10 Bikes From The 2024 Trans New Zealand

Open Men's winner James Eves hails from Gilroy California. Rocking an entirely stock Stumpjumper Evo Alloy Elite with flat pedals was all James needed. 6 days of blind enduro and no mechanicals for James. This was James's 5th time racing Trans NZ and the first time with no body or bike malfunctions.


James was rocking the short chainstay setting, middle headset, and low flip chip setting if I remember correctly. But I doubt James cares much. I never got the impression James was passionate about the intricate details of suspension and geometry setup when we talked throughout the week. Don't let his chill nature fool you though, known for his underdog performances at Sea Otter, podiuming with the likes of Jared Graves and Curtis Keene, James is no slouch when it comes to pedaling hard and fast.



Morgane piloted her modified Rossignol to victory in the Open Women's category. Normally the Heretic is 160mm rear travel, but Morgane has a custom linkage on her frame that reduces rear travel to ~145mm to make the bike more "dynamic" as she puts it. It seems like this paid off on the long stages where efficiency and pumping were the keys to success. Fork travel on her Zeb is still set to 160mm.


Morgane also mentioned her KS wireless dropper was new and had worked well for the 6 days of racing. Other highlights include Hayes brakes, Hutchinson Tires, SRAM/Rockshox/Time, and Mavic wheels.



Stu is from the Gold Coast of Australia and was keen to tell me about his custom-tuned, mullet-specific rear shock. He said he had the total length increased for his previous generation Reign to correct for the mullet rear wheel. The new Reign has a flip chip to allow for a mullet configuration natively, but he said that he likes the tune on this custom rear shock so much that he carried it over.


Stu is an avid tinkerer. As is evident by the SRAM mech, Shimano cassette, SRAM rotor and Shimano brake. Full Frankenstein. We love to see it.



Michelle flew over from Tasmania with her S-Works Enduro and took the top spot in the Masters Women. If you were at the Tasmania EDR World Cups last year, you may recognize her as the announcer from those events. Her build featured a functional mix of parts, including a Shimano drivetrain and brakes, Crankbrothers wheels, a Fox 38, and a Rock Shox Super Deluxe Coil shock.


Michelle's Enduro featured multiple stickers related to crashes, nicknames, and her niece's Unicorn.



Father-son duo Jasper (left) and Kashi (right) were racing together on their Yetis. Kashi is a 3 time Olympian in XC mountain biking and has supported Trans NZ via his distribution of Yeti in NZ for many years. This year, 12-year-old Jasper was ready to join his dad in racing the event.


Q: "Jasper how wide are your handlebars?" A: "I don't know". Dad obviously knows what's up as these bars were cut proportionally to Jasper's height, unlike so many junior setups I've seen. Full 27.5" SB135 for Jasper and 29" SB160 for Kashi.



Dave Cohen has been running medical operations at multi-day enduro races for many years. He estimates he's been a medic for somewhere around 30 events! In the meantime, he's working for non-profits on the front lines in Ukraine or back home riding the east coast jank. Orbea was kind enough to hook him up with a bike. Well deserved if you ask me.


Dave had some pretty sweet NOBL wheels with blue nipples to match his frame. Here's a photo of Dave from TranSierra Norte in 2018.



Phil Shorley is an Irish stonemason living in Christchurch who scored a last-minute spot after another racer was injured. He was racing his Norco Range that he purchased from Matt Fairbrother, who had previously purchased it from Sam Blenkisop. The wheels have EWS stickers that are either Matt's or Sam's. Hard to say.


Phil runs a small handlebar-mounted bag which honestly seems to work well. "It's mainly for beers," he says. Phil and his handlebar beers finished a very respectable 5th in Open Men.



Laura flew in from Squamish, BC with her Juliana Roubion. The Juliana athlete piloted the mixed-wheel bike to 2nd in the Open Women's category.


Laura is no stranger to all types of enduro racing, having raced Stone King, Trans BC, EWS, and countless other events. As a result of her experience, her build is extremely clean and dialed. Purple I9 hubs, Reserve rims, and some of SRAM's finest made for a reliable setup all week.



Dave Kennedy showed up at the race prepared to race in the eMTB category but realized that not many people signed up for E-bike, so he decided to compete in the Masters category instead. He removed the battery from his Kenevo SL and pedaled the thing around all weekend as a normal bike.


The extra weight and drag of the motor didn't seem to slow him down much as he was also one of the first to drop in each day and finished 3rd in the Masters men category. Front and rear Assegais no less!

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Reviews and Tech Bike Checks Laura Battista Morgane Charre Trans Nz