Real Cycles Blog: Spotlight on the new Ramones 2

[Guest]

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
February 09, 2012, 05:34:01 AM

1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever

Login with username, password and session length

[What is the main type of machine you use to surf the site?]

What is the main type of machine you use to surf the site?
Desktop
	100 (29%)
Laptop
	140 (41%)
iPhone
	44 (13%)
Android phone
	24 (7%)
Tablet
	15 (4%)
Other
	14 (4%)
Total Voters: 252

[steveb]

Commencal are based in the Pyrenees in Andorra, their local testing ground is the Vallnord bike park, which plays host to a round of the DH World Cup and whose “off piste” trails are surprisingly similar to most found in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. That is, wet, rooty, muddy and steep.

Team Commencal reads like a who’s who of DH and Mega riders, Remy Absolon, Anne Caroline Chausson, Cedric Gracia and of course the Athertons, so it’s little wonder all their bikes have a gravity leaning. It’s not that Commencal don’t do XC, it’s just their take on XC is a little different to most. To them an XC bike is one that is easier to ride up, but can still rip on the way down. And that’s the point to Commencal, the trip down the hill is always going to be more important, and more fun, than the trip up. Looking a race light XC bike? Look elsewhere. Looking a bike to tear up your local trail on? And lets face it, that’s most of us are looking for, then look a little closer at Commencal.

Some get this approach to making bikes and some don’t.

In 2005 they produced an awesome hardtail range. it was called the Absolut. Now that’s not the same bike that’s been sporting the name for the last few years, the original Absolut was a trail bike not a jump bike. It ran long forks (for the time) and loved being thrown down DH trails. It had a slack head angle, steep seat angle and a short tight rear end. Everyone that rode it smiled, it was just that kinda bike. For reasons that we still can’t fathom in 2007 it morphed into the aforementioned jump bike of today, and the Absolut of old became a distant memory. Except in the heads of those that rode one. We kept getting asked when it was going to make a come back. We kept asking Commencal, they kept saying nothing.

Then, out of the blue a new model hit the trails. Hang on, I recognise that frame, it’s an original Absolut only with some extra gussets! Yes, Commencal listened, and after tuning and tweaking the original platform the Absolut morphed once more, this time into a the baddest hardcore hardtail this side of an infamous 70’s punk band. Ladies and gentleman, I give you, the Ramones.



Read more and see the full article on the Real Cycles Blog.

[mc]

If only they'd done a frame only option...

[State of Play]

Instead of spending all there money on advertising, Commencal should get there shit together and keep there promises when it comes to delivery.

The new 2010 models should be here by end of September they say...

Then its been delayed and will take another two weeks...

Then its Middle of October...

Now its the middle of November...

Nothing like building up the hype! they bloody better be worth it. As all I can do for another four weeks is stare at a box of bike components and hope the container coming from f*uckin Taiwan hasn't sunk or the captain hasn't had too much rice wine.

GET YOUR SH*T TOGETHER COMMENCAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[iain1775]

just no pleasing some people is there
I guess now Max and team are personally responsible for all international shipping companies and customs officers?

I agree on the advertising budget though, Im sick of opening the magazines and seeing pages and pages of glossy double page Commencal ad's

[Steve UK]

But it's not 2010 yet!  why are you getting all upset?

I think someone has been spoilt  too much in the past 

[spudmonkey32]

Just hope for your sake that this dude isn't patrolling the Somali coast looking for container ships, as he's going to look mighty pimp on a new Commie steed http://blogs.reuters.com/global/files/2008/11/somali-islamist.jpg

Saying that though he wouldn't have much of a chance with the likes of Ross 'i couldn't even get into the TA' Kemp patrolling the seas with the world's finest navies

[chrissturch]

Personally I think this whole random sailing around the sea hoping to bump into a pirate tactic is c**p. Why don't they just put a few soldiers with guns and rockets on the container ships. Then, when the pirates come to board them they could casually stroll onto deck and blow the c**p out of the pirates boat. Job done, and its far more efficient than having a huge ship trying to catch them.

[RAFChris]

Personally I think this whole random sailing around the sea hoping to bump into a pirate tactic is c**p. Why don't they just put a few soldiers with guns and rockets on the container ships. Then, when the pirates come to board them they could casually stroll onto deck and blow the c**p out of the pirates boat. Job done, and its far more efficient than having a huge ship trying to catch them.

Nice idea but the problem with that is not only the vast volume of shipping that uses that route, but also the fact that if you DID put armed troops on board the ships then the pirates would simply up their use of deadly force. So far they haven't killed anyone as live crew are ransomable.

If you put armed troops on board then they will just kill the whole crew (these guys really have nothing to lose) including the 3 or 4 troops on board and take the ships to ransom off.

There is a MASSIVE international effort around the Horn of Africa at the moment that is having good results but like all localised efforts, it tends to shift the problem somewhere else.

What really needs to happen is for an international force to go into the pirate strongholds and take them out but that would be a HUGE effort, would kill a lot of people on both sides and would be condemned by the world at large.

A lot of shipping merchants ARE putting private security on board their ships these days though.

[spudmonkey32]

It looks like the French are getting more directly involved - http://insidesomalia.org/200910142489/News/Travel/French-troops-on-tuna-ship-fight-Indian-Ocean-pirates.html

As for sending international force to the strongholds - i guess thats one approach, but Somalia has been a failed state for far too long without any economic/political stability, without a functioning government and any hope of employment people have nothing to lose. Somaliland on the other hand is doing remarkedly well, and have less tolerance to piracy and illegal activities.

Just to add another dimension - many Somalis argue that piracy emerged as a way of getting compensation from the illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic waste in their waters.

Just thought i'd add my two-penneth

[State of Play]

Nice idea but the problem with that is not only the vast volume of shipping that uses that route, but also the fact that if you DID put armed troops on board the ships then the pirates would simply up their use of deadly force. So far they haven't killed anyone as live crew are ransomable.

If you put armed troops on board then they will just kill the whole crew (these guys really have nothing to lose) including the 3 or 4 troops on board and take the ships to ransom off.

There is a MASSIVE international effort around the Horn of Africa at the moment that is having good results but like all localised efforts, it tends to shift the problem somewhere else.

What really needs to happen is for an international force to go into the pirate strongholds and take them out but that would be a HUGE effort, would kill a lot of people on both sides and would be condemned by the world at large.

A lot of shipping merchants ARE putting private security on board their ships these days though.

You sound like an GMTV war correspondent....

[RAFChris]

Lol not a war correspondent, but an officer in the forces mate, and as this part of the world is somewhere pretty near the top of the list of places we're worried about at the moment I'm pretty well read up and briefed in on what's going on.

[exocet]

Hear hear, and a good point well made Chris. I had wondered myself why more security wasn't used on these ships.

[Rufus]

But I'm sure the real reason Com are late (even though they're still early for 2010) is not pirates.

[steveb]

They're late for several reasons. First and foremost is the fact it's a new factory. Commencal have dealt with them before, but not on this scale. So it's a learning process. In an ideal world when a manufacturer says Date XXX the goods are ready on date XXX, but in the real world it don't always happen, specially with bikes as there are so many variables. When you have experience of the factory you learn to interpret dates, like us dealers have with Commencal: WEe know when they say beginning of the month it really means mid to end of the month. This is just the way things work.

Another reason for the delay is some of the parts didn't arrive at the assemblers on time, like Shimano, Rockshox etc. This again is pretty common. Then there was the storms in the far east last month which delayed boats leaving the docks.

Bikes are quite unique in the way they're made. Sony for instance make, or have made for them, all the parts in their TV's. Ford, Vauxhall etc are the same. Bikes are different. The end product depends on all the suppliers to get their products to the assemblers on time, this NEVER happens.

The delivery dates we dealers get around June time for the next seasons product are always based on an "ideal world" scenario, it's up to the dealer to interpret these accordingly. And this is the thing, it's not just a case of buying and selling stuff being a dealer, there is a lot more goes on. We have to convert what our suppliers tell us into real world information and forward that to our customers. It's why we NEVER guarantee delivery dates!

[RAFChris]

Fair points well presented Steve... at the end of the day the dealers like yourself are at the end of a very long chain and are subject to the mercies of everyone else involved in the chain... and sorry for getting really OT, lol!