Not too long ago, we had the opportunity to check out what was new at the Northernmost Ray’s, Ray’s MTB Milwaukee. Ray’s has become somewhat of a mecca for riders looking to push their limits and develop new skills, and now that applies to novice and beginner riders more than ever. In Milwaukee Ray’s went to great lengths to add new features and rooms to the park to give beginners, who were a little uneasy, a place to grow their skills and confidence. We were assured that the same changes had been made to Ray’s MTB Cleveland as well, although verifying this meant a trip to Cleveland to ride the trails for ourselves to find out (you can never be too sure about these things, verification takes lots of riding).

Sure enough, Ray’s CLE has somehow managed to get bigger, better, and still more beginner friendly again.

Check out the new features after the break.

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In our 650b post below, eagle-eyed reader craigsj noticed what could be a new front axle standard in the 2013 RockShox Revelation’s specifications.  Or a typo.  Is wider better, or do we already have enough hub standards?  Hit the “comment” button to weigh in…

Image via Bicycling.

We’ve heard tremors of some major (read: top four) bicycle brands coming on strong with 650B mountain bikes for 2013, and this screen grab from Rockshox’s internal OEM ordering website shows that they’ll be supporting manufacturers with the boingy stuff up front.

The pic comes from an excellent, extremely in-depth article over on Bicycling. They’re reporting that many of the brands who’ve invited the middle child wheel size to the party before are bringing him back for more, including WTB, and Schwalbe. More importantly, many major brands are apparently jumping into the fray with a less than timid range of products. Expect 650B forks from Fox, Rockshox, DT Swiss and X-Fusion being spec’d on bikes from a wide range of manufacturers large and small.

Locally, we’ve seen a few unofficial mods on Specialized’s full suspension bikes with 650b wheels crammed on them, but Jamis the most aggressive brand reliably pumping out bikes with the mid-sized wheels recently. What’s looked like a losing battle could now propel them to a leadership position if they play their cards right, but it’s looking like they’ll have some stiff competition.

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