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To say riders wouldn’t have dsq’d today if there were tape would be a huge underestimation of the prep these riders put into a race run. Once race day comes along they aren’t seeing flags or tape anymore, just their line. Now I would argue that tape can sometimes be less confusing for the viewer on the broadcast but I think the lack of plastic waste and not getting tangled in the tape is worth that small trade off.

Good for Luca to grab a win, perservance there for sure. Also two different American winners back to back, has that ever happened? Hell have there even been two different Americans to win one in a single season? Finally if they're going to just do the commentary in a studio somewhere can they get a team that understands the assignment? I feel like most of us would do a better job at being insightful, plus their timing is just ridiculous off pace, splits happening and 30 seconds until they even notice it while they're still blabbing about if they can...

Luca the time

Don't get me started on "matchy-matchy." I have been known to consume hours when putting stickers on my helmet, making sure they are straight and symmetrical with other logos. You know you have a real problem when you are aware that sometimes you have a to put a sticker on slightly crooked so it will appear straight. Back to the levers: How does anybody ride without their levers being exactly the same? I mean, that's probably what causes Hantavirus or something.

Strong disagree. At the point where you are taking quali laps you know exactly where you're going and where the course is. Tape wouldn't have made it any different.

The anti-CCLTV

I bet there's a link between the GoPro's decline and the soul crushing boredom of all the videos that our buddies made us watch.

Just got through the Spot podcast and... Am I the only one that heard more or less an hour of serving koolaid?

The car analogy is a stupid one because you don't have cars sharing a road with other users who are going 10x-15x slower (2mph avg walking speed vs. 20-28mph cutoff). Saying that easy delimiting can be addressed by enforcement is a terrible solution. There's one park nearby where the managing agency hates bikes despite them being 80% of the users, and actively enforces a 20mph speed limit with rangers and radar guns. They literally hide behind trees on fire road connectors they know people use to connect the few singletracks and slap you with a $400 ticket. I do NOT...

Not necessarily true. Brands like Norco and Forbidden (and many more) change the position of the pivots on the main triangle, so that the rear stays can remain the same between the sizes, but the chainstay length changes.

This already happened... the original rims were branded Santa Cruz. They then switched to Reserve branding.

The whole “taller riders have more of their mass forward of the bottom bracket” thing doesn’t at all track for me for three reasons. First, taller riders have the same limb/torso proportions are shorter riders, so their mass is going to be distributed on their body the same way. Humans have roughly the same arm span as height and our femurs are roughly 1/4th of our height, pretty much across the board. Obviously, there is variance between individuals, but it’s not like tall people are just people with really long shins. (We’re not talking about a cromegaly, I’m assuming.) Second...

This a common straw man argument I see on this topic. It’s important to remember that anyone capable of going that fast uphill is only do so with a lifetime of skills as a foundation . Anyone in a pro xco race is likely never putting out 1500w in that race, and if the are it’s for about 5 seconds during a sprint finish. Theres just a lot more nuance man. No human is putting out world tour sprint finish power for the same duration as a 800wh battery Humans are creatures of the path of least resistance. If you...

Guys I think you are reaching too far in to this - VPP was never any better or worse than other links out there, but the new layout makes a lot of sense from a packaging perspective so there are many legitimate reasons for the change. Also no disrespect to GT, but they haven't had a massive impact for a while as far as I can tell, but SC has plenty of good resources of their own - there is no reason they would be looking to GT for ideas

Saw Kiran on alloy test mule in the winter. You cannot just make small geo changes to carbon production molds.

I appreciate your perspective as a motorcycle and car nut from age 13 on. I just want to point out that one of the key difference between vehicles being overpowered and bikes being overpowered... is that when you get a speeding ticket, disorderly conduct ticket (display of power) or wreck your car, they don't close off access to the roads to everyone. They just take away your license, impound your vehicle and/or throw you in jail. There is no mechanic for that in the trail space and thus what happens is that the easy answer is to just remove the...

This whole power war situation sucks. I spent years fighting for MTB trail access and I'm quite worried with the Class 1 eMTB players blatantly flaunting the spirit of the rules. For the first time, the anti-MTB crowd actually have a valid point. DJI and Specialized DGAF. None. Burn it all down.