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believes confidence allows aggression, and this
geometry inspires confidence. It’s a virtuous circle.
after much testing, Cy is of the opinion that this
geometry works no matter what level you ride at,
or where you ride. It’s not a case of copy and paste
though, as Cy has learnt the same numbers won’t
work for all bikes.
the second part of the Loop of truth is a piece of
classic Peak District. Jumble road does what it says
on the tin — a wide streak of jumbled rock, some
loose, some fixed. there’s no discernible easy line,
forcing the bike to work hard to eat up the bumps
and showing up any weakness in suspension design
or set-up. One relatively new addition to the toolbox
for Cy is the use of a Quarq ShockWiz for set-up.
How a bike feels is important, but having data to go
alongside it can help unravel why things feel the way
they do.
at the bottom of the trail it’s an immediate about-
turn to ride straight back up what you’ve just ridden
down. It’s here the subtleties of bottom bracket
height, crank length and pedalling technique are
brought into play. the Peak is famous for its lumpyclimbs, and while super-low bottom brackets might
be fun in the turns, they trip up quickly when
your pedals are bashing every ledge as you try and
winch up and over a series of rocky steps. this trail
helps find a balance between fun on the downs and
practicality on the climbs.
Not so long ago, choosing a bike for riding in
the Peak District was as much about durability as
capability. Grit has become synonymous with riding
in this part of the uK. Granular, scouring, wearing
and all-pervasive, it’s the enemy of moving partsThe peak disTricT has
shaped noT only The
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of The company
Rooty sections turn
the spotlight on
traction and control