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enough product talk in team rumors.

Liked racing with my friends. Didn't like getting stabbed in the back or have butt hurt happen you don't know about and a shuttle/lift be awkward. I'd rather race on another team & still do laps with friends. But boy it would be so easy to hop on the production version you both helped develop & just go ride. Someone mentioned Dak needing a certain bike layout that's unique to just him. I don't hear that when he talks. I hear him saying he wants to be ON whatever his bike for World Cups is as early as possible in...

Mondraker was and is a strange brand. Especially in the US. Literally the only thing that that got me looking at them was Dak. I need a new racebike coming up and depending on when/if they dropped a new one I was going to take a look. They have a high high bar to cross to get me to commit to a purchase and doing Dak a dirty would make the bar just a little higher.

a little too early to start drinking eh

On the topic of Shimano brakes- I have found a setup that I feel is worth sharing. Match a TRP DHR EVO caliper, a Shimano brake line and a Shimano lever of your choice. Clean fluid, more firm bite point, shorter lever throw, consistency through the life of the pads, and more power. I have done this twice now, one with XT and the other with Deore lever bodies and they feel the same.

After the nuclear winter there will be a cockroach riding a bike with 8120 brakes on it. They are perhaps characterised by the fact that they’re not outstanding anywhere, but they’re good enough almost everywhere and will stay that way after the fluid has turned to tooth paste. There are plenty of better stock brakes, but few as robust. Sure there have been occasional runs with bad pistons but the reason people remember that is it’s been so rare an exception to the reliability.

Just wanted to chime in, and I know I’ve said this here before, but this is one of the hardest parts of being a privateer. Hard to fly halfway across the world with five spare wheels, let alone have them set up and waiting in the car park with rotors, cassettes, and tires mounted. Being able to confidently obliterate wheels in practice with no consequences is a pretty huge advantage when practice time is so limited. The alternative to spare wheels is running too much tire pressure (which obviously sucks) or riding gingerly (which kind of defeats the whole point).

YT Mob's episode uploaded by filmer, Ralf Schupp, b/c YT abandoned it. from Ralf - This is what could have been my first episode for The YT Mob covering the 2025 season. Take an authentic look behind the curtains of one of the most victorious Downhill racing teams out there. When and how to even start to get ready as a team for the upcoming season? How can you manage stress and pressure as an athlete? What does it take to manage your logistics during back to back racing? You'll find out in this video. Due to the insolvency of...

Ok here is my unified semi-conspiracy theory that explains the proto V10, Jackson Goldstone's bike weights, the mysterious lack of a Specialized Enduro, the development journey of the Demo, lagging enduro enthusiasm from bike companies in general, and even the Orbea Rallon. Manufacturers think that e-bikes are the future and are orienting themselves toward dedicating a majority of their efforts toward producing them. They have the following assumptions about e-bikes: -E-bikes have shown that the weight of the motor under the bottom bracket can actually play a positive role in how a bike handles. It drives the front tire into...

Can't spell Andi without Ai 😉

Weekend complete

Top 50 in uci points don’t need a team Podium of a continental round gets an entry to a World Cup Teams keep “World Cup points”

Couple snaps from trackside at practice

Based on the latest b-practice pod (Dak and Dante) there's 100-115+ elite men racing at just about any given world cup in the past year. I don't think they mentioned women elite and junior stats but that's a lot of men. On one hand I am absolutely stoked to see most of them either chasing a dream or just having fun while doing other stuff(like Wyn), but one has to wonder if they would be better off somewhere else that is NOT the world cup. Either way I highly suggest you all listen to the latest b-practice pod ; and...

Came back from the Lake placid race! Thanks to all of you who suggested watching the juniors up top and moving down the track as the elites came down, it was an amazing experience. I also watched the XCO on Sunday, which was a real treat - modern XC is really great to speculate, probably even better than DH even though I'm a DH fan. I went against on the speculator path next to the track and was able to see riders consistently pop up over the 8 laps, before going to the finish straight to see the final sprint...

I love what I do for work and feel privileged to be able to do it. But, if my employer wasn't paying me, I sure as sh*t wouldn't turn up for work in uniform. In fact they'd be lucky to see me at all.

A few notes on Q1: - Vali Höll adds 50 points to her lead over Gracey Hemstreet in the standings. She goes into tomorrow's finals with a 177 point lead. - Loic Bruni increases his lead to 107 points over Jackson Goldstone, adding 7 points more than Jackson from Q1 today. - Dante Silva is having a pretty nice year: Qualifying in 10th today as a privateer, finishing second just behind Aaron Gwin in the Monster Energy Downhill Series, and a 5th place at the US National Championships.