The good folks at pricepoint.com sent us the new Sette Razzo frame. It’s quite pretty.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Sette Razzo frame - beautiful shiny finish.

derailleur hangar

Welds at the seat tube/top tube junction

the Razzo. Understated in black lettering

toptube has a little extra plate to stiffen it up

The Razzo came in at a very respectable 3.5 lbs on our analog scale. We’ll be building this up as a single speed, my very first.

For more info on the Razzo, click here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

After seeing RL, Joe and Tony racing DH at the 17th Annual Southridge Challenge in Fontana, I figured why not give Downhill a try. Since I don’t own a Downhill bike, I contacted our good friends from KHS about doing a review of their DH200 bicycle

KHS spec’d this bike with a very good suspension combo:

In the front: A super plush FOX 40RC2 fork.

In the rear: A FOX DHX 5.0 coiled rear shock.

So what is a beginner like me doing with such a sweet bike? Well, I figured that if I’m able to race downhill with the DH200, imagine what someone with better DH skills can do with this bike!

For my first ride on the DH200, RL and I headed to Fontana. We rode the same course that they raced and another section of the trail that can be used for the course as well.

My first run was more of a recognizance ride, I was ‘feeling’ the bike and the terrain as well. I was expecting for the DH200 to feel sluggish and heavy, au contraire, the bike felt light and the steering was rather snappy.

As my confidence grew, RL had me ride some stuff that I wouldn’t have tried in any of my bikes, man, those 8 plus inches of travel made a huge difference!

I will be racing with this bike on January 11th at the first race of the Shimano Winter Series in Fontana. Stay tuned for my race report!

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Watch it in HD.

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Pricepoint.com is offering a new hardtail frame… a 29er frame to be exact. Meet the Sette Razzo.

Sette Razzo

Hella cool and wicked fast, the Razzo 29er is ready to rock it from coast to coast!

Featuring one of the lightest 29er frames on the market, the Razzo weighs in at a mere 3.25 lbs/1470 grams (18″ frame size) and uses double-butted 7005 aluminum tubing.

This isn’t just a re-scaled 26″ mountain bike disguised as a 29er, it was designed as a 29er through and through. A shorter head tube allows for more precise, agile handling and the formed sloping tube provides greater fork/front wheel clearance.

Oh yeah, and the Razzo comes in a cool, super shiny polished aluminum finish. Dang! Check it.

Did I mention that it is light? 3.25 lbs is about as light a HT frame as you’re going to get in a 29er. The price, as with all Sette products, is very competitive at $249.98.

Here is the link.

Popularity: 3% [?]

BNC Productions and Dianese presents the World Premier of PINNED the DVD. 

PINNED follows the riders on and off theracecourses tearing up their favorite trails.  Special highlights include Chris Kovarik at Lake Elsinore and Steve Peat, Greg Minaar going head to head in the final run of the dual slalom at Sea Otter.  With multiple HD cameras covering the races and the trails, you wont miss a moment of action.

Locations featured:  Anglefire, Aspen nationals, Southridge Winter Series Fontana Nationals, Sea Otter, Vegas 4x.

Riders: Chris Kovarik - Chris Shewmake - David K - Evelio “evil” Suarez - Ian Odom - Steve Wentz - Szymon Kowalski

To see the trailer, click here.

Presented at the Dianese store in Costa Mesa.  This Sunday, January 4th at 4:00pm.  1645 Superior Ave., Costa Mesa 92627.  For more information, visit www.bncproductions.net.

Popularity: 4% [?]

For the past few years, I’ve made it a point to do a ride on New Year’s Day. Honestly its really hard to get a group ride going after a night full of partying. But luckily this year’s ride had a good turn out. We were joined by our newest riding buddy, David Sanderson as well as Eric “The Animal” Hunner. Priscilla, Moe and I met up with everyone this morning at 9:30am and rode the Loop at an easy pace.

Through out the ride, I was actually surprised by everyone’s performance. For the most part you wouldn’t think that any of them had hangovers…David recently purchased a new Redline Monocog 26 Single Speed and he was on fire.

Even though the rest of the crew did well riding, I was still recovering from being tired and fat. David and I actually rode Aliso Woods yesterday for a few hours. So if I include that ride, a long night trying to celebrate New Years, then my overall condition for riding was pretty sad…I was down right messed up. Luckily there’s this hot young thing that was kind enough to keep me company as I grinded my way through the trail…

David and Eric

The Moe

At one of the rest stops, we met up with our friend Christine. The last time we rode with her, she broke her derailleur hanger and chain. It took her shop a full month to get the hanger ordered and installed.

After the ride, we decided to eat at our favorite venue, Farmer Boys. Man that places has some great French Toast!
Moe, Eric, David, Christine and Priscilla. I was taking the photo.

As usual, we like to take short little videos of our adventures.

Popularity: 4% [?]

As RL mentioned on the previous post, we had memorable times in 2008.  This year has certainly been a blast for me.  I can’t say it enough that it’s been great becoming part of MtnBikeRiders.com and off course riding my bikes throughout the year.  Rather than rehashing some of what RL has already posted I’ve put a video together, reflecting our good times on two wheels.

Below is a compilation of various pics and videos from month to month since I’ve joined MtnBikeRiders.com. Some of these I have never posted so enjoy…

Oh, Happy New Year!

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In 2008, black and white was big. In years that have passed, we’ve seen brown, grays, yellow, lime green and even a big push for pink as this whole Women Specific stuff came out. But for 2009, I can see that there could be a chance of “GREEN AND WHITE” that will hit the biking scene.

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2008 was a great year for MtnBikeRiders.com. Not only did we see some tremendous growth in our web traffic, but we also made some new friends along the way. I asked the Staff to let me know what were some of their favorite events, products and shennanigans of 2008 and here’s a list of the things they mentioned.

Joe Solancho talked about how he felt that joining the MtnBikeRiders.com Crew was like manna from heaven. He also mentioned how much fun he had at his first Interbike show.

Jeremy Yang mentioned that his most memorable moments for 2008 was mainly Sea Otter Classic in Monterey. Here’s Jeremy showing a Donkey who’s the man while we were enjoying a cup of BAD ASS Coffee
.
Jeremy also wanted to give mad props to Raxter Racks for building one of the best hitch mount racks he’s ever used.

Priscilla Policar told me that her most memorable moments was racing in 2008. Now that the season is over, she and I reminisced about her adventures in mountain biking. What’s great about it is, even though she had a few mishaps during the events, she never gave up. Not only did she finish each race, but she placed too! But her main highlight of her racing season was winning the championship for the Triple Crown Series here in SoCal.

The Moe stated a few memorable moments for 2008, here they are:

Proghorn at Sea Otter, My first Super D race, my 5 laps at the Tour de Tryptophan, our group rides, Interbike, bike builds, testing bikes, the Team, the new trails we rode, new friends we met, being recognized as ‘celebs.’

As for me, I’d have to agree with what everyone has already mentioned. But if I were to add a few more things, I would say that starting the MtnBikeRiders.com Racing Team tops it off. We assembled a great team of riders that represented the various disciplines of mountain biking, and you know what, Eric Hunner, Kim and Tony Finch, Priscilla Policar, and Joe Solancho did a great job in making sure they rode with heart, style and professionalism while out on the trail.

I also wanted to reflect on what Moe was talking about how we’ve been recognized more so this year than any other time by our readers. There was one occasion in which we met one of our loyal readers at the Loop and when he saw Moe, Priscilla and I, he was…star struck…So just for that, I’d like to make a shout out to our boy, cALvIn (as I pump my fist to my chest and then turn it into a peace sign).

Ok going back to the memorable stuff…well honestly Moe and I couldn’t really do all that MtnBikeRiders.com does if it wasn’t for the staff. Priscilla Policar, as you know is my wife. She’s the bestest wife there is! Not only does she get excited about bike stuff, but she can ride like the wind! She’s fun to be with, she’s fast, she’s a great racer, great inspiration…basically I’m saying, I’m one lucky man! I must have done something right in this life time to deserve her.

Ok, I better start talking about Jeremy, cuz’ he might feel left out since I’m talk all that luv’ n’ stuff about Priscilla. Jeremy is one great guy. He is our Bicycle Encyclopedia. He’s usually my go to guy when it comes to technical stuff. The dude LOVES bikes. So that means he immerses himself in all that is MOUNTAIN BIKE and somehow is able to manage his career, family life and making sure Mrs. Yang is happy.

If you ever have a chance to meet him in person, don’t let his tall frame intimidate you. He really is a great guy. His height does come in handy when I go and pick fights…all I have to do is yell for Jeremy and once the bad guys see him, they all back down. Anyway, Jeremy is super cool!

Let me get into talking about Mr. Solancho. Joe and I actually met on the MTBR.com forums talking about Full Suspension Single Speeds. Fortunately he was locally and we hooked up a ride at Bonelli Park, and the rest, as they say is history.

Joe joined the staff sometime in the Spring of 08. We wanted him to help us out with the site because in our book he was super cool. By the way, being Filipino makes you automatically super cool. But if you’re a douche and you’re Filipino, then you’re not super cool. On the serious side, Joe is an accomplished action sports photographer and has done work for some of big names out there. Joe is also a pretty darn good racer that has participated in many XC and DH events in which he places in. With his combined MAD cat like abilities to handle a mountain bike and super smooth photo skills, plus he’s got this killer hair…it was a win win situation for both the site and for Joe. However, the promise of a fat salary was a great lure for Joe, yes we pay Joe with..tons of Moe and RL Sandwiches!

How can I forget about my partner Moe Ramirez. Um, that’s partner as in Business Partner, not life partner. But there’s nothing wrong with that, I just wanted to make sure there was no confusion. Ok now that we have that all clear, my business partner and awesome, super duper friend Moe, is one in a million. Moe and I have been friends for many years. Our kids play together, we’ve had meals in each other’s homes plus we’ve been riding since the days of “Team Zoom”…ask me about that later on…Anyhow, as I’ve mentioned this before, Moe is THE brains of the operations. He does all the programming and technical stuff. Basically what you see on the sites, its all him. He’s a very intelligent man and I’m lucky enough to have him as my partner.

So that covers just about everything that was memorable for the staff of MtnBikeRiders.com of 2008. We hope you’ve enjoyed visiting our site and we know that there are many choices for you to get mountain bike related information, but yet you still come to MtnBikeRiders.com. We thank you. That’s pretty super cool of you to do that. So to all of our readers, I’d like to say, You’re super cool! Remember, if you’re a douche, then you’re not super cool.

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On behalf of all of us at MtnBikeRiders.com, we’d wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas! We hope that you get all the bike stuff you wanted!

Here’s what I’m having with my Christmas dinner…mmmm Balut!

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