Before I start, I must confess that if we want to maintain the high benchmark of quality journalism that I have previously set, then I'm going to need to come clean about something. When I say "Demo Day", I'm really lying since we actually got to demo bikes for 2 days, not one. For those of you doubters out there, working in a bike shop does have it's perks - and being paid to ride high-end 2011 Treks and Fishers before they're available to the public is right up there as far as I'm concerned!
After another early start (you could tell from the crowd who were the perky "early-riser roadies" and the sluggish "sleepy-headed mountain bikers") fueled by more free coffee, we were ferried out to Mt. Stromlo via a couple of big coaches. As we neared the park, excited banter amongst us mimicked a bus-load of 8 year olds who were out for a school trip, which given the day ahead, was exactly what I felt like.
The massive setup that Trek had arranged for the Demo day. Those larger white tents on the right are filled wall-to-wall with bikes…
Following on with the schoolchild theme, we impatiently filled out indemnity forms whilst a couple of organizers attempted to put wristbands onto our shaking hands. Various tents filled our view as we descended the steps towards the change rooms, where we donned all sorts of colourful lycra, shorts, nicks, shoes, gloves and sunglasses.
The setup tent where pedals were swapped, saddles were adjusted and tyre pressures were checked.
A fancy barcode system and a wireless scanner linked up to each demo bike with the rider who had checked it out, dashing any hope of being able to “re-locate” some of Trek’s stock. With each bike that went out, we had our saddle and bar position checked, along with a suspension setup from a representative from Fox Racing Shox, who had made the trip out from Sydney just to pump up peoples forks and shocks for 2 whole days – kudos to Disco Rick for an impressive performance that was done with a smile every time.
Disco Rick setting up the fork and shock sag on each bike that went out. While sending out $9k bikes, you want to make sure you get the most out of the bike and it’s suspension, and flying in a Fox specialist for the 2 demo days was a good way to ensure that.
With such an array of bikes available, the hardest part was choosing which you wanted to ride first! Of course we had 2 days of riding ahead of us to ride all of the trails of Mt. Stromlo with plenty of time to ride all of the bikes, but that didn’t stop us from darting around the tents trying to get our dream bike.
Rows of the Trek Fuel EX9, ready to be smashed on the trails
Alloy Remedy 9’s and Carbon Remedy 9.9’s lined up in their size order
The top-end Dura Ace Madone 5.9’s spent the day being raced around the road specific criterium track
A row of the 170mm Scratch Air 9’s that were very much at home on the downhill track at Stromlo
Mark, being the racerboy that he is, went straight for the Top Fuel 9.8, which is a carbon fibre, 100mm XC duallie built for speed. While I hung around transition chatting to some of the Trek engineers and designers, Mark spent a good hour climbing up the switchback sections of Stromlo and coming down one of the black diamond trails (possibly by accident) back into the check-in gate. I have seen Crusty get quite excited before, in fact, I’ve even seen him do an under-leg hand-clap. But I don’t think that even compared to the level of excitement he was bursting with when he came flying down into transition, skidding to a stop while yelling out “yeah bikes!”
Without a doubt, Crusty’s favorite bike for the whole demo – the OCLV carbon Top Fuel
Whilst Mark cooled down after his hot ‘n’ sweaty encounter with the Top Fuel, I headed out on the elusive Superfly 100 – Fisher’s carbon dually. Aiming for the conservatory at the top of Stromlo, we pedalled up through a network of smooth winding singletrack that broke into rocky technical trails as we neared the top of the mountain. Although there had been a wet morning, by the time we hit the tracks the sun was shining and the soil had dried out enough just to make it really tacky.
Mat from Ballarat Bike Hub and Cameron from Bike Life shared some fantastic trails with me as we explored the Stromlo network
Of course we were here on a serious note, and that was to seriously test some bikes. A serious test of course is to measure the bikes ability to skid.
Perhaps this skid was a little embellished…
With such a serious group of testers, we found ourselves pushing the bikes to the absolute limit, and it Mat’s case – finding that limit.
Riding tip 101: Always attempt to remain on top of your bike
After whooping and high-fiving back into transition, we began the arduous process of choosing the next bike. Being the conservative man that I am, I decided to take out the carbon Remedy 9.9, complete with SRAM XX and white-spoked DT Swiss Tricon wheels. Again we climbed the mountain, in search of a burlier trail for back down that could test out the limits of the bikes.
At the top of the mountain just next to the conservatory. At this particular point, I had almost forgotten that normally I would be at work during the day on Thursday
We managed to tack onto the Stromlo DH track, which had famously been ridden by World Champion Steve Peat just last year at the Championships in Canberra. With that in mind, I can assure you that Peaty would have most likely turned his big nose down at our paltry attempt, but there was no way he could have wiped the smile from our faces as we jumped, rolled and bounced through all the lips, berms and rock gardens.
Mat roosting the huge berm on the DH track
Between Crusty and myself, we managed to demo everything in the range from the XC Top Fuel to the freeride Scratch Air, all of which were an absolute blast. In fact, after Mark had ridden the Madone road bike, he placed an order for his own one the next week! And after my first encounter with a Superfly 100, I may or may not have done the same…
Perhaps the bikes ability to mono was what grabbed me the most?
Although I could write for ages about each bike, each lap or even each coffee we consumed – I won’t, there’s just too much. But hopefully that gives you an insight into the sheer size and scale of Trek World and the kind of things that Mark and I get up to when we’re at “work”.
If you would like to hear more about our ride impressions of some of the 2011 bikes, come and talk to Mark and myself in the shop - though make sure you have plenty of time!
For the full photo album, check out our Facebook page with all 5000 photos on hand.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/East-Brunswickvictoria/My-Mountain/111508038872458?ref=ts
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