Table of contents for No.75 in Spoke

We turned up to this blank canvas on a beautiful clear afternoon. Conor built the takeoff, I cleared the landing, and as we did so a bank of clouds rolled in, killing the light. After all the prep that went in, we didn’t want to just leave, so we waited, just in case. Moments before the sun dipped under the horizon, it fired as it squeezed through the gap in the clouds, the light creeping up the valley and onto the tussocks, making a fitting canvas for a classic Conor table. Rider : Conor Macfarlane Location: Central Otago, NZ…

After a big storm, I had heard of a large landslip in the Upper Clutha area. Looking at a fuzzy phone photo taken of another phone photo, I thought I saw some new terrain, so I gave Kane Heka a ring and he was eager to check it out. After finding the spot and clawing our way up to the top, we discovered a side chute that looked rideable. Using other rocks to hack a sketchy traverse to the top, Kane set up and dropped in. The dirt was harder and faster than anticipated, and sent Kane firing into the runout. Luckily, we had just moved a few large boulders, and he was able to slash a few turns and stop in the ‘Plan B’ area. I love it when…

Straight off the lift and straight into it. Martin is a true professional. This shot was the first we took on this session high up in Whistler Bike Park. No test run, no stopping to scope the shot, just Martin tearing down the trail and gathering an astonishing amount of amplitude over a bridge I hadn’t even spotted. Perfectly positioned in a ray of light between the trees, sun glinting off this helmet, Martin shows us that perfection and style we’ve come to expect from the 6’5” Swede. Rider : Martin Söderström Location: Whistler, Canada…

When I’m not helping you guys to become better bike riders, I sometimes work in a bike shop as a mechanic. I’ve been getting seriously depressed with the state of the bikes I have to touch with my baby-soft hands, and my manicurist recently hit me with a $10 surcharge which I’ve had to transfer to my repair bills. Enough is enough…it’s time to get tough. Please clean your bike! Don’t listen to these fools who say water is bad for your bearings and such. We live in New Zealand. It rains. We ride through streams. We ride in clay, quartz rock, sand, volcanic ash (pumice?) and who knows what else? (A geologist, that’s who.) You’re going to wreck your bike just by hanging it in the shed, what with…

It’s 8am Saturday. I’m an hour and a half along an alpine ridgeline I climbed up to last night and have realised I’ve left the sun cream in the car. If I turn back I could ride the fantastic Craigieburn trails; if I go on I’ll still be fighting a crosswind too strong to be able to ride nicely, even on the return descent, and by that time I’ll be sunburnt and dehydrated. But I’ve spent a lot of the last 16 years looking over the Castle Hill Basin at the Torlesse Range, particularly the gap, and have only had a few journeys a little way along the other end of the range, so I trudge on. My family had gone away for a few days, giving me a chance…

Sometime in the dark ages of 2009, I was nearing the end of a full year of holidays. The prospect of meaningful employment loomed large on the horizon. Faced with this daunting certainty, my then girlfriend (now wife) Sonja and I did the only thing any sane person would or could do: we ‘eloped’ on an emergency cycle tour through northern Italy, descending from the Staller Pass—one of the more remote Austro-Italian borders—and finishing in the then less well-known Finale Ligure. We spent four or five amazing days cycling through Trentino and Alto Adige/Südtirol with a brief punctuation mark at Lago di Garda for gelato and techy trails. The entire experience has lingered in my subconscious ever since and left me with a taste for knödel. Leap forward almost a…

As the long Arctic winter retreats, the midnight sun casts warmth over an emerging mountain biking nirvana amid the deep fjords of northern Norway. We visited the 50-mile-long Lyngenfjord and surrounding area, sailing north from the city of Tromsø into an area famed for winter ski touring and ice climbing. Purpose built mountain bike trails are few and far between, but a multitude of shared-use trails provide amazing riding if you’re prepared for a lot of hike-a-biking. Having missed an opportunity to shoot some ski touring in the area over winter, I jumped at my second chance to head north of the Arctic Circle once the snow had retreated. This was to be one of those bucket list trips, sailing through the fjords, jumping off the boat to ride trails…

When the original Levo was launched back in 2016 it caused a paradigm shift in how we perceived electric bikes and what they were capable of. It looked different, rode better, and opened a lot of people’s eyes to the possibilities of this new breed of bike. So as I arrived at Craigieburn for the launch of the all new 2019 Levo, I was skeptical of seeing many improvements or changes; maybe a new look frame and a few tweaks to the componentry. Because realistically, why would Specialized change a winning formula? However, as the curtain dropped and the new Levo was unveiled, what we saw was a completely new bike, pretty much rebuilt from the ground up. Had Specialized raised the bar again? The bike The most visually striking…

Does your brain try to climb out of your ears when you think about fork offset? Do you think your riding will benefit from a shorter fork offset? Is the Rodfather a fork offset guru? The answer to all of these questions is YES! Except for maybe #2. Before my mum dropped me on my head, I was destined for child prodiginess (yes, that’s a made up word) so I could attempt to explain it all simply to you. But really, you’re here for advice, so I’ll gloss over the first and give the second bit to you real good. Fork offset is how far your front axle sits in front of your steering axis (head angle). If you take an imaginary straight line down through your headtube and another…

Jacob had just got back from spending the winter overseas and was keen to get back into the native Kiwi beech forest. I’d recently gotten a new camera and hadn’t given it a proper workout with bikes yet. We both wanted to shoot something new, so we headed down to Glenorchy and spent the afternoon riding the skate park waiting for the sun to drop behind the mountains so we could avoid the patchy light and let the greens of the forest really come through. This image was the result. Rider : Jacob O’Donoghue-Price Location: Glenorchy, NZ…

As the seasons turn, so do our schedules, much to the delight of many. It’s the season for riding with mates, staying out late, and chasing the last fractions of light down the trail. Gone are the frosty starts and early evenings, replaced by sweat dripping from helmets and late nights spent soaking up every last dusty turn. Forget dinner and dishes, the trails are calling. Always. Riders : Louis Hamilton & Ashley Bond Location: Rotorua, NZ…

Logging has begun on Rotorua’s popular Eagle vs Shark track. It’s a reminder of how lucky we are to be riding in this area, as it’s still a commercially logged forest. The Trails Trust has done a great job of making sure we’re able to rebuild trails that get removed, even if it’s just in part, and fundraising for the rebuild has already started. As seen in this image, Connor Hamilton looks at trails a little differently to most, finding a new way to ride the track before it disappears. Rider : Connor Hamilton Location: Rotorua, NZ…

“Vacation, all I ever wanted. Vacation, had to get away!” – The Go Go’s It’s spring. This is an important time of year because there are blossoms and baby animals and it’s light until bedtime, and for a while the whole world is a giant metaphor for hope. It’s also a good time to get away, to load the bikes into the car or onto a plane and head off for a bit of a vacation, to take at least a week to get the legs turning again in anticipation of the cycle-full summer ahead. It’s also a good time to remember what bike holidays are like, and to accept their invariable truths. Here’s a ten-tip refresher: 1. You will not be fit enough when you leave. This is because…

For most people, a trip to Queenstown is a great experience; the scenery, the adventure activities, and the opportunity to be charged way too much for a meal or a drink, are all part of the package. And for the last few years, the Skyline Gondola has changed the game for the mountain bike community. The trail network in the pines under the gondola has created a world-renowned reason to bring your bike to the adventure capital of New Zealand. But quietly, the trail network has been expanded beyond the effort-free confines of the gondola. If you take a right at the start of Hammy’s and head up the hill, a trail network takes you towards the saddle under Ben Lomond, one of the highest peaks adjacent to town. The…

By my reckoning it’s been around two years since I’ve been involved in the downhill race scene. I tried racing briefly. As it turns out, I wasn’t that good at it, and while I enjoyed it, it ended up hurting a lot more than riding away from the clock. As much as I claimed my time didn’t matter, my ego wanted me to be faster than I actually was, often resulting in me rather than my wheels rolling on the ground. I loved the scene though, and found it different to riding bikes socially or by myself. Racing has a whole different dimension exclusive to itself. There’s an extra level of commitment, having to turn up to certain places on set days and times, and not being able to ride…

After a short hiatus, Smith makes a welcome return to the bike helmet world here in New Zealand with the all new Forefront 2, a stylish looking evolution of the original Forefront that put them on the map. Smith helmets’ point of difference has always been the use of Koroyd—their patented honeycomb-like impact protection material that’s clearly visible in the helmet’s voids—and this continues with the Forefront 2. However, while the safety benefits of the energy-absorbing Koroyd have never been in doubt, one of the criticisms of the old Forefront was its lack of ventilation, as the Koroyd tubes filled the helmet’s natural venting holes. Proponents of the Forefront dispelled this as a myth (as Koroyd is, by design, full of holes) but Smith have decided to quash this idea…

You could be forgiven for thinking Whyte Bikes are new on the scene as they don’t seem to get a whole lot of press coverage, but I remember drooling over a revolutionary Whyte PRST-4 with a four-bar linkage fork back in Morzine circa 2000, and they continue to have a huge cult following in the UK where they were born. Whyte Bikes now have a distributor in New Zealand. This is their latest offering and it’s one hell of a trail bike. This very modern large 29er I tested has a longish reach of 474mm, a slack 65.6 head angle, and a steepish seat tube of 74.5 degrees and 470mm long (not the 457.2 advertised). But what sets this bike on a pedestal is the 42mm fork offset generally saved…

It’s not all big bikes and lift access in the Porte du Soleil region of the French Alps, as Charlotte finds out. With the sun-baked summer Europe was having, the trails around the Pleny lift were looking a little worse for wear, so we set off under our own power to escape the braking bumps and lift lines in an effort to shoot some of Morzine’s lesser-known delights. We were treated to lush green ferns, spectacular golden light (a rarity on the lower slopes of alpine terrain) and some of the raddest singletrack on offer! Rider : Charlotte Frost Location: Morzine, France…

Mike and I had talked about shooting on e-bikes for a while and the forecast looked good, so we decided to go the next morning. As we were driving to the bottom of the trail, it started to rain. I was ready to turn around and go home, but with some convincing from Mike, we headed up the trail backwards and stomped our way up to the saddle hoping the cloud would clear. Lucky for us, the sun broke through the cloud and Mike rallied the bike into this corner as the sun dipped in and out of the clearing cloud. It’s hard to believe that half an hour beforehand it was pouring with rain. Rider : Mike Cowlin Location: Coppermine Trail, Nelson, NZ…

As I get older, my penchant for cynicism seems to grow, and I don’t see it as a good thing. Visions of a grumpy old man waving his cane and shouting about the youth of today haunt me, pushing me to try to take a more idealistic, self-deprecating view of things. So as an antidote to cynic’s syndrome, I’ve been trying to empathise with the younger generation by spending more time glued to my phone, living the life of a millennial, vicariously through the utopian world of Instagram. Aaahh, it’s bliss…the sun shines all the time, the trails are endless, the waves are perfect, and everyone is beautiful. The problem is that the rose-tinted world of Instagram only keeps me placated for so long before something riles my inner cynic.…

Lance Armstrong needs no introduction. Seven time, or at least then, winner of the Tour de France come disgraced drug cheat. Of no relation to Vinny Armstrong; the surname is where the similarities stop. If you don’t yet know of Vinny Armstrong, you soon will. To understand Vinny and where the fire comes from, we first need to rewind the tape back to the beginning, at least past that previous Spoke article highlighting a barely-double-digits dirtjumper. Like many good mountain bike success stories, Vinny’s upbringing set her on the path she’s racing down today. Growing up in the arse-end of rural Auckland, her introduction to mountain biking came when she was just four years old. At the time, the first ride at Woodhill was little more than something for a…

I grip the handlebars, turning my knuckles white. I steer around a final corner and come face to face with my nemesis. Down the rocky track ahead of me is the set of doubles I totalled myself on last year. It wasn’t pretty. My shoulder required two titanium screws and months of physio before I was able to high-five with confidence again. Now it’s time for payback. I can feel my nerves building. My heart pounds in my chest as the takeoff approaches. I mentally psych myself up, but at the last second, I bottle it. A flood of relief mixed with frustration washes over me as I ride the chicken line to safety. We can all relate to such feelings of fear and anxiety, whether it’s coming up short…

Though Hanmer Springs is best known for its natural hot pools, it might be the South Island’s most underrated riding destination, and there’s plenty of desire and potential to expand the network in the future. It might also be the perfect getaway with the better half or kids getting into the sport who don’t share your enthusiasm for gnarly trails and eight-hour epics yet. The family-friendly trails are dialled, but there’s enough in the hills to keep the hardcore riders happy as well. There’s a sense of change in the alpine village. The hot pools have always been the heart of Hanmer’s tourism, and will always be an attraction. But as tourist towns around the country have upped their game, there’s come a realisation that Hanmer needs to offer more.…

Mons Royale are well known for their high quality merino riding tops that feel at home both on and off the trails. Technical features such as breathability, moisture wicking and a built-in goggle wipe demonstrate just how much thought goes into each collection. This summer they will be introducing a female and a male mountain bike short to their line. I couldn’t wait to try these out in the hope of completing my quest to find the perfect short. I know I sound slightly dramatic, but the struggle has been real. Now don’t get me wrong, there are lots of brands out there that make aesthetically pleasing shorts. I’ve tried on most of them, but many fall short when it comes to performance and fit. Before I even tried Mons…

Well, here’s all kinds of interesting. A 130mm travel 29er trail bike from GT, built around a modern set of numbers and without any of the polarising monkey-motion suspension systems we’ve seen from GT in the past. That’s right, there’s no floating BB or modified unified rear triangle going on here. The passing of the patent on the Horst link has allowed GT’s design team to revive Linkage Tuned Suspension (LTS). Back in 1995, the GT LTS was right at the leading edge of suspension bike development. Featuring a Horst-linked 4-bar design and a trunnion mounted shock, it was a standout in an era packed with countless inferior concepts. GT’s LTS and its successor, the thermoplastic STS, were piloted by legends like Nico Vouilloz, Steve Peat and Hans Rey. Now…