Rider: Stephen Morgan (aka. stav)
IG: stav_369
Resides: Liverpool, UK
Nearby trail system and your favorite trails:
Delamere Forest was where we cut our teeth riding. Growing up in the inner city, we only had some very small dirt jumps and Delamere was our closest trails! I heard there was a road gap there so at a young age, we traveled by train and peddled a fair distance just to get there and send it! Based out of Liverpool now, it’s only an hour south of North Wales, an hour across we have the Peaks and Pennines, an hour north we have the Lake District, then a couple of hours past the lakes we have good old Scotland! My favourite place to ride would be Revolution bike park in Wales!
What do you ride (type of terrain)?
I mainly ride forest trails and I now do a lot of trail riding with my 2 year old daughter which the Warden is performing phenomenally at! It’s great to have a bike which can lap some XC routes and then hit the freeride trails the very next day.
What model and colour?
Warden in Landrover Green. It’s my favourite colour and Landrover being one of my favourite vehicles, defender green was a no brainer.
How tall are you? What size frame did you get? How does it fit you?
I’m 5’10” and opted for size S2. It fits me perfectly, especially for my style of riding. The bike has the best of both, it feels really playful and it's fast.
What's your full bike spec?
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Stem length (which stem?) Hope AM 35mm
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Bar width (which bar?) Renthal fatbar 760mm
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Dropper length? (which dropper?) And is it dropped to the collar or 2” out from the collar? Quite the opposite, a pivotal set up! Gusset DJ saddle, Matt Jones edition. I kept the tradition running after having a pivotal set up on my podium!
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Crank length? (which crank?) SRAM NX 170mm
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What chainring tooth count? 32T
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What rear cassette tooth count? 11/50
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SRAM NX gear set
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Fox 38 factory up front
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Fox Factory X2 matching in the rear
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Full enduro wide wheel set courtesy of Hunt!
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DMR vaults to keep the feet in check
Big thanks to Jake at Snakeskin Wrapping for a complete Invisi wrap to keep the Warden mint!
What other custom touches did you do?
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Tire combo? Schwalbe Magic Mary up front and a Dirty Dan in the rear! Good old UK weather,
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Grips - why did you choose those? Peaty's monarch grips, you can always trust Steve Peat!
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Brakes - why did you choose those? Hope Tech 3 E4S.. I like the modulation with Hope brakes but may upgrade later to get more power.
What do you love about your new bike?
Everything about this bike just clicks—it’s the perfect ride for me. I love how my Warden can seamlessly switch from fast XC laps to full-on freeride and DH sessions. Huge props to Knolly for creating such a versatile machine. The build quality inspires total confidence—it can handle the heaviest hits and I can’t wait to rack up more laps, wherever the trail leads!
