The next issue of Wideopenmag is here and its been a long time coming. We hope you think its worth it?
Without further ado.. click the cover below to launch the magazine or alternatively head over to the magazine archive to download this issue and many more..
The long awaited, much anticipated Saracen Myst DH is almost here.
Saracen’s new flagship race bike will land in the UK in early November. The full bike will cost you £2299.99 which could well add up to a really bloody good bit of kit for the money. Frameset price is still TBC.
Frame Myst custom butted tube set featuring signature suspension design running on 37mm main pivot bearings and 28mm linkage bearings
CNC Taper 1 18″ to 1.5″ headtube
203mm travel
150x12mm dropout
Worldcup geometry
Rear Shock Fox VAN R
Fork Rockshox Boxxer Race 203mm travel
Drive 9spd Shimano Alivio 9 Rapidfire / Shimano Sora RD
Chainset FSA GAP Mega EXO DH with Gravity Guide
Brakes Quad Duece hydraulic disc 203mm rotor F/R
Wheelset KT Sealed bearing hubs 12mm rear/20mm front with Saracen DH 32h rims running Maxxis Highroller 26×2.5″
Cockpit FUNN RSX MKII stem/FUNN Fatboy 750mm bars with WTB Silverado Comp Colour Gloss White
Sizes M and L
Saracen are distributed in the UK by Madison. Saracen homepage right here.
Epic weekend of racing at Caersws for the 2010 BDS final.
Marc Beaumont and Katy Curd are your 2010 BDS Series Champions!
Here’s a few random snaps from the weekend…
Maybe not the fastest bike of the weekend – but definitely one I was the most excited to see. Vintage Pace FS2, now the property of Jon Smith at Fenwicks.
Your man on the hill from British Cycling and one of the army of media that worked hard all season to bring us the goods. Andy gets a photo ‘cos he bought me a beer today. See you next season Andy!
GT must be pretty happy. A world cup win and an overall National series win for their boy Marc Beaumont making the Fury one of the fastest bikes around.
Tough weekend for English Champ Rich Thomas. Big crash, trip to A&E and no clue what he’d been doing for 24 hours before! Heal up soon son!
Mr Paton ought to be smiling – 2010 has been a hell of a season for the BDS. A packed pro-elite field, awesome weather every round, buzzing pits, happy riders, happy spectators. All good.
Marc Beaumont was fastest down the hill today, followed by Ben Cathro and Joe Smith.
Ben Cathro shows us the money.
Here’s the man behind the lense in 2010. Thank this old Welsh drunk for the banging web edits that you’ve been treated to all season. Paul Roberts ladies and gents. His latest beauty will be out early this week.
Katy Curd took the overall series win and fastest time of the day. Here’s the elite women’s series podium, 2nd place to Jess Stone, 3rd to Aimee Dix. Nice work Katy.
2010 has been Marc Beaumont’s season. Here he is getting a heap of prizes from Big Dave and taking his place on the podium next to Gee and Dan Atherton.
I spent a full hour today interviewing this man on video. Fingers crossed we got something worth putting online! Ladies and gents… a very tired, very ill, very relieved Dave Franciosy. Seen here looking forward to some time at home with the kids!
And here’s your 2010 Halo BDS winners podium. The fastest collection of racers in the UK. If you want to find out who they all are check out RootsandRain.co.uk.
Last but not least. Paul Roberts (again) and Jacob Milky Gibbins. These two handsome chaps have brought you the bangers all season for Wideopen. You can see all of Paul’s vids here and Milky’s in the next issue of WO.
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That’s all for now – I’m tired and have got a mag to finish off. Thanks to everyone for an awesome season of racing. It’s been a blast.
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See you all 13th November in Aberystwyth for the big end of season party race! britishdhseries.com for more.
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Don’t miss Leon Rosser and Tom Wheeler’s helmet cam from the weekend…
Chest Cam at The British Downhill Series – Caersws from Mojo Suspension on Vimeo.
Last night was Renegade Slalom night in Bristol!
64 riders turned up to race, Phil Saxena pegged out the track and Chris Roberts brought his gate. Local racing at it’s bloody finest!
.Here’s a quick repo from the evening.
The idea behind all this was the Bristol Cycle Festival. The council are trying to get everyone out cycling, so they decided to give out some cash to people to put on events. The local 4X boys have been running underground jumpers-for-goalposts style slalom races for a while… so it seemed obvious to give it a wee boost and turn it into a bit of an event.
Our mate Taff did the paper work, track building supremo Phil Saxena marked the track out and NPS4X front man Chris Roberts did the timing and brought his start gate. 64 riders brought their game faces ,jumped into the gate and did some drifts with the hope of winning prizes from Juice Lubes, Smart Wool and This is Ezo.
The track was about 5 turns long and a proper old school slalom round the poles job. The first few turns were tight, the second to last one was scary wide and then the last one was a frantic turn, drift and pedal across the finish job. Loads of drifts, loads of sketchy riding and loads of big grins.
There was also a few grass stains on the jeans as people over cooked the turns and ended up on their bums. Fortunately no injuries and everyone walked away happy. Young gun Jessie won the biggest crash of the day prize and got a trendy Ezo hat for his hard work!
Racing went on a straight knock out format, 2 riders in the gate, winner goes through.
Gradually the riders got knocked out till it came down to the quarters.
Jamie Brothers, Kelvin Lawton, Luis Munoz and Dunc Ferris made it to the quarters.
Mike Lusmore and Paul Mackie got through to the small final.
The big final went down to Pete ‘Mop Head’ Goddard and local boy Murray Roe. Mop Head put his NPS4X experience to good use and beat Murray by all of about 6 inches. Nice work Mop Head.
Slaloming finished with prizes from Juice Lubes, Smart Wool, This is Ezo and an awesome pro-track building spade from Phil Saxena…. and then the after party down the local! Sore heads today…
Huge thanks to Bristol Cycle Festival, Phil Saxena, Chris Roberts, Taff Frewin (the lad who made it all happen), the awesome companies that supplied prizes and everyone else that got involved and made it happen. Local racing at is bloomin’ finest!.
Thanks also to Paul Hobbs for getting these photos across super fast. Check out his Flikr here and his website here.
There’s another great photo selection here.
And the results:
Bristol Cycle Festival: Renegade Slalom from Tom Grundy on Vimeo.
We’re counting down the days to the big BDS final…
It’s all going off this weekend at Caersws. There’s going to be world class racing, monster pits, free booze down the local club on Saturday and a monster party on Sunday night. We might, just might even be there with a new magazine. (fingers crossed…).
The brand new Commencal Supreme DHv3 is GO!
After an awesome season on the Supreme V2, Commencal have made a few updates to give the Athertons an even sicker ride.
Here’s a presentation from the Commencal team explaining the whole thing… Click the images to make them BIG!
Another cracking video from Stu Leelz here – unfortunately its one of the last for a little while until the races get underway after the Autumn hiatus.
Check inside for the video from last weekend at Fort William.
When we heard that Cube were having the show in their local and the beer was flowing and good pub grub available we punched Droitwich Spa into the sat nav and headed down yesterday.
Cube have a huge range of bikes, from traditional XC hardtails to full on carbon fibre road race bikes and more importantly a stunning range of all mountain and freeride bikes.
First up is the Hanzz (£3,299 RRP), Cube’s full on freeride bike with a full 200mm of rear travel matched with a Fox 36 Float 180mm up front – its a true mini downhill bike and something we’re itching to get our hands on to have a go.
Although Cube is one of the biggest bike companies in the world, their attention to detail is incredible considering the volumes in which these bikes will be built, take the neat logo cutout in the shock mount.
A neat solution to the front mech mount is the mini shot glass seen here in blue – removable if you want to run it with a chain device and a single ring.
If colour coordination is your thing then check out the AMS seen here – look at everything from the rims to the frame decals, fork logos and even the tyres are specialist to Cube – this is no coincidence!
Perhaps the most stunning bike at the show was the Fritzz (£2,449 – £3,049 RRP), the hard hitting all mountain bike which bridges the gap between the ability to pedal uphill and bombing down it aferwards without too much compromise. Spot the two orange spokes on each wheel, sleek or what?
Check out the neat mount on the swingarm brace for a trick carbon fibre mud guard to protect the otherwise exposed shock.
Overall we were pretty impressed by the development Cube Bikes have made in the last few years, starting from nothing in the UK to 106 dealers in such a short time is making big waves in the industry – watch out America, Europe is coming. Check out www.cube.eu for more details.
After 3 other rounds of madness at various Bike Parks across the UK, Dirt Wars UK rocked up at Chicksands Bike Park in Shefford Bedfordshire on Saturday the 11th of September for another round of Open and Elite class Dirt Jump action.
Chicksand is one of the rounds that most of the riders have been looking forward to the most as they all know the set up there. The Bike Park has been a regular favourite for the Dirt jump riders for many years and most of them love the fact that the sandy soil is so forgiving on crashing meaning bigger tricks get pulled out of the trick bags. (The bike park not only has one of the best Dirt jump set up’s in the country but also boasts an awesome 4x track, Dual track, Freeride area and Mini DH lines for all levels of rider. Check out www.chicksandsbikepark.co.uk for more info..)
With the weather forecast looking pretty dull there was a worry on the Saturday morning that the skies were going to open and a huge downpour take over the day and put a halt to the days fun and riding but the worries were soon put to one side as the blue skies arrived and the sun started to brighten up everyone’s mood turning it in to one heck of an awesome day.
It had already been decided that this round would be run on a Jam basics so we got under way with the Open class with the guy’s getting a 45 minuet session to show off their skills and Impress the judging panel of Ray Samson (DMR), Grant “Chopper” Fielder (Kona), Phil Auckland (Identiti) and Dave Françoise from the British Downhill Series.
Before the Open class had started we knew it was going to be an all out war with Series leader Jack Smith out to stay top, Joash Clarkson snapping at Jack heals and then the entry of Craig Potter and Sam Reynolds younger brother Tom Reynolds out to shut the leaders down. With practice almost over young Tom Ledson took a tumble on the last putting him out the comp putting our line up of 12 riders down to 11.
After taking a quick breather and refuelling on RedBull the guys lined up at the top of the trails ready to try and shut each other down left right and centre. With 11 riders in the Jam it was going off big time, Young Sam Hunniset pulled out a few surprises popping a 360 Double Tail whip (only done before in UK by Sam Pilgrim and Adam Williams) securing his place in the 5 rider final. Jack Smith rode amazingly well realising 1st place was still in sight after Potter crashed out and took to the sidelines.
After 45 minuets the 11 riders were taken down to 5 with Sam Hunniset, Jack Smith, Tom Reynolds, Toby Ware and Will Roberts going through to the Open Final.
Eagerly awaiting to ride the Elite line up of Ray Samson (DMR), Chopper (Kona), Ryan Nangle and Ashley Stares (both Cranked365.com), Oscar “Walrus” Golding (Spank), Charlie Watts (Rose/Wideopen Mag), Jack Gear (Spank), Mike Smith (NS), Danny Pace (Identiti) and Phil Auckland (Identiti) pushed their steeds to the top of the jumps for their 30 mins of practice.
Chopper was sending it as usual with his uber stretched super seaters and sweet 3’s whilst the return of Danny Pace brought the Front flip attempts out resulting in Danny getting his trousers filled with sand on impact.
With practice over it was down to business and Ray Samson set the pace pulling clean 360 tables and huge flip variations. Jack gear was feeling laided back throwing out the latest tail whip ive ever seen (im talking almost landing then deciding to tail whip) how he got back on the bike clean I’ll never know.
Oscar took a few tumbles on the last but in true Walrus style got up shrugged off the pain and made his way back to the top. Young Charlie Watts managed to get an awesome Flip whip out of his bag after 5 or 6 harsh attempt had previously left him scorpioning down the landing.
After 30 min’s of amazing riding and horrific crashing the 10 elite riders sat back and waited for the results of the top 5 going through. The judges had decided to put the top 6 through as they couldn’t decide between Jack Gear and Danny Pace for 5th.
So going through to the final were Jack Gear, Danny Pace, Phil Auckland, Mike Smith, Ryan Nangle and The favourite for the overall series win Ray Samson (with Daryl Brown out for the rest of the season Ray takes 1st on leader board).
Open Class final was up next and all the rider’s were hungry for the win and the Identiti P66 frame 1st prize.
The riders were given 3 run’s with 2 counting and one throw away.
Toby Ware showed that he was ready to step up to the mark throwing out a superman and his smooth tail whips and Jack Smith was going Fliptastic with tuck flips, so was Will Roberts with his perfect flip to flip run.
Sam Hunniset again attempted the 3 double whip but was able to get clean to pedals resulting in Tom Reynolds executing a flip then flip whip taking himself in to 1st place and claiming the Identiti P66 Frame.
With the same format as the Open Class the Elite riders final was all go. Due to exams Phil Auckland has been away from the comp scene for a while but soon showed the other guy’s that he has what it takes to make them worry about what position they will end up in. Danny Pace was also out to impress after being off the game for over six months with a broken leg. Ryan Nangle’s clean smooth style shone yet again as he barrelled his way through the air and made Ray Samson wonder if the overall title was really already in his grasp or would Ryan slip his way through and take it out of Rays hands.
After 3 Runs each and again a lot of conferring from judge to judge Ryan Took 1st place with Phil Auckland taking his place back on the podiums with a nice 2nd place and Ray Samson Keeping up front on the overall leader board in 3rd.
Thanks to all that attended, Chicksands Bike Park (Tom, Darren, Steve and Co) and our Series Sponsors,
DMR, SPANK, COMMENCAL, FOX, HALO, TSG, IDENTITI, DUFFS, GUSSET, GIRO, RAM, MAXXIS, 661, WIDEOPEN MAG, and RedBull UK for keeping the riders fuelled.
Round 4 overall results.
OPEN.
1st Tom Reynolds Identiti P66 Frame.
2nd Jack Smith Gusset Pigmy Cranks and Pedals.
3rd Toby Ware Gusset Bar +Stem
4th Will Roberts Maxxis Tyres
5th Sam Hunniset 661 Baseball cap + 661 Wallet.
Craig Potter Best Crash Giro Helmet
Wig Lewington Booth Best Progression Fox Beach Towel
Elite
1st Ryan Nangle (Cranked365.com/Ram Bikes)
2nd Phil Aukland (Identiti Bikes)
3rd Ray Samson (DMR Bikes)
4th Jack Gear (Spank Bikes)
5th Mike Smith (NS Bikes)
6th Danny Pace (Identiti Bikes)
Progression Jack Gear
Best Crash Danny Pace.
Round 5 “THE FINAL” is set for P.O.R.C on the 25th of September 2010.
Big thanks to Cliff at Dirt Wars for the awesome repo and photos!
O’Neal UK have just got their first sample of the brand new Airtech helmet – and sent us some exclusive first shots.
The Airtech is an all new light weight, moto inspired full face. It’s packed with techno features and comes in heaps of colours – but the best thing is it clocks in at just over £100. Bargain.
Photo’d here is Col at Fli-Distribution’s (UK O’Neal distro) first sample. Col needs you guys help to decide how the final production sample will turn out…
