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You got downvoted because it was mentioned ~20 times before you posted

He already pushed the forks through and cleaned the truck out of spacers. Just. Need. A. Little. Higher. Front. End.

Sorry to burst that bubble, but carbon parts coming out of the mould perfect every single time is pretty much a myth. The reason for that is quite simple: Minor imperfections during manufacturing are adding up. At this point, all carbon fibre bike frames are largely manufactured by hand (- except some exotics like Atherton or CDuro). Prepregs are placed and applied (- pressed into the mold) by hand, when dry sheets are being used, even the epoxy matrix is applied by hand. The same thing goes for the application of thread inserts, mould cores, vacuum bags, etc. It's all...

Had to find my old login just to upvote this post.

I second the outside sponsors support. Go back 15-20 years plus and there were quite a few teams sponsored by car brands. GT/Chevrolet, Giant/Toyota, Trek/VW, Mondraker/Suburu, Kona/Ford Focus to name a few. Plus the MTB World Cup series being sponsored by Nissan and Mercedes in the past as well. Kinda surprised it isn't kinda still a thing, as teams and riders all need wheels to move around. Maybe motor brands don't see the value of sponsoring a sport that's unfamiliar to a lot of people and athletes they've never heard of.....something that's quite apparent this side of the pond. Unless...

i think loic studied marketing, because in some vlog some years ago he was an intern at 100% during the offseason and he said he needed that for university.

“Dont open this can of worms again.” *proceeds to swiftly open it*

That and the fact he's managed by Martin Whitely and probably didn't have many other options, Frameworks was his best option. If he does well this year maybe he'll get better offers.

Based on personal experience I would say you are underestimating what the top 20 riders make by quite a bit. I dont think it is as bad out there as people think. Just based on personal experience and very close relationships.

Honestly, feels like we got them quicker than usual this year. A few years ago feels like we didn’t get a bunch of them till UCI released the teams in like March. Feel like enhancing pretty much everything wrapped up by end of January is ahead of schedule for most years. with social media being such a big part of all these brands marketing now days, keeping their riders off social media for more than a couple weeks feels like they are just cutting into the value of what they are paying their athletes.

Neko also has been very concerned about being able to manufacture these frames on a small scale while still hitting the required tolerances. I think a lot of the stuff the Norco proto has in it will be incredibly tight for tolerances (like the eccentric machined BB area, the front shock mount, etc.). Neko was having issues with just getting the swingarm to align well with the main triangle, which is why he went to carbon. Every one of those adjustment features built into the frame adds a lot of complexity and demand for strict tolerance. And besides this being...

I'm less of an engineer than Neko, but from listening to many interviews from both him and Greg, it sure seems like the thought process behind the Frameworks design is to prioritize reliability, confidence, and durability. Remember that Frameworks was definitely a semi-privateer venture last year, while Norco has actively recruited top engineers with a budget far greater that Neko's checkbook!

Let's just call Greg's interview what it was - all sales /hype - whereas Neko has pretty much shown he isn't trying to bullshit anyone. Reminds me of when Syndicate went from SRAM/RockShox to Fox - "oh it's the best thing out there!" Steve... Didn't you just say like last week how incredible your suspension was performing?

Norco is bringing a lot of engineering firepower into the design of their new DH rig. There’s a ton of adjustability built in, and that level of maintenance is common, if not expected, at the World Cup level. If this bike sees commercial release, it’ll likely be dumbed down for the average consumer with limited adjustment. Neko is a smart guy, but he’s not an engineer. He’s intentionally built his bike to be simple and behave the way he likes.