Top team at Vertigo gears up for bike festival

Top team at Vertigo gears up for bike festival

Christchurch-born bike mechanic Shaun Kirton took his mountain biking passion and skills halfway around the world before bringing them to Queenstown, the riding ‘hotspot’ of the Southern Hemisphere.

Now based in Queenstown as Vertigo Bikes’ new Bike Mechanic, 25-year-old Shaun is one of just a handful of Kiwi mechanics who has worked for an international pro mountain bike team.

In 2009 he accompanied the Yeti/Fox Factory World Cup downhill race team for the Mountain Biking World Cup. Internationally he’s worked as a bike mechanic in Edinburgh, Scotland and counts pro-racers from Australia, the US, UK and New Zealand among his satisfied customers.

Next month he’ll be on hand at the inaugural Queenstown Bike Festival (16-25 April) to offer his expertise to biking enthusiasts from around New Zealand, sharing nine years of hands-on experience alongside Vertigo stakeholder and pro-racer Paul ‘Pang’ Angus and Vertigo co-owner Tim Ceci.

Vertigo Bikes is one of the Festival’s key sponsors. The Queenstown Bike Festival takes place over 10-days and is a chance for all ages and abilities, including biking novices, recreational cyclists and serious bikers, to check out the resort’s world-class cycle tracks, trails and scenery.

Shaun said his biking specialties mostly lay in suspension tuning and reckons that after competing in and visiting worldwide training locations, Queenstown has got what it takes to be an international biking ‘Mecca.’

“Queenstown is well established for international events such as the Mountain Biking World Cup series and is well set up for teams in the Northern Hemisphere during their off-season,” he said.

“It’s got all the facilities such as lift access to gravity-based tracks, back country trails, jump parks, a great choice of quality accommodation and fantastic bike hire and guide services. The festival will be a chance to attract a higher level of professionals to here to show them what Queenstown has to offer.”

Shaun, based in the Vertigo Bike store in the heart of Queenstown, said he felt privileged to bring his high level of expertise to an already highly specialized team.

When he’s not fixing bikes in the Vertigo Bikes store he can be found out and about on the tracks around Queenstown, or on his favourite, the Fernhill Loop track.

“I love it because it’s set in an all-natural environment in beech forest with some great views.”

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