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It makes zero sense to run stiff as rock springs when you can deal with that with the damper. A stiff spring will just give you a really harsh ride over the small bumps and give you bottom out resistance. A progressive spring or a closed off compression circuit will give you support on hard hits going deep into the travel, but still retain small bump performance.
That and it makes sense to run at least some sag. Which is not possible with an overly stiff spring.
The only ones available at the moment who potentially fit these criteria are Vali Hoell and Loris Vergier (who won a lot of junior events on Lapierre and, you guessed it, SRAM/RS).
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHst-rNHVMK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The Loris thing is kinda weird to me: I understand that he wanted to get out of Loic's shadown and he landed right under Minnaar's, but with his progression he would go into 2021 as SC's top dog, and no other top brand has a ride as uncontested n°1. If it is SC needing to cut budget, I can't see how it is not Luca Shaw: on track he is close but not over Loris, and outside he is not even half as marketable.
I also wonder why they would cut budgets now. In the last few years I saw so many Santa Cruz bikes - much more as before. Surely, that's mainly what I saw in Central Europe but a friend was in Whistler last year (or two years ago) and noticed the same thing. This year the whole bike industry is pretty much sold out. SC was late in the e-bike market but I wonder if this has a serious negative impact.
If they let Loris go they have to look for another top rider.
But surely there are a lot of riders who showed potential recently. So maybe they go that way.
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The perfect complement to an iconic kit
The only thing nearly as cool as winning a world championship is riding the custom bike. World champions have shown off some truly impressive, one-of-a-kind rides in the past (we’re obviously partial to Mads Pedersen’s), and almost all of them have been prominently emblazoned with the illustrious five rainbow stripes.
However, after Reece Wilson won the 2020 downhill world championship in Austria this past October, Trek decided to do something different with his Session. Instead of shouting Wilson’s win, the bike more subtly places the world champion stripes just below the seatpost. The rest of the bike is covered in a glitter-flecked off-white.
Trek product designer Brian Lindstrom says the understated look is deliberate.
“For the UCI World Champ bike, the goal was to have a subtle bike design that Reece could really enjoy up close while working with the bold World Champ kit he will be wearing,” Lindstrom says, “as opposed to creating something that would compete with the boldness of the kit.”
In other words, because Wilson will be wearing the rainbow stripes, there was no reason to overdo a good thing. Instead, his Session is clean — a projection of mountain biking royalty as opposed to a statement.
Reece re-signs with Trek
The new bike is only the second bit of good news for Wilson and Trek this week. Wilson will be competing for championships under the Trek banner for the foreseeable future after recently re-signing with the team.
“I’m thrilled to have re-signed with Trek,” Wilson said. “The team is a tight family who do a great job of making the riders feel special while providing a structure for great performance. I’m excited to build on the recipe this winter and see where I can go.”
Wilson, from Scotland, is just 24 years old, and also had a top 10 finish in last year’s World Cup event in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Enjoy, Reece!
Stay tuned for more updates from the DH team, as roster and team info are launched in the coming months!
But nevertheless, I'm thinking lately if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, surely it can't be a goose?? Maybe he doesn't feel like he fits in with the syndicate? Though one would wonder if that wouldn't affect his results then...
@JoseMPM You can have a progressive compression tune, so for the really hard hits to have a lot of resistance, which you wouldn't really see under Jordi's hands. I don't reallly know what they run, but like I said, it makse ZERO sense to me to solve damping issues by running an overly stiff spring. There is a time and a place for an overly stiff spring.
And Jure is having an aneurysm. Hey Jure :D
(Besides being very badly implemented, private messages actually don't work for me here on Vital at this moment..)
EDIT: just to add (I was told it might be confusing), this is not in any relation to Jure Žabjek, it's a different Jure who was pissed (thus the aneurysm part) about me being a part of a lot of off-topic posts in this thread.
The big question now is will Trek open up the checkbook to have 2 big names? I think Loris can easily be top dog at SCS.. Greg may have some good finishes still in him, but Loris will be more consistent and the man in the near future..
But There surly trek are going to let someone go, if they are going to bring in a fast frenchy, if they do that is. And you would think S/C would want a replacement if loris leaves.
But I had a feeling Charlie Harrison might leave trek.
His crash, the controversy behind his rescue, the severity of his injury, his road to recovery, and the fact that he rides pretty much with the same intensity as he did before, is a story for the ages, worth much more to mountain biking than a world championship, in my humble opinion.
And besides, with rumors of Laurie leaving, which other top rider would Mondraker be left with?
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