Since 2012, the MarathonMTB.com Team riders have predominantly run Shimano group sets. Usually a mix of XT and XTR parts, mixed for the best combination of price, weight, performance and durability. Favour fell to parts from Shimano due in part to their parts availability when away from home, especially in Europe. Personally, I’ve aimed to […]
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Bikes of the Crocodile Trophy: Alex Malone’s Merida Ninety-Six 9.7000
Words: Alex Malone | Photography: Trent van der Jagt The journey into off-road stage racing has been an exciting one for the team at Cyclist Australia/NZ magazine. Our primary focus has always been around road cycling but with the ever-increasing popularity around gravel and multi-surface drop bar riding, the gap to wider tyres and full […]
Exploring the Old Ghost Road
To experience sublime natural beauty is to confront the total inadequacy of language to describe what you see. Words cannot convey the scale of a view that is so stunning it is felt. In such moments natural beauty becomes a kind of devastation – it is pure encounter, too compressed in time and space to […]
Mongolia Bike Challenge Stage 2 – Steppe Suffering
Stage 2 of the Mongolia Bike Challenge for 2017 was dubbed the ‘Queen stage’ for this year’s edition. Indicating that it is regarded as the most difficult of the race. Upon conversation with riders everyone fully agrees that they hope dearly there is no stage more difficult than today! Day two in Mongolia Many broken […]
Backing up at the Hidden Vale Giant 3plus3
Returning to racing Recovering from injury has taken longer than I’d hoped (you can read more about what happened in my last blog), but I finally got rid of my walking stick about five weeks ago and got the all-clear to start some strength work on my weak left arm and shoulder, so it’s time […]
Shimano XTR mechanical vs XTR Di2 – Part two
I recently built my Norco Revolver FS race bike up with 2×11 Shimano XTR Di2 Synchro Shift. There were a few reasons for this. Shimano came on board as a major sponsor for the Subaru-MarathonMTB.com Team, which meant I could afford this kind of premium gear. Secondly, I was in a big accident four months […]
Shimano XTR mechanical vs XTR Di2 – Part One
Ever since Shimano XTR M9000 and XTR Di2 were released in 2014, riders, bike mechanics, and tech gurus have been weighing up the benefits and disadvantages of each system. And this has also involved, quite literally, weighing the components of each system as well. I have been a long-time user of Shimano’s XTR components, with […]
Buying the right bike for marathon and stage racing
What bike should I buy for marathon racing? Or, what bike should I buy for… *enter a massive stage race here*? These are not uncommon questions for bike shop staff, and one that we get sent via email or social media quite frequently. The range of bikes continues to expand, as does the type and […]
The Swiss Epic as a ready-made holiday
Imogen Smith explores the Swiss Epic and finds the mountain bike stage race and package holiday together at last. Stage racing is the perfect way to combine a massive mountain bike hit with an overseas experience but, until recently, roughing it and complex logistics have held many of us back from what might otherwise be the perfect […]
Swiss dreaming – memories of the 2015 Swiss Epic
The mountain bike year has well and truly begun. Unlike riders in the north, in Australia we receive little respite over the holiday period. We don’t go skiing, we don’t escape to summer climes. We live in the perfect training haven, more or less. So while our whole National XCO Series has been wrapped up, […]