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Hey team, cheers for the words, and support, ive had a quick read through here to see what you all are up to, and I thought i'd touch on a few points you seem curious on.
Ive had an awesome time with Yeti over the past 12 years, they are a great group of people, led by truly passionate and plain good people, and that is the number one reason I have stayed with them so long, and would also be perfectly happy to stay with. I have always been open to riding for other companies, but Yeti always presented me with what I felt was right for me at the time. On the other hand, Im a bike rider first and foremost, and there are also other brands I have a lot of respect for, Specialized is a company that for probably the past 5-6 years has been at the top of that list. Ive always thought they have had awesome product, and to me, they way the go about searching for the next innovative and evolution of product, not just to do with their bikes, but all their range of other parts and riding gear are no compromise performance parts, which is something that always attracted me.
As a kid I was always a huge Palmer fan, and I can honestly say that Specialized was the first company that I would lay in bed at night as a teenager and dream of riding for.
When they approached me earlier this year, from the first time I spoke with them, it was clear to me that they would be a perfect fit. Their current and future product lines, goals with the team, and results aside, other things that were important to them and myself all lined up. Something ive noticed at the EWS round the past year is the positive atmosphere going on at all times in their pits, Everyone always has a smile on their face and they all seem to be having a great time. This is super important to me. If it's not fun, I don't want to be anywhere near it.
Skype Conversations and emails went back and forth flat out for well over a month, and by that time I knew it was where I wanted to be. A week stay in Morgan Hill early November eased any concerns I had, when I saw the headquarters first hand, and was blown away. Not just by everything they have going on their, but that the atmosphere was amazing, Just like Yeti is, only on a bigger scale. Every employee there is a super motivated, passionate, bike fanatic! That was apparent with how competitive the employee rides were haha.
to clear up few points
- enduro 650 and Stumpy 650 will be my "go-to's" but a 29er at certain races is for sure on the cards if its right. Horses for courses!
- Yeti's focus is 100% on Enduro, as is Richies, If you hold your breath waiting for a World Cup DH team to start up, you will definitely pass out. But Richie is keen on doing some DH racing, as am I if the calendar permits, and you can prepare to be competitive. Both Richie and Myself arent interested in racing World Cup DH for shits and giggles.
- While there has been surprisingly few people saying "I sold out" which to be honest I expected more of. to the ones that did say it....Are you freaking serious? Do you know how little Pro MTB riders make? I couldnt afford a Ferrari this year and I certainly Still cant afford one next year (for the record I drive an 8 year old Volkswagen van, with over 200,000km on the odometer that im the 3rd owner of, And will be for many years yet) If a company didnt make top notch product, there is no way I would ever sign with them. Theres a handful of people close to me that know that Specialized is a company I have always said I would ride for.
- Im impressed by the bikes, the limited riding ive done on them has eased any concerns I had initially, after so long with Yeti. Honestly, these days there are a lot of damn good bikes out there, theres a lot of companies that have good people and know what they are doing. While Yeti is super innovative, but as a small company they have to be careful what they throw their money into. And picking and choosing what they throw their money at when it comes to developing bikes is something they do very well, i'd almost say they have it down to an art. Specialized approaches things the same, but due to their size have the ability to try a few more ideas without it majorly financially hurting the company. This is something that will always give the big guy an edge over the small guy.
Anyways, cheers for the support guys, bring on 2016!
So no Graves or Rude in WC DH and i can understand.
For Gwin, i'm really surprised, his season was just unbelievable on the Demo like Brosnan. Have no idea where he's gonna land.... YT or Canyon ?!? I don't see others brands who can afford a contract with him.
But yeah, to have full factory support and a paycheck usually takes better-than-Keene's results, especially at his age. There are a lot of guys who have presence at a race, there are a lot of guys who give awesome R&D feedback, ambassadors are in no short supply (one reason the sport is awesome!).
Some guys are uber factory pro, some are not...but a company like specialized and brand like red bull usually doesn't care about the riff raff. They want a contender or they want nothing at all. Put another way, that red bull helmet is akin to the white helmet of the stig (top gear reference). I don't think his past results warrant it, "presence" or not.
Don't forget, the pie is only so big. Specialized/Red Bull going out of their way to support Keene's lackluster results means another up and comer is going without support.
That all said good for him for having one more year to crack the formula. He's an American, he's fast, he's hard working and he's a good dude. Of course I'm rooting for him. (unless I'm "racing" him...I put it in quotes because I've never beat him and likely never will...so yeah, not much of a race).
As for results, look at Jon Olsson. It is _NOT_ about the results, it is about crowd appeal. Jon Olsson hasn't had a result in years, yet he's still sponsored by Red Bull. And more and more new people are his fans, even though he hardly even skis anymore.
To compare Keene to Jon is a joke. His social following is triple to 5x of Keene. Keene has never been best in the world at any point whereas Jon was the best big air skier in the world for a number of years. He changed the sport. I think he was the first dude to do a double in competition (kangaroo flip). Jon was an icon...and in many ways remains that icon. His reach is *massive*. He also has a much longer standing relationship with Red Bull (from the early days)...oh and he's a total playboy to boot with a super interesting life (in the reality tv since of things).
Your analogy doesn't hold water.
http://www.iamspecialized.com/riders/?team=Specialized-Racing-Mountain
It definitely is strange that Gwin is no longer listed as one of the MTB athletes.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150328225646/http://www.iamspecialized.co…
I guess it is a feed that takes all the social media posts and shows them there - troy brosnan would otherwise be payed 5 to 6 times for riding :-)
Propain / Dirt is official, with added carbon
Here is what Ben Reid had to say:
“When one door closes another one normally opens and I am pleased to say we couldn’t have been more welcomed by our new title sponsors Propain Bikes and Zelvy Carbon who will make up the new title position of team ‘Propain Dirt Zelvy’ for 2016 and 2017. I’ve been really happy with how the team has progressed this past few seasons and its nice to see the hard work by everyone paying off, having more choice for sponsorship than any other off season in the past it has really allowed us to pick and choose and I feel really confident in the brands we are moving forward with.
Within days of talking to Robert Krauss from Propain it was clear that the understanding of what it takes to support a World Cup race team was there, and from some of our first chats with Robert he was already offering custom frame sizes to insure the bikes would be a perfect fit for each individual rider considering their size, style and preferences. I spent a fair amount of time looking around the Propain booth at Eurobike this year and the undeniable quality and attention to detail of these bikes stood out to me, following this up by studying the suspension kinematics of the Propain Rage it was clear what I was looking at had a lot of thought put into every detail. At that time we had several frame manufacturers to consider but testing the Propain bikes sealed the deal for us.
Zelvy Carbon is a company who make a lot of high tech carbon products and they will be supporting us with their carbon wheelsets whilst joining Propain and Dirt to make up the team title. I was really impressed by the information Greg Geldard from Zelvy was able to show me from all the testing they have carried out. Zelvy make some of the fastest and best value carbon wheels on the planet and we had been eyeing them up for some time and watching them sell their wheels all over the world. I know Steve Jones, Deputy Editor at Dirt, has been testing a pair for almost a year now and from what I understand he might never give them back! We know they’ll give our team an advantage over the rest, with the added stiffness of the carbon riding with precision it is a lot easier and even keeping the bike rolling as things flatten out is much more efficient. Greg had talked about improvements they made to help tyre stability and to eliminate burping, which has been a problem in the past, so it’s great to know they have covered every detail. Our partnership with these guys is something we are very excited about and I firmly believe their products will go a long way in helping our guys in their chase for results.
We have had a great first season with X-Fusion suspension this year and I know I can speak for everyone on the team to say how happy we are to continue with them, out of the box these are truly outstanding products with quality far greater than the price tag. We are also very pleased to continue with our clothing and protection partner Bliss, the team has been working closely with them as they developed their first line of race kit and again these guys put in so much effort into making sure their products are top notch, they also go over and above to make sure the team has its own unique kit, and as you can see they are on it already having our 2016 kit well under way.
Bell helmets, Giro shoes, Schwalbe tyres, Works Components headsets, all long term supporters of the team who we couldn’t be happier to continue with. Juice Lubes will be keeping our bikes and truck shiny clean and well lubed all season, which is other new partner we are pleased to welcome on board. You might have seen some of their ‘Home To Roost’ episodes showing a bunch of fast UK riders at their local trails, if not it is worth logging onto their website or Facebook page and checking these out. It’s clear to see the company is made up of true bike enthusiasts.
Another welcome partner to the team in Funn Components who we have signed with for both season as well and I am pleased to say they will be decking our bikes out with their bars, stems, grips, cranks, chain guides, chain rings, seat posts, saddles and seat clamps. Funn is a company I used ride for myself back in my Iron Horse days, for me these guys really set the standard with modern handlebar geometry that a lot of companies seemed to follow. I remember getting way too attached to my Funn ‘Full On’ handlebars and have since found it hard to have the same comfortable feel. The team is also proud to be working with Crank Brothers pedals and again the passion these guys are showing for the team at such an early stage is unbelievable and they are already talking about custom team coloured pedals, a relatively small detail but pretty cool all the same. X Force will be keeping the muck out of our eyes as the team’s new eye wear partner, another company getting on board and offering the team custom colours. Last but not least Slik Graphics have been a big part in the image of the team and will continue to make all our team graphics for the frames and forks.”
Full sponsor list for 2016:
Propain, Dirt, Zelvy, X-Fusion, Bliss, Funn, Juice Lubes, Bell, Schwalbe, Giro, XForce, Crank Brothers, Works, Slik and Atlas.
guess the frame based upon this photo?
So maybe it's a gear cable.
No way.
could that be a canyon team car in the reflection? Only company I can think of that would be blue.
check out the counter rotating links.
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