Vital RAW - World Cup Downhill from 2011 16

Vital RAW

The bikes were still small, but getting a little longer. Edge (now known as ENVE) had carbon wheels on the Santa Cruz Syndicate bikes, Aaron Gwin was on Trek, Troy Lee Designs kits were loud, Labresse had heavenly grass turns and it sure feels like the race pace of the 2011 World Cup DH would be on par with the riding of today!

It's a funny thing to think about getting so wrapped up in millimeters of reach here or wheelbase there when we see just how insanely fast riders can go on whatever equipment they have at their disposal.

 

Credit: John Lawlor
Related:
Vital RAW
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup
Downhill
16 comments

View replies to: Vital RAW - World Cup Downhill from 2011

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Milton 26"
4 months ago

Man, after all these years... There's something about Sam Hill's and Brendan Fairclough's loose but commited riding style that still does it for me. Makes me want to try and ride like them. 

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Glory831Guy
4 months ago

The riding styles in general look a lot more like BMX to me. Lots of pre-jumping and hucking over stuff vs today where guys can just float over all the small and medium sized bumps/rocks without slowing down. 

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DoubleCrownKing
4 months ago

This was definitely the golden age for DH racing for me, I was absolutely glued to the TV watching these. I still have my 26" DH rig from that era and ride it now and then, having a blast! I wouldn't do that great racing it now vs contemporary DH machines but riding it for the hell of it it's as fun as ever.

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Mr. P
4 months ago

Yeah! Ride that back wheel!

When every year was a step forward for mountain bikes and racing.

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Splayleg
4 months ago

The kits were busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. 
 little known fact in 2011 the average rider height was 6’11.5”

also bring back exploding tree pads and berms!

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VitalMTB 2023 Repeater Powertrain-40 2
Jason_Schroeder
4 months ago

Maybe I'm just being nostalgic. Maybe I'm just getting old. But damn was this an awesome era of downhill racing. 

Also so many SHORTS

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NoahColorado
4 months ago

Boy, the riding seems so much more frenzied back then, doesn't it? Perhaps the speed and stability gained from later tech (geo, suspension, wheelsize) has made things a little less exciting and entertaining. Don't get me wrong, it's still awesome, just different. A bit more bike-dancing, line deviation, and overall style differentiation vs. now.

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samdaman1
4 months ago

The whole style differentiation thing is so true, it's impossible to recognise who's who these days, which I reckon is defo down to style being inherently less efficient, but the lack of consistency between rounds when it comes to team kits also makes it way harder I reckon (remember the days when TLD would have one set of kits each year and we all got excited to see them be released??)

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Adam_Schaeffer
4 months ago

For the most part I do think fast was fast, however at VDS they definitely looked slower/more awkward simply because of how big the holes and features are. For the last few years I've had mixed feelings watching VDS: the bikes are so capable that the riders have no mechanical limitations so the speeds are almost unbelievable. Im just waiting for someone to stack it huge. 

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kperras
4 months ago

Bikes were loud back then! Thank goodness we've made some improvements on that front.

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fartsack
4 months ago

i still remember watching brendogs pietmaritzburg gap multiple times! and so i did just now haha :D

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TEAMROBOT
4 months ago

Horrendous, especially when you look at everything that comes up immediately after landing. Like a landmine field. There's a reason no one else was doing it. Isn't that also where he blew up his knee and had to sit out half the season?