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raw on its way in not too long. from lawlor - "lots of crashes from some of the top boys. Dak wrecked a frame in front of me. Loic has a front wheel washout and Gwin binned it on his first run. Oh and Jackson went off track and nearly ran me over." can't wait!

Crazy the point turn to dust. If I team goes out those points should go with the rider so at least new team. I get the teams wanted to keep the points and that rule is there but if team disappears like this there should be some sort of plan b for the riders. It would make them a lil more valuable in trying to find new ride. Obviously Vali will have little trouble finding a new team. I don’t think Oisin or Kolb have much issues finding new teams seeing both are around top ten inUCI points. Kasper could...

Seems like the UCI didn't think very hard about the possible scenarios during the rule change.

I guess we can all commiserate with artists' hatred of AI.

@dantecusolito is there a way to deliver a bunch of beers to your location from across the globe? :D

Thanks for the props fellas! Reece Wilson just told us that this track is more difficult than any track all year, even Les Gets in the mud because it’s so unpredictable. Rocks coming out all the time, and shadows look like rocks and rocks look like shadows. But the dirt is apparently absolutely mint.

@dantecusolito gets a Shreddy Award or whatever we used to call those. User of the year.

x 100000! so rad to have him with live trackside updates

Troy has the thing on his Boxxer but Luca doesn’t

I think @dantecusolito should get a cool Vital t-shirt for bringing us live coverage and - hopefully - some major scoops.

Love that Forbiddens latest email pays true homage to the Crab link: "Still wondering what the f**** we’re on about with all the crab stuff? A theory exists called Carcinisation wherein all non-crab crustaceans evolve a crab-like body plan. A very clever Vital MTB user noticed how many mountain bikes brands had evolved towards the same form and linkage lay out. He declared that this new evolution of bike layouts be named the crab link. And many pages of crab jokes followed. It’s an obscure and very inside joke. But hey, now you’re in on it too." Trend setters we...

RE: lifetime warranties on rims. When WAO sold to I9, there were several interviews with both sides. Neither of them indicated that warranty replacements were a big cost item. Surely it's non-zero, but there is so much other shit going on in the industry that are bigger factors. Likewise, for Santa Cruz / Reserve, their warranty replacement costs have got to be such an insignificant line item. But the big difference between Reserve/WAO and the CSS wheels is the former are tough as hell. Yeah, it's possible to break them (I broke 2 different WAO rim models, and I know...

I agree, it looks like it’s full 27.5. It seems like an odd business decision though, other brands seem to be trying to cut down on number of models. Currently Transition has the Sentinel (can be long shocked to 160), the Patrol (160 or 170 depending on shock), and the Spire (160 or 170 depending on shock). Adding a 4th bike in the 160-180mm range is an odd choice. The Patrol is great in a Dual Crown Freeride setup. Maybe they’re gonna combine the Patrol and the Spire into one bike. They’re both due for update, and that would cut...

I would guess that along with some geometry tweaks to be a little more playful..