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From that angle it’s funny how much it looks like a DHF without the gap between the center tread and corner knobs. I wonder if they intended for this to be the DHF replacement but decided to call it DHX for some reason.

I managed to save one…

On the topic of highly competitive national championships, the French just duked it out for sleeves and honors in Les Menuires; one look at that start list and you feel like you're at a World Cup trying to qualify. Congrats to Marine Cabirou, Nathan Pontvianne, Ava Chaumet Lagrange and Sacha Brizin! 2026 French National DH Championship Results - Elite Women 2026 French National DH Championship Results - Elite Men 2026 French National DH Championship Results - Junior Women 2026 French National DH Championship Results - Junior Men

As of 2026, if the National Federation listed the Elite and Junior Elites as two different "events" (which USA did), then both the Junior Elite and the Elite winner get to wear the sleeve.

I'm not sure if I'm understanding this correctly: It looks like Kailey gets to keep the National Champ sleeve. Here's the summary from their Instagram post: prodownhillseries 2026 U.S. National Champions Pro Men | Ryan Pinkerton Pro Women | Kailey Skelton Elite Jr Men | Kai Burleson Elite Jr Women | Aletha Ostgaard

Although, I just noticed he wasn't even at Nat Champs. So basically zero top performing US downhill racers on a Demo at the moment

Insanely competitive and we didn't even have Dak or Asa there. Amazing time to be a USDH fan

Pinkerton is having a hell of a year. If/when he wins a world cup, he should pick number 133!

Ryan Pinkerton is US Nat. Champ (again!), beating Dylan Maples by about 0.9 seconds, with Nate Kitchen in 3rd. Congrats to Ryan for another championship! But hey, what's up with Nate Kitchen? This young Intense/Monster Army guy is having a hell of a year. I'd love to see him give World Cup another go.

2026 #USDH National Champs results. Aletha takes the women's win by .947 over Kailey and Pinkerton holds onto the sleeve over Maples by .879! Top 10s below, link to full results - https://artiming.com/result/courses/47

Unofficial results for women's Pro: Aletha Ostgaard / Kailey Skelton / Maylei Leaneagh go 1-2-3, with Aletha's winning margin 0.947 seconds after a blistering final sector. I'm not sure how the "national sleeve" thing works. Kailey and Aletha are in different age groups. Aletha will probably be wearing the sleeve in World Cup (not sure), but I don't know if Kailey gets the 19+ Nat. Champ sleeve.... anyone know? Looks like Aletha also had the fastest first sector to take the Hole Shot Award. Congrats to her for a great day!

Quick anecdote: I’ve convinced myself to race the MSC DH at Targhee, and the Geometron G1 I pieced together isn’t quite what I hoped it would be, at least not yet. Hence, I started looking for a proper DH bike that wouldn’t break the bank and every bike that was in my budget is out of stock. Then I started shopping for a handful of other DH-adjacent items, shoes, pants, gear, etc., and had the same reaction: inventory feels noticeably lighter across the board. And again, bargain pricing also seems much harder to find. Really hard, actually, which I guess...

You can also read more about the Chung method here, from an aero/road perspective: https://silca.cc/blogs/silca/chunging-with-robert-chung

No, it’s useful and practically explores how best to do what you’re thinking about. The big thing which most folks miss is that you need to do the statistical analysis to be able to disambiguate between rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag, and being able to do the analysis requires predictable changes in both speed and power across a range of values. That’s an absolute ballache, methodologically speaking, but John Karrasch is really experienced at it. The good news is that the software for doing the analysis is free and the sensors required to do this kind of testing are cheap...

I tried a Wyrm as a rear tyre about two years ago. I tore it off after the first ride and sold it. In retrospect I think i should have given it a couple of rides to wear in a bit. It's just my own theory but i've learned that Specializeds tyres tend to need a couple of rides before they perform their best.

I don't think confirmation bias is exclusive to bosch owners.....

I've heard the Bosch motor is capable of a lot more power... They say they could put out Avinox type of power, but they feel that sticking to the current class structure is the better move..

ah thats really interested, didnt know that. Im gonna try and get some sort of lubricant that will hopefully penetrate into the contacting areas and pray that helps it. If not I guess it will be a job for the bike shop haha, i really dont want to yank on it anymore than i have already - scared i will cause un-neccessary damage.