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Something that the bike industry doesn't seem to consider is that the forces involved with a heavier rider are much higher compared to a lighter rider, hence the braking comment above. 90kg at the same speed compared to 60kg creates significantly higher forces on tires, wheels, frame stiffness and fork stiffness, yet you don't really see companies making stronger/stiffer bikes for bigger riders, and both lighter and heavier riders ride the same wheels and tires at mostly the same pressures... Smaller riders also sit more IN the bike compared to larger riders who sit more ON the bike relatively speaking...

The heavier rider moving loose terrain around thing is very real. A light rider can find support in places a heavy rider would just blow apart. At 250lbs x 6’4” I get jealous watching friends rip into ruts and loose berms that I’d just scrape off the map. That said, the weight advantage when plowing is also very real. When I follow smaller guys way better than me through chunky straight line stuff I end up right up their ass and hard on the brakes very quickly. That last sentence is making me a little uncomfortable for some reason.

The best in the world that you describe are currently paid for the sole purpose of selling you that $12k DH bike whereas an MLB player's salary from their team is purely performance/entertainment based - although they might have separate endorsement deals to sell a brand of glove or bat. That's the main difference. I think something like gambling (i.e. horse racing) would bring much more money into DH racing than any broadcasting strategy every could, but there is a lot of ethical and legal grey areas with that.

For what it's worth, totally scientific. On my old dh bike with an ohlins TTX if I did a top to bottom run of cannonball in thredbo the res would be so hot you couldn't touch it, not quite rotor hot, but hot enough.

Here are my non-scientific results! Frozen Tire Durometer Test Details: Used IRC Tanken treated with hot laps tire treatment(Applied months ago) Used durometer hardness tester Type “A” Temperatures taken with infrared digital thermometer Tire Temp: 58f in garage Durometer rating: 56-61 Put tire in sun for 1 hour; Tire Temp: 110f in sun Durometer rating: 55-58 Put tire in freezer for 5hours; Tire Temp: 13f Durometer rating: 65 Tire after frozen but at room temp; Tire Temp: 68f (room temp indoors) Durometer rating: 58-60 In Garage after frozen Tire Temp: 59f Durometer rating: 58-60 Other ratings for comparison (Temp 58f-60f)...

I used to do advertising for one of the major automobile tire companies. Our most aggressive (softest) racing tread compound not only didn't work well when cold but we were told by the engineers that the tires had to be kept above a certain temperature when in storage because if they got too cold they would forever be altered and lose some of their grip.

Basicly every soft/supersoft etc. becomes rock hard in proper winter conditions and start to crack. Been running butcher T9 trail front, butcher T9 gravity rear and now that temperatures are dropping, -10c atm and dropping for next days, its time to change my studded tires on as those specialized tires are losing all their qualities. Happens with all manufacturers, but yeah they are not really made for this weather so its expected.

The calendering process is where the textile plys (carcass) are made. They take a roll of textile fabric and coat it with rubber, typically in a 4 roll mill. Calender performance is very dependent on stable operating conditions. Line speed changes, start/stop, etc lead to gauge fluctuations. It's a non recoupable material so manufacturers try not scrap unless they have to. I don't know what kind of tolerances bicycle tire manufacturers use. Extruded tread and sidewall can be recouped if they're out of tolerance. The issue there isn't width so much as balancing width, gauge and weight all of which...

Thanks for this story; best one here so far IMHO. Put a melancholic smile on my face.

You could also be like Specialized and copy someone else's homework and the patent it as your own.

Awesome to see a big boy review, so tired of the 150lb guys riding the bike in it’s designed size and trying to figure out what that means for me at almost 6’4” and 200-210 pounds. Almost 2.5 years on my S5 Enduro and I’m still loving it. Custom tuned Avy suspension has been amazing. Wish I was skilled enough to hold it on the edge for more than a few seconds at a time…