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Andreas Hestler modelling the new Rocky Mountain Slayer for us.  I got a lap on the newest Rocky and I was impressed up the hill and down.  It's low slung and aggressive - much more so than its predecessor. A worthy foe of bikes like the Nomad and the Specialized SX Trail.  Photo ~ Cam McRae

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The Scott Ransom.  6 + inches of travel and layers and layers of carbon wrapping.  The Ransom slides in just under the 30lb mark. One Ransom was out on the trails today and I heard good things. Photo ~ Cam McRae

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I got my first good look at the Yeti 303 at Sea Otter. It's been through 4 proto cycles since then and it looks like the magic formula has been brewed.  This linkage does away with lateral play - an early criticism of the frame.  Photo ~ Cam McRae

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I was lucky enough to have Duncan Riffle accompany me for a shuttle run.  At 19 he already has his first Norba win under his belt after topping the podium in Vermont in August.  I saw about 7 riders in a row walk their bikes down this.  Duncan had other plans.  Photo ~ Cam McRae

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The 303 was designed to spring out of berms and to smooth square edged hits - the ones racers hate most. It nailed both of those characertistics but I was surprised by how willing it was to leave the ground. The BB height/head angle can be easily adjusted with Allen keys.  Duncan told me he had specic numbers in mind for bb height (just under 14") and head angle (65 degrees) and this final proto nailed his wish list. This is a bike that will make fast riders faster.   Photo ~ Cam McRae

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There are always silly bikes to be seen at Interbike.  This year the place was crawling with 29ers but these Surlys were the most conspicuous funny wheeled rides.  Those are 26 x 4.0 tires.  No - I don't know why. .  Photo ~ Cam McRae

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Words and photos by Stuart Kernaghan

Ah, Vegas. Hot, tawdry, and bright as always. This is my second year in a row (and third time) at Interbike, so I knew what to expect before I got on the plane. And thankfully, I remembered how hot it gets out at Bootleg Canyon, where the Dirt Demo is located. Gear in my Camelbak this year included suntan lotion and a cap - both of which weren't there before. And thank god they were, because it was somewhere around 95°F / 35°C in the shade.

Sometimes these events are better if you divide and conquer, and that's just what Cam and I did once we arrived at the expo area. He picked up a new Rocky Slayer, and I was fortunate enough to get my mitts on a Santa Cruz Nomad. And an XL one at that. XL bikes seem to fit my freakishly tall body best, so it makes me happy when I can find one to ride.

The Santa Cruz Nomad, with Fox DHX Air on the rear and 36 Van RC2 on the front, waiting to head down the hill

I shuttled to the top, and spent a bit of time surveying the trails while I waited for Cam and former Olympian / Rocky pro rider Andreas Hestler to ride up. I contemplated riding up for all of about half a second, and then completely dismissed the idea when I heard that Andreas was coming. After standing around for a while and baking my brain waiting for them to show up, Cam and I suited up and the three of us dropped into one flank trail (Boy Scout, if memory serves me correctly), and then headed across to the dual slalom course. Both Cam and Andreas - who was riding an Element XC dual suspension bike with some seriously skinny tires - flatted about five minutes apart, allowing me a couple of much-needed opportunities to catch my breath.

The Nomad Virtual Pivot Point linkage felt very plush

That aside, the Nomad was a lot of fun to ride. The combination of air in the rear and coil in the front made for a really supple ride that seemed to fly up some of the short, steep rocky inclines and smoothed out the sharp rock edges that are characteristic of Bootleg.

After spending some time in the Crank Bros. air conditioned tent (definitely the oasis in the desert), liberating some tiny bottled waters, eating some rather underwhelming veggies, I grabbed an ungarnshed veggie burger off the catering tray for us to share, and we went in search of bikes. Cam rounded up a Yeti to test ,and I lined up a Turner RF6- the bike that is replacing the Six Pack.

The new Turner RF6, built lighter with skinny-ish tires and a DHX Air shock

There are some significant changes to the bike, most notably the new rear pivot placement, which moves from the chainstay to the seatstay. I spoke with David Turner about the RF6, and the reasons why he abandoned the Horst Link chainstay pivot that had been a fixture on Turner bikes for some time. First, there was the issue of Specialized owning the rights to the Horst Link, and the fact that that was costing Turner (the company) money every year. Turner (the man) also felt there was a lack of creative control built into that arrangement. Turner went with the modified four-bar linkage he's calling Torque Neutralizing Technology because he liked the simplicity, and he found that the wheel path on the new rear end is almost identical to that of the older Turner bikes with the same amount of travel. According to David, there's only a 1.1mm difference between the new and old suspension designs.

Weight for the new bike is quite respectable - a medium frame with a Fox coil shock is 8.5lbs. and 7.9lbs. with a DHX Air. The ride on the Turner will be familiar to those of you who have spent time on a Banshee, Kona, or other bike with the similar suspension design. One thing that I was really stoked about, though, was the massive tire clearance in the rear. You could easily fit a 2.7" tire on a fat rim in there.

Turner is sending us a RF6 bike for testing, so stay tuned for a full write-up on the bike and a more detailed description of riding impressions in the weeks and months to come.

Some of you might remember our ride back into town last year. Well, there wasn't a huge line for the bus, so we hopped on that. It was definitely a stinkier ride, and not nearly as cool, so I may well be sticking out my thumb tomorrow.

It's late, there's still more desert riding ahead of us tomorrow, and Cam is threatening another early morning tomorrow. He was also planning on updating the site at 2 this afternoon. Vegas is like that, though. You have good intentions, but other... opportunities arise.

We'll see what tomorrow brings in the morning, but I'm guessing more hot weather.

Stay tuned for the next update. Which will happen some time in the next before we crash Tuesday. Hopefully.

Stuart Kernaghan