So we havnet really been “on the beat” towards updating the blog recently, we decided to to change the name of our operation and have been mad busy.
New partners and products for 2011, a new website, blog, race team etc. is in its works. Rome wasnt build it one day so we try not to be too ambitious with our WWW setup, its coming along nicely though. In the meanwhile, visit us here.
Hey Ras, i only have a few pictures of myself and/or the bike, and I don’t really like any of them.
So, what’s my impression after a season together with my friend the Spitty? Well, first of all, I’ve never had this much fun on a bike before! I wanted a long-low-slack ripper that wouldn’t disconnect me from the trail as my previous 6-inch bike did. It’s lively, torsionally stiff, takes square-edge hits well and it loves speed. Climbing and pedalling is on par with only a few other 5-inch bikes out there, its very effective, nothing more, nothing less. It’s obviously not a “plow-bike”, the ammount of travel requires a active riding style. That’s perfect as i prefer a bike that rewards the technical and active rider. The bike rails turns like no other trailbike i’ve ever tried, it is without a doubt way faster around corners than my old 6-incher. My perhaps biggest surprise so far was on a ride where the terrain/trail was consisting of mainly big/medium sized rocks – it’s excellent at skimming over rough stuff.
The Spitfire works great with an adjustable seatpost combined with a fairly low front in order to get a low center of gravity when doing downhill and this bike really shines like no other 5″ when pointed downward. Is it a bike for everyone? Maybe, but i think that getting a long-low-slack trailbike is a bit like getting stiffer&longer skiis – it requires a bit more technique in order to properly take advantage of the equipment. Before getting this bike i made up my mind that i didn’t really just need to get as fast from A to B as possible, i also wanted to have as much fun between A and B as possible. Conclusion – the Spitfire fullfills my needs. Get one! Trym, Oslo – Norway.
We are pretty stoked about the brands we forward and represent. Not just because its top of the line produce, not just because it looks awesome but mainly because it works really well when on a bike in the hills. The video is me having plain good ´ol fun, view is captured by a chest mounted Gopro HD cam (big thank you´s Mike/Mathias from Fusion Aarhus, DK). Taartan (the Pie) is the name of the trail, carved and dug by friend and fellow rider Jeff Stokes at a local bikepark in Sweden.
Okay, i kinda scared myself with the last post, i somehow managed to combine 29r´s and jazz, WTF? Luckily fellow rider, allround good guy and close friend Marty caught me with his lense a few weeks back, this displays a more youthfull side of me. Yes, i know the visor sits too low but my fingers are off the brakes and thats kinda “young”, isnt it?
Well, fact is that the word “impressions” reminds my of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and modal jazz but ill ignore that for now since this is really about bikes. In this case its about a 29″ bike, just finished building a Banshee Paradox (its a 29″, uhuu), took it for a ride this evening at my home/local trail. Its my first experince with the bigger wheeled wonder, having spend the recent years riding 4-5″ travel fullys i was curious to see how going back to a rigid rear with the addition of a few inches to the wheel size would feel like. First impressions are… super stoked to be honest, it makes for a seriously smooth ride! I want get too much into it since so far ive only spend a mellow 50mins with those big wheels rotating, fast assumptions might be dangerous but my guess is that the last time i rode a 26″ AM or XC hardtail was likely THE last.
Check out Wes “the thumb” Montgomery´s version of Impressions -
