I won’t lie, working with someone who is this fast on a DH bike is pretty cool, very cool infact!

Adam will be running Fork Armour on his Elka sprung and damped BoXXer 2011 forks. He is also dead keen on running a piece of Tube Armour on his Banshee as, to quote the man “the downtube is pretty thin!”.
Brayton is a racer who does not do things by half, he has had a few difficult seasons with injuries attained whilst running flat out. Drift hopes that he will keep it together for a whole season as he is one of the wildest looking racers when on a pinned run, the World Cup series ain’t the same without him.

So, you have seen him on the videos, Earthed 5 and on the racetrack but here are some words from the chap himself:

What feel are you going for this year? Full-on racing or something else?
Adam – I’ve got a pretty packed season ahead of me this year, but I’ve chosen races where the top boys are going to be and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. (Drift – Internet talk is tipping Adam for a high WC finish if he completes the season. We reckon he is looking for a high finish as well, he spends ages training and takes racing pretty seriously. Racing that is, not track walking!)

How did you find out about Fork Armour?
Adam – I first saw Drift Fork armor on Rich Thomas’s bike at one of the nationals, it definitely caught my eye. (Drift – Racers get custom factory graphics, Rich Thomas was running a set throughout 2010)

What are your first impressions?
Adam – First impressions on the Fork Armour was what a awesome idea, too long have our forks been getting munched on uplifts, it brings a tear to my eye, the new Drift fork armour is really going to take off, I think, and you cant even tell its on!

How will you see a benefit from running Fork Armour on the World circuit?
Adam – The Drift fork armor is definitely going to put my mind at rest for the 2011 season, I know when my bike is on the uplift its going to look the same when it gets off whatever its been rubbing against and another thing with the tracks stepping up there game you cant afford to blow some lowers out mid run if you clip a rock, I know my forks are going to be protected. Best of all when I get a swap on through a rock garden and clip a rock them there might be some sparks!

So there you go. Adam came asking about Fork Armour, for me that was a great moment, I think his answers reflect exactly what Fork Armour can offer a user. To have him say it was pretty cool and to be honest he has had really good things to say about Fork Armour since such as “The armour flew on”.

This is Adam’s race calander for 2011
19.03 – 20.03 (March) British Downhill Series Round 1
09.04 – 10.04 (April) British Downhill Series Round 2
28.05 – 29.05 (May) British Downhill Series Round 3
04.06 – 05.06 (June) UCI World Cup DHI / 4X 2 – Fort William GBR
11.06 – 12.06 (June) UCI World Cup DHI / 4X 3 – Leogang AUT
25.06 – 26.06 (June) British Downhill Series Round 4
02.07 – 03.07 (July) UCI World Cup XCO / DHI / 4X 4 – Mont Sainte Anne CAN
09.07 – 10.07 (July) UCI World Cup XCO/ DHI / 4X 5 – Windham USA
23.07 – 24.07 (July) National Championships Llangollen, Wales
06.08 – 07.08 (August) UCI World Cup DHI / 4X 6 – La Bresse FRA
20.08 – 21.08 (August) UCI World Cup XCO / DHI / 4X 7 – Val di Sole ITA
31.08 – 04.09 (September) UCI XCO/DHI/4X WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – Champery SUI
10.09 – 11.09 (September) British Downhill Series Round 5

We also asked him about setting a time on the 1:04
Adam – I really want to come down and do a run at Gawton, its similar to what I ride at home and looks a great track, I have been to check it out when I came down to tavistock to do some work with milk man, I’m pretty confident I could put down a competitive time so look out!

This is his Factory Jackson page with a race report from Rd. 2 of the BDS in which he finished an impressive 8th in Elites.

Link to Adam’s personal website which he keeps updated pretty regularly.

Follow this link for a race report and some great photos of Adams bike and Team issue Fork Armour.
Well done Adam!

RockShox have just sent a full press-release out to the mountainbike world about their 2012 BoXXer World-Cup fork. Since the big change is in the lower’s paint, visitors to this site might be interested to read about it.

Some words form RS:
Motivated by racers to develop the lightest dh fork for any trail, the new 2011 RockShox Boxxer keronite comes with unique features and improvements. RockShox engineers were able to eliminate the paint weight variation that accompanies ordinary paint applications to lower fork legs. however, keronite is more than a color – it is a sealing process, shaving off over 30 grams, and more consistent in weight than painting or powder coating. the light and hard surface finish is commonly used in the aerospace industry as a coating to protect landing gear of airplanes to protect against impacts and damages while landing at nearly 300 km/h (180 mph).

My summary of Keronite would be:
A surface treatment of the bare metal fork lowers that uses a similar process as anodising, but instead of an oxide layer being manipulated, a ceramic type coating is applied.
The idea is that ceramic is harder than an oxide layer and so better protects the soft alloy underneath.
This should result in a tougher fork lower, the question is how much tougher?
This coating is offered as an anti-scratch coating rather than a strength enhancing one, an analogy would be a sticker on a painted surface; the sticker would stop light scratches but if the damage is above the amount required to puncture the sticker, the sticker then fails to offer any sort of protection.
In simple terms, a coating can make the first few microns of a surface harder but the whole item still retains it’s original functional characteristics.
In effect if you twat a rock with these forks they will still dent, puncture and die.

I think that it is a step forward, but would only help with very light scratches. The 35mm BoXXer Fork Armour will still offer a huge protective benefit and fits the 2012 World Cup Fork.

Keronite

Shown here is Adam Brayton and Adam Lock’s Fork Armour for 2011.

Brayton’s bright colours are carried across from his O’neil race kit onto the Fork Armour.

Adam Lock’s co-sponsor – Certini Bicycle Co. has plenty of coverage on his set.

Don’t just take our word for it, have a look at what these guys think of Fork Armour:

Accidental Racing

They bought a set of Fork Armour in Red for the BoXXer 2011, it’s also available for 2010 + 2011 FOX 36 and 40 as well RockShox Domain Dual Crown, 2005-2009 BoXXer and BOS Idylle.

Today, Sunday, was the first race of the season for me, held up at Chipshop tracks, close to Gawton.

I knew the track was a minter, fast and flowy come torrential rain or shine.
Ash Mullane and Don Howe, representing Drift and Kustom Bikes attended, as did Junior Jay Williamson and Adam Lock – two Drift and Certini Bicycle Co. boys. All these guys are super talented and reasonably local so I knew they would be up on the field’s times.

Pissing rain in preceding days meant conditions were spot-on for winter racing! Here is a damp looking pits area that was buzzing with riders:

Practice was smooth, the track cleared of slop, everyone was looking smooth as ruts started to kick up allowing riders to flow harder and carry even more speed through the tight trees. The second road crossing, right through the pits made great spectating with this steep drop onto the track and racer’s double off it:

A pause for luncheon meant time for people to check out the competitions gear, or Fork Armour in this case and shelter from hailstones:

Come race time, riders were greeted with and old-skool esque start straight – sloppy mud and pretty flat. The rest of the track was running really well and top times after the first run were around 1:06. Local farmer Harry, who built the track, and lives in a barn on it set a blistering fastest, then Ben Deakin followed by Jay Williamson. Ash crashed on the flat, not enough traction control set?
On a short track like this times weren’t going to improve much, this was shown by the top ten generally moving just a second forwards. This time Ash put in solid mid 1:05, maybe keen just to finish well-up, Ben Deacon trumped this and went into first with Jay and Harry following on. I think all the top four finished on a 1:05 which shows how close the top boys are!

Jay easily topped the Junior podium, that’s a Drift Ti bottle opener he won! Not that anyone can see it it’s so small:

Ash (in green) sits in the middle of the senior podium with his solid second:

I had a great day, loved the close racing and sparring with friends who I haven’t ridden with in ages.
Thanks to Chaz L. who organised it all, hence the smooth running and provision of a great bike wash, the marshals for shouting their encouraging words and Don from Kustom Bikes for the flawless timing.

www.kustombikes.co.uk

Well done to the guys who ride for Drift, keep up the pedalling and grins this season!:

Adam, Ash and Jay from the left.

More racing to come from the Woodland Riders, get involved -

Woodland Riders Racing

We have smartened up the Drift logo slightly and have had loads of stickers made to celebrate.
Made from full colour printed vinyl, these are waterproof and really smart looking, want some? For FREE?
Send a SAE to Drift-MTB, Eastcott House, St Dominic, Saltash, Cornwall PL12 6TB.

George, from Drift, out riding in the South West of England with a friend, known as MoneyP….

Ben & George – DH in Devon & Cornwall, Early Feb 2011 from Ben Pearson on Vimeo.

Proper product pages to follow, but here is the news:

Fork Armour is available for the FOX 36 range of forks. There is a specific model for the following forks:

FOX 36 2010 – all versions
FOX 36 2011 – 160mm travel versions
FOX 36 2011 – 180mm travel versions

RRP is £45.00 Colours are a black base with white sections and Blue, White or Red highlights.

We are now taking orders for these three models and would expect to dispatch them by the middle of February at the latest. If you would like to purchase any of these products please use PayPal and send payment to jsymes@drift-mtb.com , alternatively email info@drift-mtb.com for our bank details to complete an instant bank transfer.

Late in 2010 Drift picked up an award for best Student Entrepreneur in the whole of Exeter Universities 15,000 students. We were really pleased to be recognised by such a prestigious organisation.

The awards evening was great fun with a mad dash beforehand to get a suit and trying to fit into a rather highbrow event that was the evening. Canapés and champagne all round!

Thanks to Joe Pearce at the Innovation Centre, Exeter University, Pete Hodges, Andrew Orchard (Packexe) for the champagne and everyone else who has contributed.

This is the press release from the evening – http://www.exeter.ac.uk/business/news/title,117109,en.html