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If you can mount it to the old stuff after some wear the difference must be minuscule!
Pretty sure that's just the standard moto helmet they have been using all season.
found a better picture on pinkbike from race day, you're right it's a SE5, the paint scheme threw me off
Little birdy told me the d5 will have a new thicker foam core all around to help keep up with the higher speeds the riders are goin. I personally use se5 til d5 comes
was thinking something similar. too bad the D5 will probably be heavier and worse ventilated than the current D4 if the foam will be thicker. the jump from D3 to D4 in weight saving and ventilation was astonishing and makes still the best full face lid for me (park and racing on the enduro).
plus i personally think a A4 half shell won't be too far out in the future also.
No info, just saw on IG
KYB has been working on it for a while now
These forks were on display at an event in Europe. They’re 160 mm according to the eMTB YouTube channel that covered the event. Can’t remember more than that off the top of my head.
Sooooo ugly but but ahh I want to try it because it’s KYB!
Headtube looks exactly like this turd.
Is there anything at all out there regarding Specialized releasing a new Enduro? It almost feels forgotten about, which is quite strange for what was traditionally one of their biggest models.
I heard that the back end had too much compliance to be able to go out to the market (tyre buzzing seat stays). Charlie Murray is on the Stumpy and flying, could see them doing a LT, its not clear from his photos whether he's running a modified link, the bolt spacing between the seat stay and the shock yoke is a little further away.
With Trek launching the Fuel+, are spesh going to try and combine the Enduro/KSL/Kenevo to kill a few sku's in light of sales going back to normality ?
I think they should make it high pivot (like the upcoming Demo) to differentiate itself from a possible long travel stumpy release.
Somebody on the USD forks topic mentionned it was probably a taiwanese oem fork, with 32mm stachions only. A shame if that is verified info
If that's the case, it's a few decades behind the times..
I'm confused as to why my opinion regarding a high pivot Enduro is controversial? We saw from the patents and some sneak peeks that it's being developed in the same way with the same linkage style as the Demo prototype, it would only make sense for Specialized to make the Enduro a high pivot to match as it would likely have the same linkage rock strike issue with a normal pivot.
enhance.wtf
😂🤣🤦♂️🤦♂️
Yup, they had a new Enduro almost entirely ready to go. Charlie had one to test in NZ and the bike just wasn't good enough to bring to production so they were forced to scrap it.
Charlie's Stumpys are stock travel. At least they were up to this year. He was even on a 160mm lyrik last year but like all the sram athletes this year was contractually obligated to be on full flight attendant and the proto zeb
https://youtu.be/bTRtJqu-Xt4?si=eGPK0y83k04IRZnj
I don't know how, but the heat tube and seat tube junctions look more Ibis like than Ibis bikes do
Nina riding a new bike in msa
Hold on, I had it on good authority from this very forum that Santa Cruz would abandon VPP and move to Virtual Crab Point!!
Good spotting 🤣
Last time I saw lots of small adjusters on one fork leg I remember Marzocchi nearly imploding from performance and qc issues
Ok here is my unified semi-conspiracy theory that explains the proto V10, Jackson Goldstone's bike weights, the mysterious lack of a Specialized Enduro, the development journey of the Demo, lagging enduro enthusiasm from bike companies in general, and even the Orbea Rallon.
Manufacturers think that e-bikes are the future and are orienting themselves toward dedicating a majority of their efforts toward producing them. They have the following assumptions about e-bikes:
-E-bikes have shown that the weight of the motor under the bottom bracket can actually play a positive role in how a bike handles. It drives the front tire into the ground and affects cornering positively. Jackson Goldstone's bike lends further credence to this at the highest level.
-Pedaling performance will matter less and less, especially as battery and motor weights continuing dropping.
From these two assumptions, you can see how bike companies feel like there's less development insight they can gain from enduro bikes (which have to make compromises between suspension performance and pedaling performance) vs downhill bikes, which jettison the limitations of pedaling performance considerations and are exclusively focused on suspension performance.
Take a look at what the V10 proto, Demo, and Rallon have in common: they can fit a water bottle cage.
Racing is meant as marketing and to help develop bikes. Right now, DH racing is serving that dual purpose better.
So here are my predictions for 2026/2027:
-Santa Cruz, Specialized, and other companies will introduce an e-bike platform based off their DH prototypes. They will probably come in as the new Megatower and Enduro, but basically be the V10 and Demo plus motors.
-Once this new crop of DH-inspired e-bikes comes to market, enduro racing will get folded into e-enduro, and sponsor money will pour in again as it becomes better suited for both marketing and product development.
You heard it here first
I feel like you’re half right here. Mainly, I can’t believe we aren’t seeing more e-dh rigs.
I think this prototype could be either a new model (maybe they bring back the driver 8 name) or a new nomad. It looks like it could be set up with a dropper and more of an enduro/freeride build. Makes a lot of sense for bike brands to go that way. Would make sense from a marketing stand point for Santa Cruz to have a versatile alloy (affordable?) bike for those riders who dont want to commit to a full blown dh rig or those riders looking to have 2 bikes in one.
I'll put money that is a test mule for geo and kinematics testing. Has zip tie cable routing, different shock mount options…
Santa Cruz only does alloy as an afterthought. But making a Nomad/Megatower dual crown capable makes a lot of sense. Hopefully they'll make those two models more interchangeable with a linkage swap like Trek did with the new Fuel.
Exactly. I live in a place where there are no uplifts and having a DH bike with a motor and battery would be the greatest thing. A massive plus if you could just remove the battery (so it’s allowed on an airplane) and race it with the motor in it, wouldn’t have to buy weights that way hehe