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ENDURO MAG SUMMER 2016

THULE B24 | CAPE TO CAPE | DANCE WITH THE DEVIL | SANTA CRUZ STIGMATA & HIGHBALL | 6 BIKES TESTED

# 30

INTERVIEWDAN VAN DER PLOEG

24HAWAII

Rider on Cover : Team Focus 4Shaw rider, Tom Goddard, shot from earlier in the year at the XCM nationals in Derby | Photo - Heath Holden

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Contents page : Competitors roll out early in the golden morning light, aiming to avoid the worst of the day’s heat at the cape Epic | Photo - Sportograf.com

ContentsREGULARS

ED NOTE 7

GEAR CHAT - MIKE RONNING 8

NEW GEAR 1ST LOOK 10

PUNTER VS. PRO 34

SUBSCRIPTIONS 138

THANKYOU 140

FEATURES

DAN VAN DER PLOEG 28

THE THULE B24 37

CAPE 2 CAPE 2015 45

SPECIALIZED 6FATTIE 50

SUMMER GRAVITY CAMP:

WHISTLER, B.C 51

HAWAII 24 56

THE EDWARD TEACH

MOUNTAINBIKE TEAM 62

THE REDBACK STAGE RACE 68

SHAUN & ANDY AT THE 2015

CAPE EPIC RACE 74

DANCE WITH THE DEVIL 87

PORT TO PORT 94

GOLDEN TRIANGLE EPIC 100

THE DWELLINGUP 100 104

INTERVIEW ANDREW HALL 108

THE IMPORTANCE OF

UNDERSTANDING HYDRATION 110

B-SIDES

BIKE TESTING

SURLY ICE-CREAM TRUCK 114

SCOTT GENIUS 910 116

SANTA CRUZ BIKE LAUNCH 119

AVANTI TORRENT S7.2 122

GT SENSOR CARBON PRO 124

PRODUCT TESTING 126

ENDURO 307

Daniel van der Ploeg

remembers waking from an

induced coma in 2005 and thinking,

“how did I get here?”

Interview:: Ash Hayat | Photos:: van der Ploeg family

Cape 2 Cape 2015

Race Report and Photos by Travis Deane

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www.thechillhouse.bike

Josh Stephenson after giving the 24 Hours of Hell in Paradise a Muddy Crack. | Photo: Robbie McNaughton

ENDURO 30 56

I probably would never have listed Hawaii as a riding destination unless I miraculously took up triathlon, but when some friends told me about the mountain bike race called 24 Hours of Hell in Paradise, it grabbed my attention. Having personally sworn off 24 racing some years back, I definitely didn’t have my radar on to pick up the next opportunity to do one. That was until I found out that the race was hosted on Kualoa Ranch where some of Jurassic Park was filmed… that made me listen.

Hawaiian 2424 Hours of Hell in Paradise

By Robbie McNaughton

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bet there is no better way to release a new bike (or three) than fly them and a bunch of journos to the West Coast of NZ for 4 days of

wild west adventuring so I was pretty stoked to get invited along for the ride.

After a few hours of driving, coffee, great food and me keeping my mouth shut so no one would realise I had never ridden a CX bike…ever, Sven Martin (driver, guide, and photographer) yanked on the handbrake at Granity, a quaint little mining town just north of Westport and the moment I had been dreading arrived as the car-load of Santa Cruz Stigmata CX bikes were unloaded and we stripped off and into our riding gear for a 2-3 hour gentle climb up Charming creek to the Rough and Tumble Lodge where we would base ourselves for the next few days.

We headed up the gorge riding an old rail line that was used to bring coal down out of the hills in the old days but gentle it was not. The stunning scenery was balanced by the railway sleepers that were still in place and many were 4-5 cm protruding from the surface. It made for a rough ride and it was testament to the quality and build of the stiff and light carbon Stigmata frame and fork with ENVE wheels that allowed my normally 160mm-suspended body to still enjoy the rigid beating it was getting. I threw down a sprint or two to try to impress on upon the other journos that I wasn’t just some old washed up 90’s DH legend, but unfortunately this just highlighted that I was indeed old and washed up, as they reminded me that they were younger, fitter and very used to this type of

machine and effort! The Stigmata hasn’t been available for a

few years in the Santa Cruz line up as they knew that some radical changes were coming to CX and they wanted to wait untill the timing was right. It comes in carbon only, and unlike the Highballs, the frames are available in the CC version only.

CC is the high end frame that Santa Cruz have always made, but lately their mountainbike carbon offerings are now also available in just ‘C’, which is a cheaper way of building the exact same looking and riding frame , just with a different carbon which ends up a bit thicker and heavier (200g).

The Stigmata is a full carbon frame with its own carbon fork, integrated headset and a pretty rad chainstay/rear axle mounted rear disc brake mount. Yes, this bike is disc only and comes with a high direct-mount for a front mech if you go for the Sram Red 2x11 groupset. Go for the 1x11 group and you get Sram Force CX1 with the x-sync ring. Then you have Maxxis Mudwrestler rubber on ENVE rims in DT240s or WTB i19s on DT350’s with 142x12 rear and 15mm front Maxles. Zipp supply the stem, bars and carbon post with a WTB saddle.

For the Stigmata they decided to go for a PFBB30 bottom bracket so they could build a stiff, fat tubed frame to take all the modern crankset spindles. Cable routing is internal and super tidy, and has the internal frame sleeve for easy brake threading with room to install the thingimajigs which unclip your brake hoses. The front and rear shift cables have ferrules in the frame so bare cable runs

through the downtube and has a removable cover on the BB underside to make this as easy as pie.

I had the 1x11 version and I gave this bike a hiding on the fast stuttery railway sleepers and the chain stayed on fine. The Sram brakes were amazing and had me throwing skids and nose wheelies all over the place.

The next day we set-up our Highball 29ers for a gentle climb up the Old Ghost Road which was perfect for this bike. We had plenty of places to really open it up and put on the odd sprint and three hours later we arrived at the trail end to wait for the helicopter which gave me a chance to have a good look at the bike.

Once again a full carbon frame with a similar chainstay/axle brake mount which is much more expensive to make but add so much more stiffness and negates the vibration noises that a seatstay mount often gives. Same internal cable routing as the Stigmata. Chainstay is shorter, reach is longer and the head angle is a tad lazier than previous Highballs. Two frame options and five build kits are available but we just had the two top models. An XX1 group with RaceFace Next SL cranks and matching 32 direct mount ring OR 2x11 XTR drivetrain. ENVE M50 or WTB i19 rims on DT240S hubs with 142x12 and 15mm Maxles and XTR race brakes on both. Fox Float Kashima 100mm forks. Syntace f109 stem with a carbon 720mm XC flatbar from Santa Cruz. Tyres were Maxxis Ikon 2.2 Maxspeed 3C which were way out of their depth as I was soon to find out the following day.

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120ENDURO 30

WORDS BY ROD BARDSLEY PHOTOS: SVEN MARTIN

I

Stigmata / Highball 27.5

S7.2

After a long night of hut life in Ghost Lake hut filled with snoring, farting and creaking we were woken early by Paul the trailbuilder starting his morning ritual of coffee and breakfast. We flailed about getting caffeine and carbs and setting up the Highball 275 race bikes which had been dropped off by the helicopter the day before. Unfortunately there had been a mix up at HQ and they sent me a 60cm Stigmata for my three hour downhill to Lyell, so alas I had to stick with my trusty 29er for the day with the consolation of a dropper post installed. This was a testament to the ENVE’s that they didn’t get a scratch on them. Another standout was the Fox Float fork. Super dynamic in compression and brake dive was negligible in the open setting, I think Fox may be back in the game.

Santa Cruz didn’t set out to make a different bike with the 29er v 275. Sure, the frames have different geometry, as they should, but they were designed to ride the same, for the same trail or race. It is more a question of what rider the bike would suit. Are you a 29er or a

275 person? Answer this and then choose your Highball accordingly.I brought a Highball 275 back home with me for a long term test and

raced the Karapoti Classic on it and am still getting the odd clap on the back from fellow riders who were impressed with my race time. It feels so similar to the 29er, that I forgot I had a different bike. The 29er comes in M/L/XL and a massive XXL (which has a 472.8mm reach!) and the 275 in S/M/L/and XL

We also got to see the Highball alloy singlespeed frame which has the brilliant swinging drop-out. Sorry, it only comes in alloy though.

After spending time with the Sanat Cruz guys and witnessing their passion and perfection and knowing their history of only settling for the best and having so few failures compared to their competition, I can see why they have a cult following, in fact, I have never met anyone who has regretted buying a Santa Cruz bike. - ENDuromag

www.lustyindustries.com / www.santacruzbicycles.com

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