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With all this aero talk, consider what percentage of a run the rider is actually trying to accelerate over 15mph (where aero starts to matter). It's not a high percentage.
It's not when they are on the brakes, or in the woods, or cornering. Or rock gardens. Or during cross winds.
If a relatively smooth, high speed track with a flat middle section can be won without a chain, aero's benefits aren't going to be game changing
Have you watched DH races before?
Growing up ski racing, GS/DH speed suits did not make a huge difference at lower speeds. In a slalom where speeds are pretty comparable to DH mountain bike racing, it may make a 0.1-0.3 second difference per minute of racing. Giant slalom has speeds exceeding 50MPH For Super G and DH alpine skiing where speeds exceed 70 MPH, the drag one feels with regular ski gear on would be massive, accounting for up to a few seconds. DH racing just doesn't have the top speeds for prolonged periods of time that it is going to make or break a podium.
That said, ski racing has settled on everyone races in a GS/DH (GS suit has pads, DH has no pads and tends to be ever so tighter) suit depending upon the application. Mountain biking just needs to set a standard for what DH racers are wearing. To me, aero mtb gear looks out of place, speed suits from the old Worlds days also is not a good look for the sport.
Wasn’t there a rule created that banned speed suits and no visors because the riders didn’t like the look? Back in the Peaty, Kovarik, etc days.
Rules aren’t innovations.
There are plenty of us who still wriggle into a long sleeve skinsuit for bikepark days just to mess with people.
Some of the best training days I ever had were in a skinsuit, chainless. You can learn a lot about breaking points.
The early aughts “gentleman’s agreement” followed up by the actual uci 2cm pinch rule before Beijing Olympics bmx introduction was stupid and continues to be stupid.
It’s bicycle racing. Let folks wear bicycle racing clothes.
I haven't missed a race since Gee lost the overall to Stevie (until the Lake Placid race). I've attended two world cups in person.
What percentage of a race is a DH rider tucking? A decent amount on some tracks, but not that much on most tracks.
Tucking isn't the best guide to go by, as there are often sections where you would want to tuck, but can't as you have to pump or absorb bumps etc.
If you imagine aero farings on a bike, the leogang motorway. Ft bill motorway and the lake placids lower section would all be faster with a more aero setup.
By how much? Wed have to test
Also the brake covers were made for temp management and keeping the grit out, not for aero, but they may have been repurposed now.
Newsflash - rider's weight doesn't impact their downhill acceleration. It's 9.8ms^-02 for everyone.
Ben Cathro is on-record that the skinsuits they wore at Ft. Bill ended up delivering ~1 sec/min of race time ; that's a LOT. (And yes, most tracks aren't like Ft. Bill but the point stands).
This is objectively wrong.
La Thuille DH track is 1.4 miles, and the winning run was 3' 27", so the average pace was ~24mph.
You're forgetting about the existence of air. World cup DH races don't happen in a vacuum chamber.
Wind resistance is more favorable to a person with a larger mass to surface area ratio (generally speaking, the larger riders).
Loic Bruni is going to be less affected by wind resistance than Jackson Goldstone.
To think about it another way, if they both go skydiving, Loic's terminal velocity is going to be much higher than Jackson's. They won't fall at the same rate, because air exists.
lots of people demonstrating that they slept through school
I know it's not the World Cup, but as people were arguing against aero all I could think about was The Speed Traps at both Hardlines and those big +90ft jumps.
I think the fastest speeds were above 60km/h. That's damn fast on a bike and aero clothes are going to make a difference for sure. Hell, I'm NOT fast and I notice an aero difference when I go from a loose shirt to a tighter shirt between laps on a local xc loop!
Do I think aero clothes are cool? No. I elect to wear pants and tshirts. But am I racing? Also no.
The video I linked goes over the run, sections the track and covers the average speed in each section. Sorry, it's mostly over 15 mph... And the time difference is, possibly, almost/up to 2 seconds from fork fairings ALONE. Let alone additional aero things like tighter suits, bullet helmets, etc.
Average speeds on a World Cup track are pretty dang high these days. And while yes a straight up tuck is relatively rare. Everywhere there is aero benefits to be had. 2 seconds over a 3-4 minute track is the difference between first and third or fifth and fifth and 20th a lot of weekends.
It's all about the marginal gains... A tenth here and there adds up..
Fork fearings.. So far, the only place I recall seeing them used is the Leadville 100.. A lot of weird setups were there this year...
That's where peak torque got the idea for the analysis. It's all explained in the video.
A little different from the normal leeks here: 27.5+/29 mullet
I love cargo/utility bikes, plus bikes, alt bikes, at this point I'm spending more time on those than strictly 'performance' mountain bikes.
But that thing should have been left on a hillside in its infancy.
OK it was a tongue in a cheek answer after I skimmed the post and interpreted it incorrectly, my bad.
That said, I tried to quantify the difference between the terminal velocities of the two athletes, and the back-on-napkin quick calc tells me that the velocities will be only 3-4% different, based on their frontal area approximated from the calculation of their body surface area. I would not call these differences "much higher". Does this really matter given everything else going on in a DH race though?
Is that a new Unit X?
New Kona Unit Y or Unity
3 percent over 200 seconds is 6 seconds.
Six seconds in a DH race at the WC level is huge..
What’s going on with the specialized chisel evo? Seemed like a good option for affordable xc/light trail ripper, but not really available. Discontinued or something new in the works?
This looks like a BicyclePubes drawing.
If they are free falling all the way down at terminal velocity, sure.
My slow ass was hitting 39.5mph/63kph this past summer on a bum knee. I’m over 6’3” tall and definitely not wearing anything aero. Any GoPro video of mine on a high speed trail looks like I’m crawling in comparison to their speeds on any track with a motorway.
Aero could be a huge help. I really hope it doesn’t go that way. I can’t imagine many companies outside the bike industry wanting to sponsor teams with guys racing in speed suits. To quote my 6 year old… “why is he riding in pajamas?”
As far as I can tell, they've been selling well. Specialized may have produced a smaller first couple of runs on them, considering the state of bike sales.
Do you watch DH racing?? How many podiums have less than a 1% spread in times?
The times are so close and the speeds are so fast that aero makes a huge difference, much more than what suspension platform you're on. I guarantee you the difference between 4 bar and 6 bar is marginal, but the difference between speed suits, aero helmets and fairings vs standard DH garb is enormous.
Of course what bike company would throw money at a sport where the bike matters less than the aero optimizations you make to the bike + rider?
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