chinamtb 08

Norco unveiled thier 09 line up a few weeks back and some crafty bugger managed to get a picture of this. It’s the 09 Norco Fallout complete with Hammerschmitt? Looks to me as this is what all the fuss is about and I’m really impressed by the neatness and shear size of it. I found more pics yesterday, but forgot to save them DOH! so only one….. for know. Keep posted!

We’ve just stumbled across 2 hot new products and thought we’d share.

The first is not so new but the price point is pretty damn new!! These little ATV’s can get up to 45km/h (dependent on the rider weight and engine size) engines are available in 50-70-110cc and are all air cooled 4 stroke units.

The next product is a little more interesting. Its a 2 wheeled motorized ’skateboard’ which rides in a similar way as a snowboard i.e you carve and lean to turn. You stand inside the wheel, which lowers the center of gravity, which in turn makes it a very maneuverable little machine. Both on and off road versions are available.

If you are interested in either of these products, or the folding bikes we mentioned a few weeks back, email: andi@chinamtb.com for prices and shipping costs.

For the past few years everyone has been drooling over all the shiny white components that have arrived on sale. Deity were one of the first to introduce white parts, but everyone followed suit (eventually). MacMahone came to the wedding a little late however, its only in the last few months that their white handle bars and seats have come to the market and were waiting on the rest. But being French and all they’ve decided to jump on the new ‘In’ color bandwagon ………. green. I think my brother is going to be happy as he can now get his Jackal to look like a lime and orange Tic Tac, but is green the new white? I’ll continue to wait for the industry to go full circle and offer everything in anodized purple again.

Check out the gallery below for some of the latest Macmahone parts and colors.

When buying new gears for your ‘rig’ (ha ha there you are Ash I said it) you have really one of two options…. don’t you? Shimano or the ‘Big S’ hailing from Japan, or Sram or as they say in China ‘S ram’ from sun bathed Cali. I’ve always liked to stay away from the mainstream so ever since I can remember I’ve always chosen what I considered to be the ‘Underdog’ option. Anyone remember Sachs wavy shifters? I had those, and my current ’sled’ (ha ha I did it again!!) has nothing from the ‘Big S’ on board. However now even Sram is pretty mainstream so I’ve been hankering over something unique. I already have two single speeds before you start, and a hub gear has been rattling around in my mind for some time. No, what I want is something people are going to look at and either say ‘Wow, thats pretty cool’ or for the uneducated ‘Why would you use a piece of sh1! like that?’.

Today I found this, the Driven range of top end bike parts from………. Sunrace!! If you’ve been in to cycling for a while you would have heard of Sunrace. Back in the day when everyone was starting out Shimano, Sunrace and Suntour were all pretty level pegged, however the other 2 S’s struggled to keep up, and are only just gaining momentum again.

The Driven range has been in development for sometime and consists of both mountain bike and road bike components. Everything from hubs, shifters and derailleurs have been designed and made of advanced materials such as carbon, ceramic and beautifully cnc’d aluminum.

The Driven mountain bike range comes in two flavours the NMX and NMZ (the X is presumably the higher of the two models as it has gold bits !).

RDMX - 9 Speed Mountain rear derailleur, All alloy construction, CNC alloy pulleys with sealed bearings, Alloy hangar bolt, Shimano compatible, Weight: 227g
FCMX - Mountain Crankset, 2 Piece External Bearing System BB, Sealed Bearing BB, Patented Fluid Drive shifting ramps, Shimano Compatible, Weight: 771g including BB

Keep posted for more pics and info on the rest of the Sunrace range, and something I find interesting from good old Sturmey Archer.

The Macmahone sword has always impressed us as a fine looking, lightweight and well handling hardtail. The geometry is set between race cross country and all mountain so great for getting your head down and riding up and not so scary when the going gets vertical! Just recently I was asked to find a frame for a single speed build that was light and had horizontal dropouts. I was so tempted to introduce the Sword, but didn’t as the dropouts were vertical.

Then this popped up in my inbox!! A single speed specific Macmahone Sword with built in chain tensioners! The new Sword SS is set for the 09 line up (so we should start seeing them soonish) and if it’s like its vertical dropout brother will be available in both aluminium and scary light scandium (we’re talking well under 4lbs here).

More info as it comes.

Thanks to Jesse over at Marechal for sending me these pictures of the new Macmahone Pluriel downhill and freeride frames. The frames are still undergoing testing and finalizing of the new suspension design, which as always not only is amzingly well thought out but looks damn beautiful too!

Looking at the photos (below) the MacMahone Puriel will be available with an air or coil over shock. It seems the downhill version will use a lower standover height straight top tube where as the freeride model gets a bent top tube.

The new frames are set to be released in the 09 line up along with a new single speed frame (details coming soon).

More new quality gear from the chaps over at Macmahone, this time in the forms of new white colorways in both the Sword XC frame and Reaper cromo dirt/street frame.

Build one of these babies up with the rest of the Macmahone line and you could end up with one of these beauties!

Also new are these rather retro looking knee pads. Black and Neon bright green isn’t really my cup of tea, but they certainly are different. Perhaps if they brought out a knee and shin guard we’d be little tempted.

For more on Macmahone’s products visit www.macmahon.com.

Macmahone continue to impress us with their amazing build quality and finish. Seems they want to take it up a notch, however and are planning to release a carbon all mountain frame. Details are few and far between, but expect to see the same (similar) rear triangle and torsion plate from the popular Lionheart frame mated to a beautifully finished carbon main frame. More news as we get it.