Shimano and the UCI have announced that Shimano will be the "presenting sponsor" of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup for 2006-2008. Not only that, but following a change of rules for XC and Marathon event from this year, Shimano will be the exclusive provider or neutral technical assistance at each leg of the series. 2006 will be the first year that external technical assistance by mechanics will have been allowed in UCI races - up until now if you broke something that you couldn't mend yourself, you were out...
The UK wing of DeKerf Cycles is planning to set up an XC and Marathon team for the 2006 season. So if you can see yourself astride a shiny bit of Canuckian tubery for '06, drop the DeKerf chaps aline at info@dekerfcycles.co.uk, including a CV and race results. You can have a look at the goods at www.dekerfcycles.co.uk.
Freerider Eric Porter has signed for Haro Bikes for 2006. He'll be doing all that slopestyle and freeride malarkey, along with filming and photo trips. Apparently Porter was the first rider to grind a rail on a peg-free MTB and the first to do a fl(air|are) (we're never sure which it is...) on a mountain bike. Returning to Haro will be 2005 US National DH Champ Cody Warren, with Cameron Zink rounding out the Haro roster. Find out more at www.harobikes.com.
In a final flurry of 2005 activity, the folks at DMR pushed out an all-new website just before the New Year. And yes, it's taken us a week to notice, bad us. It's got bikes and stuff on it - go take a shufti at www.dmrbikes.com.
Want a Transition Gran Mal DH/freeride frame? Get in quick - they're currently available at an introductory price of £999, but they'll wander up to the "proper" price of £1,199 as of 31 January. Even the higher price doesn't look too shabby for a 222mm (8.75in) travel frame with 1.5in headtube, 150x10mm rear through-axle, super-versatile adjustable shock positions letting you run about a million different shock stroke/travel/head angle/BB height combinations, so £999 is clearly a steal. You can even put a front mech on it. Take a look at uk.transitionbikes.com.
