It’s far too late to mess with a proper post about this but Santa Cruz have just released details of the new Blur XC. Surprisingly they’ve ditched metal entirely and gone with carbon, more details here expect it to cost a *lot* (with the currently weak pound)

Bike pictured, in large 22.4lbs… not a fatty!

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Update, UK pricing is £2,299, thank you! terrible exchange rate

Brant sent me over a sample stainless steel chainring a couple of weeks ago, now I’ve had it on the 29er for a few hundred miles I’m happy to say it’s great, and set against my previous “benchmark” singlespeed chainring from Surly, I rate this one much higher.

Expect to be able to pick one up for yourself in a few weeks time for a bargain price of (Brant’s not said yet but somewhere in the region of £20-25)

From On-One

New On-One 456 Blasted Frame option, very nice, Brant

Last Sunday saw the start of 2008′s Iditarod Invitational, a 350 or 1100 mile race across the frozen Alaskan wilderness from Anchorage to McGrath or Nome.

It’s now heating up into a race with quite a few riders having hit the 150mile mark – you can check the leaderboard here

So far it’s looking good for Brits, James Leavesley and Carl Hutchings in the male category and Jill Homer in the female race – who’s possibly on for a course record to McGrath.

Of course, where there’s a challenge there’s always someone who wants to push it to the limits, this year that person is Mike Curiak as he attempts the 1100 race to Nome, entirely unsupported. You can keep up with his progress on his own site.

I finally got hold of proper high res images of the 08 Niner Bikes range for my day job, so I thought I’d treat you to a nice image of the forthcoming Jet 9.

3.1 inches of travel , 5.9lb frame weight, Black or Kermit Green, USD 1,749 (approx 1,250 GBP)

More Info: www.ninerbikes.com

Mike Curiak’s an Ultra Endurance Racer, amongst his wins are the Great Divide Race in 2004, Leadville 100, and numerous Iditarod races.

The Iditarod is a special beast, hundreds of miles across the harsh Alaskan wilderness, and it demands a bike slightly different from your average everyday machine.

Mike’s just published a timeline showing the progression of his snow bikes since 1997, finishing up with his bike for ’08, which is a very custom Moots with a whole lot of special features intended to use every inch of the bike’s inside and outside shapes. It’s very interesting to see how his machines have been developed though the years to give him his best shot at success.