For anyone out there who wants to see what N-Zizzle has to offer then check out this video from Dystopia Media and Vorb.com. Dreamtrack looks like fun.

NOTE: The video is Quicktime and is rather large (90mb) so dont give up on it and let it download it's pretty little self.

Posted by Seb

Ben - it's scary to know he looks after kids

Halloween is when we celebrate our pagan heritage by dressing up, getting drunk, and trying extra hard to get laid with a nurse/prostitute/cheerleader. It is all a bit of fun, that is until you get some selfish bastard like Ben (pictured above) who ruins everyones fun by parading around with his favourite toy on display and wearing a smile that looks awfully like he enjoys smearing himself in his own muddy mess.

If anyone has a better photo of themselves looking even more wrong than Ben then post the link in the comment box below and the most wrong will win the last Exile Bicycle Gang t-shirt.

Judging will based based on three categories. 1) How politially incorrect the outfit is 2) How much your mother would be disappointed and 3) How much you make us wanna have our eyeballs skull f**ked out after seeing your costume picture.

Don't forget to leave your email in the comment box so we can report you to the sex crimes department of the RCMP, sorry i meant contact you if you are a winner.

SEB

SAINT REAR MECH REVIEW

“Strength is more than just survival. It’s performance under fire. It’s toughness and precision, combined in a groundbreaking new rear derailleur design. It’s the power to bounce back from boulder hits. Log scrapes. Botched landings. Flying dismounts. Because risk is part of the game.” – Shimano Saint website

GRRRRR…gnarly words indeed. But if you read between the lines what they are saying is if you plough your way through rock gardens rather than picking your way through, or if you indulge in circus style balancing stunts on your mountain bike, or you like to huck beyond your abilities, then this derailleur is for YOU.

I had one of these mechs on my bike when I bought it at the start of the summer and recently I found myself back in the market for a rear mech, and you know what? I bought another. You see on the very last day of the Whistler bike park my mech finally broke. “So what?” you ask. Well firstly, that’s amazing because whilst almost everyone I know has gone through mech after mech, my battered Saint just wouldn’t break. “It did though didn’t it?” I here you say. Yes it broke but only a bit. It wasn’t the kind of break that ends your riding day prematurely, it was the kind of breakage that means its done, and sure, it will need replacing but only once you get home, after a full days riding.

Sure it’s heavy, but lets think this through a minute. This product is not aimed at racers or cross country riders its aimed at riders who aren’t concerned about chasing tenths of a second but chasing as many shuttle runs they can fit into a weekend, and to do this you need components that will hold up under fire all the time rather than send you running to the local bike shop looking for replacements.

Yes, it is expensive but it’s cheaper to buy one mech that will last rather than buying several mechs that will bend, snap and break. My original one had done at least half a million vertical metres in five months by the time it let go.

This mech will not be for everyone because the main problem with it is that you need to buy the Saint rear hub (or a Mavic with conversion kit) to go with it. This is because instead of mounting to a traditional derailleur hanger, the Saint rear derailleur has been designed to bolt directly to the oversize axle of the Saint rear hub. This mounting point is far stronger and further serves to eliminate bent and twisted hangers that will also end your day prematurely.

The only real downside I discovered with using this mech is the kooky backwards/reverse/up-down-round-and-round/or whatever they call it shifting. Shifting down is done with the thumb and shifting up is achieved by using the index finger. This can take a while to get used to. I really dont think this is the best way for it to be configured because its more likely that you will need to rapidly shift up alot of gears rather than down.

So to conclude, it’s expensive, it requires you buy even more expensive components to go with it and it’s heavy. Would I buy another when my second dies? Yes I would. I would because it is dependable, reliable and durable, all the ingredients for a great product.

Neither Lance Armstrong, Matthew McConaughey, Dale Holmes or these two are gay but bits of Slovenia is

It truly has been a slow week for news so my apologies for making this roundup sound more like an episode of Entertainment Tonight mixed with the Radio 4 Shipping Forecast.

This week Lance Armstrong was accused of being a bit ‘bright and flowery’ with thespian friend Matthew McConaughey – a man once busted by the police for smoking a joint whilst playing the bongo drums naked in his own home. When asked whether they're gay, Lance Alwaysstrong joked, “We tried it. Wasn't for us."

Dale Holmes announced he is retiring from competitive BMX racing this week. Dale Holmes was also thought to be a bit fruity back in the day when he got a rainbow tattooed on his bicep after winning the UCI BMX Worlds at Brighton in 1996. Poor Dale Hommes did not realize how much the world champ stripes looked like the internationally recognized sign for butt pirates. Dale is now happily married to a personal fitness instructor named Rachel just in case you were wondering.

The 2007 UCI World Cup schedule was just been announced. To many top riders joy Maribor, Slovenia is back on the tour. According to http://www.sloveniaforgaytravelers.com “Gay people are no exception when it comes to the Slovenians' love of the outdoors, so one of fastest-growing gay groups in the country is its gay outdoors club, Out In Slovenija.” With a little bit of planning, you might be able to coordinate your visit to Slovenia with one of their outings, and get a real insider's view of the country.

Decline magazine has just released its special collectors edition. It’s partly special because it comes with two different covers, but its mostly special because there is not one single mention of Duncan Riffle. What has Duncan Dribble done to fall out of favour?

And finally, a study published in the summer 2006 Journal of Park and Recreation Administration (Volume 24, Number 12) titled "A Comparative Study of Impacts to Mountain Bike Trails in Five Common Ecological Regions of the Southwestern U.S." takes a close look at the environmental impacts of mountain biking. Researchers measured trail erosion and other impacts on 31 trails used for mountain biking in the southwestern U.S. The study concludes that, "certain impacts to mountain bike trails, especially width, are comparable or less than hiking or multiple-use trails, and significantly less than impacts to equestrian or off-highway vehicle trails." Source: http://www.imba.com. Strangely the report makes no mention of the impact that cottagers make to trails, what with all their bush beating antics.

SEB KEMP