Mountain Biking superstar Remy Morton - building his best trail yet

Remy Morton is a Wanaka-based Australian mountain biking superstar. A bike prodigy, he is one of the best all-rounders in the world when it comes to BMX and mountain bikes, equally comfortable in BMX, slopestyle, and downhill freeriding.

He was riding without training wheels at two years old and competed in his first BMX competition when he was three. If his name is familiar, that’s because he is now a professional mountain bike rider and Red Bull sponsored athlete, competing at the highest level globally. He also builds architectural mountain bike trails that push riders to their limits.

Norwood and Attach2 caught up with Remy during the build for his submission into the X Games Real MTB competition - where five athletes and videographers create a 90-second video to showcase their skills riding a mountain bike on a trail they have built. He talked about where it all started, and how it ultimately led him to this moment - out in the bush, operating his Kubota KX040 excavator and working in harmony with the landscape to create his best trail yet.

The beginnings of a mountain bike trail building master

Remy credits his Dad for getting him into riding and building jumps as a kid. They have been building jumps together in the backyard his entire life, starting out with wooden pallets and small dirt landings.

Remy’s professional trail building work started once he left school, apprenticing for a few companies. As his skills progressed, the features of his jumps became bigger and more difficult. Shovels and rakes had to make way for heavy machinery.

Normal mountain bike trails don’t bring the adrenaline rush

"It has gotten to the point now that I need to build my own stuff if I want to challenge myself. The stuff that's in the public is just daily riding and it's nice to scare myself every few weeks,” Remy laughs.

He started his own company Flux Trail with a few close friends, after helping build the trail for the Crankworx competition in Rotorua in 2020 where he was handed that prestigious Red Bull helmet. Being riders themselves, the Flux Trail team understand the fundamentals of a good trail and they specialise in advanced builds that get the adrenalin pumping.

Getting serious with machinery

For Remy and the team, it is important to have the best tools to build the best product. To break new ground in the trail-building space, they need cutting-edge equipment.

Due to the remote nature of their work, their machines have to be extremely reliable. They also need a high level of functionality to allow for creativity. As they often get themselves into dicey situations, safety is paramount.

After years of experimentation and hiring various brands of machines and attachments, Flux Trail purchased their first machine. They went with the products they believe are the best in the industry: Kubota excavators and Attach2 attachments, and now have a lasting relationship with both the Norwood Mosgiel dealership (the Kubota dealership in Remy’s home base of Wanaka) and Attach2. Their Kubota U27 excavator is fitted with the A2 Heli-Tilt Performance Package and has become a key part of Flux Trail's success.

"It was pretty insane. He gave me the answers I needed (at Norwood Mosgiel) and told me we could have a machine within two weeks, which is fairly unheard of for any product unless you've become extremely lucky. They just had it all sitting there, which was pretty impressive. Also, being the supplier of, in my opinion, the best gear that you can buy, it was a pretty crazy combination," Remy explains. 

Big gear for a big opportunity

When Remy was approached to participate in the X Games Real MTB competition earlier this year, he soon realised he needed more equipment and approached Norwood, who rallied support from Kubota, and Attach2. All were happy to help him into a larger excavator, a Kubota KX040 kitted out with the Attach2 Heli-Tilt Performance Package.

Working with Norwood, Kubota, and Attach2 was important to Remy as he believed in the products and wanted to stay loyal to those who had supported his dream from the start.

Reliable products help meet deadlines

Building trails in places that generally don’t have great connectivity when something goes wrong – Remy and the Flux Trail team need dependable machines.

"You want to have reliable products so that you know you're going to achieve your goal, especially with time pressures like we have with the Real MTB build,” says Remy. “We know that this build needs to be done by this day, and you need to have reliable machinery to get there. Having Norwood, Kubota, and Attach2 on board has pretty much achieved that goal for us.”

Remy believes Kubota excavators and Attach2 buckets are the best products Flux Trail has had, and the most capable for working on the terrain and stacking rocks. “It's pretty much impossible without the gear," he says.

A big part of the Flux Trail approach is to work with the terrain. By being innovative, it’s possible to build features on a massive scale without scarring the earth.

Safety is paramount out in the wops

As you would expect, creating jumps and trails from any given landscape is a fiddly job. Safety plays a massive part in the trail building process, as the team can get themselves into some precarious positions. The Kubota U27 and KX040 and Attach2 attachments create the correct curves when sculpting the earth and keep the team safe as well. 

"You do get in a lot of spots where, if you weren't using that option, I'd say you're screwed. You're not going to be able to get out of it safely. It's just a complete game changer for us."

Easy equipment to learn in

Relatively new to operating machines, Remy needed something easy to pick up while on the tools. He has been in a Kubota excavator now for 2-3 years full-time but before that he had never operated one. He says it’s evidence of how well the Kubota excavator and Attach2 Heli-Tilt combination works in the landscape they’re building in.

Usually, when it comes to bike riding, Remy explains that most people judge the rider over the product. He thinks it's the opposite with machinery and trail-building equipment. Sure, there is skill involved in using the machinery, but the Kubota excavator and Attach2 attachments have made it safe to experiment on some challenging terrain over the years. 

Support for the vision

Remy explains that without the partnerships with Norwood, Kubota, and Attach2 he would not have been able to produce his Real MTB trail to such an exceptional standard.

"Having you guys believe in some of my crazy ideas to build this stuff, it's not the norm. Normal brands don't see the light of this. This project has been a big dream for me and a lot of the last few years of learning to operate and doing all of this work has led to wanting to do something like this. It is a huge goal of mine, and I really don't think it would have been possible without the support of Norwood, Kubota, and Attach2."