Morewood Mbuzi

There is nothing quite like driving 180km/h on the Autobahn drafting an entry for ones blog with the sounds of Daft Punk in your ears.

Im in France with the guys from BS Trading. Tomorrow I’ll be hitching a ride to Friedrichshafen for Eurobike 2008 and help out at the SportsNut stand.

But today I went beating down the Cenq Chateaux (5 Castle) trail in Alsace, just above the little town of Turckheim.

I’ve been riding bikes for years. I’ve come from a Kona Hahanna in the early days, to a Klien Attitude, then to a Klien Adept which I broke. I’ve used my mate Tom’s Super 8 a couple of times but only enough to clear the big jump in Tokai. Then it was time to try out a real mountain bike. I now ride a Shova ST. Im no expert but I am starting understand a whole lot more about mountain bikes. The Mbuzi I rode is spec’d like this:

Rock Shox Lyric 160mm
DHX 4.0
Full XO Transmission
Juicy Ultimate
Crank Brothers Joplin with remote
Truvativ NOIR cranks
Spank Sub Rosa with Atomlab hubs
Spank Bitch Stick handlebar
Atomlab stem and Pedals

Fred and I were dropped off by Vincent (the BS ninja), and we headed up to the start of the trail. The first thing I noticed is the height of the bb, it makes you feel confident to have such good clearance. The fork was supple and bike felt good and not too heavy climbing up the hill. My current Shova is about 13.5kgs and this bike is 15kgs on the nose. So the difference wasn’t really noticeable.

But like all good Enduro bikes the real fun starts when you point them down hill. For the first section Fred lead the way and I followed. Im sure he was trying to get away from me but my bike just coasted closely behind him keeping up the pressure on some technical rock sections. Im already in love with this bike. It just glides over everything. The handling feels familiar and makes me want to go faster.

We stop and chat, then make our way to the next section. Fred offers the first place on the trail to me. I jump at the opportunity.

Nothing get s the blood pumping more than going as fast as you can down a trail you have never been down before, being cased by someone who has.

The trail was slightly wet, just enough to be tacky, but there was a huge erosion grove down the middle, so it was necessary to switch across the ditch again and again while dodging fallen trees, rocks and roots.

The flying Frenchman is just behind me. But the Mbuzi is cool and calm. It soaks it all up.

It wants more from me. Im not pushing hard enough.

I stop at the bottom of the section and look back. No Fred. I wait longer, and then I hear the clatter of some heavy braking and out pops Fred. “Merd! I can see nothing!” He says taking off his dark glasses.

On the next section. I try to go faster but Im worried I’ll stuff up this bike and myself in the process. Im already going as fast¬¨‚Ć humanly possible. Well, for me anyway.

The final section is a bunch of switch backs followed by a steep rock garden. On my way through it I take a bad line and bounce over a bolder with only one foot on the pedal, as the Mbuzi keeps its balance and brings me safely back in control.

Now, I know what you thinking. This hack, has no skill. I admit that what lack in skill I make up for with enthusiasm and stupidty. But the fact of the matter is, this bike makes me feel like anything is possible. I had so much fun Im serously consider getting an Mbuzi for the kid in me that wants to try and break more bones in Tokai.

If you’re thinking about getting an Enduro bike dont leave out a test ride on the Mbuzi.