Hamish's hot wheels

Wellington rider Hamish Gordon has just taken delivery of a hot new El Saltamontes, complete with DHX air shock and quad bearings. As well as having some nice backyard Hydrangeas, Hamish was a staunch hardtail rider, but came to the 'dark' side in response to the awesome lateral stiffness and build quality that Ventana had to offer. Reports say the frame is "bloody awesome" on the downhills, and Hamish is working through shock setup with frame builder extroardinaire Sherwood Gibson to get it dialed. So look out for Hamish ripping the Wellington trails!

Mountain Pedaler out...

Team rider Tristan's new digs

Tristan Rawlence, Ventana NZ team rider and all round legend has taken up his new position with DOC on the remote Codfish island. Situated off the coast of Stewart Island in the deep south, his role as a ranger sees him caring for some serious wildlife including the endangered Kakapo. Czech out these sweet pics of his new digs below.
In between stints on the island, Tristan made the excursion to select MTB events such as the MTB national rounds in Dunedin and Queenstown. Look for him to lay down some single speed domination on the El Toro at Karapoti, where he described his tactics as "Put on a big gear, run the ups and bomb the downhills" a good strategy given the challenging profile of the course.
Look for an update soon, which in Tristan's words "may require the deletion of some expletives!".
Mountain Pedaler Out...

Takaka hill big day out!

A determined pair of Ventana riders made the trip across from Nelson to the famed Takaka hill where they were treated to a seven course degustation of single track!
Rameka was the name, and tight winding single track was the game. It all begins at a surreal set of sink holes at Canaan downs on the Takaka Hill (Top of the South Island, Aoteoroa).
By all accounts the track was in excellent condition, with only a spot of mud bringing on a guest appearance of the 'slippery salmon'. Roots, rocks and the other usual suspects were abundance, so grin factor was off the scale.

The photo above is Jo & Sue near the end of the 18km descent. Both rode the El Saltamontes, easily the most popular Ventana frame in NZ right now and perfect for the demanding conditions.
For more info refer to Classic NZ Mountain Bike Rides by the Kennett brothers where this epic trail is given a 3+ rating.

Mountain Pedaler Out

Ventana El Rey rates on top of F.S. 29er shootout

The highly respectable folks at MTBR.com have just released the results of their comprehensive full suspension 29er review, in which 8 of the top XC 29er frames from different manufacturers were compared head to head by 7 lucky testers!
The full results can be viewed here: http://www.mtbr.com/spotlight/29er/
Clearly the team have done an excellent job, minimising the bias in results with uniform tire choice and by allowing riders to swap often.
The big news is that the El Rey, one of Ventana's new 2007 models scored top points with many of the riders.

Details on the El Rey including some serious bike porn can be found here:
http://www.mtbr.com/spotlight/29er/29er_fs_shootout_bike_ventana.shtml#bike_ventana
Riders noted it's balanced handling, lateral stiffness and dialed geometry as common traits.
This from Ty Brookhart: "Ventana makes some very beautiful bikes, I think. But while art is subjective, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone out there that doesn’t think Ventana manufacturers one of the most solid bikes out there. The machining and welding is just impeccable. So, how does the bike ride? In one, errr..two words, confidence inspiring."

Seems like Sherwood has nailed the design once again, and plans are afoot to get one of these beauties for the Mountain Pedaler NZ test fleet!

Mitch McDivitt shredding on the El Cuervo

The lastest and greatest to make the exclusive Mountain Pedaler NZ race team is Mitch MicDivitt. His weapon of choice is the all new Ventana El Cuervo, featuring teaked geometry and a sparkly chrome powder coat for 2007. More info and a great writeup on the frame here http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=251405. Highlights include a monsterous four bearings at each pivot!

And Mitch is living proof of how fast this Ventana can go! He has been demolishing the competition in the Junior grades at the North Island series, including top 3 placings in this super competitive field. This report of a muddy outing just in from his chief supporter and mechanic Russell:
"After Mitch's first couple of practice runs he had thought the bottom bracket had filled up with mud and slosh as it had became almost impossible to pedal. What actually happened is the chain guide bolts had come loose and the mud got in behind the chain guide pushing the guide tight onto the front chainring. Took about 20 minutes to fix with the longer bolts now lock-tightened to the frame!"

Good to see some Kiwi ingenuity coming to the fore.
It is great to have a rising star like Mitch on a Ventana!

Mountian Pedaler out!

Welcome!

Kia ora everyone.
Welcome to the first official post on the Mountain Pedaler NZ blog spot.
I intend to keep this site up to date with exciting news and events in the world of Mountain Pedaler.
To get things rollin' here is a picture of me grining in anticipation at the top of the Cragieburn in Canterbury, New Zealand. The trusty steed you see is Migel, a Ventana El Toro single speed that has served me well. So far it has made through 3 years of riding including Big River and Croesus on the coast, some sketchy night racing at Bottle Lake and even the legend that is the Nelson four peaks! Yet to miss a beat....