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I think one thing that has worked against them is that they have made a lot of noise and claims about how they are improving things and growing the sport. They have then fallen short on promises made on numerous occasions. From what I remember RB never got into the habit of blowing their own trumpet, instead they just got on with providing great coverage of WC events, alongside bringing ground breaking events such as Rampage and Hardline. Don't talk the talk if you can't (or won't) walk the walk.

The coverage is only part of the issues with UCI/WBD Enduro is being sidelined, geographic spread of events is shocking, rider numbers are being cut, privateers being priced out of racing, etc.. I'm in Scotland and ESO bought out our national series then canned it without explanation, and have ignored any questions about it. The Tweed Valley EWS round had a five year contract in place with landowners and they canned that after two years. They also screwed local riders by halting a major trail development to run the XC World Champs on the site, then bulldozed what they'd built...

And, last but not least, despite the bubble we are living in e-mtb are a pain in the a.. for any hiker/nature lover: they allowed a lot of unfit people to ride bikes in remote, severe environments. I honestly think they shall be banned from non dedicated trails and gravel roads to avoid a generalized MTB ban on the trials, especially in the alps.

More from the point of view that he’s been on fox for his entire career even when that meant moving the full team over from rockshox. Plus as far as I’m aware specialized are the only team that Ohlins support at a factory level.

Sensing how fuckin fast Asa's going so they know how much to turn everything down for us mere mortals

I wonder how much taller version 4 will be! Mondraker could just make a frame with a longer head tube and he wouldn't need such tall bars.

Gwin on Ohlins suspension is a bit of a …shock 😬

I actually wouldn't put it past Loic to have these buttons on his bike literally just to play mind games and make the other racers nervous. Like, buttons not even hooked up to anything, nothing special under that shock cover, all just to f*ck with people.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you’re a mushy brain like me (easily get concussions) any helmet designed for motor sports will be too hard to effectively prevent concussions. The higher impact speeds the helmet is designed to prevent from smashing your skull open, the more likely it is to cause a concussion in a minor incident.

This probably deserves its own thread (Spomer, feel free to delete this and make one with this post), but enduro style racing has two different points of demand, racers and spectators. Sometimes these two "customers" or "users" will want the same thing, sometimes they will not, but ultimately I'd argue they are two very different points of consumption. This thread is muddling the two together, which makes it hard to debate. Making enduro interesting to me as a racer means I'm going to write a lot about what I want to see at the regional/national level. I'm not racing EDR/EWS...

I think the track looks pretty neat overall. The fact that most of it is fresh will make practice fun to watch as lines burn in. Some of the woods sections do look decently steep, and all the berms and jumps will highlight riders who are good at squeaking every bit of speed out of features. Bit of a bummer to see it so tight in sections. I think come race day it will be all about hitting the main line perfect and fast all the way down. Stoked for the week ahead!

Friendly reminder that everytime we go to a new track or a track gets rebuilt peopl complain that it will be too easy, then the track gets rutted up like crazy after 1 day of practice and then the race is great.

I'll use the rotor to do it with the wheel installed. It's important to make sure the pistons are moving in and out easily before pressing against the rotor to center the pistons, otherwise you'll just be sitting there bending the rotor. On a new/lightly used set of brakes, I'll do some form of the "piston massage" procedure by removing the wheel and cycling the pads in and out with a tire lever or flat head screwdriver to isolate which set of pistons are moving. On a used brake I'll do the same but remove the pads to clean up...

Agreed, the factory bleed on many bikes seem to be a bit lazy. I think centering the pistons in the caliper makes an even bigger difference assuming the brakes are bled correctly. Basically centering the body of the caliper, pulling the lever a few times, and pressing against whichever pistons come out first to allow the opposite side to come out the same distance and eliminate the rotor from flexing between sides. 90% of spongy brakes I work on are from the rotor flexing from unequal pad contact. Equalizing the input from pistons on both sides has made the bite...

2017 EWS at Whistler, dubbed crankzilla two, I dont even remember how much climbing we had to do but it was massive. Also before eagle really landed so most of us were rocking 45t cassettes and a 32t chainring. Oh hey these guys say everything way better: https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/RESULTS-2017-Enduro-World-Series-Cra… Anways, mega day. After practice day, Ben Furbee or Nate, I get those two mixed up, decides that the course is fucking gnarly and rocks up on his v10 for race day. Dudes no slouch and made all the transfers by sheer willpower and lots of running. Was it the best choice...

On the EWS "complaint", a top 20 EWS female rider would stomp a fitness mud hole in most people. If an elite athlete has no time for water between climbs, that's not trivial. That is not weakness. And the "season" isn't sneaking up on anybody. Promoter crammed too much of one thing in and not enough of another.

But it's not like the previous races were easy, and there isn't really an argument to make that fit riders weren't already doing well with previous liaison times. But now it's incredibly punishing, and my biggest complaint is if you have a mechanical on one of the stages before a big liaison, your absolutely stuffed. There are already punishments for using extra parts, and getting a flat on a stage you already suffer for that stage, but now the stage after is wrecked too. That's not a good way to run a competitive race series. If we want to make...

Hope they have these every round!

I think we can all agree that the phrase "violating human rights" is extreme hyperbole, and harms her argument here. However I've spoken to a few athletes and it seems the entire liaison timing and feed timing was just a shit show. Terrible organisation. It was incredibly punishing to anyone who had a mechanical, as you were pretty much done, as it takes 3-10 minutes to fix, then the liaisons were so tight you had to hammer back up the hill. The crazy part is, Finale is the most common site for an elite level enduro race, it was obvious...

I think it is all of the above. Loic's Suspension is the best because of the time, skill and efforts him and his Team put into everything they do, specifically testing. Loic's Bike is the best, because Specialized uses him (The Best Rider) to build and develop the bikes. Best Rider + Best Engineers + Lots of Testing = Best Bikes Loic is the best rider, because of everything he does between waking up, and going to sleep each and everyday, as well as the support from his Team, Ohlins and Specialized. IMO, the suspension, bike or Loic could not...