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The "Gee is a dick that nobody likes" thing is more meme than reality. People have been very clear about that when asked directly.

I get you. I'm not a digger. Not everyone must and should dig. Imagine if everyone who rides now would do it. I'll try to do my part helping from time to time, with money or lobbying for the sport. Anyway what I have seen is: You have a perfect normal trail (wanna call it old school?), roots, rocks, it's been riden for generations of bikers and bikes, summer, winter. And then the bright idea! "we got to make this trail sustainable". rocks provoke erosion. stumps will make someone crash. this turns is off camber. there's too many leafs. 1...

Land managers are very, very scared of letting experienced trail builders do their own thing versus following the ol IMBA model. This isn't going away, and its good everyone is bringing this up. Negativity isn't always great, but managers and builders need to be reminded that switchbacks are shitty trail designs, berms need to be steep and push you all the way through the turn, and letting stuff get ridden in like a DH track is the best way to make dynamic and interesting trails. Lets be honest though. It's not going to happen without pressure, there's going to be...

I've been following Vital MTB (best media source in the game!) religiously since before it was Vital MTB back when I was 11 years old and this thread is the one that has prompted me to make an official account login so I can comment. I couldn't agree more with StudBeefpile - the wide, bermy flow trails that are popping up all over the US absolutely suck. There is a complete disconnect between the natural terrain and geography that once defined and dictated the course of trails. You could pick up many of these new age flow trails and place...

Bottom line is that IMBA thought that they had found a way to get mountain bikers to join together with hikers and equestrians by studying erosion and trail maintenance was developed to pitch to government organizations to allow us access. Honestly the one big downfall of everything IMBA has done is they're grading system for trails and how to properly drain everything in one uniform manner which has allowed people seeking to profit off of trails albeit with good intent to profit profit profit by selling dozers and dozers and dozers of every shape and size they hit hard they...

The primary point I agree with is the failure to follow the natural contour of the terrain. If you do this well you shouldn't need to build up terrain to manage traffic. At one of my local spots they're starting to bring in machinery and they are totally missing the beautiful natural lines and instead just smashing their way through the woods. Machine built trails are much harder to get right than natural trails, and while huge berms are fun, if the shape and placement aren't just right, then they're way less fun than a natural trail. My experience has...

I think this year has been a wash with so many taking the season off that we've almost forgotten a quarter of the field because they weren't out at the 5 races lol.

i like Primoz last point - how different can fox vs rs support be at that level? I think fox just has a better marketing dept that is taking advantage of a past media void... and they are sorta crushing it. dialed videos are hot. but if i was a betting man I would say the support from fox vs rs is comparable, especially for the top riders

Next year he is riding for the '31 others' team, you heard it here first!

That means literally nothing... come on

I hear Hart is being hired onto Gwin's team as they are lacking a top 10 capable rider.

It was 50 to 1 and it was a few years ago, the 500 number is a total sales number for all (DH) bikes in a year. That ratio would make 25000 bikes in a year, which is far from enough trail bikes sold for a brand like Specialized. Boy I really want to see some concrete numbers regarding this, this is way too unsure and the numbers too wild to take it at face value...

I don't think Luca is struggling. He's had uber talent since he was tiny. I think it's just that he qualified 1st for multiple World Cups, came down leading and his runs got scrambled & he might be still trying to figure out "how" he leaped over everyone to be #1 qualifier but couldn't punch the finals ticket. This is probably another thing for Eliot Jackson to track or Roots and Rain, but I'd love to see how people fair after their 1st #1 seeding run. My guess is that most everyone hits a big wall. The first person who...

Will Kirt Vories leave Niner if they don't start selling recumbent bikes!?! these are the questions we should be asking people!

I was wondering the same, the Jack Stonks value must be high!

All great superheroes wear their underwear on the outside

Learn to pick a line. Learn to ride light. Don't just plow into everything. Put some CushCore in your wheels.

If your ruining derailleur's and rims regularly I'd probably be looking at line choice not parts, I have been running XT drivetrain for 5 years in anywhere from squamish and whistler trails to bike park bashing and never replaced parts for anything apart from incorrect installation (forgot to tighten cranks) and general wear. Im not a slow rider but if you choose poor lines it will cost you $$$