2011 LamaCycles / NS Bikes Canadian Team

Feb 4, 2011 at 10:01

by Lama Cycles

We have big plans for 2011 and we're starting things off with a major upgrade to the Street Crew! A new team manager, and new riders from all over Canada, new photos & new videos all included in the following!The team has grown and changed tremendously over the years and we are now proud to say that it has reached a new level.
With a brand new sponsorship approach, we've changed our game for 2011 and now have clearly defined levels of support to offer: Pro (Homies), Flow (Buddies) and Grassroots. This means more riders, more coverage, more maintenance required to run the street side of things. So, this past September, we asked Stéphane Bélanger, one of our riders, if he wanted to manage the Street Crew. We have been watching him for a while now and we’ve gotten to know him quite well over the past years. This guy knows his stuff and is all about spreading the MTB love. He’s a true rider at heart and goes out there to live the ride. It seemed like the right choice and boy were we right!

Stéphane Bélanger has been a busy man for the past 5 months; finding the right riders all over Canada and getting everything organized from filming to photo shoots, to planning the up and coming summer as well as making all of this happen is quite something! However he’s still going to be shredding the streets & flowin’ parks on his 2011 NS Capital26 (see video bike check here). He even managed to get some riding done and here's the result!

Stephane Belanger/Lama01

by LamaCycles

Views: 22,136 Faves: 311 Comments: 24

EAST COAST HOMIES

Andrew Bigelow has been with for us for the past 2 years and 2011 will be a big year. He's been training all winter to get ready for contest season. Aboard his NS Majesty & NS Slopestyle bike, he’s been planning on going to a couple of big slopestyle and dirt jump contests as well as dropping some sick web edits & photos during the year. All of this, starting right now with his video bike check!

Andrew Bigelow 2011 Bike Check

by LamaCycles

Views: 8,278 Faves: 106 Comments: 14

Samuel Croteau or as everyone calls him ‘Croteau’, is an undercover super talented rider. He has this unique technical style all mixed with some burly gaps & high airs!

Alexandre Paradis, also known as ‘Parappa’, he has pretty much an unlimited bag of tricks and some crazy determination. Wait ‘till you see his new video, it’s amazing what he can do!

Louis Lhomel has this unique style and somewhat mastered what some think is almost impossible on a MTB, the nose manual. Louis also makes top notch videos and will be filming & editing most of our videos this year.

WEST COAST HOMIES

Brandon Hayward'sgot a sick style and is not afraid to go big. Here's his most recent video:

Brandon Hayward - NNP Productions

by nicgenovese

Views: 30,807 Faves: 479 Comments: 59

Derek Vondracek is definitely a shredder! Sick style, sick attitude and sick tricks! Here's the proof:

Derek Vondracek 2010 Season

by nicgenovese

Views: 22,891 Faves: 743 Comments: 90

Aeron Learmonth will be teaming up with Brandon & Derek this year to hit most of the local contests and obviously having loads of fun! Here's his most recent video:

Aeron Learmonth Year End

by aeronlearmonth

Views: 4,142 Faves: 83 Comments: 18

Stay tuned, next week will be the first of our welcome to the team edits on www.lamacycles.com & right here on Pinkbike!

For all Grassroots inquiries, please contact your local NS bikes dealer. If your skills & attitude make you eligible for the FLOW or even the PRO team, please contact stephane@lamacycles.com with the following info:
-Name, location, e-mail
-Best photos & video
-Involvements in your local scene
-Goals for 2011
-How you plan on representing LamaCycles?

Author Info:

LamaCycles

Member since Jan 19, 2010
304 articles

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39 Comments

11 0

farmageddon (Feb 23, 2011 at 12:17)

i dont know about this online world of mountain biking. i appreciate seeing what other people are up to out there but there are so many little whiney girl scouts trying to define the sport from a fan perspective . its not about headsets and pedals, pads,jump size kids. Just fun with your friends shredding on your bikes. if you dont like the way other people do it mind your business. go live vicariously through other people you get off on more.
lama cycles * your team manager is smooth and appreciates flow . looks like he enjoys biking as well. since he wasnt doing anything impressive enough for the pink bike groupie judges i dont see how wearing pads was necessary in this case. not to mention who gives a shit. these critics probably wear helmets when the deliver there cookies.

mtbtyrrell (Feb 23, 2011 at 16:29)

some kids ride for progression, but they still have fun too.

mtbtyrrell (Feb 23, 2011 at 16:35)

p.s Derek Vondracek is sick! nice style

richthephotog (Feb 24, 2011 at 6:59)

Billy-Bike-Club has it down here. If everybody followed your logic, this website would be so much better.

crewsdawg (Feb 25, 2011 at 5:13)

agreed 100% with billy-bike-club! progression will happen no matter what - people are ALWAYS pushing harder but for most riders its about FUN...and thats how it should be!

Porinego (Feb 23, 2011 at 10:07)

Lama cycle's team is coming better and better every year! :O, well since last year cause I start following you on the 2010 season

For your information, the 1st vid is the Team manager's one, Team riders are habitualy better than the team manager... Am I wrong?

LamaCycles (Feb 23, 2011 at 10:27)

Thanks for your support! You are right about team managers. They have a different job to do. Having a team manager that also rides is the best of both worlds!

germinois FL (Feb 23, 2011 at 12:02)

What about the DH team?

LamaCycles (Feb 23, 2011 at 12:11)

Hehe, our DH team presentation will be ready soon!

germinois FL (Feb 23, 2011 at 13:37)

Okok so bad i'm not in it.

Vaili (Feb 9, 2011 at 6:54)

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joebohobo FL (Feb 23, 2011 at 6:15)

soo sickk

zolibmx13 (Feb 23, 2011 at 9:22) (Below Threshold)

yeah sick but the first rider why the f*ck is he sponsored by ns and other companyes becouse he give 360's? seriosly..
there are so many better riders in canada who deserves to be sponsord[srry for my english]

bighitfsrbase (Feb 23, 2011 at 10:29)

it's the team manager... read the first comment

brandonharrison (Feb 24, 2011 at 0:44)

Wish you could fave blogs, because this is sick! Although i reckon you should always wear a head bumper.

lamaking (Feb 23, 2011 at 6:52)

Yeeeaaa! Lovin' the vibe

anthony3vans (Feb 23, 2011 at 21:11)

WOOO HAYWARD AND LEARMONTH YA BOYS

osiris853 (Feb 24, 2011 at 9:46)

Sick! Lama cycles dans les news Pinkbike. Good jobs les gars!

C'est quoi exactement les riders Grassroots?

lamaking (Feb 24, 2011 at 12:47)

Pour appliquer GrassRoots tu dois contacter un dealer NS (une boutique) prêt de chez toi et négocier avec eux. Ont les aident et ils vous font des prix/services. C'est notre façon d'encourager tout le monde, même ceux qui ne font pas des tailwhips et des backlips. Un beau style et une détermination d'évoluer en bike sont les critères requis pour appliquer

Joebohobo FL (Feb 23, 2011 at 6:15)

Sickk

mrmars (Feb 23, 2011 at 7:41)

lol it is kinda ironic that on the first video the first sponsor logo besides lama is KALI protection. and right behind it is a rider with no helmet or pads.

bmxlover101 (Feb 23, 2011 at 8:49)

I noticed that too

dillonchamberlain (Feb 25, 2011 at 11:56)

goddamn this makes me so wet.

Below threshold threads are hidden

3 15

Hyzy (Feb 23, 2011 at 6:06)

first film is boring. My mother do it.

garthm (Feb 23, 2011 at 6:52)

i have to agree, thats awesome these guys are on the team but i didn't see a lot of super impressive throwdowns

sxvr6 (Feb 23, 2011 at 7:57)

DNY

jeremystruik (Feb 23, 2011 at 8:10)

As long as they have fun!

10 0

chalky (Feb 23, 2011 at 8:42)

Street isnt about big throw downs, its about flow, creativity and style.

dustingilding (Feb 23, 2011 at 19:39)

As a fellow rider who knows and has ridden with all three of the West Coast members, I can vouch for them and say that they are legitimately deserving riders and far more skilled than is easily visible here. When the season is over there wont be any questions about why these team members were chosen, that i can garantee you.

paulgenovese (Feb 23, 2011 at 21:23)

did u actually watch the other edits? because if you don't think the west Crew are amazing you are lying to yourself.

4 22

eastvan (Feb 23, 2011 at 6:53)

Great vid riding with no helmet, shame on Lama cycles for promoting riding without a lid. I am sure your helment sponsor likes to see that.

21 2

LamaCycles (Feb 23, 2011 at 7:01)

They wear them in indoor parks, we can't be there to babysit them all the time. We do agree that the no pads/no helmet trend is non sense. A lovely heritage from the BMX world...We can only hope that wearing a helmet and pads will become cool again some day.

5 23

eastvan (Feb 23, 2011 at 7:33) (Below Threshold)

Lame response. You are responsible for your riders and the sport! In your contract you should state, no helmet no riding or your off the team. Just like other teams do.

Joebohobo FL (Feb 23, 2011 at 7:42)

I thought it was a pretty awesome answer tbh, but yer you cant expect them to be monitoring their riders 24/7 can you.

basmajor (Feb 23, 2011 at 8:13)

Mom?

10 0

paulgenovese (Feb 23, 2011 at 8:25)

eastvan, You can say that its bad promotion, but really they can choose to wear helmets or not. Im sure if they thought that what they were riding was really dangerous, they would put one on. Just because you disagree with it doesn't mean its wrong bro.

a1n2d3r4z5e6j7 (Feb 23, 2011 at 11:21)

eastvan, I usually ride in helmet, bo for the f*ck sake, pros as a trendsetters don't have to promote safety, aswell you can say: stop doing flairs, stop doing flipwhips, stop doing doublebackflips cause children are gonna try too and hurt themselves. This f*cking sport is about hurting yourself bad and you won't change that. If you want to ride in helmet/ pads: do it. If you don't then don't, pretty simple and stop bitching about that.

home-team (Feb 23, 2011 at 23:06)

i agree that a sponsored rider should wear a helmet in all videos and riding related pictures. they are promoting their company as well as the sport. how often do you see riding pictures in magazines or promoted on the internet where the rider is not wearing a helmet. riders who do not wearing their helmets are limiting their chances of being promoted. plus helmets save lives ... but at the end of the day most riders are old enough to make their own decisions and they can do as they please. but as a team manager I would be more likely to sponsor a decent rider who wears a helmet 100% of the time than an awesome rider who never wears a helmet.

Joebohobo FL (Feb 24, 2011 at 2:03)

what happens if this rider is just riding to the shop which is just down the road and someone is filming them and they happen to do a little bunny hop on the way ?