Part#1: First Look! 

SIXSIXONE has always been one of my favourite helmet brands due to their stylish look, awesome shell and proven fit & safety. So each year I'm always curious to know what the Team at 661 have pulled out for the upcoming season. I was lucky enough to be at the Sportz warehouse yesterday to see the all new Evolution Helmets and Knee/Elbow pads be unloaded from the international shipped container.

Never underestimate your how important it is to have grip especially while racing. It can decide whether you win or lose so when it comes to picking the correct tyres for the conditions come race day, you will be fooled not to look into the Schwalbe Tyre Range. Offering tyres for all conditions, compounds and options, you will always be able to find a tyre to suit the track conditions. Today we looked into Schwalbes Specific Downhill Tyres and after running a few ourselves, we'd recommend you also check them out yourselves, whether or not you are a keen racer or a local punter.

Mmm, they sure do look the goods. A touch of old school with its squarish shape, but a whole lot of new school CNC machinery, external bearings and more. The graphics on the arms are cool and tough looking, which is sure to intimidate the competition hey? But, as we all know, looks aren’t everything, so I was keen to actually bolt down a mountain on these rods. Mt. Buller seemed a good size hill, so there we would give this crank set a bit of a thrashing.

I gave them a good tryout over a series of weekends down the mountain, and they felt great. Power down and you’re off; I couldn’t feel any flex in them at all. I cracked down pretty hard on a nice bolder in the trail, right on the downstroke. It threw me and my bike around a fair bit, but the crank was perfect [‘cept a small scratch]. The cranks do give you the confidence in your pedal stroke and the power you get from them, which means you can focus on just powering down on them. I must say I couldn’t fault the Diabolus Cranks.

by Andrew Day

The eyes are the organ of sight, the power of vision & the view of life. So when it comes to protecting your eyes look no further than the Blur Optics B1 goggles.

This flat pedal offering from Crank Bros is to my eyes one of the nicest looking flat pedals out there. Well I think so anyway. Add to this the multitude of colour options, and you have a pedal made in heaven for vain, colour conscious people like myself. Yes, if you can’t ride good, you may as well look the part.

Being mechanically inept to say the least, I had been having an ongoing battle to try and setup and keep set up my BMX BB. In the end sanity prevailed and I went looking for alternatives.

Traditionally my method of transporting my bikes has been to throw them into the back of the wagon. Reasonably quick and it generally doesn’t require too much thought getting things in. The only downside to this method was the inevitable amount of mud getting deposited in the car.

Road trips also became an issue when trying to fit multiple bikes and gear into the car.

A new car though required me to have a new train of thought on the whole bike transportation issue. A bit of research led me to Grip Sport and their Quick Grip Bike Rack.

This little project all started because I wanted the “wank” factor for my big DH rig. I thought a pair of Green Chris King would be sick and I looked into grabbing some, but quickly realised that CK don’t do a rear hub to fit my Shore. Damn!