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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!

Yeah but the DH Factory team has been driven by Patrice Afflatet (plus Flo Payet and other French guys) for years.

Yea don’t know about that. It’s been said by others in the last few pages as well. For a guy that’s never won, bounced around a ton and rides a unique setup he gets more love than most. Maybe it’s the American connect. Look I’m a big fan of Dak…but vital crowd seems to really skew towards him is all I’m saying.

Think this is what attracted us: seeing remote places with dream trails… Mexico, Rotorua, Madeira, and so many others. "PLACES EWS was a holiday agency with ads for bike holiday destinations and for new Enduro-related bike tech, with some racing involved. They then sold it not to a travel company, but to a TV company." And the coverage was great — done by riders on their social media pages, Pinkbike and Vital, with world-leading photographers all present, bike checks, raw videos, etc. It was pure and real. With Discovery and the media restrictions, all that was taken away, and the...

Cool to see that I am not so stupid in the end. I ride Argotal year round (well, almost, I put Dirty Dan or Shredda Front for deeper snow) and recently someone was laughing at me on a messenger group. Trails where I ride could not be more mixed: roots, small stones, big stones, clay, loam occasional mud pots and greasy steeps. Compared to something like Assegai there is less grips on hard things and quite poor grip on wet roots but those are things you can spot and prepare. What you cannot see is some slimy or loose bits...

I don’t find it sad. I find it amazing that’s both she and her team are on board doing what is best for them at the moment. So many racers would never do this as even less teams would allow it.

marine cabirou would like to have a chat with you

This! The vital fangirling over Dak is a bit over the top, yep he's fast, yep he seems like a good guy but so do most other riders and lets face it the riders 10 years his junior are faster or just as fast. Plus is results on the Scott bike are anything to go by it could be a step backwards and it doesn't seem to be working for Benoit Coulanges

Regurgitated post from another thread but this EDR grieving thread seems appropriate... EWS/EDR is mostly directly supported by the COMMUNITY of riders that are actively participating in Enduro racing, not random bored YouTube and HBO algorithm drifters. At least to me the most successful period of EWS was when there was a well promoted international web of qualifier events and 100/80 events along side the Elite races. People could actually aspire to racing an elite event and the pathway was clearly defined. Or there was the option to race an 80 to justify the trip out to watch elites Sunday...

EWS went from "World" series to "European bike park" series. There were only 6 rounds in 2025 and they were in France, Italy, Poland, Austria, Italy again, and France again. They wanted to do live coverage like DH instead of the 25 minute recap videos that came out on Monday. So instead of going to another continent and actually making it a WORLD series, they just went to places they could stream it easier. I remember when they were doing big 2 day races in Chile, and how sick the trails and racing looked in Blue Derby. UCI and WB...

I went from an enduro die hard fan when EWS started back in the day, to barely checking results or coverage around 2024. Some of it is personal, when EWS started out, I had met a lot of the French pros at local/regional/national races, it was easy to root for your local teenager: Nicolai, Cure, Dailly, Tordo and the legends Barel and Vouilloz. Little by little they started to retire or get hurt and not perform quite as well, these days I only recognise a handful of the names in the top 10. Hate to bring up a sour subject...

I am not one to dis someone but that guy is sooooo annoying announcing DH. He seems perfect for the pits and maybe in corral post race but commentating he is super in accurate with what he is saying - ____ ALMOST OUT THE FRONT DOOR every 3rd rider. The nonsense that dribbles out of him is just an embarrassment. It's gotta be crazy hard but they need to replace him. Rewatching all the races from 2025 and if my wife is the room I have to put headphones so she doesnt have listen to him!