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The French town of Orbey in the Vosges mountains was the location for Commençal's 2012 mountain bike launch. Following on from last year's release of the Meta AM, this year sees an expansion of the Meta range, including a new 120mm-travel trail bike and 29er.

Developments have also been made to Commençal's 'gravity' range, with a new Supreme FR being revealed along with updates to the Supreme DH v3. More news about the bikes will be coming next week. For now, take a look at our image gallery for a sneak peek at what's to come.

You can view full specifications below, though prices, availability and claimed weights are still to be confirmed. For more information, visit www.commencal.com. 

The Supreme FR, Supreme DH, Meta AM 29 and Meta SL will also be available as framesets, including VIP versions with upgraded shocks (FOX DHX RC2, DHX RC4 and Float RP23 Boost Valve, respectively). Two 24in-wheeled bikes will be available for younger riders – the Supreme 24 and Supreme JR. 

Weighing 229g, WTB’S titanium-railed Volt Team saddle is designed primarily for road and cross-country racing. It has a dipped centre and slightly raised tail, and offers great support and comfort when tilting your hips forwards to put power down.

The Volt Team’s forward-forcing profile makes it easy to get into a chest-down climbing position, and also means it a great saddle for slack seat-angled trail bikes too. The titanium rails, leather cover and Kevlar corners mean it’s very durable, and we found the shape very supportive. For the added weight penalty of a packet of crisps though, you can nigh-on halve the price by choosing the alloy-railed Pro version. 

This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

Outstanding stiffness and top quality hubs make the DT Swiss Tricon M1700s a super-responsive trail or cross-country upgrade but their axle options are limited and they’re seriously pricey.

Tricon wheels use a unique direct-pull spoke and rim anchoring system for exceptionally high tension that’s immediately obvious in the super-taut, pinpoint accurate ride feel. They’re too narrow for fat tyres but they’re designed more for cross-country than mountain hammering and they’re tubeless-compatible as standard.

The Star Ratchet clutch system gives super-fast engagement to flatter the responsiveness of the low overall weight even further. This makes them singletrack rippers with an obvious upgrade effect. 

This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

Every cyclist needs to carry a basic toolkit in case of a mechanical mishap. That's why we're offering a multi-tool and puncture repair kit for just £4.99 with our latest Daily Deal.

The deal gets you a multi-tool with 1/4" drive sockets, hex keys, socket adaptor, spanner, screwdrivers, puncture repair kit with glue and patches, two tyre levers, and a nylon storage pouch to keep everything safe from the elements.

Hurry, as it's limited to 200 deals. Head over to the Daily Deal page now to order yours.

Gary Erickson is an admirable man. He remains at the helm of CLIF Bar a company he founded 20 years ago, when he could have retired ten times over.

More than simply keeping things private, in a business sense, he’s cultivated a sense of family within CLIF Bar Company that is different from any corporation, public or private.

He and his wife (who shares the CLIF helm with Erickson) recently opened up 20-percent of CLIF’s shares to their employees in an effort to offer long-time employees the chance at a retirement that’s been long gone for most of American’s society. He believes that a 401k isn’t enough, and he put his money where his opinion stood. Subsidized day care and paid time to serve the community are a few of the other benefits CLIF offer their employees, and they’re all because of Erickson and his wife, Kit, who is also his business partner.

They’ve followed their gut, whether it be: massive commitments to community service, organics, bike racing, or wine, and it seems that it’s all paying off in spades. Erickson talks about growth frequently, but when pinned, he’s admitted it’s organic, and he doesn’t ever put a number out for his team to hit.

It’s this physical ground that may be the secret to his success. He genuinely seems to appreciate where he is, where he came from, and the people — including all of his employees — that have helped him get there.

Erickson enjoys the simple pleasures too. BikeRadar caught up with him at his camper at this past April’s Sea Otter Classic, where he camped for the entire event — where he also shared a glass of wine from his ‘Climber’s pouch’ each night with his friend camping next door, Robert Wilkins, a rep for Orbea bikes. Simple pleasures.

Erickson camped at Sea Otter this year, as he does every year

This summer he and his 18-year-old daughter will embark on a bike trip in the Italian Dolomites — one of his favorite places to ride — the amazing twist in this story, she asked for the trip. As any parent will attest having a teenager want to hang with you, means you are successful — at life’s most important job.

BikeRadar: So 20 years… CLIF Bar is 20 years old. Is it anything close to what you expected it might be when you started it?

Gary Erickson: It was hard to visualize 20 years when we first started. It’s like when you’re a young kid. You can’t think of what it’s going to be like when you’re 20, or even five. I don’t think we could see that far ahead. But I really do think if you can hang onto it that long that maturity really helps you to continue to remain successful. It helps you figure out how to remain successful and continue to grow, and remain growing.

It’s like a lot of things in life, you get to a maturity level and I see a lot of companies in the food industry that never get to 20 because they sell way before that. They never get to experience that maturity. When you’re in the thick of it, you’re not thinking about 20 years.

That said, this is 20-years and it’s a big marker for us. I’m so happy and proud of what we’ve all done to keep this thing going. I really do feel in the last five years we’ve reached a certain stride in that we’ve become exponentially better. Not just that we’ve been growing, but that all aspects of our business are at this cool, thriving, level.

Whether it’s our community service program, our sustainability program, and the benefits for our employees, our new headquarters — all these things have taken it…. There was a feeling when we were younger — we’re at about 300 employees, now — but when we were around a hundred employees, there were some feelings among them, because of maybe going through some hard times, that why can’t we go back to the way it was when we were 25 employees, or 50 employees; it felt more like a family back then. I feel like we got through that, and now at 300-plus, I think, we’re tighter now and more of a family feeling company than we were at 100 or 150. I can’t explain how we got there, but I didn’t think we could. I could be sitting here saying, ‘wow, 20-years, I’m burnt out.’ But it’s more thrilling now than it was 10 years ago.

What’s fostered that family feel? It seems like the company must be run with a fairly flat management structure.

Yeah, the ownership structure; I think the ownership structure is the starting point. If we were a public company, or a company owned by private equity, there would be another goal in mind — and that is to increase shareholder value or grow it as fast as possible because the equity guys want their money in five years.

We don’t have that pressure. My wife and I are here for the long haul, and now it’s 20-percent owned by the employees. That gives us a freedom to do it our own way. If we want to take a left turn, the venture capitalists or private equity guys might say, ‘you can’t do that. That doesn’t grow the company.’ We don’t have to answer to that.

We do stuff that doesn’t pencil out. We think it does, but it traditionally wouldn’t. The amount of money we’ve invested in organic; the amount of money we’ve invested in our employee’s benefits, the childcare center we subsidize; the community service — donating 7,000 hours of community service on company time [CLIF Bar has offered 40,000 hours of community service on company time since 2001; 7,000 is their budgeted goal for 2012] — that wouldn’t pencil out with a board of directors from a large company. We think it builds morale. We think it’s good for the community. We think we get a lot of benefit from that, but it doesn’t pencil out.

[CLIF Bar does a portion of their community service as a whole company, where all 300-plus employees descend on one project for a day, it’s a monumental task to organize and carry out but Erickson sees value in the camaraderie and team building a day’s labor offers; this year they’re working at a community garden.]

How involved are you and your wife in the day-to-day operation of the business?

We’re very involved in certain ways, and in others we’re not. We are not involved in the operations of the company, ordering and manufacturing, but I’m personally involved with starting manufacturing or starting a new product, and seeing it go online, and making sure it’s running right.

I’m still involved with product development and so is my wife. And every package and product that goes out the door has our signature on it. We get very involved in package design, we’ll see it all the way from start to finish and comment along the way; but we also have a great team of creative people that develop that packaging. We feel like, that and the product itself is the foundation of the company. The whole company doesn’t exist without great product and great packaging. From there it takes a great team to promote it, sell it, talk about it.

We’re also involved in the big decisions: converting the company to being employee owned. In moving our facility, we’re involved in every aspect of the building — there’s probably not a color or a carpet that we didn’t at least say, ‘yeah, we like that.’ And we’re just there every week, every other week for a few days, just around. I think it’s important for the employees to understand the agenda of the principals. And if it’s to grow it to sell it, then they can hop on board or not; but in our case our vision is to keep this company private, past our generation.

What pushed you to give up 20-percent of your company to your employees?

The number one reason we did that was because we were looking for a retirement benefit for our employees. We didn’t have anything — we have 401k — but it wasn’t enough for us. We want our employees… if they’re going to work 30-years for CLIF Bar they can leave with something that can look pretty close to a retirement package. There are other benefits that came along with that too: it’s a good incentive for people. It’s a good recruitment tool. It’s also a good incentive for people to stay at CLIF Bar if they know the longer they stay, the longer that retirement package grows. And they also feel a sense of ownership.

You’ve mentioned growth a few times, there’s this uniquely American drive for perpetual growth, but does a company like yours get to a point where staying a certain size is favorable?

I don’t have a great answer for that because I used to struggle with that. I didn’t want it to grow so fast it would get out of control. So our control, we call it natural demand. We don’t force people to grow to a number. We create great product. We desire to innovate, we hire the right people, and we come up with great plans for the next year and then a number pops out of that, which we think we can hit with all of those things. It’s a natural number that comes out, versus… the board of directors says: ‘you’re going to grow 20-percent next year, now tell me how we’re going to do it and make it happen.’

That doesn’t make sense if you really only have the potential to grow 10-percent. So then the pressure is on, and they’re trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

That said we’ve grown faster than we thought we were going to grow. We keep doing these good things. We keep making these great products and people are responding. We keep growing at a pace that’s, well, wow, hard to believe. So it’s exciting, but I don’t know if that’s the American thing you’re talking about.

Yes, I had in mind what you describe your peers being up against.

My peers are closer to the ‘have to grow.’ If next year someone came back and said, ‘even with all the new things we’re doing and all the new products we’re only going to grow two-percent,’ ok great. We’ll make sure that’s a profitable two percent, so we can pay our bills. If they said we’re going to decrease by 10-percent, I’d be concerned.

I think growth does excite people. I have friends in Italy with businesses, and they still want to grow.

As my wife says, and as our president, Kevin Cleary says, growth allows us to do more stuff. More good stuff; more community service, more organic, we can support the Luna team with more resources and all that stuff.

What’s driving the company in terms of development? Is product development also organic? Where do the ideas come from: Luna, Mojo?

They seem to come from everywhere. For example we have the 20^th anniversary Panforte bar. So that came out of this wine, at the CLIF family winery that we have, called Brute Blanc, it’s a Sauvignon Blanc, and it’s got a picture of myself on the Gavia in Italy. It’s one of those destination climbs for people to do. There’s now a tunnel there, and around the left side of the tunnel used to be the road; they’ve closed that off so that it’s not really rideable anymore, but back in the day that’s where it went.

I’ve got this shot that now you really can’t take anymore because the fence is falling down and stuff. So we made a wine with that label on it and it was really cool. We made another [wine] called the Climber Limited Red, which has a friend, Ron Kauk, climbing in Yosemite.

So we were talking about what we do for the 20^th anniversary, and I’ve been doing trips in Italy since 1982, and my friends in Florence, when I told them I was going to Sienna, they told me that they have this wonderful thing called Panforte; Panforte sienna or something like that. And I tried it and was, wow. This is 1980s way before CLIF Bar.

So I knew in the back of my mind, that it was probably still there, and as we started to develop [ideas] for a special flavor and I looked at the picture and just went: Panforte. It’s got to be Panforte, with that classic nut and fruit, simplicity, and spice, and cocoa powder, and all that. So we went to the kitchen, several of us, and created several different types of traditional Panforte [it comes originally from an 800-year old recipe]. The next thing you know we have Panforte [CLIF Bars] with that image on the front, and I have to say it’s one of the best bars we’ve ever done.

So that’s an example of where things just come out of nowhere. On the other hand we just came up with an extension off Luna bar called Luna Fiber. American’s don’t eat enough fiber; fiber doesn’t really taste very good, so how are you going to make something good? But women are buying fiber products right now, so that is more opportunistic, yet we wanted to create a great tasting product if we’re going to take advantage of an opportunity. So this [Panforte] is out of my vocation, my love to cook, and that experience and the package; that’s from me being a cyclist and a baker — boom. The other [Luna fiber] we know that there’s this trend, this need, so we’ve created a great fiber bar. 

Why wine and the winery?

My wife and I moved up to Napa Valley, we bought our place in the ’90s, and moved up full time in 2003. Our kid was going to a small school there, and no joke, 90-percent of the parents there were into the wine business. So we just became friends with all of these wine makers, vineyard managers and all of these people, and they just floated this idea — why doesn’t CLIF come out with a wine? We said, well first off CLIF bar doesn’t have any vineyards. And they said, ‘you don’t need vineyards to start a wine, just buy grapes. We all buy grapes.’ Most wineries have their vineyards and they buy stuff. We said, ‘really?’ …. So we did 300 cases of Kit’s Killer Cab the first year.

We thought we’d just do it as a little hobby. You know, on the side, sell a few bottles, put some away, and make it a kind of CLIF Bar thing, and it just didn’t turn out that way. It kept growing, and growing, and growing. Next thing, I’m doing Gary’s Improv: a zinfandel, different blends, then we did the Climber a white sauvignon blanc blend, and a red zinfandel blend; we came out with the pouch last year, then we opened up Velo Vino, our tasting room, which celebrates bikes and wine, just a year ago.

So that’s our tasting room, it’s open seven days a week, we run bike trips out of there. You walk in there and it’s like, wow, this is a bike museum. We have old bikes, we have Catharine Pendrel’s Olympic bike, and we have pictures of cycling going back 50 years all over the walls.

It’s all about cycling and wine. We do bike rides out of there, we hold clinics, and it’s a home for CLIF too. Word has gotten out, and on a Saturday afternoon it’s wall-to-wall people. People say it’s the friendliest tasting room in the valley.

Where’s CLIF Bar 20-years from now?

Well, we’ll probably have more employees; we’ll probably have more products. I’m hoping I’ll still be camping here. There will also be the things we always do [community service, organics, providing for the CLIF family].

Always in cycling?

I don’t see us ever getting out of cycling — it’s been so good to us. It’s really why we’re here. We came up with the idea on a bike, and racing bicycles, it’s got to be our core sport.

2012 marks CLIF Bar's 20th anniversary: they're celebrating with a hearty 'thank you' and the new Panforte flavor

Gary Erickson is an admirable man. He remains at the helm of CLIF Bar a company he co-founded 20 years ago, when he could have retired ten times over.

More than simply keeping things private, in a business sense, he’s cultivated a sense of family within CLIF Bar Company that is different from any corporation, public or private.

He and his wife recently opened up 20-percent of CLIF’s shares to their employees in an effort to offer long-time employees the chance at a retirement that’s been long gone for most of American’s society. He believes that a 401k isn’t enough, and he put his money where his opinion stood. Subsidized day care and paid time to serve the community are a few of the other benefits CLIF offer their employees, and they’re all because of Erickson and his wife, Kit, who is also his business partner.

They’ve followed their gut, whether it be: massive commitments to community service, organics, bike racing, or wine, and it seems that it’s all paying off in spades. Erickson talks about growth frequently, but when pinned, he’s admitted it’s organic, and he doesn’t ever put a number out for his team to hit.

It’s this physical ground that may be the secret to his success. He genuinely seems to appreciate where he is, where he came from, and the people — including all of his employees — that have helped him get there.

Erickson enjoys the simple pleasures too. BikeRadar caught up with him at his camper at this past April’s Sea Otter Classic, where he camped for the entire event — where he also shared a glass of wine from his ‘Climber’s pouch’ each night with his friend camping next door, Robert Wilkins, a rep for Orbea bikes. Simple pleasures.

Erickson camped at Sea Otter this year, as he does every year

This summer he and his 18-year-old daughter will embark on a bike trip in the Italian Dolomites — one of his favorite places to ride — the amazing twist in this story, she asked for the trip. As any parent will attest having a teenager want to hang with you, means you are successful — at life’s most important job.

BikeRadar: So 20 years… CLIF Bar is 20 years old. Is it anything close to what you expected it might be when you started it?

Gary Erickson: It was hard to visualize 20 years when we first started. It’s like when you’re a young kid. You can’t think of what it’s going to be like when you’re 20, or even five. I don’t think we could see that far ahead. But I really do think if you can hang onto it that long that maturity really helps you to continue to remain successful. It helps you figure out how to remain successful and continue to grow, and remain growing.

It’s like a lot of things in life, you get to a maturity level and I see a lot of companies in the food industry that never get to 20 because they sell way before that. They never get to experience that maturity. When you’re in the thick of it, you’re not thinking about 20 years.

That said, this is 20-years and it’s a big marker for us. I’m so happy and proud of what we’ve all done to keep this thing going. I really do feel in the last five years we’ve reached a certain stride in that we’ve become exponentially better. Not just that we’ve been growing, but that all aspects of our business are at this cool, thriving, level.

Whether it’s our community service program, our sustainability program, and the benefits for our employees, our new headquarters — all these things have taken it…. There was a feeling when we were younger — we’re at about 300 employees, now — but when we were around a hundred employees, there were some feelings among them, because of maybe going through some hard times, that why can’t we go back to the way it was when we were 25 employees, or 50 employees; it felt more like a family back then. I feel like we got through that, and now at 300-plus, I think, we’re tighter now and more of a family feeling company than we were at 100 or 150. I can’t explain how we got there, but I didn’t think we could. I could be sitting here saying, ‘wow, 20-years, I’m burnt out.’ But it’s more thrilling now than it was 10 years ago.

What’s fostered that family feel? It seems like the company must be run with a fairly flat management structure.

Yeah, the ownership structure; I think the ownership structure is the starting point. If we were a public company, or a company owned by private equity, there would be another goal in mind — and that is to increase shareholder value or grow it as fast as possible because the equity guys want their money in five years.

We don’t have that pressure. My wife and I are here for the long haul, and now it’s 20-percent owned by the employees. That gives us a freedom to do it our own way. If we want to take a left turn, the venture capitalists or private equity guys might say, ‘you can’t do that. That doesn’t grow the company.’ We don’t have to answer to that.

We do stuff that doesn’t pencil out. We think it does, but it traditionally wouldn’t. The amount of money we’ve invested in organic; the amount of money we’ve invested in our employee’s benefits, the childcare center we subsidize; the community service — donating 7,000 hours of community service on company time [CLIF Bar has offered 40,000 hours of community service on company time since 2001; 7,000 is their budgeted goal for 2012] — that wouldn’t pencil out with a board of directors from a large company. We think it builds morale. We think it’s good for the community. We think we get a lot of benefit from that, but it doesn’t pencil out.

[CLIF Bar does a portion of their community service as a whole company, where all 300-plus employees descend on one project for a day, it’s a monumental task to organize and carry out but Erickson sees value in the camaraderie and team building a day’s labor offers; this year they’re working at a community garden.]

How involved are you and your wife in the day-to-day operation of the business?

We’re very involved in certain ways, and in others we’re not. We are not involved in the operations of the company, ordering and manufacturing, but I’m personally involved with starting manufacturing or starting a new product, and seeing it go online, and making sure it’s running right.

I’m still involved with product development and so is my wife. And every package and product that goes out the door has our signature on it. We get very involved in package design, we’ll see it all the way from start to finish and comment along the way; but we also have a great team of creative people that develop that packaging. We feel like, that and the product itself is the foundation of the company. The whole company doesn’t exist without great product and great packaging. From there it takes a great team to promote it, sell it, talk about it.

We’re also involved in the big decisions: converting the company to being employee owned. In moving our facility, we’re involved in every aspect of the building — there’s probably not a color or a carpet that we didn’t at least say, ‘yeah, we like that.’ And we’re just there every week, every other week for a few days, just around. I think it’s important for the employees to understand the agenda of the principals. And if it’s to grow it to sell it, then they can hop on board or not; but in our case our vision is to keep this company private, past our generation.

What pushed you to give up 20-percent of your company to your employees?

The number one reason we did that was because we were looking for a retirement benefit for our employees. We didn’t have anything — we have 401k — but it wasn’t enough for us. We want our employees… if they’re going to work 30-years for CLIF Bar they can leave with something that can look pretty close to a retirement package. There are other benefits that came along with that too: it’s a good incentive for people. It’s a good recruitment tool. It’s also a good incentive for people to stay at CLIF Bar if they know the longer they stay, the longer that retirement package grows. And they also feel a sense of ownership.

You’ve mentioned growth a few times, there’s this uniquely American drive for perpetual growth, but does a company like yours get to a point where staying a certain size is favorable?

I don’t have a great answer for that because I used to struggle with that. I didn’t want it to grow so fast it would get out of control. So our control, we call it natural demand. We don’t force people to grow to a number. We create great product. We desire to innovate, we hire the right people, and we come up with great plans for the next year and then a number pops out of that, which we think we can hit with all of those things. It’s a natural number that comes out, versus… the board of directors says: ‘you’re going to grow 20-percent next year, now tell me how we’re going to do it and make it happen.’

That doesn’t make sense if you really only have the potential to grow 10-percent. So then the pressure is on, and they’re trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

That said we’ve grown faster than we thought we were going to grow. We keep doing these good things. We keep making these great products and people are responding. We keep growing at a pace that’s, well, wow, hard to believe. So it’s exciting, but I don’t know if that’s the American thing you’re talking about.

Yes, I had in mind what you describe your peers being up against.

My peers are closer to the ‘have to grow.’ If next year someone came back and said, ‘even with all the new things we’re doing and all the new products we’re only going to grow two-percent,’ ok great. We’ll make sure that’s a profitable two percent, so we can pay our bills. If they said we’re going to decrease by 10-percent, I’d be concerned.

I think growth does excite people. I have friends in Italy with businesses, and they still want to grow.

As my wife says, and as our president, Kevin Cleary says, growth allows us to do more stuff. More good stuff; more community service, more organic, we can support the Luna team with more resources and all that stuff.

What’s driving the company in terms of development? Is product development also organic? Where do the ideas come from: Luna, Mojo?

They seem to come from everywhere. For example we have the 20^th anniversary Panforte bar. So that came out of this wine, at the CLIF family winery that we have, called Brute Blanc, it’s a Sauvignon Blanc, and it’s got a picture of myself on the Gavia in Italy. It’s one of those destination climbs for people to do. There’s now a tunnel there, and around the left side of the tunnel used to be the road; they’ve closed that off so that it’s not really rideable anymore, but back in the day that’s where it went.

I’ve got this shot that now you really can’t take anymore because the fence is falling down and stuff. So we made a wine with that label on it and it was really cool. We made another [wine] called the Climber Limited Red, which has a friend, Ron Kauk, climbing in Yosemite.

So we were talking about what we do for the 20^th anniversary, and I’ve been doing trips in Italy since 1982, and my friends in Florence, when I told them I was going to Sienna, they told me that they have this wonderful thing called Panforte; Panforte sienna or something like that. And I tried it and was, wow. This is 1980s way before CLIF Bar.

So I knew in the back of my mind, that it was probably still there, and as we started to develop [ideas] for a special flavor and I looked at the picture and just went: Panforte. It’s got to be Panforte, with that classic nut and fruit, simplicity, and spice, and cocoa powder, and all that. So we went to the kitchen, several of us, and created several different types of traditional Panforte [it comes originally from an 800-year old recipe]. The next thing you know we have Panforte [CLIF Bars] with that image on the front, and I have to say it’s one of the best bars we’ve ever done.

So that’s an example of where things just come out of nowhere. On the other hand we just came up with an extension off Luna bar called Luna Fiber. American’s don’t eat enough fiber; fiber doesn’t really taste very good, so how are you going to make something good? But women are buying fiber products right now, so that is more opportunistic, yet we wanted to create a great tasting product if we’re going to take advantage of an opportunity. So this [Panforte] is out of my vocation, my love to cook, and that experience and the package; that’s from me being a cyclist and a baker — boom. The other [Luna fiber] we know that there’s this trend, this need, so we’ve created a great fiber bar. 

Why wine and the winery?

My wife and I moved up to Napa Valley, we bought our place in the ’90s, and moved up full time in 2003. Our kid was going to a small school there, and no joke, 90-percent of the parents there were into the wine business. So we just became friends with all of these wine makers, vineyard managers and all of these people, and they just floated this idea — why doesn’t CLIF come out with a wine? We said, well first off CLIF bar doesn’t have any vineyards. And they said, ‘you don’t need vineyards to start a wine, just buy grapes. We all buy grapes.’ Most wineries have their vineyards and they buy stuff. We said, ‘really?’ …. So we did 300 cases of Kit’s Killer Cab the first year.

We thought we’d just do it as a little hobby. You know, on the side, sell a few bottles, put some away, and make it a kind of CLIF Bar thing, and it just didn’t turn out that way. It kept growing, and growing, and growing. Next thing, I’m doing Gary’s Improv: a zinfandel, different blends, then we did the Climber a white sauvignon blanc blend, and a red zinfandel blend; we came out with the pouch last year, then we opened up Velo Vino, our tasting room, which celebrates bikes and wine, just a year ago.

So that’s our tasting room, it’s open seven days a week, we run bike trips out of there. You walk in there and it’s like, wow, this is a bike museum. We have old bikes, we have Catharine Pendrel’s Olympic bike, and we have pictures of cycling going back 50 years all over the walls.

It’s all about cycling and wine. We do bike rides out of there, we hold clinics, and it’s a home for CLIF too. Word has gotten out, and on a Saturday afternoon it’s wall-to-wall people. People say it’s the friendliest tasting room in the valley.

Where’s CLIF Bar 20-years from now?

Well, we’ll probably have more employees; we’ll probably have more products. I’m hoping I’ll still be camping here. There will also be the things we always do [community service, organics, providing for the CLIF family].

Always in cycling?

I don’t see us ever getting out of cycling — it’s been so good to us. It’s really why we’re here. We came up with the idea on a bike, and racing bicycles, it’s got to be our core sport.

2012 marks CLIF Bar's 20th anniversary: they're celebrating with a hearty 'thank you' and the new Panforte flavor

A white paper recently produced by the Welsh Assembly and claimed as a 'world first' would make it a legal requirement for Welsh local authorities to plan, map and deliver cycle routes, say the bill's chief petitioner Sustrans.

The key proposal of the white paper is that local authorities in Wales have a duty to:

• Identify and map the network of routes within their areas that are safe and appropriate for walking and cycling;
• Identify and map the enhancements that would be required to create a fully integrated network for walking and cycling and develop a prioritised list of schemes to deliver the network;
• Deliver an enhanced network subject to budget availability and following due process;
• Consider the potential for enhancing walking and cycling provision in the development of new road schemes.

The obvious 'get-out' for cash-strapped local authorities could be the 'subject to budget availability' clause. Despite this it appears a document of great intent, stating:

"We would encourage Local Authorities to develop ambitious proposals for an integrated network to be delivered over a significant period of time ... These improvements are the start of a process that will last for decades, similar to the way that programmes to develop the motorised road network are planned for many years ahead."

The white paper has the backing of an impressive array of health experts from the likes of the National Heart Forum and many others. It is aiming to address the poor levels of cycling in Wales. According to the Assembly's own Walking and Cycling Action Plan only 1.6% of the Welsh population uses a bike as their main mode of travel to work.

BikeRadar spoke to Lee Waters, head of Sustrans Cymru: "At the moment most local authorities don't have a map of walking and cycling routes in their area, so the first thing is to establish what's there and where the gaps are, and then a second map would look to link up the 'trip generators' ie schools and hospitals and the like, and then to identify new provision to link these."

Waters was candid about the work yet to be done and how it might translate into routes on the ground. "The devil of this will all be in the detail, in the guidance and the regulation placed on local authorities in the bill. There will also be a duty to continuously improve the provision as identified. At the very least it will ensure that the money being spent is spent more strategically and that funding is tied to things that will be useful. In the long run we hope it will mean more budget is committed to walking and cycling networks."

The bill has been on the agenda for some time, but it seems to have broad cross-party support according to Waters. That will smooth its passage through consultation (ends August 14th) and to voting in the National Assembly for Wales in spring 2013.

Opposition to some elements is likely to come from specific interest groups such as ramblers says Waters. "The one element I expect to be the most difficult is the issue of shared space," he said.

The Welsh government has already been talking in terms of a law analogous to the Scottish 'open access' situation where there is a presumption cyclists (and walkers) can travel freely on all paths and tracks unless exceptions apply.

The buzzing 120-point, three-pawl Micro Notch engagement in the Supa Drive rear hub means that the Halo 4XRs’ instant catch and drive is the first thing you notice.

The wheels are light enough to make the most of that snap for those who like to blitz between corners and jumps. The 21mm internal width rim gives enough girth to handle big tyres without wobbling and we’ve put a hard year of use and abuse into our long-termer sets without suffering any rim issues.

Halo hubs generally last really well too and they come in every axle standard you could want including a bolted stub axle option up front. Keep a spoke key handy though because they can go baggy over time. They’re not tubeless-ready without an aftermarket kit either.

This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

It would be easy to pigeonhole the Cotic as just another steel frame looking to climb aboard the big-wheeler bandwagon but, as with all good things, the devil's in the detail. The Solaris is one of the most inspiring steel framed mountain bikes we've ridden in a long time. Two years of slow development from its original inception was well worth the wait.

Ride & handling: Light but reassuringly tough; among the best 29ers we've tested

The Solaris offers an inspired, confident, stable ride over all but the harshest terrain. Steep geometry (71° head, 73.5°) and a perfectly balanced ride position create a sprightly, fun-filled ride that just gets better and better as you go harder and faster. 

The long top tube and the 100mm-travel Marzocchi Corsa fork with 44mm offset that was supplied with our £2,000 custom build contributed to an overall ride character that sits between a hard hitting trail bike and beautifully relaxed race bike. The frame will happily take a 120mm-travel fork too – good news for riders who favour big terrain with rocky drops.

Lots of 29ers promise this sort of 'go anywhere, have a go at anything' performance, but very few steel 29ers manage the hard riding appeal of the Solaris without an obvious heft burden: the bare 19in frame weighs a gnat's whisker under 5lb. Like many quality steel frames the Solaris feels slightly more forgiving over rough ground than the many and varied aluminium alternatives out there. It pleased everyone who rode it. 

The beefed-up tube profiles set it slightly apart from the skinnier tubed steel framed 29ers we've tried, creating a ride feel that exhibits the direct tracking handling feel of stiff aluminium framed big-wheelers when pushed, but without losing the comfort and 'spring' of a classy steel structure. Oh, and if you don't like the Bright Blue colour scheme you can go for Bright Orange.  

Our test was on the frame, but inevitably parts choice influences the ride feel. We assessed the Solaris with a wheelset based on alloy Stan's rims but also tried it with Reynolds carbon hoops. Handling was similar with both but the Reynolds wheels did an amazing job of sucking small vibrations away and adding a soft-pile-carpet effect to the ride – as they should, considering they add around £1,000 to the complete bike price.

Frame: Based on the Cotic Soul, but far more than just a Soul with bigger wheels

The Cotic brand was started in 2002 by Cy Turner: Cy Cotic, see what he did there? His first production bike, the Soul, was a steel hardtail intended for use with a 120mm fork. It was designed for hard and fast cross-country use and it created the template for a lot of other long forked hardtails biased towards cross-country riding. Ten years down the line the Solaris is, for all intents and purposes, the 29er version of the Soul, but it's far more than just a Soul with bigger wheels.

Geometry tweaks have been made to get the best out of typical longer offset 29er forks and a longer top tube (than on the 26er Soul; 24.6in on our 19in test bike) creates a longer front centre that manages to keep the handling feeling both sprightly and confident using a short stem. The back end is sensibly short, but still with room for big treads, and the True Temper OX Platinum/Reynolds 853 tube mix is relatively chunky to keep things stiff and stable but light enough for a sub-26lb full bike build. 

The short head tube takes a standard or tapered steerer. It's also ring reinforced with an integral top cup to avoid the tall front end that afflicts some 29ers. It's well worth reading Cotic's website for more detailed information on the development of the Solaris. It serves as a useful way of understanding the pros and cons of different geometry configurations on 29ers.

Knowing how to repair a puncture is an essential skill that every cyclist needs to master. It can be daunting for the inexperienced but only takes a few minutes once you know what you're doing.

In the video below, produced in association with Unior tools, Mountain Biking UK magazine's Doddy gives a step-by-step guide to fixing flats. He shows how to remove the punctured inner tube from your wheel, locate the hole, prepare the area for gluing and attach a patch. 

Click here for a quarter-screen version of the video.

Knowing how to repair a puncture is an essential skill that every cyclist needs to master. It can be daunting for the inexperienced but only takes a few minutes once you know what you're doing.

In the video below, produced in association with Unior tools, Mountain Biking UK magazine's Doddy gives a step-by-step guide to fixing flats. He shows how to remove the punctured inner tube from your wheel, locate the hole, prepare the area for gluing and attach a patch. 

Click here for a quarter-screen version of the video.

The e*thirteen XCX+ Single Speed cranks use an enormous 30mm spindle and are designed to run a single-ring setup for trail riding and singlespeed cross-country.

The cranks are forged and CNC-machined from 7075 series aluminium and are available in 170, 175 and 180mm lengths. The 175mm setup we tested weighed 585g. The arms themselves are ultra stiff, and are made stiffer still by the contact with the bottom bracket axle using a unique teardrop-shaped polygon interface.

Enormous outboard bottom bracket bearings are fitted using the supplied tool, and a simple shimming system is used to space the crank out for an ideal chainline – although given their 0.5mm thickness, it took a little trial and error to get the setup right.

Once we’d sorted our chainline out, the crank proved to be free-spinning, with no drag in the bearings. At first we had issues with the left-hand arm loosening up at the end of rides. But after reinstalling and checking the torque setting, the problem hasn’t reappeared. They’re very stiff and have a sleek, classy look. 

This article was originally published in Mountain Biking UK magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

We've seen Kali's Amara Cam trail helmet before at the shows but this is the first time we've got our hands on one. It's good looking in an angular kind of way, a reasonable weight (345g) and boasts 17 vents but its USP is the integrated camera/light mount.

Built into the top of the helmet shell is a rail that can be combined with one of four supplied adaptors. There's a GoPro-specific mount, one for pencil/bullet style helmet cams or Mini Maglite size torches, one for handlebar mounted cameras/lights and a bolted mount for DIY setups. 

Could this mean an end to bulky, wobbly mounts and homemade bodges? We hope so. All we need now is adaptors for Contour and Drift cameras. RRP is £65/US$100. The Amara is also available without the camera rail for £50/$80. 

The Chakra shares many of the same features – polycarbonate shell, extended rear coverage – but ditches the camera mount and has a more basic dial fit system instead of the ratchets found on the Amara. This saves weight (259g) and brings the price down to £40/$40.

A lot of companies off one or two full-face helmets but not Kali – they've got eight to choose from, ranging from the top-end Avatar 2 Carbon (£265/$349) to the entry-level Mantra (£60/$130). Just arrived for testing is the £110/$150 Durgana.

It uses a fibreglass shell, so it's heavier – 1,103g on our scales – than rival helmets from the likes of THE and SixSixOne that use plastic (ABS/polycarbonate) outers. Airflow looks to be well though out though, with 14 vents and a system of internal channels to suck air past your head. It's got an adjustable peak and removable liner, meets the EN 1078 and CPSC safety standards, and is available in five sizes and 10 colours.

On the pisspot front, Kali have embraced the skateboard-style skulls/zombies graphical route, although more subtle designs are also available. The Maha's in-mould construction (where the expanded polystyrene liner is fused to the ABS shell while it's still in the mould, rather than glued on afterwards) keeps weight down to 401g. RRP is just £25/$30.

The £45/$60 Samra uses Kali's 'Composite Fusion' technology – an advanced form of in-moulding – and a fibreglass/composite shell to bring down weight even further, to 298g. Both lids comply with EN 1078 and CPSC, and are available in four sizes.

For more information about Kali helmets, visit www.kaliprotectives.com. UK distribution is handled by Surf Sales.

Syncros’s carbon rims have been around for a while and are proving reliably tough despite being very light. As you’d hope for the price, they’re noticeably tighter-tracking than similar weight alloy wheels. 

Pickup is average but acceleration is excellent and they instantly enhance the agility of any bike you stick them in. The bearings and freehub have been fine on our long-term sets.

The 20mm internal rim diameter supports the medium-sized tyres that suit their function fine. The quick-release/15mm front hub and QR-only rear axle options will also suit most potential users. They’re not tubeless-compatible and their rim shape does make tyre fitting and removal a fight.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

Whether you're in the comfort of a workshop or exposed out on the trails, having the right skills and tools to fix and maintain your bike are an essential part of any mountain biker's armoury.

In association with Unior Tools, our new 10-part series aims to instil the knowledge that'll mean you won't be caught short when a problem arises. From workshop tips such as fitting a hydraulic brake set or installing a tubeless tyre to trail tips like fixing a broken spoke or replacing a gear cable, the series - online every Monday for the next couple of months - will cover skills both basic and expert.

The first part sees MBUK's Doddy talking you through how to fix a broken chain.

Men: Schurter overcomes early mishap

This article was originally published on Cyclingnews.com.

Nino Schurter (Scott-Swisspower) gave himself the perfect 26th birthday present on Sunday when he won the elite men's cross country World Cup in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech.  On the final lap, Schurter powered away from home crowd favorite Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized) and Burry Stander (Specialized).  Marco Fontana (Cannondale) and Ralph Naef (Multivan Merida) had been with the lead three for much of the race, but fell off their pace with just over one lap to go.  They held on to fourth and fifth places respectively.

"I had a mistake in the first lap. I dropped my chain and had to catch back up to the lead group," said Schurter of his tough start to the race. "It was an awesome race in front of the Czech crowd."

Women: Bresset gets first win for the season

This article was originally published on Cyclingnews.com.

Julie Bresset (BH-SR Suntour - Peisey Vallandry) raced to her first World Cup victory of the season in Nove Mesto na Morave on Sunday morning.  She won by 29 seconds over Irina Kalentieva (Topeak Ergon) and by 48 seconds over Czech's own Katerina Nash (Luna).  Georgia Gould put another Luna rider on the podium by out-sprinting Blaza Klemencic (Felt Oetzal) for fourth place

Results

The big news on the dropper front post in recent weeks has been the launch of the Fox DOSS and CrankBrothers Kronolog, but the hydraulic RockShox Reverb remains our current favourite and some new developments should help it remain top of the heap.

In addition to the current 4in (100mm) and 5in (125mm) drop models, RockShox are now offering a 6in (150mm) version, which should be perfect for taller riders who like to run their seats slammed to the top tube on downhills. It'll only be available with Stealth internal hose routing, though, so you'll need a compatible frame.

This feature will now be available across the Reverb range after previously being restricted to OEM posts supplied with Trek and Scott bikes. There's no word yet on availability or US pricing of the new Stealth posts; UK RRP is £329.99.

Gaerne

Gaerne have launched a new flagship road shoe, the G.Chrono, to mark their 50th anniversary. Claimed weight is just 275g a pair – 25 percent less than the company's current top-dog race shoe, the G.Air.

Despite this feathery weight, Gaerne haven't skimped on features – the G.Chrono has a Boa fit system, an ultra thin, ventilated carbon fibre sole, a carbon heel cup and a microfibre upper with mesh inserts. It's available in white, black, blue or red, with pricing and availability still to be confirmed. A mountain bike version is also available, called the G.Kobra.

Louis Garneau

Louis Garneau are probably best known for their road helmets but they make mountain bike lids too, and the new Karve looks very promising, with features and construction quality that belie its £64.99/US$79.99 price. It weighs 291g in the medium size, uses in-mould construction, has 29 vents and a dial fit system. 

Its key features, though, are Garneau's U-Bar and MSB technologies. The former is a series of plastic ribs that acts like an exoskeleton, while the latter is a reinforced base at the rear of the helmet, where the outer shell wraps over the sides of the EPS inner to protect it from knocks. 

New UK importer for Industry Nine

US wheel specialists Industry Nine have appointed Prestige Cycles of Hove, East Sussex as their sole UK importers. The small company – they have just eight staff – design and make custom wheels, spokes and hubs in-house at their factory in Asheville, North Carolina. We were very impressed by the i25 road wheels we tested last year so we're keen to see more.

SDG

California's SDG are launching a 'ride before you buy' initiative that will allow you to try out a selection of their saddle shapes before handing over your cash. Six seats will be included in the demo ride programme – the Duster RL, Circuit, Falcon, Allure and Bel Air RL – with prices starting at £39.95. To find out more, visit any authorised SDG Demo Centre.

On paper the Diamondback Response looks like a good bet with its RockShox XC fork, 27-speed Shimano Deore gears and Shimano disc brakes. But it suffers from a few downgrades, presumably to make price-room for those highlights, and its heavy wheels and tyres make it a dull ride. You’d need to spend a little money on upgrades to make it a decent workhorse.

Ride & handling: A confusing mix of upgrades and downgrades makes for a weighty bike

The combination of its 15.1kg (33.5lb) weight and leg-hatingly draggy tyres means the Response can’t really live up to its name off road. It feels sluggish compared to other bikes at this price. You feel it on the uphills more than anywhere, but even initial acceleration and handling are affected. 

It’s stable, but even the well- behaved fork can’t prevent it feeling dull until you can get it up to speed – preferably with the help of a hill. Once there, it trundles along nicely. The fork can deal with a fair amount of punishment, leaving only the constant clunk of the rear derailleur on the underside of the chainstay to irritate when the going gets rough.

A better crankset and lighter, livelier wheels and tyres would make this a much better bike. As it is, it’s a confusing mix of impressive and cheap, and heavy too. The deep block tread of the tyres doesn't help, but has the advantage of gripping the ground where faster-rolling tyres don't.

Frame & equipment: Decent fork but budget-compromised finishing parts

The Response frame is a curvy aluminium offering with hydroformed tubes creating an interesting mix of shapes, with big weld contact areas for added strength. Tyre room is generous but there’s just one set of bottle cage bosses and no rack mounts, which is odd on a bike that’s bound to appeal to a lot of riders looking for utility-all-rounder usage. 

It’s good to see a RockShox fork on a bike at this price. We achieved its promised 100mm of travel – something that’s not always possible on budget forks – and although it's a bit fluttery over heavy-duty terrain and when braking hard, it offers a much better controlled rebound action than most. It also has a lockout lever that leaves a smidge of useful movement.

Other pluses are Shimano’s Deore 27-speed gears and hydraulic disc brakes, but unfortunately the obvious upgrades don’t quite make up for the obvious downgrades. The crankset is a functional but hefty affair with a plastic trouser guard that, like an oil tanker taking a short cut, will snap in half at the first sign of rocks. We continually suffered chain suck in the granny ring as well – to the point where the chain jammed then twisted, and we had to remove a link to carry on. Hardly ideal.

The deep-rimmed wheels and tyres (according to the Diamondback website it should have Schwalbe’s Smart Sam tyres, not the Meghnas of our test bike) are heavy and draggy in acceleration, only making up for that via the deep block tread pattern that grips tenaciously to muddy climbs. The handlebar, stem and saddle do the job but the seatpost is a very basic (and heavy) steel-clamped model.    

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

It started as a simple idea — to celebrate and empower women with the bicycle. Today, May 13th, thousands of women and men around the globe are participating in one of the more than 160 CycloFemme rides.

Sarai Snyder, founder of GirlBikeLove, launched CycloFemme.

“Women have had very strong ties with the bike since its inception,” Snyder said. “For women in the 1890s the bicycle was a form of independence, which helped lead to the emancipation of women and the opportunity to wear pants. Today, women’s cycling is gaining momentum worldwide, with more emphasis on women’s racing and encouragement to get more women and youth riding bikes.”

GirlBikeLove is selling CycloFemme temporary tattoos online, which many pro riders have been wearing. Snyder hopes that some of the racers in the Amgen Tour of California will wear the tattoos, too, in support of women on bikes.

“For many women and young girls around the world, the bicycle is vital for safety, provides the opportunity to attend school, access to health care, and economic independence,” Snyder said. “The bicycle is a vehicle for social change and we need more women leading that charge.”

Find out more on CycloFemme.com, or by searching Twitter and Instagram for the hashtag #CycloFemme.

The Pearl Izumi Divide is designed for cross-country riding, and you can feel that the moment you put it on. There’s an instant comfort factor in that it feels light, despite the heavy fabric, with a good fit and length.

The cut is what we’d call race-ready; it’s loose enough not to be a road jersey but slim enough to mean business. The fabric is Pearl Izumi’s Transfer, with a solid knit through the body. We thought it might be clingy and warm, but it deals with sweat very efficiently and doesn’t hug the love handles as snugly as we’d feared.

Mesh inserts positioned on the chest and sides, front and back help the cooling effect and really seem to work at creating airflow. A full-length front zip is always welcome and especially important in a summer jersey designed for more epic rides. This is an expensive jersey but you can feel the difference when you wear it. If you’re serious about distance then consider investing.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

Men: Attacking raid nets Freiburghaus the victory

This article was originally published on Cyclingnews.com

The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup saw a new face on the top step of the podium of the Eliminator at Nove Mesto na Morave in the Czech Republic. A brillant mid-race attack by Sepp Freiburghaus (Thoemus Racing caught all of his rivals off guard, allowing the Swiss rider to take the win.

Australian Paul van der Ploeg (Felt Oetztal X-Bionic) was considered the favourite for the men, after qualifying first and finishing second here last year. His powerful sprint afforded him the ability to come from behind on the long finishing straight.

In the final, Freiburghaus and van der Ploeg were joined by Mirco Widmer (Giant Swiss SR Suntour), Germany's Martin Gluth, Marcel Wildhaber (Scott-Swisspower) and Marek Konwa (Milka-Superior). Significantly, round one winner Brian Lopes and cross-country stars Jose Hermida (Multivan Merida), Manuel Fumic (Cannondale) and Marco Fontana (Cannondale) did not make the final.

Paul Van Der Ploeg (Felt Oetztal X - Bionic Team) out of the start house

In the final, at the far side of the course on the only climb, Freiburghaus attacked, immediately gaining ten metres on his rivals, who all looked at each other, with none willing to take the initiative and lead the chase. Coming into the final straightaway, Freiburghaus was still well in front and cruised across the line while van der Ploeg led the rest of the group in, shaking his head. Widmer took third.

"It was pretty tactical in the climb," explained Freiburghaus, "and so I changed my tactic for the final. I tried with an attack on the climb, and then got a gap. On this Eliminator it was very important to have a good tactic. If you are in the lead for the whole round you have a problem, when you come with four or five guys on this straight finish. I am very happy to bring it to the line."

"It was a brilliant move by Sepp [Freiburghaus]," commented van der Ploeg. "I was thinking 'oh damn' when he attacked, but that was it, that was the move. I would have liked to have won, of course, but I'm happy to be on the podium again."

Women: Engen too good in Nove Mesto

This article was originally published on Cyclingnews.com

Alexandra Engen (Ghost Factory) dominated the women's competition at round two of the UCI Eliminator World Cup. The second round of the Eliminator was completely different from round one in Houffalize, Belgium. Where the Belgian race had short, steep climbs, technical descents and narrow singletrack, Nove Mesto was wide open, with pavement and dirt forest roads. This led to multiple sprints and some photo finish results in the heats.

Engen qualified first for the women and won both of her preliminary heats to move into the final. She was joined there by 2011 cross-country World Cup champion Julie Bresset (BH-SR Suntour-Peisey Vallandry), Eva Lechner (Colnago Sudtirol), Australia's Rowena Fry, Laura Turpijn (MPL Specialized) and Cecile Ravanel (GT Skoda Chamonix). Missing from the final were former world champions Tracy Moseley and Anneke Beerten (Milka-Superior).

Turpijn took the early lead, but the group stayed together for the entire 1100 metre circuit, with Engen hitting the front 150 metres from the line and easily outdistancing her rivals. Engen had enough of a lead to coast across the line with her arms in the air, while Bresset nipped countrywoman Ravanel at the line for second.

After and early season filled with injury and illness, this is the first time Engen has felt fully healthy. "This is a really positive result for me, after the spring. In the quarter finals I realized that I had my full fitness, and that I was able to do well. I like this kind of wide courses where it is possible to pass and use my sprint."

Results

Cube always offer a good deal in componentry terms. Happily the Aim Disc's frame is pretty good too, but don’t expect much from the fork. Like many other low budget SR Suntour offerings, it’s relatively uncontrolled when the going gets rough.

Ride & handling: Fork performance slightly lets down an otherwise great bike

If you want to benefit from front suspension, you must keep your weight well forward, allowing the fork to stay slightly sagged. The Cube Aim Disc's SR Suntour XCM is fine for easy terrain but thunky when you start hitting stutter bumps or sitting back on little drops. 

The better news is that the big tyres do a decent job of small bump taming, and the rest of the bike performs well – well enough to warrant a future investment in a better fork. Handling is confidently neutral, predictable on all but the harshest terrain.

The 14.06kg (31lb) overall weight is a downer on long climbs, but it’s what you can expect at this price. Tight chainstays help make short, smooth grunter climbs surprisingly nippy, and the gear range is enough to haul you up anything once you’re in the granny ring.

If you’re not riding harsh terrain you’ll learn to live with the fork’s limits. But if you have proper off-road ambition then you’ll very soon be wanting more controlled suspension, which is a pity because the rest of the bike is excellent.

Frame & equipment: Great chassis, great wheels and tyres plus quality finishing kit

Riders who flinch at vivid colour schemes will probably love the matt dark grey and subtle blue detailing of the Aim Disc. The fork, tyres, rims and most of the finishing parts are colour-splashed to match. The frame is good enough to outlive most of its parts, so a few eventual upgrades wouldn’t be wasted.

There’s loads of standover room, and hydroformed, biaxially ovalised top and down tubes make for maximum weld contact areas for stiffness and durability. Rack eyelets on the seatstays and two sets of bottle bosses make this an easy and versatile choice for utilitarian use. 

The SR Suntour XCM fork is average for this kind of price. In other words, it’s not great. We got about 70mm out of the claimed 100mm travel and rebound was uncontrolled, with a thunk when it got a chance to return to full extension. On the plus side, we’ve experienced far worse on other bikes and a lockout lever effectively turns it into a rigid fork for urban use. The fork is the only weak link on the bike.

The 24-speed Shimano drivetrain works perfectly, as do the Shimano hydraulic disc brakes. The wheels are well built with Shimano Center Lock hubs and disc rotors. It’s good to see Schwalbe’s grippy but quick Smart Sam 2.25in treads at this price, and we’d say the same about the Easton stem and 26in Monkey Bar. We were happy with the Scape saddle and post.

This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

BikeRadar's weekly round-up of great online deals from our recommended retailers could save you both time and money.

If you just want to get to the bargains, skip to the end of the article to see the deals listed as Quick Links.

Otherwise, read on for more details including pictures, BikeRadar reviews and your opinions wherever possible – so you can make sure you're fully in the picture before parting with your hard-earned cash.

1. Sunn Shamann S1 (2011) – Buy Now from Chain Reaction for £1,572 and save 45 percent

What the manufacturer says:

"The Shamann S1 is the full suspension bike of the XC lineup. The Shamann Alpha frame geometry has been designed to give an efficient balance of traction, acceleration and long distance comfort to make the perfect marathon bike. The RockShox Monarch RT3 shock absorber provides a highly progressive 100mm of rear travel. The front-end is comprised of RockShox SID RLT forks also with 100mm travel. SRAM 2x10 transmissions allow for a lighter and more efficient shifting system. Add to this SRAM X9 pedals, UN Premium 600-0 SL wheels and Hutchinson Python tyres for a bike that mixes performance with riding pleasure."

2. Saracen Zen 1 Bike (2010) – Buy Now from Winstanleys Bikes for £449.99 and save 47 percent

What the manufacturer says:

"The Zens are 100% UK specific aggressive trail screamers, ready to take on whatever you throw at them. The lightweight frame uses a triple butted 6061 alloy tubeset designed specifically for longer travel forks and the mud clearance on the rear of the frame is class-leading. Also featuring RockShox Tora 289 U-Turn forks with 85-130 mm travel, Shimano HG50 9-speed cassette, Quad Sting Pro hydraulic disc brakes and Continental Mountain King tyres, these long-travel hardcore trail bikes were designed to take UK trail riding to the next level."

3. GT Zaskar Carbon Expert (2011) – Buy Now from Wiggle for £ 1429.99 and save 35 percent

What the manufacturer says:

"Classy carbon hardtail that won't let you down. The Zaskar Carbon Expert is full of top class components that compliment the Foc-Ultra Carbon frame well. Proven RockShox Recon Solo Air forks are fitted to soak up punishing ground along with SRAM S1400 chainset ensuring a solid drive over varied terrain. Formula RX brakes with 160mm rotor both front and rear provide plenty of stopping power. Crankbros Cobalt 2 flat handlebars and seat stem as well as DT Swiss wheelset and Maxxis Aspen tyres round off a bike that can handle any terrain."

Quick Links:

• Sunn Shamann S1 (2011) – Buy Now from Chain Reaction for £1,572 and save 45 percent
• Saracen Zen 1 Bike (2010) – Buy Now from Winstanleys Bikes for £449.99 and save 47 percent
• GT Zaskar Carbon Expert (2011) – Buy Now from Wiggle for £ 1429.99 and save 35 percent

Offers courtesy of: Wiggle, Chain Reaction Cycles and Winstanleys Bikes

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A former nutritionist to Lance Armstrong today launched her own drink-mix company, OsmoNutrition. Stacy Sims, who's also worked with the likes of Garmin-Slipstream and pro triathlete Dan Hugo, says her products will stand out in a crowded marketplace because of their research-based formulation and high-quality, natural ingredients.

To create Osmo's debut products – two hydration mixes and two recovery drinks – Sims relied not only on peer-reviewed research but also her 15 years of practical experience working with top-level athletes. She also worked with cycling physiologist Dr Allen Lim, who has a hydration company called Scratch Labs.

“Everything I’ve been doing as a researcher and as an athlete led me to understand that more and more cycling nutrition products are skewed to liquid calories,” Sims said. “And what you do at the front of an event has a direct relation to what happens at the end.

"I’d see all these riders eating gels and drinking high-calorie drinks at the beginning of a race, then at the end suffering stomach cramps, leg cramps, dehydration, all these kinds of things. So I began working on myself and others, looking at the body before, during and after exercise.”

Designed to be consumed before exercise – or even the night before – Osmo PreLoad ($24.99 for 10 servings) is a high-sodium “hyper-hydrator”. The second hydration mix, Osmo Active Hydration ($24.99 for 20 servings), is a during-exercise drink designed to fight off fatigue and cramping. 

Osmo Acute Recovery ($39.99 for 10 servings) has ingredients that Sims says your body needs to stop the breakdown effects of exercise, and Osmo GoodNight Recovery ($39.99 for 20 servings) was created for consumption after particularly hard days on the bike. In addition to antioxidants, glutamine, zinc, B vitamins and protein, GoodNight also contains melatonin and herbal sedatives.

As of today, Osmo products will be coming to riders via the company website, OsmoNutrition.com, and select US retailers. The website has videos explaining the science behind the product. Sims told BikeRadar that some mainstream sports drinks are actually "effective dehydrators" because the formula is too concentrated. 

"You might drink a lot, you pee a lot, but that doesn’t make you hydrated,” she said. "The body is 80 percent water. The more body water you lose, the faster your body temperature goes up and the faster your performance detoriates. If you’re cramming your drinks full of calories, you could be accelerating this process. Osmo is bit of a paradigm switch, to separate hydration from food.”

In addition to making drinks with a strong basis in science, Sims was keen to use healthy, natural ingredients – like something she'd make in her kitchen. “I was always the freaky San Francisco girl making her own low-fat cottage cheese,” she said. “I always go back to the fact that we’re not as smart as nature. Whatever products you can use that work with your body’s system will be much better that what comes out of an engineer’s lab.”

As a result, Osmo import protein powder from Ireland, Holland and New Zealand, as those are the only countries that can guarantee whey isolate that’s GMO-free. “I don’t want to ingest something that I can’t know where it’s coming from,” Sims said.

Check back soon to BikeRadar for reviews of Osmo’s drink mixes.

If you’ve ever ridden on Belgian cobbles it’s common to see hundreds of bottles that have been ejected from their cages. The Pavé prevents this by using a BOA-style ratchet to adjust the cage’s diameter and secure the bottle. 

It works brilliantly, and despite the extra security it still only weighs 41g, being constructed from fibreglass reinforced resin. It takes a bit of practice not to overtighten the bottle cage – it’s a case of less is more. Get it right and you’ll never lose another bottle.

This article was originally published in Cycling Plus magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.