The Specialized gang, Brandon Sloan (Product Manager), Jason Chamberlain (Suspension Design Engineer) and Buck (Assistant Product Manager) showed up in North Vancouver to test out next years Demos. Jeff Bryson and myself had the pleasure to play tourguide for 3 days. The boys were testing the Demo 7 and the Demo 8 for late ‘06 release. See below for some pics.
Inside Info…. Brandon’s Demo8 was 37lbs with no carbon fiber. Specialized is switching to Aluminum M5 to shed weight while maintaining its strength (around 1lb lighter for frame). Looks and suspension design are different from previous Demo’s. Shorter stays and 1.5″ steerer tube for the Demo7. The Demo8 is going to be the race bike of choice and the Demo7 for the freeride crowd. Unfortunately I was too busy riding to take pics, but the bikes look and perform like never before.
1st day was Cypress. Lap 1 was Sex Boy to Family Guy. Lap 2 was 5th Horseman which rocked and the 3rd lap was Wild Cherry, Roach, Secret to Secret. Everyone was tuckered after the knar of steep rock. Cali boys represented well.
2nd day was Woodlot. Started of with The Gate to Crazy Carpenter to Blood Donor (sessioned hip). Down to Platinum and walked up and then obviously rode down. Off to Heckyl and Jeckyl which is probably the best trail on the planet! Props to the builders. Gappage was had by all. Bucky stormed everything like he was a local. Finished it off with a DH rip of Shotgun…. Cali style.
3rd day was Seymour. We had James from Dizzy, Cam from nsmb, captain Trevor T-Bone Hansen and a couple of chaps from John Henry join in the fun. In total there was 8 Demo’s and 3 SX Trails. 1st lap was the CBC, Pingu, Corkscrew, Salvation, Boogie, Empress thing. 2nd lap was old school.
I had the best 3 days riding so far this year… weather was great, trail conditions were perfect and the Specialized guys ruled it! I’d like to thank Cam for letting us use the Toyota Tacoma NSMB Team Truck, Specialized Bikes for making the best rides on the planet and Jason, Brandon and Buck for sharing in a great experience we call riding bikes.