This is a new frame from French brand Labyrinth. They are based in Les Vosges, an area in N.E. France, in the foothills of the alps. This is the bike that I’ll be using for all mountain adventures, like the trip to Basque MTB and when I’m working as part of the mountain team in the Trans Provence stage race.

There will be a video report on how the bike rides, later on in the summer.

Due to the arrival of a Labyrinth Agile frame, I’m selling my medium size 2010 Lapierre Spicy 316 frame. The frame comes with a good FSA Orbit Z headset, SLX front mech (unused) and a newly fitted Shimano bottom bracket.

Click here for more photos. I’ve had the frame for 5 months. I have several other bikes as well, so it has not had heavy use. There is some light scratching on the frame that you can see in the photos here. Otherwise it is in excellent condition.

I want £650. It can be collected from the Hebden Bridge area or just add £20 for Parcelforce Express 24 delivery. Email if you’re interested.

I often get emails after skills courses. This time I got an email and a video to show how Justin has been putting the skills that he developed on the ‘Flow’ course into practice on his local trails. Awesome…..

“Hi Ed

I just wanted to extend my thanks for a great ‘Flow’ course last weekend. Your relaxed style with just the right amount of ‘go on you know you want to’ encouragment certainly enabled me to enjoy pushing the boundries. This created a buzz for me and no doubt the rest of the group over the weekend.

I though I would attach a low quality video of me putting some of the things you taught into practice in my local woods today.

Once again Thank you. It was top notch.

Justin”

Julie, a Kinesis Morvelo sponsored racer, wrote a grand review of the Flow advanced mountain bike skills course. You can read it here.

Just done another Flow course this weekend. There was a great buzz in the group this time making for a fun weekend up at Gisburn Forest. As ever the weekend was based from the hospitable centre of the trails Gisburn Forest Bikes, formerly know as the Dog & Partridge.

On day one we rode some of the great singletrack sections on Gisburn’s trail centre loop. Getting to grips with pump technique and applying this to cornering was our main focus. After that, the weekend was mostly spent in the downhill and freeride areas of the forest learning and practicing advanced skills like drop offs, steps, steep banks and cornering.

The Flow weekend is usually about taking people’s riding up to the next level. When they looked at the drop offs on day one, no one could imagine that they would be riding them. I often get the feedback after this course that, “you got me riding things I never thought I could” and this weekend was no exception.

The guys went away with new skills, like being able to bunny hop properly, as well as having had a big boost in riding inspiration. Some of the techniques need time to sink in and be practiced. I’m sometimes told by people that what we did on the course ‘clicks into place’ weeks later.

There’s usually a Flow course every month, or it can be done as a private booking.

If like me you’re going off for some big mountain riding this year, chances are you will have to pack your bike up and put it on a plane. I’ve just been out to Greece to run a week of mountain bike skills courses with Greek riders. I’m also making 2 trips to visit and work withwww.basquemtb.com as well as working with the infamous alpine stage race www.trans-provence.com this year.

For my Greek trip I’ve just used the fastastic EVOC bike bag and will be using it for the rest of my travels this year. It really is the Rolls Royce of cycle travel equipment. Like the hydration packs that EVOC make, it’s of top quality construction and has very well thought out design features. Also like the packs it comes in the funkiest colours and even made me look classy as I strolled through the airport, like a jet set hobo of the open skies.

Ease of use is outstanding. All you have to do is remove the wheels, bars and pedals to get the bike all packed up. I also unscrewed the rear mech (without disconnecting the gear cable). This is way easier than the last time I flew and almost completely dissembled my bike for packing in a cardboard bike box. The EVOC bag also takes up less space than a cardboard box and easily goes in the back of a car. Rebuilding the bike takes hardly any time, which helps get your trip off to a relaxed start.

My bike was well protected in the case by the various pads and blocks. There is strong protection for your forks and a solid base that fits under the chain stays and bottom bracket. It was also held in a secure way, not rattling around in the bag at all, because of the various Velcro and buckled straps. Removable struts are inserted into the ends of the bag as well as on the outside of the integrated wheel bags. These give external protection and as they are removable, also mean you can collapse the bag down for easy storage when it’s not in use. There are handy zipped pockets for pedals, QRs etc. A solid base and wheels at the back make the bag dead easy to move around and it even stays stable going up and down steps as well as on and off the airport transfer bus. These EVOC dudes should start making bikes! There are well placed handles all around the bag for baggage handling joy.

You can fit road bikes as well as mountain bikes in the EVOC bag and it will even take 29ers if that’s how you swing. It retails for £279.95. You can find out more about where to get hold of one from www.silverfish-uk.com

Ed Oxley