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At the end of the day, no problem is ever solved by simply throwing money at it.

I’m bummed to see they’re possibly going SX. The full power gen 5 is marginally lighter and far more capable (can be tuned down if you want it to ride like the SX and doesn’t weight much more). There’s a few examples already of some Gen5 bikes on the market that are lighter than SX bikes which I feel defeats the whole purpose of the SX system.

I am sooo impressed with Sam Hill, honestly thought it was more of a media stunt for him to be there. Eating my hat, that man is STILL one bad ass rider!

Maybe it's been discussed already, but what are the requirements to be considered a team? Do all the rider need to be on the same frame sponsor? Do they need to share a minimum number of sponsors? (I.e. could Gwin and Neko be on the same "team" but ride different frames?

Whatever Finn is riding in that photo it has a split pivot rear. So maybe the Orbea Fmd rumors are correct.

I'm guessing that the Bernard in Indonesia thing means that for some reason the Enduro points aren't counting for the team rankings? Pivot have a pretty strong showing in EDR or have I missed something? Did I hear somewhere that only the world champs in Enduro give UCI points ? Just watching BKs vlog from the event and it looks really cool and it's great for the organizer's and riders that a couple of world cup riders are there but from a world cup qualification perspective, the idea that getting a top result there is worth more than a 31st...

wtf. that makes my local state park look like val di sol.

The way people were talking about the changes seemed to imply that the points went along with the riders for their team for the 2025 season, which would mean there will be some reshuffling of the list as riders switch teams or are added from teams that are closing shop. So all those points Coulanges has would move to whatever team he's on next year. I could be wrong though, and have no insider info. Edit: the Vital insta story seems to confirm this

One of the best and worst things about mountain biking is the people. I completely agree with you @owl-x. It’s amazing you have more dislikes than likes on this comment and all your saying is the truth. Some factions of cycling are so far up their own ass the can’t see their own hypocrisy.

If true, $75k doesn’t seem like enough honestly? 10 races this year, basically have to pay for months of lodging between races. Mechanic and other support. Team camps. Larger fees for teams next year…… to be on one of the best teams in the sport, kinda seems like a deal.

I really appreciate all the advice. We spoke a little more this evening and to put it bluntly, Dad was trying to be a cheapskate or at least I thought I'd find something well below a grand for a bike.... As mentioned previously, I'm lost with most of this stuff. We did spend a little time going through listings for used bikes, but like y'all stated we really don't know what the heck we're looking at and unless something just falls in our lap I think buying new and just accepting that 900-1200 will be our range for a beginner...