Kevin is currently riding our new prerunner pedals. Here is what he had to say about the weekend. This past weekend I attended round two of the Pro GRT gravity race series. The race took place in Roxbury, NY at Plattekill ski resort. There was an awesome turnout with a pro field of nearly 70 riders including several top world cup racers. I arrived Thursday morning to awesome weather and an even better race track. The top of the course was super fast and flowy, full of root doubles and loose shale rock. About half way down the track there were some more technical sections that included big rock drops, nasty rock gardens, and slick off camber lines. The bottom section flattened out a bit and was a flat out sprint until you smack into the finish line wallride. Practice was going really well with no crashes and my speed increasing.
The tailend of the week continued to have nice sunny weather and a fast dry track. Race morning, on the other hand, brought an early morning rainstorm, making the track slick and greasy. While the greasy track was eating people alive, I decided to do more watching and learning, then breaking myself off. After the track dried up some, I got a few good practice runs in before seeding runs began. My seeding run was decent but I had some mistakes that needed to be dealt with in my final run. After refueling in the pits I headed up for my final run. Soon enough I was cranking out of the gate chasing down the rider in front of me. I put together an awesome run that was fast but also conservative, making sure I crossed the finish line in one piece. I crossed the finish line and held the hot seat for three or four riders. My final time was five and a half seconds faster than my seeding run. My GT Fury ran like butter the whole week and was by far the hardest bike for photographers to get shots of. The Fury is so silent and solid on the track that you can’t hear it coming until its already in sight or gone. In the final results I finished in 14th place. Times were extremely tight between riders so a hundredth of a second was a big deal. I was very happy with my race run and the time I posted, less than four seconds from the pro podium. Overall it was an awesome weekend filled with good times and awesome riding. I would like to thank all my sponsors for their continued support including GT Bicycles, Epic Stealth Cameras, SRAM, Kenda, Mavic, Fox Clothing, Funn, Ethirteen, SDG, Twenty Six Products, Troy Lee Designs, Oakley, FiveTen Shoes, EFX, DarkTimbers , ODI grips, Freestyle watches, Diverse Suspension Springs, and Cadence Works.

It was rainy night so I decided to turn some light weight shock hardware for my 951. I machined the m8 nuts out of aluminum and the m8 bolts out of the same titanium we use for our axles. Send us an e-mail if you are interested in a set.

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Bozeman, Montana Unbeknownst to many, Montana is a breeding ground for bike industry innovation, with a growing number of cyclists and companies cropping up in the state. Tyler Jarosz, owner of Twenty6 Products, is one particular case that falls into both of these areas—he’s a fantastic rider as well as a visionary entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to the industry. We had a chance to pull Tyler away from the CNC machine and ask him a couple questions.

Nickname : Tdogg

Height : 5’6”

Birth Place : Wausau WI

Favorite Trail in the Bozeman Area :
It’s a tossup between Mount Blackmore and Shaft house… If I had to chose, it’d be Mount Blackmore.

Favorite place to ride?
Any flowy singletrack in Montana

PINK or WHITE? Pink

DH or DJ? DJ

What sparked your interest in biking when you were young?
Freedom; I use to ride my bicycle everywhere.

When did you get into biking, and what form of biking was it?
I got into biking at age 5. I started out on a 20” BMX bike. I use to build wooden ramps in front of my parents’ house and show off to the neighbor kids.

Do any other sports influence your biking or style?
Biking actually influences all aspects of my life. When I’m biking, I seek out flowy terrain. This style links to how I design my products. I strive to make every angle and curve on my products link together and serve a purpose, while looking aesthetically appealing. This is the same way I strive to ride my bike.

Who are your favorite riders?
Anyone who has a passion for biking; those are my favorite type of people to ride with.

Some people say that you can’t work in the industry you love, or you start to hate what you love. What do you think about that philosophy?
I think that philosophy is bogus. If you start to hate what you love then you’ve lost the passion behind it. You have to make sure you stay focused on what makes you happy.

What is your dream?
To buy a few more machines, own my own shop with a pump track and dirt jumps surrounding it, and have more free time.

What was your main motivation for starting a small accessories company?
My passion for biking is what drove me—and what still drives me—to manufacture bicycle components.

What is your dream bike, and what color are all the parts?
DW-linked Turner DHR, decked out with all parts dipped in wood grain.

What’s on the horizon for Twenty6 Products in the next year or so?
I have a lot of plans for Twenty6 products, including a step-in platform pedal, longer stem options, and more wild colors.

What events do you plan on attending or racing this season?
This season I plan on attending the Fluidride Cup race in Port Angles, WA at the beginning of May, Fluidride cup race in Kellog ID, Lone Peak Revenge at Big Sky, MT, and the Inter Bike expo in Vegas at the end of September.

What would your advice be for other young entrepreneurs, with a dream similar to yours?
Your dream will not come true overnight! Mine took three years of working a fulltime job along with building up Twenty6 Products. It takes a while for your name to get established. Stay focused on your passion and you will never “work” another day in your life.

Photos by Derik Olsen

The snow never stops here in Montana. We just got pounded on over the weekend. This video was taken on saturday monrning on our way to go snowboarding. We were plowing thorugh 12″ of snow the whole way up this road to get to the trail head.

Here in Montana you are never close to your vehicle when you are out riding. I wanted a light weight 17mm wrench to bring along in my pack to fix flat tires on my rear wheel of my 951. The titanium wrench only weighs 26 grams compared to 155 grams of a standard box wrench. This wrench will go along great with my titanium tire levers.

These 12mm axle nuts will replace any 12mm rear axle. They are specially designed for the Intense drop outs but can be used with any 12mm axle. These nuts only weigh 8 grams each where the stock steel nuts weigh 25 grams each. They are available in 8 anodized colors. Feel free to contact us if you are interested in purchasing a set.

Here is a pic of the new session 88 all decked out in Twenty6 Products.

Let us know what you think of our new traction pins design. The new proto type traction pins feature a 2mm hole that goes all the way through the pin, overall height of the pin has been increased by .5mm, and a deeper 2mm broach (hex) for better engagement while tightening. The reason for the design change was due to customer response to our sharper pins.