Heard the one about the Canadian, Englishman, two Americans and the South African? No, nor me, but here’s a look at a few bikes from these far and not so far flung places and all under one roof in a small town in Germany. The big thing with this years show, as it has been for a while now with bikes, is refinement across the board and if it wasn’t for the introduction of another wheel size, well, it’s got folk talking hasn’t it? The only hard part about the bike market these days is figuring which one is right for you. Here’s a little of what we thought was rad from Norco, Orange, Intense, Ibis and Morewood Bikes…

Words: Olly Forster | Photos: Nathan Carvell

This brightly coloured machine is Norco’s Range Killer B-1 bike equipped with 160mm of travel front and rear with the all new 650B wheels and a smothering of Sram, Fox and Race Face and as you can hopefully see from the photo, looks pretty rad!

With the new Gyro 29er whipping up a storm amongst the Five loving trail community, Orange are exploring just how far you can push 29er frame design by building this crazy prototype. With a whopping (for a 29er!) 140mm of travel, this purple beast is entering uncharted territory, but will it work? Running big wheels inevitably throws a few curve balls at bicycle designers and one of their biggest issues is of course the amount of travel that will actually work within a given and to an extent, predetermined space. Fair-play to Orange though, they make good looking protos don’t they?

The M9 is the embodiment of what most of us think of when the thought of ‘Intense’ and ‘bikes’ pops into our heads and for good reason. Intense started out producing monocoque US made DH frames and still continue to do this today, but when will see a factory team? Am I the only one who misses the once iconic red and yellow team of old and what about a carbon DHer Intense? I would’ve asked, but this was a busy booth and with a million other things to look at…

Creative genius or stuck in the mud? Jeff Steber’s made some of the most beautiful bikes ever and is no doubt working on new ones as you read this, but for how long will Intense be a ‘made in the USA’ brand? I’m seeing less and less of these iconic bikes at the trails and races, which is a massive shame and I’m sure the carbon bikes are manufactured overseas and they’ve also made some of their aluminium frames abroad before as well. This is a quandary for a lot of ‘western’ brands who still manufacture in house and battle the urge for cheaper far-east production. It’s a tough old world, but there’s always more props for the guy who sticks to his guns and doesn’t jump on the bandwagon. Rock on Intense!

How nice? Very!!! This is Intense’s latest trail shredder, the (fully carbon) Carbine 275 and if the name isn’t a massive giveaway, it’s got that new wheel size everyone’s talking about. What’s our take? From talking to various industry bods, this is what your bike will have on in the very near future and for good reason – blending the benefits of both 29 and 26 inches, the 27.5 rolls really well and is less of a hindrance for frame designers and riders looking to have fun with the trail, but that’s enough of that. The Carbine 275 is every thing the discerning rider would want and then some…

Fluro Orange M9 anyone? Yes please! If there was a fashion related theme with regards to bike colour, it’s certainly all about the fluro and the matte. Intense have one of the best custom colour programs out there, which is certainly one of the benefits of being manufactured in house. The heritage, the options and the sheer cool vibe that surrounds Intense is an alluring one and one that I hope continues into the future.

Now this is a bike brand on the move right and it looks like they are capitalizing on their bikes popularity with the rider who like to attack rather than tickle the trail. The Ibis Mojo HD in full on coil sprung mode.

I know quite a few DH riders who are ditching their ‘big bikes’ in favor of just running one bike, this being a 140-160mm AM bike and getting a coil shock for those days when you wear a full face is also a growing trend. Modern AM bikes define versatility and in the right hands, are as capable if not more so than some DH bikes in quite a few gravity fed scenarios…

Should we say “looks like a Morewood” the next time Trek release a new bike? The man with a plan to fight for his patent (that has apparently been used without his permission?) is sat in the background, but what were interested in is what’s looking right at you. This is the Morewood Sukuma and is ‘the’ bike Morewood have been gagging to release and for good reason. The DW designed Split Pivot frame packs 150mm of travel and around a geometry mix which screams fun!

Air sprung DH bikes are slowly gathering pace, but have still some some way to go when instilling a good degree of consumer confidence that reverberates back to riders choosing air springs over the standard issue coil. It’s not just consumers, but pro riders too! Bos don’t make your average coil shock and the same can be said for their air shocks too. This is the now world cup proven Morewood Makula and equipped with the finest gravity ready air shock tech currently available.

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