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Would he not have discussed his new sponsor with a current sponsor before signing on the dotted line? I would think that he would have and been told what Norco’s thoughts were. Maybe the money Norco was giving him wasn’t enough to say no to OF.
Exactly, Lew put Norco in the situation of continuing to support him, in which case the god squad and maybe parents would be up in arms about it, and send complainy emails, boycott norco etc (and their money is as green as anybodys). Or stop supporting him, in which case people who aren't bothered by porn would be mad that they stopped supporting him. By putting only fans on his helmet he put them in a lose-lose situation, and what company wants to deal with an ass ache like that! There's plenty of fast up and comers to sponsor without the hassle and nonsense.
I do wonder: If he had taken only fans sponsorship and put content there but only put a link in his socials profile (like they do with fb, youtube, insta, etc), maybe put a very small easy to miss logo on his helmet along with other sponsors, and hashtags (and got paid lots less for it, presumably) if the outcome would be the same.
The sx cbd sponsorship is apropos. Perhaps the sponsorship is mostly intended to spark debate.
That would be super rad to see Contras on the WC circuit!
I don't know what bikes the Beyond team will be riding and if they're gonna be Contras, but I just remembered 1996 and Beyond Fabrications, a company who made 25.000 USD frames from beryllium and later cheaper ones (5000 USD), from a beryllium/aluminium alloy, called Be401. I'm curious what became of them.
Sorry for the little offtopic.
Mx
Or maybe OF paid him enough to make him not care about losing frame sponsorship. Sounds like it if he can go ahead and buy multiple frames and do what he wants.
Judging by the number of times he says “price point” in that latest yt video I’d guess this isn’t the case.
Hunt Wheels would like you to know that notable UK DH figure and general MTB mayhem bringer Becci Skelton has re-signed to ride their wheels:
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Becci Skelton is back on HUNT Wheels for 2023!
Exciting news from HUNT Wheels! Becci Skelton, Lincolnshire's talented skills coach, mountain biker, and dog lover, is joining forces with us for the 2023 season. Becci rose to prominence in the mountain biking world at 28, quickly making a name for herself in National and International Downhill races, including winning the overall Elite British Series Championship in 2019. When she's not racing, Becci is spreading the stoke and sharing her skills through her coaching business, Becci Skelton MTB Training.
For the upcoming season, Becci will be taking on both downhill and enduro races, and will be shredding on HUNT Enduro Wide V2 alloy wheels. She will also be playing a key role in the development of new HUNT MTB wheel projects (watch this space!).
The Spanish Cup in Otivar will mark the start of Becci's race season, followed by UK National DH and Enduro events like Ard Rock and the Mega Avalanche! Get ready for some fire from Becci on HUNT wheels.
"Super hyped to rolling on Hunt wheels again! Not only do these guys make awesome products, they welcome you into the Hunt family with open arms. I'm going to be putting them to the test and starting my season at the first round of the Spanish Cup in Otivar next week. Following that I'll be at a lot of the UK DH and Enduro National events, Ard Rock, Mega Avalanche and whatever is fun and takes my fancy in between." - Becci Skelton
Can't catch Becci in person this year? No problem! Keep up with her epic adventures and skills by giving her a follow on Instagram. And while you're at it, check out Becci Skelton MTB Training for all your mountain biking training needs.
Image credit: https://www.instagram.com/lifeinraw/
Becci Skelton Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becciskelly/
Becci Skelton MTB Training: https://www.instagram.com/becciskelton_mtb_training/
Taking this a bit off topic, but I thought I'd chime in about the first point. Obviously everyone's channel has a different audience, but as an example, here's a breakdown of my YouTube channel's audience by by age. Instagram is about the same. Now I've never checked, but I assume TikTok viewership trends much younger.
Any news on what bike the Unior Sinter team will be riding?
They used to be on Trek then moved to Devinci (with Jure Zabjek getting his best results on a Session while Dak Norton looked better on a Wilson) and then rode Canyon Senders last year.
Their XC team rode Specialized frames so will the DH team now get Demos?
Uniors XCO team was only Tanja Žakelj but now she rides for Czech GAPP System Kolofix MTB Racing Team so Unior-Sinter is left with 3 DH riders, Slovenian site mtb.si posted on 2nd February that their new bike sponsor will be revealed soon!
FWIW Tanja moved teams so I doubt there will be an XC part of the team this year. Could be wrong though.
It was pain in the ass after moving to Spec. frames... Demo S5 was waay to small for Jure. There was no S6 Demos in EU (or worldwide?).
So, they came to Sender so they could start a season... Riding Sender was "last second escape" (as much as I know).
Looks like Blenki is running SR Suntour on his new ride
Think hes just testing whats out there now before choosing a new suspension sponsor
EDR team news from Orange bikes: https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/its-out-orange-factory-racing-2023.
There is no such thing as a S6 Demo. Not even S5. The largest size for the Demo is S4 - which is ridiculously small at 467mm of reach.
Ok. :D haha
This is a total lack of funniness. Yet, you laugh.
If not in US/AU/NZ/..., then doesnt exists, right?
How the hell did I personally help Jure fine tune S5 Demo w/ differente stems, anglesets, offset bushings, and so on?
We did everything what we could to make it happen, cuz Spec told us that only couple of S6 frames were made and we couldnt get one...
And how did I personally put together S5 Demo in sHerenberg, NED, for EU shops?
U really are funny... :D haha
Congratulations.
Would be very sad to see such a cool rider on such a cool bike riding such uncool suspension.
Rux is really good, you can listen to George Brannigan in the OTB podcast that he is very happy after the last update of the fork. The reviews are really good also the price…the only problem that I see is the availability. At least in our part of Europe I can’t find one for a 29er. I would love to try one.
What about serviceability? Is SR Suntour decently supported in Europe? Are there service instructions and service kits available?
Yeah I’m sure the stuff the World Cup guys are on is good but as a brand the most interesting thing they do is manufacture for other brands. I know they have won a World Cup and rampage etc but I almost never see them in the uk. I wouldn’t even know where to get them never mind servicing? I just feel like all the other big players are putting a lot more back into the sport at pro level and consumer level.
Blenki confirmed on SR Suntour -
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoidYDTB5Ab/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
There’s a guy on the STW forum who documents his sons escapades with racing. He snapped a set of suntours at the arch and assuming the worst bought a set of Boxxers to keep him riding, he had a new set of lowers on the suntours within 2 weeks I think which was better than most expected, only a single example but perhaps their spares situation isn’t as bad as we might expect.
Doesn't suntour manufacture like the large majority of other brand's suspension stuff? You'd think they would be able to make their stuff backwards compatible with like a fox damper or whatever. They at least have the knowledge and resources to produce something top tier, they probably just see no point in pushing that hard to offer a top tier product to the masses since you're fighting entering a duopoly market between Fox and RS.
I don’t think they do fox. They used to produce marzocchi back in the day but now that they’re under fox I think it’s a separate operation. AFAIK dvo and ohlins mtb stuff still come out of a suntour factory so technical capability clearly isn’t their problem.
I would guess their strategy is to occupy the lower end oem market. They have just enough higher end products and sponsored riders that people don’t say wtf when they see it specced on a 3k build.
I think you are thinking Suntour doing the EXT Lowers? Their casting facility is massive wouldn't surprise me if they did other brands lowers under the cloak of secrecy.
The lowers are the same as on one of the X Fusion forks. Not sure wether or not they are made by SR Suntour.
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