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But I wonder, the "leverage effect" looks really "flat", I don't know how to say, pivots look almost aligned, isn't there a point where with a too big hit the axle will move up and pull rhe rocker instead of pushing it and shear the rear of the bike ?
He was also getting pretty close to the camera bikes on the descent and was probably getting a good tow from them after every hairpin, but he did win it with his downhill attack. He also nearly crashed three or four times on the descent and I'm sure a lower centre of gravity saved him there.
For the tech side, I wonder what brand he was using and how it was operated. MSR is pretty flat but usually teams are searching for the lightest possible setup. I know that most UCI XC racers now use droppers, but maybe that will help the few holdouts on the possible benefits, even on some of the less technical courses.
The dropper didn't do anything bad for him, no doubts about that, but when it comes to Mohorič, it's the guy that makes the difference. He's just mental.
And supposedly the team has been preparing for this exact race for the whole of winter, likely because the course fit Mohorič well?
Regarding the dropper, jokes are flying around that UCI is rewriting the rules banning them already :D
Proof that all bikes are improved by a dropper
Many of the bikes today are below the weight limit, but you still see them prioritizing less overall weight (like Tadej's rim brake bike for climbs) and more concentrated weight.
And you are very correct, just having a dropper post doesn't make someone a good descender. Mohoric is a monster on downhills anyway you put it.
Not a tech rumor, but kudos to MvdP for showing up last minute and getting third after months off the bike and out of competition!
I wonder if we will see them used again on a descent finish during a grand tour. Maybe not for a particularly mountainous stage, but I could see a breakaway group on a hilly/rolling stage having an advantage if they can push the downhills a little harder than the peloton.
Anyone looked at this? I hadn't checked wheelbased in a while, but it looks like the patent document linked in the article shows the new charger damper. Items 347 and 346 are related to an IFP of sorts which would be a major departure from the current charger dampers. The patent might just be related to the buttercups, but the knobs seem to look like the new ones we've seen.
Also for the charger dampers. The Select (without plus) use an IFP instead of the bladder.
As for the decoupler, they have a floating-ish piston, which means they lessen the piston bind when the fork flexes.
What the buttercups do is different, they take away the chatter that isn't covered by the spring in the fork (due to stiction and the like). So the same as a rubber top mount in a car (with flexible rubber bushings in the links taking loads in different directions). What bikes essentially are are race cars, where everything is solidly mounted, more or less. With race cars this is done for performance, as it gives precision (less unwanted flex and movement of the wheel) at the cost of comfort - that's why this is not done for road cars.
As for the wheelbased article, didn't read through it, but the pictures only cover the buttercups, yes. And the one that has a pin going through is done that way to prevent a 'dead' rebound adjuster - the rod needs to be rotationally fixed to the chassis in order for the dial to turn the screw inside it. Otherwise everything could rotate and the clicking of the dial wouldn't actually do anything with the rebound setting.
As for the IFP aspect, true, the charger already uses it. But it's spring backed, not pressure backed, as it is in shocks. There is no spring in the patent application and I think items 347 and 348 are just the compression rod/assembly and the bladder.
What an IFP would add is some more stiction in the system, but easier servicing, as you'd only need to replace and O-ring instead of the bladder. But Charger dampers are technically unserviceable anyway (to the detriment of angrybikemechanic: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaXw90esxmU/ ).
Fox's (Marzocchi's) solution with a cut in the rod to bleed away excess oil is also a wonderful solution when it comes to oil ingestion, but it does require you to run the same damper and lower lubricating fluid, which might not be the best, depending on the design of both the bushings/chassis and the damper.