Here’s the two newest additions to the wideopen contingent, the Alpine 160 and the Five.. read on..

The Alpine comes equipped with a 12mm Maxle rear end, perhaps not quite as stiff as a true bolted rear end but for someone who puts their bikes in the back of the car, ideal for me! It takes a lot of hints in the design from the 224, think of it it as the bastard child of a 224 and a Five.. that pedalling ability with the potential to shrug off some serious terrain!

The Five is a mountain bike classic, for me it goes into the Hall of Fame with the old BOS/Sunn race bikes.. shock technology got to a critical point and Orange spotted it and made the Five.. hugely successful but ours will be used as a half way house between cross country and downhill, and be ridden by a girl!! It took a bit of convincing that the fairer sex were able to ride bikes and that yes, the NPS does in fact have a womens category but in the end we got there.. Is a full on DH rig just too much bike for the UK?

So there you have it.. I’ll keep you up to date when I get all the bits bolted on!

Also for you photogeeks out there, if you were interested here’s a quick setup shot:

Jim Featured, News