Guerrilla Gravity Megatrail Test

Guerrilla Gravity is a small mountain bike company located in Denver Colorado. They were sick of frame prices shooting through the roof while production moved overseas with little, if any, performance increase from year to year. All this while many bike companies grew in size and became more distant from their customers and what they really wanted in geometry and suspension designs. Who wants to buy a frame for $3500 and have part of it go to subsidize some road racers salary anyhow?

"The MEGATRAIL is leading the revolution in trail bike freedom.

As a highly refined and extremely versatile trail bike, the MEGATRAIL is built for everything from conquering high-alpine adventures to getting after it at your local enduro race,or just slaying your after-work rides. And when it’s time to turn the Rad up to 11, Gravity Mode™ provides a 30-second, one-bolt geometry toggle that transforms the bike into a downhill dominator."

Guerrilla Gravity Megatrail Questions

 

1. So how did Guerrilla Gravity begin?

It began with the idea to create a different type of mountain bike manufacturing company, one that is driven by the community, and at the end of the day serves to make mountain biking more awesome.

2. Did you guys have a lot of experience in the bike industry before you starting making GG Bikes?  

Very little. We’ve all been avid riders for most of our lives, but I was the only one (of the three founders) that had experience, and that is from just one summer spent working in a bike shop.

3. Break down your team for us and what they do?  

Matt Giaraffa, founder & chief engineer: Mechanical engineer with experience in auto racing, aerospace, and consumer product testing. He’s headed up bike design, as well as manufacturing design—from jigs and tooling to our processes… Kristy Anderson, founder & chief BAMF: Kristy has a career in medical sales and helps with events, marketing, and getting the word out… Theron Tate, shop manager and chief bike builder… Sutherland Detweiler, pre-weld fabricator… Shaun Braap, post-weld fabricator… Kevin Witte, badass welder… Myself (Will Montague), founder and chief bike slinger: I’ve always played in the startup world, doing sales and marketing for four startups. I handle most of the business management components—sales, marketing, strategy, etc.

4. How did the idea for the Megatrail begin?  

On a ride at White Ranch where we thought “these bikes should climb better” on the way up and “these bikes should descend more like a downhill bike” on the way down. There was no bike out there that truly offered a versatile package.

5. What where some of the main features you guys wanted in the Megatrail when you were laying it out on paper (computer)?

We believe in making our bikes as versatile as possible. The idea was to create a bike riders can take with them anywhere they may find themselves riding, from high alpine epic rides to the bike park to their favorite after-work trail. So we put our heads down and (Matt) spent weeks in Linkage and Solid Works getting everything we wanted out of suspension characteristics. Once we had the suspension platform laid out to our liking, we set to work refining the frame, painstakingly eliminating as much complication as possible, creating a robust frame that’s easy to maintain, doesn’t have extra parts to maintain or break, and is affordable to manufacture (and therefore as affordable as possible for the riders).

6. How was reception been on the Megatrail so far?

We’re extremely pleased with how the Megatrail turned out. All of the feedback and reviews also echoes that our design goals were achieved.

 

7. Do you weep when you see guys that are 6' 4” and above on a “XL” bike and they look like Spud Webb on a 16” BMX bike?  

It’s certainly a little painful to see, haha.

8. It sounds like you guys are going to be doing an XL frame soon. Tell us a bit about the new frame size?  

There seemed to be a void in the market of proper aggressive mountain bikes for tall riders. Since we manufacture in-house it’s relatively simple for us to create frame sizes for the smaller- and taller-than-average riders. With our XS and XL were able to provide riders 4’10” to 6’8” with a badass mountain bike.

On top of that, we can do semi-custom sizing for riders who may be proportioned slightly different (e.g. long legs, shorter torse).

9. Any updates you guys are looking to do to the Megatrail in the near future?  

For 2015 we took a bit of weight out of the frame, maybe a few parts of it more svelte. The “big” update is a grooved guide that makes swapping between Trail Mode and Gravity Mode even easier. We’re considering some new acronyms to attach to our marketing collateral for 2016 that will render the previous models obsolete 

10. Care to elaborate on Geometry used on the Megatrail?

Sometimes the “internet riders” seem to think our cockpit geometry is way too long, but literally every rider to throw a leg over a Megatrail feels comfortable instantly. By utilizing a roomier cockpit with a shorter stem you have a better, more stable center of balance and room to freely use body English. It’s also preferable for getting rowdy on the downhills, as your weight is more centered and not as far forward, over the bars.

11. Rocks or jumps? How about jumps in rocks?

My favorite type of riding is what I call “flow tech,” which is when you can find flow in a semi-technical mid-speed trail, trails where you can make your own natural doubles out of rocks and roots. Schleyer and Fatrobat in Whistler are great examples of my favorite type of trail (minus the long skinny at the end of Fatrobat).

12. Who is the best Mountain Biker ever?

Any of your riding buddies. Mountain bike rides with your amigos are what mountain biking the best “sport” ever. There’s no such thing as rock stars.

13. What do you think about all the new standards that have popped up in the last 3 years?  

I think they’re unfortunate for the riders. Mountain biking has a lot of barriers to entry (namely cost) and little has been done to do anything about this. New standards prevent manufacturers from accessing economies of scale, which would bring down the cost of bikes. Is there some merit behind each new standard? Sure, a little. Do they make mountain biking better as whole better? No… but they do help companies sell more shit. The marketing machines at the big companies are impressive.

14. What would make the bike industry better?  

More mountain bikers, more places to mountain bike. We get more mountain bikers into the sport by doing what we can to lower the cost of entry, creating bikes that are straight forward to use (and understand)--obviously our bikes are still expensive, but working on reducing the cost is a key goal of ours. Building the community also helps get new riders into the sport. Riders are more likely to ride when they have friends to ride with. And focusing on creating and supporting the organizations that build and maintain our trails is vital to the long-term health of the sport. Without trails the sport is nothing but fancy roof ornaments.

15. Anything else you want to get across to the readers?

Let’s go ride.
 G/G Megatrail Review

CCDB Air CS Test

Cane Creek introduced the Double Barrel Coil shock back in 2005. Thanks to 5th Element, Romic and Foes racing it became apparent that shocks that used some type of lock out or anti bob during sprints where to be the wave of the future. Many of these early generation shocks gave up mid stroke support in favor of pedaling performance. Frame designs have changed drastically in the last decade. With a strong push towards better pedaling efficiency and making the most out of smaller travel amounts. This was one aspect that helped in the creation of the modern long and low trail bike that would give many Downhill bikes from a decade ago a serious run for their money. Many shock manufactures have started creating larger volume air shocks with various Compression and Rebound adjustments on them to keep up with this new style of frame. Typically these will include some variant of a climb switch. Typically these effect the compression side of the shock. Cane Creek decided to split Compression and Rebound into two different adjustments in the form of Low and High speed variants. Their CS also alters both the compression and rebound side of the shock.

The CCDB Coil when released was not only very sensitive to small bumps it also helped minimize bob without slamming through its travel at the first sign of a high speed impact. Fast forward 8 years and suspension systems have become more refined and trail bikes much more capable. In 2013 Cane Creek released the CCDB Air CS (Climb Switch). This is a large volume air can shock which helps to keep the shock cool as the descents get longer and rougher. It gives up some weight against the inline version but for those looking for the ultimate in heavy duty trail bike air shocks it is the route to go. Something to consider is that the CCDB Air is so big around there are some frames on the market that cannot fit it so make sure you check before ordering one. If that is the case they also make a CCDB Inline that is a thinner configuration. The CS version of the shock includes a climb switch feature which essentially increase both compression and rebound and aids the bike while climbing.

Cane Creek DB AIR Test

2015 Lourdes UCI WC 1

New to the UCI MTB World Cup presented by Shimano in 2015, Lourdes will be one of three rounds – with Fort William and Leogang – 100% dedicated to Downhill. A regular French Cup stopover, the city in the south-west of France will kick off the season. The riders will no doubt enjoy its demanding track that offers a stunning view of the city.

"The 2015 season of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano opens with round 1 of the downhill series, in the new World Cup venue of Lourdes, France. However, while Lourdes is new to the World Cup, it has a strong gravity resume, having hosted French Championships and National Series competitions in previous years.

The town of Lourdes lies in the southwest corner of France, part of the foothills of the Pyrenees mountain range. While the town has only 15,000 residents, it attracts some 5 million visitors on an annual basis, visiting on pilgrimages to the Sanctuary of Our Lady, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared and miraculous healings from the waters have taken place.

The 2,000 metre track begins at 900 metres of elevation, losing over half of its altitude (477 metres) over the run, for an average grade of nearly 24%. Riders and spectators ride a funicular tram from the base to the start, with the course zig zagging through tunnels under the tram on the way down.
The course is rough, rocky, rooty and, mostly likely, wet and slippery. From the start house riders immediately face a series of sharp turns and rocky, open terrain. From there, the course becomes fast and flowy, dropping in and out of lightly wooded sections dotted with roots and a couple of gap jumps. After this slight recovery, riders hit the final extremely steep rock-strewn portion of the run before a final jump into the finish bowl.

This is not a pedalling course, but one that requires tremendous technical skills and the ability to resist losing speed by touching the brakes. Any mistake is likely to have a huge impact on run time.
In the Women's field, all of the top riders are entered, with reigning World Cup Champion and World champion Manon Carpenter (Madison Saracen Factory Team) sporting the Number 1 plate after her breakthrough season last year. She is expected to resume last year's battle with countrywoman and former World Cup champion Rachel Atherton (GT Factory Racing). Others expected to be in the fight for podium spots are Emmeline Ragot (MS Mondraker Team), who could receive a huge boost from riding on home soil, as well other French riders such as Myriam Nicole (Commencal/Vallnord) and Morgane Charre (Solid-Reverse Factory Racing).

The Men's field will see 2014 World Cup champion Josh Bryceland (Great Britain) with the Number 1 plate. This will be a chance to see if Bryceland is fully recovered from the serious foot injury he suffered at the UCI World Championships last fall. Others sure to be in the mix are former multi-time World Cup champion Aaron Gwin (Specialized Racing), UCI World Champion Gee Atherton (GT Factory Racing), Troy Brosnan (Specialized Racing), Sam Hill (Chain Reaction Cycles/Paypal) and former UCI World Champion Greg Minnaar (South Africa), who is coming back from a hand injury. The big French hope will be Loic Bruni (Lapierre Gravity Republic).

The action begins on Saturday with timed qualifying runs, followed by the World Cup on Sunday. The Juniors Men start the racing at 12:30, followed by the Elite Women at 13:15 and the Elite Men at 14:00 (all times European)."

2015 Lourdes World Cup From France

Niner WFO Review

Mountain bikes have been in production since the early 1980's. In fact my first MTB was a 1985 Ross then I progressed to 3 other hardtails and eventually full suspension. Companies are always looking at a way to get the upper hand over the competition and to make riding a bike faster an easier thing to do for the average Joe.

Niner bikes have been at the forefront of the big wheel revolution. Not just 650B but true Wagon Wheels the big 29" style wheels and as their name indicates it is all they make. The company makes no qualms about it they are firm believers that bigger is better when it comes to wheel size. Niner offers a variety of bikes that satisfy most genras of Mountain Biking. The Niner WFO 9 is designed to be a Enduro machine with the ability to tackle rough terrain at high rates of speed while allowing the rider to climb to the top of the descents.

"From early trips to Whistler and passionate lift-line discussions about wheel size to numerous Burro-Down laps at truly negligent speeds, the WFO 9 has always been a curiosity. A bike without an easy niche except for those riders who are quite certain it’s the best bike on the planet – those converts who choose the WFO 9 to confidently dissect bike parks and black diamonds every weekend. This bike has changed how a lot of riders view long-travel 29ers, evolv¬ing from an outlier in the Niner lineup to a bike whose time has come. With trail bikes becoming more and more capable, we’ve shoved the new WFO 9 off the “all mountain” fence firmly into gravity territory. Lower. Slacker. More Travel. So, grab your music, Leatt and full-face before you roll out the door.

While the WFO 9 is an efficient pedaler and will do AM magic under those who have the legs for the climbs, it’s when you adjust your goggles and drop in that it truly shines. You might imagine that the bike’s 150MM of travel puts it into a familiar category of bikes, but it doesn’t ride that way. Coming from a trail bike, the WFO 9 will feel big and capable. If you spend time on DH bikes you will instantly feel at home, except the WFO 9 is likely several pounds lighter than your DH setup. That’s a few extra laps and a few spots higher on any leader board. The long wheelbase puts you in charge of where the bike goes and if you’ve ever had trouble carrying enough speed into that set of 30’ tables, prepare yourself for some hair-raising-shit-eating-grin-overshooting-to- HYFR.

The big wheels bring the kind of speed through the chop and stability in the air that any rid¬er will benefit from. Whips? Snap hard and get sideways. Scrubs? Push a bit earlier to break the increased traction and get the bike down. The wheels stay out of the holes on techy lines, allowing you to get away with 6” of travel in serious clenching moments that just wouldn’t be fun on a trail bike. Float down your favorite trail and wonder when they made it easier. They didn’t.

Bottom line is, all those guys who said 29 will never be fun on big terrain were just plain wrong. That’s okay though, we weren’t sure ourselves when we made the first WFO 9 in 2009. But it’s 2013 and we’ve done the homework. This is the new WFO 9 and it redefines what a Niner can do."

Niner WFO 9 Test

Magura MT 7 Brake Review

Magura has been in the brake business for over two decades. Back in the day when people where pumped on V-Brake performance the people at Magura were selling Hydraulic Rim Brakes for mountain biking. These brakes are still very popular on trials bikes. Many World Cup riders ran these brakes back in the day. Magura has relaunched their MT line and introduced a gravity/enduro specific brake called the MT7 Next is is a dual piston design with four pads. We reviewed the MT8 when they first came out a few years ago. The brakes worked well even in the downhill capacity we tested them in. Considering this was a featherweight AM/XC brake that speaks well for Magura and its brakes as a whole. We are very excited to test a gravity specific brake from them in the form of the Magura MT7 Next Disc Brake!

These brakes are a very light DH brake option. Using the Carbotecture lever housing helps keep the weight low. We have used brakes that weigh easily 200 grams more per brake in the past. So being able to save almost a pound in the brakes alone is a nice bonus. We opted for the MT7 with toolless adjustment. Magura informed us we would have less adjustment with these than the tool versions offer but more on that later.

We used 203mm SL rotors front and rear on a large megatrail. The bike was built up with heavier parts for the more gravity based riding it would be put through.

"The MT7 stands for maximum braking performance and stability in extreme conditions. In the tough, bike-testing worlds of Enduro and Downhill, the additional braking power of the 4 brake pistons is a positive safety factor. The aluminium, two-finger brake lever - with toolless adjustment - and the adjustable bite point provide the necessary ergonomics for perfect brake control, even in difficult terrain and on long downhill runs. 5-year leakproof guarantuee for brake levers and cylinders after providing the original proof of purchase."

Magura MT7 Disc Brake Test