MARTHAGILL
Change is in the air for Martha
The Enduro World Series recently announced that they’d delay round one until the end of June, so with a super-long off season, I’ve only just started to get back into the swing of training. Every winter, I spend time at the skate park on my jump bike to help me keep on top of my skills and bike handling, but it’s mainly great fun to spend time with mates and push each other. Unfortunately, as we went into another lockdown the skate parks had to close, but now that the days are getting slightly warmer, drier and longer, the outdoor pump track and skate park sessions are back on.
I’ve always been based in the north of the UK but recently decided I wanted a change, so I moved to South Wales. While writing this, I’ve only been here for three weeks, but I’ve loved every minute. There’s such a wide variety of manmade and natural downhill and enduro tracks to go at. I can ride from my doorstep in any direction and find my way to a fun trail to rip down!
Last week I spent a few days in Sheffield, working on something top secret but very exciting with Gowaan Gals. While there, my Marin Alpine Trail Carbon and Marin Alcatraz were stolen from my van. That was a massive bummer! Luckily I still have other bikes to ride, and I’ve also treated myself to a BMX. I’ve never ridden one before, but I love a good challenge – I’m excited to spend more time riding it and see how I progress!
Squeezed between France and Spain, Andorra may be small but it has some decent-sized mountains, riddled with trails that demand a healthy amount of commitment. The principality is also home to larger-than-life French downhill and four-cross legend Cédric Gracia. Besides throwing the wildest after-parties when the World Cup rolls into Vallnord, the former racer has been instrumental in championing Andorran start-ups, namely boutique steel bike crafters Production Privée and expanding e-bike brand Forestal. CG (left) has helped initiate a partnership between these companies, leading to plans for an innovative range of bikes designed and built in Andorra. The Forestal Group, as they’re called, have just unveiled this yet-to-be-named prototype DH rig (1), which will be the race bike of choice for The Brigade Team this year. With the season due to kick off in May at Fort William, we should see it tested on a World Cup track soon.
What instantly grabs you about this bike is its CNCmachined alloy construction.
It comprises two mirrored halves, cut from solid billets of aluminium then welded together with a central seam
(2). This technique has so far, in mountain biking, been exclusively the domain of leftfield Finnish brand Pole, who use a similar approach but bond the two sides of their frames together with glue. When we quizzed Production Privée cofounder Damien Nosella about this unconventional approach, he told us it’s about efficiency and ease of customisation. “This project is part of a deeper R&D programme, which will lead ultimately to a new way of making bikes,” he explains. “Even though from a business point of view, CNCing a frame is a long and costly process that would be a major downside to mass production, here it’s given us complete freedom in shaping, and has allowed us to put the frames together in record time.” He also hints at some “great innovations and improvements” with regards to frame materials down the line.
As chief design engineer for the project, Damien heads up a team of 12 who work under one roof in la Vella, Andorra’s capital, and have all the facilities at their fingertips to take a bike from concept to construction. In the case of this bike, that process took four months. Damien says a key part of their approach is “to understand the needs of the riders and not impose an engineering vision on them”. In his view, race performance is 80 per cent down to the rider, so: “Our first target was to make sure the riders felt at ease and confident on the bike.” In this regard the CNC construction has been invaluable, allowing them to tailor each frame individually and get the team out testing as quickly as possible for real-world feedback. “The construction is complicated,” Damien admits, “and it’s a process where we can’t allow any mistakes or bugs in the programmes or machines. With the bike having just been through its second iteration, and mostly only requiring small geometry tweaks, I couldn’t be prouder of the engineering and manufacturing team for nailing pretty much everything first try.”
The bike uses Forestal’s Twin Levity suspension layout, already in production on their Siryon e-bike. This pairs a single-pivot swingarm with a linkage-driven shock, with the twist that the damper slides through a cut-out in the top tube (3). Damien says he and his team explored lots of other options, before concluding that by modifying this tried and tested design “and seating it in a well-engineered chassis” they could achieve all the characteristics they wanted. Tuning the leverage ratio and upping the rear travel to 205mm did require them to rework the position of the pivots, though.
Production Privée make no secret of their love for vintage racing cars, and in fact most of the graphics and paintjobs on their production steel frames are inspired by classic motors. Continuing in that vein, Damien says he wanted to call this bike the ‘Group B’, referring to the World Rally Championship category, but, he laughs, “unsurprisingly the riders rejected that idea”.
Those riders are a group of hotshot up-and-comers from around the globe. The bike seen here will be piloted by rapid Frenchman Rudy Cabirou, and joining him on The Brigade are Spaniard Alex Marin, rising star of women’s DH Melanie Chappaz and Columbian Rafael Gutiérrez Villegas, younger sibling of the better-known Marcelo. Their bikes will be equipped with SR Suntour RUX RC+ forks and VORO coil shocks, Formula brakes, Crankbrothers Synthesis carbon wheels and VEE tyres, along with Production Privée’s own bar, direct-mount stem and grips.
Damien’s assurances about how well the bike rides (which can’t be too illusionary, given the savage riding terrain in Andorra) leave us intrigued to see how well it performs between the tape – and also, what this promising brand partnership leads to down the line.