STEVE SMITH //

FOXHEAD.COM/DOWNHILL

UNMISTAKABLE CONFIDENCE

STEVE SMITH //

FOXHEAD.COM/DOWNHILL

UNMISTAKABLE CONFIDENCE

www.monzaimports.com.au/cycling FoxHeadAustralia

contentsCONTENTS6 INTRO8 FIRST RIDE: CANNONDALE TRIGGER 27514 FIRST RIDE: GT HELION 27520 FIRST RIDE: ENVE M-SERIES WHEELS24 HOW TO: CHOOSE THE RIGHT BIKE FOR YOU 30 FOX BIKE 40 BROOKS 42 FI'ZI:K 46 SRAM 52 LOUIS GARNEAU 54 LEZYNE58 BELL 62 ENVE 68 FEATURE: LOFOTEN ISLANDS WITH HANS REY76 ROCKSHOX78 FIRST RIDE: ROCKSHOX RS-180 FIRST RIDE: SRAM GUIDE BRAKES86 CANNONDALE104 GT BICYCLES122 INTENSE136 FEATURE: MACHINATIONS OF A MEDIA MONSTER142 FEATURE: THE LOST DIARY152 INTERVIEW: JAMES DOWNING160 REVIEW: LOUIS GARNEAU T-FLEX 2LS SHOE162 REVIEW: ENVE M5O 29" WHEELS164 REVIEW: FI'ZI:K M1 SHOE166 REVIEW: FI'ZI:K THAR NANGANESE SADDLE168 REVIEW: ROCKSHOX PIKE

Connor Fearon on pace in Cairns

contents

Hello and welcome to the 2015 MTB Buyers’ Guide, the inaugural edition of this fantastic new magazine!We’ve put together a bumper magazine packed full of the best gear money can buy on the market, at all levels and across all disciplines of mountain biking. Faster wheels from SRAM and ENVE, better drivetrains and advancements in braking from SRAM, lighter more comfortable helmets from Bell and Fox with MIPS technology, the finest threads, the best power-meters…the list goes on…

It’s not all facts, figures and glossy pictures though with some in-depth product reviews on some trick items from suspension to braking, clothing and shoes to saddles, bikes to carbon wheelsets.

We’ve also got some great stories well away from the showroom floor, from the SRAM trail house to a ride into the wilderness with friends to riding in the Arctic Circle, because, after all, that’s the end-game…we just want you to get there on the best gear!

The 2015 MTB Buyers Guide is proudly published by FreeWheel Media on behalf of Monza Imports.

2015 MTB Buyers Guide6 All prices correct at the time of publishing, but are subject to change.

PER- FECTBAL- ANCE

You don’t win by being the lightest. Or the stiffest. Or the toughest. You win by being the fastest. And that takes a wheel designed specifically for the modern mountain biker. At SRAM, we start with the demands of the terrain and work forward from there—carefully balancing each wheel’s design around five key attributes: weight, inertia, engagement, stiffness and durability. No matter where you ride, SRAM wheels will take you further.

SRAM ROAM 60 | 50 | 40 | 30 WHEELS ARE AVAILABLE IN 26", 27.5" AND 29" OPTIONS

ROAM FARTHER.Fast climbs and fast descents—from sun up till sundown. Truly made for the modern mountain biker, ROAM wheels use a special balance of low-inertia design, weight and strength to excel on a wide variety of terrain. They’re durable enough for hours in the saddle, yet light enough for race day.

Photos: Sven Martin, Adrian Marcoux © 2014 SRAM LLC SRAM.COM/WHEELS

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Jerome Clementz aboard the new Trigger. Photo Ale Di Lullo

FIRST RIDE CANNONDALE TRIGGER 27.5Sometimes in the bike industry,

innovation exists to separate one’s

product from another purely for

a point of difference. Then, there

is genuine innovation. Innovation

that not only provides a point of

difference stylistically, but also

provides a point of difference in

terms of performance. With a long

history of creating, designing,

testing, marketing, and selling

products featuring innovative

ideas, US brand Cannondale is

easily the first name that springs

to mind when I think of mountain

bike companies pushing unique

technology. Sure you might not like

some of the ideas they’ve come up

with over the years, but you can’t

deny the company’s hunger for

marginal gains.

The 2015 Trigger range from Cannondale is a true testament to that spirit of innovation, with its new Lefty SuperMax fork, dual-chamber Fox DYAD shock and System Integration components. While the Trigger is certainly full of unique technologies though, the 2015 the line-up sees more of a gentle massaging and refinement of those technologies rather than Cannondale presenting a completely new platform. During the Summer Press Camp week in Deer Valley, Utah, I had the opportunity to get up close to Cannondale’s newest trail bike to find out what all the fuss was about with the company’s latest technical-trail-tamer.

Anyone who’s familiar with the Cannondale brand will know that the Trigger name isn’t new. The model was first introduced in late 2012, as a nimbler and shorter-travel version of the popular Jekyll ‘Over Mountain’ bike. Whereas the Jekyll is built for hardcore All Mountain crushing and Gravity Enduro racing, the Trigger is both lighter on weight and travel, making it a trail bike that can perform dual-duties as a marathon racer. Up until now, the Trigger has been offered in both 26" and 29" versions. For 2015,

Cannondale will still offer two wheel size options, but they’ve bitten the 650B-bullet and introduced a 27.5" Trigger that will replace the outgoing 26" model.

While some brands are ditching the 29" wheel completely in all but XC hardtails, Cannondale will continue to offer the 130mm travel Trigger 29er in both alloy and carbon-framed versions for the foreseeable future (which will see many of the same improvements listed below). This is a similar move to brands such as Trek, who are continuing into the new model year with both 27.5" and 29" versions of the Fuel EX and Remedy platforms. Although each wheel size has its own pros and cons, I suspect that consumer demand over the next 12 months will dictate which pros are more important.

On the topic of the wheel size debate, I asked Cannondale’s VP of Global Marketing, Murray Washburn, whether Cannondale would be expanding with 27.5" wheels into their XC line-up. Murray explained that Cannondale had already approached their World Cup XC riders to see whether they wanted a 27.5" race bike.

Though the pros responded that they weren’t ready to give up the speed of a

2015 MTB Buyers Guide 9

29er in favour of a bike that might fit them better proportionally. As for Cannondale’s Enduro World Series champion Jerome Clementz? Well, Jerome has been involved in many test scenarios on different rigs with different wheel sizes, and while he’s found extra speed on a 29er, for him the extra manoeuvrability of a smaller wheel is more important on tight and technical Enduro race courses. That’s somewhat unsurprising given Jerome’s short stature, but it appears that Cannondale will be following suit, with the new Jekyll featuring 27.5" wheels.

While there are many talking points for the new Trigger, I’ll start with the main one – the Fox DYAD rear shock. Manufactured by Fox Racing Shox in California, the DYAD is purpose built for Cannondale and is a key component to the Trigger’s dual personalities. Cannondale also employ the DYAD pull shock on the bigger travel Jekyll, though its purpose is much the same in that it provides two different travel modes: ELEVATE (85mm travel) and FLOW

(140mm travel). Aside from changing travel, each mode also possesses its own unique spring rate and damping control, which means that the Trigger essentially encompasses two shocks in one. A neat handlebar switch allows you to select the appropriate mode on-the-fly.

For the 2015 Trigger 27.5 and 29 bikes, the DYAD shock gets a new tune compared to the 2014 bikes. A redesigned piston for the FLOW circuit is engineered to complement changes that Cannondale have made to the new SuperMax PBR fork. The new piston enables better oil flow for improved mid-to-high speed compression damping performance. The end result is more control and suppleness when taking bigger hits. Cannondale’s engineers have worked with Fox Racing Shox to optimise the sag point at 30% (instead of 40% on the 2014 Trigger), which results in more usable travel and increased ride height to avoid you clipping the pedals.

Compared to the existing 29er model, the Trigger 27.5 runs a full degree slacker

in the head tube at 68-degrees, though it features a nearly identical ‘trail’ figure due to the shorter 50mm fork offset (compared to 60mm on the Trigger 29). This is designed to keep the steering feel similar between the two bikes. Interestingly, both bikes actually share the same wheelbase length, but the Trigger 27.5 puts more of that length into the bike’s front centre, with shorter 43.8cm chainstays out back designed to keep handling sharp in the tight stuff. Other numbers worth noting on the geometry table include the steep 73.5-degree seat tube angle that is designed to push the rider’s weight forward on the climbs, as the increasing use of dropper posts mean that the saddle can quickly be lowered out of harm’s way on the descents.

Construction for the Trigger 27.5 follows the overall aesthetic of the existing Trigger 29 model, which favours a lighter and more compact rear-suspension arrangement than the huge rocker link design found on the outgoing Trigger 26. The Trigger 27.5

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT THE 275 TRIGGER THAT MAKES YOU FEEL MORE LIKE THE PILOT RATHER THAN THE PASSENGER.

FIRST RIDE CANNONDALE TRIGGER 27.5

2015 MTB Buyers Guide10