Hello Vital MTB Visitor,
We’re conducting a survey and would appreciate your input. Your answers will help Vital and the MTB industry better understand what riders like you want. Survey results will be used to recognize top brands. Make your voice heard!
Five lucky people will be selected at random to win a Vital MTB t-shirt.
Thanks in advance,
The Vital MTB Crew
Not sure if already known through podcasts etc but Martin Whiteley confirmed to manage Frameworks.
Fox 40?
From my understanding, GM will have an"uncaged" situation at Norco.I suspec,highly, that he will be on nearly all the components he was on last year. This part, more speculation...maybe we should have seen this coming. GM made a lot of small changes last pre-season; perhaps, he was setting up this last run to be exactly what he wanted.
I think the question is ”Who else is on Norco?”, in order for an ”uncaged situation” to make sense. It seems to me that he is their only important name. Maybe they will add some more, considering the low market and the array of free agents available.
On the other hand, I'd speculate on the rest of the set-up. I'm pretty sure some things will be kept, others not. I'd say Reserve wheels fly out the door, since they're a SC brand. Same with Fox Head, I always thought Greg on Fox is a super weird fit. But I am biased, since I am not a huge fan of Fox. Fox Suspension and Shimano make sense to be keepers, not to mention Maxxis, where our boy has a signature model tire. The Chris King connection looks to be great too, don't see why Burgtec doesn't stick around and yes, we have (excellent) Minnaar grips over there too, maybe it matters. I'm willing to bet Oakley will be back too, their connection just runs too deep. Regarding clothing, I'd love to see Greg on TLD, but I'm pretty sure it's not happening. Greg has always been a keen businessman and managed to associate himself with brands that needed a push in terms of image: the initial Alpinestars, O'Neal and let's not forget OGK/Kabuto, a brand i believe he also distributed internationally, with Martin as a partner.
I won't exclude SRAM from all the above either. But man, am I curious!
If this will be officially Greg's farewell tour, I'll do whatever is in my power to go see one of the World Cups live and thank the man in person for everything!
Mx
Looks like Greg’s on fox head gear with smith optics. Seems odd after being synonymous with Oakley for his entire career and then fox goggles for the majority of 2023.
Sounds like everything is on the table for Greg this season in terms of components. Word is, he's been seen testing SRAM (drivetrain & brakes) & Rockshox. He may stick with Fox/Shimano for familiarity as he's moving to an all new bike, but he's definitely doing his do diligence. There's also the money factor. If he wants to be paid by SRAM/Rocks or Shimano/Fox he will need to run their complete setup. He of course could mix-n-match but the brands will not pay him like they would if he had their complete lineup.
Official word from IFR
Looks like Pivot factory is switching suspension. Matt Walker just posted on his IG story a picture of his new Pivot mach6 mx with DVO suspension.
Looks like that bike also has an EXT shock, and SRAM transmission cranks, so probably not his bike, and the brake calipers aren’t shimano either.
Its not his bike, and in case it is, its probably a stock bike and he will change components afterwards!
So if IFR is shutting down, we can expect a MS Intense team? With Gwin, Dak and Tuhoto maybe??
What if the JUST means that the entire Norco DH team will be Just Greg? He might be all that they can afford?
Was Gracey still on Norco for ‘24? I don’t recall seeing anything about her leaving?
Don’t think Gwin will be racing WCs from what I got from his interview in the Downtime podcast. He was asked if he’d do commentary full time and basically said if I’m going to be at WC events, I’m going to want to be racing. To me that sounded like he wasn’t going to be at the WCs this season, maybe focusing on his new bike park. Which I would like to visit some day soon, it’s either a 25hr drive or 4 connection flights lol 😂
Maybe they're really big Radiohead fans
Gwin owns IFR.
I'd think two things would happen, that Intense stops supporting IFR, but keeps supplying frames, Gwin rebrands as a new team.
Or, Intense severs completely, leaving the former IFR team to find a new frame sponsor.
I think the later is unlikely, considering the development of the bike and the fact that Dak just was shilling for Intense on social media.
My guess is that now that the bike is mostly where they want, the team will retreat to Tennessee and the southeast using Windrock as a training ground. Gwin has no problems getting sponsors and has been around long enough to know how to operate a successful team on a shoestring budget.
He announced that previously on IG
@Endurhevia IFR did not announce they are shutting down. Intense being in the name is just like any race team. Ownership incorporates the title sponsor into the team name. Underlying ownership would switch it to Jabba the Hut Racing if title sponsor was LucasFilm if they wanted.
@DrewskiNorcoFan Not been whispered that the underlying team ownership (Gwin is AN owner, not sole owner and from what I was told at formation, not the majority stakeholder) isn't disbanding the race team itself.
@pheller Have you checked Dak's feed for any branded content post Jan. 1? Just hitting the skate park on his DJ isn't branded content.
So who at Vital posted the words "Officially Dissolved" on the home page.
The post itself literally says the Team will be announcing their 2024 team shortly.
Shouldn't the header read "IFR rebadge for 2024"
if intense factory racing isn't intense factory racing because intense isn't a sponsor, that means intense factory racing is shutdown/dissolved/whatever you want to call it. even if there is a team w/ the same management/players, it won't be called intense factory racing therefore intense factory racing ceases to exist, right?
reading is hard. my name is right under the homepage post.
Danny Hart socials. Don't recognise that head badge. But I'm not massively clued up.
It's not going to be a factory team. Which usually means the brand chips in a substantial amount of funding.
Gwin and Dak being without a frame sponsor would be a huge hit, unless they join Neko under frameworks or something. Why would Intense do that? Frames are cheap. Unless Gwin and team basically say "we're not riding your frames, even if free, for anything than less than $xxx,xxxx." I'm sure Gwin has some minimum number for sponsorship, but faced with no sponsorship or low price, I think anyone would choose a lower price.
That being said, Gwin retiring would be a surprise, but not unlikely. He's got a new business venture that he probably wants to focus on.
Dak being a privateer or something would suck for his progression. He's shown some good results.
Thus, I think Intense will be still be out there as a frame sponsor under some new team, likely with Dak in it, Gwin unknown.
Is it a prime?
That looks like a Banshee logo to me
https://www.bansheebikes.com/legend-275-29
Definitely a Prime. Check out that seat mast.
Nope, just look at the seat tube. That’s basically a signature by Cero - Cesar Rojo ex DH racer design agency who is behind previous Intense, owns Unno or designed as noted above Prime Bikes.
The badge is tempting but the bike to me doesn’t look like an AL Banshee at all. Just check the tubes…
It's a......Cube 215.
Post a reply to: 2024 TEAM RUMORS