What goes around comes around.

It was back in the late 80's when I got my first Mountain Bike - a Raleigh Montage. It had 18 gears and a Baby Blue paint job - not unlike the sort of Blue you see some Oranges painted these days.

Back then the idea of cycling 'off-road' was frowned upon by the masses, not yet familiar with our two-wheeled ways. The Bridleways were the preserve of the Horse community and if you rode down a footpath and met some walkers you'd be met by a tirade of abuse, red socks and walking sticks.
Fellow Mountain Bikers were few and far between - it was a surprise to see other tread marks in the dirt and you could go a whole day without seeing another rider on the trails.
The early races I entered were predominantly Cyclo Cross events (a few laps of a muddy school field) with a small sub category for this new fangled Mountain Bike thing.  The general attitude was that we were a phase "which won't catch on"
Analogies can be made to how the early Snowboarders were accepted by the Skiing community - in fact the Lurid dress code of neon coloured clothing and whacky hair does was something that crossed our sports in these early days.

Bored with just having myself for company I decided to reach out to any other 'closet' Mountain Bike riders out there by forming a club. "We will meet at the local car park and ride all the good bits of trail I know" I thought. So an advert was placed in a copy of the now defunct Mountain Biker International with a meeting place (Water Meadow car park in Chesham)and a time (10am) Be there or be square.
To my suprise and delight I rode round to the car park to find a cluster of other MTB'ers unpacking bikes from cars or tweaking the odd bolt here and tyre pressure there.
The rides were a success and the club got a name - The Mud Monsters Mountain Bike Club - and we soon established a core of regular riders. A newsletter was produced 'Descent' which contained race reviews and product tests with headlines such as 'Shock Horror!! Jim attempts suicide drop off' and 'Club member tries to trash Raleigh Torus at the Bomb Hole'

We entered races with the Malvern Hills Classic being our equivalent of Glastonbury, did night rides and even did events for charity like fancy dress bicycle hockey on mountain bikes. At it's height we had over fifty riders on the books.
Fashions came and went (remember Bula hats?) 18 gears turned to 21 and tyres got wider. Regretably the rides became less frequent as time went on and eventually the club disbanded - but the riding and racing continued if be it in a more solitary manor.

In the spirit of the title of this post 'What goes around comes around' well, look at what we have now! Dedicated trail centres are the norm, I've lost count of the sub-categories MTB's come in nowadays - XC/DH/4X/AM?, some MTB's have 30 gears and suspension and hydraulics are the norm, but look at what hasn't changed - we still get grief from the red sock brigade, we still ride the same trails from time to time and although MTB fashions have got so much better since the early days I'm still not convinced by the downhill 'pyjama' look.
I'm still in contact with some of the riders from the early days thanks to the wonders of Social Media and I'm still doing a newsletter with product tests - only it's not produced on a typewriter now - it's on line and you're reading it!
Here's to the future, thanks to the past.

On Test: Rotor Q-ring Chainrings

 Elliptical chain rings are not a new invention, Shimano touted their 'Bio-pace' rings in the early 90's and they are still the butt of most cyclists jokes to this day. They were flawed, but the understanding as to why has only come to light in the past few years, thanks to companies like Rotor. Unfortunately Rotor have the unenviable task of trying to convince people that their idea actually works - when they have all heard about how "Oval chain rings don't work because Shimano tried it and if they can't get it right how can a small company from Spain hope to?"

Let's start by looking at the point of an Oval chain ring. To do this you need to understand 'dead spots' in a bicycles' drivetrain. This is a bit of a misnomer as the drivetrain components (chain rings and cassette) are round and as such cannot 'pulse' or produce a dead spot themselves, the dead spot comes from how we power the drivetrain which means looking at the crank arms.
I think 'dead spot' is a bit of an inaccurate term and will use the term 'dead phase' from now on - let me explain. When the crank arms are in the vertical position it is nigh on impossible for you to put any power through the drivetrain, as opposed to the horizontal position where you can put a large amount of force through it (see diagram above)
To overcome this we could do two things, either make the cranks longer at the vertical in an effort to get more leverage (therefore power) into the system (a mechanical nightmare I would think) OR make the chain rings oval to give us the leverage to overcome this 'dead phase' or loss of power production.

So how did Shimano get it so wrong? Well I admire them for trying I really do, but the system was flawed because the ellipse was oriented in the wrong plane with the smallest part of the chain ring being in the horizontal position when the cranks were oriented to the vertical, effectively accentuating the power loss rather than promoting power gain through the dead phase of the cranks. It was also fixed in one position.

 Rotor have addressed the issues that Bio-pace had by switching the largest portion of the 'egg' to coincide with the cranks at the vertical position stretching the chain and giving you the torque to get you through the dead phase, but they didn't stop there, they have also given you the option to either advance or retard the timing at which you reach the power point of the chain rings.
 Feel like you're reaching it to early? Switch it. Feel like your reaching it to late? Switch it again. You have the option to play with five positions, three on one side of the chain ring, two on the other, hence the outer ring runs two chain drop pins. Rotor tag the option to find your ultimate position OCP or Optimum Chainring Position and they advise you ride at least 500km (200km on a MTB) following a four phase adaption process before making changes and formulating opinions.

So what are they like? I was keen to try them and allured by the promises of extra wattage and power (4.1% power and 9.1% less lactate - can you even measure this?!) but was aware that there may be a placebo initially because of the packaging claims. You need to take care to order the correct BCD for the cranks you are running (130mm for my five arm Ultegra).

Fitting was quite easy, you still need the 1-3mm gap to the front mech, you just measure it from the tallest point of the chain ring (about when the crankarms are horizontal - see pic above). One of the most asked questions I get is "Are they both oval?" Yes the inner ring is oval too, but I have heard of people running a standard round ring on the inside.

Once fitted and chain ring bolts torqued, they look the business (in my opinion) I love the way they pulse when you spin the cranks, it gives the bike a real 'pro' look. Rotor now advise that you take your first 500km at a steady pace to allow your mind and body to adapt to the rings, so don't whack them on mid-way into a season and expect good results, in fact you may get just the opposite as these rings will work parts of your leg that round ones don't - smash these poor muscles before they are trained and you'll go backwards quickly and may even injure yourself, IGNORE THIS AT YOUR PERIL!! because I can honestly say that I haven't since a kid had pain in my calf muscles, but after two spins on these chaps I was in bits! I took this as a good thing though, I was using muscles I hadn't before and making my legs stronger.

The weird thing about these rings when you first try them is that they don't feel like they are oval at all, they feel smoother to turn than a set of rounds do!  The finish of the rings is top dollar with some lovely etched logos and they have lasted well - I have now done well over 800km on these rings now and they still look box fresh.  I am still running them in the suggested position three and find this suits my style of riding best.

It's not been all smooth running though, the shifting quality of the rings isn't a patch on a set of Shimano's finest - some of this can be put down to their ovalness - but the pick up and drop-off from small to big just isn't crisp enough and I've had some bad chain drops when under 'full beans'

I also think these rings aren't for everyone. If you have spent years developing the perfect spin - or you spin a high cadence, stick with round rings - these won't help you. But if you want a 'perfect spin' and don't want to spend years perfecting it or you turn a big gear at a low cadence (like I do) I think you'll get on with these rings a treat, buy some! (Rotor give you the option to do a 30 day free trial)

Overall these rings really highlight the dead phase in a set of round rings and I really notice it when switching back to my MTB, but now I know it's there (and you really do with flat pedals) I can adapt my pedaling to suit, something I'd never have thought of prior to the Q-rings. Good stuff.

My Commuting Bike. A story of Love and Hate.

To be told "You're not going to commute in every day on that?!" when you've just shelled out £3500 for a nice shiny lightwieght road bike was a bit of a kick in the balls. A bit like being given a slab of luxury chocolate cake and then being told "Don't eat it all!" is.

Begrudgingly I have to admit they were right. The purchase had been made as spell of warm, dry and sunny conditions graced our shores and the thought of nutsack freezing ice and snow had been firmly put to one side for the year and the argument of carbon fibre vs road salt were not at the forefront of my mind as I was eagerly handing over my Credit Card to the bike shop owner- not to mention the hours of heavy cleaning that come with an expensive bike, the fact that it was Wight just compounded the issue. So with a heavy heart and an empty wallet my search began for a useable steed that could withstand the rigours of riding on our pot holed roadways when the weather turned murky.

I did have an agenda at least. She had to be cheap. She also had to be functional. I wanted a bike that asked for minimal care and upkeep, but was a reliable friend that could be dependable whatever was asked of it - like those big labrador dogs you see looking lovingly through the window of a shop at the owner inside whilst being tied to a lamp post in the pouring rain.

Magazines were thumbed and the Internet browsed for any potential matchmates. Some were pretty but looked 'high maintenance' and as they would lack the depth needed to last the distance, I could see us having a big argument not too far down the line. Others were just out of my (very limited) budget.

I had pretty much given up on my quest as a mission impossible, when buried under a pile of spares strapped to pallet marked 'unwanted' in a dark and musty corner of a warehouse sprang this little lovely.

Ok, so she was missing a few parts, she had a (saddle) nose that would put Barry Manilow to shame and like a fat lass she was two frame sizes too big, but she was going cheap and her looks meant that I wouldn't be bothered about riding her in the inclement conditions or spending hour upon hour cleaning and re-lubing her afterwards. The fact that it had wrap around mudguards sealed the deal. She was mine. That night parts from the spares box were pressed into action, bolts tightened and adjusted, lights fitted and tyres inflated. We were ready for the world!

This seems like many moons ago now. Since then she has seen me safely through two bitterly cold winters (one ride had the Merucury at -14) and has shrugged off the snow, ice, fog and horizontal rain with very little maintenance, just the odd squirt of lube to see off the odd squeek here and there and some 'temporary fixes' that have become more 'permanent' as time goes on.

Admittedly, when the Clocks go forward and the conditions allow her sexy sister to become my main plaything, then she gets a final going over (full strip and rebuild) before being stored in the corner of the garage to build up her Spiderweb collection again for a few months, but every now and again the weather becomes typically 'British' and she shall see service during the Summer months - something she finds odd.

I have lavished some extravagancies on her. XTR pedals may be an odd choice to put onto a road bike like this, but having had my fair share of one legging it out in front of oncoming Cement Mixers because I can't engage the cleat into the single sided road pedals in time plus a rapid trip down the stairs at work because of the solid carbon souls of the road 'disco slippers' has convinced me of the benefits of a dual sider for commuting.

I've also replaced the bar tape (Lurid yellow fits the nature of this bike and gets you seen) a couple of times and am on my second set of (700 x 35) puncture proof tyres - with a set of studded Schwalbe Marathon Winter spikes for the wight stuff. There may have been the odd tube here and there too.

Our relationship has been a happy one and she doesn't mind me seeing her Sister or treating her mean, she's just happy to have me onboard and excited to see what the next ride has to offer!

I'm a happy man!

I feel that before I close this post I must point out that I indeed do know that these are bicycles - not real people and that, yes I do have a Girlfriend thankyou very much - although she does think I'm a bit wierd...

Future primitive?

What will bicycles look like in twenty years time? I ask this because the (now defunct) British Standard applicable to bikes (BS6102 pt 1-3 if you were wondering) was concieved in 1992 and if you take a Mountain Bike from 1992 and compare it to one from 2012, it's a wildly different beast - sprouting hydraulic disc brakes and suspension forks with finely honed geometry born out of the requirements of todays descerning off road riders. Road bikes are not immune to this change either with disc brakes beng touted as 'the next big thing' by a few manufacturers and electronic shifting that has been widely embraced by todays marketplace.

Would we have looked at these technical developments with scorn twenty years ago? I guess yes if you look at peoples perception of suspension back in the early '90's "It'll never work" "It'll be too heavy" I must admit to being sceptical myself, my fully rigid MTB with it's 1.9" tyres was more than enough for the riding I was doing back then, but I can't imagine hitting the trails with anything less than 140mm of suspension and 2.2" tyres nowadays...

These current times I can see this sort of negative backlash garnered to things like the 29" and 650B wheel size on the MTB front and disc brakes on the road scene. "It'll never work" "It'll be too heavy" See the similarity?

Perhaps we are right to be suspicious of change. After all, it isn't always for the best and anything which doesn't work well or is too heavy will be weedled out as unnecessary chaff from the corn of the crop and rightly so, the bicycle is beautiful because of it's simplicity, it's mechanical 'feel' the satisfying thunk of a gear change made by your thumb of forfinger moving a length of cable just enough to snick a higher or lower gear, you feel somehow connected to the machine you are operating, it's an extension of you, reacting to your inputs and movements and going where you decide it to. It's a feeling that I think has been a bit lost in the electronic shifting market where the press of a button actuates a servo driven motor that shifts the gear 'for' you (although the new Campag EPS does seem to have retained some of the feel from it's cable driven ancestors)

I watched a video from Parlee Bicycles who have wirelessly linked Shimanos Di2 electronic system to an I-phone and a basic thought control device to allow you to shift gears just by thinking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWzdWMapJ-c which is an amazing concept, but does that go against why we ride bicycles? Isn't the pleasure of riding a bicycle that we DON'T think about shifting and braking? Imagine having to think about getting that harder gear in the heat of a sprint - I can only liken it to Clint Eastwood having to think in Russian to get the missiles to fire in the film 'Firefox'

But let's not be too hasty, where would Mountain Biking be if it weren't for Disc Brakes and Suspension? or Road bikes without the advent of Carbon Fibre? As easy as it is to say "If it ain't broke don't fix it" that very attitude may be stemmying the future growth of the bicycle and ideas that may revolutionise your cycling world for the better. So keep the ideas coming I say, I'll make up my own mind if I like it or not, but it's nice to have the options out there to choose from.

On test: Schwalbe Ultremo ZX.

The Ultremo ZX is the top of Schwalbe's Road Race tyre range and is part of their 'Evolution Line' which means that it recieves the latest tech and best materials. and as I was going to these tyres from some pleasing results on a pair of Continental GP4000 S tyres which I found very good on the grip and durability front, I had high expectations for these tyres. To switch to another brand after you get to know what you like requires a bit of a leap of faith. It's like changing your best pair of slippers to some new ones.

The Ultremo ZX is available in a rainbow of different colour options to colour match them to your bike, but I'm not a massive fan of coloured tyres and Schwalbe themselves say that the additives needed for these colours affect the grip level of the tyre and if you want the best levels of adhesion you should go for plain Black. Fine with me!

The tyre size I opted for was 700 x 23, my heart wonders if 700 x 25 would be any quicker given the current findings of wider tyres rolling faster, but I still find it difficult to get my head round this concept and would like to do some more research before hopping up a tyre width (the Ultremo ZX goes up to a 700 x 28)

You can run the tyres from the 85 - 145 PSI range, impressive for a clincher. As I weigh 11 stone I run 100 PSI in both front and rear tyres, dropping 5-10 PSI for wet conditions. They weigh in at a claimed 195g which is 10g lighter than the GP 4000 S and all the more impressive when you consider that they come specced with 'HD Guard' Schwalbes anti puncture liner which uses a High Density woven fibre belt (think Kevlar) as standard.
The yin to Continentals 'Black Chilli' yan is 'Triple Racestar Compound' which claims to offer minimum rolling resistance with maximum tack.


Breaking the folding tyres out of their box and popping them into shape I found they held their shape well and fitted the rim (Mavic Cosmic Carbone) with just the right level of snug, not too tight like the outgoing GP4000 S's were. They seated well under the track pump.

For the first 50 miles these tyres were a bit of a disappointment. I was used to really nailing the bike into the corners and the Ultremo ZX's felt slippery and unconfident. I believe this to be down to the release agent used in production when releasing the tyres from the mould and coats the tyre like a thin layer of talcum powder. I say this because after this initial bed-in period the grip levels started to rocket and I have to say they have surpassed the Conti's!

I have now done well over a thousand KM's on these tyres and they have been faultless. The grip level over all conditions has been confidence inspiring and the HD Guard has seen off some sharpies that would have written off lesser quality tyres. I've tentatively picked out shards of glass at the end of a ride waiting for the 'hissssss' that signifies true penetration, but it never happened. Happy Days!
The tyres are now looking well used and the rear tyre has flattened on the top section and is starting to feel a little 'edgy' leaning her over.

In these tyres I have truly found a 'new pair of comfy slippers' and I'll find it tough going to another brand from these now.

The long push back up...

Pushing your bike back up the hill again isn't going to be as fun as riding it back down again.

An obvious statement maybe, but overlook the push up paths benefits at your peril! I spent a lovely warm, sunny and most importantly dry day last weekend at my local riding spot Aston Hill and felt a lot of negative vibes towards the push back up. I don't want this to come across like I prefer pushing up to riding back down (see opening statement) but hear me out!

The push up path gives me the chance to stop and scope out new lines, reflect on set up changes I could make to the bike, a tweak of rebound here, the lowering of tyre pressure there, I could really do with some offset shock bushings to tackle that bit... and so on.
It gives me the chance to marvel at riders with more skill and speed than I have, or thank the lord I have more skill and speed than others.
Sometimes I'll stop and check out the view, happy to be out on two wheels in such a lovely environment, revelling in the conditions - wet or dry - knowing I'm a better person than the one who chose to sack it off today.
If I'm riding with friends it's the chance to catch up with them on the latest riding gossip or shoot the breeze on how part A performs over part B, or to share stories off a near miss here or a lost front end there and how you WILL clear that section next run...
It's the perfect time to grab an energy bar / drink to get you fuelled for the next run and to stretch those tight muscles from the previous one.

So. There is my case for the push up path. She is a fickle individual and not for everyone, but please don't cuss her down without a second thought, she's better than that!

Enjoy your next run down, I'll find out how it went on the push back up!

Testing the Trek Slash 9

I was really excited about this test. The 160mm travel 'All Mountain' or 'Enduro' bike is what I ride most often and having owned and tweaked a couple of Specialized Enduros I felt I had a good base to compare the Trek to.

Let's start with some stats shall we? It's easy to get bogged down with numbers, these are the ones that - in my opinion - are the ones that you can realistically 'feel'. I shall be using these settings as reference to other bike tests to enable you to build a visual picture of how they ride.

Handlebar width: 750mm (31.8mm stem clamp, 25mm rise, 4 degree upsweep, 9 degree backsweep)
Stem Length: 75mm (quoted 70mm on stem) Zero rise
Crank Length: 175mm
Head Angle: 66 - 66.5 degrees (dependant on Mino Link position)
Wheelbase: 1117mm Bottom Bracket Hieght: 330mm (Static measurement)
Bottom Bracket Centre to Rear Axle: 435mm Fork travel: 160mm Rear Shock Travel: 160mm Rear shock Eye to Eye and Stroke Length: 8.25" x 2.375"

Centre of Seatpost to Centre of Steerer: 550mm

Frame size tested: 18.5" (Virtual) 17.5" (on the tape)

The Slash 9 is the top of the Slash range and as such comes bristling with all the latest technical finery.
Suspension duties are taken care of by a Fox 36 TALAS III FIT RLC DRCV forks with Kashima coated stanchions up front and a Fox DRCV RP-3 with 3 position (Climb-Ride-Descend) Propedal settings, beggining stroke rebound, Kashima coating on the shock shaft and with a Low Compression (Velocity) / Medium Rebound Tune.
Sram XO (Avid) brakes with a 200mm rotor size on the front and a 180mm on the rear is the perfect pairing on paper for this style of bike and the drivetrain duties are taken care of by a Sram XO 2x10 set up running a 38/24T Cahinset up front and a 11/36T Cassette on the rear paired with a Truvativ X-Glide chain device - an XO direct mount front mech - an XO rear mech (Long Cage) and XO Shifters complete the ensemble.
Also from the Sram stable is the superb Reverb dropper post which in this instance comes in 'Stealth' mode with the cabling being hidden inside the seat post.

FSA provides a Semi-Intergrated tapered headset and Keith Bontrager has his last say in the component picks and the stem, handlebars, grips, saddle and wheelset / tyres all come brandishing his 'Rythm' monicker.

Test time!
The Slash 9 is aimed at the up and coming Enduro scene with a biase towards the Downhill sections with the capability to pedal well to the next technical fun bit. To test the Slash I took her to Aston Hill which is the perfect testing ground for this type of bike with an XC loop to test the pedalling and uphill duties and a number of Downhills with which to test her DH credentials.

I was lucky enough to have warm, dry and dusty trails for the duration of the test. I decided to do a full day of DH testing and a full day of XC testing to get a good handle on the bike.

I'll start with the Suspension first.

The track I use as a benchmark test for suspension is the 4-2-3. It has a great mix of rough, rooty, droppy stuff up top with a steep bottom section. Getting spring rate and damping settings just right is the key to a good run here.

The Fox Talas III's were wound out to the 160mm (full) travel setting and on the first run they felt like they were diving to much on the steep turns at the bottom of the track so 10 PSI was added to the air spring bumping it up to 60 PSI (Fox recommend adding pressure in 5 PSI increments) which propped the fork up nicely on the lower slope but robbed the small bmp sensitivity on the upper sections. This wasn't really a problem if you kept the fork working over the medium to big sized bumps, but I really noticed the high frequency small 'stutter' bumps on the flatter sections. Maybe Fox could spec a negative air chamber to allow further fine tuning of the fork in this respect? I would be interested to see if a 36 DRCV fork is on the cards for 2013/14 and if this technology would make a difference here.

The TALAS (Travel Adjust Linear Air Spring) was faultless throughout the test with no change in spring rate between the settings and true 'on the fly' adjustment.

The FIT RLC (Rebound Lockout Compression) damper gave a great showing with a good positive lockout for the climbs. you can adjust the threshold (sensitivity) o the lockout should you need to and it was nice to be able to fine tune the damper action by adding varying degrees of low speed compression damping to prop the front of the bike up when the going got steep.

I didn't really notice the touted benefits of the Kashima coating ride wise, but to say that there was significantly less dust build up on the Stanchions (upper legs) than on standard versions and to the touch they do feel much more slippery and they look the business!

The Rebound damper dial has been nicely beefed up and the 15mm thru-axle suprised me stiffness wise with no discernable difference to a 20mm and the 'Fishbone' style QR levers on the bottom of the lower legs were nice to use although a bit slower than a Maxle.

The O-ring on the valve cap cap for the air spring was a bit of a faff and there wasn't much clearance for the screwing on the shock pump.

The Fox DRCV RP-3 is actuated by the Slash's Evo link which has a floating lower link that attaches to the bottom eyelet of the shock. Trek has taken the time to pick the correct tune for the bikes linkage system which is nice to see. The DRCV looks great with the hardware mounting to the side of the air can and the difinitive 'mushroom' top cap which houses the secondary air chamber.

The shock felt extremely linear through it's stroke and it was hard to tell the difference between this and the High Volume DHX air 4.0 I run on my Enduro, very impressive.

I ran the rebound 3 clicks from full slow which seems to be my base setting for Fox shocks.

The ProPedal lever action was too light for my liking and it was difficult to tell what position you'd put it in with full finger gloves on.

The 142 x 12mm Maxle rear end was stiff as you like, but do it up tight or it can creak.

Drivetrain:

It was my first time on a 2 x 10 and I felt a bit like I was wussing out when using the smallest front chainring (coming from a triple) but as soon as I realised that the small was the equivelant of the middle then I felt a bit better and it really opened up the useable ratios of the 2 x 10 system. The XO shifters are of the usual Sram snappiness, but being a 10 speed at the rear the clicks are much closer together on the shifter and extra care needs to betaken when setting up the rear mech and when pressing the shifter.

The Truvativ XO chain device was superb and the whole drivetrain wa very quiet (this was helped by a well designed rubber chainstay protector with an added lip on the underside of the chainstay closest to the chain device. I really liked the rubber armour on the downtube and am sure this helped with the noise levels too.

Lovely looking carbon cranks!

The front mech was a direct mount affair and looked a bit of a faff to set up but was faultless in operation.

Jagwire provided the cables which were top notch and the internal routing looked great, but I found that there were some annoying rattles coming from them in certain situations.

On the subject of internal cable routing the Reverb Stealth gets top marks with no unsightly and annoying cables to blot the clean looks of the frame. My only concern with this is with the complete removal of the post which I an only assume wold need the full removal of the remote lever and a re-bleed of the system... I also worry about the 'fit and forget' nature of the post. If it's fitted without grease, jetwashed regularly and not moved, could it eventually become siezed?

I loved the range of adjustment the post had, but I did have to play with the initial hieght in the frame so that it didn't feel to high when at full extension, luckily, with the collar bottomed on the clamp I got the right hieght, but I can imagine it beig a pain if you felt that it was overextending and you couldn't drop it any further.

Please be careful with the Reverbs remote lever if you turn the bike upside down as they are quite delicate and can break easily if misstreated.

Grip:

The Bontrager OSB (Offset Spoke Bed) 28h wheels were nice and stiff and remained true throughout the test and had a good with and nice finish. The XR4 tyres were 2.35 in width but came up quite large. I'd reccomend a pressure of 35 PSI for best results.

Brakes:

The Sram / Avid XO brakes were the highlight of the test. Truly Amazing. They had wads of power but didn't deliver it in a snatchy way that some systems can, more in a "I've got all this power, when do you want it? It's here when you do" type of way. I think that the new style HX rotors have something to do with this and they look nicer than the old HH style. Top marks.

Conclusion:

The Slash 9 rode extremely well on the DH stuff. It tracked superbly through the turns and it loved being smashed through the technical stuff. If you want a bike that lets you experience the thrills of a full blown DH rig then this is the one, but that's jus it, to get the best from this bike requires commitment and skill along with a bit of technical set up knowledge to get the set up bang on and unleash the potential of the frame and components.

You alsoneed to be quite 'dynamic' on the bike, really leaning it into turns and getting off the back of the saddle. In return it will reward you with wads of mid-corner grip, pinpoint tracking and superb bump absorbtion over the medium to big hits.

I did find it difficult to get the Slash's balance point, she feels a bit 'nose heavy'. This could be something to do with the 75mm stem, I'd like to change it to a 50mm to find out. Oddly it's a cinch to manual...

On anything other than this type of terrain and riding style though the bike feels, well, it feels bored! ride it along a tow path and you can feel her saying "why are you doing this? yes, I can do it, but why? Give me a downhill!!"

If your idea of 'All Mountain' is one of trail centres and a 50/50 mix of climbing and descending, then you will be much better served by the Remedy or Fuel ranges.

Overall it's the perfect bike for a trip to the Alps and new breed competitions like the Mega or Trans Provance.

MASSIVE Thankyou to Jon, Matt, Gareth, Charlie and Steve at Trek HQ for making this test possible.