I don’t know about you – but the recent World Enduro Series thing just feels like a massive breath of fresh air. Fresh tracks, fresh venues – even the riders that we’ve watched for years have a fresh vibe to them.

DirtTV’s coverage is definitely worth a watch if you haven’t caught up on the action. Enjoy!

The race had nearly 200 riders entered so practice was busy and the track has had a constant flow of riders as everyone got to grips with it. The weather played a pretty big part of the weekend as well. On Friday the track was a little bit wet and it made the turns slippery in places. On Saturday it was foggy and damp for qualifying, but then for race day, the sun was shining and the track was absolutely perfect.

You can catch up with round #2 of the Euro 4X in the UK at Harthill on June 2nd. See you trackside!

Aaron Chase and friends explore Peru for GoPro.

We’ve had the Titanium Slackline on long term test here at Wideopenmag for a few months and we absolutely love it.

The combo of light-weight and aggro, fun geometry has had us nipping out on the Slackline at every opportunity and meant that the full suss bike is gathering dust in the shed.

Wideopenmag issue 20′s ‘Best of the Bunch’

We featured our long-term Slackline in Wideopenmag issue 20 and awarded it our first ever ‘Best of the Bunch’ title. That means that of all the products featured in that issue – the Slackline was our top choice favourite. We’re not saying that because they’re paying us or because they’ve bribed us with beer and chips – we just love the bike and we want to spread the word.

When issue 20 went live you couldn’t actually buy a Ti Slackline – Dan has however just taken receipt of a fresh batch and they’re available to order within the UK. If you’re in the market for a top of the range hardtail that will go up, along and down then this could be a good choice.

The skinny on the Slackline

• Weighes 3.6lb
• 16.5” and 18” options
• Available in brushed titanium with bead blasted gfx
• Pewter moulded headtube badge, hand made by a chap called Geoff from Yorkshire
• 44m headtube
• 31.6 seattube
• 3AL2.5V titanium frame
• Head angle with a 140mm fork and exterior bottom cup on the headtube 67.3
• Dropper compatibility
• ISCG 05 tabs
• £1250 including UK postage

To place an order or find out some more info hit up the Stanton Bikes website right here.

You can read our interview with Stanton Bikes owner Dan Stanton from Wideopenmag Issue 20 right here. Click the magazine below to go full screen:

http://www.stantonbikes.com

We’ve seen the racing, we’ve seen the action, but what happens away from the track, what makes a World Cup winner?

Mike Parenteau documents the elements that came together on the day of 29/7/2012, a day that will live long in the memory of a young man from New Zealand, the small islands with a big heart.

Continental: Up from the Slate from Laurence Crossman-Emms on Vimeo.

The Welsh countryside can be a vast untouched wildness of roaming forest and distant mountains, or it can be the complete opposite, a thriving and overcrowded environment filled with bustling businessmen and pencil pushers. Blaenau Ffestiniog once was one of the latter, a slate industry driven town where mining and quarrying were its biggest investments. Over the years the thriving industrial town has seen its self drying up of all it resources and slowly started to decay. Dont get me wrong, business in the quarries is still booming and the slate that comes from this area is still some of the best in the world but the mine tours and corner shops selling sticks of rock dont bring the crowds like they used to.

In the interest of driving the tourism back into Blaenau, the locals turned to bikes, one local in particular, Adrian ‘Bud’ Bradley took it on him self to to open the darndest, most rootenest tootenest attraction for miles. Antur Stiniog was born and boy did the flocks of bikers come.

Antur gained the attention of the enduro team from Continental and couldn’t help but feel it was a great place to capture the essence of what this place is, the views, the scenes, the copious amounts of slate and most of all the riding. Great trails and an all round joyful day had with the 2 of 3 from Team Continental. Rob Scullion and Mike Inman looking quick and on form for this year of gravity based enduros here in the UK, crazy how they manage to find time to train around their full time jobs.

Videography: Laurence Crossman-Emms // laurence-ce.com

Antidote – Part 1, Fairclough,Wilkins,Thomas,Vernon on Pinkbike

Oops – bit slow on getting this one posted up!

It’s part 1 of Aspect Media’s new web-series ‘Antidote’ which explores what some of our favourite racers get up to in their off-season. Aspect is of course one-part Chris Seager and one-part Wideopenmag’s Jacob Gibbins.

Part one stars Brendog, Taylor Vernon and of course – our boy – Rich Thomas.

Wideopenmag’s World Cup racer and World #50 breaks down some home truths to help you on race weekend.

Click the mag to go full screen —>

This piece appears in Wideopenmag issue 20. Read the full issue online for free right here OR order a print copy at http://www.wideopenmag.bigcartel.com

Do you know anyone who could do with some race tips? Hit ‘share’ below and spread the love.

Burgtec’s long awaited Enduro stem has finally landed just in time for the 1st Round of the Enduro World Series this weekend in Italy. The Enduro stem is the first product in the Burgtec Enduro range and has been designed, developed and tested over the last 12 months.

The Enduro stem provides key technical features which will benefit Enduro and aggressive Trail riders.

The Enduro stem clamps uniquely in front of the steerer tube. The smooth and clean back of the stem is a key feature we wanted to incorporate from the initial stages of design. Doing this we were able to eliminate a shortfall of the standard design making the impact of a knee strike less painful.

The demands of the new breed of Enduro rider means components need far more strength than traditional ‘XC’ style designs can offer. The precision made stem gives the rider confidence to use wider bars for extra stability for negotiating the toughest descents. Through extensive research and various prototypes we found that a stem with a larger clamping area on the steerer tube yielded far more strength so we incorporated this into the design.

Cosmetically, the larger clamping area tidies up the cockpit allowing you to ditch those unsightly stem spacers. It matches perfectly with oversized head tubes and tapered forks that are prevalent on modern day Enduro and All Mountain frame designs.

The Burgtec Enduro stem has been machined from solid billet 6061 T6 Aluminium, so despite weighing in at only 165g, its inherent strength will give any rider confidence even when riding the most extreme trail. This Enduro stem is specifically designed to complement the acclaimed Burgtec RideWider bars and the new Burgtec RideWide Carbon Bar. This offers riders a best in class setup.

The Enduro stem is now available via www.burgtec.co.uk and local Burgtec stockists. RRP is £74.99

Burgtec Enduro Stem Features
• UK designed and made
• Material is 6061-T6 Aluminium
• Smooth behind for less damage on knee strikes
• Eliminates spacers for stack height
• Decorative Laser engraving

Stem specification
• Colours: Burgtec Black, Race Red, Deep Blue and Kash bronze
• Rise: 0º
• Bar diameter: 31.8mm
• Reach: available in a 50mm and 60mm
• Weight: 165g / 175g

Contacts:
Website: www.burgtec.co.uk
Dave Barton 01782 510777
info@burgtec.co.uk