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And I thought the #99 was a Gretzky-thing...
The other site has just posted a story saying that the team is confirmed, Loic, Finn and Jordan, no one new.
It’s been very quiet from Pivot/BK, about their lineup for 2025….anyone got any rumours?
Anyone know when Luca Shaw's contract is up?
Remy Meier Smith is rumored, someone was also saying Heather Wilson but she is also rumored to be on AON racing. Very curious what the plan is for PFR to be at the world cups.
Even with Remy and Heather i don't think they're a top 15 team.
They announced Izabela's departure before the new year. I'm actually surprised that they didn't push Rosa up into the big team, she's got podium potential.
One of the the yet to be unveiled Gen-S riders is Marcel Barrachina, maybe the other is female?
Maybe Bernard kerr is trying to get izabela yankova to pivot haha
The announcement is coming soon
Loris + Commencal mucoff + Rock Shox, maybe all team in rock shox was what AP was hiding?
Any rumors on Baptiste Pierron? Muc-Off? Or i missed something...
Or perhaps it is because Finn was born in 1999.
Looks like Mr. Ed is in Phoenix based on his insta, but doesn't seem like the rest of the team (BK, Jenna, Matt) are there. Feels like the team usually goes to the HQ around this time of year, but Ed's trip could be bike development related.
Does this announcement indicate anything about the state of innovation in the sport? Specifically, is Belt drive / Gearbox going to be THE innovation that highlights the role of more grass-roots teams in major innovations? I mean, you don't see The Syndicate or Specialized trying a belt-drive, but AON / Gamux, Atherton, etc., those teams have significant riders who can potentially "prove" a concept at a World Cup level. Not that Santa Cruz was a small team back in the day, but when Minnaar went to 29" back in '17, SC was known for being able to innovate quickly (not so much today)...is this what we are seeing with the belt and gearbox and the smaller teams? Are they going to get reverse-engineered into the next-Gen Session because smaller teams were nimble enough to prove a concept that the big-boys couldn't cover over with plastic for a whole season?
Or, is Gates just a very wealthy co-sponsor?
That would quite literally be pointless.
I have a marketing email from Muc-Off announcing a World Champ was joining the team hit my inbox just on 90 mins ago....
Wasn't Loris, but. Some dude on a motorbike instead. Lame.
Nah, it's just some distributor/dealer guys having a visit to Pivot HQ and Mr. Ed taking them around and such
Gates is, in every sense of the term a ‘very wealthy co-sponsor’ it’s a literal multi-billion dollar company…. The €100k prize fund is literally a drop in the ocean for them.
solid point and did not consider that ! thanks !!! USDH! I bet you are stoked National Champs are in CA!
Santa Cruz certainly has the resources to build a belt-driven bike in-house. As do other top brands. They regularly build and test new concepts, but a belted bike must not be in their scope. The added complexity is not necessary in order for them or any time to win, so I presume it would take more than a 100k prize and bragging rights for them to see the value.
Trek announced: Lachie, Sacha Earnest, Ollie Davis, Matt Walker UK, Christian Hauser, Ella Svegby
I think there's a bit of both. Gates wants to break into the market so they are doing so via the prize purse. But just because the big teams aren't following suit doesn't mean itsa gimick and all about the money. Some of these larger teams are funded and supported by SRAM and Shimano. They might not be able to rock the boat that hard to try something that is a bit unproven. Switching would require new frames and disrupting long time partnerships. Gearbox's have pros and cons, but until they are put to the test, no one knows which outweighs the other.
yeah, plus the big brands don't want crazy innovation because they just want to drip feed the market each year
but when you get outside brands like gates coming in it can do some cool things like the legacy that was Honda's brief time in the sport
It will be interesting to see if teams stick to the belt when somebody wins the prize purse or they switch back to conventional drive trains - that would be the ultimate test of the technology.
i think it's partially the team sponsors, and partially a lot of the bigger companies (trek, spesh, SC, etc) have so much OEM business with sram/shimano it might preclude them from developing a frame around a gearbox. i think the OEM aspect is less of an issue with the small to medium sized builders.
UCI isn't paying squat for the purse. Gates is the MVP here. good marketing for them I guess. It's been awesome to see teams gearing up to go after it. But it's sad that they can't win prize money like that just for... winning a race.
Strange for a team to do promo shoot with a new rider, who is the current DH World Champ, and not have them in rainbow stripes. Not even sleeves or cuffs.
I wonder if there isn't (hidden), or there might be, a SRAM gearbox
Kate Courtney on her own programme
Any1 else thinks a lot of credit for Gates push into MTB should go to the Chris Sugai as he is now employed there and knows the mtb world pretty well (he was also talking in one of the videos)?
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