Straight outta Barlick
Last year Matt Stuttard bust his pelvis – ouch! For 2018, Matt will be aiming to stay injury-free and to end up with a top 20 overall finish.
Video description
Tim Royle: “Over the last year I filmed with Matt on a number of occasions when our schedules have allowed. Following his serious injury sustained at the EWS in Madeira, I set out to try and film his recovery. Many months later after a lot of training and rehab, he is back on the bike and ready for the new season.”
Pro bike check: Matt Stuttard’s Hope HB160
Take a few minutes to geek out over EWS racer Matt Stuttard’s EWS-ready Hope HB160 race bike and learn how he carries his spares when racing.
>>> Hope knock £2k off HB160 price and refund existing owners the difference
The racer: Matt Stuttard with his Hope HB160 enduro race bike.
Last year, we accidentally put the curse on Matt Stuttard by including him in our Five British riders to watch at this year’s Enduro World Series feature. His EWS season got off to a decent start but then he had a big off in Madeira and bust his pelvis, which put him out for the rest of the EWS races…
Matt Stuttard had an impressive 2016, finishing 35th overall. In particular he impressed a lot of folk with his stage win at Aspen-Snowmass EWS.
For 2018, Matt will be aiming to stay injury-free and to end up improving significantly on his 2016 placing. A top 20 overall finish could well be his.
His confidence is up. He’s riding exceptionally well. And he has an extremely nice bike. Speaking of which…
Matt Stuttard’s Hope HB160 race bike
Without any further ado, here’s what you came to see and geek over, Matt Stuttard’s Hope HB160 race bike.
Tyres: Onza Aquila 2.4 Visco (front and rear). Dual casing, 45a durometer. Front run at 22-24 psi, rear at 24.26 psi. And that’s a Mudhugger mudguard on there. It’s the conditions get really wet Matt often runs an Onza Greina up front.
Fork: Öhlins RXF 36 Air. Low speed compression set to 2 clicks from fully closed. High speed compression fully open. Rebound damping is set to 13 clicks from fully closed. Bottom chamber at 240psi, top chamber at around 120psi.
‘ope ‘ubs.
Brakes: Hope E4 calipers with 203mm front rotor and 180mm rear rotor.
Brakes: Hope Tech 3 levers at the squeezing end of things.
AVS hand guards: Very moto. Paw protection against any trees and undergrowth that may try to get in the way.
Shifter: SRAM XX1.
Dropper remote: RockShox Reverb 1x Remote.
Handlebars: Matt opts to run the alloy handlebars from Hope as they are a full 800mm width (the carbon ones are 780mm).
Stem: 50mm Hope AM Freeride stem. 2 x 10mm spacers underneath.
Titanium bolts: Ti bolts feature wherever possible to save weight.
Cranks: Hope Spiderless crankset with 170mm arms and sporting a 34T Hope retainer chainring.
Pedals: over 10 years old but Matt still hasn’t found anything to top the venerable Shimano DX M647 clipless design.
Rear shock: Öhlins TTX 22 coil rear shock. Matt is running offset bushings custom made by Hope (which are as offset as much as is machineable), slackens the bike by around 1° and also lowers the BB height.
Rear shock: Compression is set 10 clicks from fully closed. Rebound set to 4 clicks from fully open.
Rear shock: Fitted with a 502 weight spring in YELLOW.
Saddle: SDG Duster Ti.
Grips: Hope Lock-on grips.
Cassette: Hope’s own 48T 11-speed cassette.
Rear mech: SRAM XX1.
Chain guide: Hope Slick Guide STD Version.
Seatpost: RockShox Reverb 170mm dropper post. Matt opts to run a QR seat clamp for those tracks where he needs the saddle as far out of the way as possible.
Spares and tools: Tubeless tyre repair kit, CO2 canister and chuck, Lezyne multi-tool, chain link, folding miniature Stanley blade and vulcanising solution and a tyre lever. Matt doesn’t wear a backpack. Nor does he attach much stuff to his bike frame. He stuffs everything in his pockets, sometimes opting to wear bibshorts with built-in storage.
Hydration: Inov8 Soft Flasks and OTE hydro tabs. He’ll also have energy gels taped to his frame or in his pockets during races.
Thanks for letting us gawp over your bike Matt and best of luck for the 2018 Enduro World Series!