BikeRumor.com

Team Yeti Beti is encouraging all mountain biking women to come out for the Beti Bike Bash, an event they claim is the first ever womens-only mountain bike race!

FROM YETI BETI: We know that there are more women out there who want to try a race. Grab your other dirt loving friends and come out to test your skills against other women, or just come out and experience a Colorado mountain bike race. You can race by yourself or with 2 other friends for the 3 woman relay.

RACE does not have to be a four letter word. From the first timer to the seasoned professional, join us for a landmark event in the mountain bike community. This event is for all women mountain bikers, from the first timer to the seasoned professional.

The event is June 12, 2010, at Bear Creek Lake State Park (CO), with registration and packet pickup onsite starting at 8am, or swing by the local bike shop in Golden to get registered and learn how to fix a flat from 5p - 7p on Friday, June 11.  Yeti bike demos, food and drink all day at the expo.  More info at BetiBikeBash.com

Willow's last ride on a 26"?

The Subaru-Gary Fisher mountain bike team will be riding only 29ers for the 2010 race season.

After a number of podiums for their riders aboard the big wheeled Superfly and Superfly 100, including Heather Irmiger, Willow Koerber and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, who won the national cross-country and marathon championships and the inaugural Pro XCT, the entire team has retired their 26″ mountain bikes.

Irmiger originally wasn’t happy on the 29er Superfly, saying she couldn’t get comfortable and that it steered funny.  That was on the Small frame.

Once teammate Irmiger hopped on a Medium and liked it, Koerber, who is 5′2″, followed suit (on a Small) and fell in love…and podiumed all three races she rode on it.

“The switch to 29-inch wheels came right in time with my peak form to give me the best results of my career,” Koerber said. “I was having so much fun on the 29er and enjoying every training ride and practice. The mental edge combined with the 29er technology was a combo that could not be beat.

“I have no reservations about 29-all-the-time,” she said.

Full story on Singletrack.com.

The folks over at Ergon are giving away one entry to the Original Growler in Gunnison, Colorado, a 64 mile mountain bike race which seems to be pretty popular, as it is sold out and organizers are no longer taking names for the wait list. The contest winner will also recieve a training plan for the event from LW Coaching, along with a set of Ergon grips.

To enter, they are asking for video submissions of one minute or less to Ergon’s Facebook page, telling them “how Ergon has made you a better rider and/or enhanced your riding experience.”

Full details on how to enter on their blog.

Professional mountain biker Pua Sawicki is raffling off her truck and fifth-wheel trailer in a bid to make it to the 2012 Olympics. Sawicki must travel to Europe to race in World Cup events to accumulate enough points to qualify for the Olympics, and will no longer need her beautiful travel set up.

Sawicki is selling $40 raffle tickets for the prize, a 2008 Ford F-150 and a 2006 Carriage C-Force Fifth Wheel Toy Hauler, and must sell 2,400 tickets by April 3 in order for the contest to continue. Otherwise, all contestants will be refunded the full $40 ticket cost. To purchase tickets, follow the instructions on her site here or click the graphic above.

Fresh outta the build stand is the Lynskey Pro29 Lefty 29er titanium hardtail.  They hinted at this before the holidays, but we never did manage to get any spy shots outta them, but here it is.

Built using Lynskey’s Helix frameset with 3/2.5 titanium tubing built around a BB30 bottom bracket and a Lefty specific headtube.  Other than the headtube, it’s the same bike as their relatively new Pro29 hardtail, and shares the slider dropouts that let you run it geared or as a singlespeed.

Pricing, specs and more photos after the break…

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The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) is thrilled to announce a 3-year sponsorship with SRAM as an establishing partner, effective immediately.

Matt Fritzinger, the executive director of NICA, stated, “We are most grateful to SRAM for showing their confidence in our ability to bring great mountain biking opportunities to high school students across the USA. There is a surge of interest and support for the NICA program, and with the solid backing of SRAM we are in a great position to achieve our vision.”

The NICA vision is to develop high school mountain biking coast to coast by 2020 by providing successful models of league development to interested regions.

David Zimberoff, Global Marketing Director at SRAM, said “We’re super excited to be a part of this national movement. Having the opportunity to connect with young enthusiasts of cycling is an integral part of SRAM’s mission.”

“SRAM has a long history of supporting grassroots bicycle racing in the USA, from providing technical support at events to sponsoring the strongest regional teams and athletes across the country through our very successful SRAM Grassroots Sponsorship Program.

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Extreme Sports website Mpora.com has announced a free of charge iPhone application, which when downloaded gives the user access to over 25,000 videos from several extreme sports.

Mountain biking and BMX are covered thoroughly on Mpora and the site’s editors are frequently updating content too, much of which is generated through Factory Media’s magazines - Dirt, Ride UK and Dig BMX.

The application has both a filter and a search option, which the former allowing the user to block content from sports that don’t interest them.

To find out more and download the application, click here.

Manitou’s jumping (pun intended) back into the Dirt Jump track with their new Circus DJ Fork.  Shown here is the Expert model in white, it’ll be available in non-adjustable travel options of 80, 100 and 130mm.  Stanchions are 32mm straight wall 7050 Aluminum and the legs only have a 20mm Hex Lock axle option.  The Circus Expert uses Manitou’s new Absolute+ damper with external lockout and rebound adjustment knobs, a ‘firm’ spring and dual bottom out bumpers.  It comes with four decal sheets and that red clown nose.  An ‘extra firm’ spring will be available aftermarket.

Weight is 4.7lbs (2,133g) and MSRP is $399.

They’ll also have a Comp level Circus DJ fork, specs on that after the break…

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Last year, Niner recalled all Jet 9 full suspension models due to frame and weld failures that, after extensive testing, were determined to be a risk for all existing frames.  But Niner vowed to go Six Million Dollar Man on the Jet 9 and make it faster, stronger and better in every way.

Lo and behold, some of the first close up images of the new Jet 9.  Lots and lots of info and sweet photos after the break…gotta check this out:

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The 5th Annual White Style mountain bike slopestyle snow jump competition in Leogang, Austria, just wrapped up.  Here’s the video to prove it.  Looks pretty cool, but it can be slow to load.  If it’s unbearable, try switching from High Quality to Normal Quality with the drop-down on the top right.

Andreu Lacondeguy has just nailed the world’s biggest backflip on his mountain bike.  Why?  Because, in his words,  “For the last two years, we have been jumping in BMX size jumps. We are riding mountain bikes! We can go bigger! The sport is going to suck if the competitions are not a challenge anymore”.

So Red Bull jumped on board and helped make it happen.  Here’s the scoop on the jump, Andreu and the video that this segment was shot for:

The Jump

Andreu has been riding mountain bike and FMX at the same time for a couple of years. So he simply took his FMX ramp, much longer and steeper than any other mountain bike ramp, and drove it to Flaça surroundings, a tiny village in Gerona’s countryside (Catalonia, Spain). With the help and advice from the experienced rider and jump builder Axel Juergens, they took advantage from a natural slope in the forest. But to reach even more speed, they had to build a scary 45ft. (15 m) long speed jump, which was even more complicated than the FMX ramp itself.

At full speed, Andreu faces the metallic ramp to fly around 35ft far (10m) and almost 25ft high (8m). Many seconds in the air to execute any trick at a never been seen amplitude. And a supersized dirt landing was waiting for him.

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Niner rider Fuzzy Mylne shows how it’s done with his sweet new team ride, the Niner Air 9 Carbon.  He said he’ll share his build with us once he gets it down to 16.5 lbs.  God speed, Fuzz, God speed.

In case you miss it, the weight on the scale is 17.64lbs, and it’s a single speed.  Wanna see this bike with gears and suspension fork at 22.04lbs?  Click here.

This 650B All Road randonneur bike from Yipsan Bicycles is just a teaser of the fanciful two-wheeled creations we’ll be covering at the NAHBS at the end of the month.  This one’s available for custom order in either lugged or fillet brazed construction, and prices start around $1,600 for the frame.

Hit ‘more’ to see some of the other things, like a Trials Bike for Cirque du Soleil rider Lance Trappe, among others…after the break…

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PRESS RELEASE: We’ve got 85 spots to fill and Cupid has struck the BMCC. How’s that you ask? That’s because we would LOVE for you to come race with us this spring! To entice you to get here, we’re showing you the LOVE by keeping entry fees to the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek low for the next two weeks. What better way to show that special someone how much you LOVE them than purchasing their entry into the 6WC or the B24 presented by Bikerumor.com? Here’s the deal, sign up for the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek at BikeReg.com for 50 bucks. That’s 100 bucks for you duo riders. This deal will end on Valentine’s Day and we’ll go back to our normal rates of $60 and $120. Come race with us and feel the LOVE!

Wait, that’s not all! If you’re going to race with us and need a cool place to stay, we’ve got this to offer from the Wilderness Lodge:

We want you know of a special opportunity for accommodations at the WILDERNESS LODGE. After the large turnout of out-of-state participants last year, we looked into providing a nice opportunity for those who will be traveling some distance to our event. The Lodge has agreed to provide rooms for participants who will be staying in the area for both nights. The Brushy Mountain Cyclists Club (your event organizers) is handling the reservations and organizing all of this. Please read below for the info and reply back immediately if you have an interest in one of the rooms.

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While those hydraulic road brakes won’t likely hit retail until 2011, Ashima’s PCB (Pan Cake Brakes) hydraulic mountain bike disc brakes are starting to ship now, which means they should hit U.S. retailers in early March.

The PCB is the world’s first pistonless hydraulic disc brakes, using pads mounted directly on diaphragm seals that move them toward the rotor.  This design allows for an extremely light package, with the entire set as pictured weighing just 308g (claimed).  This compares to 279g for Formula’s R1, 288g for SRAM’s Avid XX setup and 355g for Hayes’ Stroker Gram. (claimed weights are for front brake + lever, 160mm rotor).

So it’s light, but it’s not the lightest system on the market.  Couple that with the fact that it’s an entirely new design and it’s clear the performance and ease of maintenance are where they need to stand out, and Ashima claims the PCB is up to the task.  One-way fluid flow means they’re going to be easy to bleed (their designer says it’s a two-minute process once you know what you’re doing).  The pistonless design means fewer moving parts, and they claim the brakes are very durable.

As for performance, their launch was delayed nine months while engineers worked to increase the power, and Ashima claims their power is on par with top offerings from other brands.  The external fluid transfer (red tube) keeps helps with heat dissipation, too, keeping brake fade and pump in check. We’re scheduled to get a set to review in mid-February and will report back as soon as we’ve got a few rides on them.

Further down the pipeline, Ashima has a bigger, more powerful dual-stage hydraulic disc brake for more aggressive riding (photo after the break!).  Look for those to be formally introduced at Eurobike, which means they’ll probably hit stores early next year with the road brakes.

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