From Avid:

Enduro racer Curtis Keene has ridden trails all over the world. From dry, desert rock to deep forest singletrack, Curtis says it’s all about getting after it and experiencing what’s out there. Avid brakes help Curtis ride fast and win races—but more importantly they put powerful, reliable performance right at his fingertips every time he rides. So he can think less about his bike and more about Chasing Trail.

Riding in Sedona with the SRAM/Truvativ staff. Oh yes.

The final secret spilled at the time was that of the launch of an entire range of signature ‘Blackbox’ handlebars aimed at providing a complete and rounded line with an offering for every rider, from ‘full-bore downhiller’ to ‘singletrack hunter’.

Tour operator Western Spirit did a splendid job of loading bikes, guiding and putting on one hell of a spread every time we stopped for food.

If you’re going to pick a company to put together a collection of pro rider designed products then you couldn’t really go wrong with SRAM. They have, we think it’s fair to say, a reasonably all-encompassing range of talent at their disposition after all. SRAM, or rather their sub-brand Truvativ, went about cherry-picking the riders for the job and came up with a who’s who of mountain bike wizardry: Danny Hart assigned to downhill bar duty; Jerome Clementz given the task of balancing a bar for his enduro and all-round trail riding needs; Stevie Smith to give the DH bar line-up balance; and with other selected pro riders’ signature bars to come later in the year.

Getting some trail time in on the new Jerome Clementz bars. Can’t be faulted at this early stage.

There are three different signature bars launched today, which are as follows (all quotes from SRAM):

Danny Hart signature Truvativ bars (AM/FR/DH) 

“He’s fast. He’s loose. He turns the impossible into the ride of a lifetime.”

No part of this statement from Truvativ can be denied, Danny’s Champery World Championship winning run will forever stand as testament. With Danny’s input, Truvativ have designed a bar that “delivers the 25mm rise that he needs” – no spacers under the direct mount stem called for as he previously used to boost bar height. With 9º backsweep and 5º upsweep they are reasonably laid-back (Race Face Atlas for example have 8º) but not wildly swept in either direction. They’re 7050 Al alloy and 780mm wide, plenty strong enough and with space to chop them down should you wish.

Price: £64.99

Jerome Clementz signature Truvativ bars (Trail/AM) 

“He’s an all-mountain all-the-time legend whose name is synonymous with mountain bike enduro.”

Clementz is the main man of the enduro racing movement and his apparent domination of the format (will he win the EWS this weekend?) along with his clear love of the sport and riding in destinations worldwide have combined in the making of this bar. Carbon fibre, 750mm width and 20mm rise are sensible dimensions and material for the bars’ intended usage. I rode these on my bike at the Trail House and they felt good with 7º backsweep and 5º upsweep, making for a slightly more aggressive ride than Hart’s offering.

Price: £129.99

Stevie Smith signature Truvativ bars (AM/FR/DH) 

“Stevie lives in a place where the trees can swallow you whole. His style requires a heads-up approach.”

Steve Smith’s bars take the aggressive angles of Clementz’s with identical angles of 7º backsweep and 5º upsweep, bringing him forward on the bike compared to Hart’s relaxed offering but in the same 7050 Al alloy. 30mm rise also helps to keep “his hands forward, his head up, and his eyes focused.”

Price: £64.99 (available in black or silver options)

No matter where we are in the world, every time we ride our mountain bikes we feel the anticipation of a new story. Each ride brings new sensations dictated by weather, riding partners, bike performance, trail conditions, trail choice, intensity of the ride and this changes the way we feel. When we travel to a far-away place these elements are heightened and the adventures intensify.

Our trip to the Dolomites was definitely no exception. Each day we’d head out from Cortina and venture high into the impressive limestone mountains that reflected light like nothing I’d seen before. The trails were rugged and rocky with some exploratory hike-a-biking and a lot of drifting. Many were built as part of the First World War, which added a powerful emotion to our rides. We also spent a night at the ridiculously perched Rifugio Nuvolau mountain hut, a spot that I’ll never forget.

Tyler Morland getting his hike on.

We started the long days and in some cases long-nights trekking trough the top of the Boot, breathing in Milan, soaking in Venice and then shooting up through the Prosecco region of Italy – to Cortina. Imagine travelling through one of the most beautiful countries in the world and then getting dropped off in Cortina; the word stunning is an understatement. Our goal was two fold – make our way up to one of the highest Refugio’s in Italy and two – discover some perfect pieces of singletrack along the way. We managed both but not with out some bumps along the way and a few photos to tell the story.

What a place to be riding bikes.

Italy has a way of eating and drinking that we can all get accustom to, and by fate we happened upon a monthly party where the Cortina locals graciously shared a little to much of the local beverage. The next day was taxing but we suffered through and managed to pull off a lift-assisted ride that hurt so good… With this leg we ended up at the pristine Nuvolau where we ate, drank and general figured the scene out. We poked our heads into the shooting galleries from WW1 and got a little lost in the trenches…literally.

Another day, another bike ride.

With it’s pristine roads, Cortina is best known for the Giro d’Italia. We chose to take this polished reputation and ride away from it with the newest of trail-ready bikes that you can do anything and go anywhere with. It seems like we only scratched the surface of this electric amphitheater. I guess we’ll just have to go back and ride a little deeper into the mountains next time.

Riders:

Chris Winter – Big Mountain adventure - www.ridebig.com
Tyler Morland – SRAM – www.sram.com

Specialized SRAM Enduro Series #1 – Treuchtlingen from Lars Veenstra on Vimeo.

“The first race of the 2013 Specialized SRAM Enduro Series took place in Treuchtlingen, Germany. On the 28th of april, world class riders Anneke Beerten (Specialized Racing Enduro Team) and Nicolas Lau (Cube Action Team) showed they were in good form by winning with a comfortable margin.

Filmed, edited and produced by Lars Veenstra Media Productions, powered by THIRTY7EVEN on behalf of Racement GmbH.”

This is what we had to deal with at the 2013 SRAM Trail House in Sedona, Arizona at the unveiling of the new Pike fork and SRAM’s new wheel range. Tough times!

Sedona is worth a visit. If you fancy a bit of sunshine, endless dusty tech trails and strange experiences with the locals, try www.westernspirit.com for a trip.

Today saw the entrants practising the stages and then race in a ‘prologue’ stage, which was essentially a short urban sprint around the alleyways, down some steps and even along a section of beach. This pre-cursor to the main attraction is a staple at the Superenduro series races and does a great job of bringing in the crowds and showcasing the sport.

We’ll have a full report after the race tomorrow but for now here are some photos from today by Ben Winder:

The people of Superenduro subject 1: Giulio from Endura Italy. Loving the trails and enjoying hanging out at the event.
Photo © Ben Winder

The people of Superenduro subject 2: Simon from SRAM. Loving the downhills and his brand new pimped-out Specialized 29er.
Photo © Ben Winder

The people of Superenduro subject 3: Manuel and Valentina of Life Cycle. These guys have helped us get to the race – thanks! They are happy and smiling as ever. Look out for top results tomorrow – they were both top 5 in the prologue.
Photo © Ben Winder

Follow the signs for pain. And great trails once you’ve made it to the top.
Photo © Ben Winder

Sestri Levante’s trails range from flowing to technical to high speeds through open rock gardens above the sea… Quite some place and with a great atmosphere to boot.
Photo © Ben Winder

Teaboys on tour. Ali Todd (pictured) and Ben Winder (pictures) are here in Italy to expand their pizza-based horizons and to help with the testing of bikes.
Photo © Ben Winder

This is a fantastically well run series with all the infrastructure in place to allow further growth.
Photo © Ben Winder

Plenty of spectators turned up to watch the high speed racing through the streets this evening.
Photo © Ben Winder

The prologue stage was fast, short and a leg burner.
Photo © Ben Winder

Keeping it upright on the shiny cobbles wasn’t an easy task and more than one rider overcooked it big time. This rider got through clean and fast though.
Photo © Ben Winder

Oh Italy… We’re feeling quite lucky to be here.
Photo © Ben Winder

Just another day at the Superenduro. These events are open to all and we’ve seen everything from a carbon 29er hardtail to 180mm travel freeride bikes today, with riders ranging equally as much in shape and size. Get yourself entered and make one of these events a holiday to remember, go on!
Photo © Ben Winder

Check out the Superenduro website for more information and plenty of videos and photos.

Last week I reported from the 2013 SRAM Trail House on the return, or more specifically the total reinvention, of RockShox’s Pike fork – classically the hardcore trail rider’s faithful companion and a product that has been brought back to cater for the emerging scene of adventure hunting, enduro racing mountain bikers.

SRAM’s new Rail 50 front wheel.

Out in the Arizonan desert many strange and inexplicable events take place on a regular basis, including power vortexes opening out of nowhere and tie dyed hippies vanishing into thin air (read about this in my travel guide to Sedona, coming soon). The one thing that did make a lot of sense during my visit was that of the introduction of an entire range of trail-friendly wheels to SRAM’s product line.

Having already dabbled in the mountain bike wheel world (with the Rise carbon hoops), it was only a matter of time before Jesse Jakobait, SRAM’s full-time wheel design engineer, came out with several other offerings to cover further bases. In the haze that was an early morning jet lagged product presentation I was most impressed to find out that Jesse, along with product manager Bastien Donze, had been working on the wheels for the last three years – a considerable amount of time and surely a sign that they must have the wheels honed. Having chatted over beers I knew that Jesse pretty much defines ‘hardcore trail rider’, with a history of pro downhill and cross-country racing and ridiculous endurance riding feats he is the all-round mountain biker and with an engineering CV including several years at another major bike brand I was keen to find out what innovation he could bring to the table.

The terrain in Sedona certainly isn’t easy on bikes so if anywhere’s going to be a good test of the wheels’ integrity it’s there.

But are these wheels revolutionary? 

As much as the marketing will tell us all that these hoops are set to revolutionise the sport, the wheel has been around for quite some time now so it would be foolish to expect a complete game-changer. However, SRAM’s offerings have been refined and then refined again, resulting in a line of 26”, 650b and 29” wheels that, above all else, announce themselves as being…sensible. These wheels have been designed with the intention of being well balanced between weight, strength and the ability to source spares. Read on.

The options

SRAM are now offering three wheel ranges – Rise, Rail and Roam. The latter two were the newly unveiled options so we’ll focus on those for now. The essentials: Roam 60 is a high spec, high price carbon wheel that is aimed at the hardcore rider, it’s “light enough for long climbs yet strong enough for the toughest enduro races” according to SRAM; then there’s the Roam 50 which is the alloy-rimmed version with all the ambition of its bigger brother; and the Rail 50 which “can withstand the most aggressive all-mountain/enduro riding while setting a new benchmark for lightweight in the category.”

SOLO uno Spoke…

The feature that I like the most is the single spoke length in each size of wheel. By offsetting the rim SRAM have been able to work with one single (straight pull) spoke length for both front and back, left and right sides of the wheels. This, of course, has been done before in various ways, but it highlights SRAM’s approach for their 2014 ranges and their desire to lower the number of spares that both rider and retailer need to carry.

The rim

Engineer and test riders have worked a lot on getting the rim as minimal as possible where they can without sacrificing any strength. In effect what they have done is to analyse impacts and stresses on the rim through computer modelling and also, of course, by battering prototypes through piles of rocks around their base in Colorado.

Apparently they have approached their wheels with a view to making end products that are “not too light”, especially where the carbon versions are concerned it must be tempting to go lighter and lighter, but as Jesse pointed out, they’d rather use the advantages of carbon fibre to make something of similar weight but much stronger than something much lighter and less strong.

They have also opted to ‘go wide’ on all their rims, which they have tagged ‘WIDE ANGLE’… As they put it, “This [wider] profile holds shape better, preventing tyre roll and giving you superior comfort and traction around corners.” So for their trail rims (Roam 50/60) they’ve gone for 21mm (distance between the tyre hooks) and for the more aggressive Rail 50 they’ve gone for 23mm, which is on the wide end of the spectrum for each rim’s designated discipline.

Out on the trails putting the wheels through their paces. We’ll need more time on these to come to a proper conclusion though.

The rear hub

Inside the SRAM branded hubs is the patented (DT Swiss) Star Ratchet system, a proven system which has had its issues ironed out (previously they had some issues with mud, but recent incarnations have improved) resulting in quality, weather-proof internal workings. Riding in the Sedona desert I certainly had no issues with the SRAM hubs, but then a two-day test is never going to be conclusive.

The new XD driver body allows for use of the wide XX1 cassette and “provides an improved interface” as well as still allowing for use of 9/10 speed cassettes. All three of the new wheels are available with the XD driver as are they all UST compatible.

SIDE SWAP is SRAM’s answer to a quick and simple axle conversion system – a cap either side of the hub that can be swapped to cater for all axle sizes. Not revolutionary but a nice touch and another box ticked for SRAM.

Out on the trail 

As I’ve already said, a two-day test ride is never going to fully prove a set of wheels, but out on the dusty, rocky Arizonan trails I was more than happy with the 26” Rail 50s that were fitted to the shiny Devinci Dixon carbon I was riding. Quick to engage when I put the hammer down (in a failed attempt to catch up with our guide Lars Romig), stiff but not to the extent of feeling completely rigid (there’s a little ‘compliance’ as I heard it put) and I definitely gave them the full ‘smashing-into-rocks’ test on many occasions without any dents appearing.

Verdict? I’m not going to give one on the wheels’ performance as that would be ludicrous after a couple of days. However, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by SRAM’s apparent drive to reduce the number of spare parts and ‘standards’ not only with the new wheels but across their 2014 ranges that were on display at the Trail House.

As a final side note, Roam 50/60 and Rail 50 are available in all three wheel sizes.

Sedona landscape. A visit is highly recommended – we’ll have more about the riding in a MTB Travel Guide soon.

Prices…

Ah yes, the prices. Oh so easy to overlook when in a slightly jet lagged state, although I was woken from my daze when I heard the figures.

Here we go then (deep breath):

Roam 60: Front £749.99 Rear £949.99
Roam 50: Front £369.99 Rear £449.99
Rail 50: Front £369.99 Rear £449.99

Big investments indeed, but is the price justified? What do you think? Let us know below.

We’ll have one last product launch story coming from the Trail House in several weeks’ time, but look out for the MTB Travel Guide to Sedona in the meantime.

www.sram.com

The world famous Pike, ladies and gentlemen, is back in town.

The Pike is alive – SRAM Trail House part 1

Known as the hardcore trail rider’s fork, the objective of the original RockShox Pike was to fulfil the needs of riders who like to ride a bit of everything, to pedal up and thrash back down without destroying their bikes. So it was pretty much aimed at being a fork for real mountain bikers who rode in real terrain.

2013 RockShox Pike.

The first Pike was released back in the early part of the 2000s and it found its way onto plenty of bikes in its time.

Traditionally each year there would be developments and the Pike always stayed a little ahead of the field with innovative features and all the right intentions for a breed of rider that was emerging, someone between a downhiller and a standard trail rider, who liked to get some air, smash through turns and race their mates on the descents.

As with all products there were a few issues along the way as various incarnations of the Pike emerged but generally problems were minimal and easily repaired. Hell, I know plenty of ‘hardcore’ riders in the Alps who still have a set of Pikes on their everyday bikes now.

Alas, RockShox laid the Pike to rest a few years ago.

However, the aforementioned emerging breed of rider has suddenly started to flourish with the current enduro racing revolution, and there couldn’t really be a better time in the sport’s history for a fork with the intentions of the Pike. For 2013 the hardcore trail rider’s fork is back, albeit in an entirely different guise (“17 new heads, 14 new handles in its time” – remember that classic from Trigger in Only Fools and Horses?)…

What’s new with the 2013 Pike?

It may have had an entire overhaul – an internal redesign and the facelift of all facelifts (in SRAM’s words, it’s been “murdered out”) – but in keeping with the original Pike ethos, the 2013 model is “designed specifically for new-school trail riders”. The modern rider demands a lot of his/her equipment and a fork must be buttery smooth, strong, stiff, reliable and not too heavy. We MTB public do ask a lot of our equipment but, having ridden with them around the unforgiving Arizonan trails, I think it’s fair to say that so too do the SRAM staff, and if the new Pike can stand up to their punishments then it is surely set for success.

RockShox developer Jeremiah Boobar explaining the workings of the new Pike.

The 2013 Pike puts all of RockShox’s top selling points into one package. All the buzzwords are in there: Rapid Recovery, Charger Damper, Maxle Lite and plenty more. Marketing tags aside, there are some really neat features and I actually have to commend the designers on one or two moves that should help the consumer in the long run.

Impressions and the stuff that makes the Pike’s world go up and down

The idea of RockShox’s Rapid Recovery is that the fork sits high in its travel for the majority of riding. Over successive bumps the wheel tracks the ground efficiently and the plusher initial part of the suspension stoke is utilised as much as possible. So in a nutshell, the fork doesn’t pack-down under repeated hits – they’ve sorted the damping out then. There’s nothing worse than a bike that pitches over the front, lowering confidence, so for the idea behind the marketing tag RockShox score points. It’s a little more advanced than ‘fast rebound’ (as some riders have tagged it), although giving it the car park test there is a notable difference to a ‘normal’ fork. I wasn’t entirely convinced at first but having been reassured by the SRAM crew I headed out on a ride.

Sedona singletrack is dusty and harsh with plenty of sharp rocks, great for testing suspension.

The trails around the test location of Sedona, Arizona are plentiful and combine wonderful flow with brutal tech. Sedona is also officially in the desert and, less officially, a site of many power ‘vortexes’, so strange things can happen and slightly unhinged people will likely jump out on you every now and then*. The least bizarre part of the first ride was the feel of the bike I was riding (a Devinci Dixon carbon) which, sure enough, didn’t bounce and squirm as I half expected the ‘fast rebound’ suspension to, but in fact provided a stable and controlled ride. The Rapid Recovery does do its thing – forks riding high and yet still getting the most out of the travel when needed.

I spent a couple of days pounding the bike through rock gardens and doing my best to hit some turns at relative speed in-between accidentally exhaling the odd lung (with extremely low humidity, a touch of altitude, a little jet lag and a local beast by the name of Lars leading the charge, the uphills got a tad out of hand at times leaving all us Euros struggling). I feel like it’s such a cop-out telling you that the Pike performed flawlessly, but I genuinely didn’t have any issues with jumping on the bike and just riding – there was never anything unexpected and that can only be a good sign. Time and a further test will tell how the reincarnated Pike fares against such terrors as mud, braking bumps and long-term riding.

The tech stuff

I say tech, but in actual fact there have been some pretty easy to understand decisions made in the design of the new Pike. Firstly, and this may not sound earth-shattering but bear with me, there is a new axle. Just one. Duh. Actually, that is almost a brave move by RockShox as dealers will most likely be crying out for the million-and-one axle configuration options that currently exist, but for this fork they have decided to simplify mountain biking (only this once) by only offering a 15x100mm axle, or Maxle Lite to be precise – the simplified Maxle which doesn’t use expansion to hold shut but instead just screws in and clamps down, much like a Fox axle. The steerer is one option only too – tapered. What sort of self-respecting hardcore trail rider would be riding without tapered anyway?

The Maxle Lite, 2013 Pike has one axle option only – 15mm.

The real technical bit comes in when you delve deeper and go inside the renewed fork, for in the bowels of Pike you will find…Charger Damper. But what is it? It’s the new damping unit, which comprises an assembly that aims to deliver shock absorption performance as a priority and lockout as an option. What I mean by that is that instead of potentially sacrificing the damping ability of the fork in order to provide a ‘true’ lockout, they’ve gone for a ‘pretty much lockout’ and I can safely say they have achieved their objective. I cycled through the three ride settings of open, pedal and lock as I was riding but to be frank, I thought the fork was plenty stable and controlled enough to never really need to go beyond the pedal setting. I guess on long road rides you could use the lock setting, Mr Hardcore Trail Rider.

In there somewhere is a bladder, a world that RockShox haven’t entered until now and one that certain other manufacturers have had their issues with. RockShox reassured us that there would be no problems with their bladder though; it’s one solid extruded piece and is “insanely durable”. This will indeed take more testing time to prove true. The bladder gives a smoother transition for oil cycling through the system, part of the reason that these new Pikes feel so buttery and effortlessly absorb small bumps. RockShox also claim that this helps resist “damping change during extended downhills”, we’ll have to wait to find out how they perform on long European descents.

Going back to the three ride settings, one note about the damping is that the ‘efficiency’ circuits (pedal and lock settings) sit separately and behind the ‘performance’ circuit. When the system is fully open you can adjust the low speed compression, changes that won’t affect the pedal and lock settings, which cannot be ‘tuned’. All 2013 Pikes are air sprung, available in Dual Position Air and Solo Air options.

RockShox have put plenty of time and thought into the asymmetric chassis (hang on, aren’t all forks asymmetric – brake mount anyone?), they’ve shaved material where they can and bulked up where necessary. So the ‘power bulge’ extends farther down one leg than the other giving “unparalleled stiffness to travel to weight ratio”. They did feel good.

As one final side-note, the black stanchions have nothing to do with performance and the colour is purely for aesthetics. Oh and all wheel sizes are catered for and travel options are from 140-160mm.

Weight: 1838g
Travel: 140-160mm
Wheel sizes: 26”, 27.5” and 29”
Axle: 15mm only

Price: From £749.99
Available: May

The other stuff

So the point of SRAM’s Trail House in Sedona is to get all the MTB press from around the globe and present their new or updated products for the coming season, as well as to have a good time riding dusty singletrack and drinking beers by the fire pit, of course.

What else did we find out about the 2013 RockShox range then?

Revised Monarch Plus also featured at the 2013 Trail House.

(1) The Monarch Plus rear shock has been revised and now features the Rapid Recovery tagline as well as an increased rebound range of adjustability (twice the range in fact) and increased compression flow, which should go some way in explaining the smooth, controlled action of the shock and its supple nature. The adjusters have been updated (slightly) and the large lever to change through the three ride settings remains very easy to flick. I really got on with the Pike/Monarch Plus/Devinci combo and struggled to tear myself away from such a relationship of harmony at the end of the ride camp.

Price: £349.99
Available: June

The new Connectamajig on the Reverb Stealth will make life easier when installing the post, but won’t allow for infinite disconnections.

(2) The Reverb Stealth now has a Connectamajig! What the ‘eck is that in real money? Basically it’s a threaded connection in the hose, which enables quick assembly of the Stealth system when installing it into a frame. I was practically jumping with joy when I first heard this, but was quickly brought back down when I was told, “this is not to make travel easier”.  So it’s a system to make workshop mechanics’ lives easier and can only be disconnected and reconnected a couple of times before the system will need a re-bleed. Never mind. Hopefully in the future they will develop a Connectamajig Rejigged that will allow me to easily take the seatpost out for bike bag travel and squeezing bikes into my car when I go riding. The Stealth is now also available in 150mm travel option allowing (obviously) for a greater range of height difference. 34.9mm diameter options will be available in all travels.

Price: £349.99
Available: Mid April

Fin.

So there we have it, the Pike lives and RockShox continue to push the boundaries of not only suspension but also seatpost hose connection technology.

Keep tuned, as we’ll have some other interesting stories from the 2013 SRAM Trail House coming soon.

Sedona views.

*We’ll have much more about the Sedona riding and the alternative inhabitants in a travel guide, coming soon.

This brand new Nicolai belongs to James Leader, the brand manager for SRAM Mountain Bike. We can only assume any time outside the 9-5 he gets to ride this work of art. However, this might be a bit of a bold statement as I’m sure he puts the hours in at the office!

The bike is the first ever Nicolai 650b bike and is spec’d with the brand new dedicated 650b RockShox Revelation fork. Other stand out features are the headset, which is an extremely pricey Reset Racing number (it comes in at over €200). The gear outer and brake hoses are all colour matched to white – a fantastic touch – and I’m a big fan of going the extra mile just for aesthetics. Those with a keen eye will notice that the wheels don’t look quite right, that’s because SRAM haven’t released a 650b XX1 compatible wheelset – but James told Bike Magic to watch this space.

What do you think of this dream machine?

Here’s the full low-down from the organisers:

SPECIALIZED-SRAM ENDURO SERIES – DATES 2013

Words: enduroseries.net
Photos: © bause.at

The Specialized-SRAM Enduro Series will enter the second round next year, with the dates now set. But the change is not only in the title, the number of races has also increased.

Robin Schmitt racing at Kirchberg in 2012.

The enduro format is the hot talk of the town at the moment, and so the relatively new discipline gets more and more attention. A series was first held last year in German-speaking countries, and after a successful start it goes into the second season. The aim to have more events has become reality; therefore there are seven races in four different countries on the schedule for next year. Next to the three established races (Winterberg won’t be part anymore) there are four new, but not unknown, places in the calendar to hold the additional four events. The dates are the following:

Round #1            27/28 April 2013                              Treuchtlingen (GER)
Round #2            04/05 May 2013                              Riva del Garda (ITA)
Round #3            25/26 May 2013                              Samerberg (GER)
Round #4            15/16 June 2013                              Willingen (GER)
Round #5            06/07 July 2013                               Kirchberg (AUT)
Round #6            27/28 July 2013                               Kronplatz (ITA)
Round #7            12/13 October 2013        Flims/Laax (SUI)

But not only the race calendar was extended; there is also a change in the title of the series. It will be known from now on as Specialized-SRAM Enduro Series, as SRAM clearly positions itself not only as main sponsor with the addition ‘powered by…’ as last year, but as title sponsor next to Specialized. This is to highlight the involvement and strengthen its recognition of the format and the series. iXS will also join the party as sponsor again next to the two title sponsors. It looks like all is set for the next season as the series doesn’t need to hide behind the since quite a few years established events anymore.

More information can be found as usual at enduroseries.net and on Facebook at facebook.com/enduroseries.net