26 - 27.5 - 29

We have all seen the rise in popularity of the 29'er, and many of us have been riding on a 26 for years - but now there is also a big resurgence in the idea of the 27.5 bike.

In todays full-suspension 'video' tag we found this video about the design of the new Norco 650B range - hope you enjoy. (Check out the 'video' tag on www.full-suspension.com to get your daily video fix!)

Better navigation for the news

It's taken a little time but we've introduced an improved navigation system for getting around the content of the full-suspension news portal. There is so much to view that visitors were finding it difficult to locate the news nearest to their location. You'll now find that any of the countries listed in the index on the left-hand side, break down into regions in a pop-up box on the right when selected.

We have also introduced a 'search tool' that will allow you to search on any key word and find all stories related even those we have archived!

Please let me know if these developments help, or if they do not go far enough.

One of the key attractions of our service is the video library. We can find and link you to all the latest videos on mountain biking - and some are extraordinary!

We'd like to congratulate the organisers of the new Northstar downhill track in California. Riley Gibson attached a webcam to his bike and provides us with a quick POV video from Northstar California's Opening day. Northstar opened on June 15 for the 2012 summer season. It was surprising because more of the mountain was open for this time of the year.

From students to seniors

I can't help thinking that video and images of mountain bikers doing there thing in various parts of the world will become a driving force of our new mountain biking news portal www.full-suspension.com. Everyday there are new and interesting images and action to see - and all in one place.

Today, I was so impressed with the video posted up by www.dirtragmag.com that I had to post it here. 

It's a moving account of injured soldiers coming to terms with their injuries and how mountain biking is playing a central role in that through the W100 mountain biking ride that is an initiative of immediate-past President George W. Bush As part of the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s Military Service Initiative. The W100, held in 2011 for the first time, is a three-day event over 100km.

If you thought mountain biking was the domain of the under 30s, then think again! This sport is for everyone, from students through to seniors. It's also a sport that can make a contribution by helping special causes and the W100 is one such cause. Having ridden our local green and cool 100km 'Hell of the North Cotswolds' here in the UK, I can't quite imagine what it must have been like in the heat of the Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas, for three days! Best of luck to all 19 soldiers who rode in this year's W100.

http://www.full-suspension.com is a wbsite by mountain bikers for mountain bikers! 

Most up-to-date and comprehensive

That's right. We can officially claim that we are the most up-to-date and comprehensive mountain biking website serving riders worldwide. Maybe that sounds exaggerated and a little self-serving, especially after just eight days live. However, you can't deny the amount of content on full-suspension.com is comprehensive and is timely; just look at the number of stories going up and their creation dates.

Me and my Whyte 146s in a field of rapeseed in the Cotswolds, UK this past Sunday

I was riding this past Sunday morning with our group from Gretton (nine members of the Gretton Peddle Pushers Club) here in the Cotswolds and received half-a-dozen unsolicited comments about what I'd done on the internet earlier in the week with regard to the new news service and the blog. They include:

1) What's it all for? Will there be advertising on it? (Answer: yes, eventually)

2) The menu systems doesn't seem to work too well

3) Wouldn't it be great if we could find local news and events

4) Videos are great

Coming from my riding mates, there are some back-handed compliments in that lot. So me and my back-room IT friend set about addressing their concerns. By this time tomorrow we should have installed a new menu system (on the left-hand side) to make it easier to find news and events closer to your location. Later this week we will make the video feed a key point of contact for visitors to the site. That should help answer that first question of: "What's it all for?" 

Other questions will keep coming, but for now I'll deal with one at a time. Thanks for visiting, thanks for any comment you'd like to leave and hope you enjoy the service and come back soon.

http://www.full-suspension.com is a wbsite by mountain bikers for mountain bikers!