion too, I couldn’t help thinking that Shimano Ice Tech Freeza rotors would be a better idea on the Shuttle LT, even if they would add a little weight to the overall package. Other than the brake spec, Pivot has nailed the sizing, range, ride feel and suspension on the Shuttle LT. It snaps around turns like a MX bike, and because the 29in rear wheel is tucked in closer than most, you’ll buzz your butt less too when hanging off the back on the steepest trails. The Shuttle LT is a great bike then, and while I had a total blast testing it, in the back of my mind there was always one thought: with the recent release of the new Shimano EP801 motor, I can’t see many riders paying full price for it. And even if the difference between the motors isn’t night and day, when you’re dropping £12k on a new ride, you want all of the latest tech. Hopefully ChatGPT understands that. Alan Muldoon Itsnapsaround turnslikean MX bike Pivot Shuttle LT: an enduro rocketship that never loses ground control
34 mbr AUGUST 2023 £ 5 4 9.9 9 ( f r a m e o n l y ) • 2 9 i n • r a g l e y b i ke s . c o m F or 2023, Ragley has made some minor modifications to the Big Wig platform. It’s still a hard-hitting 29er trail bike with a robust 4130 steel frame, but the angles and fit have been tweaked to eke out those final few percentage points of performance. Currently the new format is only available as a frame only, as Ragley still has 2022 versions of the complete Big Wig to shift before the new frame geometry is rolled out across the range. As such, our Big Wig Race test bike was a mix of old and new: the build kit is similar to the 2022 build for £2,499.99, the frame is brand new and available for £549.99. Hopefully Ragley can hold complete build prices where they are at when the new frame finally rolls out to the range later this year. So what exactly has changed? Well, on the size Large, the head angle has been slackened by 1° to 63.1° and the reach measurement has grown by 25mm to 470mm (160mm-travel fork). Not a wholesale shift in attitude then, but taken together, the front centre measurement on the size Large has jumped up to 824mm. Which is pretty rangy for a hardtail. And those aren’t the only tweaks. Ragley has also lopped 30mm off the seat tube height to improve compatibility with longer-stroke dropper posts and steepened the seat tube angle by 1°. Now, given that the chainstay length and kinked seat tube still allow for a relatively short 433mm rear end, the weight distribution, at least when applied through your feet, has been shifted rearward on the new Big Wig Race. Great for steep, bum-on-theback-tyre descents, but surprisingly, it also seems to work really well on flatter trails, as you tend to lean over the front and ride the fork more on a hardtail than on a full-suspension bike. In fact, that’s exactly where I found the revised geometry really beneficial. Not that I want a 160mm-travel fork on any hardtail. And the reason is simple. More fork travel and no rear suspension leads to bigger swings in the dynamic geometry of the bike. Basically, the chassis pivots around the rear axle more than with a shorter-travel fork, and you need to shift your body position accordingly to balance the weight distribution and ultimately, traction. Which in turn requires more energy input from the rider and more thought. HOW IT RIDES Now, I’m not shy about saying it…I’m a lazy rider, so I prefer to stay more centred on the bike. As such I ran the 160mm-travel fork with more pressure than recommended, just so the red O-ring on the black anodised upper leg of the RockShox Lyrik fork never ventured into the last 30mm of travel. Running the fork higher in its travel also prevents the reach from increasing too much as the fork sags, because as NEED TO KNOW O Ragley updates the geometry and sizing on the latest steel 29in Big Wig frame O Frame is made with 4130 cro-mo tubing and designed around 140-160mm travel forks O External cable routing makes swapping in parts super-easy O Shimano SLX/XT drivetrain on Race-level build O Nukeproof wheel with Maxxis EXO+ casing tyres make for a great wheelset O Available in three sizes only: M, L and XL RAGLEY BIG WIG RACE Its geometry has been tweaked and trimmed, so how does the new Big Wig sit with us now? N EW B I K E S Kinked seat tube allows for shorter chainstays, shifting weight distribution to the rear
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36 mbr AUGUST 2023 N EW B I K E S On steeperclimbs the bike behaves impeccably I’ve already mentioned, the size Large Big Wig is a rangy bike with a massive 645mm top tube and 470mm static reach measurement. I’d even say it’s slightly too big for me, as I found it more difficult to get my weight back on really steep, tech descents, even though I regularly ride full-suspension bikes with over 480mm reach numbers. Not that you should compare full-suspension bike geometry with hardtails. In fact, I really like that Ragley hasn’t made the seat tube angle supersteep on the new Big Wig. At a saddle height of 740mm, I measured the effective seat tube angle at 74.1°, which is roughly three degrees slacker than most modern full-suspension bikes. This is a bonus though, as it allows for more flex and comfort from the seat tube, because when the seat tube is Ragging around on the Ragley’s a pleasure thanks to its sorted geometry
HIGHS Dialled geometry and sizing. Damped steel feel as standard. No cable rattle or chain slap. Rapid freehub engagement with Nukeproof wheels. Tougher casing EXO+ Maxxis tyres. LOWS Unidentified rattle in the front end. Hard, plastic lockon grips. As heavy as an equivalent-price full-suspension bike. No size-specific chainstay lengths. Only three sizes. 1 ST IMP R ES S ION SPECIFICATION Frame 4130 cro-mo Fork RockShox Lyrik Select, 44mm offset, 160mm travel WheelsNukeproof 110/148mm hubs, Nukeproof Horizon rims, Maxxis Assegai/ Minion DHR II 29x 2.5/2.4in tyres Drivetrain Shimano SLX chainset 30t 170mm, Shimano XT r-mech and 12-speed shifter Brakes SRAM G2 fourpiston, 200/180mm Components Ragley 800mm bar, Ragley 40mm stem, Brand-X Ascend 170mm post, Ragley saddle Sizes M, L, XL Weight14.93kg (32.92lb) GEOMETRY Size ridden L Rider height 5ft 11in Head angle 63.1° Seat angle 71.9° Effective SA 74.1° BB height 303mm Chainstay 433mm Front centre 824mm Wheelbase 1,257mm Down tube 775mm Seattube 440mm Top tube 645mm Reach 470mm AUGUST 2023 mbr 37 too upright, it makes the saddle feel like a whacker plate that’s constantly compressing your spine. Making the seat tube angle too steep is a surprisingly common mistake on hardcore hardtails, as brands tend to copy the numbers straight from their full-suspension trail bikes, ignoring two key points. The first one is that you always run more shock sag than fork sag on a full-suspension bike, so the dynamic seat tube angle is always slacker than claimed. Secondly, hardtails only rotate forward as the fork compresses, so the resulting dynamic seat tube angle is always steeper than claimed. It’s the exact same reason why all hardtails need slacker head angles than full-suspension bikes. And at 63.1° Ragley has nailed that too. Sure, I noted a bit of steering flop when I stood up to sprint, but on steeper steady-state climbs the bike behaves impeccably, even with the short back end. The 29in rear wheel offers better traction and rollover that a 27.5in wheel with the same 2.4in Minion DHR II, even if it’s not as comfortable as a Plus-size tyre on any wheel size. Shifting with the Shimano drivetrain felt seamless too, and even in the 51t cog I never experienced any of the grinding sounds you often get with Shimano’s 12-speed set-ups. Drop into a steep descent and the ability to dump two gears at a time with the XT shifter pod is a real boon if you are running flat pedals, as you need the lower cadence and the resistance of the taller gears to help keep your shoes locked firmly to the pedal pins. Another really cool thing about the Ragley is that all of the cables, bar the final portion of the dropper post cable, are routed externally. So swapping, bleeding, or cutting down a rear brake hose is super-easy. Handy too for anyone embarking on a frame build. The real advantage of the external cable routing though, is that there is zero cable rattle. Given all the external cable clamps, Ragley has missed a trick by not fitting a tool roll/inner tube mount. Also while I couldn’t detect any cable rattle or chain slap, there was a constant rattle from the front end of the bike. I’m not sure if it was coming from the fork internals, brake pads or the front hub, but it was a constant distraction from an otherwise blissfully quiet ride. Actually, it wasn’t always quiet, as I’d grunt and groan regularly as I slammed into braking bumps or got rattled by some big old roots. Now, let me be crystal clear here. The jarring that would knock the wind out of me wasn’t any worse than on any other 29er hardtail I’ve tested. And even with its steel frame construction, the Big Wig wasn’t really that much better at soaking up the hits either. And that’s the real rub here; having increased fork travel and making the geometry really progressive on hardtails allows you to ride faster, which also means you take more of a beating. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that steel as a material doesn’t have inherently superior damping characteristics to aluminium. It’s just that the difference isn’t as pronounced as fitting fatter tyres or, dare I say it, riding a bike with rear suspension. And when you’re talking about £2.5k for a hardtail that weighs 14.9kg, a fullsusser is a genuine alternative, and one that does not carry a weight penalty. The Vitus Mythique and Canyon Neuron are both 15kg or under and will be faster, more capable, more comfortable and more fun on a wider variety of trails than any hardtail, regardless of frame material, tyre size or frame geometry. But if you fancy a hardcore hardtail like the Ragley Big Wig, go for it. It’s a great option, just don’t try to convince yourself or anyone else that it’s better than a modern full-suspension bike. Alan Muldoon SRAM G2 four-piston brakes are powerful speed scrubbers Cro-mo frame gets a strut to beef up the seat tube cluster Externally routed cables make for easy maintenance and cut out the rattle
38 mbr AUGUST 2023 £ 4 ,9 4 9 • 2 9 i n • c o t i c . c o .u k C otic’s charismatic steel-framed FlareMAX is back for round five, and it’s embracing the downcountry theme it stumbled across back in 2018. First a bit of background though. Born five years ago as the 29in version of the 27.5in Flare, the 5th generation FlareMAX still rolls on big wheels. The frame tubing is mostly a custom ‘Ovalform’ version of Reynolds’ premium 853 air hardening steel too, so it doesn’t look radically different from earlier iterations. Dig a little deeper however and it’s clear that the design has continually evolved. Yes, the signature ‘DropLink’ suspension still yields 125mm of rear wheel travel, just like on the 3rd Gen bike, but the kinematics have changed, inspired by Cotic’s mid-travel Jeht bike, and introduced on the previous FlareMax. And it was for the Gen 4 bike that Cotic officially included lightweight 120mm RockShox SID forks on the options list, alongside 130-140mm trail forks, after lockdown ‘down-country’ experiments created a surprising amount of sales and rave reviews. The main structural changes to the Gen 5 bike then are to increase strength. Cotic founder Cy Turner told me that this was to add insurance for increasingly aggressive riders who are sending it as hard on short travel bikes as they are on Cotic’s 140mm-travel Jeht, and on the longer-travel Jeht and Rocket models. As a result, the new FlareMAX gets the same alloy chainstay assembly, dropouts, smoother finished linkages and shock mount as those bigger hitting bikes. The down tube itself also changes to a plain gauge Reynolds 853 tube rather than being butted, so it’s not thicker at the ends. Happily this adds significant strength without increasing weight, so it’s still got a noticeable gram advantage over the Jeht. There’s a new short triangulation tube between down tube and seat tube in front of the BB too, which noticeably stiffens and strengthens the power delivery and corner pushing capacity of the FlareMAX. It’s been a while since Cotic’s Longshot geometry, with its stretched reach, short stem and relaxed angles, seemed really radical, probably because all of the other brands have caught up. Still, the 65.6° head angle, 75.8° seat angle and reach measurements stretching from 439mm to 515mm on the latest FlareMAX are spot on for a bike in this category. NEED TO KNOW O Latest version of the FlareMax 29er trail bike O DropLink suspension delivers 125mm travel, where frame geometry is designed around a 130mm fork O Cotic combines a UK-made Reynolds 853 front end, with Taiwan-made steel seatstays and alloy chainstays for a best-of-both-worlds ride experience O More size options and switches to C-Sizing: C1 to C5 O Bikes available worldwide, with free shipping to UK and Europe O Available as a frame with shock for £2,099 O UK made frames are Datatag’d from the factory COTIC FLAREMAX GOLD XT Latest iteration of the FlareMAX heavily leans towards rapid down-country tear-ups Thestructural changesareto increasestrength N EW B I K E S Reynolds 853 pairs with Taiwan-made steel seatstays
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40 mbr AUGUST 2023 N EW B I K E S Cotic has also adopted a proportional sizing theme initiated by Specialized, but also taken up by Forbidden, Merida and others. By switching to a C1-C5 range, the Gen 5 adds a size and reduces the jumps in reach measurements between each option to 19mm, down from 26-27mm. Shorter seat tubes also allow sizing up without restricting dropper post stroke options, so while I hovered between M and L before, the new C3 fit was spot on. Steel is arguably a more planetfriendly material to make bikes out of than alloy or carbon, and Cotic has always been pushing for a lower ecological footprint overall. That’s one of the reasons it started working with renowned Scottish frame builder Five It’ssurprising just how fast the FlareMAX is The FlareMAX carries speed through rough singletrack
HIGHS Balanced suspension and blended frame materials offer a calm yet exhilarating ride. Cane Creek suspension will please the dial deities LOWS No SRAM Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH). Like for like builds will be heavier than alloy or carbon options 1 ST IMP R ES S ION SPECIFICATION Frame Reynolds 853/6061 aluminium CS, 125mm travel Shock Cane Creek DB AirIL (210x50mm stroke) Fork Cane Creek Helm Air, 130mm travel Wheels Hunt 110/148mm hubs, Hunt Trailwide 29 V2 rims, WTB Vigilante/ Trail Boss 29x2.5/ 2.4in tyres Drivetrain Shimano XT 32t chainset 170mm, Shimano XT M8100 r-mech and 12-speed shifter, Shimano XT 10-51t cassette Brakes Shimano XT M8100 two-piston, 203/180mm Components Cotic Calver 780mm bar, Cotic Shorter 35mm stem, BikeYoke Divine post, WTB Rocket saddle Sizes C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 Weight14.6kg (32.19lb) GEOMETRY Size ridden C3 Rider height 5ft 11in Head angle 65.6° Seat angle 75.8° Effective SA 75.8° (@710mm) BB height 338mm Chainstay 448mm Front centre 796mm Wheelbase 1,244mm Down tube 740mm Seattube 444mm Top tube 634mm Reach 477mm AUGUST 2023 mbr 41 Land Bikes a few years ago and the new FlareMAX front end is immaculately welded at the base of the Pentland Hills in south Edinburgh. The alloy linkages and shock mounts are made by Rideworks in Coventry and sharing those (and the Asian-made rear end) with the Jeht and Rocket adds economies of scale that help offset the higher UK manufacturing costs. Even the box your bike arrives in is made from recycled cardboard. And while Cotic is a direct-sales brand, you can visit the HQ in the Peak District and pick up your bike in person. To further reduce waste and lower consumer cost, Cotic not only offers a rolling chassis option for £2,799 with RockShox Revelation fork and Shimano wheels, it’s also happy to swap any existing parts you already have into the complete bike builds. All in, the pricing is impressive, compared to generic Asian carbon or alloy competition. Especially if you value the semi-Scottish, artisan built frame, small scale of Cotic as a company, and its reputation for going way beyond the call of duty to help customers out wherever possible. The team also invests a significant amount of its profit and personal time into all sorts of local and national advocacy and inclusivity projects, which is something a lot of bigger brands could learn from. HOW IT RIDES It’s all very well buying a bike from a feel good company, but the warm fuzzy feeling soon dies if the bike itself isn’t up to scratch. As a massive fan of the almost comically compliant traction of the previous FlareMAX, the reinforced frame of the Gen 5 made me a little apprehensive. The new frame means there’s definitely more to press against through corners and offers a really positive, rather than obviously flexy, feel when you stomp on the cranks. And the improved frame stiffness translates to the front of the bike too – the Cotic custom-tuned Cane Creek Helm fork holding its line with more confidence through rougher, random sections, rather than obviously looking for the path of least resistance. Factor in the Cane Creek DB Inline shock that’s a multi-adjustable winner, and the bike feels superbly balanced and capable. A less obvious bonus of the smaller jumps in frame size is that you can choose a shorter/stiffer, or longer/looser frame to manipulate the ride feel more easily too. Even on the size C3 I tested, which is shorter than the large Gen 3 I still ride a lot, there’s still enough of Cotic’s signature compliance to suck the sting out of the biggest hits, and it still moulds to the trail rather than getting pinged off line or slapped hard. This means you’re definitely experiencing the trail in a dynamically different way to a carbon or alloy bike. You’ll feel that flowing ‘friendliness’ whether you’re pushing race pace or just chilling at a cruise, but one element that’s always surprising is just how fast the FlareMax is. The steel frame weighs in around 4.5kg with shock, which is 30% heavier than similar travel carbon models I’ve tested from the likes of Yeti, Santa Cruz and Pivot. However, the Cotic hides that weight extremely well by often carrying speed better through the rough, and gripping where a stiffer/easier bounced bike might slip. The suspension is also impressively efficient even before you flick the ‘climb switch’ lever across. Keen pricing means complete bikes will often come out surprisingly competitive on weight, and way ahead on component performance, where the lightest downcountry version comes in at around 13kg for £6,999, which is definitely carbon competitive. So Cotic’s newest FlareMAX short travel steeler mixes the latest trail sizing and ethical trends with traditional materials and awesome company values to create a brilliantly different, yet very speedy and cost competitive package. Guy Kesteven Chain and seatstays comprised of aluminium and steel respectively Droplink suspension system offers up 125mm of rear travel Ovalform air hardening tubing specced for down and top tubes
42 mbr AUGUST 2023 N EW B I K E S
AUGUST 2023 mbr 43 £ 1 2 ,0 0 0 • 2 9 i n • s p e c i a l i z e d . c o m With XC courses becoming increasingly hardcore and bikes growing in travel and tyre width to cope with the additional demands, the first leaked shots of Specialized’s new Epic World Cup race weapon were a surprise. And the final reveal only reinforced our shock: 75mmtravel, 1,765g frame weight, rigid seat post and a double-diamond shape. But everything makes more sense when you learn this bike is designed to replace Specialized’s Epic XC hardtail, not either of its existing XC suspension bikes. So how does it actually ride? With its unique RockShox SIDLuxeWCID shock half hidden in the underside of the top tube, it certainly appeals visually to the hardtail crowd. Specialized also claims the frame sets “new standards in torsional rigidity, for steering precision and upper body power transfer, and BB stiffness, for pedal response and efficiency”. Where a mid-shaft support bushing and micro swing-link make the shock itself seriously stiff too. The SIDLuxeWCID shock on the Epic World Cup is not only longer and thinner NEED TO KNOW O Sub-10kg softtail XC race superbike, designed to replace hardtails not fullsuspension bikes O Ultralight carbon frame and components O Unique ‘set and forget’ RockShoxSpecialized BRAIN/ WCID suspension O SRAM XX SL drivetrain with full race head power meter cranks and non-dropper spec SPECIALIZED S-WORKS EPIC WORLD CUP Can Spesh’s softail XC race bike square the circle between reduced weight and increased control? than a standard SIDLuxe, it also has a manual negative air spring bleed valve that is key to the design. You set the positive pressure in the usual way, then fine-tune the negative pressure with the bleed valve to alter the initial suspension response. Purge all the air out of the negative chamber for the firmest no sag/Zero Gulp set-up. For a more conventional suspension feel, deflate the shock then press the little brass bleed button with the shock at full compression before inflating the positive chamber for Full Gulp, 10% sag. How far you compress the shock when deflated changes the Gulp and the influence of the negative chamber. You also have the ability to adjust low-speed compression and rebound damping settings with an Allen key too. Up front, the custom SID SL Ultimate fork gets the latest machined crown, 110mm travel and other 2024 model year tweaks. It also uses Specialized’s unique BRAIN damper with its automatic ‘impact sensing’ compression lock. The fork is 183g heavier (1,488g vs 1,305g) than a standard SID SL and the shock also adds 33g over a normal SIDLuxe. That makes it heavier than a manual remote and comparable with electronic suspension systems. Paying £12,000 for the S-Works version I rode means almost everything else is state-of-the-art ultralight equipment too. That includes the Roval SL one-piece carbon combined cockpit, S-Works saddle with carbon base and rails, 1,200g Roval Control SL wheels and even the new Roval SL carbon seat post rather than a dropper. The SRAM Eagle Transmission is the lightest XX SL T-Type with a carbon cage mech, XX SL cassette and slotted flat-top chain. Even the brakes are SRAM’s lightest Level Ultimate units. The only two places that Specialized hasn’t gone for the absolute lightest components are totally justified too. The Quarq power meter spider on the ultralight hollow carbon-armed XX SL crankset adds 60g, but gives left and right wattage for super-accurate pacing and training. Specialized has even specced the narrower 168mm Q-factor for sensitive high-mileages knees and narrow hips. The second concession is the reinforced Control casing on the 650g Renegade rear tyre, that adds welcome wallop protection compared to the paper-thin 580g S-Works version. This bikeis designed toreplace Specialized’s Epic XC hardtail Concealed SIDLuxe WCID shock sucks up the hits while preserving hardtail frame aesthetics
44 mbr AUGUST 2023 N EW B I K E S HOW IT RIDES With the bar slung extra low in the -12° stem and the saddle shoved right up your skinsuit, the S-Works feels every bit the purist race bike. The sub-10kg weight (without pedals) also means acceleration is blisteringly quick as soon as the fast-reacting DT Swiss 180 rear hub connects. With the relatively slack 66.5° head angle, confidence is nailed onto the trail via the obviously stiff frameset, rigid cockpit and impressively taut wheels. Torque Caps on the front hub add noticeable precision to the SID fork too, so the skinny 32mm chassis feels more like the 35mm option. You get 15mm of traction-rich movement even with the BRAIN damper shut, where the twincompound Fast Trak front tyre is also usefully grippy, rather than a sketchy race slick. The extra 10mm travel over the standard fork makes the SID surprisingly good at handling serious hits, but the mid-stroke is still supportive for really driving through turns. The low bar height balances the relatively slack effective seat angle too, and gives the Low-slung cockpit for an aggressively race-friendly position Top-tier SRAM Level Ultimate brakes but no suspension remote 110mm-travel SID fork with BRAIN damper is suprisingly capable
HIGHS Seriously stiff frame with aggressive front-end geometry. Narrow stance, full data power crank as standard. Ultralight wheels, cockpit, seatpost, saddle and tyres. Surprisingly supple, ‘set and forget’ rear suspension. Impressively controlled, extra-travel SID front fork. LOWS Noticeable suspension movement under power. Jumpy traction in stiffer modes. No remote suspension control. Longer-travel Epic Evo frame is lighter, Epic hardtail is much lighter. Non-proportional geometry. 1 ST IMP R ES S ION SPECIFICATION Frame Specialized FACT 12M full carbon, 75mm travel Shock RockShoxSpecialized SIDLuxe WCID Ultimate, 215x40mm Fork RockShox SID SL Ultimate BRAIN, 110mm travel Wheels Roval Control SL 29in, Specialized S-Works Fast Trak/ Renegade Control 29x2.35in tyres Drivetrain Quarq XX SL power meter, 175mm chainset, SRAM XX SL Eagle AXS r-mech and shifter pod, SRAM CS1299 10-52t cassette Brakes SRAM Level Ultimate,two-piston, 180/160mm Components Roval Control SL Integrated cockpit 760mm width/ 70mm reach, Roval Control SL carbon rigid seatpost, Body Geometry S-Works Power Carbon saddle Sizes S, M, L XL Weight 9.72kg (21.43lb) GEOMETRY Size ridden Large Rider height 5ft11in Head angle 66.5° Seat angle 73.5° Effective SA 74.5° BB height 315mm Chainstay 430mm Front centre 760mm Wheelbase 1,190mm Down tube 727mm Seattube 450mm Top tube 640mm Reach 466mm AUGUST 2023 mbr 45 Epic World Cup the most accurate, aggressive-handling front end of any XC bike I’ve ridden. In contrast, the Half Gulp, Full Gulp or in-between settings I tried on the rear shock all made it surprisingly supple and passive rather than aggressive in feel. Specialized’s typically neutral kinematics means it flows smoothly over the ground rather than stiffening up when you kick the power down. Add in the ultra-light weight to the consistent ground-hugging traction, and the World Cup is a Strava-confirmed rocket ship up rooty, rocky climbs. While the frame is unquestionably structurally stiff, there’s a significant degree of pedal bob in Full Gulp mode and perceptible movement even in Zero Gulp, unless you go well over the recommended pressures in the positive chamber. That destroys traction, though, so it’s best to maintain a smooth cadence. Interestingly, the same happens with the BRAIN fork. Switching the Spike Valve off means it’s smoother off the top, but then it moves more when sprinting out of the saddle, even in its firmest setting. In reality, the actual movements at both ends are very small and probably don’t affect efficiency much. Losing the psychological ‘locked suspension’ advantage is potentially a big deal for racers though, and is in contrast with the ‘pedals like a hardtail’ marketing. Heading downhill, the Epic World Cup handles occasional drops and larger hits well enough, so Specialized’s ‘same as a 100mm travel bike’ claims carry some credibility, as the shock performance feels less clunky than the full BRAIN Epic. It definitely hangs up less on square-edge hits than a pure race hardtail, so I was much less worried about rear tyre and wheel surviving. But even with the rad restricting rigid seatpost replaced with an AXS Reverb dropper, the Epic World Cup couldn’t match the composure, fatigue reduction, speed, and overall bad-line forgiveness of more conventional 100-120mm XC bikes I’ve tested. Yes, the sub-10kg weight sounds light, but the frame is actually twice the weight of hardtails like Canyon’s Exceed (835g) or Scott’s Spark (847g), and even Specialized’s own S-Works Epic hardtail, which it’s designed to replace, is a full 900g lighter. That’s a lot of extra mass to carry just to offset occasional big-bump absorption, when you set up the suspension hard enough for the bike to pedal like a rigid frame. The real plot twist though, is that the excellent S-Works Epic Evo with similar geometry and 110mm of conventional rear travel, boasts a frame that’s over 100g lighter. Wild, right? This probably explains why most Specialized pros have been racing the S-Works Epic Evo this season, with a retrofit remote lockout, rather than the new bike. So where does that leave the S-Works Epic World Cup? In terms of handling and pure racer spec it is excellent. The range of suspension tuning means it’s potentially a great gateway to more comfort and control for aggressive racers who are tired of hardtail masochism but don’t want to be distracted with lockout levers. Frame rigidity, geometry and suspension smoothness mean I’d pick it over the existing Epic hardtail too. Yet for most rides/races, a longer-travel bike like the Epic Evo is more versatile, easier to ride, and probably a faster option too. Alternatively, you could save a lot of weight and money by sucking up the occasional wallop on a hardtail. While the latest Fox Live Valve, Suntour and RockShox Flight Attendant electronic suspension developments make the WCID shock and BRAIN fork look positively primitive. Guy Kesteven Specialized Epic World Cup: XC race weapon designed to cut straight to the chase
F E AT U R E 48 mbr AUGUST 2023
AUGUST 2023 mbr 49 Riding with your kids should be the best thing you’ve ever done. Here’s how to guarantee success Words: Fi Spotswood Photos: Andy Lloyd Take your kids to the trails and you’ll set them on a lifetime mtb journey
F E AT U R E 50 mbr AUGUST 2023 hen and how am I ever going to mountain bike regularly again?” This wasn’t the first thought that popped into my head when I learnt we were expecting our first child. Definitely top 10, though. But it didn’t take long before it dawned on me that the best long-term strategy for protecting my own trail time was to support my children in learning, and loving, mountain biking. Easier said than done, of course. Now, however, with three time-sappers in tow (four, seven, nine), I stand by the strategy, even if I’ve honed my tactics along the way. We still aren’t quite at the point where a family ride involves a truly phenomenal shred, but it’s close. Very close. Often, our rides are short, snappy affairs. We will split the family for an afternoon and focus just on one child who will bask in the attention of having a whole grown up to themselves. These are where skills and confidence really notch up the levels. Our role is as cheerleader of a Million Tiny Victories, producer of custard creams, and regaler of stories from our own library of mountain biking adventures. These rides are the ones where my heart really soars and I begin entering adventure races and bike packing events in my mind. Then I realise that the child is in fact only four and riding on 16in wheels. And we’ve done 5km in an hour. Maybe next year. It’s harder to ride all together, but we have some techniques up our sleeve. And this has resulted in some magical days exploring the landscape beyond trail centres, skirting around empty mid-Wales reservoirs and stopping for picnics on amazing rugged hillsides with kites soaring above. There has been some hike-a-bike too, and a few times we have lost a child in a bog. But it’s character building, right? THESE RIDES ARE THE ONES WHERE MY HEART SOARS “OK kids, there’s a bog that way, the only thing you need to do is avoid it” You don’t need big wheels to build big skills Neutral position and eyes on the exit: she’s obviously been reading mbr’s Skills section