The Circus: a right of passage from our youth. Go to the Circus, buy some peanuts and cotton candy, see the elephants, get freaked out by the clowns. Sound about right?

For many the circus conjures up images of fun, excitement, bewilderment, and sometimes sheer terror. If you think about it, that’s not too far off from the feeling you get the first time you hit a huge double, or attempt your first back flip, etc, etc. Also, speaking from experience, when I get on a dirt jump bike I can’t help but ride like a bit of a clown. My DJ bike makes me feel the most like a kid of any bike I own, so it’s fitting that it should have a Circus of its own.

The Manitou Circus Expert is one of the new forks from a freshly revived Manitou suspension company. Unfortunately, like a lot of companies, Manitou had a run of bad luck in its past, but their latest line of product is better than ever, with the Circus leading the charge.

Find out why you should give the Circus a chance plus video, after the break!

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When Ryders Eyewear’s 20Five arrived a few weeks ago, the reaction to the striking sunnies was unanimous:

Duuuude!  Those are… RAD!

Though I was never cool enough to own a Hypercolor tee shirt and disowned all ’80s fashion upon discovering Pearl Jam, there’s still something about neon fades still get me pretty excited.  Despite looking at first like dime store closeouts, the $40 20Fives (also available in black) are actually well thought-out riding glasses.  Hit ‘more‘ for more details.

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Photo submitted by Brady Irwin, “Beautiful day in Colorado Springs, CO!”

To see more Pics of the Day, click here, and to submit your own photo to be shown to the world, go here.

When Teva announced recently that they were going to produce a line of freeride mountain bike specific shoes, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. I knew that Teva had some killer products, but without a background in shoes purpose built for riding, I figured they had a long road ahead.

However, when the new kicks showed up at my doorstep today with a letter from Jeff Lenosky enclosed in the box, it was clear that Teva had an ace up their sleeve when it came to designing the Links. Who better to co-design a riding shoe with, than one of the most prolific, and versatile MTB and Trials riders out there?

Before you could say Teva, I had the Links out of the box, photographed, and on my feet with the intention of taking a break in the nearly incessant rain (a record 10.86 inches this month!) to get you some first impressions.

If you’re looking for a new pair of riding shoes, find out why you should start saving your pennies after the break!

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SRAM kinda sorta made it public a while back that they were working on some sort of internally geared auto-shifting hub for the commuter bicycle segment.

Well, now Bike Europe is reporting that it’s so official that it even has a name: Automatix. With its two gear ratios, 1:1 and 1:1.37, the SRAM Automatix automagically upshifts when a certain speed is reached and downshifts when slowing down. There are no shifters, cables or thinking required.

The two gear ratios offer a gear range of 124%, and shifting points can be changed to match a frame manufacturer’s specifications by choosing 7.5, 8.5 or 11.2mph (12, 14 or 18km/h). This is the first of more internally geared hubs to come from SRAM; 7- and 8-speed IGH models will be shown at Eurobike later this year. More after the break…

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Alongside their new Conquest Pro carbon disc brake cyclocross bike, Redline showed off completely redesigned frames for their D-series 29er mountain bikes. The DSixEighty (top) and DSixSixty (bottom) get new frames with a stronger, stiffer bottom bracket area, tapered headtube and hydroformed tubes. Prices are $2,899 and $1,999, with only spec differences commanding the difference.

Pics and details after the break…

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ENVE Composites showed off their new stuff at Interbike last fall, but it’s always nice to snap a few close up photos as some of the items have progressed to (or close to) production. Above is their upcoming UST tubeless ready carbon fiber mountain bike rim. Looks like it’s keeping the spoke holes in the bed, likely for ease of manufacturing reasons, so you’ll need tape, but ENVE says common sealants won’t affect the carbon in any way.

They also had their new carbon downhill riser bar, close up photos after the break…

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Shown here in a really long 120mm size, Answer’s new forged alloy XC stem. It’ll be available June 1 in black and white for $85 and come in 70, 90, 100, 110 and 120 lengths. For some reason, my photo of it on a scale disappeared, so not sure of the weight, but it felt in line with other brands’ alloy offerings. More pics of this, plus Sun-Ringle’s new Punch dirt jump wheels with graphics to match their Circus DJ fork after the break…

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Apparently, spiders like these can be a common occurrence for some of our fellow mountain bike riders in Brazil. This one is from Marcelo Guazzelli, who says of  yesterday’s Pic Of The Day, “Spider? That? Not. This is a SPIDER!”

“These spider are common in the spring and summer (only in south of Brazil: Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Parana). She’s big, but not dangerous for humans. Your popular name is “tarantula” or “caranguejeira” (Acanthoscurria geniculata)”

To see more Pics of the Day, click here, and to submit your own photo to be shown to the world, go here.

Manitou’s Marvel, introduced at Interbike, is the replacement for the long serving Minute XC suspension fork.

Designed to bring their forks up to modern spec with various travel, axle and steerer options, the Marvel was shown in an ever-closer-to-production form factor at Sea Otter this year.

The casting shown here (click to enlarge, more pics after the break) is darn close to what’s going into production in May, with plans to have them available in June.

New since Zach saw them at Interbike are some real world appearances of their solid looking new 15mm thru-axle and mention of Iso-Air, a small gasket that’s designed to boost the negative air chamber and enhance small bump sensitivity. We’ve had a Minute fork in both 26″ and 29er sizes around the office on various bikes for quite a while, and the action on them is really smooth, but we tended to run them a bit soft to accomplish what the Iso-Air sounds like it may do while running appropriate air pressures. Even so, they ramp well and rarely bottom out, so we’re pretty excited to put some time on these new forks when they’re out.

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Shimano didn’t waste anytime updating both their XT and XTR groups. Reissued in 2010 with Dynasys and 2×10, IceTech and directional chains, both groups aren’t exactly aging. But, for 2012, both will see improvements.

XTR gets the new Shadow Plus rear derailleur, which claims to all but eliminate chain slap and dropped chains…which means a quieter, more flawless ride. XT gets a far more drastic update, adding a 2×10 option and borrowing a lot of the brake technology from XTR to virtually create a whole new group. In the video above, Shimano’s Bicycle Components Project Manager Matt Robertson runs through the changes, and we’ve got lots of pics and details after the break…

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Haro is working on a new version of its Steel Reserve dirt jump bike. It’ll come in two versions on the showroom floor, 1.3 and 1.8, with singlespeed and 8-speeds respectively, but either model will be convertible to either drivetrain.

To do that, they developed new removable cable guides with a single- or double barrel design, for running cable to a rear derailleur in addition to the rear brake hose.. Dropouts swap to run single speed or 8 speed, and they’ll be $20/pair aftermarket. For the frame, they gave it tighter geometry to handle more like a BMX bike, chainstays are about 10mm shorter. Look for it at Interbike. More pics after the break…

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