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Brendan Fairclough is on G-Cross Honda

Akula_7

Monkey
Nov 15, 2004
917
0
As was expected by many!



PRESS RELEASE

Team G Cross Honda will once again be returning to the international mountain bike race season in 2007 with riders Greg Minnaar (RSA), Matti Lehikoinen (FIN) and new addition Brendan Fairclough (GBR). The new line up of three riders will be contesting the UCI World Cup Downhill as well as selected Maxxis Cup events, British National Point Series events, and sending selected riders to other high profile events such as Crankworx and the Lisbon Downtown.

Greg Minnaar, 25 years old from Pietermaritzburg, who has been with Team G Cross Honda since 2004, will begin his 4th season on the Honda RN01 chasing the World Title, as well as looking to take back the World Cup title he won in 2005. It's clear his main rivals in 2007 will continue to be Steve Peat (GBR) and Sam Hill (AUS), but as always his title pursuits will be supported by the best equipment sponsors on the circuit; Showa suspension, Formula brakes, Alpinestars clothing & protection, Maxxis tyres, Mavic rims and SDG I-Beam seats and posts.

Matti Lehikoinen, 22 years old from Helsinki, had a great season in 2006 winning the World Cup of Brazil, the Red Bull Empire Rider in Peru and finishing 6th overall in the World Cup. Team G Cross Honda is very happy to have retained his services for a 3rd season and look forward to helping Matti reach his goal of Top 5 overall in the World Cup, and of course, more World Cup podium results.

Brendan Fairclough, 18 years old from Hampshire, won the inaugural Junior World Cup Downhill overall in 2006, and has been impressing people since arriving on the international scene in 2005. Apart from his two World Cup podiums as a junior-aged athlete, Brendan has impressed the team with his all round approach to racing and will make a welcome addition to the team as it seeks to retain its 2006 title of Men's Downhill Team of The Year.

Martin Whiteley, Team Director. "We are very excited about the 2007 season. Firstly we have been very fortunate to be able to retain the services of both Greg and Matti who make excellent team mates and have both had great success on the Honda RN01 in recent years. We can now also announce that we have secured one of the most exciting young riders on the world scene in Brendan. He and the other two riders know each other very well and they are all good friends which is important in building team spirit as we hunt our goals for 2007. It should be a very exciting year ahead".

Matti and Brendan will make their first racing appearance for Team G Cross Honda at the Maxxis Cup in Gouveia in Portugal on March 18. Greg will start his downhill season a little later, in April, at the opening round of the British National Points Series.

Other product suppliers confirmed at the time of the release include Sapim spokes, SRAM, Truvativ, PowerBar and ODI.
 

Pip3r

Turbo Monkey
Nov 20, 2001
1,112
0
Foxboro MA
sweet! I wonder if hell still be rocking royal gear?
Any one going to be filling his shoes with Orange?
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
I heard about this possibility a week or 3 ago and am positively stoked for Brendan. It couldn't happen to a nicer kid with better potential.

Piper - Orange is not fielding a full pro team this year. They are taking the year off to concentrate on the new bikes.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
am i on crack or did i see a lot more riders than minnar and Lehikoinen. Are they letting other riders besides those 2 ride them? cauase i couldve sworn i saw like 5 different people riding that bike down the course. or am i retarded.
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
am i on crack or did i see a lot more riders than minnar and Lehikoinen. Are they letting other riders besides those 2 ride them? cauase i couldve sworn i saw like 5 different people riding that bike down the course. or am i retarded.
Those other guys are the Japanese development team, they are Honda sponsored, but not by Team Honda G cross.
 

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
...I couldn't put my finger on the reason why, but I always had a feeling Fairclough would wind up on Honda eventually...

That guy is BIG too...
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
taking the year off to work on their bikes... wtf.. I know it costs money to put a pro team on the circuit, but it seems like they sell enough in the UK to pay for 1 or 2 people to still make the rounds.
They are a small company and the cost of labour and junk in the UK is absurd. The markup on high end bikes isn't very much. Shops here make a very small amount on high end bikes, all of the cost is from import fees, duties, shipping etc.

Putting a small team on a full circuit run with proper support, equipment, travel, salary etc is well over $30 000 USD. Figure in airline tickets, rental vans, gas, insurance, hotels, mechanics, paddock equipment, entrance fees, UCI fees and the like..it really ads up in a hurry.

It isn't so much a money issue as a time issue anyways. The guy who runs all of the team stuff is also their marketing guy, who is also in charge of new products etc. Michael wears many hats and there simply isn't enough hours in the day at this point.

They will be doing 2 smaller teams - my guys here, and the Mojo team in the UK. No salaried riders, better support for us and they can take the time off to do other things. Besides this they also do a bunch of smaller individual sponsorships throughout the UK and Europe.
 

Akula_7

Monkey
Nov 15, 2004
917
0
Julien Camellini signed for the MOJO UK team and as Fraser said they will be riding Orange bikes. And as some of you may know Camellini is a seriously fast Frenchy, he is no stranger to a World Cup podium.

Also if you go over to www.descent-world.co.uk you will see this,

http://www.descent-world.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,40415.0.html

Guys,

Even if I do say so myself, next year is going to be killer!

Fresh from Martin Whiteley.

As you've probably seen we've announced our 07 line up and put the teaser
out that Greg will be at Round 1 of the NPS.

In fact, this is our planned line up at your events:

22nd April Innerleithen - GM and BF
27th May Ae Forest - GM and BF (ML TBC)
22th July Rugog - GM, BF and ML
12th Aug Kinnerton - BF TBC
2nd Sept Caersews - GM, BF and ML

Cheers,

Martin Whiteley
Team Director
Team G-Cross Honda

Cheers.


It seems that G-Cross Honda will not be doing Norbas next year but instead hitting up the all new British National series. Another pro-team turning its back on US racing, I think you guys will have to say "cheers Norba".
 
Feb 10, 2003
594
0
A, A
Julien Camellini signed for the MOJO UK team and as Fraser said they will be riding Orange bikes. And as some of you may know Camellini is a seriously fast Frenchy, he is no stranger to a World Cup podium.

Also if you go over to www.descent-world.co.uk you will see this,

http://www.descent-world.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,40415.0.html

Guys,

Even if I do say so myself, next year is going to be killer!

Fresh from Martin Whiteley.

As you've probably seen we've announced our 07 line up and put the teaser
out that Greg will be at Round 1 of the NPS.

In fact, this is our planned line up at your events:

22nd April Innerleithen - GM and BF
27th May Ae Forest - GM and BF (ML TBC)
22th July Rugog - GM, BF and ML
12th Aug Kinnerton - BF TBC
2nd Sept Caersews - GM, BF and ML

Cheers,

Martin Whiteley
Team Director
Team G-Cross Honda

Cheers.


It seems that G-Cross Honda will not be doing Norbas next year but instead hitting up the all new British National series. Another pro-team turning its back on US racing, I think you guys will have to say "cheers Norba".

seems more like they are trying to give greg every possible advantage to win world champs this year in fort bill by racing there as much as possible
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
They are a small company and the cost of labour and junk in the UK is absurd. The markup on high end bikes isn't very much. Shops here make a very small amount on high end bikes, all of the cost is from import fees, duties, shipping etc.

Putting a small team on a full circuit run with proper support, equipment, travel, salary etc is well over $30 000 USD. Figure in airline tickets, rental vans, gas, insurance, hotels, mechanics, paddock equipment, entrance fees, UCI fees and the like..it really ads up in a hurry.

It isn't so much a money issue as a time issue anyways. The guy who runs all of the team stuff is also their marketing guy, who is also in charge of new products etc. Michael wears many hats and there simply isn't enough hours in the day at this point.

They will be doing 2 smaller teams - my guys here, and the Mojo team in the UK. No salaried riders, better support for us and they can take the time off to do other things. Besides this they also do a bunch of smaller individual sponsorships throughout the UK and Europe.
sounds to me like they need a new business model
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
sounds to me like they need a new business model
2 threads, wrong both times. You just registered in an intro to business course or something?

They make plenty of money and are plenty successful in their home market, they just aren't interested in selling to the ****ty "I want a warranty and I want to see somebody and have no sense of personal responsibility" US market.
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
2 threads, wrong both times. You just registered in an intro to business course or something?

They make plenty of money and are plenty successful in their home market, they just aren't interested in selling to the ****ty "I want a warranty and I want to see somebody and have no sense of personal responsibility" US market.
Wow, instant personal attacks, thanks. No, im 20, and **** business courses they are a waste of time, they are like common sense ftw. Except accounting classes are useful. But i'll stilll never take one. I do happen to be a bussiness owner (a real incorporated LLC zomfg!!!). Just seems to me like they have a lot of problems given these recent threads.

But then again i have many critiques of the bike industry business practices...
 

Ian Collins

Turbo Monkey
Oct 4, 2001
1,428
0
Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA
Piper - Orange is not fielding a full pro team this year. They are taking the year off to concentrate on the new bikes.


pumped for fairclough, but is it me or does anyone else think it's kind of pathetic when a bike manufacturer has to "take a year off" to concentrate on new bikes....i mean christ, the bikes have one f'ing pivot....how much concentration does it require....all the other companies seem to make it work:nopity:
 

gemini2k

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2005
3,526
117
San Francisco
pumped for fairclough, but is it me or does anyone else think it's kind of pathetic when a bike manufacturer has to "take a year off" to concentrate on new bikes....i mean christ, the bikes have one f'ing pivot....how much concentration does it require....all the other companies seem to make it work:nopity:
yay!! i think it all comes down to the fact that the bike industry isn't really organized well.
 

dropmachine

Turbo Monkey
Sep 7, 2001
2,922
10
Your face.
Yeah, the whole taking the year off thing just doesn't cut it. Taking a year off because sales are down, now that makes sense, and I can beleive it. This is unfortunately an industry driven by hype, and Orange's turn at being flavor of the week is long since done. Peaty leaving solidified that.

How many of thier bikes are made in the UK? What about Taiwan as an option? Sure it ain't sexy, but if it gets the cost down and saves production value, why not?
 

UiUiUiUi

Turbo Monkey
Feb 2, 2003
1,378
0
Berlin, Germany
to derail this thread even further: does anybody know whether the honda bikes will be for sale sometime? i still like them a lot... and want to try one out :)
 

roastbeefer

Chimp
Aug 30, 2006
31
0
to derail this thread even further: does anybody know whether the honda bikes will be for sale sometime? i still like them a lot... and want to try one out :)
just show up at one of the race events and i'm sure they will let you have a few rides. just remember to bow and be polite.
 

UiUiUiUi

Turbo Monkey
Feb 2, 2003
1,378
0
Berlin, Germany
just show up at one of the race events and i'm sure they will let you have a few rides. just remember to bow and be polite.
hehe i have been riding one of these bikes about two years ago we met the junior rider in Todtnau.
Forgot his name he was a young french guy, communication was difficult.
It was just a parking lot test but i fell in love! ;)
 

FlipFantasia

Turbo Monkey
Oct 4, 2001
1,659
492
Sea to Sky BC
'bout time they sent some folk to crankworx! been missing watching mignnnaaaaar the past couple years! c-worx this coming year is gonna be neato, some cool stuffs in the works!
 

PAMS 25

Monkey
Feb 11, 2004
176
0
Métabief, France
hehe i have been riding one of these bikes about two years ago we met the junior rider in Todtnau.
Forgot his name he was a young french guy, communication was difficult.
It was just a parking lot test but i fell in love! ;)
That was Cyril Kurtz. Did a few runs with him at a local resort just a few days after he got his bike from Honda. Sounds like i should have dared to ask him the bike for a ride.:disgust: