New Commencal Meta AM

Since the big T doesn't want us to have any fun we will switch gears to Commencal who have just released their new Meta AM bike. (Watch the video)

COMMENCAL META AM from COMMENCALbicycles on Vimeo.

ATHERTONS WIN ACROSS THE BOARD!

Gee Atherton just took the win against Sam in a stunning weekend. Rachel won the womens, Dan took the 4X win, on Commencal turf none the less. These guys deserve it. More to come. Oh yeah Freecaster froze, after an hour and half of watching the last man on course was Gee and 20 seconds before his finish it just locked up. BLUE BALLS!!!

Gee got Sam by 0.31 seconds.

In other WC news J.D. Swanguen's bike fell off the lift and dropped about 30 feet and broke the front fork (insert Manitou joke here) he had no practice before his race run. I wonder how Jerry the mechanic felt about that?

Rachel won!

Rachel took the win over Sabrina Jonnier today in the second stop of the UCI World Cup Series. Vallnord Bike Park in Andorra played host and saw the skies hold back for the womens finals. With the fastest qualifying time she was favored to take the win. With a win for Dan Atherton in mens 4X yesterday the pressure will be on Gee to take the win. He qualified fastest with Sam on his heels but in mens finals anything can happen.

Dan Atherton takes 4x win in Andorra

If you have not been living under a rock than you should know that you can watch live coverage of the UCI World Cup races from the comfort of your own toilet. That is of course you view the internet upon the throne. Freecaster has been broadcasting live footage with commentary from Rob Warner, Matthias Weber and other semi-celebrity voices from the racing community. The second installment of the World Cup takes place in Andorra, Cedric Gracias turf. 
The 4X finals just finished up with Dan Atherton taking the win, Lopes in second and Guido in third. This is a great win for Dan who has had a few second place finishes, he was able to stay low over most of the jumps and pull ahead of Lopes than launched himself over the quad in a true display of bike riding and secure his place. Andorra is home to Commencal, so to have one of their guys on the podium has to feel good. We are hoping that Gee is in top form tomorrow for the DH finals and that Rachel is able to keep the other ladies in check. Sundays DH finals take place at 8 am eastern time. Slovenia mountain bike site MTB.SI took some great shots of Dan boosting the lip of the quad and CG sending it like Fed-Ex over the same set. Note that CG goes from third to second in that jump.

New 2009 Commencal Mini DH

The news and pictures have been out for some time now about the new Commencal Supreme DH for 2009, in fact we were the first to bring you those pictures here at Tractionmag. Now the new juice is the 2009 Mini DH. Rebadged as the "Supreme" for 2009 it will lose it's DH letters. (thanks Jean) This bike is particularly important to this guy because I have been riding the thing for a few years now and absolutely love it. Sea Otter would be the debut of the new bike and after some digging and searching we finally found some insider pics on the new bike. The Athertons have been riding the bikes for a few weeks now and they are dotted with the new Saint componentry.
The new frame has deep seeded roots in the new DH platform which has a change in shock mount position and stand over clearance. With a shorter, squat swingarm and the new pivot system it will offer much more lateral stability in the rear end. We look to get our hands on a bike stateside in a few months. As for the new DH Supreme they should be in our grubby little hands in a couple of weeks.
Here is a video of Nicholas from Commencal riding the new Mini DH, pardon his french.

Supreme V2 sélectionné dans Sports et VTT

Commencal On Top

The Maxxis Cup 1# in Gouveia, Portugal turned out to be a great race for Commencal.
1st Gee Atherton
2nd Dan Atherton
3rd Cedric Gracia

1st Rachel Atherton
This is the first stop of the Maxxis Cup Series. With many top riders on hand it gave many in the racing community a chance to stretch their legs and see how all that winter training paid off. Each rider was aboard the new Commencal Supreme DH V2 for 2009 a new take on the existing platform. With a stacked field and wins like this it could be a very interesting year on the World Cup circuit.
Can't forget to mention that Josh Bryceland took the win in Juniors.
Here is a link to the report and full results.

Visual Stimulation

The newest Atherton Podcast has got some great footage of the recently demolished, Hidden Valley Trails. There is a stunning crash from the whiptastic J.D. Swanguen, hard crash with a lights out ending. The podcast follows the Brits move to SoCal to train for the upcoming 2008 season and gives us a taste for little Rachel Athertons improved dirt jumping skills. Most importantly it reminds us that these "kids" have got quite an opportunity on their hands. If you don't currently subscribe to the podcasts, you should. You can grab it from their website. Hell, it's free. Log on, get itunes and rock out with your...

The newly released BOS Suspension Promo features Nico Vouilloz and Fabien Pedemanaud riding the new squishy parts. Fabien is still riding his Commencal from last season in the video. (He has the 888 carts in this video) His new Morewood has got all the goodies from BOS attached. BOS is really making a presence and many riders from Europe will be using the "Stoy Shock" and "Idyll Fork" this season.
BOS Website
There is a detailed review on the Austalian site, Farkin.net. It's a pretty interesting read.

Cedric takes 2nd in Spain

The Marzocchi Open in Spain was held this past weekend in the city of Barca. Commencal SuperTeam rider Cedric Gracia was able to secure a 2nd place finish. His first race since he broke his wrist at Worlds last season he was getting back into the groove. As pictured above he will be sporting the Leatt Neck Brace for the 2008 season. This is a product that CG believes in and wants to spread the word on the benefits of the device.

CG's New 2009 Commencal Supreme DH

Just got some great shots from Commencal pertaining to Cedric's new race machine. You saw it here first.

This is CG's new frame for the 2008 DH season, and is an evolution of the prototype run last year, itself an evolution of his 2006 bike. Here are just a few of many changes made to his bike, compared with the 2008 production version of the Supreme DH:

- a lower shock mount to increase saddle height adjustment, and lower the centre of gravity
- a wider 83mm BB to increase rigidity (compared to 68mm for the 2008 production bike)
- 200mm of front and rear travel, with a 240mm x 76.5mm shock
- ISCG 05 chainguide mounts (compared to ISCG for the 2008 production bike)
- the possibility to adjust the braking balance of the bike via the rear disc brake mount (not visible in the photos)

The components on the bike are last years stuff, so we'll have to wait a bit longer to see what the final ride will look like. Oh, and C-Dog has his own custom frame geometry, of course...

Vallnord World Cup now online

Andorra is not a war torn African country. It is nestled between France and Spain and is the home of Commencal Bikes, Cedric Gracia and Vallnord Bike Park. Vallnord will be playing host to the second stop of the Nissan World Cup Series. They have been hard at work getting everything ready, trails are being cut and broken in and the 4X track is coming along nicely. This venue is sure to be a hit to all the racers and promoters as well as the huge number of fans expected to attend. The new website is up and rolling and the Furious Agency has had a major hand in the development of this event along with the good gents at Commencal. Festivities kick off May 31st.
Alright Cedric you now have home court advantage. Lets make it work.

New Commencal DH for 2009

The chaps at Commencal Owners Club, a portal site created by Real Cycles have posted up some photos of the new Prototype Commencal Supreme DH that will have a release date of 2009. The new frame that has been dipped in Dan Athertons favorite colors will feature a new shock placement and a longer stroke giving the frame approx. 8 inches of travel as opposed to the 7.15 from this past year. The lower, squat swingarm will offer more rigidity and the new downtube mates itself to a new shock shroud that is lower and incorporated into the pivot, bottom bracket assembly. (read as: lower center of gravity that will create excellent turning) Still sports the adjustable headtube and now a wider bottom bracket shell, 83mm will be the new standard for them. If Nick and Max quit arguing in the background maybe they can send out the TractionMag Team frames. We should be getting ours in a few weeks.