Identiti Dealer Lowdown with Slam69

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  1. Tell us a bit about your shop? Who opened it and when? Who works there? What are your main brands? What types of riders do you cater for? Tell us a little known fact about your shop/staff.


Slam 69 is a family run Bicycle Shop and Professional Workshop based in Gloucester, UK. It began in Grahams garage where he would spend evenings and weekends building and fixing bikes for family, friends, and his friend’s friends. After several years of increased visitors and demand the garage had outgrown itself so in 2010 it was moved into a commercial unit where slam69 was born.

In our close knit, friendly team we have Graham the owner, Sheila his wife, Millie their granddaughter, Spanner man Luke and newest recruit Laura. Alongside a retail and online store and bike workshop we also specialise in custom wheel building and work with a range of reputable brands covering all styles of riding such as BMX, Jump Bikes, Mountain Bikes, Fat Bikes, Gravel bikes and Road Bikes. If it’s on two wheels we’re interested. You name a discipline, we do it! We are stoked to be stocking a range of bikes from Identiti – bikes designed by riders, for riders.

Alongside all this Graham also designs his own bespoke bike brand here at Slam69, it’s called Smokestone Bikes, it’s predominantly fat bike and expanding as we type!

Interesting fact: Graham won the UK National Downhill Championships in 1996!

2
. Describe your local MTB scene. What are the nearest mtb trails to your shop? How do you rate them? Do you ride there regularly?

Local scene is richly varied, there is a bike park a mile away that has uplifted DH, national 4x, loads of dirt jumps, and indoor options too. Cotswold XC is in abundance too with miles of bridleways and woodland trail, but the jewels of the crown are the huge network of enduro/natural trails along the Cotswold ridge, a few concentrated spots have tens of trails each, with plentiful options of steep, flow, or tech, to suit your mood on the day!

3.Why did you choose to stock Identiti?

We worked closely with identiti when the brand emerged back in 1999 and was a main sponsor of our local mtb events which took place at our very own bike park called ‘Kis Dirt City’. Once Identiti re-emerged with the full sus in 2018 we were keen to represent the brand and stock the new awesome range!

4. Full sus or Hardtail?
Graham – Both!
Sheila – Hardtail
Millie – Hardtail
Luke  – Full sus
Laura – Full sus

5. What’s your favourite Identiti product? (Doesn’t have to be current)
Graham – V2 Mettle
Sheila – S2 Grips
Millie – The original Dr Jekyll from 1998, which I am lucky enough to own!
Luke –  Original Dr Jekyll, I had one in white (it got stolen)
Laura – Has to be the V1 Mettle in purple as that’s what I’m currently riding!

6. What’s your favourite feature on the Mettle V2?

Graham – New Geometry
Sheila – It’s faster!
Millie – The colours
Luke – Its awesome that the Mettle range has the same size bearings and allen key bolts throughout. One tool does the job!
Laura – The longer reach

7. What’s the best/fastest/most fun Identiti bike to shred your local trails on?

Graham – Mettle RCX
Sheila – AKA
Millie – The original ‘go faster gold’’ Dr Jekyll
Luke – Slam69 custom Mettle V1
Laura – Biased answer again, V1!

8. Favourite Identiti colour?
Graham – Grey
Sheila – AKA blue, sparkly!
Millie – Blue aka colour, it super shiny!
Luke –
Laura – Purple for obvious reasons!


9. Stealth or in your face?
Graham – In your face
Sheila – Both!
Millie – In your face
Laura – I love my purple mettle, but I sweet on the stealth look also
Luke
– Stealth

10. If you could ride a Mettle V2 anywhere in the world where would you go?
Graham – FOD
Sheila – Sunshine Coast, Australia
Millie – Whistler…One day!
Luke – Queenstown, new Zealand.
Laura – I’d love to go back to Finale, the riding there is rad!

11.Mullet bikes – yay or nay?
Graham – NO!
Sheila – Nay
Millie – They look cool
Luke – Yet to ride one…
Laura – I’m yet to ride one but I’m open to the idea…

12. Is it time for Duncan to shave his beard off?
All – NEVER!!

Slam 69More than just a bicycle shop.

Alfie Stephens

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Alfie Stephen’s who you may recognise from our catalogue is our UK guy when it comes to hitting the trails and skatepark! Based over in the south west you’ll usually find him riding and maintaining Fly Up 417, or in Rush Skatepark if the weathers not too pretty. You can definitely tell he spends a lot of time on his Jekyll with his smooth casual style.

Alfie represents us along with local Identiti dealer Slam 69 in Gloucester, make sure you get to see these guys if you’re ever in the area, oh and of course hit up Fly Up 417 for a session!

photo by @mzed101

Thank You Michael

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It pains us to post this, Michael was such a big part of Identiti over the past few years and with his passing he is going to be sorely missed.

His involvement with the development of what the brand is today was phenomenal, his knowledge of the industry, engineering prowess, and on top of that he was an absolute pleasure to work with.

Thank you for everything Michael, ride in peace

Michael Bonney 7 July 1958 – 9 November 2019

#rideformb

Shimano XT and SLX MicroSpline Available Now!!

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Identiti Bikes now available with Shimano 12speed Groupsets, featuring Halo x Identiti Supa Drive Shimano Microspline compatible hubs. The collaboration with Halo has meant that we can be one of the few manufacturers able to spec these new drivetrain options from Shimano before early 2020.

Models utilising Shimano’s most recent system include,

Mettle RC, our mid level offering for the Mettle, featuring Shimano XT M8100, MRP Raven forks, Halo Vortex wheels and Gusset S2 finishing kit, prices from £3999.99

AKA RC, our mid level AKA build, featuring Shimano SLX M7100, Rockshox Revalation forks, Halo Vapour 35 wheels and Gusset S2 finishing kit, prices from £2349.99

AKA RCX, our flagship AKA, featuring Shimano XT M8100, MRP Ribbon Air forks, Halo Vapour 35 wheels and Gusset S2 finishing kit, prices from £2799.99

Find your local Identiti dealer here.

NEC Cycleshow 2019

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Anther year in the bag!! This past weekend we were at the NEC Cycleshow! What a show it was, this is the 3rd year we’ve shown the range and the response keeps getting better and better.

The show saw us release 3 new bikes, all Shimano equipped with Halo x Identiti microspline hubs in all of the newest colours available across the Mettle and AKA lines, these bike specs will be available to buy in mid October so get saving!!

The stand was busy all weekend, keeping us on our toes with an unofficial poll going on of the new Rust or Blue Mettle (seems like Rust was winning at the show… what do you think though?), and all the bikes and specs going down very well with industry and public alike.

We are excited for what 2020 will bring for the brand with this show really kicking off our year ahead.

Jordan Lunn Bike Check

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Some of you might remember Jordan from back in the day when he was a National Champion 4X racer, now he looks after Halo Wheels as brand manager and his chosen bike is the Mettle V2!

Jordan’s Spec

  • Frame- Identiti Mettle V2 Large Midnight Blue
  • Fork- MRP Ribbon Air 170mm ran at 75psi positive, 82psi negative with rebound 20 clicks, ramp 10 clicks
  • Rear shock- Rockshox Super Deluxe Ultimate ran at 200psi with rebound 5 clicks
  • Handlebar- Renthal Fatbar Carbon 35 Stealth 40mm rise
  • Stem- Gusset S2 40mm
  • Grips- Gusset S2
  • Brakes- SRAM Code RSC 200mm front and 180mm rear
  • Crank- SRAM Descendant Carbon DUB 170mm
  • Chain Device- MRP AMg
  • Pedals- HT Components PA03A 
  • Gears- Sram XO1 Eagle
  • Saddle- Gusset S2 Carbon
  • Post- Rockshox Reverb x1 200mm
  • Wheels- Halo Vortex built on to Halo MT Supa Drive
  • Tyres- Schwalbe Magic Mary 2.35 front 24psi, Hans Dampf 2.35 rear 27psi
  • Extras- Cushcore tyre inserts

Comments

This bike is my vision of the ‘do it all’ mountain bike. It’s my go to for uplift days, all day Enduro pedals and shreds around the local woods.

Every component on it complements the frame. I don’t run a single component that I don’t fully trust which allows me to fully commit to features that are on the edge of what I feel is possible.

The Mettle strikes the perfect balance of dependability and ride quality. I am yet to feel as though I can throw anything at this bike that it can’t take. Simply put, I’m the weakest component on board.

The best bit? The frame only needs a 5mm alley key for every bolt. A maintenance lazy man’s dream.

Identiti 2020

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Identiti for 2020 has you covered for your mountain bike needs with a freshly revised Mettle V2, new colour options on the hardcore AKA along with the Jekyll.

The Mettle V2 now has a slacker head tube angle, steeper seat tube angle and longer reach on all sizes. As a combined package all three geometry changes mean that our sat down sizing (effective top tube length) remains almost identical to the previous generation Mettle, yet your mass is more central and balanced between the wheels. But the stood up, foot out, berm slapping sizing – the kind of riding you’d buy this bike for – is more confident and ready to get loose when you are, simple. Along with this the new specs offer options of the R, RC and RCX builds including the new Shimano XT M8100 on the RC spec utilising our collaboration with Halo Wheels to allow the use of Shimano’s Microspline technology. 

The AKA not only available in an additional two colours Dark Alley Black and Summer Sky Blue to add to our current Red and Blue offerings,  but they have, like the Mettle also had a build spec switch up with the R, RC and RCX options. Again with these models we’re able to offer Shimano 12spd groupsets with out collaboration hub with Halo Wheels, the RC and RCX come specced with Shimano SLX and XT respectively. 

Last up the Jekyll, our dirt jump/ skatepark bike, as we know you guys like keeping your ride looking fresh we’ve added two more colour options for you, Electric Beige and Twisted Lime. 

To check out the range head to your local dealer here.