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SO HARD TO PICK Headset cable routing dies forever. Passing a law that all stems and handlebars have to be two-piece on new bikes (you can buy your stupid one-piece bar/stem combos aftermarket if you want them so bad). All mountain bikes run a 73mm BSA BB. Downhill bike engineers, see next bulletpoint if you're worried about chainlines. One front and rear axle standard for all mountain bikes. It could be 15x110 and 12x148 and it would be amazing. It's easy to build downhill forks with too much torsional stiffness (see: OG Fox 40), so you don't really need a...

Get frames to spec 8x30 shock hardware on every frame every time- can run standard hardware or bearings that way. More compatibility for shock swapping. 34.9 seat posts 49mm chain line (6mm offset chainrings) Design 29” bike kinematic for 30t chain rings 31.8 handlebar Everything is pretty amazing now considering where we were 10-15 years ago.

Looks machined.

🤷

New Chilcotin

Fuck it why not 10 bars? 10 bars. All oversized bearings. Internal shock. Titanium frame. External derailleur cable but internal brake cables through the headset. Proprietary pull shock. And uhhh… dang. I think I got Scott's next Gambler.

The latest PB podcast with Jessie Melamed goes into tolerance issues. Carbon frames coming out of the mold with minor differences (a couple millimeters here and there). And why two “identical” bikes aren’t riding exactly the same. Well worth a listen.

70% rider and 30% bike. To answer the OP question, I don’t believe Greg can get on Loic’s bike and win or vice versa. I’ve heard stories from a suspension data guy who tested with twin brothers on the same bike and brand suspension. At the end of the day, the settings were different based on the rider’s feel and riding style.

As many have pointed out in this discussion already, a top rider can have good results on any bike. But I would say that all other things being equal, the bike is actually what can push you over the hump towards that podium finish or even the win. Or put another way: to score a top ten finish at a World Cup, you have to be one of THE best racers in the world, and that's all on you (skill, training, mental game, etc). But within this (very) elite group of riders, can the bike make the difference between a...

Great thought experiment. Like others have said, I think the bike and rider aren't inseparable as the feeling on the bike plays into the rider's confidence and mental game, which is at the center of race performance. If the suspension kicks weird, or the bike is too steep and nervous, its probably the out-and-out performance of the bike that is slowing the rider down, but how that feeling impacts their confidence, which in turn influences their physical approach to riding (leaning back more, not attacking, etc.). Noise is a perfect example. There is no mechanical reason chain slap should make...

I would be much slower without my bike, that much is certain.

The linkage itself is VERY sensitive to adjustments. They could be using a set of different upper links with a few different progression ranges. Alternatively they might have some chip inserts for that same link. I say that link specifically because the point where the dogbone connects has a big influence on the progression AND you can't see the side of it anywhere because it's hidden by the seatmast. FWIW on a factory team I would just have separate links rather than messing about with chips. You can see an example of moving that point on the link below highlighted...

Longtime NE Patriots coach Bill Belichick is a polarizing figure in American sports, but there's this quote he said that I love and can't get out of my head, "Coaches don't win games. Only the players on the field can win games. Coaches can lose games, though." That's what I think about bikes in competition. Bikes can't win races, but they can lose races. As such, my goal in setting up a bike is that it doesn't lose me the race, i.e. mechanical drag or inefficiency, mechanical failure, flat tires, inconsistent or unpredictable performance, major unpleasant tradeoffs, etc. Basically if...

Let's say there is a perfect bike for a given rider's size/proportions and riding style, then they could get 100% of their potential from that bike. There is no bike that will make a rider better than their skills (mental and physical), but having a bike that doesn't fit will keep the rider from reaching their potential. So that is to say a bike can't make you better, but it can certainly hold you back. You also have to keep in mind that the rider may not be able to get on the perfect bike, and likely they don't even...

Wow, that's brilliant solution for DH race bike, or any race bike. Adjustable BB height with cups in the oval BB area. Would cause issues in production bikes I'm sure, given the high stress nature of that location and home mechanics/grit/play/noise.

Richie looks to be on Magic Mary on the bike rolling photo. Bike laid down photo harder to make out with the mud, but it's Sharpied out, so not Maxxis. The prototype Maxxis tire many people have posted is a new tire (or updated Shorty III) that is meant to compete with the Continental Argotal, current gen Hillbilly & WTB Verdict. Those 2:2:2 knob pattern tires all have more 'land' (knob size) vis sea (open space) than the Shorty2. Which makes them more predictable on rocks/roots. This is one of the reason Loic ran the Argotals at Snowshoe this year...

Pretty sure that's a Magic Mary, if you zoom on the riding photo it looks like pattern of 3 knobs across the carcass followed by 3 sets of 2 knobs before repeating

From the Gamux Sego release. What is an Ohlins DH38.2