Hey Nic, check out todays VOD, on the Sunshine Coast...I think we need to go there!!! Loam galore.

"...unfortunately, the celebration was short-lived. After this stage of the race ended, the UCI caught up with Dave and had him undertake the post-ride urine test required of all riders. Although there were no specific Performance Enhancing drugs found in Dave Watson's system, there were some unknown substances who's origins could only be traced back to the soil of the Pacific Northwest area of Canada. As they could not prove without a doubt that Dave had "cheated" the UCI non-the-less stripped him of their official level of "radness" granted to road racers. Ironically, this in turn boosted his level of radness in the Mountain Bike community to Sick, with a subtext of "Steez". The rest is, as they say.....history.

I think he runs Sombrio

Did the UCI urine test Dave after the jump? His bike certainly wouldn't have been under the weight minimum.

When my son was 7 I found a decent FS bike through Ibex, (who I don't think are around anymore?) It was full suspension, built around 24" wheels with a well built aluminum frame, decent components, disc brakes, but still crappy suspension. He blew the RST "dual crown" fork in about a year, so I ended up putting a used DJ fork on it lowered to 80mm. Couldn't find a shock short enough to replace the one it came with, but it lasted. That bike made a huge difference in his progression, and got him riding stuff that he wouldn't tackle on his hardtail. Aside from Kona at the time, there was nothing else on the market for kids that age and size. He's 14 now, and racing DH with a team. His bikes have gotten more expensive for sure, but I think that finding that Ibex when I did made it a lot easier for him to improve.