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You can destroy anything if you want to

I think that's a false conclusion. Top Pros bother to show up at any race that matters. That might be for preparation, speed gauge or price purse or bragging rights. They also become top pros because the don't shy away from heavy competition. Imo there's is no fiercer competition than a French Cup besides the WC. Also in Gwins latest Insideline Podcast he says he lacks to have had smaller local races this Offseason to be prepared for the WC. Also if Pierron, Daprela or Gwin aren't Top Bros, who is?

Congrats to World Champ Camille Balanche on her new Monster sponsorship! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Camille Balanche (@cam.bal)

Wait Gwin said he researches both sides left and right to make an informed decision but all he posts are far right stuff. That totally makes sense since the right side has all the correct information. Newsflash IG or any social media platform will bombard your feed with whatever side or interest they think you cater to so that's all you will see to rile you up. Sounds like he was a victim of the same "right leaning" group he follows that riled him up during Covid just like far left followers. Hopefully getting back to racing will get him...

OMG, never in a million years did I think you'd post a long reply to this. So you're saying that if you post relatively unpopular content, you'll get fewer likes and interactions? Shocker. It doesn't matter if it's "political" -- for example, I got into gravel in the last year and started posting more gravel content. Then my average post likes started going down...because my audience isn't as into gravel as I am. That's not some nefarious plot by Instagram, like Gwin was implying. "Big tech" may be left-leaning, but the most popular, highest-performing Facebook posts are consistently right...

You cant argue with Gwin's racing pedigree and be blown away by some of his absolutely freakish wins in Leogang, MSA and VDS. That said, it was comical listening to him talk about how informed and educated he is about varying views and opinions only to transition into parroting tired right-wing talking points. I'm no Newsom fan myself, but that was some pretty typical uneducated, white Inland Empire stuff.

Jeff, I've been reading your comments for years and have appreciated your insights about bikes and US racing, so it is disappointing to learn you are a nutter. I apologize for my language, but that is the nicest and most accurate term at which I could arrive in the short time I am willing to allocate to this reply. What you wrote here is a mishmash of modern American right/conservative propaganda and you sound like a conspiracy nut. You have been misled by false information.

Gwin has incredible talent, drive, and a serious work ethic. I still remember watching him ride and race in-person in late '00s and early '10s, and being absolutely blown away by what I was seeing. I hope he returns to the top of the sport, and I'll be cheering for him every run. But, the whole part where he was insinuating that Instagram was suppressing his reach because of his beliefs was pretty laughable. C'mon bruh.

that road gap doesnt look like it lines up with the landing at all. pretty rare to see elite riders messing stuff like that up.

haha holy shit, I thought the kangaroos on track here were a problem..... bro's out there in the citroen just wildin!

Haha but that is Manitou shock

Commenting on the shaft diameters of coil shocks, air shocks have the same shaft diameter - the damper shaft. It's just that there's the aircan mounted over the damper body, adding stiffness. As for spherical joints, one way is to do it like Pole does - mount the shock sideways. A yoke is used to drive the shock off the top link (just like with a lot of bikes), but the top mount also rotates the eyelet. Norco uses a similar mount ont heir electric Sight with a trunnion mount shock and adapting that inside the rocker link for the...

It's really the opposite idea to what Primoz mentioned - "supposedly the 27,5" Phoenix required an air shock to add stiffness to the bike". With a properly designed frame, only the direct load would apply to the shock. Any bending or twisting should be taken care of by the frame & links.

Gross. The shock shouldn't be a structural member. Bring on the spherical bearings instead.

few pages back I posted the screenshot from the pivot suspension guide saying firebird is 205x65 trunnion mount. Pretty clear as day that's a long stroke (ie 65mm) trunnion mounted shock. If it's not the firebird Johan Barelli can have one of my balls and have 4 of them!

*glares at Intense's "prototype" that has been raced for like two years now* I personally really love having DH bikes floating around, they're great fun even if I don't own one. Renting or borrowing one for a day is great. Norco's idea for making one frame with multiple linkages and whatnot to convert from superenduro (remember that category?) into DH makes so much sense for producer AND consumer. Hope to see it more

Pricing is really bad on the entry model