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PB had all the juicy photos of Bruni's bike . They were testing rotor covers. You can al so see the bike with the cover off. There is also a brace on the derailleur hanger, I am too out of the loop on transmission stuff to know if it a stock piece. Looks like it is an electric motor that actuates the damping dials. There might also be something above the spring collar (preload adjuster?) but it's hard to see.

Anybody notice how short Reece Wilson's stem is this weekend? Looks like a 20mm stem or maybe shorter. I don't remember seeing anybody fast running a stem that short since Bulldog on the OG Mondraker/Cesar Rojo "Forward Geometry" program in 2012. https://www.instagram.com/p/C6cjj6KOMyU/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=e76…

what really surprises me as a mediocre at best rider is the fact that he's going with no finger on the brake at times

Also, they're not running it fully automated. Looks like a Reverb AXS controller on the left which likely turns the extra compression on/off. Colored LEDs on the fork to tell you what setting you're in.

Did you see the button in the right side of the bar, assuming going to the fork?

Really cool to see that he has 3 options, just wonder what changes those are doing. While on the Loic topic, I noticed he’s running split lower clamps like motocross bikes. Could be flex character he likes or just more even clamping for the stanchions the way the torque is distributed.

I was watching Bruni's Gopro footage from Fort William practice, and something caught my eye. From the footage you can actually see when he switches between damping modes from the LEDs on his stem. It happens at least 3 times: 1) blue mode off the start till at least the wood section (I did not check if he switches anything in the upper section); 2) green mode in the wood section until the second turn/shark fin after the road gap; 3) back to blue mode for the new fast section; 4) red mode from the bridge before the motorway to...

That new branding in hideous… The „old“ one looks way better on bikes IMHO

big fan of that markings on the bar and stem, makes setup super easy. why doesn‘t everyone deliver something like this?

Maybe Albert Gripstein

Sorry I misunderstood before. That's a very valid theory. I reckon it's still flex based, as they were testing pre steel stays with the adjustable seat stay bridge on the frame. Someone posted a photo of the pivot moved to the seat stay a couple pages back too, that would totally change the entire suspension package. The steel/alu/carbon flex characteristics are certainly the next frontier of MTB frames, gone are the days of stiffer is better.

How long before Commencal throws away that ethos in pursuit of ultimate performance? They seem to be investing into the development of the platform (frame) a lot, one of the top 3 on the circuit?

What I'm suggesting is: what if a disproportionate, predictable, and inconvenient amount of failures are happening at the chainstay? For instance, imagine a rider going through 4 front triangles in a whole season but replacing 4 chainstays in a single weekend. I'm not suggesting that all those failures would be big, catastrophic, run-ending failures, but if there are cracks consistently forming at the welds over and over again throughout a weekend and you have to be swapping chainstays constantly, that's a major PITA for the riders and mechanics. And what if there was a simple way to fix that by...

Schwalbe bingo? I'd bet Albert Grindstein...

I would agree, except for the fact that the frames are replaced so regularly anyway because of fatigue and cracking everywhere. This isn't a dig at commencal but I'd imagine each rider would go through 4+ frames during a season. I know teams that have used 6+ and Neko admitted to cracking 12 frames in a season. Now, not all the failures are going to happen on the chainstays, in fact most won't. So great theory, but it doesn't really make sense as they'll swap the whole rest of the bike regularly anyway.

This thread is great! Been following since page 100ish and so glad it’s reached 600! Great work, your collected knowledge has given me the edge several times, keep it up!

^agree... and they could have welded that thing in the breakroom at Commencal HQ. Not sure if they have in-house Aluminum fab capabilities.

Here's another thought on Amaury's steel oval-shaped chainstay. The obvious conclusion is that they're chasing a particular amount of flex that they couldn't get out of aluminum, but here's another idea: What if they already had the level of flex they wanted out of the old bike, but they were breaking aluminum chainstays left and right? It makes sense that the chainstay would be the weak point in a flexy rear end, because it's the direct line from the bottom bracket (aka where most of the rider's mass is transmitted to the rest of the chassis) to the rear axle...

could be, but kinda odd to make a „not so racey“ DH-race bike… to me the new tues is a total letdown. first the diaper to suggest something new and different is coming but the end result is basically a mullet version of the old bike with bumpstops added to the frame. geo is mostly the same except flipchip and on the conservative side. look what others are doing like canyon, pivot, norco, even the new V10 is more different.

I think it's a workaround for the relatively high levels of anti-squat on the new model. I was surprised to read the press release and how high the AS is on the new bike, but they also open their copy by talking about how their goal wasn't to make the fastest race bike, but something more versatile. I thought that was odd, but maybe YT made a conscious choice to subordinate their team riders desires for a more pedal-able, "poppy" bike for general population bike park use. YT riders have been using Ochain for a long time, and this idler...