Melrose 2013 Fat Tyre Festival
It's like Woodstock for Mountain Bikers
It's like Woodstock for Mountain Bikers
There’s nothing like a mountain bike ride on a sub zero degrees night or thereabouts to get your blood pumping! Thought I should mark the convergence of the Winter solstice and Super Moon with a night ride – the first on the Mojo HDR 650b. A cold and clear Winter’s night combined with gripped up trails made for perfecto conditions. (more…)
It's just about time to say goodbye to Melrose again
Fitting the 2014 RockShox Pike 27.5 fork on the Ibis Mojo HDR yesterday I was kinda reminded of my first suspension fork – the RockShox Mag 20. With noodle-like 25.4mm stanchions and theoretical 48mm of travel, back in 1992 it was state of the art. Compared to modern forks it didn’t really do much but with the gold magnesium lowers it wasn’t short on bling, but more than that you just knew it symbolized the start of the MTB suspension revolution. (more…)
Who could resist the _perfect_ opportunity the Ibis Mojo HDR presents to evaluate 650b and 26″ back to back on the same bike setup you know and love? Not me! But I would never have guessed that a few days later I’d be left completely gobsmacked by how things turned out… (more…)
While the Ibis Mojo HDR features the molding technology found in the SL-R (strength of the HD but lighter!) and ISCG compatibility, its neatest trick is its ability to convert from the renowned 160mm 26″ beast that the HD is to a 130mm travel 650b bike with low bottom bracket and a ~67.1 head angle. Ibis have built a new rear triangle with clearance suited for 650b wheels with 27.5″ tires up 2.35″ in size. (more…)
It’s about a 12 hour drive to Melrose from Central Victoria but you forget all of that in the final few kilometers as the road swings directly toward the side of Mt Remarkable. Driving fatigue is replaced with a serious hankering to get on the MTB and hit the trails ASAP. So that’s what I did. A quick run down Dodging Bullets and the Northern Mini Super D got the eyes open and blood pumping in no time. (more…)
About 18 months ago a fuel reduction burn got a little out of hand and scorched a favorite section of bush. Since then the wildlife has slowly returned as things start to grow back. I saw the first koala since the burn the other day, down low in a tree right beside the singletrack. Nice! Here’s a snap taken of the drop bear with the phone. (more…)