Nah, Smith won fair and square. Gwin was too hurt to ride, that's racing.
2012 World Cup #7 - Hafjell
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^ this. women's racing this year was superb drama, and controversial. The battle between Ragot and Rachel+UCI was fascinating, but got sideswiped by the babymonster that is Charre. Her winning was nearly as epic as Hart's domination of worlds last year. The one big pity in the mens was not having Brosnan ride out the season. That boy was primed to throw seriously large depth charges in the shark tank that is the top 5. Good seeing Brannigan and others throwing it down. HOpefully, top 5 next year becomes a 10 horse photofinish.
but seriously, wtf is wrong with Blenki? Ever since he has been on Lapierre, it's like he has lost his mojo. Not saying it's the bike, but for some reason, he has just faded into the background. Very sad. The next Ben Reid? Always 'winning practice', but nothing else?
FTFY. As far as I can remember he was fine on the old bike, and there were definitely grumbles in the first season of using the current one
Great racing!
Way to go Stevie!
Gee is one hard dude to hang in there the whole season with epic crashes, injuries and always going to the wedding alter only to be the brides maid. I would have lost the plot with all the frustration! Much respect.
Good to see the Kiwis coming through the ranks as the old dogs step back. Great ride George. Big thanks to Justin and all he has done for the sport.
Awesome season. Gutted it's over already.
Way to go Stevie!
Gee is one hard dude to hang in there the whole season with epic crashes, injuries and always going to the wedding alter only to be the brides maid. I would have lost the plot with all the frustration! Much respect.
Good to see the Kiwis coming through the ranks as the old dogs step back. Great ride George. Big thanks to Justin and all he has done for the sport.
I was just thinking the same. He always looked awesome blasting through stuff on the Yeti with his rad style. More of a plow bike, less pedal feed back and on flats. Never seemed the same on the La Pierre. That being said Cam is doing OK on it. Makes me wonder how much styles suit bikes. You always hear " that pro could win on a huffy" but i wonder how much of a difference the bike/rider relationship makes at this level. I suspect it's a big difference but a pro rider is not going to diss their ride.
Awesome season. Gutted it's over already.
A long wait until next season starts, the first DH world cup race in 2013 isn't until June 8/9th in Fort William.
There are no better or worse bikes on the ec circuit. That time is long gone and manufacturers did their homework. And I think suspesion and ergonomic setup has more influenc on how a bike rides than the kinematiks of a frame. Geometry is also pretty much variable.
The only thing that would be differnet from other frames is the pendbox sistem which they stiffened up for this season but I don't think nico vouilloz is developing a bike that he isn't 100% confident on.
Blenkinsop keep stuffing himself in the off-season. He's also probably not quite as fit as the regular top-tens anyway.
That bronze at 2011 Worlds is nothing to scoff at.
Also, he's got killer style. Reminds me of Cullinan, and it's not just the naked hands.
That bronze at 2011 Worlds is nothing to scoff at.
Also, he's got killer style. Reminds me of Cullinan, and it's not just the naked hands.
with any luck we'll have @teamrumours in full swing soon.
Y'all have short memories (or selective ones). He switched to the new bike mid-season in 2010 at Leogang. Qualified in 1st, finished 4th in its debut. Another 1st/4th at Champery, a 3rd at Windham, and 3rd overall in the World Cup. 3rd at Champery last year.
He definitely seems to have lost a bit of his pace but you can't really blame the bike given his initial results on it and the current results of his two teammates.
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Agreed. I think Loic and Cam's results alone speak for the validity of the design. That said, Blenki may just not get along with the design. To think that the bike has no bearing on the success of the rider is foolish.
not sure thats true there was an article in bike i think a few months back were they made a point to say how fit he is. the article was saying how he was keeping up/passing a top xc dude on like a 2 hour relentless climb. it does seem that he's lost some speed though
Allow myself to repeat myself: "He switched to the new bike mid-season in 2010 at Leogang. Qualified 1st, finished 4th in its debut. Another 1st/4th at Champery, a 3rd at Windham, and 3rd overall in the World Cup. 3rd at Champery last year."
The difference is relevant. And since we can't do blind tests you can't claim there is no difference.
lawn dart in one of the rock gardens - ouchy his hand/wrist.
Well, last year he trashed his hand and this year his shin. Difficult seasons for sure. Mix in a few crashes and mechanicals and you are fvcked.
I don't think it's the bike. They changed the Pendbox this year to have less pedal feedback. In Val D' Isere I think (?) the team had a pretty decent team result.
I don't think it's the bike. They changed the Pendbox this year to have less pedal feedback. In Val D' Isere I think (?) the team had a pretty decent team result.
See hthe time gaps in the top 5? How many fractions of a second would you consider to be frame design related?
You are the one to speculate here with no info. I won't go that way without any data. The differances may even out on the whole track or may have some influence track vs track. Without any measurments who are you to say they are even?
Well if they would be dignificant we would see a pattern in the results when in reality they are all over the place indicating clearly that the riders is what it's all about.
You wouldn't even be able to do scientific research in a realworld environment simply because you could not isolate such insignificant variables especially when they ineract with differnet shock setups.
rider>suspension setup>tire choice & pressure>ergonomics>geometry setup>kinematiks>carbon
You wouldn't even be able to do scientific research in a realworld environment simply because you could not isolate such insignificant variables especially when they ineract with differnet shock setups.
rider>suspension setup>tire choice & pressure>ergonomics>geometry setup>kinematiks>carbon
Bike design doesnt matter. Gwin would win on a ProFlex. Carbon is stupid, Shock placement is irrelevant (somehow rider + bike becomes a combined and consistent mass in special world) Gears are for fools. Who needs brakes, I butter mine....
Don't try to convince a fundamentalist; logic, physics, reason - these are pretty much considered blasphemy to their ilk.
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Isolating variables to see if frames mean different times is the easiest thing possible. The only thing that is hard is making the tests double blind but we talked about it in the other topic and I think it's possible even if hard.
@Huck tbh I think shock placement has little relevance in 3/4 of riding situations because most of the situations requiring stability and low CoG are on a weighted bike. The rest yeah, I agree. Phisics. More like Pfffisics.
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Wasn't DW stating, that Hill went instantly about 2-3 seconds faster with the Sunday when they introduced it?
They rode it back to back with the old frame (forgot the name) to see, if the advantage in frame design was really that big.
They rode it back to back with the old frame (forgot the name) to see, if the advantage in frame design was really that big.
8 seconds if I remember right.
Sure.
Probably Specialized also claims he got 10 secs faster on the Demo after he switched to that. It is called marketing! 
Fvck that's huge...
Not sure about ManChilds opinion. Hill and Brendog do/did also very well on the Demo and Ratboy loses his pedals also on a vpp bike...
That being said, I definitely think that the pairing rider+bike make a difference. If a rider is really comfortable on a bike it will show in his times. But I also think with the factory support they get, they can tune almost every bike to suit to their personal preferences.
At least as long as you don't want to ride a Commencal with the rear end found on the demo (CS length).
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It's not marketing it's just not an SGSSure.
The 8s was lost because it probably broke mid run and sam had to ductape it fast. Though yeah the number seems too high. On the other hand I remember that measurement Steave (Socket) did where a firmer suspension meant 5% better time on average.btw. Not sure about susp but I think it is obvious that in most cases geo helps the rider get faster but it's the rider who does the job. A top trier rider will push through ****ty geo though at the top level every little advantage helps.
I would agree that a firmer suspension is def faster on some tracks. Provided you have the skill to stay on your bike , and can handle the speeds like say Gwin, the clips will prevent your feet bouncing off. I really would like to see Hill clipped in, I really think the guy would be faster. He has the speed in him.
Myself I cannot ride a bike with hard front suspension I tried going up a spring and just couldn't control the bike on technical stuff, but for worldcup guys I think firm suspension and clips do count for small percentage gains.
Myself I cannot ride a bike with hard front suspension I tried going up a spring and just couldn't control the bike on technical stuff, but for worldcup guys I think firm suspension and clips do count for small percentage gains.
Do you think that the mountain bike industry is the Devil? Or is it just marketing within the industry?Sure.
Marketing helps me decide.
That's the whole point. Factory support or even lesser supported riders will tune their bike to their needs. To say the frame design alone has a big impoact on how fast a bike can be is just stupid when there are other variables that are much more impotenat and more variable among the riders and their personal tastes aquired through routine, development of riding style and their anatomy.
Why do these threads always have to go "Full Retard". Everything is important..period. To say one element is more important than another, for EVERY rider is rediculous. Everybody is different and certain things will affect each person differently. The more the sport is refined, the more the details matter. When it comes to Blinky..none of us know for sure but the fact remains that his results have waned and it seems that once that happens, rarely does it reverse itself. As the field gets faster, those top spots are harder to land in.
Stevie Smith made the switch and it payed off for him, so did Gwin.
Marketing is not a bad thing. Bad is that people on here take marketing BS as facts just because it came from DW.
Really, I thought Steve Smith was always on clips, when did he switch?
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bbbbut sheeple...
I saw Steve Smith wearing clips at the US Open back in 2007 I think it was.
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Yeah, seems like he's been clipping in for years.