KHS Pro MTB Archives - Page 2 of 12

May 6, 2024May 6, 2024

BME Round 1, Mt. Nebo Arkansas

KHS Pro MTB rider Lucas Cowan on the trail.

The first round of the Big Mountain Enduro Series took place in Mt. Nebo, Arkansas this weekend. It was a rainy week which made for some wild racing. I opted to ride my KHS 6600 paired with Kenda Pinners and Sr Suntour 36 durolux fork and triair2 shock. Day 1 was 4 stages with a combination of raw cut trails as well as pretty pedaly flow trails.

KHS Pro MTB rider Bella Naughton on the trail.

I had a decent stage 1, finishing 2nd but after the rain started coming down again on the transfer from stage 2 to 3 things got interesting and I unfortunately made a few mistakes on the rest of the stages. After day 1 I was sitting 4th but knew I could make up time on the last 3 stages on Sunday as they were more of the fun raw cut that I like. However, Mother Nature had other plans which cancelled the race day due to lightning and heavy rain and only times from day 1 were taken for the overall. I was bummed to not get a chance to pull back time on the rest of the stages but understand safety is a priority and BME had to make the tough call to not finish the day.

In the end I was on the podium with 4th in Pro Women, and a lot of good things to take away to future races. I am looking forward to heading to Windrock, Tennessee to race the next round of the Big Mountain Enduro Series next weekend, hopefully the rain stays away enough for us to finish a whole weekend! Big thank you to those who support the team and keep us running through tough weekends like these.

-Bella Naughton

Mt Nebo was my First time racing the E-MTB enduro category. Practice went well, riding the stages with the e-bike was a lot nicer than practicing in the past with acoustic bikes. Stages varied from flow trails to rough cut slippery steeps. We got some rain and sun during practice days that made the stages very slick and difficult to ride. But was good to ride the different stages in varying conditions before the race. Day 1 of racing went well, weather was great and we spent a lot of time studying go pros before the day started. Saturday morning we learned we will have uphill “power stages” each day or racing in the middle of a transfer. I got 2nd place every stage on day 1 and had decent runs. I ended up getting 3rd on the “power stage”. I finished day one of racing in 2nd place.

KHS Pro MTB rider Lucas Cowan on the podium in second place at the BME round 1.

Day 2 racing started early with poor visibility due to fog and an incoming storm. I started the day with a 3rd place stage finish. We had heavy rains over night so I rode cautiously expecting everything to be slick. I Finished 2nd on the last two stages and the uphill “power stage”. I was happy to finish the first race of the year in second place. I am excited to head out to windrock and hopefully race in better conditions!
-Lucas Cowan

KHS Pro MTB rider Jackson Winklund on the trail.

Happy to get the race season going over here on the east coast. BME always puts on a great race with technical tracks. Had a busy week getting the 7 stages of practice figured out Thursday and Friday. On and off rain made for some slippery conditions this week. The weekend held some great racing with 4 stages on Saturday. I was able to come away leading after Day 1 of racing 10 seconds up on the field. Sunday started smooth but rain rolling in made the tracks roll slow. Ended up flatting on stage 6 ending my time in the lead. That was all the weekend wrote and I placed 4th just missing the podium after that mechanical. Onto Windrock, rain in the forecast should make for some good racing.
-Jackson Winklund

April 10, 2024

Monster Pro Downhill Round 1 with McKenna Merten

KHS Pro MTB rider McKenna Merten out of the starting gate at the Monster Downhill series round one.

I had a great time at Rock Creek for the first-ever Monster Pro Downhill Series race this past weekend. I drove into North Carolina on Thursday and headed up for a track walk while Jon at SR Suntour serviced my fork for a big weekend of racing. Scoped out all the different sections and lines and was so excited to get on track the next day.

KHS Pro MTB rider McKenna Merten at the Monster Downhill series round one.

On Friday morning, we practiced bright and early in the morning. Did a solid six laps learning and dialing in the course. The race track was running so well; there were a lot of technical rock sections mixed with fresh cut steep loam bits and quite a few fun features throughout the track; Neko Mulally and the guys at Rock Creek did an awesome job at putting a killer race course together for us. I chilled the rest of Friday, knowing we had a lot of work to do on the weekend. We went to the mountain on Saturday morning, got another four solid laps in on the course, and went right into seeding afterward.

I had a good and smooth seeding run, which slotted me into seventh place. Race day came before I knew it, and I couldn’t wait to see what I could do racing against some of the best ladies in the world. Got a few good practice runs in and waited for my drop time. I did my pre-race warm-ups, and then it was go time. By the end of the weekend, the course was a little blown out, so I felt pretty loose in my race run but held it together enough for a solid sixth place, only 0.2 seconds off of a podium spot and beating my seeding time by over a second.

KHS Pro MTB rider McKenna Merten crossing the finish line at the Monster Downhill series round one.

Tight times across the board, but I am very happy with my progress and performance. Working and training hard every day and being that close to some of the top girls in the world feels good. I am so excited to head out to the Sea Otter Classic in a week and do some dual slalom racing. Thank you so much to the KHS Pro MTB team and all the cosponsors for the support. My bike and entire setup is perfect, and I am so happy and lucky to be a part of such an awesome team.

April 4, 2024

Tennessee Nationals

The first National of the year is already in the books, and our development athlete, MeKenna Merten, is holding it down in the Pro women’s category. With very limited time on the bike and little testing under her belt, McKenna would come out with a top 10 finish on the first major USA National of the year. Mackenna was definitely striving for more and, unfortunately, had a mechanical with her chain falling off near the top of her race run.

“Rough day out there today and the TN National. Unfortunately, I had a major mechanical problem halfway through my race run.” said McKenna, “Super bummed to have ended the first race of the year that way, but that part of racing. Back to work until the next one. I’m super hungry for more racing. Big thanks for KHS Bicycles and all our co-sponsors”.

The team and McKenna will continuously improve her adaptability to her KHS downhill bike and get her more tuned in. The entire team has been training very hard this off-season and will be hot and ready for the Seattle classic, where the whole team will be together for the first time in 2024. Once again, we want to thank all our sponsors, friends, family, and everyone who supports the dream!

February 2, 2024

Bella Naughton joins KHS Pro MTB

Born and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona, Bella grew up racing off-road trucks and ski racing. Her family raced mountain bikes, but she never found an interest in it until she was talked into joining her high school’s cross-country team in 2016. Bella then went to an enduro race with her mom and fell in love with going downhill and she hasn’t stopped since.

“I am excited to be on the KHS race team for 2024 and looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish together in Enduro and Downhill!” said Bella.

“We are thrilled to have one of the best female North American Enduro athletes join our squad for the 2024 season.” Logan Binggeli, KHS Pro MTB team manager said, “Bella is no stranger to podiums when it comes to the big mountain Enduro and other top-notch North American Enduro races. We are also excited to be supporting her when it comes to the Downhill side of things, she will be competing in the monster energy American downhill series along with other Premier events. We can’t wait to see what Bella Naughton can accomplish under the KHS umbrella, welcome to the family!”

October 5, 2023

Steven Walton Wins the Big Mountain Enduro E-Bike Championship

KHS Pro MTB rider Steven Walton is the 2023 Big Mountain Enduro E-Bike Champion.

Steven Walton is no stranger to hunting down titles in the Mountain Bike community. Steven has numerous regional and local titles and on top of that he has one major title to his name winning the 2020 USA Downhill National championship series.

It has been a three-year dry spell to claim another title and that streak is over with Steven Walton claiming his first 2023 E-bike National series title. Steven competed in the Big Mountain Enduro National series with racing over five major venues spread across America, competing against the best athletes in North America. KHS Pro MTB team and KHS Bicycles headquarters is very proud of Steven’s accomplishments and his continued success in this new growing MTB category.

Steven was on board his KHS 6555E bike that guided his way to victory, also equipped with the best co-sponsors in the business. KHS Pro MTB is super honored to have another title and the continued success heading into the 2024 season.