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My guess is that without any body-english changes, you'd have a slightly lighter front wheel. You'd wheelie a little more under pedal power and have a little less front wheel grip in the corners. I think adjusting your form would fix it all. (Plus, manuals would likely be easier!)

Yes but on a moto, much like a DH bike or dirt jump bike or trials bike, the seat is just for resting. Not for having fun on. Motos have pretty high peg heights relative to BB heights. So I doubt that the relative angle of you on moto standing on pegs vs your MTB angle is really that far off. I'm MTB having dabbled briefly in moto with an XR 100 and have never seat bounced in my life. But I certainly didn't find myself with more vision on a moto.

I wonder why it is that the major direct-to-consumer companies are struggling to sufficiently shorten their seat tubes. I know their suspension layouts involve kinks/linkage relatively high on the seat tube, but other companies have worked around that constraint.

I'm 5'7 with short legs, so anything over 425mm in a medium just can't really be an option for me, as it generally means I'll need to run a 125mm dropper; it's hard to justify buying a bike that only allows a 125mm dropper when there are other options that allow me to run a 175mm. I honestly think the seat post lengths need to vary more across sizes, as short and tall people are generally asked to compromise too much in the current market.

Whilst all these points are very valid, why shouldn’t the UCI and red bull make the best TV show to cover the pinnacle of DH racing? I have been a fan of DH for over 20 years and the coverage now is the best it has ever been. But let’s take this year, we have only just got into the coverage so I was certainly thirsty for it, but have I watched all of the coverage from Red bull? Well no, to watch the men’s and the women’s show’s it’s over 3hrs. Then take the double header that’s over a...

For USA riders last year, there were only 5 chances to earn UCI points domestically, the four Pro GRT rounds and National Champs. Of those 5, only Windrock and Nationals had enough points on offer to get a racer to the minimum needed to race a World Cup (Mountain Creek only awarded 10 points to the winner with Rd. 2 and 4 earning 30). The top-6 at Nationals earned 40 or more points and at Windrock a racer would have needed to place in the top-2. Assuming the normal attendance of WC level riders at these races and the top...

long gone are the days of riders finding random loophole races in georgia to get world cup points (i think alex morgan (BCD) figured this out in 1998 or 1999, so he and some others like hart, chase, ebbett and/or porter could snag WC points at a random race). wonder what it takes to have a domestic race that has points anymore? (EDIT: just saw adam digby's post. thanks adam! informative!)

We have to keep in mind, UCI is a Euro/french centric organization and they are probably blind to what is DH racing outside of their cocoon. In France and in Europe, the sport is much more organized with clubs in every village and races at every level (department, regional, national). In US, there is way less regional racing, it makes the sport more expensive and just limits the pool of talents. Enduro is also a distraction for race promoters and racers. I understand UCI (and Red Bull) wanting to make WC DH an elite series and not a participation sport...

Yes, they DQ'ed the goat at Monte Saint Anne and Tahnee in Leogang for similar off's.

This is a clear cut DQ. You can't pick and chose when to apply rules and he clearly was on the left side of the tape.

a rider's intention is never a deciding factor. this would be a dq in a slalom run for sure.

Cheers, guys. Truly honored by all the support and kind words from the MTB community. 🤜 It's been an incredible decade covering the scene and testing bikes for the world to see. Thanks to everyone that aided the efforts and tuned into the many features Vital and I created over the years. It takes a team, and Vital's is among the most dedicated out there. Yay bikes!

I went from Rimpacts to the Tannus Tubeless. Interestingly, the Tannus is more supportive in the corners, but I'm bottoming out on rocks more than I was with Rimpact at the same pressure. Haven't actually flatted yet, but there is audible dinging of aluminum. So, Tannus is more supportive, but less protective among those two options. I think this is due to the winged design, which takes up less air volume. Maybe the tire air spring is less progressive than solid foam setups, and there is less material between rim and rock.