Matt Page is sponsored by Wiggle/Focus and recently won Endura Sleepless in the Saddle solo and the Bontrager Twentyfour12 12-hour race solo.
This is a Focus First Expert, which has a carbon front triangle with aluminium rear end. It's designed for XC, Marathon and trail riding and produces 110mm of travel through a Fox RP23 shock. There's also the neat touch of internal cable routing, which not only improves the clean lines of the bike, but keeps the cables out of the way of mud, which proved valuable at SITS. It is a fantastic bike which has really converted me to full suspension as I have been a hardtail fanatic for years previously despite owning several full suspension bikes.
The kit on the bike is almost stock, though there are a few personal changes which have been made. These are the Selle Italia SLR saddle which believe it or not I find very comfortable even for 24-hour solo racing, Ritchey WCS aluminium flat handlebars, Ritchey WCS ergo grips, Cane creek ergo bar ends, 3Ti eggbeaters and a Lifeline titanium bottle cage which is very light at 22g but holds a bottle better than other cage I've used previously.
SITS as you may know was extremely muddy! The Panaracer trailraker 1.95" front and Black Shark Mud 1.5" tyres pictured are the same combination I used during the race; they proved excellent and kept me riding throughout.
Got an interesting bike that you'd like to tell the world (or that subset of the world that reads BM) about? We're not too bothered whether it's singlespeed, geared, hardtail, rigid, FS or whatever - it just has to be something unique. We're looking for bikes that have had a lot of time invested in them by their owners. Send us a pic and some words about what it is and why it's like that and we'll run the best ones here...
1991 Manitou FS Retro Bike: A blast from the past as Peter McCarthy builds his dream superbike
Rob Lee's Iron Horse Azure Record Breaking Bike What bike for riding over 200 miles off-road in one go? Current South Downs Double record holder Rob Lee used this one
Daftpunk's Seven Sola Member's Machinery BM member Daftpunk experienced the perils and pitfalls of custom framebuilding, but it all came good in the end
Nicolas Vouilloz's Lapierre X-160 Member's Pro Machinery Multiple World Champ Nico may be semi-retired, but he's still fast as you like - we sneak a look at his bike
Sheldon Attwood's Spot Brand SS Member's Machinery Want to set a bike apart from the herd? Custom paint and subtle colour-matching is where it's at
Ian Leitch's IF Deluxe Member's Machinery Ian Leitch rode across two continents on his Independent Fabrication Deluxe. And as if that wasn't hard enough, he stopped off on the way to do some solo 24 hour races
Focus Bikes 2007 Second year in the UK for German brand, as sold exclusively through Wiggle
The Highland Hacker Member's Machinery Montgomery Wick presents an adventure in bike archaeology
Jim Barrow's Kona Hei Hei Member's Machinery Some people buy a new bike every couple of years. Not Jim...
