Drak Bike Park: As Good As It Gets!

With 65km of groomed and maintained singletrack, Super D and downhill courses, is Drak Bike Park as good as it gets?

Drak Bike Park is situated on the Indonesian island of Batam, just a 40 minute ferry ride south of Singapore.  Drak (short for 'Durian Kang' or Durian River) Bike Park lies in the area to the east of the lake formed when the river was dammed 20 years ago for the fresh water needs of the island.

Drak Trail Map

The park had it's beginnings when a rider from Singapore, Stewart Ong, came to Batam over 20 years ago for work.  He rode the farm trails and wanting more, began creating trails in the nearby park.  Today, he works in conjunction with the community and state park authorities and created the Drak Bike Club, which maintains and operates the Bike Park.

"The Gap".  Image Courtesy of Drak Bike Park

There are many challenges building trails in South East Asia.  The dense jungle canopy drops leaves and heavy rains often topple trees over trails and erode trails.  Stewart and his crew work full time maintaining the trails when there are no customers.

65km of singletrack trail at Drak Bike Park.  Photo by Stewart Ong.

How does does one go about riding in the park?  First of all, get in touch with Stewart by Facebook.  Stewart will book you on one of the morning ferry services from Singapore to Batam (on the weekend, it is either the 8:20 or 8:50am; on a weekday, only the 8:50am ferry is available).  He will meet you at the Batam ferry terminal, and take you and your bike to the club.  At the club, Stewart provides a simple breakfast or snack while you change up, and then head off to ride.  There's a time difference of one hour between Singapore and Batam, so it still seems quite early when you begin your ride about 10am Batam time.

Laura negotiating some 'adventure' singletrack trail.  Photo by Stewart Ong.

All riders are guided for safety and security.  Faster riders get to follow a motor bike, and it was fun trying to keep up with a powered bike through the singletrack trails.  Stewart normally takes riders on a scenic 10km warm-up ride along singletrack farming trails which crisscross padi fields and along the lake shore.  Then the trail dives into the park's gem, 65km of maintained singletrack trails.  In addition, there are other 'ride-able' trails around the park, such as unmaintained 'adventure' singletrack and motocross trails.

Photo by Luki Gunawan.  Courtesy of Drak Bike Club.

Stewart's crew will meet rider's with a lunch pack and cold drinks at a prearranged lunch stop.  After the ride, showers and a snack await.  If you aren't staying the night, Stewart will send you and your bike back to catch the ferry back to Singapore.  Drak Bike Club has enough beds to sleep 24 riders in 5-6 rooms, so an overnight stay with more riding the next day is encouraged.  Note that each ferry has a limit of only 12 bikes, so if you are coming over in a bigger group, it has to be split-up over 2 or more ferries.

Cost varies, depending on the number of riders and how long you stay.  For large groups, the cost is about SGD$80 per rider for a day, and includes park entry fee, guide, all meals and drinks.  The ferry ticket costs SGD$50, and you have to pay another SGD$10 for bike handling.  For overnight stays and longer, it's more cost effective as you only pay for the ferry once.  Contact Stewart or Drak Bike Club for details and cost.

So back to the question: is Drak Bike Park as good as it gets?  For South East Asia, my answer is yes :o)

Lighten Up!

I'm in the process of lightening up my Giant Anthem X.  I'm hoping a lighter bike will save me some energy for the upcoming grueling Cape Epic Mountain Bike Race in South Africa.  So how does one go about building a light bike?

300g Savings or more: Frame, Fork and Wheels
The best place to start is obviously in the 3 biggest, heaviest and costliest components.  If you haven't bought a frame yet, it's best to start looking at your needs and then a frame that will fulfill those requirements.  Carbon frames are where it's at for racing.  For daily riding duties, a more durable aluminum or titanium frame may be more suitable.  I chose to get a more durable aluminum frame and pay a slight weight penalty over a comparable carbon frame.

The Wheels are the next best place to spend money if you're trying to shave weight.  The wheels rotate, and a lighter rotating weight saves more energy than a static weight elsewhere on the bike.  Depending on where you are and what you can get, wheels come pretty light.  I bought a Stan's ZTR Crest wheelset and replaced the stock Shimano XT wheelset, saving 360g of rotating weight in the process.

The fork is the third major piece of this puzzle.  My Fox F120 RL is a heavy fork, and there are lighter options, but I like the way 120mm rides.  Rockshox's SIDs and DT Swiss XRC are a couple of lighter forks you could look at.

200g Savings: Drivetrain, Brakes and Tires
Drivetrain, brakes and tires aren't really the place to get creative to save weight.  Pros run the standard SRAM XX or Shimano XTR drivetrain and brakes.  If your budget doesn't stretch that far, look at the SRAM X0 or Shimano XT equivalent.  They may not be as light, but are often more durable.

While it is possible to go really light on tires, a lighter tire may be more puncture prone, and may be less grippy, thereby eroding your confidence and making your overall slower.  For the Cape Epic, I'm thinking of using Continental Protection X-King 2.4 up front and a Continental Protection Race King 2.2 on the rear.  Not really light, but low rolling resistance and good puncture protection.

KCNC Ti Pro Lite Seatpost

100g Savings: Seatpost, Handlebar, Stem and Pedals
The savings here are modest, but this is where you can get creative and still save about 100g for the handlebar and seatpost each, and 50g for the stem by replacing them with lighter aftermarket parts.  Pedals like Crank Brothers Eggbeaters are about 100g lighter than the Shimano equivalent and their Ti version is even lighter.  Taiwanese companies, like KCNC, are coming up with products like the KCNC Ti Pro Lite 8000 SeatPost , which at about 160g and a cost of about $100, is getting some rave reviews.  KCNC also makes a nifty stem and some lightweight handlebars.  Shop around and you can find even lighter carbon parts, but how light do you dare to go?

Keep in mind that there is no free lunch.  With lighter parts, comes a higher chance of equipment failure.  Lighter equipment can be more flexible, more prone to damage when knocked around and more likely to break or fail.  Assess your needs and the risks of going light.

Mt. Zoom Top Cap/Stem Bolt Combo. 4.7g.

10g Savings: The Small Bits
Swopping out some small bits like the seatpost clamp, top cap/stem bolt, jockey wheels, Ti rotor bolts, Ti QR skewers, etc can save between 10 - 30g each.  Swop out a few of these, and the savings are over 100g. 


2.5g Savings: The Bolts
Aluminum bolts for bottle cage bosses, brake levers and other non-load bearing places, Ti bolts for everywhere else.  Savings are about 2.5g per steel bolt swopped for a Ti bolt, more for an aluminum bolt.  It starts to get expensive here and its up to you to decide where to draw the line.

Remember, should you decide that your current steed is still too heavy, you can remove the Ti bolts and other lightweight bits and transfer them to your new bike.

Howz it Ride?

I've been riding my 2011 Giant Anthem X for over a month and I think I can give it a pretty good review.   The Anthem X is my 3rd full-suspension bike, the other 2 being Santa Cruz Superlights (yes, I've had 2 of them!).

Note that we chose to buy the 2011 Anthem X over the 2012 Anthem X, which was available, because the 2012 uses a new tapered head tube size (1.25 - 1.5") and we couldn't get a fork for it at the time.

2011 Anthem X frameset.  Note the bottom bracket/crankset position directly in between the bottom two pivot points.

Probably what most people want to hear about is the suspension, and in Giant's case, it's the much lauded 'Maestro' suspension system.  It's all about the links and where they are placed.  Maestro places the bottom bracket/crankset directly in between the two bottom pivot points of the suspension system.  The result is a bike that is super efficient, and in theory, should eliminate pedal bob.  In practice, the bike still bobs a little.  I don't know why or how.  Maybe it is just not possible to fully eliminate it.

I've paired up the 4" Maestro rear suspension with a 5" (120mm) travel Fox F120 RL fork up front.  The combination of an efficient 4" rear and a longer travel 5" front feels really good to me.  This gives me an overall lighter, efficient pedaling bike, with the ability to ride technical descents confidently.  By putting on a 5" fork on a bike built for 4", it reduces the head-angle slightly.  I've noticed that when leaning the bike, it doesn't turn as telepathically as my old bike, which had the same head angle on a 4" fork.  Nevertheless, it is still a quick steering bike, and overall, I prefer the stability and slightly dulled steering response of the longer fork.

Is is all good?  Not quite.  I have noticed quite a bit of rear end lateral flex.  This could be because of a number of things, but I suspect it is because of the longer suspension linkages.  I've ridden the Pivot Mach 4 which is super stiff, and I suspect that it is due to the short linkages on it's DW suspension system.  The Giant Anthem X, has a more 'lively' feel. If you ride technical terrain a lot, then the Pivot Mach 4 would probably be a better choice, but then again, the Anthem X (frame with rear shock) is supposedly more than a pound lighter*.  

The other negative point is that the stock bike is quite heavy.  Although ours came as a frameset, our LBS built it up with stock Giant parts and sold it to us at stock complete bike price.  Out of the shop, it weighed about 12 kgs (26.5 lbs).  By comparison, our Superlights (with racing tires and lots of carbon bits) weigh in at 10.5 kgs.  Buying a frameset from Giant and building up your own bike would seem the way to go, but that puts you a distinct cost disadvantage.  In any case, my wife and I have decided our Anthem's need to be put on a diet and lose some weight.  It's expensive, but we are in the process of trimming off whatever excess weight we can afford.

The bottom line is that I do like my Giant Anthem X.  I bought it primarily as a marathon XC race bike, but I also wanted something I could ride for fun on technical trails, and something durable I could travel with.  In the one month we have been riding and racing the bikes, we have had numerous brake problems, broken shifters, bent rotors and a broken pedal, but no frame and shock issues.

Is this bike right for you?  Multi-pivot bikes have come a long way, and frankly, they are more alike than they are different.  They all try to do the same thing: make the rear wheel travel straight up and down, while trying to eliminate pedal bob and brake jack.  In the end,  the right bike choice will have more to do with how YOU feel about the bike rather than technical specifications or reviews ;o)

*Giant doesn't publish the weight of it's frames.  That's lame, and I think that any manufacturer who doesn't publish the weight of its frames either doesn't want you to know what it is, or their manufacturing process can't get the bike weights consistent enough to have them published (Near as I can figure it from internet searches, is that my Small sized Giant Anthem X frame and shock weighs about 5 lbs even).

Resistance is Futile

Camel and Handler at Sunset.  Nikon D300, 18-200mm, F/14, 1/400, ISO200.

Getty Images is one of the big players in the stock photography business.  however, their new contract terms have seen pay going down, and an increasing loss of control over how their images are to be managed.  This new contract has therefore met with a lot of resistance from photographers.

While I love making the images, I'm less enamored by the business end of things and have caved and signed the new contract with Getty Images to manage my stock photography collection on Flickr. 

I'm in the process of uploading the images to Getty, and getting releases resigned, and so it's going to be a while before I find out if this relationship is worthwhile.

To Buy Or Not To Buy

I wonder if any other Apple fans are as disappointed as I am over Apple's announcement last night about the new iPhone 4S?  I'm kind of bummed out.  I wanted an iPhone 5.  A couple of features I was expecting were a bigger screen, and a stainless steel back; kind of what this mock up from Veterangeek.com looks like:

Image from Veterangeek.com

There's no doubt that the new features on the iPhone 4S are welcome, but they could have used those same features on the iPhone 5.

Today I'm looking into the Samsung Galaxy S II to see how it could fit into my lifestyle.  IPhone 4S, really?  Come on Apple!  You can do better!