Are your eyes glazing over? Is your mouth open and drool running out like a waterfall? If it is already you may just be eating some donuts or you’ve just seen this beast in front of your eyes! If you’re not you will be after casting your eye over Troy Brosnan’s fresh new Specialized Demo race bike. Put together by his ace (or should that be race) mechanic Aaron Pelttari (look out for an interview on Downhill247.com real soon!) we were fortunate to have Kaneophoto shoot it before it got packed up bound for the UK and more specifically Fort William.
Now….. Troy was good enough to let us get some shots of the bike and show them to you guys but with a condition, we can’t show you guys too much of the bike as there is some trick prototype stuff going on! So we are going to show details but there is a good reason you wont the bike layed out fully in front of you! A sneak peak if you like…
Well wipe the drool up that’s a wrap! Now we can’t wait to see what Troy can do on it at Fort William.
We have just finished up our long term testing on A�pair of Five Ten Impact VXIs and we want to share our impressions with you. First off, if you’re new to the sport and haven’t heard of Five Ten then expect to hear a lot more about them, it is fair to say they revolutionised the flat pedal (more about that later) shoe market when they burst onto the scene. Initially known for their rock climbing shoes, it was this technology that when applied to the mountain bike world really got people talking.
Looking at this shoe in particular we tested the flat pedal model, there is a clipless version also available if that is your thing. With help from the most famous flat pedal rider in the world, Sam Hill, as well as his friend Brook MacDonald, Five Ten went about designing something that was even more improved from the previous highly regarded Impact shoe. The first thing you notice when you take them out of the box (we got the black and red model as the pictures show) is their lighter weight, coming in at approximately 400 grams per shoe you notice the reduction straight away.
How did they feel? Great, there was no issue with strange sizing or anything along those lines and they felt good from the first wear. We wore these all day long (sometimes on the bike sometimes off climbing mountains taking photos, etc.) and they didn’t become any less comfortable.
The next question is; how did they grip? Fantastic! A reworked version of the rubber Five Ten used ensures these pedals stick like nothing else. Furthermore the dampening/rebound has been improved so you feel less of the bumps/fatigued, now we know that sounds like a long stretch and we couldn’t experience this first hand when it comes down to those tiny percentages they all count. With any Five Ten shoe you need to make sure your foot is in the right place as your feet grip so well it can be challenging to readjust your position (some might consider this a negative but the extreme grip far out weighs the negative if you ask us). The sole was quite stiff meaning optimum power transfer, some people might like a slightly more flexible shoe so they can ‘wrap’ their foot around the pedal but that is personal preference.
It’s cool to see the front area of the shoe receive some reinforcing to help stop any damage if you get rocks flicking up or stub your foot. It’s worth mentioning the Impact XVIs are constructed from a material that is supposed to help wick water away super fast so you don’t have to ride in wet shoes the next day (nobody enjoys that!).
We have been downhilling, enduro/Trail riding, heck we have even commuted on them! There are no signs of wear or signs to say that longevity is going to be an issue. We have seen plenty of pairs of Five Tens that go for years, one common issue on older models was the glue holding the sole on coming loose but the sole now looks more integrated so we think this will be even less of an issue.
It may have been us imagining it but ankle support seemed marginally lower than the older model but a visual inspection shows this may not be true, that was the only real issue to note over the months we tested the show.
In Australia these retail for $234.95 whilst that is a large amount when you see it if you think about how good these shoes are and how long they last the price tag becomes justified. The distributor is Lusty Industries so find them at your local bike shop or hit up their website at;A�www.lustyindustries.com
Overall the Five Ten Impact XVI would be at the top of our list for a new riding shoe, light weight and grippy whilst still maintaining comfort these are a winner.
It wasn’t only the UCI World Cups that kicked off over the weekend! With almost as much hype, interest and fanfare the South Australian State Series run by Insideline started at Fox Creek. The track is an old favourite of the club and brings a smile to the face of many a rider!
They say a picture says a 100 words, lucky RFPhotographics was there to capture them, enjoy the images below:
To see all the times and results head over to insideline.com.au
Images: RFPhotographics (FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).
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Well what a race that was! The first World Cup of the season really was full of twists and turns, highs and lows! It all started with juniors and there is a fair chance you were huddled around a computer some where watching the live timing to get an idea of how everyone was going.
All in all if you’re reading this from Australia chances are the juniors would be the highlight of the day for you. Two Aussies claimed medals and overall we did quite well. Remy Morton has had a few gnarly crashes this weekend so to finish in one piece is a win enough we think! He came in 16th, next on the list was Max Warshawsky in 7th, a few places ahead of him at his first World Cup was Jackson Frew in 3rd! Taking the win on the day was a super stoked Andrew Crimmins, carrying good form into this season we knew it would only be a matter time before he was up there.
Moving onto the women’s race and after the junior racing everyone was excited to see who would claim the victory. In the end it would be Emmeline Ragot, the diminutive French girl who took the win in front of her home fans, Emmeline tends to do well on the technical tracks and today was no different. For our own Tracey Hannah she couldn’t match her first placed qualifier, unfortunately a crash near the bottom of the course saw her in 5th place, still a remarkable effort. A big mention to Tegan Molloy for grabbing 10th in her first World Cup in the big league.
Okay so the final race of the day, the mens’ and who would have thought it, the winner was the first rider down. If you don’t know by now Aaron Gwin won, after being disqualified in qualifying he was pushed to the bottom of the results and therefore off right at the start of the day. He put in a super human run to win by 4 seconds, visibly faster than any other rider, will he dominate the season like he did a few years ago? Or was it merely one race like last year where he won the opening round before the rest of the field caught up?
To write off the finals just like that though wouldn’t be justified! Loic Bruni claimed an excellent second at his home race, Mike Jones claimed his first podium in third (that off season training with Sam Hill obviously paying dividends), Danny Hart let everyone know he’s back with a fourth place on his new Mondraker and Sam Dale kept his good form from last year going to snare his first podium in 5th. Brendan Fairclough showed us he’s been training during the off season to finish 6th, Josh Bryceland is still recovering from his broken foot so claiming 7th was quite the accomplishment. Troy Brosnan in 8th was the highest Australian but we know he will be looking for more next race.
Dean Lucas finished 21st, he now sits within the top 20 overall giving him ‘protected’ status in Fort William. Mic Hannah was 35th and Gee Atherton rode with a broken wrist to come in 5oth. Tough luck for Cnnor Fearon after a blistering qualifier, a crash and ensuing bent pedal saw him out the back in 71st, racing is a tough mistress…
Now there’s a gap until race 2 in Scotland for Fort William, the World Cup rolls on….
Images: Phunkt.com
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Well 2015 might go down as the season where the new school takes over, a changing of the guard if you like. Now we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but if you look at the qualifying results names like Bruni, Bryceland, Mulally, Lucas, Fearon and Brosnan replace names like Atherton, Gwin, Minnaar and Hill…… Just saying!
A few points to clean up Sam Hill is not racing whereas Greg Minnaar actually is (he is literally strapped to his bike) he is just aiming to claim a few points towards the overall. Aaron Gwin was disqualified from qualifying due to a crash which saw him leave the track but as he entered at a different point to where he left it the UCI disqualified him. Thanks to his protected status he should line up come finals. Danny Hart was out the back in the first world cup for his new team due to a flat tyre, expect that to change come Sunday.
Onto the qualifying results and starting off with the grommets, aka the juniors! These guys were showing their speed, young Laurie Greenland took position number 1 (Laurie podiumed at world championships last year so we know he has speed) just ahead of Andrew Crimmins in 2nd. Finals is going to be great to see a bunch of new names on on the podium. Looking slightly further down the time sheet and Jackson Frew in his first World Cup qualified 5th, exciting times ahead for the future of Australian downhill. Not too much further down the lost are Max ‘Warhawk’ Warshawsky and Remy Morton in 10th and 15th respectively.
Next up onto the women and can we get a big shout out to Tracey Hannah for qualifying first, Tracey has been working hard late and we know she can win if everything comes together on race day. We will be excited to watch come finals that is for sure. Rachel Atherton was second, Mannon Carpenter, reigning world champion, crashed during practice and was a bit shaken up 5th in qualifying.
Men’s qualifying and no real surprise to see Loic Bruni on top with his form at the moment. Slightly more surprising to see Remi Thirion in second, we know he loves the steep, technical tracks and he has bagged a world cup victory before, is the second one on the cards?! It doesn’t look as Josh Bryceland has lost much speed after his big crash last year, coming home in 3rd. Neko Mullaly is going to be a real threat this year, fourth just shows this. Shut the front door! 5th place goes to our own Dean Lucas who is holding up the Devinci fort without Stevie Smith. A dig in practice didn’t stop him from his best qualifying result to date and hopefully his best finals result follows it up! 6th place and no doubt loving the fact he is on a 650b race bike is Connor Fearon (his mechanic Mathieu Dupelle may be the key to his qualifying result with a few choice valve caps being added to Connor’s bike!). Just behind Connor is Troy Brosan in 7th, Troy has told us he will be looking for more in his race run so stay tuned for a big result from the ‘Paddle Pop Lion’ if you’ve seen his hair! Brendan Fairclough is back at the pointy end with a 9th in qualifying, Mic Hannah was 21st, Greg Minnaar held on for 61st, Gee Atherton was fastest at split one but DNF (Did Not Finish) after a nasty encounter with the ground when his front wheel washed out. Gee is tough as nails so we expect him to line up for finals we will have to wait and see though. Final Aussie on the start list Matthew McCorkell was also a DNF.
Tune back after finals…. this is going to be good!
Images: Phunkt.com
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Okay we are pumped and we bet you guys are too! The world cups are back, these are the pinnacle of downhill racing seeing riders from all over the globe come together to take the title of fastest rider on the hill. Our first stop for 2015 is in Lourdes, a town in France that is steeped in history. A large component of the towns existence is related to religion, for this weekend we think you will find downhill is the chosen religion!
The track itself is steep, rocky, fast and features some big jumps! Basically what a ‘proper’ downhill race track should be like… The riders are loving it and because it is the first time a world cup has been run on it the playing field is essentially level. You can bet the crowd will be supporting one rider more than any other, that of course is Loic Bruni. The young rider is still eyeing off his first World Cup win and after winning Crankworx just a few weeks ago we know his form is red hot. Saying that Loic had a run in with a tree during practice but he was okay.
Whilst we are talking about injury Josh Bryceland is back and still riding with his trademark steeze, Greg Minnaar is out after a crash at Crankworx damaged some tendons in his left hand. Big news of the day is Sam Hill sitting out day 1 of practice due to a shoulder injury, you feel he would do well on this steep, technical track, Sam will decide whether he races or not in tomorrow’s practice session.
Continuing with the injury updates, Jack Moir is also absent with a shoulder injury, we know he was in good form but hopefully it isn’t too long before he is back on his new ride racing again. A few new bikes and parts have been spotted around the pits, it has been a busy time for mechanics who have been building up new bikes and cutting spikes (what seems to be the tyre of choice here in Lourdes). Talking about spikes, the weather has actually been dry fortunately as this track would be even more insane if it rained….
Welcome to the 2015 world cup season! Check back with us soon as qualifying is next on the list!
Images: Phunkt.com
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