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Thursday, August 2, 2012

The Shocking Ride to Victory

The Olympic 2012 Mountain Bike Competition is not going to be as easy as riding a bike for the competitors. 

The 4.7km mountain bike course at Hadleigh Farm has been a year in the making with added rocky paths, tricky climbs, and technical descents. The London 2012 Organizing Committee is “confident that the London 2012 course remains one of the most technically challenging courses to ever be used at the Olympic Games”.

Nerves of steel, a great deal of stamina, and the use of effective shock absorbers is key for the Olympians to successfully ride their way to victory.

Competitive mountain bikes use both front and rear suspension systems to allow the wheels to absorb large shocks from landing jumps. This protects both the bike and the rider from harm and gives the rider more control.

Instron supplies 8800 Servohydraulic Testing Systems to test the durability of the shock absorbers used on competitive mountain bikes by running dynamic tests with WaveMatrix™ software. To learn more about durability testing for shock absorbers, click here.

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