HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
And what a better way to start the year than announcing a very important news.
Last year the sensation of the pre-season was the signature of Abel Mustieles with the Catalan brand Monty. This year the pilot from Aragon is again the great protagonist of information with a new bomb hitting the pre-season.
Today, 1st of January, we can announce that Abel Mustieles signs with the French brand Ozonys.
We contacted Abel to know al little bit more.
Trial Inside: Good morning Abel, first of all our best wishes for the New Year and for your signature with Ozonys. What can you tell us about your move to Ozonys? A lot of people were surprised that you left Monty after one year.
Abel Mustieles: Good morning my friends, first of all my best wishes to you. I hope this year brings you joy, laughter and fun but also a lot of Trials.
Above all, I have to stress that I did not leave Monty because of internal issues, or of problems with the bike which is great, neither has it to do with the problems at the World Championship.
You can resume my change more or less as a challenge for the future, where I will have the privilege to work closely with a small and young company but that already has a strong base and reputation in our world. But what I like most comes from the fact that it is a brand that only focusses on Trials and works all days to make new ideas around equipment more performant. It is here that the company Ozonys and the rider Abel Mustieles are in full alignment.
This off course does not mean that Mony does not bring new inventions into Trials, because for sure they invent the most, and everybody knows that for a long time. It is just that I believe that a big company with different activities slows down the development of trials specific equipment in relation to my expectations, and even if the budget is bigger, the rhythm of development is different. And whether they are not fast enough with the development, or I am too impatient, that is the point we do not agree on.
It is this point that I discussed with Monty and OT PI and made us take the mutual decision to end our contract. They did listen to me and let me go. It is something I appreciate a lot and shows what a great person he is.
TI: Have you been able to test the bike you will ride in 2013? You already told us you are going to ride a new model, still a prototype, is it an evolution of the current curve 20”?
Abel: On January 1st, when I start riding my new bike it will be an evolution of the Curve 20”, with some modifications I suggested and that will be made to the production bike as well, with some new components that will be launched during the course of 2013.
The prototype is already here, with the geometry that I asked Bruno, after done a couple of test at the end of this year. So I won’t have any issues adopting to the bike.
TI: Are you going to continue to ride hydraulic rim brakes or go back to disc brakes now that you are going to ride for Ozonys?
Abel: After having tried hydraulic rim brakes last winter with Monty, I must say I really liked it, as it goes well with my style of riding, although I thought it would be the opposite. I have adapted to them quite well in the end. I really think that when all goes well, the precision of the brakes is unbeatable. It is true that this require more effort than with a disc, but you avoid other problems which in the end makes the hydraulic rim brakes a better choice for me.
On the other hand, when I take a friends bike that has disc brakes I miss the bite of the hydraulic rom brakes. I am a big defender of disc braces, I would recommend them for 80% of the riders, especially beginning riders.
Even as there are some issues with the hydraulic rim brakes, I think the new material of Ozonys will resolve these issues.
In short… I think I am going to ride with hydraulic rim brakes for a long, long time.
Trial Inside: Will you signature on Ozonys have other impacts on the distribution in Spain ?
Abel: Sure, in a sport as small as ours, to be able to spent the time needed to reach the level needed to be of a high level, you need a 100% professional organisation. If not it is going to be very difficult to get onto the podiums, especially in the UCI Elite category where the level keeps increasing year after year.
You have to be realistic, there aren’t a lot of options allowing this. Nowadays to be able to achieve this you become the exclusive distributor of a good brand in your country, so you are fully involved further than just the sport. We have done this before and we will do it again. I think it is the best way for a brand and a pilot to move forward in the same direction. It is no more or less than achieving the goal of having the best equipment to get to the highest level possible that will benefit both.
As being the importer, it also opens other doors, other than just the economic ones like working with other stores etc… which allows me to dream to start with a competion team “Ozonys – AMG bikes”, with 2 levels of riders. Level 1 where I will be with some other riders I am already thinking of who can ride at the global level and can have a direct impact on the brand and level 2 riders which are the upcoming riders of all ages who will have the support of the store with reductions and help at other levels. Unfortunate, there won’t be many. The rider scan find the contact page on our website to send us their goals and ambitions for the next seasons.
Trial Inside: Another result of the signature with Ozonys will be the changes to the website of AMG which has a new look but also the address changed, www.amgbikes.es becomes www.amg-bikes.com. We can see a big change on the design with all of the Ozonys products.
Abel: It was logical that we had to give the old site a new look. Especially with the addition of the new products. We wanted a new site, more professional, easy to use and more attractive for our customer. And it had to be easier to use for us as well. Everything is new.
Trial Inside: Indepandant of all this, you will also become the importer of Rockman, which is going to complement the catalog of products available on www.amg-bikes,com
Abel: Monty, Koxx, Inpulse, Crewkerz,… are all brands you already can find on ourmult-brand shop, which is growing little by little every day with new products specific to trials, Ozonys will become our spearhead as it will be the bike I am riding and I will promote it. But Rockman contacted us to distribute their products in Spain, and I must say they have some good products. This greatly increases the possibility of choice of our clients.
Trial Inside: Let’s get back to the rider Abel Mustieles. How is the pre-season going? What type of preparation to the new season are you doing?
Abel: The pre-season is going the be the same as last year, although we have increased the workload during the training a bit. My trainer Jesús Otero already told me that this year is going to be more intense as last year and I must say that you can already see this. I think that this time last year we didn’t go so far, but it is something I like, it is 100% efficient. We have already seen some progress with Jesús with regards of last year, with this I am hoping to do even better than this year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his support and friendship, one of the key items this works so well is because of the strong bond we have outside of the sports aspect.¡Gracias Jesús!
On the other hand we also work with a communication agency (BDS sport) and with a new manager (Javier Gómez), so we can improve our image and benefit to the maximum of the short career as an athlete. They have very good references and I am sure we will achieve great things together. Communication is very important for sponsors and you have to have a team that is very much present, otherwise it is an impossible task. You also need a manager/representative/agent that allows you to go everywhere and whom is looking for events, interviews and creates content to communicate.
Trial Inside: What are you goals for the 2013 season and what is your calendar? Will you also be riding Biketrial or will you only ride the UCI competitions?
Abel: It is obvious that my goals are the UCI competitions, that is where identify myself fully, the place where they consider us as professional and serious athletes, what we are or what we trying to be. It is possible that I will participate in a couple Biketrial races just to keep my rhythm. But I might also go there to support some of our team riders. I think it is obvious that the attraction of our sports is with the UCI, it is there where we should see all of our riders compete, without asking the question whether we ride Biketrail or not.
As for my goals, it is being 100% at all of the competitions so that I can go back home and say we did good. If I can do that I will be able to say that 2013 has been a good year.
Trial Inside: Thanks Abel, we wish you all the best for this new chapter you have started when you signed with Ozonys.
Abel: Thank you very much for being always present looking for information, you are incredible.
UN FUERTE ABRAZO A TODOS AMIG@S
yes i ride:)