For 2010 Marzocchi’s goal for the Dirt Jump range was to increase the strength and performance without adding weight. Extensive testing has resulted in added strength but with less weight and working with re-designed internals it makes the 2010 Dirt Jump range the best yet.

The biggest change is the new ‘upside crown’, this can be best described as an inverted crown, but it is much more than that. By inverting the crown and removing all sharp edges impact forces are dissipated around the stanchions and steerer safely. Using this design Marzocchi have managed to reduce weight by 15% while increasing strength by 30%.

A new lower casting has been made with a new lattice-reinforced brake arch to improve tracking and a traditional 20mm bolt through axle is used on the 4X & DJ1 models.

Bushings are something that can’t be compromised, so Marzocchi are now using higher quality 2 piece bushings that are reworked with vertical slots for better oil penetration. The bushings are also paired to the stanchions and lower legs to ensure tighter tolerances and smother running – in effect each fork is now blue printed.

2010 see’s the true return of the fit and forget Bomber.

Four Cross

The 2010 Marzocchi Four Cross has developed & proven in racing buy world class riders such as Brian Lopes and Cedric Gracia.

The Four Cross uses the top of the range RC3 cartridge that has been developed in the heat of competition. The Italian made, open bath RC3 cartridge gives a wide and usable range of rebound and both high and low speed compression adjustment.  The High and low compression is adjusted from just one dial, with both compression curves crossing in the middle for ease of set up.

To help keep weight down the Four Cross, Marzocchi use the new open bath air system, keeping pressures low and adjustments simple.

Weighing in at 2340g for an open bath, air sprung fork the Four Cross weighs in at 46g less than the 2009 4X WC while increasing strength by 30%.

Dirt Jump 1

The Dirt Jump 1 & 2 models utilize the updated Open Bath RV damper that features externally adjustable rebound damping. The Dirt Jump 1 & 2 models feature a coil spring and a low pressure pre-load system.

Weighing in at only 2240g for an open bath, coil sprung fork the DJ1 weighs a massive 355g less than the 2009 DJ1 while increasing strength by 30%.

SSP

Four Cross £499.95

Dirt Jump 1 £399.95

Dirt Jump 2 (QR only) £259.95

Dirt Jump 3 (QR only) £189.95

Expected delivery Sept 09

With all the hype on the bike scene being about Slopestyle this year, most bike company’s have been showing off their 4″, 5″ and 6″ go any where do anything steeds with pride.

24seven bikes have been expecting this for a while and have been working away to bring us a hardcore medium weight (39.9lbs stock) hard hitting Slopestyle rig that wont tear a huge hole in your pocket. We bring you the 24seven Messiah.

24seven started building this frame a few years back when the Slopestyle legend Lance McDermott was riding for them, although Lance now rides for another team the guys at 24/7 continued developing the bike and turned it into the British beast that it is today. The frame is made from 6061 aluminium and comes in a battleship grey gloss finish with the rear end in good old black (this is the only colour combo offered). The rear end is defiantly not going to let you down even in the harshest of conditions, its burly as hell with horizontal drop outs that are designed to take a good beating.

One thing that might catch your eye when looking at the frame on its own is the fact that the bottom bracket shell is also the housing for the rear pivot resulting in being able to run the bike as a single speed without having to use a tensioner (when going through the travel the chain length stays the same ). With a quite steep head angle of 68 degrees it has the feeling of stability when launching drops and hitting dirt jumps. The 14″ bottom bracket height gives you plenty of clearance when rolling into steep slopes and hitting the single track.

Rockshox and Fox have got the suspension systems covered with the awesome Fox RP23 at the rear and the big hitting Rockshox 302 Domains up front. Running Hayes nine brakes you know your not going to have any problems in the stopping area as these brakes have been tried and tested for years. Along with Sram X7 rear mech and shifter 24/7 have fitted their own Super Fat SE 3 piece cranks to provide a smooth and reliable running performance. The Super Fats are not the only 24/7 branded components on the bike as most of the finish kit is their own. Slim bars, 50mm block stem, freeride inspired saddle and seat post and also 24/7 hubs (20mm front) laced on to Alex D24 rims are all contributors in making the Messiah such a hardcore Slopestyle rig.

I took this opportunity to take the bike for a blast down some local short-track DH runs as well as single track around the woods. The bike felt good at speed and the front end was easy to lift when needed. The short back end reminds you that this is not a DH bike and the weight is never going to persuade you that this is a UK trail bike. But then the Messiah is not a bike to be picked-up and jiggled about with in a car-park, whilst discussing “optimum weight versus travel” or “pedal friendly geometry design” as its more like a Battle-Axe. You may question your choice of weapon on the way to the battle field, but when it all kicks-off, you will be glad you brought it!

Available fromwww.24sevenbikes.co.uk at a retail price of £1699.99.

Written by Tom Blease TT Bike Park

Tom Grundy (film-maker and photographer extraordinaire), Rory and Tim from the Ram/Huckmonkey dirt Jump team arrived at my house around 9PM. We hit my workshop and fitted all their new sparkly Marzocchi DJ1’s, Saint cranks and SLX rear brakes to their RAM 4130’s.

After three and a half hours of listening to Tim waffle on about sod all the catchphrase of the evening some how turned to ‘Tim shut the f**k up’. With all the bikes sorted we went to the house to dicuss the day ahead. The plan was to meet up with Jim Davage and Chris Smith and the guys seemed nervous, but excited at prospect. I went to bed and left the guys in my front room with the Ambipureasauras to chat about the next day and get some shut eye.

After seeing that amazing sunshine when I woke on Sunday morning I went downstairs to wake the guys up. After a hearty breakfast of fried eggs on toast we loaded up the motors and headed for Davage town.

We meet up with Jim and followed him to Yeovil, where after a brief wait in Lidls car park, we had to go search for Ryan (Ram/Huckmonkey.com dirt jump team) and Sam Ren (D Bikes).

After finding the crew we headed off for the first riding spot of the day; The Hollow (Jim’s spot). With all the crew ready to ride, the guys sessioned the trails for a good hour before the weather took a real turn for the worst. The wind just seemed to come from nowhere and it was kicking up a storm big time. Tim hit the deck two or three times before a big stack, resulting in his knee popping out of place after being blown off track. Rory had a get down on his hip, which pretty much put him out for the day and Big Jim D ended up with a face full of dirt after getting a bit of kite syndrome whilst airborne.

The weather changed again, the heavens opened up, and hit out with a almighty downpour. We all started grabbing flashes, cameras, video equipment and heading forthe car and as fast as the rain started it stopped.

We set all the kit back up and continued our session, only for the weather to do the same thing about 20 minutes later. Enough was enough so we packed up and headed for lunch. After stuffing our faces with junk food there was talk of sacking the day off due to the weather.

We decided to give Chris Smiths dirt Jumps a miss, as they would most probably have been to wet to ride so we headed for the famous wallride that has graced a few covers of MBUK, and has been featured in most of Chris Smiths video sections on various DVDs.

We arrived at the wall to find a humongous lake in front of the run up to the wall. Determined to make the wall ridable me and Big Jim Davage went to work on draining the pool. The guys seemed a bit relieved when they saw the run-in flooded, as they were a bit nervous as none of them had hit a wallride before.

It was looking doubtful for a while, but eventually we managed to dig some drainage a clear it. Once the run was dry Big Jim headed flat out at the wall and roosted straight across it. Rory disappeared out of sight and the next thing we know he’s hurtling towards the wall at Mach-10 and bang straight up and down first time. Nailed it perfect!

Not wanting to be out done, Tim and Ryan both headed up and both nailed perfect first time. After a few runs the game was stepped up a bit, with Tim popping a table out the top of the wall and Ryan following up with the same. Tim just took it straight on the chin, and followed up with a no-footer then a very close no footed can attempt landing groin to top-tube ending the trick session.

All three lads were planning to try and get on the wall at the same time, but due to a mechanical failure on Rory’s chain ring it was down to Tim and Ryan. After a few runs and getting their timing down both guys ripped across the wall a few feet apart, which made for some excellent photos and video footage.

We decided to call it a day around 5pm. Just as we got back to the cars the heavens opened up and we had what I can only explain as the weirdest half an hour of weather ever. Rain was beating down really hard, as we were packing the cars up and preparing for our journeys home.

Just as we pulled off from where we were parked, everything just went white and it was like a Siberian snowstorm.

The road disappeared under a blanket of snow in seconds, and everywhere looked like it had been snowed on for months. As I came down out of the hills the snow seemed to disappear and then out popped the sun again.

Talk about global warming.

Words: Cliff Barbeary/Huckmonkey.com Photos: Tom Grundy/ tomgrundy.blogspot.com/Huckmonkey.com

We are pleased to announce that we have signed UK freerider Chris Smith to ride Corsair Bikes equipped with Marzocchi suspension for the 2009 season. Chris Smith is one of the UK’s highest profile freeride and dirt jump riders and is a regular magazine contributor.

Chris Smith signs for Corsair bikes

Chris will be using the 5″ travel Konig with a Marzocchi 55ATA Micro and the Ducat jump bike equipped with a Marzocchi 4X WC. Chris will also have a 7″ travel Maelstrom freeride bike with a Marzocchi 66 RC3 fork when a little more travel is needed!

He said: “I’m stoked to ride the new Corsair Konig. It’s great to have a bike designed purely for the riding I do rather than adapting a bike that isn’t totally up to the job. Also, working with a smaller company will give me the chance to have some input into the bikes.”

Corsair brand manager Dan Jones said: “We are really pleased a rider of Chris’s calibre wanted to ride for Corsair bikes. We worked with Chris last year when he rode on Marzocchi forks so when the opportunity came to link up again, we jumped at the chance.”

Chris will be attending many events this year including; Adidas Slopestyle, [Braun] 26 Trix, Bike Radar Live and Crankworx.

Chris will also spend the 09 seasons riding for

HALO
EASTON
DEITY
FOX RACING
ODI
FORMULA
SCHWALBE
TSG
DUFFS
CRUD
MRP
SRAM

Huckmonkey.com will be spending a fair bit of time this summer ripping up the trails with Chris so we will keep you informed of all the new happenings at Smith HQ.

Iron Horse bounced back on to the mountain bike scene a few years ago with the launch of the DW (Dave Weagle) link equipped Iron Horse steeds.

The 2009 Iron Horse line up has a nice mix of rides from top of the range full suspension downhill beasts, to your everyday commuter ride. All of the full suspension bikes can be slotted in to the one of the following categories; downhill, freeride, all-mountain, trail and the XC Marathon are all covered.

The Iron Horse 6point6 blurs the line between freeride and all-mountain. We have spent the last few months hitting various terrain on the rig, hitting downhill and ladder trails, singletrack and full on cross country jaunts.

The 6point range has been pushed in between Iron Horse’s MK111 trail bikes and the Sunday range, making it a bike that’s capable of hitting everything and still scrapping its hoof on the floor for more.
The name could be easily misinterpreted and it would be easy to assume that the 6point6 would have of 6.6 inches of travel. The first 6 stands for 6inchs of travel, but the second is the model number, as Iron Horse offer a lower specced 6point4.

The frame is crafted from 6069-T6 light weight tubing and weighs in at 7.3lbs, with F7 links providing a real stiff and responsive ride. This shows when railing single tracks, or banging your way back up the hills. The 6point6 comes kitted out with some nice mid to top end kit that is perfectly in tune with the frame.

Your cockpit is kitted out with Funn Combat lock-on grips on a FSA Maximus OS 25mm rise bar, shifting is controlled by SRAM X7 shifters with the super smooth SRAM X9 mid cage rear mech, and a Shimano Saint front mech. Braking is taken care of by the highly popular Avid Juicy 7’s with 7″ rotors, which provide excellent stopping power in most conditions.

The Cockpit is joined to the Rockshox Lyric 160mm Solo air forks by the FSA OS Gap stem. The Lyric forks give the bike a plush front end whilst keeping the weight down.

Providing your rear bounce is the much loved Fox DHX Air 5 with rebound, pro-pedal, bottom out resistance and a position sensitive boost valve. All those settings make for a highly tunable bike, which can be tailored to the trails and your style of riding.
Putting power to the DT Swiss wheel set is FSA’s Gravity MegaExo crankset with 32/22 tooth rings, with the E-13 DRS Dual guide keeping the chain in place.

A WTB Pure V race saddle with cromo rail (which I personally found a bit uncomfortable on longer rides) is held to the frame by the FR-270 seat post.

Traction is down to Kenda’s Nevegal Sticke compound 2.35 tires, which prevent you from spinning out in the stodgiest of conditions, and clear real easy once the wheels are rolling again with a bit of speed.

THE RIDE
During our tests, the 6point6 it was thrown around at Esher Shore, Chicksands, Frome DH and shore trails, the Mendip Hills and the Forest of Dean.

The first stop for testing was Esher Shore in Surrey. The 6point6 really did feel at home on the ladder trails, with a responsive front end. The twisting ladder trails were no match for the bike (shame the same can’t be said about me). With the shock pumped with 150 PSI the 6.6 sucked up the bumps and small drops from trail to trail.
Hitting the kickers at the bottom of the park, the 6point6 felt just at home in the air as it did on the trail. It was the same riding the 4x track at Chicksands, the bike was so responsive over the track that, at times I thought I was back on my old Norco 4X.

A real test for the bike (as well as myself) was the Mendip Hills. I was surprised about how easily the bike climbed up the hills once the pro-pedal was fulled clicked on by the large blue lever on the top of the DHX. Managing 15 miles with some real steep climbs and leg burn like I’ve rarely felt before (I’m so unfit), the only thing that I can really complain about is the saddle being so uncomfortable (although that’s down to riders choice and normally everyone uses a saddle they know and find comfortable).

Again the bike really felt at home slopping its way down muddy bridal paths and the occasional deer track. In fact this is where the real fun starts. I pointed the bike down some of the gnarliest, natural, steep trails I could find, and rode out the bottom with a massive smile every time. The bike handles really well on enclosed trails  twisting and turning in and out of the trees, and down the icy single track that we hit at the Forest of Dean.

The all-mountain label doesn’t really do the 6point6 justice. Although it climbs like a demon in and out of the saddle, I would personally label it as the perfect UK freeride bike for ripping up shore parks and Freeride areas.

For £2,800 you get a bike fully kitted out bike that will leave you begging to unleash her from the stable again after each ride.
For more info on IronHorse Bikes and the DW Link checkout www.ironhorsebikes.com.

I’ve tested this jacket to the max in some of Britain’s harshest downpours as well as putting it through the wear and tear test.

I wore this jacket whilst building the track for the Urban DH in Scarborough not only did the sea get sucked up and dumped on us but the winds were mega strong as well and at the end of each day I was going back to the hotel with a totally dry top half.  With the rain hitting you at 60mph most waterproof jackets would start to leak at the seals or on the zip but not the Fox Teknik jacket with its sealed zip system and magnetic storm flap on the front and even with the side vent zips slightly open for air flow the rain still seemed to stay out.

Tech info:

8000mm waterproof rating with 8000gm breathability rating.

Stretch outershell allows freedom of movement whilst pedaling

Front flap uses magnet-snap system to stay shut, allowing for ease of closing and protection of the elements

Front hand pockets conceal waistband cinch pulls and hood pulls

Form fitted hood allows rider to cinch and wear fox flux helmet underneath

Reinforced shoulder and elbow panels and front feature nexus print sublimination

Slight drop tail for rear coverage in muddy conditions.

Not only is the Teknik an awesome riding jacket but it also makes a great stylish all round waterproof.

Retailing at £125.00 available from Fox Europe

Fox Ultimate shorts

Not made as a water proof short but the material seems to have a slight water resistancy to it making it a great short for drizzly days and with the detachable inner short they certainly keep the top half of your legs warm.

Tech info

Mesh venting on the legs for airflow and breathability

Detachable inner liner makes it two shorts in one

Inner liner features high performance dual density chamois

Rear stretch yoke for pedaling mobility

Inner leg zip vents for critical ventilation and airflow

Adjustable waist allows you to dial in the perfect fit

Cobrax front button snap- doesn’t pop open under strain

Stretch paneling under knees for mobility when wearing protection pads

Low profile cargo for stowing essentials

Whether your ripping it up at your local trails or racing Downhill these shorts cater for us all.

Retail price £95.00 available from foxeurope

Other items worn

Fox Transition pisspot helmet £35.00 from www.foxeurope.com

Fox SLE Zebra Overload Delux Hi-tops £65.00 from www.foxeurope.com

Fox Socks available from www.foxeurope.com

Fox Attack Gloves £25.00 from www.foxeurope.com

TSG Desert Storm Knee pads £59.99 from www.isondistribution.com

pictures by Marshall Blunderbuss

The Overload Delux Hi-Top are available in Black or White retailing at £60 and The SLE Zebras Retail at £65.

As they say Zebra is the new um errr Zebra.

Available from www.foxeurope.com

The Havoc R performed flawlessly through 2008 despite been under development. We would like to thank all our 2008 riders for their input. The finished 2009 model will be stiffer, plusher and a tad lighter with a new custom tubeset.

The Team will be competing in 2009 World Cup DH, with the exception of Sam due solely to his age!.

This year we welcome 2 new riders, Ben Ineson and Liam Mason, both well known on the UK circuit and deserving of our full support. Ben Baker enters his 2nd season with us and Sam ‘The Flying Scot’ Flockhart starts his 3rd. We look forward to seeing the lads on track, firing on all 12 cylinders. Astrix Europe will be trackside at most major events providing tech support – though we probably won’t be needed.

Riders from left to right:

Ben Ineson – Elite

Ben Baker – Elite

Liam Mason – Elite

Sam Flockhart – Youth

Appearing at World Cup, NPS, IXS Cup, Maxxis Cup and Avalanche meetings.

Best Regards,

Team @ Astrix Europe

This week has been one of the maddest weeks of my life! What with the weather and everything else we have had against us Chris Smith, DJ Dave ‘Double Decks’ Roberts, the tarmac drinker that is Tom Watts (thats right T.Watts) and myself managed to get the bridge and ramps all built and in place for the start of the race. We were a bit concerned when we were still on the hill at 2.30 am on the Friday night that we weren’t going to be done in time.

The race was delayed for an hour and a half due to having to felt certain areas of the track where riders were concerned they would slide on in the wet weather, and having to build a run off from the bottom of the scaffolding landing due to riders not wanting to drop the 2ft step even though they had rode off a bigger drop off a lorry back further up the trail, not to mention the 150 odd steps they had just come down! I never realized there was so much politics in racing; don’t get me wrong I’m not having a pop, but I’m used to being out in a forest without any regulations or having to change anything that I’ve built due to it being to slippy or to high. I understand that you have got to do things with health and safety in mind, and you want to make sure that you can hit everything flat out as your racing. But the bikes we ride are made to deal with this kind of terrain and a two foot drop to a 7inch travel bike just gets sucked up especially at speed. And the thing that made me laugh the most was the Bc official saying to me its the 12 year olds we have to cater for, and all the 12yr olds were riding the track better than the older guys. One question I must ask and please mail me if you know why, but why do British Cycling use comissars that don’t race, never have raced and don’t really have any interest in racing to cover the races! There are guys out there like Scott Beaumont and Will longdon that know the book inside out and also have a huge knowledge of downhill racing and can look at the track from a riders point of view rather than a plumbers.

After a few changes here and there the race started and from the looks on the riders faces as they were coming down the track and off the scaffolding drop to the finish line they were loving it.

The scaffolding drop proved to be a bit sketchy at times due to the sea wind that was ripping across the end of it and a few riders learnt why you have to wear a fullface helmet whilst racing Dh.

After the rain started to lash down we had to slow down the track by putting chicane in just after the huge wooden bridge due to the fact that riders were going into the lorry back up ramp at mach ten missing the landing and bouncing all over the shot along the 45ft lorry trailer. There was a section of the track where there was a slight upslope going up a left hand bend and we had placed a big kicker at the bottom of it for riders to fire themselves up it if they wanted to just to add a twist to the race. Me and Smithy walked over to the ramp whilst practice was on to see if anyone was hitting it, just as we got there some guy came flat out down the trail off the kicker and straight in to a hawthore bush which he rolled across then off a 9ft drop to land on his feet then catch his bike, it was so funny. When race time arrived and all riders had been seeded the weather took a real turn for the worst and the and only a few categories managed to get their actual race run due to the track being declared to dangerous to ride in the elements thats were upon us. Podiums were held on riders seeding times which a few were disappointed about due to not giving it their all in the seeding runs but it was totally out of the organizers hands and we all think they made a good call. Congratulations to Dan Prince Charles Stanbridge for taking the overall win with a time of 1min17 seconds.  And also congratulations to Huckmonkeys Chris Seager for taking fifth in his category.
Its great that we can hold this kind of event in the UK its just a shame we cant control the weather.

A big thank you needs to go out firstly to Chris Roberts from www.nakedracing.com, as without Chris’s determination the urban races wouldn’t happen. Also Chris’s family, the Track builders, Dave Wardell and the scaffold team, the Borough of Scarborough and their council, The Fat Face crew, Monster Energy (for keeping us going) and everyone else that was involved in putting on such an awesome event.
Photos from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesr0012/

Introducing the Fat Face Night Ride 2008 UCI C2 Race

Date:

Saturday 4th OctoberTimes:

Practice & Seeding runs 9.00am – 5.00pm

Race Start 7.00pm – 9.30pm

Location:

Marine Drive Scarborough

Description:

The beautiful weather and the electric atmosphere for the inaugural event, last year’s Fat Face Night Race in Edinburgh was fantastic, and met with great response from the media, 6000 spectators, and 300 competitors “the best race I have ever done” were quotes from the competitors.

This year, with a new town and a longer more challenging course, and even more room for the spectators this year’s Fat Face Mountain Bike race promises even more. It all takes place on Saturday 4th October 2008 in Scarborough.

The finish area & trade stands have quadrupled in size for this year.

These will now be open on Friday afternoon.

We also have the Jagermeister offering drink samples from their big truck that will be parked in the finish area.

The family-friendly day will offer a competitive race for varying abilities over our challenging course, taking in steep steps, purpose built wooden jumps an exciting downhill race, with a backdrop of Scarborough historic coast line & spectacular scenery.

Background:

Now into its second year, the ‘Fat Face Urban Downhill race’ is a fun downhill race for most competitors and a real good opportunity for the professional riders to show off the skills of the in front of a massive crowd, racing down the steep and testing course from the top of the rocky headland on which stands Scarborough’s medieval castle down to the sea front & pier. Its also the last chance in the UK to get UCI points ready for next years World cup races.

To give a new twist to what is the amazing sport of down hill mountain biking, and raise the profile of down hill mountain biking to people both inside and outside of the sport.

Race organiser Chris Roberts said, “Scarborough is a great town for this spectacular event, we are expecting thousands of action fans and general public to line the streets & alleyways of Scarborough to see all the action.”

Riders will be competing against the clock to get the fastest time. We have the UK’s top stars of mountain biking taking part in the event.

Riders

Expect to see the four current World Downhill Champions Gee Atherton, Rachel Atherton, World Master Champions Lee Bertram, & Lynda Davis and the top names in British Mountain biking including: Dan Atherton, Brendan Fairclough, Tom Braithwaite, Scott Beaumont, Marc Beaumont, Neil Donaugh, & Will Longden.

Rider’s categories

Age range from just 12 years old up to over 40+

Juvenile 12-14, Youth 15-16, Junior 17-18, Senior 19-29, Master 30-39, Veteran40+, Expert & Pro Elite Categories

UCI Points for Expert & Elite Categories.

Course

The course is under wraps until the day before the race but it will start from the Castle at 7pm on Saturday night so will be quite easy to find and will take in the steep steps and alleyways with some added man made wooden features to wow the crowds.

Prize Fund

£3000 is on offer to Pro riders, with thousands of pounds of prizes for all the other age categories

Event Website www.nakedracing.com

For more details or discuss the event contact:

Chris Roberts
Phone 07702 826260

E-mail chris.roberts@nakedracing.com

If you want some shorts that look as good off the trail as on, then check out the Fox Sergeant shorts. I’ve been testing these shorts and for a while now and I really like them. The inner liner features Fox’s ‘Ride’ chamois which make them perfect for long trail days, but is also detachable for when you don’t need the padding.

Although the shorts are casual in appearance, they also have a rear stretch yoke for pedalling mobility. The digital camo design is subtle and available in black or desert. Fox have packed a lot of features into the Sergeant short, but they still cost only £65.00.

The Fox Commando jersey’s design matches the Sergeant short, with the same subtle camo and some contrasting designs and embroidered sleeve and neck badges thrown in. The sides have mesh panels for extra ventilation, and the sunglasses wipe inside the bottom hem is a nice touch.

The sizing seems to come up a bit smaller than some of Foxes other jerseys (notably the Blitz jerseywhich we looked at back along, so you may want to buy a size bigger if you want to wear it with body armor. The Commando jersey costs £35.00 and is available from www.foxeurope.com.

On the 18th of May 2008 Rocky Mountain UK team rider Scott Beaumont was crowned National 4X champion for the first time in his long career. Scott had the ride of his life coming from the back of the pack in the final to take the lead in the last corner along with the flag. As well as a trophy Scott also gets the privilege of wearing the National Championship stripes for the next year in both domestic and international competition but we thought it need not stop there.

Scott is no stranger to striped jerseys having been crowned UCI World Champion twice in BMX but Silverfish UK popped into local VW specialists Dub Monkeys (www.dubmonkeys.co.uk) with an idea. The guys in the garage were more than happy to turn their spray guns away from vintage VWs for a while and set about re-spraying Scott’s 2008 Flow frame with gloss white paint and two sets of the red, white and blue stripes on the top and seat tubes.

Scott was presented with the frame at the Fort William World Cup in Scotland not long after the paint had dried, and only a few days after his birthday. His new ride was built and boxed straight away ready to board a plane ready for the World Championships in Italy this weekend.

If you want to look cool out on the trails as well as stay cool, Dakine are on hand with their new 2008 Box Short Sleeved riding top.

Made from 100% moisture wicking bird eye polyester, and coated with AEGIS microbe shield anti-bacterial fabric treatment, the sweat just disperses through the fiber to keep you dry on those hot sweaty days. With mesh venting panels in all the right places this will keep you nice and cool on those dusty, back-country trails.

When you’ve finished your days riding and just want to chill out, then check out the Dakine box print zipped hoodie.

For details of Dakine stockists, check out the dealer list on www.surf-sales.com.

After having to bitch crank between each jump the riders still managed to wow the crowds with barrell rolls, back flips, 360 barspins, 360 tailwhips and 360 suicides along with the normal array of can-cans, no-handers and tailwhips.  The Curtis dirt jump team were there in force, along with Charge Bike’s Mike Smith, Identiti’s Rory Backshell, Kona’s Ricky Crompton and Giant’s Chris Smith.

Chris Smith had a nasty crash during one of his final runs, slipping a pedal while landing of his 360 suicide, turning it in to a 360 suicide to scorpion face grind down the whole landing. But by that time Chris had already done enough to shut the competition down taking first place and £250 cash, with Rory Backshell (Identiti) taking second and Danny Cass (Curtis) third.

Mike Smith went away with a sore ass after nearly being entered by his seat post after snapping the rails on his seat, and shredding his jeans. The crowd weren’t very impressed with the MC announcing 360’s as ’spins’, so Sam Pilgrim had to step in and take over on the mic.

It seemed strange that Sam wasn’t riding, after he won the previous two rounds; this was apparently due to the fact that the jumps were shite, and he was having more fun doing the Animal/Relentless jump and trials show, with trials legend and Diamondback team manager Martyn Ashton. The show drew massive crowds all weekend, and was definately one of the highlights of the weekend.

Originally designed as a long travel XC/AM frame, the guys at RAM UK decided to give it to Oggy to see how long it would take him to trash it, and to date the bike is still riding as good today as it was on day one. The nDuro is capable of hosting a 4″ to 5″ fork, and can be built up as a light All Mountain rig, weighing in at around the 28lbs mark. The production bike will probably come with Rockshox revelation forks, SRAM gearing as well as Mavic rims on DT hubs, Avid Juicy 5’s and a Truvativ finishing kit. All this for around the £1500 mark.

The Guys at RAM UK are expecting delivery of the first batch 09 nDuro’s at the end of July, so if you want to be one of the first in the country to own one of these beauties, then drop Rob @ Bad Ass Bikes a call on 01179 410434.