Nothing is stopping the top teams from buying telemetry equipment and finding an expert to work with to make custom tunes. It's not exactly rocket science...
Nothing is stopping the top teams from buying telemetry equipment and finding an expert to work with to make custom tunes. It's not exactly rocket science I imagine, you mount the hardware, make some runs, see what is happening and what the rider says then fix the issues that present themselves. Shims are not hard to acquire, shimstactor is not particularly expensive and you make a custom tune... Apply and repeat the runs to see where you land at. It's something that should easily be done in a few day long riding camp. And servicing the suspension is also not rocket science, it's easily done by the team mechanic...
There are some motorsport series around now the use spec dampers for cost reasons. Not sure if that also covers damping tunes and/or adjustment ranges, but at first thought it seems much more restrictive than what is allowed with bikes.
Yea but are they, especially with tech like VVC that makes a shim shuffle infinitely harder?
VVC forks still use a shim stack. Might be a bit harder to tune, that is true, but I do not know the specifics of those forks. Haven't had the "pleasure" of having one taken apart. I drew the line at the Grip 1 damper and much prefer to stick to Rock Shox stuff. It's infinitely easier to service, requires just a few fairly cheap special tools (compared to Fox stuff) and compared to the Grip 1 damper seems better made. Based on what I have seen through limited experience (I am not a suspension tech by the slightest).
VVC forks still use a shim stack. Might be a bit harder to tune, that is true, but I do not know the specifics of those...
VVC forks still use a shim stack. Might be a bit harder to tune, that is true, but I do not know the specifics of those forks. Haven't had the "pleasure" of having one taken apart. I drew the line at the Grip 1 damper and much prefer to stick to Rock Shox stuff. It's infinitely easier to service, requires just a few fairly cheap special tools (compared to Fox stuff) and compared to the Grip 1 damper seems better made. Based on what I have seen through limited experience (I am not a suspension tech by the slightest).
Agree on the simplicity aspect, RS is my current goto.
All I want in suspension is simplicity, serviceability, and reliability. Performance wise, I think things have plateaued and have had for a while. No gimmicks pease.
Quite interesting... I don't know if it has already been speculated at some point or if my eyes are starting to play tricks on me, but when watching the Pivot proto on super slomo, it seems to me that on some compressions the chainring and the upper pulley are not rotating "together". Could it be possible that they have implemented a sort of decoupling on the axle of the pulley, isolating the "gears" chain from the "crank" chain to avoid pedal kickback ? I guess a kind of ratchet system could be use to do so ?
VVC forks still use a shim stack. Might be a bit harder to tune, that is true, but I do not know the specifics of those...
VVC forks still use a shim stack. Might be a bit harder to tune, that is true, but I do not know the specifics of those forks. Haven't had the "pleasure" of having one taken apart. I drew the line at the Grip 1 damper and much prefer to stick to Rock Shox stuff. It's infinitely easier to service, requires just a few fairly cheap special tools (compared to Fox stuff) and compared to the Grip 1 damper seems better made. Based on what I have seen through limited experience (I am not a suspension tech by the slightest).
VVC doesn't work like a typical shim stack, you can wedge 4 times the shims in there and it will do next to nothing. It involves incredibly fine tolerance machining of the standard parts (or a remake) then dyno'd and changed again and again as even 0.05mm preload will change the characteristics of the damper massively. It isn't worth the stuff around.
A Fitgrip (or Grip1) tuned, different story, I have said this numerous times here, but it's a better damper than VVC Grip 2. Tuning Grip1 is not exactly easy either and involves again trial and error.
This is not something that can be done in the Fox Van in a carpark, unless the van has a lathe, dyno and a room for the tuner to scream when the preload adjustment gave less compression damping than before lol.
Quite interesting... I don't know if it has already been speculated at some point or if my eyes are starting to play tricks on me, but...
Quite interesting... I don't know if it has already been speculated at some point or if my eyes are starting to play tricks on me, but when watching the Pivot proto on super slomo, it seems to me that on some compressions the chainring and the upper pulley are not rotating "together". Could it be possible that they have implemented a sort of decoupling on the axle of the pulley, isolating the "gears" chain from the "crank" chain to avoid pedal kickback ? I guess a kind of ratchet system could be use to do so ?
I think the inside idler being so much smaller than the outside one will reduce any feedback through the pedals so you wouldn’t really need an o-chain type of solution. Picture from pinkbike shows the inner and outer idlers use an interface similar to a crank arm but with three radial locking bolts instead of a concentric crank bolt (picture from pinkbike).
Can anyone on here who’s good at numbers and stuff explain how you’d figure out gear ratios on this beast?
Their suspension is more composed than the other teams, as Ohlins have no issue giving them whatever they ask for, whereas all the other teams (Fox and...
Their suspension is more composed than the other teams, as Ohlins have no issue giving them whatever they ask for, whereas all the other teams (Fox and Rockshox) have to run stock product and only adjust pressure, damping clicks etc. So Ohlins can run lots of damping with custom tuning, whereas everyone else can just max out the clicks. Thats why every dialed video Jordi is just like, err have you tried running more pressure? (Fox forks in generally use the spring to provide support instead of more damping, and therefore look lest composed), I'm not saying which setup is faster though.
While Loic and Finn's bikes are indeed oddly glued to the ground, to say that Fox and RS can only offer clicky adjustments is just not...
While Loic and Finn's bikes are indeed oddly glued to the ground, to say that Fox and RS can only offer clicky adjustments is just not true. Fox offers multiple tune options on rear shocks to athletes and custom ones to the top athletes (most notably Greg). RS does the same.
They offer custom tunes, but it is still the stock product just modified (although I dont specifically know about what Greg gets, just some of the aussie riders and frenchies).
The fact is that the WC teams are run from marketing budgets from their sponsors, they are not allowed to modify or run a totally different product, they use what they get told to use and tune it to the best of their ability.
I know for a fact a certain rider was running a custom cartridge in his fork and got in a lot of trouble from their sponsor for it, its not allowed. If it gets out that riders are ditching Charger 3 or VVC or whatever tech they have, its very bad news.
You guys should go have some beers with WC mechanics some time is all ill say.
They offer custom tunes, but it is still the stock product just modified (although I dont specifically know about what Greg gets, just some of the...
They offer custom tunes, but it is still the stock product just modified (although I dont specifically know about what Greg gets, just some of the aussie riders and frenchies).
The fact is that the WC teams are run from marketing budgets from their sponsors, they are not allowed to modify or run a totally different product, they use what they get told to use and tune it to the best of their ability.
I know for a fact a certain rider was running a custom cartridge in his fork and got in a lot of trouble from their sponsor for it, its not allowed. If it gets out that riders are ditching Charger 3 or VVC or whatever tech they have, its very bad news.
You guys should go have some beers with WC mechanics some time is all ill say.
When you say "stock product" are you meaning the shock body is the same, but the teams can run modified internals? Because this is what Öhlins does. Aside from what we can't see under Loic & Finn's mystery covers, all of the Öhlins product I see (including Jordan's) is a stock TTX shock body and stock TTX 38 fork lowers/stanchions/crowns. Stock product, but with custom jiggered internals. They aren't opening new molds and forgings just for 2 people and 2 people only.
I completely agree that brands hate seeing modified/swapped out product, but you would too if it were your products they were messing with. Putting an Öhlins cartridge inside a Boxxer won't make any team happy, regardless of marketing rules or not. If by some chance Fox comes out with a range of fork dampers that can fit inside an Öhlins chassis that is better than what Öhlins can make, Öhlins would hate seeing their dampers swapped out too. I guess at the end of the day "custom suspension" really comes down to taking an existing suspension platform and tweaking the guts of it. Or launching a new prototype that only a few (Loic & Finn perhaps?) have access to until it is available to a wider audience of athletes. Both of those scenarios apply to all of the suspension manufacturers. Are some brands going to do a better job of it than others? Sure, I think that will always be the case. But it's hard to argue that the products from Fox and RS are genuinely sub-par when they took all of the gold medals at DH World's. Of course, it's more indian than arrow, but the arrows still need to be pretty legit for that to happen.
Finn and Loic’s Prototype Demos really standout to me as far the most composed looking bikes. Could possibly be that they both have similar riding styles...
Finn and Loic’s Prototype Demos really standout to me as far the most composed looking bikes. Could possibly be that they both have similar riding styles or maybe it’s the bike?
Their suspension is more composed than the other teams, as Ohlins have no issue giving them whatever they ask for, whereas all the other teams (Fox and...
Their suspension is more composed than the other teams, as Ohlins have no issue giving them whatever they ask for, whereas all the other teams (Fox and Rockshox) have to run stock product and only adjust pressure, damping clicks etc. So Ohlins can run lots of damping with custom tuning, whereas everyone else can just max out the clicks. Thats why every dialed video Jordi is just like, err have you tried running more pressure? (Fox forks in generally use the spring to provide support instead of more damping, and therefore look lest composed), I'm not saying which setup is faster though.
This is just not true, top riders often use revalved or non-stock dampers in both forks and shocks. It is also pretty clear from the Dialed series you mentioned. Also, there are really no A-kit forks or shocks sold on the market for DH bikes unlike for MX for example, so it will always be revalved stuff. Also, brands might not want people knowing their riders are not on stock suspensions, but there were people running custom coil sprung boxxers or modified shock bodies in the past (check the NSR website) so..
They offer custom tunes, but it is still the stock product just modified (although I dont specifically know about what Greg gets, just some of the...
They offer custom tunes, but it is still the stock product just modified (although I dont specifically know about what Greg gets, just some of the aussie riders and frenchies).
The fact is that the WC teams are run from marketing budgets from their sponsors, they are not allowed to modify or run a totally different product, they use what they get told to use and tune it to the best of their ability.
I know for a fact a certain rider was running a custom cartridge in his fork and got in a lot of trouble from their sponsor for it, its not allowed. If it gets out that riders are ditching Charger 3 or VVC or whatever tech they have, its very bad news.
You guys should go have some beers with WC mechanics some time is all ill say.
When you say "stock product" are you meaning the shock body is the same, but the teams can run modified internals? Because this is what Öhlins...
When you say "stock product" are you meaning the shock body is the same, but the teams can run modified internals? Because this is what Öhlins does. Aside from what we can't see under Loic & Finn's mystery covers, all of the Öhlins product I see (including Jordan's) is a stock TTX shock body and stock TTX 38 fork lowers/stanchions/crowns. Stock product, but with custom jiggered internals. They aren't opening new molds and forgings just for 2 people and 2 people only.
I completely agree that brands hate seeing modified/swapped out product, but you would too if it were your products they were messing with. Putting an Öhlins cartridge inside a Boxxer won't make any team happy, regardless of marketing rules or not. If by some chance Fox comes out with a range of fork dampers that can fit inside an Öhlins chassis that is better than what Öhlins can make, Öhlins would hate seeing their dampers swapped out too. I guess at the end of the day "custom suspension" really comes down to taking an existing suspension platform and tweaking the guts of it. Or launching a new prototype that only a few (Loic & Finn perhaps?) have access to until it is available to a wider audience of athletes. Both of those scenarios apply to all of the suspension manufacturers. Are some brands going to do a better job of it than others? Sure, I think that will always be the case. But it's hard to argue that the products from Fox and RS are genuinely sub-par when they took all of the gold medals at DH World's. Of course, it's more indian than arrow, but the arrows still need to be pretty legit for that to happen.
For the record I never said they were slow, they just dont have a lot of damping, which is why the specialized bikes look so composed, as Ohlins products are capable of a factor more damping than Fox, and also because they let them run specilized internals, and the demands of Loic Bruni is a lot more than any normal joe.
Last time it came up, admittadly a few years ago, the 2 big vendors do not allow custom internals beyond what is available to OEM brands (i.e Rockshox offer a range of tunes to companies to match their frames, so too fox), the most they would tolerate was heavier weight oil in the dampers to get more damping out of them.
The teams actually have to use pre production samples of suspension a lot, to evaluate servicability, and reliability from their proffesional mechanics to see if they need to tweak anything for production lots, the serial numbers on there parts tell you this.
Again, im not having a go at any of the brands, just noting why the Ohlins products are different.
This is just not true, top riders often use revalved or non-stock dampers in both forks and shocks. It is also pretty clear from the Dialed...
This is just not true, top riders often use revalved or non-stock dampers in both forks and shocks. It is also pretty clear from the Dialed series you mentioned. Also, there are really no A-kit forks or shocks sold on the market for DH bikes unlike for MX for example, so it will always be revalved stuff. Also, brands might not want people knowing their riders are not on stock suspensions, but there were people running custom coil sprung boxxers or modified shock bodies in the past (check the NSR website) so..
Anyway, this is off topic.
Its funny you mention that, as that custom kit Nigel (NSR) made was the one I was specifically refering to, and the team got told they are not allowed to do that, and were forced to change.
But yes, this will be my last post on this subject.
Again, go have some beers with mechanics, youll learn a lot.
Oops, I'm an idiot. Weird to have a dropper on a dh sled. Maybe some of his shuttle trails have flatish bits in them? Or maybe it's just a marketing thing for sram.
Its funny you mention that, as that custom kit Nigel (NSR) made was the one I was specifically refering to, and the team got told they...
Its funny you mention that, as that custom kit Nigel (NSR) made was the one I was specifically refering to, and the team got told they are not allowed to do that, and were forced to change.
But yes, this will be my last post on this subject.
Again, go have some beers with mechanics, youll learn a lot.
Funnily enough, that said rider just won world champs on the tuned fork, must feel great when you find what works for you at that level and they tell you to go back to stuff that is a lot worse. But I know that's just how it goes when you are paid to run XYZ. Which begs the question, how on gods great earth can so many racers run different tire brands and don't face the same results? It must be in the contract right?
Finn and Loic’s Prototype Demos really standout to me as far the most composed looking bikes. Could possibly be that they both have similar riding styles...
Finn and Loic’s Prototype Demos really standout to me as far the most composed looking bikes. Could possibly be that they both have similar riding styles or maybe it’s the bike?
You can see with the suspension bottomed the linkage running under the bb. To me, looks like an ancilotti-style linkage is hidden, combined with the visible...
You can see with the suspension bottomed the linkage running under the bb. To me, looks like an ancilotti-style linkage is hidden, combined with the visible seatstay pivots.
Just got back from 2 weeks in the French Alps - I've got an Ohlin's TTX2Air, SD Coil that came on my Wreckoning and a Fast Fenix Evo - bloody amazing shock. So controlled but still poppy - was considering selling my Wreckoning for more of a plow bike, but no need with the Fenix.. Really good kit.
Finn and Loic’s Prototype Demos really standout to me as far the most composed looking bikes. Could possibly be that they both have similar riding styles...
Finn and Loic’s Prototype Demos really standout to me as far the most composed looking bikes. Could possibly be that they both have similar riding styles or maybe it’s the bike?
You can see with the suspension bottomed the linkage running under the bb. To me, looks like an ancilotti-style linkage is hidden, combined with the visible...
You can see with the suspension bottomed the linkage running under the bb. To me, looks like an ancilotti-style linkage is hidden, combined with the visible seatstay pivots.
I think the Demo Proto is a four bar with the pull link to drive the shock, so you get that sexy S shaped leverage curve and they can still get their axle path and anti rise they like.
I'm not sure why theyve kept it hidden for so long, does it really matter that much? Or is it because of the shock their running that they had a cover on even before the current proto frame?
Bruni has the electronic lockout (or whatever it is?) shock. Finn doesn't have the control buttons for it on the bars (correct me if wrong), so presumably his bike doesn't have it. And his bike is still covered so they're also hiding the linkage. And yes, it's a horst wheel path with a pull link and rocker to drive the shock (if short Charles and co are correct in the layout, and I think he is). Has this layout been used on a bike before? I don't recall any. I wonder if they're aiming to patent that suspension layout? I mean, Specialized had the horst patent for years and it was a big part of their brand identity and marketing etc. Perhaps they want that kind of situation back?
Edit: Most companies just put some stretchy fabric over it an call it good. Specialized has got hard plastic and such. And they must completely close their pit area every time a mechanic has to take the cover off to work on something. My point is that they've gone to great lengths to keep it hidden, which might track with them wanting to patent it.
You can see with the suspension bottomed the linkage running under the bb. To me, looks like an ancilotti-style linkage is hidden, combined with the visible...
You can see with the suspension bottomed the linkage running under the bb. To me, looks like an ancilotti-style linkage is hidden, combined with the visible seatstay pivots.
I think the Demo Proto is a four bar with the pull link to drive the shock, so you get that sexy S shaped leverage curve...
I think the Demo Proto is a four bar with the pull link to drive the shock, so you get that sexy S shaped leverage curve and they can still get their axle path and anti rise they like.
I'm not sure why theyve kept it hidden for so long, does it really matter that much? Or is it because of the shock their running that they had a cover on even before the current proto frame?
As for patenting it, I think it could be argued it's not patentable (in the shape we assume it's in). Unless it's specifically the chainstay shape and attachement of the linkage. You could argue the currently public demo uses the same layout - a horst link with a linkage driven shock where a pull link (the vertical one) actuates the shock.
This is just not true, top riders often use revalved or non-stock dampers in both forks and shocks. It is also pretty clear from the Dialed...
This is just not true, top riders often use revalved or non-stock dampers in both forks and shocks. It is also pretty clear from the Dialed series you mentioned. Also, there are really no A-kit forks or shocks sold on the market for DH bikes unlike for MX for example, so it will always be revalved stuff. Also, brands might not want people knowing their riders are not on stock suspensions, but there were people running custom coil sprung boxxers or modified shock bodies in the past (check the NSR website) so..
Its funny you mention that, as that custom kit Nigel (NSR) made was the one I was specifically refering to, and the team got told they...
Its funny you mention that, as that custom kit Nigel (NSR) made was the one I was specifically refering to, and the team got told they are not allowed to do that, and were forced to change.
But yes, this will be my last post on this subject.
Again, go have some beers with mechanics, youll learn a lot.
I gotta be honest, thats a pretty funny thing to say....Go have beers with some WC mechanics to get all the goods.
1. My family has been involved with automotive racing for as long as I can remember, having a "beer" with them would get you nothing but a load of nonsense.
2. I dont trust a single thing from racers (who are generally clueless about setup, etc,) or team owners, PR people, mechanics. Theyre all lying to you, about everything. No one worth their salt is out there giving away trade secrets over beers with someone they dont know. Anything you see in the pits, has been placed for you to see, to drum up hype.
3. Why would I, as a team mechanic, give anyone info that might jeopardize any little advantage my team might have? What are the chances they are trying to sell you a bridge, I know damn well I would, every chance I got. I certainly wouldnt be out there putting my job at risk for a couple beers......
4. You and I can easily go and get ourselves a tuned damper, there are a number of suspension companies that can do it. Along with rental telemetry to test and verify. If youre a team manager, and youre not trying to use everything youve got to your advantage, well, you might be doing your team a disservice.
As for patenting it, I think it could be argued it's not patentable (in the shape we assume it's in). Unless it's specifically the chainstay shape...
As for patenting it, I think it could be argued it's not patentable (in the shape we assume it's in). Unless it's specifically the chainstay shape and attachement of the linkage. You could argue the currently public demo uses the same layout - a horst link with a linkage driven shock where a pull link (the vertical one) actuates the shock.
Yeah, I'm not sure it's patentable, it might be unique enough, not sure? The patent system can be are a minefield of clusterfucks sometimes, in the US anyhow. I'm just speculating as to why they've gone to such lengths to keep it under wraps.
Yea but are they, especially with tech like VVC that makes a shim shuffle infinitely harder?
VVC forks still use a shim stack. Might be a bit harder to tune, that is true, but I do not know the specifics of those forks. Haven't had the "pleasure" of having one taken apart. I drew the line at the Grip 1 damper and much prefer to stick to Rock Shox stuff. It's infinitely easier to service, requires just a few fairly cheap special tools (compared to Fox stuff) and compared to the Grip 1 damper seems better made. Based on what I have seen through limited experience (I am not a suspension tech by the slightest).
Agree on the simplicity aspect, RS is my current goto.
All I want in suspension is simplicity, serviceability, and reliability. Performance wise, I think things have plateaued and have had for a while. No gimmicks pease.
Oh, and cost of course XD
Quite interesting... I don't know if it has already been speculated at some point or if my eyes are starting to play tricks on me, but when watching the Pivot proto on super slomo, it seems to me that on some compressions the chainring and the upper pulley are not rotating "together". Could it be possible that they have implemented a sort of decoupling on the axle of the pulley, isolating the "gears" chain from the "crank" chain to avoid pedal kickback ? I guess a kind of ratchet system could be use to do so ?
VVC doesn't work like a typical shim stack, you can wedge 4 times the shims in there and it will do next to nothing. It involves incredibly fine tolerance machining of the standard parts (or a remake) then dyno'd and changed again and again as even 0.05mm preload will change the characteristics of the damper massively. It isn't worth the stuff around.
A Fitgrip (or Grip1) tuned, different story, I have said this numerous times here, but it's a better damper than VVC Grip 2. Tuning Grip1 is not exactly easy either and involves again trial and error.
This is not something that can be done in the Fox Van in a carpark, unless the van has a lathe, dyno and a room for the tuner to scream when the preload adjustment gave less compression damping than before lol.
I think the inside idler being so much smaller than the outside one will reduce any feedback through the pedals so you wouldn’t really need an o-chain type of solution. Picture from pinkbike shows the inner and outer idlers use an interface similar to a crank arm but with three radial locking bolts instead of a concentric crank bolt (picture from pinkbike).
Can anyone on here who’s good at numbers and stuff explain how you’d figure out gear ratios on this beast?
They offer custom tunes, but it is still the stock product just modified (although I dont specifically know about what Greg gets, just some of the aussie riders and frenchies).
The fact is that the WC teams are run from marketing budgets from their sponsors, they are not allowed to modify or run a totally different product, they use what they get told to use and tune it to the best of their ability.
I know for a fact a certain rider was running a custom cartridge in his fork and got in a lot of trouble from their sponsor for it, its not allowed. If it gets out that riders are ditching Charger 3 or VVC or whatever tech they have, its very bad news.
You guys should go have some beers with WC mechanics some time is all ill say.
When you say "stock product" are you meaning the shock body is the same, but the teams can run modified internals? Because this is what Öhlins does. Aside from what we can't see under Loic & Finn's mystery covers, all of the Öhlins product I see (including Jordan's) is a stock TTX shock body and stock TTX 38 fork lowers/stanchions/crowns. Stock product, but with custom jiggered internals. They aren't opening new molds and forgings just for 2 people and 2 people only.
I completely agree that brands hate seeing modified/swapped out product, but you would too if it were your products they were messing with. Putting an Öhlins cartridge inside a Boxxer won't make any team happy, regardless of marketing rules or not. If by some chance Fox comes out with a range of fork dampers that can fit inside an Öhlins chassis that is better than what Öhlins can make, Öhlins would hate seeing their dampers swapped out too. I guess at the end of the day "custom suspension" really comes down to taking an existing suspension platform and tweaking the guts of it. Or launching a new prototype that only a few (Loic & Finn perhaps?) have access to until it is available to a wider audience of athletes. Both of those scenarios apply to all of the suspension manufacturers. Are some brands going to do a better job of it than others? Sure, I think that will always be the case. But it's hard to argue that the products from Fox and RS are genuinely sub-par when they took all of the gold medals at DH World's. Of course, it's more indian than arrow, but the arrows still need to be pretty legit for that to happen.
This is just not true, top riders often use revalved or non-stock dampers in both forks and shocks. It is also pretty clear from the Dialed series you mentioned. Also, there are really no A-kit forks or shocks sold on the market for DH bikes unlike for MX for example, so it will always be revalved stuff. Also, brands might not want people knowing their riders are not on stock suspensions, but there were people running custom coil sprung boxxers or modified shock bodies in the past (check the NSR website) so..
Anyway, this is off topic.
For the record I never said they were slow, they just dont have a lot of damping, which is why the specialized bikes look so composed, as Ohlins products are capable of a factor more damping than Fox, and also because they let them run specilized internals, and the demands of Loic Bruni is a lot more than any normal joe.
Last time it came up, admittadly a few years ago, the 2 big vendors do not allow custom internals beyond what is available to OEM brands (i.e Rockshox offer a range of tunes to companies to match their frames, so too fox), the most they would tolerate was heavier weight oil in the dampers to get more damping out of them.
The teams actually have to use pre production samples of suspension a lot, to evaluate servicability, and reliability from their proffesional mechanics to see if they need to tweak anything for production lots, the serial numbers on there parts tell you this.
Again, im not having a go at any of the brands, just noting why the Ohlins products are different.
Its funny you mention that, as that custom kit Nigel (NSR) made was the one I was specifically refering to, and the team got told they are not allowed to do that, and were forced to change.
But yes, this will be my last post on this subject.
Again, go have some beers with mechanics, youll learn a lot.
Brandon Semenuk with a tiny axs reverb, on a downhill bike of all places?
I'm pretty sure he had a short cage axs setup years ago in some edit. Not long after axs came out. It probably doesn't mean a dh axs is incoming.
Im talking about the dropper post. You are right he was running a 7-speed axs a few years back though
Oops, I'm an idiot. Weird to have a dropper on a dh sled. Maybe some of his shuttle trails have flatish bits in them? Or maybe it's just a marketing thing for sram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CvpWjONOukn/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Some more photos of the new Mondraker on Bike Rumor's IG
Funnily enough, that said rider just won world champs on the tuned fork, must feel great when you find what works for you at that level and they tell you to go back to stuff that is a lot worse. But I know that's just how it goes when you are paid to run XYZ. Which begs the question, how on gods great earth can so many racers run different tire brands and don't face the same results? It must be in the contract right?
For all you suspension geeks, Fast Suspension is doing some interesting things with a mid-speed valve and a refined new HBO system - check out our HQ Tour article to dig in: https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/exclusive-new-fork-test-and-fast-susp….
Just got back from 2 weeks in the French Alps - I've got an Ohlin's TTX2Air, SD Coil that came on my Wreckoning and a Fast Fenix Evo - bloody amazing shock. So controlled but still poppy - was considering selling my Wreckoning for more of a plow bike, but no need with the Fenix.. Really good kit.
I think the Demo Proto is a four bar with the pull link to drive the shock, so you get that sexy S shaped leverage curve and they can still get their axle path and anti rise they like.
I'm not sure why theyve kept it hidden for so long, does it really matter that much? Or is it because of the shock their running that they had a cover on even before the current proto frame?
Bruni has the electronic lockout (or whatever it is?) shock. Finn doesn't have the control buttons for it on the bars (correct me if wrong), so presumably his bike doesn't have it. And his bike is still covered so they're also hiding the linkage. And yes, it's a horst wheel path with a pull link and rocker to drive the shock (if short Charles and co are correct in the layout, and I think he is). Has this layout been used on a bike before? I don't recall any. I wonder if they're aiming to patent that suspension layout? I mean, Specialized had the horst patent for years and it was a big part of their brand identity and marketing etc. Perhaps they want that kind of situation back?
Edit: Most companies just put some stretchy fabric over it an call it good. Specialized has got hard plastic and such. And they must completely close their pit area every time a mechanic has to take the cover off to work on something. My point is that they've gone to great lengths to keep it hidden, which might track with them wanting to patent it.
Seems like Flight Attendant Sid shock and fork are in the works
Makes for damn good marketing, that's for sure.
As for patenting it, I think it could be argued it's not patentable (in the shape we assume it's in). Unless it's specifically the chainstay shape and attachement of the linkage. You could argue the currently public demo uses the same layout - a horst link with a linkage driven shock where a pull link (the vertical one) actuates the shock.
Michelin to bring back the DH16 (from Mondraker DH proto bikecheck on BikeRumor)
Not really tech related, but yeti is going D2C on august 31.
I gotta be honest, thats a pretty funny thing to say....Go have beers with some WC mechanics to get all the goods.
1. My family has been involved with automotive racing for as long as I can remember, having a "beer" with them would get you nothing but a load of nonsense.
2. I dont trust a single thing from racers (who are generally clueless about setup, etc,) or team owners, PR people, mechanics. Theyre all lying to you, about everything. No one worth their salt is out there giving away trade secrets over beers with someone they dont know. Anything you see in the pits, has been placed for you to see, to drum up hype.
3. Why would I, as a team mechanic, give anyone info that might jeopardize any little advantage my team might have? What are the chances they are trying to sell you a bridge, I know damn well I would, every chance I got. I certainly wouldnt be out there putting my job at risk for a couple beers......
4. You and I can easily go and get ourselves a tuned damper, there are a number of suspension companies that can do it. Along with rental telemetry to test and verify. If youre a team manager, and youre not trying to use everything youve got to your advantage, well, you might be doing your team a disservice.
Apologies if this was posted previously, but is Push working on an air shock (or just messing w/ us)?
Yeah, I'm not sure it's patentable, it might be unique enough, not sure? The patent system can be are a minefield of clusterfucks sometimes, in the US anyhow. I'm just speculating as to why they've gone to such lengths to keep it under wraps.
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