HARO BIKES

I was chatting with Julia on Thursday afternoon at Mike's Bikes, swapping stories about our experiences on the Raleigh M-Trax 3.0. I had my first proper ride on Tuesday - I put the car into the garage in Alness for a repair and had around 3 hours to kill. David Stuart of Fyrish Mountain Bikers

http://www.fyrishbikes.com/

works there and he gave me a number of different routes to choose from (and compliments on the appearance of the M-Trax!), all involving the photo opportunity at the monument on top of Fyrish hill.  

I set off towards Evanton on the cycle route, turning right onto the Struie road and then left up towards Boath and the Jubilee car park. The bike worked well enough on tarmac but I was glad that I was able to make use of the remote fork lock off - its not a road bike by any stretch of the imagination! Leaving behind the constant hum of the Continental Mountain King tyres on paved surface the proper climbing began.

I was immediately struck by how well balanced the M-Trax is. On my old bike - American branding, sounds like a native of Northern Britain (5 letters) for all you crossword fans - I struggle to maintain traction on steep ascents. On the M-Trax there was plenty of grip at both wheels and the relatively long saddle allows the rider to make the small adjustments necessary to maintain this. The 3km ride to the top gave me plenty of opportunity to get accustomed to the SRAM X-7 gears. On the plus side they are smooth and amazingly quick to change - I was new to the double thumb shift triggers however and occasionally my forefinger strayed to the back of the lever to change Shimano style. It wouldn't take long to get used to it though. I'm not sure what weight the full package is - certainly light enough to make it an effective climber but the integrated carbon seat stays are perhaps misleading, included to provide rigidity rather than to strip off a few ounces. Raleigh publish the tech spec here...

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/b_details.aspx?id=49

At the top I stopped for a few minutes to take in the views out East to the Nairnshire coast line where I had been on Sunday

http://www.aviemorebikes.co.uk/bikes/rotarian-redemption.html

south over the Black Isle and west with the remains of winter snow on the mountains. I took the obligatory photographs 

lowered the saddle and set off to test the M-Trax on the downhill. Air suspension! Well, I know many riders will be used to this but it didn't come as standard on my old bike. Mike had set the Rockshox Tora Race Solo Airs for my weight and it was a confidence inspiring revelation to feel them smoothing out the roughest track. The Quad Dime hydraulic disc brakes were reliable and powerful and I was able to concentrate fully on enjoying myself all the way down to Evanton where I rode the last mile into the village for a milkshake and a scone at the Cornerstone Cafe, scene of a previous blog

http://www.aviemorebikes.co.uk/bikes/small-world.html

After refuelling, I rode the bike track back to Alness looking muddy enough to pass as a proper mountain biker! 

http://www.scottishsport.co.uk/cycling/cycleglenmore.htm

but its always good to be following someone who knows where they are going and Mike is pretty familiar with what's on offer. Given the preceding, you have to come to the conclusion that he knew what he was doing when he led me into the first downhill section and I went over the front bars within 5 metres of the start! Just testing the quality of the bike build apparently - I'm pleased to say that both bike and rider survived without any damage or need for maintenance! After an evening repeating many of the shorter runs and finishing off at the cyclocross route at Glenmore it is evident that the Raleigh M-Trax 3.0 is much more capable than I am - any restrictions to what can be done come from the rider and not from the bike. I can't help worrying that while I spend time writing this stuff Julia is out on her M-Trax getting better all the time. Guess where I'm going now