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The discounts you get on products for certain brands by joining makes it seem like its a pretty great deal.. but what the hell is going on with that song… shook.
Up at Australian National Champs at the moment, Connor is still on the V10, same set-up as at Hardline
Moimoi mentions that sram/rockshox stopped supporting them, and seems quite disappointed about it. Wonder why, he was one of their more successful athletes on the EWS circuit.
Yeah a super strange move from srammers. Especially since Moir seems like he definitely was a Sram/Rockshox sponsored athlete and overall spokesperson, not just ran their stuff cuz he had to. I know the YT guys could run whatever they wanted, but it seemed to be more than him just liking the stuff.
But I guess they have to draw the line somewhere. Seems like Valli is still on their stuff though right?
I wonder if SRAM maybe had to cut back elsewhere to afford the Commencal Muc-off team sponsorship?
They had to pay Loris salary somehow.
I think the reason is right there in your comment "on the EWS circuit".
UCI/Warner have made the EWS not worth the support from sponsors anymore.
I wonder if SRAM have a problem with the uncaged approach? They still must bring some support out to the EDR so what difference does it make to service one more rider who has been very outspoken with his support of their stuff. Weird move on their part
I've got to think that at this point, sponsoring EWS (EDR) riders has got to feel like sponsoring influencers from industry marketing point of view on return. There's almost no official coverage, so any marketing value is going to come exclusively from whatever the rider produces on their own.
In the case of Jack, I recall him saying recently that he had to cut his video guy he had on payroll producing content, so marketing would be getting less value still from that.
I remember when I used to lie on the forums too. Grow up.
Speaking of 🇦🇺 nats. Good battle at Mt Buller.![]()
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go check his insta. tell me what u see.
Imagine creating an account just to post such a weird comment. Is the russian gov sending bots into vital forums to destabilise US DH?
As I said similarly in another forum thread.
EWS is dying/dead and SRAM sees the writing on the wall. With lots of big names and teams gone from EWS it will receive even less coverage this year and continue the downward spiral. Jack was paid very well (he, Richie and Jesse are really the only people. making big cash in enduro). They're not going to renew a 2-3 year deal for sponsorship when there's a really good chance EWS doesn't exist in 2026.
So SRAM needed to trim fat because of the market downturn and to bring more money to the table for Loris/Commencal/DH (which is not dying).
I was told point blank by more than one racer that fan & vendor attendance at EWS races is virtually non-existent.
If you can't draw vendors & fans to a race, your only income is from race entry. And that will never cut tying up a venue's terrain over multiple days.
https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/Akta%20MTB/blog/03/19/2025/entry/132111
Jack Menzies got a new clothing sponsor. Still on a Canyon and says to be racing enduro AND DH...
Danny Hart has a new bike by the looks of his latest IG story. Interesting that he appears to be running Shimano Brakes and Drivetrain, not TRP, maybe a sponsorship change for the team?
What I'd like to know is if these US spec Yakima racks are legal in Europe...
I'm more surprised they've managed to pry him away from hope brakes honestly
i'm assuming richie sees the writing on the wall, and has been shifting back over to DH.
Yep. Seeing it at the domestic level as well with Colton Peterson competing at the DHSE TTC race. I know he plans on doing some enduro as well, but still indicative of the times when more and more enduro folks are looking to downhill.
I mean, it's hard as an aspiring athlete wanting to compete at the pinnacle to see that the "pinnacle" of your sport (EDR) is sort of a dead end from the perspective of making a living as a professional, so it's natural to see aspiring professionals pivot to the avenue where they might actually be able to make a living. We're seeing it with a lot of our areas best young enduro racers switching over to downhill, even though they have to drive 10-12 hours to races and have no real local "downhill" tracks on which to practice.
I would have thought the TRP brakes could be setup to feel more like the Tech4 V4 than the Shimano can. I have Shimano on one bike and Hope on another and it always takes a little while to adapt when swapping between them, the feel is very different.
semi on spesh
Never seen one of these types of racks on cars because they're not official approved by EU regulations. (the car pictured above seemed to be an English one, so not EU...) I know one French manufacturer (EXP'PYR) selling somme approved racks but I have never seen one.
WBD has announced the end of their Track Champions League, a made for tv velodrome/discotheque series, which, afaik, represented WBD’s first direct investment in cycling.
The end of TCL leaves the basically broken UCI Nation’s Cup as the only global track series.
If WBD is killing made for tv events- it’s hard not to see them axing events that can’t be produced for TV at all(EDR) next….
As a US guy, I can say I've seen more people get rid of that Yakima rack than any other brand. It is not awesome. Not saying it's bad.
But definitely not fun.
Charlie Harrison un-retires and joins Ari Factory Racing. Max Beaupre also joins for eMTB. 🤘
If I can add my 2 cents here.
I don't think Sram paid Jack, or the team, anything. That whole YT deal is that they run whatever they want because they don't take money from any sponsors. Now I think that was changing because the industry is struggling and they probably saw how much money they were losing out on. My best guess is YT asked Sram to pay to support the team and they said no, so YT doubled down on the TRP/Fox association they had already been building. Vali would be the only one I could see saying she wasn't signing to YT without continuing with Sram, but for all the others on the team to now be running the same parts? Doesn't seem like they are free to choose anymore.
The only reason I care to say this is because I don't think it was an intentional move due to Enduro in it's (current) state. I have amazing support from Sram and Rockshox and they are very much committed and stoked to be supporting me in my Enduro endeavours. The industry is struggling as a whole and it sucks to see Enduro taking the brunt of the rollbacks, but I'm hopeful it's just temporary and once brands start coming out of this downturn we'll see the money return.
There's always one discipline that takes all the complaining. XC had it for a while. And it wasn't long ago that DH was looked at as a huge failure and at risk of not continuing. But they pulled through because people remained hopeful for what it could be. I, for one, am extremely excited for the LCQ this year, I really hope they televise it as it might just be more exciting than the race itself. I talked to Chris a month or so ago and he is committed to making Enduro a mainstay, and I'm all in for making that happen in whatever way I can. Including bringing my opinions to the most important corners of the internet.
Lastly, with regards to Richie, Enduro still has his heart as he's told me he hopes it comes back around so he can come back.
That's odd. https://youtu.be/W1-9iJFJmpk?si=bI291D9uVPcT5csr&t=1042
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