All

When I raced Collegiate cycling in the mid-2000s, you could qualify for Nationals for any discipline in mountain biking (DH, Slalom, Short Track, XC) by having enough points regardless of which type of race they came from. So you could conceivably score all your points from your conference races and a conference championship in XC, qualify for nationals, then decide you want to race DH at Nationals. We had a fairly stacked conference, with several Varsity (scholarship schools) so people that really wanted to make it to Nationals in DH would often race all 4 disciplines to try and maximize...

I suspect doing this as a customer instead of a sponsored rider would probably void your warranty?

The stiffy (anyone remember that classic apirl fools). Yeah, I could see it becoming more common but probably not universal. A hardtail isn't better for every short track course. I'm not certain, but I believe that rule was put in place to make it easier for smaller teams and privateers logistically. If they ban it, then people will just make rigid units that look like a shock. A mock shock if you like. Edit: for all we know, many teams might already be using a mock shock. Maybe mock bearings too.

https://escapecollective.cc/cervelo-turned-a-full-suspension-bike-into-… So in the short track race of last weekend's XC World Cup in Nove Mesto, one of the Jumbo Visma guys was running his new Cervelo full-suspension bike with an interesting modification. The bike is a linkage-driven single pivot layout with flex-stays (as most XC bikes tend to be these days), but instead of the regular shock linkage and rear shock, the bike was equipped with a solid aluminium strut that replaced the shock and shock linkage - effectively turning the bike into a hardtail. The background to this might be that in 20-minute XCC short track events, the...

Keep in mind most US prices are with no VAT while 99% of the prices displayed in Europe as VAT included.

Top bike is definitely a new Giant of some sort, seat tube shape is very different to anything they make at the moment, and the top tube looks almost flat. New Trance X 29 perhaps?

But why? I love that it just remains the same. There's really enough new stuff being released for the sake of newness

I've done about 12,000km's over the last 4 years on Shimano E-bikes.(boths E8000 and EP8) Had one motor "failure" and it didn't really fail, it was just a bit noisier than normal so they swapped it out no problems. Battery capacity (health) does dwindle slightly over the years, you can mitigate it by never storing the battery full or flat (in the middle is perfect) and keep it in a room that isn't freezing cold or boiling hot, literally common sense stuff. I'd say they are reliable from my experience.

Let me help you rephrase that: "Check out that groupset that has been the benchmark in its category for the last 10 years".

You’re not wrong! It’s just funny how that looks like a spy photo from 2014. They could at least change the font…?

The rules say you have to use the same bike but afaik they don't define at which point it becomes a different bike. (For EDR the fork, rims and front and rear triangle of the bike get stickered and you take a 5-minute penalty if you swap them out). I'm all for pushing the rules like this, just don't know how the UCI is gonna react (and if it's even the UCI or ESO who makes the call in this case).

I forgot the new Push got a hefty price jump, I think the old one was around $1300 or so, which was certainly closer (now that I'm thinking about it, it seems like the Storia is actually somewhat of a bargain now but that's a discussion for elsewhere).

Trek Slash is going to be a high pivot this year.

This is wild, Milan Vader replaced the shock and link w/ a rigid strut for XCC today and will (presumably) switch it out for a shock/link set-up for XCO. Bets on whether the UCI shuts this down or lets it stay? https://escapecollective.cc/cervelo-turned-a-full-suspension-bike-into-…

Check out that 10 year old groupset!

Do y’all race Downhill Southeast? There are so many teams aligned with that series(like Transition Factory Racing, IFR, Gravity Academy and obviously Frameworks) that are actively involved in building up North American racing and racers, and are committed to getting people overseas. The feeling of connectivity between the groms and the pointy end of the pro field is palpable. There is no magic funding stream available for the national governing body to help with gravity racing(unless the Walton family gets into it, i guess)- it really comes down to supporting the races that bring the community together, and making your...

I think the biggest limit to US youth racers breaking into the WC has nothing to do with age. Compared to Europe, there is so little support for the top talent here. Even if you qualify for one of the North American WCs, then what? Spending a summer in Europe racing is crazy expensive. We shouldn't be relying on the anomalous, single generational talent or trustfunders to make the US competitive on the world stage. I know, sounds negative. I have a young son who loves to race DH but there isn't any substantial support to get the top youth...

True. There was a kid in Aptos who was an amazing rider with a BMX background who just walked away from the sport because of too much pressure from above. He built a 45' step down at our spot that I'm pretty sure he was the only one to ever hit. And there were plenty of big name pros that came around.