The Red Bull Rampage is a week away, and the freeride mountain bike world is currently making its way to Virgin, Utah. It’s hard to believe that this will be the 10th (!) Edition of the iconic freeride mountain biking competition. What started as somewhat of an underground event has turned into one of the biggest thanks to the constant progression with huge jumps and tricks.
To help celebrate the final event of the FMB World Tour calendar, YT Industries is sending their five athletes to the big show with custom painted Tues CF frames. While YT is getting ready on their end, Specialized just put together a special clip highlighting their 10+ year partnership with one of the original freeride pioneers, Darren Berrecloth hinting at the fact that he will no longer be seen riding a Demo…
Apparently Kelly McGarry’s paint job depicts a tornado that is tossing around a cow along with New Zealand’s flag.
Cam Zink when a little more traditional with a Stars & Stripes theme as well as the Nevada state flag.
Andre Lacondeguy’s bike includes inspiration from the Fest series, snakes, and typical Andreu flair. Will we see a repeat victory with this bike on the podium?
Yannick Granieri went nautical with a pirate theme complete with a tentacled monster.
To see these bikes built up and likely upside down, tune into the live stream on October 17 at 22:15 (CET) at Red Bull.
Big news just before such a big event, it appears that Specialized will no longer be the bike sponsor for Darren Berrecloth. Will we see the Claw at Rampage on a new ride? Update: By the looks of the Claw’s facebook page, it looks like he’ll be riding a Canyon over some canyons!
From Specialized:
Darren Berrecloth has been with Specialized for 10+ incredible years. He came at a time when mountain biking was on the cusp of a radical new revolution, and being an innovator, he quickly became a true pioneer of the modern style of big mountain and slopestyle riding.
Never one to shy away from what’s thought to be impossible, Darren was the first rider to do many of the tricks that are now “must haves” for any professional rider in the modern landscape. First and foremost of these was going big. Darren tricked some massive lines that others were content to simply straight air. He was also one of the first to bring the 360-drop, the opposite 360, multiple tailwhip combinations, and the list goes on and on.
Specialized would like to thank Darren Berrecloth for everything he did for freeride mountain biking and for the Specialized brand. It’s been an honor to take this journey alongside him, we wish him the very best in his next chapter.
In honor of our decade with Darren, we made a little video looking back at some of the great times.
Happy trails, Claw.
