Well 2009 is here and January has flown by in a mix of organising and planning for the coming MTB year.  We thought we would give you a quick glimpse of what is coming up over the next while…

Before we do that though, bear with us over the coming week.  We moved offices over the weekend and our new office (although only down the road) is not covered by our Internet Service Provider so we have had to switch.  Installation will apparently take up to two weeks.  Its no wonder that the country is the way it is…

Despite this we are working away on an exciting programme for 2009 with plenty of features, reviews and new product news to keep you up to date.  First up is the Shimano 2009 Press camp in mid February from which we will bring you news of all the latest products and improvements from Shimano.  Word has it that it is MTB light but that there are loads of new Road products.  We reckon on a new XTR in 2010 (in line with SRAMs proposed new XX group) but we will let you know more when we do.

After that comes one of the biggest trade shows at the end of February with news from several major companies including Commencal (who are producing an off the peg version of the Atherton’s World Championship bike), Shimano, Garmin, DT Swiss and loads more.

Test wise we have reviews shortly on the Stans ZTR race wheelset (awesome!), SID Team, FSA K-Force carbon cranks, Ritchey bars and stems and loads more with the new Fox XC race fork due on test shortly too.  We are also doing full bike tests on some tasty bikes such as the new KTM carbon full suspension Score and the new KTM carbon hardtail, the Myroon.

Add to that the start of the new race season shortly and its set to be a busy year with loads to look forward to so stay tuned and watch out for our articles in Outsider magazine too.  If there is anything you would like to see us cover or an event you would like publicised email us at info@spoke.ie and we will see what we can do.