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Here's a pic of Dak's bike with a normal set of bars last season on Intense. Just for funsies, let's say he's got a 40mm rise bar, an extra 10mm of spacers under the stem, an extra 10mm spacer under the top crown, and a head tube that's 10mm taller than his new Mondraker. That would be the same bar-to-ground height as his new Fort Bill setup with 80mm bars, but no one in the universe would look at this and call it "normal." You would do a double take if you saw this pile-of-spacers bike setup in the pits...

Respectfully, Dak's bars are definitely high. Very high. He's running 80mm bars with spacers under the stem and crown. He's running everything he can get to move his bars as high as physically possible. This was his setup at Fort Bill, which is known for being a flat track, but he's still got a 5mm spacer under the stem and 20mm under the top crown. I guarantee you he added even more spacers for the much steeper tracks at Val di Sole and Les Gets.

I'm jut surprised the discussion is on something as simple as bar height and not that wacky headset cup thing they're doing or more convo about all the suspension tech and Loic's buttons and stuff lol. But nah bars go tall is what gets people talkin the most. I've tried to go back to normal bars but for all around riding I just feel way more comfortable with my Highsides. A mixture of BMX background (as they say) and multiple injuries on my right arm effectively reducing its reach and strength means I like to keep things upright and chill...

Rear centre length is a huge proponent to front end grip that gets overlooked. If the CS is long enough, it literally drives the front wheel into the ground almost. My current bike has a 463mm CS, I could put my stem on backwards and still have grip lol. Sure I cant manual now, put my bike on a rack, bunnyhop or make any tight corners, but at least I got grip!

Paul Aston has said several times that higher front ends are easier to load - confidence of not being pulled forward on steep stuff Often translates into MORE front end Traction. Its common to watch a lower Handlebar height (from ground) rider 'swing off the back' to keep from being pulled forward vs a Higher bar allowing a rider to stay higher naturally letting them lean forward and load the front of the bike, This obviously has its limits. Shorter riders often dont have this problem as they stand more balanced in between the wheels and the height on a...

Shipping bikes with longer steerer tubes would be a big start... A ton of bikes only allow a fully slammed stem out of the box and the solution is to replace the complete fork or CSU.

So the same set up that made him the last man down is wrong from a couple stills with some lines drawn on. Cool cool to be armchair qb

My riding observations: I've been running these for about 6 months, in Northern and Southern Utah on my Transition Patrol, and have come across very impressed. My typical set up is a Double Down or similar casing out back, with a lighter duty tire up front, and 28 Front /30 Rear for air pressure. With that same setup but with the inserts, I can safely run as low as 22 PSI front and rear, without worrying about rolling a tire or dinging a rim. For more natural trails I may be able to do a bit lower, but for me...