IMBA Spreads The Word About S. Dakota Ridge

Check out IMBA promoting our amazing new trail section on S. Dakota Ridge!  Thanks so much to our amazing trail crews and Guerrilla Gravity for helping build this awesome trail!

Check out the article here!

SRAM Announces GX Eagle Drivetrain

SRAM has announced its much anticipated value (some might say reasonably priced) version of their 50 tooth Eagle drivetrain.  This is great news for riders who want top of the line technology but may have a less than stratospheric budget.  Lets take a look at the product video while we quickly ponder if this will be a true high line experience with a realistic price tag or if it's more pigeon like in it usability.

The news that SRAM was coming out with GX Eagle was quickly posted, with links, to our Facebook group and immediately the speculation leaned towards questioning whether this drivetrain would have the same feel as a high specification system like its more expensive sibling. The reviews are coming in with glowing results however, we'll see what our users think.  This is certainly something to celebrate, even if its slightly less refined.  1X drivetrains add simplicity, the ability to run left hand, under bar dropper levers (the best minor upgrade we've seen lately) and now that we are seeing 2X type gear percentage ratios; the ability to put the final nail in the coffin of front derailleurs.  We'll do a follow up when a few of our members have put this system to the test.

Price: $495 in total. Individually; Cassette $195, Derailleur $110, Shifter $40, Crank $120, Chain $30 (We'd expect these prices to come down after the initial launch due to the double edged sword of internet sales giants like Jenson USA and their competitors)

For complete specifications click here.

Juliana Bicycles Gets Honest And A Bit Weird

Juliana Bicycles, an off shoot of Santa Cruz Bicycles released their new 170mm, women's all mountain machine called the Strega.  While Juliana has notably strayed away from the old "pink it and shrink it" mentality, this launch marks a movement into women's specific gravity machines.  One might ask why a female shredder needs a "women's specific" bike to begin with, let alone a women's specific gravity machine.  With top tubes lengthening while stems shorten and infinite position dropper posts of travel heights ranging from 100mm-170mm the norm, fit for both genders seems to be very achievable on most quality bikes. 

 We'd like to hear our female readers take on this but, for the time being, we'll give you the words (all be it only partly serious) of Will Ockelton, Santa Cruz's marketing director "Juliana Bicycles is all marketing", as told to Bike Magazine.  We get it.  Marketing is important, it sells things and in our case; our stories and articles might sell you on finally joining COMBA or volunteering with the Rowdies or the Giddyup crews.  Sometimes marketing gets it done and that isn't always a bad thing.  In fact, some honesty in marketing can be refreshing, they might as well say "Here's a Nomad with some kick ass colors and some very minor spec tweaks for women and we think you'll really like it".  We here at Front Range Mountain Biking love that female riders are getting the options, attention and respect that they deserve.  Just like their male counterparts though, some oddity and goofiness is bound to be involved.  See Santa Cruz and Juliana's biggest budget short film yet below.  We'll wait!

Ok, so that's a thing.... Deciding whether you love or hate it is going to be a personal call but, we can't help marvel at the witch meets Game of Thrones style and the soundtrack befitting a David Hasselhoff film. Can you imagine what the story board looked like in that meeting?

Back to the bike.  We're glad to see a 170mm bike out there for the ladies, for sure.  It does seem that Juliana is out on the trails, making things happen.  We've just seen them at the Deer Creek trailhead on Sunday 6/11/17 sending out demo bikes.  Women are the fastest growing demographic in mountain biking and there are plenty of female riders that like to ride hard and fast and its good to see the support, even if it is "just marketing".

Price Range / Spec Basics: $4,499 (C Model) Carbon frame with a Rock Shox Yari, SRAM NX shifting and Guide R brakes to the range topping $8,199 (CC Model) Carbon frame with a Rock Shox Lyric RCT3, XX1 Eagle and Code RSC brakes, with multiple models in between. 

Will we see the new GX level Eagle 50t setup coming on the lower cost models in the future?  We hope so, take note Juliana!

See more here.

The Strega in Wicked green. Strega is the Italian word for Witch.

Santa Cruz's lower VPP redesign.