GET OUT AND RIDE!

The CRANK with ProCycle Team

Publisher and Managing Editor Vikram Limsay

Editor Rahul K Thomas

Technical Editor Nilesh Dhumal

Registered to Procycle and Sports India Private Limited. Corporate Office: Indiranagar, 889, First Floor, 7th Main, 4th Cross, HAL II stage, Bangalore - 560008. Tel: +91 80 41161902 or +91 99450 11116 Showroom: Indiranagar, 37, 11th Cross, 1st Stage, Ban-galore- 560038 Tel: +91 80 25202004 +91 98802 16064

Website www.procycle.inFor queries regarding advertising and subscription, mail us at subscribecrank@procycle.in

Cover Photograph: A bicycle with the BBCh medals hanging on it at the Crit in Manyata Tech ParkRear cover photograph: The ProCycle car with bikes loaded and ready to roll

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THE PROCYCLE STORE

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IN THIS ISSUE

1. TRAILBLAZING IN GOD’S OWN COUNTRY

2. PROCYCLE TESTED: KHS SIX FIFTY 603

3. BIKERS’ LAIR: KOSHY’S BANGALORE

4. THE LONG ROAD TO SUCCESS

5. YOU’VE JUST BEEN WRENCHED

6. RIP-ROARING FINALE: BBCH 2012 CRIT

7. BOYS AND THEIR TOYS

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Hello to all you riders, readers and desktop dreamers!

We’re thrilled to ring in the new year with the first edition of CRANK with ProCycle.

We’re a bunch of bike enthusiasts who’ve decided to make the two-wheeled, engineless ma-chine the centre of our lives.

We launched the first ProCycle store here in Bangalore. If you’d like to know what all the fuss is about, do visit us and we promise that you’ll experience bicycling in a whole new way. Fair warn-ing though, our excitement is contagious so don't be surprised if you walk in and find yourself riding out.

We’ve been riding bikes for a while. We’ve jumped, shredded, raced, busted frames, busted bones, bought, borrowed and sold bikes, laughed, wept and marvelled at the beautiful places they’ve taken (and continue to take) us.

Our obsession with them show no sign of abating and, in fact, only grows with every passing day. So, we decided to go one step further and share our passion for bikes with the world.

As we launch CRANK with ProCycle, we embark, with you, upon a mission to cover, support and spread bicycling culture. CRANK with ProCycle is for everyone - those on bikes and those who dream of being on them too.

Our first edition took us to God’s Own Country, where we raced (and won) in India’s first ever Four Cross championship. We bring you the exclusive review of the most exciting innovation in biking this year - the KHS Six Fifty 603 hardtail. We feature Koshy’s - an institution in Bangalore which welcomes cyclists and we show you truly drool-worthy gear.

Bouquets and brickbats, we welcome alike so write to us at crank@procycle.in. We’d love to hear from you.

Now get out there and ride (and shout out to us if you see us out on the roads and trails).

Happy New Year.

Rahul K. Thomas

Editor

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HEYA!

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One overcast morning in November, locals in the small town of Kollam in Ker-ala peered expectantly out of their homes. The annual President’sTrophy snake boat race was slated for later that day and they were busy looking out for their teams, and waiting to catch a glimpse of the days’ star - Sania Mirza.

While no snake boats presented themselves and Sania was, quite naturally, rather hard to spot, they were presented with the curious sight of people alight-ing from buses, trains and autos with bicycles in tow. While bicycles certainly are part and parcel of the general Indian scenery, what isn’t usual is the sight of people carrying them rather than riding them.

Thus began the first ever edition of MTB Kerala.

Consisting of two parts - XC (Cross Coun-try) and international 4X (Four Cross), with riders flying in from Brunei, Malay-sia, Singapore, Nepal and Sri Lanka, it promised to be quite the spectacle.

XC race day kicked off with the famous chenda drummers beating a hypnotic tattoo on their massive drums and painted dancers whirled and twirled.

At the gun, the Thai duo dropped the hammer with the lads from Brunei and Nepal in hot pursuit.

With a beautiful, flowy track the lead pack slowed for nothing, attacking double-track ascent and singletrack descent alike. It was a different story for the rest

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TRAILBLAZING IN GOD’S OWN COUNTRY FEATURE

WITH A BEAUTIFUL, FLOWY TRACK THE LEAD PACK SLOWED FOR NOTHING

KEERATI SUKPRASAT FROM THAILAND, WHO WON THE XC RACE, FLOWING DOWN THE TRAIL

SOME RIDE

SOME WALK

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as their technique couldn’t quite match their heart, alternately dismounting and carrying their bikes down the rocky descent and across the stream.

One can’t help but wonder what some of the In-dian riders might be capable of, were they to re-ceive proper instruction on the technical aspects of mountain biking.

In the end, the awesome twosome Keerati Suk-prasat (1st) and Natawt Supachiwakun (2nd) from Thailand triumphed in the international category with Ajay Chhetri coming in third.

All attention shifted to the main event - the 4X, nearly 70 kms away, right on the famous Kovalam Beach.

For those unfamiliar with the term 4X (pronounced Four Cross), think of a short, adrenalin-packed ride downhill (and offroad), throw in multiple curves and switchbacks and add a few jumps. Then imag-ine four riders fighting it out on the track with the top two in each heat, making it through to the next round which usually takes place in the next half hour.

Shifting to Trivandrum (for the 4X) involved more than a little chaos however with the entire contingent hav-ing to cram bag, baggage and gear into a single bus. As it turned out, the hotels turned out to be some 15 kms away from the track - another mystifying decision since Kovalam is hardly short of accomodation. All these delays cost the athletes precious time which

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FOR THOSE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE TERM 4X (PRONOUNCED FOUR CROSS), THINK OF A SHORT, ADRENALIN-PACKED RIDE DOWNHILL (AND OFFROAD), THROW IN MULTIPLE CURVES, SWITCHBACKS AND JUMPS AND HAVE 4 RIDERS FIGHT IT OUT.

TAN HONG CHUN - BLISTERINGLY QUICK

GUNNING FOR THE FINISH

CRANKING OUT OF THE GATES

could have been spent prepping at the track. Add to this the fact that at the XC race accomodation was con-siderably less luxurious for the Indian contingent than the international (to put it mildly) and organisers will have to spend some serious time working out the kinks if they wish to attract more participation in these events.

On a hot and muggy Sunday, the boys from Malaysia showed both class and brute power as they alter-nately cruised, jumped and cranked their way to solid times. The last man down the hill also happened to be the fastest of the day and the favourite - Tan Hong Chun from Singapore.

The heats got off to a ripping start.

Out of the starting block they stood up and cranked, hands off the brakes. As they hit their stride they came upon a little bump and they fought to keep the bikes down as they entered the first and longest of the curves. The long bank spat them out at the end and into an incline which had them sailing up and over a hump. Faced with a switchback the first rider always has the luxury of picking his line while the rest do the best they can given the circum-stances.

Race winners were inevitably decided by the fourth curve as the course got tighter and there was little lattitude to pass.

For the most part, the international riders had way too much firepower for the Indians. Tan Hong Chun breezed through all the rounds, emphatically winning each heat by the first switch-back itself. Nurjamri Johari and Rai-haan Aziz from Brunei waited till the fourth stretch in their respective events before opening up the after-burners. Local boy Jibin Joy gave a good account of himself but lost out in the quarterfinals as did Vinay Me-non and Gautam Taode.

Nilesh Dhumal kept the national flag flying, making it all the way to the semi-finals, only losing out to the eventual gold and bronze medallists. He still finished a very creditable sixth in the international category and was also crowned the first Indian national 4X champion.

An eventful weekend was brought to a festive close at night on the beaches of Kovalam as Tan Hong Chun rode his bike through the crowd to the dais, to pick up his medal and the festivities continued long into the night.

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NILESH DHUMAL - NATIONAL 4X CHAMPION

TAN HONG CHUN - INTERNATIONAL 4X CHAMPION

4X FUN AT THE BEACH

For a few years now we’ve been hearing talk of moun-tain bikes with a wheel size somewhere in between the 26er and the 29er. But, this has been generally viewed as a fringe, experimental thing and it hasn’t really being taken seriously.

Until this year that is.

The 650B hit the headlines this year. From Scott to cult moun-tain bike brands such as Intense and Foes, everyone’s

jumped on the 650B bandwagon. But, the quickest on the ball have been KHS, who not only trotted out a whole bunch of 650B XC bikes, but went ahead and designed the first 650B downhill bike, on which Logan Bin-

gelli took fourth place at the Red Bull Rampage.

Well, X’Mas dawned early here at Crank with ProCycle and Santa presented us with a shiny new KHS 650B hardtail - the very first of its kind in India.

But why is a bike with a different wheel size such a big deal?

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PROCYCLE TESTED

KHS HAS BEEN THE QUICKEST TO ADOPT THIS NEW SIZE

KHS SIX FIFTY 603

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In a nutshell, the smaller the wheel, the more maneuverable and agile a bike (also true for motor bikes, cars and pretty much any vehicle). This new wheel size tries to strike a balance between the mile-munching characteristics of the 29er and the handling capabilities of the 26er.

We’ve spent the last month using and abusing it in pretty much every condition it was designed for and (a few that it was not). We commuted on it, busted a few moves on the street, race-tested it in the XC cate-gory at MTB Kerala and even belted it down the 4X track at Kovalam.

Here’s the skinny!

The rather confusingly-named KHS Six Fifty 603 hardtail is a svelte-looking bike and although it won’t set pulses racing, we like the quiet confidence it exudes.

KHS has kept the wheelbase really short and, in fact, the rear triangle is so compact that its about the same size as the 26er Kona it sits next to and the 26er KHSes from last year. This makes it a surprisingly agile per-former.

However, when pushed on the XC trails in various conditions, we discov-ered the limitations of this compact design. When trail-ridden in the rain it throws up some proper mud clearance issues and there is a toe over-lap. The wheels also feel a little flexy on technical sections.

ProCycle rider Ajay Kamble raced it at MTB Kerala and it withstood the test of competition. The larger wheels helped cover more ground and it even dealt with some of the less steep singletrack. The brakes do a very good job and the superb Schwalbe Racing Ralphs inspire corner-ing confidence. It does make you work on the steeper technical single-track though and here it can’t keep up with its smaller-wheeled siblings.

The team gave it a whirl on the 4X track - a place where it should feel pretty alien, and it did relatively decently. The tyres made it feel rela-tively planted and stable.

The upside

The X-Fusion Enix air shock up front has performed admirably. Its plush and has been stiction-free from the word go - an excellent bit of kit at this pricepoint.

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LOW SPEC DRIVETRAIN - SHIMANO ACERA RD AND ALTUS FD

MUD CLEARANCE ISSUES IN THE REAR

THE EXCELLENT X-FUSION ENIX AIR FORK

While X-Fusion is a relatively new brand on the scene, it has definitely earned itself some street cred on the suspension scene. In fact, the big daddy of the Enix does duty on Logan Bingelli’s DH bike which took him to the Red Bull Rampage this year.

Brakes - Promax levers paired with Bengal mechani-cals. Despite the el cheapo levers (probably to keep the cost down), they perform bril-liantly! We have

come to love Ben-gal’s Helix range over the last couple of years and these mechanicals live up to the rep of its hyrdauli siblings.

The downside

The drivetrain! KHS has spec-ed a run-of-the-mill Shi-mano Acera rear derailleur with the bottom-of-the-line Altus FD. While this may be fine for toodling around town, it is definitely not trail--friendly and we advise serious riders to upgrade the drivetrain.

The bottom line

This particular offering from KHS is a great product particularly for the bargain price of about forty-five grand. In this price range nobody provides a decent air fork like this, let alone racing tyres. Throw in the fact that its a new technology in itself and its a heck of a bargain.

Who will love this?

The tarmac-MTBeer.

Also suitable for flat XC trail junkies with the caveat that the drivetrain needs an upgrade.

Those who ‘ride for the gnarl’ - stick with the 26er but watch out for further developments in this wheel size.

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PLUSH FORK, GREAT TYRES AND DECENT BRAKES ARE LET DOWN BY AN ENTRY-LEVEL DRIVETRAIN WHICH, HOWEVER, IS EASILY UPGRADABLE

FOR MORE DETAILS DROP US A LINE AT CRANK@PROCYCLE.IN

PROCYCLE RIDER AJAY KAMBLE RACING THE KHS 603 AT MTB KERALA

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KOSHY’S, BANGALORE

BIKE(R)-FRIENDLY VENUES BIKERS’ LAIR

In Bangalore, the very mention of the name Koshy’s evokes nostalgic stories of a bygone era when life was simpler and traffic was slow and sparse. Well, a year ago, they installed a rather funky-looking bike rack for all their patrons. Now riders can tuck into a well-earned Sunday lunch of appams and stew after a long, hard ride, knowing their bikes are safe.

A figure dodges through traffic at breakneck speed - weav-ing, bobbing, jinking and jiving. Its a guy on a bicycle but he sure doesn’t ride it like a clunker (probably because it isn’t). He lifts the front of the bike momentarily as he bunny hops up onto the kerb and continues. Presented with an obstacle his eyes light up. In his head, the bump turns into a ramp and he’s on his favourite trail again, launching himself into the air.

Things haven’t changed much in that sense for Nilesh Dhu-mal. Sure, he’s no longer fighting with kids in school or play-ing with the kids in the neighbourhood but, he still rides the way he always did. The bikes have changed over the years. He’s busted plenty of frames in his time, riding the streets of Mumbai with his buddies. He was part of the first wave of BMXers who rode, tricked and annoyed their way to public notice. Things progressed from there and now, as he says, he looks for ‘big air’.

It hasn’t been an easy journey. While Indian sportsmen crib about cricket getting all the attention (and attendant moolah), these boys knew nobody even viewed BMXing as a sport.

It was a silly childish diversion which kids would get over.

Or so they were told.

Well, Nilesh was one of those who didn’t listen. And today, nearly twenty years later, he’s become India’s first 4X champion. Despite all the doubt-ers, he even placed 6th in the interna-tional category, beating sponsored riders from Brunei and Malaysia.

As he looks at that treasured, UCI-stamped trophy he has so many anec-dotes to recount. Like the time he was obsessed with learning how to wheelie around Shivaji Park in Bombay. After days of struggles and spills, he got a thrill when Milind Soman stopped in the midst of his jog to remark that he seemed to be getting better. Or like the time he was got a call on his mo-bile from Sallu Bhai to ask if he could fix one of his bikes and ended up tak-ing care of Salman’s rigs for a while.

Through it all all, the only thing that

THE LONG ROAD TO SUCCESS

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RIDER PROFILE

mattered to him was the next ride.

The BMXes are long gone, replaced by a monster which can give him the air he lusts after. Its all about downhilling now and he’s made a name for himself as being one of the best (if not the best) in the country.

When he heard that MTB Kerala included an international 4X event, he jumped at the chance.

With a blistering time in the qualifiers, he served notice that there were indeed local riders to be reckoned with. He fought tooth and nail through the heats and made it all the way to the semi-finals, los-ing to the eventual champion and another international rider, giving him 6th overall and 1st in the national category.

As it all sank in that night, he made calls to the friends who rooted for him through the years and the buddy who grew up shredding the streets of Mumbai with him. As he said many times in his excite-ment,“It was just like Muggu and me racing through Mumbai.” For an evening, we saw the excited little boy again - the boy who only wanted to ride his bike.

The next day, the intensity had returned.

The taste of success after all this time has only whetted his appetite for more and as Nilesh ‘Nelly’ Dhumal looks to the future, we know mountain biking in India has a bright future.

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NILESH ON HIS FAVOURITE DOWNHILL TRAIL - TURAHALLI

ON HIS WAY TO THE GOLD

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PROCYCLE-WRENCHED RIDES (AND THEIR RIDERS) WRENCHED

RIDE: Bianchi Cameleonte Sport

RIDER: Gaurav Bathla, Director, Bathla Aluminium Pvt. Ltd.

When he isn’t busy climbing the ladder of success (both figura-tively and literally) Gaurav is busy riding his bike. After more than two decades away from the fold, he recently rediscovered the engineless joys of cycling and rests easy in the knowledge that, with ProCycle, his bike could not be in better hands.

The average IT professional in Bangalore leads a somewhat schizophrenic existence. At home, he is an object of respect, with parents he is the subject of pride and with the whole khandaan, he is definitely a figure to be emulated. In schmoozy social circles though, he cuts a less-than-envied figure and among the literati he tends to be the object of some amount of snark.

Well if anyone were to have landed up at 7:00 in the a.m at Manyata Tech Park, the techie’s image would’ve been signifi-cantly enhanced.

Organisers of the Bangalore Bicycle Championships had saved the best for last and the 2012 season went all the way down to the wire in arguably the most exciting of road racing formats - the criterium.

Quick crash course on crits (tongue twisters intended) - competitors ride around a short city block for a specified time-frame (45 minutes in this case). Lapped riders have to drop out. To keep the race interesting and keep riders sprinting, a crit incorporates multiple prizes - the usual for top finishers and prizes for ‘prime’ (pronounced ‘preem’) laps. Anywhere during the race, a horn is sounded as leaders start a new lap signalling the beginning of a prime lap. Riders sprint for it and the winner of the prime lap gets a special prize. With two such prime laps which can take place anywhere within the race there are more prizes to go around.

On the final race day of the 2012 BBCh, the haze had just begun to thin as riders found their way through the maze of tow-ering glass and steel, to the designated course.

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RIP-ROARING FINALE

BBCH 2012

A HAZY DAWN AT MANYATA TECH PARK ON RACEDAY

With a security guard posted every five to ten feet along the course, it appeared as if the entire security detail of Manyata was enlisted for the race. Eyes lighted up wholesale at the sight of the clean, smooth tarmac.

Category 2 got off to a neat start with the pack staying to-gether. As the first prime arrived at about the twenty-five min-ute mark, riders attacked holding nothing back. Shortly after, Durgesh Ranadive broke away from the peloton and was burnt up the tarmac all on his own taking the win emphati-

cally. However, nobody could have anticipated the drama among the next five over the course of the last two laps.

In an incredible burst of power, Mahito Isejima blitzed his way past a number of riders to finish in second. Newcomer Dev Veera announced his presence by coming in third with Petrus hot on his heels in fourth. In fact, Mahito’s ride was so unex-pected that it caused a good deal of confusion with organis-ers calling it wrong and then reversing their decision a few days later.With Cat 2 done, focus shifted to the main event and all eyes were on the two lads who were in contention for the overall season gold - Siddharth Kansal and three-time winner Naveen Raj. Naveen has been something of a blue-eyed boy in the Bangalore community having won three out of the four seasons of BBCh and is now part of Specialized Kynkyny. Siddharth Kansal has literally come from nowhere consistently riding every race in the calendar, including the high-risk downhill.

The race got off to a quick start as expected and, unlike the Cat 2, the herd didn’t thin immediately. Of course, the entire Kinky Brigade (as we affectionately refer to them) dominated the lead group but a good number of the Spectrum boys hung in there.

For a bit.

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RACING THROUGH MORNING RAYS ON PERFECT TARMAC

WATCH THE REARVIEW MIRROR!

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Once the red-and-white hit its stride, people could only watch in awe. Bharat pulled the peloton brutally with Kiran before launching the triumvirate - Naveen John, Lokesh and Naveen Raj in tow. Fresh from the Tour de Bintan in Indonesia they hit their stride and rocketed ahead, proceeding to lap and mop up the opposition with metronomic precision. Bodies bent over the bars, eyes unwavering, every curve treated with pre-cision they flowed through the course lapping at a ridiculous time of two minutes flat.

Somewhat mercifully it was only a 45 minute race. 20 min-utes longer and the entire field was in danger of being lapped (with due respect to them).

Behind the three was a group consisting of a few more of the SKCT crew - Laxman, Dipankar and Vivek, interspersed with their brothers in the black-and-yellow (Kynkyny Wheelsports) - Matt, Kiran and former champ Georg Leuzinger. The men from Spectrum tried to hang in there but all but a couple had fallen by the wayside. Siddharth gave it his best but ‘twas too much to reel in. Youngblood Sarvesh has had a fantastic season and he certainly showed his promise here too. We are sure we’re going to see lots more of him in the future.

Thus, in the most emphatic of manners the race and the championship went to Naveen Raj.

Its been a long season but a fascinating one and the Banga-lore Bicycle Championship has grown tremendously from an average attendance of 35 riders to somewhere close to 55 now. The big races have seen closer to a hundred riders with riders jetting in from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Hy-derabad.

We can’t wait to see what 2013 brings!

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THE PODIUM (L TO R) - LAXMAN, LOKESH, NAVEEN RAJ AND NAVEEN JOHN

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GEAR THAT TURNS MEN INTO BABBLING BOYSBOYS’ TOYS

LEOPARD SHADES

A HOT PAIR OF SHADES THEY CERTAINLY ARE! BUT WHAT MAKES THEM EVEN COOLER IS THE INSERTABLE FRAME WHICH ALLOWS FOR PRESCRIPTION LENSES. EVERY RIDER OUT THERE WHO CURSES HIS LENSES OR SPECTACLES WILL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE’RE TALKIN’ ABOUT.

FOR MORE DETAILS DROP US A LINE AT CRANK@PROCYCLE.IN

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