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Reading the riders' statement, I think its important to parse it into two parts. 1) Safety: The riders should have a major say in course safety, features and conditions. This is a totally reasonable thing to aim at being there is a direct connection between the organizers, the riders and course building. If they simply took a stand over this alone, I think they'd have a lot of success getting their way. 2) Pay: The idea that the riders "deserve" something because they are putting their lives on the line unfortunately doesn't hold much water elsewhere in life. I can...

I appreciate the riders being will to stand up for what they believe in. The big question I see here is simply "what is a slopestyle rider worth on the competitive stage?" Frankly, I don't know the answer to that question. To add, I scratch my head a little bit to those saying "Red Bull makes a lot off these events". How? I honestly haven't done a deep dive, but I also don't a huge moneymaker for Red Bull on a generic slope event. Rampage is the exception, not the rule. Crankworks Whistler the other exception. From my perspective, the...

The Rampage appearance fee is not really comparable to what the slope riders are asking. It is to cover costs of building tools, transport to and from the event, accommodation etc. Its amazing if you live close to the venue, but not so much if you have to fly from the UK with your builders, pay for hotels, truck rental etc. Brendog famously spent all his fee just to get there and build. I know there's more going on behind the scenes in both cases, but Rampage is not the best comparison as so much more goes into it for...

Maybe you missed that part in the article, but as I said there, I do have both a coil and an air shock for it. I've actually been riding the coil shock now for the last few rides, and it does indeed work very well too. The frame is quite linear, which is typically associated with air shocks, but Starling's whole approach is to focus on tuning in the mid-stroke support with the appropriate coil weight, and relying on the coil spring's natural ability to soak up the chatter anyway. So far I'm really liking it with coil! (on the...

Looks like the Germans are doing another brake group test this year with lab testing again!

After a long-awaited journey of tech forum spy photo enhancing and humorous bleed port etching, the new MAVEN brakes from SRAM are finally here! The purpose of the MAVEN brakes is not only to bring more braking power to bikes but also to create the most usable power possible out of a braking system. Figuring out how much power is actually usable on a bike is a painstaking process, and SRAM has done their homework extensively over the last few years to learn what that limit is. Is there such a thing as too much braking power? SRAM MAVEN Ultimate...

Shameless promotion time. I sat down with Alan Milway (coach and Norco team manager) last week to chat about all the DH team moves and get this thoughts on them. Podcast version is live now here https://www.downtimepodcast.com/team-moves-2024/ YouTube version premieres at 6pm GMT today if anyone fancies joining us here https://youtu.be/9kXXLt4lsuI

2 Chainz waiting for Danny to get on the bike right before Eddy posted that

Do you shop exclusively with your LBS for all things MTB related?

The old guard has been put on notice! What a season it has been. Is it 2024 yet???

Wait, now there is a bubble!? LOL. My gawd this thread is pure comedy. Next to some pageview data, there is next to nothing quantifiable or qualitative here of note. No leaked emails, no internal data that is evidence the hypothesis may be true. Somebody tap me on the shoulder when I can come on a podcast and rant on this one. Love talking bikes & business, but this is missing the mark on a number of levels.