PURE Greed-SL at TEF Bikers Junction

Today, we made a visit to TEF Bikers Junction to promote our latest arrival the PURE Greed-SL. Wilson and Jes of TEF Bikers Junction were just fitting up a customer to his latest purchase. His bike weighed in at an amazing 7.6kg with aluminum wheels and an ultegra groupset! Earlier we weighed in a bike with a SRAM Red at 7.7 kg with carbon wheels. We're pleased about the results and seeing the smiles on the customer's face reaffirmed that we are on the right track!

We would like to thank TEF Bikers Junction for actively promoting our products. The full range of PURE products can be found at TEF bikers Junction. TEF Bikers junction is located opposite Thompson Medical. TEF Bikers Junction is also appointed as the official PURE Service center in Singapore.

For more information about our products visit www.PUREBIKESASIA.com

Jesney doing final adjustments

Jesney of TEF Bikers Junction Making Adjustments

A Satisfied Customer

Figuring out the Technical Section

Today I decided that I needed to a better review on the fit that was given to be by Bike 360. I decided to go head on with my Achilles heel, technical sections. where better to put this to the test that BF. my mantra in my head today, no brakes good, two brakes bad.

I made my way to bf during the late mornings before i commenced my ride. lowering my tire pressures to 23 in front and 22 in the back. the trail was nice and dry and i initially had to fight my temptations to squeeze the brakes. fortunately enough for me today, i was able to better overcome many obstacles that i had issues with initially. slowly but surely my confidence is growing and i would need to go back more and more just to keep myself updated and well versed in the lines.

on lines that i could not initially do, i went back over and over again until i did it , some times up to 2-3 times. many of these times, i realized, it wasnt the technique that was at fault, but the chosen lines, on the second tries and third tries, i managed to choose better lines. however these all will come with more and more practice. you want the results ,you put in the hours. The mantra worked, the less i braked, the more i rolled over. however this all has to come with the commitment to go over the obstacles. think less just roll. something i have yet to master.

determined to be a better rider.

-Kenneth Tan

Central Catchment Area Training Ride

after nearly a week of not riding, we're back on the saddle! Today felt like a cold start, just one of those days that an additional 5 minutes of time in the bed would totally make my day ( that what we all think ) however I dragged myself out of the bed, got on the saddle and went for a ride.

Today's route, BT, Butterfly, X and back Then back to BT. Today armed with a new fit from Faz Boi from Bike 360, we were all set to give the new fit a try on our trusty Profligate29er.  My initial feeling for the fit would be that it might be a little too aggressive, originally a 90mm, I was slammed forward by an additional 20mm. However soon, my worries were eased when I managed to crank my way up the rocks of BT. I'm getting more consistent at this AND because of a longer stem, my lines were more stable and I was closer to the bike.

Apart from climbs, I felt an improved performance on the downs as I was able to stretch more. I wasnt cooped up in the cockpit and was better able to control the bike.  The fit was awesome and I really enjoyed the ride even more today. In addition, the saddle was pushed back by about 2mms. That allowed my legs more room to move, increasing my pedal efficiency.

Lung busting climb after lung busting climb. that week off has already taken a toll on my fitness.  I will need to train even harder if I want to see improvements in my performance. Heres to more pushing harder for the rest of the year!

today: 25km of trail mileage

-Kenneth 

PUREBIKESASIA : The Experiment

Location : Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.
Conditions : Moderate wet - dry
Time : 1700-1900
Equipment used : 

Profligate 29er

Glutton-SL

Which will emerge victorious from this experiment? More details will be revealed in the upcoming issue of SPIN Asia.  Available in a bicycle store near you!

Conducting the Experiment :
It was a wet and humid day and PUREBIKES Asia met up with Sher Hern to test its two offroad products to finally put a quantitative answer down once and for all about this age old debate of which is better. 

Sher Hern came all dressed and ready for the ride and we were off to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to test the bikes out. For today's test it would be a sprint challenge. All we can say for now is , wait till you get a load of the results.

-Kenneth Tan

Sepang International Circuit. - Faz Boi ( Bike 360 )

Faz Boi Sprinting away on the Greed-SL - Photo by Wilson Chang

 Faz Boi on the Greed-SL - Photo by Wilson Chang

Jsut yesterday, the Greed-SL was tested at Sempang International Circuit by Faz Boi of Bike 360.


For more information on the Greed-SL Please visit :

http://www.purebikesasia.com/greed-sl.html

Surf and Sweat Race Report by Hong Taa

Why? Because there were so many instances and incidents that happened today that really remembered me of the many 9GAG faces, and it kind of made the day negative incidents all the more hilarious when you imagine them haha.

I met Yi Min at Vivo around 11am, only to realize she bought her lunch already when we were supposed to eat together… (‘Are you fking kidding me’). Being slightly full from late breakfast already, we went straight to Sentosa to find the others who had to report earlier. Lilli should’ve finished her race by then. Eugene was supposed to register soon with Marcus.


Sentosa was crowded as hell as usual, just that today was made worse with 2 big events, SNS and Metasprint Aquathlon happening on the same day on the small island. Singapore plenty of space to hold events, must squeeze onto the same small island on the same day… (‘Oh God Why’). Hot as ever, we slowly walk to our meeting area at sapphire pavilion, seeing a couple of runners along the way doing their surf n run.


We managed to catch Eugene and Marcus registering for their events at the venue, and joined them to register as well, getting our arms marked and stuff. Yi Min had to wait for her friend first as her first event was before ours. Then we received the first good news of the day! Lilli got first for her woman’s open category!!! Lilli you’re the bomb!!! (‘OH YEA!’). We went onto congratulate her after seeing her shortly and went onto to place our stuff in the pavilion before walking around the suck in the atmosphere of the entire place.


Having close to 3 hours to wait for our flag off, we went to recce the race route, although it kind of failed because halfway each of us suddenly had something to do immediately, and we went back to the event ground to wait for Lilli’s prize presentation which took forever as well to happen. Then we saw the list of competitors for our categories and realize there were only 5 teams competing in our category! (‘LOL’ troll). It was definitely a morale booster for us 3, although after seriously going through the list of participants, we realize one of the teams seems pretty strong. Not sure if it’s luck or what, that team happened to register when we were there, and they looked damn intimidating man. (‘Mother of God’). 1 of them wore tri-suit, the lady had legs that probably read ‘my 2.4km timing is under 9 minutes’, and another guy that looked as though he could easily own you basically. But we knew we were strong, and we’re going to give our all no matter what. And that’s all it mattered :)


Then it was time for the man’s doubles to flag off already and we joined the guys at the start line. Wave by wave, each of them flew off in their surfboards subsequently. Eugene will definitely remember this incident. During his wave, all the guys were nice and friendly as they waited for the countdown, saying to each other give chance and take it easy. Then as the organizer count down, one of the guy did a false start. Who in the world false start for this kind of race man seriously (‘Are you fking kidding me’)? Then after waiting for several more minutes for that monkey who was truly a hypocrite, they finally ran off. And apparently during the surf, another monkey went to pull and push Eugene’s surfboard just to get a lead. (‘Mother of God’). This is just a race, why so violent! (‘Why you no!’). Then we went to watch as the guys ran towards the finishing line.


We then went for our last toilet break before doing our stretches, while Yi Min went to compete with her friend first. After we were then, she returned with pretty good news as her surf went well. Then we went to wait for our flag off already.


We then finally learnt about how the sequence of events were for our category as previously we had no clue how the entire relay was supposed to take place. Apparently, both surfers were supposed to surf together on the surfboard before passing onto the runner only and surf & runner to continue the rest of the race. Now that makes things so much easier for me since I’m supposed to surf and run haha. (‘MeGusta’). John, Sarah and Jin Shi joined us shortly later only to learnt about the same news and blamed me for lying to them as initially I thought otherwise haha.


Not before long, it was our turn to flag off and off we flew to our surfboards. The entire surf was pretty smooth in general, minus all the salt water providing constant hydration throughout the surf and salt water to cool down my face... My arms started to shag out after the second turn and I was kind of worried about my run. Without thinking too much, we finally reached shore and off I went to get my shoes, with Jun Khiang running off slightly ahead of me while I had some difficulties wearing my shoes.


Then the entire close to 5km journey of the race was a mental game already. Shoving and pushing people away who were too busy admiring my awesome tights and didn’t bother to move aside, I was trying to catch up with Jun Khiang, but he only got further and further. The smell of all the delicious food from the exhaust of restaurants made the journey much more exotic as well haha. All the way till the U-turn point, the marshals along the way were really nice as they cheered me on with lots of delight, motivating me plenty :) Minutes passed as I saw the other runners from the previous waves ran pass me, some truly burned out, while the IMBA team was still going strong and fast.


Then nearing the U-turn point, something really hilarious happened. From a distance, I saw Jun Khiang approaching me, but he was on the other side of this row of plants that separated the road from the pavement. And I ran towards him with a thumb up. Then followed me, but decided to give me a High-5 hand instead so I also followed suit. And we both ran towards each other, with our hands stretched out, hoping that somehow our hands would slap each other even though we didn’t bothered to run closer to each other as we were on opposite sides of the plants. And in the end when we finally passed, it was an epic fail High-5 as we missed each other’s hands haha. (‘Trollololol’ & ‘True Story’). That definitely made the race so much funnier.


The U-turn came shortly after and after repeated rejections of the nice marshals as they offer me water, I picked up the pace and told myself to catch up with Sarah and John who were in front of me. Then I think not long after the U-turn point, I hit the wall. Then Adele came ‘rolling into the deep’ skull of mine as the chorus of the song kept repeating itself in my head as I ran the second half of the race. As much as I love her songs, having the song to repeat so many times kind of irritated me, although it kind of helped kept my focus and pushed me on as my legs were seriously tired already.


After shoving and pushing people away near the train station as they continued staring at me and refused to move away, I finally heard somebody shouted out my name. Then I saw Jin Shi calling out to me and it really gave me so much motivation to push all the way till the end. Slowly, one by one, I saw Yi Min screaming madly at me, with Lilli beside her and Yang Wei snapping photos away as I ran pass. All the memories of all the ODAC competitions together began to float into my mind, especially our J2 National Vertical Marathon year which gave me so much motivation suddenly, and I just whacked as hard as I could till the finishing line. I kind of died for a while, hugging onto a coconut tree while I caught my breath, while Yi Min and Jun Khiang cooled me down with ice cold water. The feeling was really great man after that run. I knew it did my best, and honored the Runner’s Pledge. We did our cool down jog back and then went to rest and relax.


First thing we did was to collect our goodie bags! It was really weird that we could only collect them after 3pm though. But the contents of the bag were great and there was more food than I expected!!! One big box of butter biscuits :) (‘MeGusta’). We began busy emptying the goodie bags of useless stuff and started sampling all the food within. Noms Noms Noms :) Then the results of the woman’s and man’s double were realized and Wei Bin & Gabriel’s team got first! Eugene and Marcus’s team got second, and Yi Min and her friend’s team got third for their category. All were really happy with their results, although there were apparently major mistakes with the results. And that’s when the series of (‘You feel my mind with fk’) began.


Many of the man’s double teams were unhappy with the results as they felt that the timing shown on the results were wrong and requested for an appeal. And the shit just got worse and competitors from other categories soon flooded in to complain as well, stating that the timing showed for the winners of other categories were wrong as well. Many big woo haa began as organizers didn’t know how to solve the problem as it was apparently the RFID machine and tagging system that messed up the timing.


Then in came the shocking news after Jun Khiang asked about our category’s timing. They apparently also messed up the timing and the timing they showed us was clearly wrong. We were positioned second place with the zhai team in first. But after further discussion and talks as the timings for our team was clearly wrong, we’ve decided to be nice and accept our 2nd placing as by then we’ve waited for close to 2 hours for the results already and we just wanted to go home, bearing in mind our category has only 5 teams. How difficult can it be to tabulate 5 team’s timings...?


Then in came the shocking news of the year. The organizer told us that our category has only 1 prize in our category. I went from (‘Are you fking kidding me’ to ‘FFFFUUUUUU’ to ‘You feel my mind with fk’ to finally ‘Oh God Why’). Just one sentence can evoke so many MEME faces. Powerful sia. We immediately took back our words and told them that was unacceptable as they didn’t inform us there was only 1 prize for our category. And after further investigation as to why one prize only, we learnt that the organizers so kindly redistributed the prizes to other categories as they felt having 3 prizes for 5 teams in a category was too much. And this was the club that gave out 3 prizes for a category which had 4 teams competing in that category only a few years back. (‘What sorcery is this’). We were quite pissed about their decision as they should’ve informed all competitors in our category before the event itself to be fair. So we they just told us they’ll notify us with the results next week and we pang kang and left for dinner at vivo. The man’s doubles also couldn’t get a confirmed placing of the winners and left with no news about the results as well.


Despite all the last minute unhappy news and results, I guess today was a truly enjoyable day for me :) I cleared my objective during the run, which was to do my best and overtake one team ahead of my wave. And I’m happy with my performance, clocking a pretty decent timing after surfing especially. And most importantly, it was all the friends that came to race and supported each other throughout the entire event that was truly something to be grateful for :) Today wouldn’t be such a nice day without each other’s company, especially under the vitamin D enriching scoring sun.
Many thanks to Fabian Williams for providing me with all the necessary training leading up to this event, Pure bikes for providing all the necessary race nutrition, Yang Wei who gave me the ultimate snack machine which really made my day!, Jun Khiang and Yi Min for being such wonderful teammates, John Jin Shi and Sarah for enjoying the race experience with us, Lilli for all the kind support and for giving me the pressure to win something after her podium win for her category earlier, Eugene Tan for all the crucial advice on how to surf better, and last but not least, all the other Fabian boys for your words of encouragement and support. Today wouldn’t have been such a wonderful day without you people!

-Hong Taa
PUREFABIAN Racing Team

GP Cycling Nusa Iskandar Adventure Jamboree Race Report.

Equipment used :
-PURE Profligate 29er
-Squirt Lube
-Exustar Carbon Shoes




As all jamborees do for riders across the border, waking up times have been severely altered to ungodly hours. fast forward to the pick up point at shell in JB. We loaded our bikes and were on our way to Seita Eco Park. All that was playing in my head was the elevation chart that seriously looked as jagged as a broken chainring.

At the start point, we were told that there was to be a 5km road start, thankful for that as it would reduce the unnecessary choke points from a trail start from such a massive number of riders, 1040 in total. When the race eventually started at 0830hrs, it was a sprint start, I made it to the front pack, however when we hit a choke point 5 kms later, people from the back started using an alternative route. stuck in the choke point, i had to play the catching up game.  Eventually we reached the first climb, and it dawned upon me that they WEREN'T joking about the elevation. It was a long climb worth 150m of elevation.

I stuck to my nutrition plan of having hammer gels one per hour and one at every check point, refilled my bags at alternate checkpoints and had no issues with the race. The downhills were meant for overtaking on the PROFLIGATE29er and the flats even better. The race prep by Sher Hern, really helped downhill confidence as I could descend much faster and not depend on my brakes.

However after checkpoint 3, fatigue and cramps started to set in. I knew I had to fulfill my goal of a top 100 finish. However as riders passed, I soon came to the realization that I wasn't good enough for that just yet. In the scorching weather, you know you are F**Ked when a passing cloud at botak hill makes you smile hysterically as you look on the cracks of dry clay. This clay valley was like a microwave, reflecting the heat into the valley and no vegetation to provide shelter. To top it off , it was an uphill so cranking up slowly soon became impossible with major cramps.

Upon reaching CP 5, I knew the end was near 2-3 more climbs and ill be done. I downed 2 more hammer gels drank water and just sucked it up. There were points in time where my mind was willing however the body was weak. i knew i could go for more. Eventually after the last technical downhill, We hit the road, It was a road sprint finish. Time trialing to the finish , I opened my arms and humbly finished the race with a position of 162 over 1040 riders. It is this race that has humbled me and I know that I will definitely be back for more. With more training and a strengthened will. I will be back.

In the lucky draw, We won 2 helmets! Congratulations to Sher Hern who came in 26th and William who successfully completed the entire jamboree!

See you all soon!

-Kenneth

Note:
#1 PROFLIGATE29er makes climbing easier, with a retarded rate of reaction due to fatigue, it rolls over most obstacles!
#2Squirt lube is mad. Lubed before the race, NEVERBOTHEREDABOUT THE CHAIN FOR THE WHOLE RIDE. 67km of Pain, NO PROBLEMS.
#3 Special thanks to GP bikes and all the volunteers who WORKED LIKE A REAL F1 PIT STOP. Offered bananas, water , muscle rub. everything in the works. Well briefed, well placed signage.

Nusa Iskanda Adventure Ride Prep

This will be my 2nd jamboree and I'm really super excited to represent PUREBIKES ASIA yet again for the jamboree. I've checked and packed my gears. The following is a run through of my gears
-Bike : PURE Profligate 29er
-Tires Onza Canis 29er
-Helmet : Limar 104
-Kit : PUREBikes by RACESkins

-Pack : Salomon Slab 5 L
-Lube : Squirt From Conticomponents
-Multitool : XON Multitools
-Nutrition : Hammer Gels X10 + Hammer Bar for Breakfast + Heed for waterbottle
-Shoes : Exustar Carbon Mtb Shoes
-Compression BV Sports Compression

Tonight I will rest early and put the training I have done to the playing field tomorrow. It's gonna be a long ride and looking at the elevation charts, I'm really in for an eye opener. The key objective is to overcome my own weaknesses to better myself during the race. After over 400km on the Profligate29er I feel confident about my equipment and I am ready to put the equipment to the test.

Also good luck to my fellow riders going into Nusa Iskanda!

Wish me luck and I'll see you on the other side! Nothing Stands in Our way.

-Kenneth
PUREFABIAN RACING
www.PUREBIKESASIA.com/purefabian-racing.html