Kusa's Comments

Looks nice but the geo is a bit too conservative – tall ST, short CS, short WB

I'm way more interested to hear the story why they actually invest in their own suspension. They use RS, Fox but also it looked like that they went big with DVO at some point, just to only drop them a year later?

Try Michelin rubber. From my experience its same grip as Stealth. Tested on Northwave shoes. Plus they are more comfy inside.

Coming from Rune V2 and currently riding 29' with 1237 wheelbase and 445 chainstay, I have to say it is superb balanced. Not easiest for wheelies, but so good in terrain. Titan looks ace. Just a bit surprised by lack of RS shocks and price tag.

Welcome to the past https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaft-driven_bicycle

"The first shaft drives for cycles appear to have been invented independently in 1890 in the United States and Britain."

Love long bikes but 1272 in M is ridiculous.

I guess opposite to Masters Champs, they simply have to put some cap on the number of elite riders, otherwise there could be potentially too many riders? So that's why they run qualification, so even if there is less then 80 riders total, you have to qualify.

by UCI rules book:

For all DHI events (Men Elite, Women Elite, Men Juniors and Women Juniors), riders are required to ride in the qualifying round. The number of riders qualifying for the final are as follows:
- Men Elite: top 80 riders in the qualifying round
- Women Elite: top 40 riders in the qualifying round
- Men Juniors: top 60 riders in the qualifying round
- Women Juniors: top 15 riders in the qualifying round

and

DHI Men Elite, DHI Women Elite
For the qualifying round and the final:
1. As per the last published UCI DHI individual ranking. The best rider starting last.
2. Unclassified riders: by nations in rotation (*).

Yeah a bit confusing. Well UCI has a HQ down the road 20 mins from our house, I should visit them and ask.

So what happened to GOAT? First, he landed 7th place but later he is shown DSQ (still Q as protected).

This

It almost feel like that Demo is designed with that wheel size in mind while Saracen was butchered from original 29" so there is a bigger gap – wheelbase (visually).

Also some interesting info – wheel size X rider height

1st place – 29"/27.5" – 180cm (Loic)
2nd place – 29" – 190cm (Greg)
3rd place – 27.5" – 167cm (Troy)

AL is here definitely for quicker testing. Same with Stump EVO which arrived first in AL to test the market. As for other parts, maybe just the preference of riders / what is available by their sponsors / what makes most sense for DH race. I can image that AL bars are here in case of crashing and still being able to get on bike and finish which would probably not happen with carbon bars.