One of Orange Sport Supply’s newest partners- Dissent Labs- has been taking the BC MTB scene by storm over the season. It’s hard to go anywhere without seeing the iconic socks adorned by legions of loyal supporters. Dissent Labs has made a name for themselves based on the awesome products they create but they also sponsor some pretty big names. Check out the latest video HERE.

This year, I decided to try my hand at Enduro racing. I’ve been training now seriously for it since the beginning of the year, with the end goal to do well in my catagory at Crankworx, Whistler. One of the ways I’m preparing is participating in the Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association Trailblazer Race Series.

I’m originally from Chilliwack. My family still lives there so I ride out in the Valley a fair amount. I’ve attended a lot of the FVMBA races and events over the last few years. They’ve always had a great vibe and their events are extremely well organized. I’ve gotten to know a lot of the organizers, riders, and shop employees who are involved in putting on these events. This year, I think they’ve outdone themselves.

Halfway through this series, I can say it has to be the best bang for your buck race series going. The FVMBA membership is relatively cheap ($30 for a year family membership for my girlfriend and I) and at $30 for all 4 races, the value is insane. They always have a ton of prizes at all of their events. You can see that the money that they generate through their memberships goes back into their trails. Their major networks (Vedder, Sumas, and Bear) are all top notch, and the trails are in unreal condition. They’ve also expanded this year to a couple of different categories for women, men, and kids to level out the playing fields and give everyone of different skill levels a chance to compete and push their limits.

The recent race at Vedder Mountain has been their most successful thus far. After riding all afternoon, I gave organizer Karla Stowards and a crew of flaggers a ride up the hill on Saturday evening so they could set up the start and tape the course. Their registration was at about 65 people at that point. Karla nervously pondered if they could possibly break 100 registrants. They ended up at 109.

The FVMBA races are ideal for people who want to try out racing. There is little pressure and a lot of positive energy. My girlfriend started racing this year because of how much fun I had at their events in the past. She got on the podium before I did…..

There’s still 2 more races left at Bear Mountain (June 22) and Sumas Mountain (July 14). It’s well worth the money and the drive!

Kelly Barnes is Orange Sport Supply’s 650b, enduro, and cyclocross expert. He also does some warranty stuff. #trent #yolo.

Check out this PinkBike video from NiteRider sponsored rider Brett Tippie as he shreds the North Shore after dark.

View the video via PinkBike HERE

Orange Sport Supply doesn’t just distribute any old brand and this shouldn’t be news to you. Our catalogue isn’t 1000 pages long and anyone who works here can probably name every single brand that we carry.

We offer products that are high quality and relevant. Products that get us excited and that we would use ourselves. We don’t simply grab any brand that is out there in attempts of bicycle P&A distribution domination. Each addition is carefully thought-out and evaluated. Discussions are had and samples are used and tested. If we deem a brand worthy of occupying space in our warehouse and our catalogue it means that it is something special and it deserves the attention of dealers and consumers alike. With all of that in mind- we are very proud to announce the addition of Dissent Labs and Personal Best Products to the Orange Sport Supply repertoire.

Presenting Dissent Labs:
Dissent Labs is the thought-leader in next-to-skin, sock, compression, and gear-solution technology for the action sport and action outdoor athlete. For ourselves, for our customers, and for our team riders, these sports demand respect and full commitment. Equipment needs to work.

Born out of necessity, Dissent Labs engineers gear-solutions by partnering with technology leaders and visionaries, using best-in-class, movement-specific materials and techniques. Beyond the science and data, every Dissent Labs product is a reflection of the time we spend collaborating with the world’s best athletes, in the toughest and most intimidating conditions imaginable. Engineering is always the priority.

Presenting Personal Best Products:
Personal Best Products LLC is owned and operated by individuals who are passionate about healthy living, athletics and the environment. Like many of you, they are astounded that countless products are marketed and sold which contain substances harmful to humans and animals, as well as to our soil and water.

Their experience and expertise span multiple markets, as do these unique new products. The skin lubricant (chamois cream) is used by athletes as diverse as their sports – from rugby to cycling.

PersonalBest Products will help you perform to the best of your ability and take care of your equipment, while protecting yourself and respecting the natural surroundings in which you love to play.

Contact your nearest dealer to find products from Dissent Labs and Personal Best Products.

Coming from a downhill mountain biking background, learning to ride all-mountain/trail bikes has been fun, yet challenging. I find the bikes can be a tad twitchy which can leave me anxious and apprehensive as I dive into the trails. Switching over to Schwalbe Hans Dampf tires made the bikes corner and track predictably and confidently. They’ve been amazing in both dry and wet conditions, and have brought me success on sun-baked rock lines or rim-deep mud holes.

New for 2013, was the introduction of the Super Gravity construction in their AM tires, making them perfect for the aggressive trail disciplined rider. They’re sidewalls are stiff like a downhill casing, but still weight in sub 1000 grams. Check out the following link for a full explanation and video from Schwalbe on their new Super Gravity technology.

http://youtu.be/61xlkkdjaRk

–Stephen Matthews: Inside Sales rep at Orange Sport Supply and bike destroyer

The fact of the matter is that the word “standard” doesn’t mean much when it comes to the bicycle industry. In fact I would be more inclined to use the word “variation” when the bicycle industry comes up with a new product specification that they deem a “standard”.

Bottom brackets and headsets are all good examples of products with a great deal of variation. However things as common and mundane as axles, bolts, bearings and hangers all fall into this standard variation category.

So the question is how do you keep track of all of these “standards”?

The answer is pretty simple: You don’t.

Of course in a real life shop environment this really isn’t an option at all; especially when you have a number of insistent customers breathing down your neck looking to get a replacement for their “standard” parts.

This is where your friendly bicycle distributor comes in handy (I am only speaking on Orange Sport Supply’s behalf as I have no idea if any other distributors are as friendly as we are): Orange Sport Supply has a pretty good deal of staff with hands on experience from years of working in shops, both on the sales floor and in service shops.
We also have a lot of charts; taped to the wall, on our hard-drives and tucked away in dusty old books. Even better still we have a large number of tools that measure, calculate and guide you to finding the answers to all of your “standard” related questions.

So if you are looking for information on what hanger bike frame “x” takes, what headset standard you are looking at, which press fit version your bottom bracket you have in your hands, Orange Sport Supply probably has an answer for you. If not I’m sure that we have a chart.

–Dan Graham is the head of BBQ’ing and assistant forklift driver at Orange Sport Supply who enjoys riding his unicycle along the seawall

The Adventure Journal- an awesome source for articles and news related to anything active and outdoorsy- just featured Stan’s No Tubes in their Made in America series.

Read the whole article  HERE

Enjoy!

The west coast winters can be long and dreary. I’ve done the whole Northern Ontario winter thing for twenty years but Vancouver winters can be very gloomy. Low, thick, grey clouds can loom above us for what seems like an eternity. Windstorms, snow dumps and torrential rains seemed to be never-ending this season – but things were about to get better.

We were lucky enough to get an extended break in the weather and have some amazing trail conditions. Temperatures were in the high-teens and were breaking records. It was like having June in March! The OSS crew had to take full advantage of this as we all knew that more rains would come.

The Orange Sport Supply crew – Tyler, Kelly, Dan and I met at the office Saturday Morning, loaded up the company truck and headed for the Sunshine Coast. Just a forty-five minute ferry ride from West Vancouver it makes for a great day trip. We soaked up some sun on the ferry’s deck and checked out the beautiful scenery while en-route to Gibsons. After a short drive on the highway we arrived.

The snow line was lower than expected but once the trail went further into the woods it was all good! The blowdown was quite impressive – there were thousands of small pine branches covering the trail making it very soft and green-looking along with many fallen trees that had been recently cut and cleared. Many thanks to the trail/road maintainers!

One of the most popular trails, Mach Chicken, was in great shape. It is a pedally downhill trail with berms, jumps, and rocky sections. It allows you to really open it up and hit some good speeds unlike the typical, technical “North Shore” trails.

Another not-to-miss trail would be Janet’s Jungle to DNZ. They’re full of small to medium gap jumps. Great fun for the whole family!

All-in-all it was a great day. It was good to get back on the DH bike that had been collecting dust since last October. We all had a blast and can’t wait for the Mach Chicken DH race at the end of the month!

Bring on Summer!!

Joe Reid is an Inside Sales Rep at OSS and enjoys ripping it up in all cycling disciplines

Orange Sport Supply’s newest brand wins the prestigious Red Dot Product Design award!  This product design competition has existed since 1955. Its award, the “red dot”, is an internationally recognized quality seal. The best products receive the “red dot: best of the best” award.

Congratulations to the Birzman design team! Check out the Tiny Tanker for yourself, now in stock at Orange Sport Supply.

Creeker (noun): a trail that is situated beside a creek, stream or brook; often used by runners, dog walkers & adventurous cyclists; characterized by a variety of trail surfaces, frequent up and downs, bench cut sections and a generally soggy & damp surface; abundant in North Vancouver

If you were to play a word association game with any mountain biker, on the term “North Shore” what would the related terms be: Steep? Roots? Skinnies? Drops to Flat? Hucks? Scary?  Normally you’d be 100% correct. One thing the North Shore has is it’s fair share of technical, steep, rooty & difficult trails.  One thing that is behind most of these is water…lots of it. Whether it comes as an abundance of rain, or falls and snow, and inevitably melts, there is always water to be found.  As a result, our landscape is striated with streams, creeks & waterways, running away from the mountains towards the ocean.

Water follows the path of least resistance down a hill. This path of least resistance erodes away dirt, rock and terrain, creating ravines, gulleys & drainages.  The common denominator in all of these is that you’ll find a stream at the bottom; but if you search and explore enough, you’ll probably find a creeker trail (or 2).

I’ve spent the last 3 years searching out these trails; discovering them, maintaining them and watching them change.  They vary from wide crushed gravel paths, to steep technical rooty climbs & descents, to wooden boardwalks, and the (more than) occasional set of stairs.

Anyone who says you can’t get technical within the city limits needs to come and ride on the ‘lower’ North Shore. You’d be amazed as to what may be just in the back yard. When I decide the road commute is becoming mundane, I can ride from my house to Orange Sport on 75% dirt (and stairs, and roots, and rocks, and more often than not, some water). All it takes is an exploratory spirit, a good set of lungs and some waterproof shoes.

While I won’t say these creeker trails best what the real Shore has to offer, I will say, that if you don’t mind getting a little wet, you’ll be surprised as to what you may find at the end of a cul-de-sac, alley or at the bottom of the stairs.

Go explore.

–Chris Courtney is the Inside Sales Manager at Orange Sport Supply and enjoys searching out new trails throughout his home in North Vancouver