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Maybe a fraction of a step below, but I would include the current Commencal Muc-Off team. Amaury, Loris, and the two Alrans. The latter haven’t won yet, but I don’t think any of us doubt the day is coming for both and very soon.

Here's a challenge: name another team with three elite male racers who could win on any given day. Was that team able to sustain that level of parity between their riders? I have to go back to IronHorse Madcatz or Volvo Cannondale in my mental rolodex to think of a team that's had this level of talent on the payroll. What's most impressive and surprising is that Specialized (who typically cannot wait to drop underperforming riders) has kept Jordan on the payroll for the four years of consistently upper midpack results since his first win so that he had time...

I don’t think anything’s changed tbh, Finn took most of last year off to properly recover and spent the whole winter riding and on good health, Jordan having Nico there as a coach is obviously going to help. If anything if Loic wasn’t injured it would mean just more Specialized team riders in the top 5

First season of Nico on the team yeah? Could be an interesting conversation at the end of year. Great team, great bike, great riders. Comes down to resource allocation and having more time for the guys that are left. Some unconscious rider hierarchy bias probably comes into it. How good would it be for Jordan to clap back at Jackson the year after he has the season of his life? Those two still battling years after their junior fight.

What if we tried putting a small derailleur on the front cogs, may be just like 2-3 gears, then a 5-7 speed cassette on the rear with another smaller derailleur? Same ratios but better weight distribution?

Honestly I'm happy for Jordan. Guy had a rough year coming out of juniors after doing so well. Seems like such a nice kid too. Stoked to see Reece's finish but Jordan gapped him... 2 second lead with timings that tight is wild! Hope Reece or Hattie get the belted purse soon.

F1 AND aerospace technology on a same product, that's one fast shock!

I think you have it backwards regarding their argument. I think they are saying that left foot forward means your right is back, which would likely put it in the way of most danger-eating objects first. You are more aware of what might strike your foot/pedal and try to veer away. If you are right foot forward, nothing else stands in the way through the whole wheelbase, then smacks the der der.

The prize is for the belt, not the gearbox. It just happens you need a gearbox if you want to run a belt.

Ext aria v2 coming soon.

I'm waiting for drivetrain-free systems to catch on. Aaron Gwin demonstrated the benefits of pedal-free DH long ago, but sponsorship for that approach seems to be lacking. Imagine, no DR, no cassette, no chain, freedom to use any crank length or even pegs if you want.

Gates also sponsors the teams that are running the gearbox / belt. I suspect cash was involved, not just product.

Is 100k actually a carrot? Hardware development is expensive, I'm certain Atherton didn't developed their gearbox bike for less than 100k. I feel like riding a winning platform is more valuable than the prize money.

Why don’t DGI just spec electronic suspension to cancel out the inefficiency of gearboxes, are they stupid?

How many of those DH teams do you think would be running gearboxes right now if there wasn't a €100k carrot being dangled before them?

If you asked Pivot it would be 435

I need a high pivot CVT. What should my chainstay length be?

As long as this is now an "innovation of CVTs for bikes" thread, I think it's key to point out that the conventional 1x12 drive train is roughly constant efficiency in all gears, slight worse for cross-chaining, and slight worse for smaller cogs due to increased internal friction in the chain links bending around small cogs. There's data for this kind of thing online. When we are talking about gearboxes with and without CVTs, we still have to pay most of the efficiency loss that a conventional drivetrain sees, since we still need a belt or chain to reach from...

I think the selling point for CVTs in ICE-driven systems is that often gas engines have a pretty narrow torque band where they are efficient, with efficiency dropping off quite a bit outside of the band. A standard transmission with maybe 4 to 6 gears will end up just having a couple of sweet spots where efficiency is good. The CVT allows the system to live in the efficient band most/all of the time. Commercial 18-wheeler-type drives have staged transmissions to get them many more points where the system is good, much like our 12-speed drivetrains. They pop through 4...