IF I was a betting man, i would say Finn moves on from Specialized gravity, as this is a a team build around Bruni. They are both playing for the overall, and I reckon that is not sustainable in the long run. zero comment from Finn on his teammate victory on Social media, and Bruni saying Finn is basically playing mind games during track walk. The vibe is different this year.
Sven Martin mentioned that although the DH GT Team will no be around and riders are looking for a ride. Luckily the GT Rooster seems to be performing well with Ryan and Ethan. Hope that Jesse finds a ride! 🙌
Will be interested to see where cam cole ends up too. He seemingly has done a very good job with the team.
with the consolidating of teams it will be interesting to see if the remaining teams grow in size in terms of both riders and staff or if simply a large portion of the professional international race scene will simply disappear.
Loris off Trek and headed for YT?
Loris is 3 years aboard a Trek, most contracts are 2-3 years...
Would leave Trek in an interesting position...
Loris off Trek and headed for YT?
Loris is 3 years aboard a Trek, most contracts are 2-3 years...
Would leave Trek in an interesting position without a podium guy. If they keep Reece, he could maybe get back up to that level but it's a big unknown. Kade sounds like he will likely be done racing after this year and if not, is a guy trying to make finals at this point.
Sven Martin mentioned that although the DH GT Team will no be around and riders are looking for a ride. Luckily the GT Rooster seems to...
Sven Martin mentioned that although the DH GT Team will no be around and riders are looking for a ride. Luckily the GT Rooster seems to be performing well with Ryan and Ethan. Hope that Jesse finds a ride! 🙌
I'm hoping a team with outside backing wants to get some ad dollars & can use the GT platform to field their own team.
A "Joe Gibbs Racing" kind of thing would be nice.
IF I was a betting man, i would say Finn moves on from Specialized gravity, as this is a a team build around Bruni. They are...
IF I was a betting man, i would say Finn moves on from Specialized gravity, as this is a a team build around Bruni. They are both playing for the overall, and I reckon that is not sustainable in the long run. zero comment from Finn on his teammate victory on Social media, and Bruni saying Finn is basically playing mind games during track walk. The vibe is different this year.
To be fair, neither has Jordan
I’d be surprised to see Finn go, if you listen to his podcast with sleeper co he’s very aware of the advantages that team has re. the way it’s managed and the equipment opportunities they have.
To be fair, neither has Jordan
I’d be surprised to see Finn go, if you listen to his podcast with sleeper co he’s very aware of...
To be fair, neither has Jordan
I’d be surprised to see Finn go, if you listen to his podcast with sleeper co he’s very aware of the advantages that team has re. the way it’s managed and the equipment opportunities they have.
You can get burned out on doing runs with the same dude for several years in a row, seeing your times vary from each other vary little and feeling "identical".
Changing teams/frames/kits/parts feels like you did something so radical, you think your results will leap off the page just from the motivation alone.
GT to stop racing DH? I aint t buyin it. They're probably just re-focusing their efforts onto grassroots sponsorships instead of a full-on factory team.
Dak Norton's contract with IFR being up doesn't mean he's off the team. They could re-negotiate and sign him again. After this season with regular Top20 finishes and his P2 result last weekend he might be in a good position to negotiate. But then again, he expressed a good deal of frustration in the past about communication and coordination with Intense and about the prototype race bike itself. Also, he seems to REALLY like the Santa Cruz V10.
Wouldn't bee too surprised if Loris Vergiers time at Trek would be coming to an end. It never really seemed to go just right for him these last couple of seasons and he never seemed to have gotten the results he wanted. They (Trek) probably also expected a bit better when they hired him.
Commencal dropping one or two of the five thousand teams they are currently sponsoring also wouldn't surprise me. Sponsoring racing teams is expensive and after the recent price increases I can't imagine them selling as many bikes as they used to.
GT to stop racing DH? I aint t buyin it. They're probably just re-focusing their efforts onto grassroots sponsorships instead of a full-on factory team.
Dak...
GT to stop racing DH? I aint t buyin it. They're probably just re-focusing their efforts onto grassroots sponsorships instead of a full-on factory team.
Dak Norton's contract with IFR being up doesn't mean he's off the team. They could re-negotiate and sign him again. After this season with regular Top20 finishes and his P2 result last weekend he might be in a good position to negotiate. But then again, he expressed a good deal of frustration in the past about communication and coordination with Intense and about the prototype race bike itself. Also, he seems to REALLY like the Santa Cruz V10.
Wouldn't bee too surprised if Loris Vergiers time at Trek would be coming to an end. It never really seemed to go just right for him these last couple of seasons and he never seemed to have gotten the results he wanted. They (Trek) probably also expected a bit better when they hired him.
Commencal dropping one or two of the five thousand teams they are currently sponsoring also wouldn't surprise me. Sponsoring racing teams is expensive and after the recent price increases I can't imagine them selling as many bikes as they used to.
Re Dak and SC; he's also got a connection to Santa Cruz via Frida...
Might be old news, but Bruni just said (or confirmed) on the Full Attack you tube debrief that Dak Norton does not have a team next...
Might be old news, but Bruni just said (or confirmed) on the Full Attack you tube debrief that Dak Norton does not have a team next year. Is Intense folding or is it just him not being renewed?
for anyone wondering, Loic says: He has a bike that barely holds up, with a limp...
I wonder if he'd say that on an English podcast, but it's fairly damning towards Intense. If true, and I think it likely is, Dak might welcome a landing spot elsewhere. Maybe Trek?
going to be an interesting year next season for EDR
According to fullattack's track walk video in Les Gets, Lapierre is to leave the EDR too! Pretty explicit joke about a reconversion for Dailly, Rogge and Bertini !
The head is being chopped off of Enduro
TV money talks and the industry isn’t in a good place, the exodus has started and it will look like it was the industry that killed it.
minimum of 5 teams leaving EDR in 2023
no more GoodTimes for any discipline
2024 the last year of racing as we know it.
a few DH teams changing and some finishing.
A former Young Talent but now big time DH rider going back to the beginning
2025 will be electric ⚡️
One team wanting riders has a very large empty check book and there’s a lot of riders wanting that money
Is neko riding a proto V10 on instagram? Wonder if he's doing a bit of freelance testing for a bit of extra cash. I think he was already testing their rims previously?
IF I was a betting man, i would say Finn moves on from Specialized gravity, as this is a a team build around Bruni. They are...
IF I was a betting man, i would say Finn moves on from Specialized gravity, as this is a a team build around Bruni. They are both playing for the overall, and I reckon that is not sustainable in the long run. zero comment from Finn on his teammate victory on Social media, and Bruni saying Finn is basically playing mind games during track walk. The vibe is different this year.
I think Finn is tired of been in Loics shadow maybe, he's a big hitter now, potentially can win at any round. He's sorted his head out with the crashing and really has "become a man" in front of us over the last few years. They are team mates, but also now they are real competitors of each other.
You are right though, they are arguably the most dialled team and bikes on the circuit without dout, the telemetry, suspension, custom frames etc... literally factory moto stuff.
but....
BIG DOG WANT'S TO GET PAID YO! $$$$ Show Finn da money.
I'm sure they are bro's and they both seem like absolute legends, but change is as good as a holiday they say.
I’m calling BS on their being a issue with Loic and Finn… Finn has said in many interviews that he wants to win, that’s his goal and he believes he can do it, and he’s also said if it’s not him winning he would want his team mates winning. when Loic came down after his run and was clearly frustrated how things went…. Finn was first over there to support him. Specialized looks to the best program in the pits.. he’s got has got a bike that clearly works….. why would he leave? He would need to get used to a new bike, which might take time…. Their currently first and second in the overall. sure battling your teammates isn’t ideal.. but it’s no reason to walk away from a team that clearly works for you.
My question is when will the intense bike be a production bike. I got nothing against Steber but a part time welder/bike builder probably shouldn’t be building bikes for a World Cup race team. If they had a full production run they could measure tolerances on a bunch of bikes and set aside the best for dak and Aaron. The current iteration seems a little heavy and expensive but I have little doubts based on the marketing of gwin and dak and their history alone it would sell fairly decent at least by downhill bike standards. And based on the teams results the design of the bike seems to be competitive even if the build quality is a little subpar compared to the top teams. If weight is the factor why not bring in a guy like Cesar to have the design go carbon like they did on the m29.
My question is when will the intense bike be a production bike. I got nothing against Steber but a part time welder/bike builder probably shouldn’t be...
My question is when will the intense bike be a production bike. I got nothing against Steber but a part time welder/bike builder probably shouldn’t be building bikes for a World Cup race team. If they had a full production run they could measure tolerances on a bunch of bikes and set aside the best for dak and Aaron. The current iteration seems a little heavy and expensive but I have little doubts based on the marketing of gwin and dak and their history alone it would sell fairly decent at least by downhill bike standards. And based on the teams results the design of the bike seems to be competitive even if the build quality is a little subpar compared to the top teams. If weight is the factor why not bring in a guy like Cesar to have the design go carbon like they did on the m29.
I believe the bikes being built by Jeff is a thing of pride/marketing that is core to the Intense brand.
I am curious how do you know that the bikes are ”subpar” when it comes to quality. How can you know? What is the measuring stick, if you are an enthusiast from back home, just like we all are?
Otherwise, I don't think Cesar is a deus-ex-machina for DH bikes. And what I do fear is that, if the Intense bike remain for too much time in this ”unattainable/can't buy them/don't know if they're good” no man's land, people will just... forget about them. I mean, Intense means more these days for us old dudes, who are in the scene since more than 10 years, but pretty much nothing for the teens who are dreaming about ripping on the DH courses and they will be the customers of tomorrow too, when they will have their own money, to buy any bike. I mean, their last relevant year was 2018, when they had the most fun team on the circuit, with Jack, Dean and Charlie, and that's already 5 years ago! The kids these days don't know who Palmer was, what the M1 meant and it's normal for them not to care about that. They dream about riding a Pivot, not an Intense. I honestly hope they can keep it together, both DH team and bike company.
One more thing: why are people suggesting the Summum is a bad bike? Wasn't it ”a good thing” when Brook came back from GT, because the bike was supposedly so much better? Is it always the bike, when the team is underperforming, due to various reasons? If it is the bike, shouldn't we have 9 bikes in the top 10 being Commencals, just because there are a gazillion teams running them and they are said to be ”so good”? How do we judge how good a World Cup bike is, just from watching the race and looking at pictures and videos?
Intense does have a pretty bad track record of having bad quality control, misaligned, badly welded frames that didn't last a full season, on their aluminum frames (stuff got better lately with their carbon frames). It's not because it is handmade that it is well made
I believe the bikes being built by Jeff is a thing of pride/marketing that is core to the Intense brand.
I am curious how do you...
I believe the bikes being built by Jeff is a thing of pride/marketing that is core to the Intense brand.
I am curious how do you know that the bikes are ”subpar” when it comes to quality. How can you know? What is the measuring stick, if you are an enthusiast from back home, just like we all are?
Otherwise, I don't think Cesar is a deus-ex-machina for DH bikes. And what I do fear is that, if the Intense bike remain for too much time in this ”unattainable/can't buy them/don't know if they're good” no man's land, people will just... forget about them. I mean, Intense means more these days for us old dudes, who are in the scene since more than 10 years, but pretty much nothing for the teens who are dreaming about ripping on the DH courses and they will be the customers of tomorrow too, when they will have their own money, to buy any bike. I mean, their last relevant year was 2018, when they had the most fun team on the circuit, with Jack, Dean and Charlie, and that's already 5 years ago! The kids these days don't know who Palmer was, what the M1 meant and it's normal for them not to care about that. They dream about riding a Pivot, not an Intense. I honestly hope they can keep it together, both DH team and bike company.
One more thing: why are people suggesting the Summum is a bad bike? Wasn't it ”a good thing” when Brook came back from GT, because the bike was supposedly so much better? Is it always the bike, when the team is underperforming, due to various reasons? If it is the bike, shouldn't we have 9 bikes in the top 10 being Commencals, just because there are a gazillion teams running them and they are said to be ”so good”? How do we judge how good a World Cup bike is, just from watching the race and looking at pictures and videos?
Mx
...Intense means more these days for us old dudes, who are in the scene since more than 30 years...
I believe the bikes being built by Jeff is a thing of pride/marketing that is core to the Intense brand.
I am curious how do you...
I believe the bikes being built by Jeff is a thing of pride/marketing that is core to the Intense brand.
I am curious how do you know that the bikes are ”subpar” when it comes to quality. How can you know? What is the measuring stick, if you are an enthusiast from back home, just like we all are?
Otherwise, I don't think Cesar is a deus-ex-machina for DH bikes. And what I do fear is that, if the Intense bike remain for too much time in this ”unattainable/can't buy them/don't know if they're good” no man's land, people will just... forget about them. I mean, Intense means more these days for us old dudes, who are in the scene since more than 10 years, but pretty much nothing for the teens who are dreaming about ripping on the DH courses and they will be the customers of tomorrow too, when they will have their own money, to buy any bike. I mean, their last relevant year was 2018, when they had the most fun team on the circuit, with Jack, Dean and Charlie, and that's already 5 years ago! The kids these days don't know who Palmer was, what the M1 meant and it's normal for them not to care about that. They dream about riding a Pivot, not an Intense. I honestly hope they can keep it together, both DH team and bike company.
One more thing: why are people suggesting the Summum is a bad bike? Wasn't it ”a good thing” when Brook came back from GT, because the bike was supposedly so much better? Is it always the bike, when the team is underperforming, due to various reasons? If it is the bike, shouldn't we have 9 bikes in the top 10 being Commencals, just because there are a gazillion teams running them and they are said to be ”so good”? How do we judge how good a World Cup bike is, just from watching the race and looking at pictures and videos?
Mx
Brook is on-record (in multiple places) saying he was never able to get along with the Summum and that he feels it's been holding him back.
@thomas.gehrig: Intense bikes have been for a long time two monocoque halves welded together and that is much more than the welds on a normal bike. Misaligned I have heard of, but not of bad welds, maybe of frames that were much more prone to cracking than others. I believe Intense have been very intelligent about this, by creating the FRO mantra and positioning themselves like the Ferrari of MTB DH, suggesting that it's normal for racing bikes to be more fragile than others. That being said, I did not have issues with my own Intense bikes and I liked them a lot, but I don't want to project that as being the rule. I think I can sum it up like this: the fragile character of the bikes was a pretty well-known aspect that a lot of customers accepted when they bought one; i also don't think quality is only about durability. You can have a bike that rides excellent and it passes QC tests with flying colors, but doesn't last much. Aren't Commencals also breaking like it's running out of fashion?
@dolface: I would be thankful, if you pointed me to them. Cheers.
I also can't help of thinking that some of this year's guys, some of whom we like a lot, will be on the outside looking in next year. Whose contract is expiring? Who is on the fringe of a factory ride? Who is on the fringe of a ride at all? Who will retire?
@thomas.gehrig: Intense bikes have been for a long time two monocoque halves welded together and that is much more than the welds on a normal bike. Misaligned I have heard of, but not of bad welds, maybe of frames that were much more prone to cracking than others. I believe Intense have been very intelligent about this, by creating the FRO mantra and positioning themselves like the Ferrari of MTB DH, suggesting that it's normal for racing bikes to be more fragile than others. That being said, I did not have issues with my own Intense bikes and I liked them a lot, but I don't want to project that as being the rule. I think I can sum it up like this: the fragile character of the bikes was a pretty well-known aspect that a lot of customers accepted when they bought one; i also don't think quality is only about durability. You can have a bike that rides excellent and it passes QC tests with flying colors, but doesn't last much. Aren't Commencals also breaking like it's running out of fashion?
@dolface: I would be thankful, if you pointed me to them. Cheers.
I also can't help of thinking that some of this year's guys, some of whom we like a lot, will be on the outside looking in next year. Whose contract is expiring? Who is on the fringe of a factory ride? Who is on the fringe of a ride at all? Who will retire?
I believe the bikes being built by Jeff is a thing of pride/marketing that is core to the Intense brand.
I am curious how do you...
I believe the bikes being built by Jeff is a thing of pride/marketing that is core to the Intense brand.
I am curious how do you know that the bikes are ”subpar” when it comes to quality. How can you know? What is the measuring stick, if you are an enthusiast from back home, just like we all are?
Otherwise, I don't think Cesar is a deus-ex-machina for DH bikes. And what I do fear is that, if the Intense bike remain for too much time in this ”unattainable/can't buy them/don't know if they're good” no man's land, people will just... forget about them. I mean, Intense means more these days for us old dudes, who are in the scene since more than 10 years, but pretty much nothing for the teens who are dreaming about ripping on the DH courses and they will be the customers of tomorrow too, when they will have their own money, to buy any bike. I mean, their last relevant year was 2018, when they had the most fun team on the circuit, with Jack, Dean and Charlie, and that's already 5 years ago! The kids these days don't know who Palmer was, what the M1 meant and it's normal for them not to care about that. They dream about riding a Pivot, not an Intense. I honestly hope they can keep it together, both DH team and bike company.
One more thing: why are people suggesting the Summum is a bad bike? Wasn't it ”a good thing” when Brook came back from GT, because the bike was supposedly so much better? Is it always the bike, when the team is underperforming, due to various reasons? If it is the bike, shouldn't we have 9 bikes in the top 10 being Commencals, just because there are a gazillion teams running them and they are said to be ”so good”? How do we judge how good a World Cup bike is, just from watching the race and looking at pictures and videos?
stop been cryptic and spill the beans then lol
It's a delicate dance. One can lose a job if caught spilling the beans. Or the friend that told you.
IF I was a betting man, i would say Finn moves on from Specialized gravity, as this is a a team build around Bruni. They are both playing for the overall, and I reckon that is not sustainable in the long run. zero comment from Finn on his teammate victory on Social media, and Bruni saying Finn is basically playing mind games during track walk. The vibe is different this year.
Sven Martin mentioned that although the DH GT Team will no be around and riders are looking for a ride. Luckily the GT Rooster seems to be performing well with Ryan and Ethan. Hope that Jesse finds a ride! 🙌
Will be interested to see where cam cole ends up too. He seemingly has done a very good job with the team.
with the consolidating of teams it will be interesting to see if the remaining teams grow in size in terms of both riders and staff or if simply a large portion of the professional international race scene will simply disappear.
If you see him, give him a OUI MOUCHE!
Italian EU sleeved smasher might be off that team with questionable performing bikes ; )
I'm hoping a team with outside backing wants to get some ad dollars & can use the GT platform to field their own team.
A "Joe Gibbs Racing" kind of thing would be nice.
Ricky Carmichael/Triumph OffRoad Motorsports/GT Bikes ???
I mean...Specialized and Intense have logos all over the motocross nationals. Wishful thinking works...right?
After all...one of the motocross brands is advertising mopeds on here now.
To be fair, neither has Jordan
I’d be surprised to see Finn go, if you listen to his podcast with sleeper co he’s very aware of the advantages that team has re. the way it’s managed and the equipment opportunities they have.
You can get burned out on doing runs with the same dude for several years in a row, seeing your times vary from each other vary little and feeling "identical".
Changing teams/frames/kits/parts feels like you did something so radical, you think your results will leap off the page just from the motivation alone.
GT to stop racing DH? I aint t buyin it. They're probably just re-focusing their efforts onto grassroots sponsorships instead of a full-on factory team.
Dak Norton's contract with IFR being up doesn't mean he's off the team. They could re-negotiate and sign him again. After this season with regular Top20 finishes and his P2 result last weekend he might be in a good position to negotiate. But then again, he expressed a good deal of frustration in the past about communication and coordination with Intense and about the prototype race bike itself. Also, he seems to REALLY like the Santa Cruz V10.
Wouldn't bee too surprised if Loris Vergiers time at Trek would be coming to an end. It never really seemed to go just right for him these last couple of seasons and he never seemed to have gotten the results he wanted. They (Trek) probably also expected a bit better when they hired him.
Commencal dropping one or two of the five thousand teams they are currently sponsoring also wouldn't surprise me. Sponsoring racing teams is expensive and after the recent price increases I can't imagine them selling as many bikes as they used to.
Re Dak and SC; he's also got a connection to Santa Cruz via Frida...
for anyone wondering, Loic says: He has a bike that barely holds up, with a limp...
I wonder if he'd say that on an English podcast, but it's fairly damning towards Intense. If true, and I think it likely is, Dak might welcome a landing spot elsewhere. Maybe Trek?
Where is the comment that Loic said Finn is playing mind games during track walk?
Could see: Dak > Santa Cruz if Laurie leaving
Laurie > ?
Loris > ? YT?
Finn > Trek? if Loris leaving and rumors of Finn/Loic tension are true
According to fullattack's track walk video in Les Gets, Lapierre is to leave the EDR too! Pretty explicit joke about a reconversion for Dailly, Rogge and Bertini !
The head is being chopped off of Enduro
TV money talks and the industry isn’t in a good place, the exodus has started and it will look like it was the industry that killed it.
minimum of 5 teams leaving EDR in 2023
no more GoodTimes for any discipline
2024 the last year of racing as we know it.
a few DH teams changing and some finishing.
A former Young Talent but now big time DH rider going back to the beginning
2025 will be electric ⚡️
One team wanting riders has a very large empty check book and there’s a lot of riders wanting that money
Is neko riding a proto V10 on instagram? Wonder if he's doing a bit of freelance testing for a bit of extra cash. I think he was already testing their rims previously?
I think Finn is tired of been in Loics shadow maybe, he's a big hitter now, potentially can win at any round. He's sorted his head out with the crashing and really has "become a man" in front of us over the last few years. They are team mates, but also now they are real competitors of each other.
You are right though, they are arguably the most dialled team and bikes on the circuit without dout, the telemetry, suspension, custom frames etc... literally factory moto stuff.
but....
BIG DOG WANT'S TO GET PAID YO! $$$$ Show Finn da money.
I'm sure they are bro's and they both seem like absolute legends, but change is as good as a holiday they say.
I’m calling BS on their being a issue with Loic and Finn… Finn has said in many interviews that he wants to win, that’s his goal and he believes he can do it, and he’s also said if it’s not him winning he would want his team mates winning. when Loic came down after his run and was clearly frustrated how things went…. Finn was first over there to support him. Specialized looks to the best program in the pits.. he’s got has got a bike that clearly works….. why would he leave? He would need to get used to a new bike, which might take time…. Their currently first and second in the overall. sure battling your teammates isn’t ideal.. but it’s no reason to walk away from a team that clearly works for you.
My question is when will the intense bike be a production bike. I got nothing against Steber but a part time welder/bike builder probably shouldn’t be building bikes for a World Cup race team. If they had a full production run they could measure tolerances on a bunch of bikes and set aside the best for dak and Aaron. The current iteration seems a little heavy and expensive but I have little doubts based on the marketing of gwin and dak and their history alone it would sell fairly decent at least by downhill bike standards. And based on the teams results the design of the bike seems to be competitive even if the build quality is a little subpar compared to the top teams. If weight is the factor why not bring in a guy like Cesar to have the design go carbon like they did on the m29.
I believe the bikes being built by Jeff is a thing of pride/marketing that is core to the Intense brand.
I am curious how do you know that the bikes are ”subpar” when it comes to quality. How can you know? What is the measuring stick, if you are an enthusiast from back home, just like we all are?
Otherwise, I don't think Cesar is a deus-ex-machina for DH bikes. And what I do fear is that, if the Intense bike remain for too much time in this ”unattainable/can't buy them/don't know if they're good” no man's land, people will just... forget about them. I mean, Intense means more these days for us old dudes, who are in the scene since more than 10 years, but pretty much nothing for the teens who are dreaming about ripping on the DH courses and they will be the customers of tomorrow too, when they will have their own money, to buy any bike. I mean, their last relevant year was 2018, when they had the most fun team on the circuit, with Jack, Dean and Charlie, and that's already 5 years ago! The kids these days don't know who Palmer was, what the M1 meant and it's normal for them not to care about that. They dream about riding a Pivot, not an Intense. I honestly hope they can keep it together, both DH team and bike company.
One more thing: why are people suggesting the Summum is a bad bike? Wasn't it ”a good thing” when Brook came back from GT, because the bike was supposedly so much better? Is it always the bike, when the team is underperforming, due to various reasons? If it is the bike, shouldn't we have 9 bikes in the top 10 being Commencals, just because there are a gazillion teams running them and they are said to be ”so good”? How do we judge how good a World Cup bike is, just from watching the race and looking at pictures and videos?
Mx
Intense does have a pretty bad track record of having bad quality control, misaligned, badly welded frames that didn't last a full season, on their aluminum frames (stuff got better lately with their carbon frames). It's not because it is handmade that it is well made
fan mail for dak LOL
...Intense means more these days for us old dudes, who are in the scene since more than 30 years...
FTFY
Brook is on-record (in multiple places) saying he was never able to get along with the Summum and that he feels it's been holding him back.
@literally: I was trying to be nice. :D
@thomas.gehrig: Intense bikes have been for a long time two monocoque halves welded together and that is much more than the welds on a normal bike. Misaligned I have heard of, but not of bad welds, maybe of frames that were much more prone to cracking than others. I believe Intense have been very intelligent about this, by creating the FRO mantra and positioning themselves like the Ferrari of MTB DH, suggesting that it's normal for racing bikes to be more fragile than others. That being said, I did not have issues with my own Intense bikes and I liked them a lot, but I don't want to project that as being the rule. I think I can sum it up like this: the fragile character of the bikes was a pretty well-known aspect that a lot of customers accepted when they bought one; i also don't think quality is only about durability. You can have a bike that rides excellent and it passes QC tests with flying colors, but doesn't last much. Aren't Commencals also breaking like it's running out of fashion?
@dolface: I would be thankful, if you pointed me to them. Cheers.
I also can't help of thinking that some of this year's guys, some of whom we like a lot, will be on the outside looking in next year. Whose contract is expiring? Who is on the fringe of a factory ride? Who is on the fringe of a ride at all? Who will retire?
Mx
This one has the most discussion about it iirc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLdmq5YVofY
Re GT, Sven on on Needles' latest podcast said that all the GT riders (including DH) are looking for rides next season.
To be fair, and without talking abd about Brook (he is a friend of mine), there are very few bikes that get along with him.
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