Cyclingnews Tech Probikes

Pro bike: Manuel Fumic's Cannondale Scalpel 29er

Peter Hymas — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:44:39 GMT

German national champion Fumic, 30, doesn't usually race his Scalpel. Instead, he competes on his hardtail Cannondale F29er for all cross-country events. However, he also doesn't normally race mountain bike stage races, and he knew eight days of riding in South Africa at the Cape Epic mountain bike stage race would take its toll, the effects of which can be mitigated somewhat by full suspension. "We thought about using the F29er because we use it all year, but we talked with teams who've already ...

Pro bike: Aaron Gwin’s Specialized S-Works Demo 8

Peter Hymas — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:09:42 GMT

BikeRadar has been profiling Aaron Gwin’s bikes since he first turned pro in 2008. The 25-year-old World Cup downhill racer first rode for Yeti aboard a 303 Factory DH , then for Trek on a Session 88 and 9.9 . Gwin has made some significant changes for the 2013 season, swapping Shimano for SRAM and leaving Trek for Specialized. We caught up with America's winningest male downhill racer in Boulder City, Nevada, following the first stop on USA Cycling Pro GRT. New year, new team, new bike Not ...

Pro bike: Anton Cooper's Cannondale F29

Peter Hymas — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:16:37 GMT

When Anton Cooper was entertaining offers from teams for the 2013 season, he was concerned about making sure he'd sign for one with a bike that would fit him. Cannondale Factory Racing promised to take care of him. They don't make the carbon F29 in a small size, but for the junior world champion they were willing to make a special bike. "Basically, I wasn't quite fitting on the medium bike – the reach was a little long," said Cooper, who is 1.64m tall (5ft 4in). "I discussed ...

Pro bike: Marco Fontana's Cannondale F29

Peter Hymas — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:34:13 GMT

Sometimes Olympic bronze medalists have to make tough decisions — like figuring out which bike to race. When Marco Fontana (Cannondale Factory Racing) shows up at races, he'll have to decide between his Cannondale F29 with the Italian national champ paint job or his stock Cannondale Factory Team F29. "I would say they both look great," said Fontana, the current Italian mountain bike and cyclo-cross national champion. "Probably the national championship colors will hit the World ...

2013 Merida team bikes – first look

Daniel Benson — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:31:41 GMT

This week in Mallorca, the Multivan Merida pro mountain biking team announced some personnel changes, and have followed this up with news that they're working with some new equipment suppliers for 2013 and beyond. SRAM are still providing the headline groupsets, notably XX1 for all team bikes. This group will be used for everything but the occasional marathon event, where a double XX transmission is preferable. The 11-speed 10-42 XX1 cassette has a range that covers almost all eventualities for ...

Pro bike: Shannon Galpin's Alchemy Agrius 29

Peter Hymas — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:06:29 GMT

After six years of pioneering women's rights activism in war-torn Afghanistan with her Mountain2Mountain organization – and being the first woman to mountain bike there – National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Shannon Galpin is hoping to do something similar in the United States with the Strength in Numbers initiative, with mountain biking as the centerpiece of the program. "All of that time [Mountain2Mountain] has been focused on the same idea: how do you create voice and value ...

Pro bike: Kulhavy's Specialized S-Works Epic

Peter Hymas — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:06:05 GMT

Last week Specialized Racing gave one of its star riders a very special bike. Olympic cross-country champion Jaroslav Kulhavy was given a gold bike to match his gold medal. "I'm really excited about it," Kulhavy said. "At first the team gave me the new 2013 white frame, and I thought that was very exciting, and then they surprised me with the special gold one. It was amazing." Aside from paint scheme, Kulhavy's S-Works Epic is quite similar to a stock bike. And while you can't ...

Pro bike: Rebecca Rusch's Specialized Fate Carbon 29

Peter Hymas — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:05:42 GMT

Mountain bike endurance racing specialist Rebecca Rusch (Specialized) took her latest victory in the duo category with Nat Ross at the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo aboard Specialized's new women's-specific Fate carbon fiber 29er hardtail. According to the 'Queen of Pain', the light overall weight, comfortable ride quality, and fast rolling wheels and tires were just the thing for conquering the Arizona desert. "What I have available to me for bikes with Specialized is the pick of the litter, which ...

Pro bike: Danny Hart's Giant Factory Off-Road Team Giant Glory

Sue George — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:58:30 GMT

Downhill world champion Danny Hart hasn't sat on his actual race bike since he whipped into the finishing area in Champery, Switzerland, in September. Instead, it's been flying the Giant flag at expos all around the world since then. The bike Hart had prepared for the UK National Champs is almost identical though, and that's the one that you see here. Custom geometry Hart started the year on a standard large Giant Glory frameset, but changed to a medium early on. "The large fitted me well, ...

Pro bike: Georgia Gould's Orbea Alma

Peter Hymas — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:23:15 GMT

Georgia Gould (Luna Pro Team) has bucked the trend of cross-country racers switching to 29in wheels, with great success. She's taken two consecutive US national cross-country titles (and one short track title) on her straightforward, 26in-wheeled Orbea Alma. It's not to say she hasn't tried riding with big wheels, but they haven't yet struck her as the be-all and end-all. "I rode them last year at the Mellow Johnny's Classic in Texas," said Gould. "Mostly it was because everyone else ...

Pro bike: Jeremiah Bishop's Cannondale Flash Carbon 29er

Peter Hymas — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:27:40 GMT

Lightweight bikes are nothing new at the top ranks of the sport but Jeremiah Bishop's (Cannondale Factory Team) Cannondale Flash Carbon 29er surprised even us, weighing in at an astounding 8.23kg (18.14lb) – lighter than some Paris-Roubaix machines we've profiled in the past and just the thing for the US cross-country national championship's climbing-intensive course in Sun Valley, Idaho. Bishop's feathery steed is built around Cannondale's ultralight Flash Carbon 29er hardtail, which boasts ...

Pro bike: Tim Johnson's Cannondale Scalpel 29

Peter Hymas — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:58:57 GMT

In the past, Tim Johnson has moonlighted as a professional road racer during the spring and summer months. But this year – his first as a full-time cyclo-cross-only racer for Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com – the American has had a less-than-conventional off-season, taking on epic rides both on and off road, using his cyclo-cross bike and Flash 29er hardtail mountain bike. For his last bit of competitive training in Colorado's high country, which includes the Leadville 100 and Breck Epic ...

Pro bike: Todd Wells' Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper 29er

Peter Hymas — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:39:00 GMT

Todd Wells (Specialized) made good on his status as the favorite for the 2011 US mountain bike cross-country national championship, winning the title for the second year in a row ahead of Sam Schultz (Subaru-Trek) and Adam Craig (Rabobank-Giant). The Sun Valley, Idaho course featured a healthy amount of singletrack on the way down but a brutal fire road on the way up that Wells says demanded the lightest possible equipment. "For yesterday, this course was a lot of climbing – more sustained ...

Pro bike: Emily Batty's Trek Superfly Elite

Peter Hymas — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 04:12:12 GMT

Subaru-Trek must have something in the team mandate that requires all of its female riders to be of shorter stature. The team lost World Cup contender Willow Koerber to its more globally oriented Trek World Racing squad during the off-season but making the opposite move was Emily Batty, who stands just one inch taller than Koerber and yet has still happily made the move to 29in wheels – once considered the sole realm of the vertically gifted. "I do have the option to ride 26" wheels ...

Pro bike: Carl Decker’s Giant Factory Off-Road Team Giant XtC Composite 29er

Peter Hymas — Thu, 05 May 2011 02:10:02 GMT

Giant Factory Off-Road Team racer Carl Decker raced last year's Sea Otter Classic on a prototype 29in version of the company’s Anthem X and he has followed suit this year on another big-wheeled prototype: the XtC Composite 29er. Decker received the one-off prototype frame this January, though he admitted he hadn't ridden it much before the team camp in sunny Santa Barbara, California in late March. "I've been in ski mode basically until now, short of about one ride a week on it," ...

Pro bike: Ned Overend’s Specialized Rockhopper SL singlespeed

Greg Johnson — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 04:57:08 GMT

55-year-old Ned Overend was planning on racing in the elite category at this year's US Mountain Bike National Championships. Instead, Deacon James, Specialized’s director of recreational cross-country R&D, asked if he’d be interested in racing the new 29in-wheeled Rockhopper SL singlespeed. Overend happily accepted James’s request. Had he raced with the pros, he likely would have beaten half of them. Instead, he became the new national singlespeed champion. “It was a ...

Pro bike: Jeremiah Bishop's Cannondale Flash Carbon 29er

Greg Johnson — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:11:25 GMT

Lightweight and highly personalised are the two best descriptors when it comes to Jeremiah Bishop's Cannondale Flash Carbon 29er, which he raced to a solid fifth-place finish at this year's Leadville Trail 100 high in the Colorado Rockies. At just 19.4 pounds in a size large hardtail, Bishop's steed was arguably the perfect bike for Leadville's 104-mile, out-and-back course that is light on technical singletrack and heavy on high-speed doubletrack, fire road and pavement. A techy East Coast rider ...

Pro bike: Jeremiah Bishop's Cannondale Flash Carbon 29er

Greg Johnson — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:11:25 GMT

Pro Bike: Levi Leipheimer's Trek Top Fuel Prototype

Greg Johnson — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:45:39 GMT

Besides being the fastest man at last Saturday's Leadville Trail 100, Team Radio Shack rider Levi Leipheimer was the only member of the final top five to race a 26-inch full suspension bike. While Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Jeremiah Bishop rode hardtail 29ers, Todd Wells opted for a full suss 29er, and Dave Wiens opted for a traditional hardtail, Leipheimer said his size small, 26-inch duallie rig was the only option he ever considered. "I've never ridden a 29er so I was worried about the fit," ...

Pro Bike: Levi Leipheimer's Trek Top Fuel Prototype

Greg Johnson — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:45:39 GMT

Pro bike: Willow Koerber's Subaru-Trek Trek Superfly Elite

Greg Johnson — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:49:40 GMT

That Willow Koerber (Subaru-Trek) is the best American mountain bike cross-country racer right now is no surprise – she led the UCI rankings earlier this year after back-to-back second-place finishes on the World Cup circuit, landed third in Champéry, and currently still sits in third place overall with one round remaining. What is surprising is that she's done all of this on a hardtail 29er – despite standing just 1.57m (5' 2") tall. Koerber's not the only one, either, as ...

Pro bike: Willow Koerber's Subaru-Trek Trek Superfly Elite

Greg Johnson — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:49:40 GMT

Pro bike: Katie Compton's Planet Bike-Kenda Stevens Scope

Greg Johnson — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 04:00:20 GMT

Katie Compton (Planet Bike-Stevens Bikes-Kenda) is best known for her exploits on the 'cross circuit but in recent years has been dabbling more heavily in the mountain bike scene. Compton says she feels lucky that her bike sponsors, Stevens Bikes, can provide three distinctly different carbon fibre machines to suit any particular course – a 26" hardtail, a 29" hardtail, plus a 26" full-suspension rig – but even so, she still reaches for the traditional 26" hardtail ...

Pro bike: Katie Compton's Planet Bike-Kenda Stevens Scope

Greg Johnson — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 04:00:20 GMT

Pro bike: Todd Wells’ Specialized S-Works Epic 29er

Greg Johnson — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:46:08 GMT

Things happen quick over at Specialized: Todd Wells didn’t even have his new S-Works Epic 29er until the day before the U.S. national mountain bike championships, but that didn’t stop him from taking both the elite cross-country and short track national titles on it. “Leading up to the race, I was going to either use my 26in Epic, which I raced last year or the 29er hardtail,” Wells told Cyclingnews . “I rode a lap on the 29er hardtail and it was much too rough, so ...