All

Aside from them taking over and gutting the core 5.10 MTB and Climbing product lines. But I guess injecting some of that trendy soccer shirt, tracksuit and 2" foam soled running shoe money into the sport could help a few riders.

Some enduro observations from the UCI Teams release I made: - the new rider Cube was teasing a while ago is William Scheele from Norway - the only rider registered for enduro at Pivot Factory Racing is Morgane Charre. What happened to Ed Masters? - there's a new Speed Project team, with Adrien Dailly, Melanie Pugin and Julie Duvert among others - there are only 5 times with EDR riders registered: Abetone Vittoria, Cube Action Team, Pivot Factory Racing, Speed Project, Yeti/Fox Factory Race Team

Kasper Woolley on MS Racing confirmed

He already kidnapped his mum, to underline his ambitions.

I heard Trump is trying to buy him....

I’ve been dying for a light bike with long chain stays. I hate that my enduro bike climbs better than my tiny bike from a geo perspective (obvi not from weight or kinematics). Not wheelie-ing out on technical climbs on a 28lb bike is my dream. Really hope they can keep the weight down and not make it too DH focused by trying to slack it out too much or have a low BB. Could be a real winner!

The Forbidden Izzo spotted in the wild today…

Was gonna say this. It’s been a while since Blick was at Oakley. He was at Specialized for a short period and yeah, has been with Shimano for a bit now. Interesting to learn that it was a bit of a struggle for MTB even back when he was there.

LUX does indeed no longer care about it's "legacy sports" marketing. They are investing more into the traditional ball sports here as they try to position Oakley as the next Rayban. They started a build up to the LA olympics in 2024 and that is largely because it is on Oakley's home ground. Blick was the glue that held the cycling program together and when he left so did any care for the sport.

What a wild turn of events. I was watching his skiing stories on Insta yesterday and thought to myself that he won't be a pro bike racer again, feeling kinda bad for the dude because he's had such tough luck these last few years, but can swing off of it when on it. Stoked he got a ride for next year and hope he can keep it rubber side down to show the potential he has.

How can you tell if a damper needs a service? What do you feel? More friction, less predictable damping? If the only benefit of a damper service is to prevent catastrophic damage to it, why not just do lower services, and in the very unlikely scenario of blowing out some seals in the damper then buy a new damper. Charger 3.1 are going for less than $300 right now which is only about 1.5x the cost of a damper service.

pre kids - lower service every month, meticulously maintained post kids - oh cool the fork has air in it still, good enough

Can we put this to bed? The initial post was obviously referring to the team's base and management, rather than the athletes. Specialized Gravity is run by Laurent Delorme, was formerly the Lapierre Factory team and they have croissants for breakfast.

Patrice Afflatet owns AP Sports Com which has managed the "Scott Factory DH Team" for over 7 years. Traditionally it leaned towards a more French line up and staff which Dean Lucas found difficult being the token English speaker, however that was years ago and the team now has a more global roster. Don't disregard the affect that Bucko (Ben Walker one of the unsung heroes of the mtb world who is well overdue for a podcast interview) has on everything gravity for Scott.

French culture is not Harley Dangerous culture is the point. To be blunt…frenchies and red necks are not the same. But to my other point…some weird idolization here.

Jack announced on one of his insta stories that he will be supported by Lusty Industries in Australia, so will be riding either Forbidden or Transition and wearing TLD and using Maxxis rubber.

I think we can stop the circle jerk and everyone pulling each others Dak’s. What a move for Jess Blewitt, such an opportunity to grow into an even more amazing racer

Good lord this thread is cooked

Yes. The teams are often their own entities that partner with the brands, not full internal factory style. Specialized is an Amurkan brand and their team is super French. Canyon is a German brand with a tres French team as well. Norco is a Canadian brand and hmm let’s call their team South African and American with some Canadian thrown in (?) I’m hyped to hear BC on B Practice Podcast. I imagine he’ll have some violin segment or an insect report or something way out there…he’s so rad!