russthedog's Comments

I'm not sure ews has actually taken much of a bite out of it? By comparison I can really see ews is participant driven (for the rider), but its not even close to dh in terms of glitz/glamour/ personalities/ attractiveness/ coverage etc etc etc. If you want to run a test look at ews athletes social media popularity compared to dh athletes - its not even in the same ballpark! Coverage is important. I don't know anyone that's stopped following the world cup events since the ews started, and many of the don't follow ews at all. Lots of them only race enduro events.

Personally for me having a good dh bike and team means I pay attention to the brand ad have trust you can make a bike that is competitive and durable. Marketing has worked on me! If I was to think about what I think about something like rocky mountain, I don't believe any of their bikes are cutting edge enough for me to get a performance advantage (not saying its true, just assessing my feelings). But spesh, mondraker, yt, canyon, trek, Kona, commencal, polygon - I feel they know how to make bikes that genuinely perform well. Again, just my feelings.

Once last addition from me is that I think the dh bike is the only MTb made without compromise, and that part of why it influences me so much. Handling and control are everything. As soon as you have to go up and down you have to compromise something....although not according to the marketing spiel out there lol.