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Lauf Elja: just that little bit different
Apr 23, 2025
Say hello to the Lauf Elja - or should that be halló ? That’s IIcelandic for ‘hello’. We think. The Elja is Designed with a focus on efficiency, speed, big volume tyres, and rider confidence, the Elja hopes to redefine your riding expectations.
Read more https://singletrackworld.com/2025/04/lauf-elja-just-that-little-bit-different/
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hi I'm Heather from Single Track World
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magazine and today I am here with the La
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[Music]
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Ellia say hello to the La Ellia or
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should that be hello that's my terrible
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Icelandic version of the word hello the
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La Ellia is a unique mountain bike that
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challenges industry norms to deliver
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something a bit different
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designed with a focus on efficiency
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speed big volume tires and rider
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confidence the Ellia hopes to redefine
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your trail riding
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experience some key features of the La
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Ellia firstly it's optimized for wider
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tires embracing the aspect of wider
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tires the IA is engineered to
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accommodate up to 2.8 in tires but
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there's clearance for up to 3 in this
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design choice claims to enhance rolling
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efficiency traction and rider confidence
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especially on rough
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terrain next there's the LA single pivot
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rear suspension system the Ellia
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features an ostensibly simple single
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pivot rear suspension system utilizing
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leaf springs to protect the shock from
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lateral loads this design ensures
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durability reduces maintenance and
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maintains a clean aesthetic without
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compromising suspension performance
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simple does not mean
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basic next we've got that lightweight
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carbon fiber frame weighing
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approximately
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1,960 g for this medium frame the
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Ellia's carbon fiber construction offers
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a robust yet lightweight structure
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allowing riders to tackle everything
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that's mountain
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biking there's also advanced suspension
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technology if you want it select models
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come equipped with Rock Shocks flight
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attendant system an intelligent
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suspension setup that automatically
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adjusts to the riding terrain optimizing
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performance without you having to stop
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and faf with
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fingers it's also got a versatile
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geometry and build options the Ellia is
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available in both cross country and
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trail configurations featuring 120 mil
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and 130 mil fork travels respectively
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riders can choose from various build
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kits to match their riding style and
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[Music]
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preferences mountain biking and gravel
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riding are both off-road cycling
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disciplines but they differ in terrain
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bike design and riding style here's a
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breakdown firstly terrain mountain
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biking is primarily on rugged trails
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single track rocky paths and technical
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descents it involves obstacles like
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roots jumps and drops gravel on the
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other hand focuses on smoother dirt
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roads fire roads and unpaved paths it's
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more about endurance and less about
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technical skill compared to mountain
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biking it also doesn't have quite the
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focus on skinny single track and tight
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technical
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corners secondly there's the bike design
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mountain bikes have suspension either
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front only or full suspension they have
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wide knobbyby tires and a more upright
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riding position for control over rough
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terrain gravel bikes on the other hand
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look like road bikes but come with wider
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tires usually 38 to 50 mm they have drop
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handlebars and a rigid frame without
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suspension they're designed for speed
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and comfort on unpaved
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roads thirdly there's the riding style
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mountain biking emphasizes technical
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handling jumps fast descents and tight
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turns it often includes aggressive
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riding and maneuvering over obstacles
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gravel is more about covering long
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distances efficiently with a mix of road
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cycling endurance and mild off-road
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capability next is speed and efficiency
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mountain biking is slower due to rough
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terrain and technical challenges gravel
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however is faster and on dirt roads and
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mixed terrain often covering greater
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distances with less effort
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lastly there's gear and accessories
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mountain biking uses flat pedals
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although sometimes clipless padded
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gloves and full face or trail helmets
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for
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protection gravel uses clipless pedals
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like road bikes lighter helmets and gear
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focused on endurance riding such as
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frame bags for bike
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packing so which one should you choose
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do you have a specific goal or type of
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riding that you're interested in
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if you prefer long adventurous rides on
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dirt roads with a bit of pavement thrown
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in you probably want a gravel bike
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however if you enjoy technical
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challenges jumps and rugged trails the
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mountain bike is what you're after
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so I'm joined in the studio now by my
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colleague Mark who's also been riding
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the Ellia because the medium that we've
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got here was the perfect size for both
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of us uh so what are your early thoughts
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on the Ellia this the Ellia is a cross
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country bike that's how LA have sold it
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but I was surprised by just how much it
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could handle beyond what you might
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perceive as being the limits of XC uh
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the geometry at the front is slack
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enough at 65.6° to help the bike handle
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some pretty gnarly terrain and the super
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wide bars at 780 mm also helped when
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things got technical i think the big
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volume tires also helped with that
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overall feeling I got that this bike
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crossed the boundaries between trail and
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XC riding in short it didn't hold me
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back from hitting my local trails at
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full tilt and how did you find it when
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you were climbing well that's where the
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flight attendant system kicked in
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noticeably it essentially locks out the
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suspension on the climbs which together
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with the big tires really help with the
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traction this was your first time with
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the flight attendant and an automatic
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lockout how did you find it so I really
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liked it yeah it was the same thing of
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noticing it on the climbs um I'm much
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newer to mountain biking i've not been
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doing it as long and a thing I really
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struggle with is getting up those kind
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of rocky grally skittery clims and I
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yeah I just didn't have to think about
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it anymore i could just ride you're
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right it makes that little buzz noise
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every time it makes an adjustment and it
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does it an awful lot it's not a horrible
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buzzing noise it doesn't get in the way
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and the one thing about this bike is
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it's super quiet i think with the big
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volume tires helped with that uh the
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simplicity of the single pivot system
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which we'll talk about in a bit but how
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many times have people out there got to
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the bottom of a really good technical
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descent and realize that you've just
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done the whole thing with your fork or
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your shock locked out you don't have to
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worry about that it takes care of it
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entirely which was which was brilliant
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for me i loved it and how did you find
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the LA single pivot design well single
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pivot there's there's a lot of people
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have a lot of opinions about single
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pivot i I love single pivot designs
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primarily because of the simplicity of
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them there's there's so much less to go
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wrong i think with the Elia the beauty
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comes in the combination of the single
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pivot the flight attendant system and
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the big tires altogether they just felt
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right they kind of more than the sum of
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their parts sort of deal if if you get
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what I mean how did you find the
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electronic shifting and the uh wireless
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dropper post again for me it was all
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about how it takes the focus from having
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to think about what I'm kind of doing
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with the settings on the bike and allows
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me to actually just ride it again um
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because they were so responsive I just
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knew that the second I needed that seat
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out of the way or I needed to change
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gear i love the fact that um there's no
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adjustments needed to the rear mech
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there's none of that sort of oh the
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shift the indexing is just slightly out
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and it's all a bit clicky so I just need
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to turn the barrel adjuster on the K the
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clever system basically adjusts itself
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so you always get perfect shifting i
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love the clean cockpit there are just
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two cables on this bike and they're
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brake hoses um the cleanness of the
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cockpit together with the simplicity of
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the single pivot design i just love the
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look of this bike i I would I would sum
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up and say that this is kind of XC plus
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bike for me um you get an awful lot more
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out of it than you think you're going to
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get so uh looking forward to uh getting
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some more miles on it
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well that's all from us we've only
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really scratched the surface of what the
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Elliot is capable of so we need to get a
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lot more miles on this bike over the
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next few weeks uh for a more
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comprehensive review to be available um
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and that will be over on
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singlerackworld.com along with a lot
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more information about the full range
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and prices of the Lavia
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[Music]
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