Hi folks, this past weekend Toronto held its 24th annual bike show, this time at the Better Living Centre. The weather was perfect and as a result the show was full of local and US attendees.  This year also marks the first 24 hour spin marathon complete with a live band and heart-pumping music. All the stationary bikes were filled with riders of all athletic abilities and I have to say the whole thing was a massive hit.

I was impressed with the show this year compared to a few of the previous Toronto bike shows. For one thing the show seemed better organized with crowd-pleasing demonstrations and exciting races to watch. By the sounds of the cheers and ooohs and ahhhs, many people were really enjoying the 4X racing that was going on. Along with that there was a massive crowd around the trials area where riders were showing off their 40 inch+ vertical step up jumps. It never ceases to amaze me how much balance those guys have on the bike. Think about it: jumping from a rolling start onto a chain and riding along it. I bet very few can say they do that all day long.

I managed to hook up with a few folks from the industry at the show including Jon Wells from Hayes who was there with his BMX team. Jon came to Hayes after an eventful carrier in Pro BMX and now shreds up the trails whenever he can. It was fun to see the enthusiasm he had as he was talking about the new Circus DJ fork from Manitou and the new Answer bars and stems (which, by the way, I will be reviewing in the next little while.)

I also had a chance to meet up with Mark Summers (one of the owners of Joyride 150) and he was excited to talk about how well the indoor bike park is doing. He mentioned the great interest south of the border and the deal they recently struck with Hilton suites and Howard Johnson’s close by. Mark also filled me in on the constantly changing features that have been popping up at Joyride (many of which I am super stoked to give shot.) The new expert skinny area at Joyride is high in skill but low in consequences which makes it great for practicing your skills without worrying that you’re gonna snap an ankle or shatter your clavicle.

I also checked in with my good friends at Opus and spoke with Sylvain Bosse (Marketing Coordinator) while checking out the new rides for next year (I like to stick with one company for my test bikes). Although they didn’t have it on display, Opus is working on a DH bike for next year that hopefully I’ll have a chance to saddle up soon. Sylvain mentioned some key features on the bike such as the massive pivots (about 40mm) which will make sure that there is very little flex in the rear. The bike also features hydro-formed tubing with a VPP set-up which sounds very interesting. Now if I only had a photo…

The show also featured a large marketplace where you could pick up parts or even complete bikes for a great deal. Speaking with some of the retailers, they were also pleased with the show. It seems people are a bit more free with their disposable income this year and are more willing to spend some of it. After watching all the new bikes heading out the doors I quickly lost count!

Below are a few photos of the rest of the show.

I was in a total haze when I saw all these forks! Picture an entire wall of every fork you can think of. Imagine  the possibilities.

Well it was a great weekend in Toronto. If you’re around next year, stop by and check out the show, and while your here stay a while and enjoy the city. The venue is right in the middle of town so you can also catch a show or if you’re up for a small drive you can also hit Joyride 150.

Cheers!

Introducing the 2010 Opus Nelson 1 (MSRP $4160.00 CDN), the much anticipated freeride bike that has been 2 years in the making. With a full 7-inches of travel front and back, this machine is purpose built. A floating shock incorporated in a VPP-style suspension manages the rear travel and a Totem coil fork up front with a onepointfive steering tube will keep you on the path, what ever that path may be.

With full head of steam on your hands you’re gonna need to stop this beast so Opus decided to use Avid Code brakes front and back, with a 8″ rotor up front and a 7″ rotor in back, giving you just enough stopping power to tame that wild beast. The Nelson is tricked out with SRAM components including a Truvativ Holzeller 36T crank, SRAM X9 trigger shifter, and SRAM X9 long cage rear derailleur. Seat post, stem, and bar are all FSA Gravity-Lite components. Novatec hubs keep things rolling (135mm through axle rear, 20mm front) and the hoops are Mavic’s 28mm wide EN521 32 hole rims. Geax Neuron 230 TNT tires provide the rubber to meet the trail.

Taking a closer look at the Nelson you can see this machine is built for abuse. With large, oversized, manipulated top and down tubes and a one and a half inch head tube, this front triangle can take any abuse that bike parks and downhill slopes will dish out.  The folks at Opus (Quebec, Canada) really spent time figuring out what their customers wanted in a freeride bike. Most of the initial product testing was done in BC with many tweaks made as a result of those sessions. Taking a quick look at this bike you can see the time was well spent considering durability and ease of maintenance.

Case in point: the oversized rear end allows you to use a 12×135mm through axle rear wheel which will save a bit of weight compared to a 12×150mm but also noticeably stiffens up the rear triangle. The use of oversized bearings on the pivot points, along with the oversized brace between the left and right seat stays, contribute to the overall strength and stability of the rear triangle and suspension. Up front you have the 180mm travel, 40mm stanchion Totem coil fork combined with a one and a half inch steering tube which takes care of front end stability and strength.

As with any FS mountain bike, getting the Nelson dialed in requires setting the front and rear suspension for your weight and riding style. On the front end, the Totem Coil has Mission control settings and Dual Flow rates that need to be customized. Using the guide provided on the Rockshox website, I started off with their recommendation of 4-4-1, and then went from there for my personal taste of a slightly more plush ride (I hit many rock gardens and I need a softer compression for that). I ultimately found that my low speed (silver knob) setting was 6 clicks and since I’m on the heavier side (195lbs) I ended up with 14 clicks rather than the 12 that they recommended as a starting point.

Now it’s time to set the rear suspension sag. The medium-sized Nelson comes with a 400 lb spring which may sound like a lot but for those who are heavier than 200 lbs, you’ll need at least a 450 or 500 lb spring. Once the sag is set at about 25 - 30% (preloading the coil), you can work on rebound. Here you’re looking to set the shock so that the bike won’t spring up too fast. Start with a little rebound and hit a few bumps in rapid succession. If you feel like you’re getting bucked off the back of the bike, keep adding clicks until the ride smooths out. You’ll know when you go to far when the rear end starts to lose travel over each bump.

Descending

Well, once the suspension is dialed in, the slack 66 degree head tube, 68 degree seat tube, and fairly generous 50mm stem will place you in a comfortable position, ready to roll! Now with numbers like these this bike is meant to do one thing very well: point down and go. The great thing about the Nelson is just how well the bike descends and I found that the faster the bike started to go, the better it handled. Keeping up speed on the Nelson seems to be the trick to make it work its magic.

One comment that I made with a few of my crew on a photo shoot was how easy it was to take the bike over drops. I found that 3 to 6 foot drops were nothing for the Nelson. Just to give you an idea, picture yourself going over a sidewalk curb at medium speed - that’s how the Nelson felt on the 3 to 6 footers. For the brave, 10 to 12 foot drops are actually even more fun. Taking a look at the drop pic below you can see that the bike just soaks up the impact like it’s nothing, If you look carefully you can also see that the bike used all its travel on this particular jump. Hey, when you’re a freerider you learn how to use everything you’ve got - in this case I had 7 inches! Nailing jumps like the one below was simple and easy but with a bike like this you have to remember to keep your weight slightly behind the bottom bracket. Due to the oversized construction I found that off big hits the rear triangle sometimes brushed on my calf if my knees were tucked in a bit.

Pictured below is the 10ft drop sequence.

Here is a short video on the OPUS Nelson 1 at Kelso’s DH run.

Cornering / Railing

At low speeds this bike did fairly well cornering, however the slack head angle would probably cause the steering to feel a bit heavy if it weren’t for the wide 28-inch bars. At speed the bike behaved totally different and allowed me to use hip motion to change direction rather than steering input. With the wider bar and short stem the Nelson placed me in a perfectly centered position to allow for rapid changes in direction. Hitting berms and twisty sections between trees was a breeze and fun.

Upgrades

Having some time to play with the bike I managed to do some part swapping and found a few upgrades that would make this great bike even better. For starters, the wheels that come with the Nelson are decent and work well however I found that slapping on a set of Mavic Crossmax SX wheels with a set of Maxxis Ardents (2.40 instead of 2.30) made the bike stick so much better in the corners and the lighter mass of the wheels made this come out of corners a bit quicker. I also found myself wishing I had my Crankbrothers Joplin mounted on this bike so I could change the seatpost height without stopping. Up front a Hammerschmidt would give you a granny gear as well as the overdrive for pointing downhill. Plus the added clearance of a Hammerschmidt would also be a benefit when hitting big obstacles.

Overall

For my first time out on a freeride bike I would have to give a big thumbs up for the Nelson. It’s a fun ride, a solid build, and a no nonsense set-up that doesn’t ever harsh the flow. The frame is solid and the choice of front and rear suspension gave me a comfortable ride with no issues. If I had $4200 CDN to spend on a bike I would certainly give the Nelson serious consideration. If your budget isn’t quite that high, OPUS also has the Nelson 2 which is downgraded a bit with X-7 shifting, Husselfelt cranks, and a Domain fork but at just $2960.00 CDN. Sweet.

Specs from OPUS:

Nelson 1
Frame:      7005-T6 Aluminium triple butted alloy 150mm travel VPP
Color:       White, gloss
Shock:      Fox DHX 4.0  8,75 X 2,75
Fork:        Rock Shox Totem coil - MCTL, 180mm 1.5″ steerer galv. finish
Headset:  FSA OrbitT Z 1.5 Deepcup Semi Integrated
Bar:         FSA Gravity-Lite 710 9-4, 25MM rise, 31.8
Stem:       FSA Gravity-Lite 1.5 STEM 60mm
Grips:       Velo VLG975 lock-on
Shifting:   Sram trigger X9
Brakes:     Avid Code - 203-185mm galv finish, 203-185mm rotors
BB:           Truvativ Howitzer BB
Cranks:    Truvativ Holzeller 36T, galv. finish
Rear D.:    SRAM X9 long cage
Cassette: Sram PG 950 11.28T 9 spd.
Chain:       Sram PC951, Powerlink
Wheels:    Mavic EN521 Black, Disc 32 hole Novatec 992-991 Black - gold
Tires:        Geax Neuron 230 TNT
Saddle:     Selle San Marco Ischia, black
Seatpost: FSA Gravity -Lite SP 31.6mm, black

Just a quick thanks to my bud Ryan for helping with the video as well as the nice folks at Opus for sending the bike over for allowing me to hit the slopes for my test.

After much anticipation I finally received my new frame set for this year - the Opus Maadh Limited. It was love at first sight as I removed the frame from its packaging - truly stunning. The original graphics were created by Alec Stephani who took his inspiration from an earlier work of his on canvas. The attention to detail on this frame takes it to a level I haven’t seen before.

The Maadh frame at 6.8 pounds is made from hydroformed 7005-T6 aluminum with 150mm of VPP suspension. This machine also had improvements over last years models with new upper and lower 3D links as well as an improved suspension path that isolates the rider’s input to the bike’s suspension travel. These are but a few of the highlights that Opus has done to improve there Maadh from last year.

I built up my Opus Maadh Limited frame with a Fox RP23 in the rear and a Float 32 RLC 140mm up front, top shelf components in the cockpit, Raceface Deus seatpost, Selle Italia saddle, and Next bars for the steering. I also chose the Raceface Atlas crank and BB for power, Sram’s X-9 shifters and rear derailleur and a Shimano XT top pull front derailleur to finish off the shifting. I also splurged on Gore’s RideOn shifting cables for good measure. To stop this machine I opted to continue using Hayes Stroker Ace’s - I love the way these stop using 7″ rotor up front and 6″ on the rear. To keep this bike moving along smoothly I am rolling on Mavic’s Crossmax ST wheels, or depending on the ride, Mavic Crossline wheels. Finally, where the rubber meets the trail I’m rocking Specialized Eskar S-Works 2.3 tires or Geax Sagurao 2.3 tires.

I initially set up the suspension with 25% sag in the rear, being careful not to run too much rebound. After a few rides I found for my riding style I kept the Propedal on and set at level 2. With this setup, hitting the trails with the Maadh I noticed that the bike steers and changes direction quickly. Going through twisty sections of rooted forest, the Maadh1 tracked well without wandering. At my weight of 200lbs wet I didn’t feel too much frame flex when seated, but I did note some off the saddle when climbing, which did annoy me a bit. Going down rock gardens was fun and predictable and the Maadh1 allowed me to change lines rather than plowing through them (I personally don’t recommend that).The good thing about long legged trail bikes is that you can use them for almost anything: they climb well, they can go over almost anything, and the best part is that you can do it all day long.

If you want a beefier set up, this frame will allow you to use 160mm front fork and a 20mm axle. As the bike stands with the Crossmax ST’s the bike weighs 27.1lb which is respectable for a long legged trail bike. Adding 20mm wheels like the Crossline and a 20mm fork like a PIKE, LYRIC, or Fox 36 will add about 3lb bringing the bike into the 30lb range, but will allow you to hit some steeper drops and bigger drops.

As you can tell I’m pretty stoked about my new rig - I can’t wait to keep you folks updated on this fine new ride through the spring and summer!