All

As I said…. Max spending big on Loris, on red boxxers. 2 former Union riders on TFR - Mcnab, Davis Syndicate got the groms Mob expanded, and Ahern doing other things Norco has World Champs. Anything else?

Cool to see! The devils in the details, and we've been working out the kinks on chain drive bicycles for around 140 years now. I think a gear-mesh gearbox could would on an e-bike where there are watts to burn. But, as someone mentioned in the industry thread, hat's easier to say than do, as in the case of Pinion whose gearbox e-bike system isn't flying off the shelves. I think for a human-powered bikes, gearboxes aren't going to be a competitive option for uphill and downhill riding until someone can nail the (many, many) details to get a derailleur-in-a-box...

Rockshox it is

Maybe not on the race run. But there were lots of broken mechs in practice and quali. Keeping the bike together during practice and maximizing that time (especially when its limited) is critical. Luca mentioned in the downtime podcast, how Fabien harps on the canyon crew for setting the bike down on the mech side because of this exact reason. Its all about removing variables.

It's Gates-gate... priceless.

Yes, something else is happening. All of the following is a guess, but I think a pretty good one. Gates, a company already well known for Motorcycle belts and that according to google, has $830m in revenue but has only dabbled in cycling in the fringes for years is saying LFG. They likely want in on the E-bike market as mixed motors/drivetrains evolve and full power E-bikes ditch derailleurs because lets be honest, traditional drivetrains just don't hold up as well under an e-bike mashing, and they know DH is going to test the to the limits. This is going...

AON team composition, New addition to mondraker ?, to continental atherton ? Maples stays at muc off or not ? Someone talked about a forbidden team in the top 15 ?

Okay , so what is still unknow? Cami situation with yeti ? and pivot team? Something else ?

in the case of ms / zerode, those are already production frames (incl the belt drive).

Loris to commencal official video

Commencal Muc-Off leaving Fox suspension.

As others have said, maybe because they actually think its going to make the difference in winning races and competing? Free shifting, weight distribution, unsprung mass. If one of these teams wins, it doesn't just get them 100k, it buys the team/brand credibility. If gearbox bikes come out of this year with a 2 wins and a few podiums, your not interested? Crazy how much skepticism something new and progressive is getting.

Unless Fox brings back Dialed, it doesn't matter who is riding there stuff.

Rockshox it is.

I can't confirm, but an educated guess would be SRAM/RockShox offered them a sweet deal, and part of that deal was to sign Loris Vergier, who won Worlds on their product. Fox has had more elite male podium contenders for a while now, and with WB's viewing figures up over Red Bull, apparently...the optics check out. An increase in sponsorship dollars would have then presented itself, allowing them to secure Loris, and it's no secret that Fox Factory's cycling division has been struggling with inventory issues. I did hear from reliable sources that they originally switched to Fox on performance...

Can we give up on the Gwin going anywhere but riding a Crestline this year? The guy literally owns the company (or a part of it at least) why would he be out there promoting other brands in the same market segment as his own company.

Lets be honest, the difference between tuned boxxer and 40 is negligible, both are absolutely capable of winning races so I doubt performance is the answer, more likely its the money. Also dont forget the current itteration of Commecal team with Pierron and PomPom started on SRAM

Crazy that Commencal is off Fox again. Back when they made the switch they even made an announcement video with jordi, publicly said how it was soo good that it was like cheating etc. Wonder if it’s for sponsor money or performance reasons.

Why does EVERY thread descend into tech talk? Ah, cos MTBers are nerds 🤣 By my calculations Cube and maybe Yeti are the two main teams (hard to know with pivot) that have high profile riders that won't get a top 20 team slot. But Balanche, Blewitt, Rude, Harternstern etc. can all race in their own right. So what do the teams do? Trucks parked in the next town?

Very, very fast young finn Kasper Hickman coming to Juniors next year with Cube Factory Racing. Won IXS races last year and many times being fastest of all - including beating Andi Kolb at Schladming. About Cube - isn't anyone thinking that isolated/floating brake mount from Cube proto would be next big thing after ochain and it's rivals? That completely isolates braking from suspension.