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Have you tried the Super Gravity Casing? It is pretty tough, certainly enough for the majority of riders who aren't racing World Cup DH. 4 layers of 67 epi carcass, bead-to-bead puncture protection, and supportive layer halfway up the sidewall. As for durability in a tread pattern, it's hard to beat the Eddy Current Rear. Its pretty easy to imagine how fast SKU counts can multiply when you think of all the combinations between Tread, Casing and Rubber (nevermind size). This is a large reason why Schwalbe didn't initially come out with a 29x2.4 Tacky Chan Super Gravity Soft.

Must have been some after-party!

Yeah, Hardline is great but seeing it go this direction makes it feel like a sideshow to try and pull in clips views on social media. Shitloads of people are going to share clips of this jump but those folks likely won't know what the event is, or even what the sport is. I know this concept was created by Dan to make a race with the biggest more technical features on it and I totally understand that but it seems to me that this is entering try hard vs something genuinely good for the sport or even interestingly. Don't...

When those jumps first came out, I thought, “Oof, maybe it’s just the angle that makes it look so bad?” Now I’m firmly in the territory of, “Fuck that shit, I have no interest in watching the event now.” I’m fine watching pros hit xxl features that are built well (Rampage or Dark Fest for example), but I’m not down with watching someone get bucked to their death on a feature that looks like it was drawn out by a child that drank one too many energy drinks.

One of my absolute favourite Hardline features was a sketchy, slow-speed rock chute to 90* right-hander. I remember it so well because I thought to myself "maybe I could do that" but then watched a rider brake slightly too much on finals day, get bucked by the rocks, and asbolutely explode at the bottom. Suddenly I realized just how precise you had to be over that feature. Even the slightest bit of non-commitment, the slightest inaccuracy in your line, or ever so slightly too much braking and you were off. Compared to the rock-rolls around here that is way less...

so there's a video that's not mine to post, but it has been guinea-pigged. not sure when that stuff will hit the airwaves (has it already? i haven't looked at insta in a while). the rider OJ'd a tiny bit and rode out easily, but the jump seems to work fine. as most here have said however, it's probably not about the jump not working...it's the what-ifs of something going wrong on the way to the jump. a bernard headtube dismemberment on the g-out at the bottom of the ramp? tire going flat? pedal slip? random shit happens and nothing...

Thank you for the thorough review! Yes, we are a new brand. And the fact that our bikes can hold their own among a group that includes bikes from multi-million/multi-billion brands is a testament to the quality and craftsmanship of our products. While some may feel hesitant to take a chance on a new brand, all our components are fully backed by their respective manufacturers. Our drivetrain partner, Bafang Electric is one of the largest e-bike drivetrain manufacturers in the world with a billion dollar market cap. They partnered with us to expand into the high-end mid-drive eMTB segment because...

I'm friends with an Ex- WC racer who raced the same years as Nico, she told me a few years ago that he did this even with his tires. He would figure out which tires were best for the World Champs course and would race them for every race leading up to Worlds, regardless of conditions. Wet race...same tires, dry race...same tires, crazy rock gardens...same tires.

teamrobot set a record for forum thumbs up, so here's a preview of what's to come (unlisted, only for the special people in this forum topic) regarding taking out pawls and testing ochain.

Don’t threaten us with a good time!

Would y'all want to see a 15-minute VitalMTB video with back-to-back testing on a section of brutal rocky chunder with different pedal kickback theories to see if the Ochain really works as advertised?

1. Bruni has been getting top 5's for 12 years. 10 Top 5 WC finishes on a Lapierre. 2. I said zero to defend "newer/flashier". Where did you read anything defending them in my post 3. Bruni's program is nothing new. The French receive direct educational, training, coaching & even financial assistance on the World stage to prepare for races like World Champs & European Champs. The French DH program is legendary & the top racers have access to Lance Armstrong/Jan Ulrich level physical science and as stated above...line coaches, timers on course, physio and on and on. It's lost...

Bad idea to have elite racers descending blind through tight quarters in remote places low on blood sugar, dehydrated and near black out. Sure...in road and XC, you have similar responsibility to ride within yourself on descents. But nobody is lining the climbs of Finale to cheer on a looped out and cramping mid-pack pro. They'll be going bonkers for them on the rock slabs though. Cut Offs are there to ensure riders keep the race moving along. Not to see if their VO2 max is on par with Kate Courtney. The descents are the show.

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

The Big Betty is a great tire for those who are putting lots of energy/weight into it. Like most rear tires, it rewards those who ride rail-to-rail with fast rolling and sturdy grip when cornering. In off-camber terrain it can loose it's footing. This is where the Tacky Chan comes in. The Tacky Chan development actually started from modified Big Bettys cut by the Commencal Muc-Off team. They would narrow every 3rd center knob for better grip in off-camber and improved cleaning for wet conditions. Every second side knob was also hollowed out. This makes initiating corners easier. Hold is...

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...