Ibis Tuesday - Do you need more?

OK, so I'm nearly done with Ibis Tuesday, I will leave you with a little more info and a picture of my HD....can't wait for it to be built up!

• If you need to know about about Ibis Cycles, go to http://www.ibiscycles.com/
• Need to read some reviews, there are some on my blog and some here;
• Scot Nicol (founder of Ibis Cycles) has sort of a blog here, but it's called 'Chuck Spew'.
• You can be friends with Ibis Cycles on facebook here
• You can follow Ibis Cycles on twitter here (only one tweet so far, less is more as they say)
• Ibis sponsor Brian Lopes (all round fast guy), you can follow his tweets here
• Need to know more, just email or call me (my details are at the top of my blog)

I think that might be wrap for Ibis Tuesday......unless I think of something else.

Ibis Tuesday, Mojo HD - Customer review.

Sue is a bit of a fan Ibis bike and she's a pretty good rider too (which really is an understatement). 
So since Sue got the first Mojo HD up and running in NZ, I asked her to flick me an email after her first ride to tell me what she thought.

First ride on bike today and it’s nothing short of fantastic to be honest. The frame is amazing – heaps of travel, light as, but also super stiff laterally. Really easy to flick around and extremely nimble for a relatively long travel slackish head-angled bike.

Attached pics of the day – shiny bike before ride, shiny bike on ride, and then the xray of my fractured elbow, which, as these things always do, happened on the very final run on a nondescript wooden bridge when my front wheel completely washed out on the wet slimy wood...... first fall in 12 years!

So the brunt of that is it will be a few weeks before I can get out on it again which I’m gutted about! Still, my unicycle is going to get a little more use – always knew there was a use for the stupid thing!

Thanks Sue, great the review and hopefully you'll heal fast.

You know how I said Sue was a bit of an Ibis fan, here are some pictures of her other Ibis bikes.

Ibis Tuesday - Mojo SL

Yeap, Ibis Tuesday is still going (if you are from another part of the world, it might still be Ibis Monday, sorry for the confusion).

The Mojo SL, 140mm or rear plush DW-Linked suspension, basically 5lbs frame wieght (give or take).

Build it light and it can be competivly raced as an XC bike and also handy enough to be used as a trail bike, nice geometry with good handling charateristics.

I ran mine with Fox36's floats and it was sweet for Nelson trails.

You can get red, blue or plantinum links (comes with the Lopes link) and you can get white, trans blue or matt clear (pictured) frame colour. 

Ibis Tuesday continues - The Tranny.

Probably the best hard-tail on the market....just ask anyone who has one, also one of the first of the new generation carbon bikes, it's all about lateral stiffness, not noodley weight weenier bikes.
Or you could read this again;

Don't forget Tim Wilding won the national SS champs in 2009 and Anja McDonald won the 2010 on Tranny's.
Best not to do too much googling on the word 'tranny' either, it may or may not be what you expect.
Click here (not for the faint hearted, this is a tranny swap!)

More from Ibis Tuesday - Hakkalugi

Now, that's a pretty cool frame.

Ibis Tuesday - Mojo HD, Vitamin P

My Vitamin P Mojo HD, so nice.

Syndicate Team, Leogang, Austria

Minnaar takes the win, holds the leaders jersey.......but there is a pack of kiwi riders on his tail.
Good work to Cam, Blinky and J Lo.......keep it up guys.

Greg Minnaar WINS - June 20, 2010 - Leogang, Austria from santa cruz bikes on Vimeo.

Mojo HD's in NZ, Not Many, If Any.

My latest Ibis shipment to NZ was bought to you by the number TWO and the letters HD.

That's right only TWO Mojo HD frames in this shipment, frame number one, the small frame you see pictured, was picked up yesterday afternoon and built up in the middle of the night. 

As you can see below, it's build weight is just under 12.5kg's, which is pretty light.

Expect to see that bike flying through the friendly skys in Auckland.

The second Mojo HD, is mine, you'll have to wait for pictures of that....because I haven't seen it yet.

Mojo HD's will be available soon, flick me and email or talk to your friendly dealer for more info.

Dirk Peters - Racer Bike Cup, Engelberg

Two wet muddy races in a row, anyone would think we were still back in the New Zealand winter and not summer here in Switzerland. Today’s race was one of the muddiest I have been in. Rain all week and freezing cold temperatures (it was snowing not far above the track) made for some extreme conditions on race day.

Engelberg is another very unique course, mainly because of its length. It’s only a bit over 3km and lap times were between 10 and 15 minutes and that was with plenty of mud to slow things down. The track is basically one big climb and then a descent back down to the bottom of the hill with a small section of flat before and after the start finish area. Because of the conditions we ended up racing 8 laps but we were scheduled to do 10.

I had a much better start position for this race lining up on the third row. I had my lucky number 13 on the bike so I was feeling pretty good and was keen to have a stronger result. Right away I felt a lot more comfortable. I lost places at the start of the climb but got most of them back by the top. The single track had been gravelled before the race so although it was wet it wasn’t too slippery, but the fun really started when we entered the grass section of the track below the famous Titlis Ski Jump. The thick mud made it pretty much a hold on and hope for the best situation. 3 chutes and if you made it to the bottom safely you were doing pretty well. It was absolute chaos the first lap with riders crashing all over the place. I got down alright breathed a sigh of relief and attempted to slog my way through the mud along the flat to the safety of the tarmac start finish area. After the first lap I decided it was faster just to get off and run along the flat. I flew up the climb on the second lap and by the end I was up into 16th position. The bike was starting to suffer by now. The thick casing of mud was clogging the drive train and chain suck was becoming a problem. The climb was fine, I dropped it into the small ring and spun my way up but I had a lot of trouble riding everywhere else after a fresh coating of mud and grass each lap. The only thing to do was man up and slog on for the rest of the race. The attrition rate was very high with a number riders pulling out after they or their bikes couldn’t hack it. Disappointingly I lost places through the middle of the race and got lapped by the race winner with meters left off my 7th lap. But 19 place wasn’t too bad and a big improvement from the previous Racer Bikes Cup result. I was very pleased with how strong I felt and perhaps if I had done a better job of clearing some of the muck from my drive train each lap I would have been able to spend more time going forwards and finished a little higher but I can’t really complain.

Looking forward to a bit of sunshine and a dry track next week, at the Swiss Bike Trophy in Bern.

Nomad Carbons in NZ - First shipment, been and gone

OK, so I've been a little quiet about the Nomad carbon's that have landed on NZ soil.  Why, you ask?

Well there really weren't that many of them to go around, there were NO medium frames (for those of you who pay attention, I ride a medium sized bike), so I can't tell you of what I think of them.

To be honest, I haven't even seen one in the flesh.  This hand full of carbon Nomad frames were rushed off to the bike shops who had customers waiting for them.

The pictured bike, was built by Planet Cycles, it also has some of the first 2011 (2010.5?) Kashima coated Float 36's.  The bike will also get upgraded to the 2011 XTR, when that finally hits our shores.

Anywho, if you are waiting on a new Carbon Nomad, all I can say is, I feel your pain......really.  You might also manage to catch a sighting of one too, so you are one up on me.  None in Nelson.......yet.

Anyway, I have a plan B bike that is arriving shortly.....maybe you can guess what it is?  It's another bike that has a long waiting list too.

Dirk Peters - International Race Report- Two for Wednesday

Internazionali D’Italia Adamello bike XC Vermiglio.

Race two of our international campaign. I had actually ridden this race before back in 2008 when I raced it as a junior in the lead up to the World Champs that year so it was pretty cool to be returning two years later. Single track is scarce but the unique part of this track is the section through the streets of Vermiglio, a few stairs, cobbles, alley ways and the vocal support form spectators cheering from there balconies and windows definitely makes Vermiglio different from the usual race track.

The main descent is so steep that you really have to control your speed, there is a big gully off to the side near the top that you don’t want to go riding into and rocks and stairs lower down make it quite tricky. The other down hills twist through paddocks and were good fun with a few natural jumps and nice slalom corners. Climbing wise the track was tough, the longest climb started out extremely steep and it was a struggle to even ride it especially in the latter part of the race. The grade did ease near the summit before a hike a bike section took you right to the top below a water fall. The other main climb is rough and rocky and came after a tight corner which hooked straight back up the hill from a descent.

The race was another character building session, for the first part of the race I found the pace really tough. The hardest part was the flat sections, the speed would really get cranked up and I lost a lot of time to the stronger riders. A lap into the race and it suddenly started pouring with rain. The track got greasy really quickly and it got very cold. We even got pelted with hail at one stage. I had a couple of loose moments in the slippery conditions but managed to stay upright and finished relatively strongly passing several riders in the last couple of laps to finish in 29th position.

I am reasonably happy with my result. The step up in performance that comes with racing in the Elite level in Europe is really tough but that’s why I am here, to race and learn from the best. I will look to improve next week back in Switzerland at the next round of the Swiss Racer Bikes cup in Engelberg.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010; Racer Bikes Cup -Champery, Switzerland

After an enjoyable 3 days stay in Schaffhausen we started our race campaign properly, kicking off in Champery with a round of the Swiss Racer Bikes Cup International Mountainbike Series.

Our accommodation for the race was a Swiss Youth Hostel in the beautiful town of Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva. The Youth Hostel was right down by the lake which was good but unfortunately two railway tracks passed right by and at night it sounded like the trains were going to come crashing through the wall.

The weather, which up until Friday had been very average, decided it was time for summer and the temperature rocked up to 27 degrees with bright sunshine till 10 at night. It felt good to be riding without jackets and thermals on.

We had plenty of time to get a few laps in of the Champery track that afternoon and we were very impressed. It’s only short lap at 4.5km, but it is very technical and has a couple of nasty climbs that really test the legs especially later on in the race. Exposed roots and rocks litter the course and in particular the flatter parts where there are a couple of tricky sections that are very hard to ride without losing traction. Not to be out done the descents are steep, literately are chutes straight down the hill side with their share of treacherous roots and rocks and tight off chamber corners.
It’s a true test, you've got to have the skills as well as the legs to do well at Champery.

The build up for the race wasn't my best. We had all been sick, probably caught a bug on the plane and jet lag had made it hard to get a good night sleep. Come Sunday we were into it, 6 full laps plus a start lap was the order of the day.

It was very exciting to be lining up in the same race as riders like double Olympic and multi World Champion Julian Absalon and I was more nervous than I have been before a race in a long time as I warmed up. Call up to the start line was a bit tricky, my German isn't very flash so I had to suss out rider number 45 (I was number 46) and follow him up to the line. The gun went off and I suddenly found out what its like racing against the best riders in the World in Elite Men. It was easily the most intense race I have ever done. I moved up through the field into the top 30 after the first 3 laps but didn't advance much further from there finishing in 28th place. I found the pace very tough and dropped off losing a lot of time on the last couple of laps. At the finish I was absolutely shattered but pleased to have got the first race under my belt.

MTBR.com rave about the Ibis Tranny

Kurt Gensheimer of Mtbr.com has been thrashing around on a Single Speed Ibis Tranny for 6 months now, read his review here;

It's a really good read and with the Single Speeds worlds coming up....well if I said anything else, you guys would just think that I'm trying to sell you a new bike.  So I won't say anything.

I'm going to build one up as a super light weight pump track bike......will update you when I start the build.
Still waiting on some parts and deciding on colours.

Pirates treasure & Round Tekapo

Anja McDonald Reports on the Round Tekepo
It's been a bit over a week, since the event, but it's taken that long for the sensation to return to my fingers so I can type. Over Queen's Birthday weekend I entered the Round Tekapo 90km race. I've done it before, and it was exactly how I remember it - long and very, very cold. So cold you lose all dexterity, the ability to change gears and the power of speech.

It's a lot like an off-road road race with the added fun of falling snow, recently graded gravel roads and a face full of fine wet grit. Despite wearing glasses, I got enough grit in my eyes to cause a sort of temporary blindness and to seize the grip-shift on my wee Chameleon.

Tristan however, didn't get off so lightly and managed to get a larger bit of grit in his eye that scratched the surface causing immense pain. A trip to the urgent doctors and he was diagnosed with a corneal abrasions and was sent on his way adorned with a new pirate's eye patch.

This race pays out cash for the first-place-getters, and I'm mighty glad too. I reckon we deserved a bit of treasure after all that drama and discomfort.

Full results on the event website here

Straitline Silent Guides, available now

Straitline Silent Guide: Sunshine Coast from Fault Line TV on Vimeo.

Great video featuring Kids of 88 sound track, a little late for NZ music month, but hey, better late than never.

Talk you your friendly dealer if you NEED a Straitline Silent Guide, just fitting mine.

Seb Kemp, Tallboy, Skids, Internet Forums

JamRock - More Mountain Bike Videos

Yes, I should have posted this days ago....I am so last week, you gotta love the clash sound track too.

Straitline Advert in Spoke Magazine

Did you see our Straitline advert in Spoke?

A big thanks to Greg at Straitine for all his help and input, but we decided against going with his one, we thought we go for one that Caleb came up with.

Syndicate Team, Fort Bill world cup

SYNDICATE - Fort William, Scotland June 5th 2010 from santa cruz bikes on Vimeo.

Good on Cam Cole too, go Kiwi!

Nelson State of Mind - Distractions

My computer was broken, couldn't do much for nearly two weeks.

Lots to catch up, but best to start off with something to be distracted with!

Paul Williams for Mayor