Barely 6 months through 2009 and the bike companies are
starting to give tantalising glimpses of what may be available for 2010.
Giant in particular seem keen (in a subdued kind of way) to
get us excited about 3 models in particular, namely the Anthem X advanced SL,
the as yet un-named TT/Tri bike (more of them later!) and the bike that has us most interested, the all new Faith.
The original prototype made it’s first public appearance
being ridden by Kurt Sorge at the 2008 Red bull Rampage clearing a jaw-dropping
60ft
gap jump. The ability to clear a 60ft gap says a lot about a rider and a
hell of a lot about a bike and his confidence in it.
“I wouldn’t even think about riding this terrain without a
bike that gives me every bit of confidence I need,” Kurt said. “Suspension
performance, frame stiffness, balance and weight—it’s all critical to your
performance.”
The original Faith was released in 2005, however since then
Kurt has been heavily involved in designing the all new version set to hit the
racks for 2010.
“Kurt and I had been talking about building the perfect big
mountain bike that would suit new riding trends,” Kevin said. (Kevin Dana,
Giant’s mountain bike category manager) “For a while everybody just kept
building bikes with more and more travel inches, but we knew the quality of our
Maestro suspension was superior and we wanted to optimize it so riders could
get full use of a 180-millimeter [about 7 inches] suspension system. We wanted
to build a bike that could be used for extreme terrain like the Rampage but
could also be ridden on your home trails.”
Using light weight ALUXX SL hydroformed aluminium tubing and
a unique replace
able rear dropout feature that allows riders to change the
bike’s wheelbase and frame geometry. “It allows riders to custom-tune the
bike’s ride characteristics to make it more versatile,” Kevin said.
Well Kevin certainly seems excited and to be honest it’s
rubbing off on us, the old Faith was a lot of fun so we can’t wait to try
out the new version. Don’t know how long you'll have to
wait as there are no release dates as yet but as ever we’ll keep you posted.
