Monthly Archives: September 2009

Brian Berthold Explains Abra Cadabra at Interbike

Check out the video at Vital MTB.com by clicking on the below image

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Singletracks.com Test Rides The 2010 Abra Cadabra at Bootleg Canyon

abracadabra“The course at Bootleg Canyon was the perfect place to test the Abra Cadabra thanks to the quick dips mixed with moderate length climbs and descents. Now I’m a pretty dedicated XC rider and I typically shy away from mid-to-long travel bikes but this is a plush bike that any XC rider will appreciate. Climbing felt ultra-efficient thanks to steep head and seat angles that kept me more upright than I expected. Pedal bob was virtually non-existent.

On the descents the Magic Link automatically adjusted the bike geometry for a steeper, slacker head angle with longer suspension travel. Bombing down the steeps I felt like a much better rider as the suspension soaked up progressively larger ruts and rocks. The amazing thing is how I could feel the suspension and geometry changes taking place as I bottomed out on gullies and transitioned into short, steep climbs.”

Read more of the review HERE

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USGP #1 and 2 according to Ryan Trebon.

Screen shot 2009-09-29 at 1.50.10 PM

Ryan and Barry were in Madison this past weekend to race the first two USGPs and the good folks at cycling dirt were there to talk to the tall dark and handsome man about the weekends results.

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Posted in cyclocross, Racing | 1 Comment

Tour De Timor

daveAs part of the celebrations leading up to the 10th anniversary of Timor-Leste’s vote for independence from Indonesia, one man decided to mark the occasion by a holding a mountain bike race with a difference. Covering a distance of 450 km over five stages on rugged roads alongside tropical beaches up through clouds to remote mountain villages, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta and his team had just three months to pull together the biggest sporting event Timor-Leste has ever seen.

With a prize pool of $USD 75,000, climbing to altitudes of 2000m with some of the most stunning scenery on earth, they wanted to create more than just a race, they created A Race For Peace.

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Kona Dealers Ride the Cadabra at Interbike Dirt Demo

photoKona dealers came out to Bootleg Canyon near Las Vegas on Monday and Tuesday to ride the 2010 Cadabra and Abra Cadabra
during the Interbike On Dirt Demo. Here’s what they had to say about the new Magic Link bike:

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Orange Crush and the first two Cross races of the season.

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The first two cross races were this past weekend and more podiums for Kona.

It was also Helens first two races on the Kona Major Jake taking first at FSA Star Crossed and fourth at Rad Racings GP of Cyclocross.

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The Paul Bass “All In or Nothin” Invitational

It’s one thing to ride a bike for a living. It’s another thing when you can build your own training ground to hone in your skills. It’s another thing again to invite some of the best slopestyle riders in world to come and gamble on their abilities to ride a bike in your own backyard and they show up.

If you build it they will come applies here.

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Kona/FSA Cyclocross Team Ready to Dominate 2009/10 Race Season

headerThree-time Canadian cyclocross champion Wendy Simms will be taking a little time off this season to pursue a career in motherhood. With her baby due in December Wendy will not be racing cross.

To keep the women’s side of the team strong in Wendy’s stead, the Kona/FSA Cyclocross team welcomes Helen Wyman to the squad. Helen the current two-time UK national champion in cyclocross, likes long walks on the beach, bubble baths, and laying serious beats on her competitors. She resides in Tielt-Winge, Belgium but is from the UK, and, oh yeah, she’s jet fighter fast.

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Posted in cyclocross, News | 1 Comment

Paul Bass Invitational This Weekend

The first annual Paul Bass “All in or nothin’ invitational,” contest is happening this Saturday in Minden, Nevada. Athletes from all around the world will be attending showing their gambling skills. The format is each rider will buy a 100$ worth of poker chips and place a bet before each trick. They have the opportunity to double and triple their money or loose it all!

September 17th to the 18th Minden Nevada will be hosting some of the biggest names in slopestyle mountain biking and they will battling for the big prize winnings. Paul has been working hard to get his compound up and running and worthy to host the best riders in the world.

Confirmed Riders: Aaron Chase, Cam Zink, Paul Basagoitia, Andrew Taylor, Ryan Howard, Eric Porter, Andreu Lacondeguy, Lluis Lacondeguy, Graham Agassiz, Kurt Sorge

Check back here on the COG for daily updates on who’s in or who’s out.

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Welsh National Championships 2009

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Joe “Smitty the Red” Smith takes the Welsh National Championships and has his own little tale to tell.

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Weird Warranty Tales

Cupper, our long-time warranty maven, sounds off of the unfairness of four bar foolhardiness

Today’s suspension lie will be the term “Faux Bar.”

Faux Bar is a Bogus Science term that folks with no real understanding of the physics of a bicycle made up and had other like minded people latch onto
(from now on I’ll refer to Bogus Science by it’s short form, B.S.). Maybe they just had trouble counting to four, I don’t know.

You can perform a check at home of your bike, to find out if has four bars for your own piece of mind: Shock that’s one, rocker makes two, seatstay, getting closer with three, and last, the chainstay which comes up as four. There you go, you do have four bars there. Just like a pantograph which is also a four bar mechanical linkage that predates suspension bikes by a long time. Unless you’re an expert in B.S. and then you can call it something else.

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The Oregon Junior Cyclocross Series

_G5Y6380_eThis seven race series starts on September 13th and runs through November 29th and is dedicated to kids racing Cyclocross in OREGON! The cross scene is huge in the Pacific Northwest, but fields are so large, and the race day schedules so full it was becoming harder and harder to make room for Juniors, especially the 10-12 year olds. The Oregon JCS is taking advantage of the slightly smaller fields in the Salem “Willamette Valley Cross” Series, and the Eugene “Psycho Cross” series to separate out a Junior only race mid day (making it easy for Portlanders to make the drive down south). Kona is equally dedicated to Junior racing and is generously sponsoring the series. Kona Clothing awards across all fields, and a 2010 Jake the Snake Frame & Kona Carbon Fork for the grand prize in the 16-18 age group!

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