[slimshady]

There's no accent in the UK I don't understand...But I am educated, cultured and well travelled. Not all Brits are. In certain parts of the UK locals locals struggle to understand my accent... this isn't necessarily always a bad thing though.

the Uk is only small compaared to the States but our accents and the vocabulary used changes in as small a distance as from town to town. infact. I now live out in the country only 10 miles from the Capital 1 mile from one village and 2 miles from another. each have quite different accents. My kids go to different Schools 5 miles apart and again the kids in each have completely different accents and use very different language. Ratty isn't difficult to understand at all... The nasal twang is probably what you're struggling most with. I spoke to Josh a fair few times when he was a kid and he didn't have that then. he's cultivated it in adulthood.

To give you an example of what I'm talking about here. Danny Hart has always mumbled and spoken like he's about to send himself to sleep any second. His Dad does too. Their accents are from the North East of England, only 70 miles South from me in Scotland.

As a non-native English speaker, I'd characterize Ratboy's accent as "sloshy" before "nasal". He seems to have an excess of saliva in his mouth most of the time, while Hart seems to have trouble making the various vocals sound different.

Having worked with several UK resources over my 10 years at the Big Blue, I had less trouble understanding Scottish and Irish people than Brits and Welsh ones. That's taking into account most of those folks were doing their best to communicate whatever they were trying to say, some times after 10 hours in a conference call, while working to fix a major outage.

Now leaving my usual thread derailing tendencies and getting back into the main theme here, shall we expect to see Kirt Voreis in adventure trips a la Hans Rey? Or will he stick to his usual formula of road trips, beer and radness?

 

[trib]

Hopefully the latter.

 

[Electric_City]

I haven't heard of this big-wheeled rider you speak of since about Kranked 7, Jonbinet Ramsey, The OJ Simpson trail or the Menendez Brothers.

 

[toodles]

PB reporting on Specialized Gravity parting ways with SRAM/Rockshox. Assuming they're going full Ohlins for suspension, with their choice of drivetrain supplier?

 

[Flo33]

PB reporting on Specialized Gravity parting ways with SRAM/Rockshox. Assuming they're going full Ohlins for suspension, with their choice of drivetrain supplier?

Can't find anything wrong there.

 

[Sandwich]

that'll be kind of cool to see. I feel like it's been a while since we saw something really dramatic in the WC, like the Honda team. It will be neat to see a full ohlins team compete and either dominate or fail miserably or finish right alongside their counterparts...whatever it'll be.

 

[jonKranked]

that'll be kind of cool to see. I feel like it's been a while since we saw something really dramatic in the WC, like the Honda team. It will be neat to see a full ohlins team compete and either dominate or fail miserably or finish right alongside their counterparts...whatever it'll be.

honda was unique in the regards that it wasn't just suspension components, it was the frame and drivetrain too. spesh would have to go all out to reach that level. i sort of suspect we'll never see something as unique and unobtainable as the honda program again.

 

[Gary]

unobtainable? to the public. yes.
Fairly sure Spesh could fairly easily come up with a similar bike if they really wanted to. Just look t the amount of R&D they put into something as dull as Aero on their roadbike range. What I find strange is that with all the E-bike buzz currently no one seems to be doing those with internal gearboxes. Too moto to market as bicylces maybe?

 

[Mo(n)arch]

Brian Lopes is on Ellsworth now.
LOL

 

[iRider]

Brian Lopes is on Ellsworth now.
LOL

Wonder what made him move from Intense? Not enough handicapped parking lots in Temecula?

 

[jonKranked]

unobtainable? to the public. yes.
Fairly sure Spesh could fairly easily come up with a similar bike if they really wanted to.

Sped doesn't have pockets anywhere near as deep as Honda. Sped is already in the business of bikes. Honda was not. They entered an industry only tangentially related to any of their existing business units, then pulled the ripcord a few years later when they determined they wouldn't be able to get an ROI if they released saleable product.

Just look t the amount of R&D they put into something as dull as Aero on their roadbike range.

Like it or not, it's not the mountain segment thats keeping the lights on at sped (all of the big companies for that matter). Road outsells mountain by a large margin.

 

[FlipFantasia]

Brian Lopes is on Ellsworth now.
LOL

he's going to dominate those slacker 40+ Amateur 9-5 working stiff endurists again this year! Actually, one of the only reasons I want to do the Whistler EWS again is to be in that category and heckle him that we all sit at desks all day, or you know, other full time not riding jobs

 

[Gary]

...

I know all that.. .I'm not some wet behind the ears noob to the Cycle industry.

What I'm saying is... in engineering terms. The Honda gearbox and suspension design is not difficult to replicate. and neither would combining the other gearbox options with E-Bike technology. and it surprises me none of the big players in the mtb industry have at least tried it. Well.. I say "surprises"... but I'm old and cynical so... well... not really.

Honda never intended entering the cycle industry in the first place. RN01 was simply a "project"

 

[Flo33]

(...)

Honda never intended entering the cycle industry in the first place. RN01 was simply a "project"

I'd say it was some engineers' dream, real engineers

 

[xy9ine]

he's going to dominate those slacker 40+ Amateur 9-5 working stiff endurists again this year! Actually, one of the only reasons I want to do the Whistler EWS again is to be in that category and heckle him that we all sit at desks all day, or you know, other full time not riding jobs

like.

 

[Mo(n)arch]

Mulally is not riding for Scott Velosolutions in 2017.
Maybe YT? Gwin posted something about Richie Rude would be the FOURTH rider, if he changed to YT.
Maybe Mulally will join the mob.
Or he steps back from WC and pushes his own DH series. Who knows.

 

[jonKranked]

i'm still laughing about lopes on ellesworth

 

[Kanye West]

Mulally is not riding for Scott Velosolutions in 2017.
Maybe YT? Gwin posted something about Richie Rude would be the FOURTH rider, if he changed to YT.
Maybe Mulally will join the mob.
Or he steps back from WC and pushes his own DH series. Who knows.

Maybe he discovered women. Or motorcycles. Or something with an actual paycheck.

 

[Electric_City]

Lopes to Ellsworth.

Peaty back to Orange.

Something about a high single pivot EndurBro.

 

[captainspauldin]

Official Official...
Luca Shaw, Loris Vergier and Minnaar on Syndicate for '17
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/lorus-vergier-luca-shaw-join-santa-cruz-syndicate.html

 

[FlipFantasia]

syndicate vid = awesome...shakeweight/champagne ahahahaha

 

[toodles]

Thats the best team video I've ever seen. Awesome work Santa Cruz

 

[captainspauldin]

Specialized with ohlins as predicted... looks to still be on sram for drivetrain/brakes

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/specialized-gravity-announces-2017-team-roster.html

ps love the Gulf Livery demo

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

but the pulleys...big shit happening. huge.

 

[TrumbullHucker]

3 Months
19 Days

 

[iRider]

Specialized with ohlins as predicted... looks to still be on sram for drivetrain/brakes

Looks like Formula brakes to me, or?

 

[jstuhlman]

@kidwoo - any updates on the cura brakes?

 

[schwaaa31]

Official Official...
Luca Shaw, Loris Vergier and Minnaar on Syndicate for '17
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/lorus-vergier-luca-shaw-join-santa-cruz-syndicate.html

So good. I love the biff to the back of the of Loris when he's "visualizing" his lines. So f*ckin funny.

 

[kidwoo]

@kidwoo - any updates on the cura brakes?

Sure. Kind of a pain in the ass to bleed. Rode some pretty steep brake draggy stuff this past weekend and they were dragging when I let off the brakes, kinda like air in them. Might be the spacing is off with brand new shimano pads in them as well. No power problems at all. They work. Kind of like the shimanos you need to pump them up if the bike sits upside down. Still not sure what's 'normal' yet but they slow you down. Even coming from saints, I've got no gripes with power.

 

[Mo(n)arch]

Miranda Miller on Specialized Gravity!

 

[jonKranked]

but the pulleys...big shit happening. huge.

next up derpalized will petition the UCI to lift the skin suit ban

 

[TrumbullHucker]

Miranda Miller on Specialized Gravity!

thats gunu be good

shes gunu be nipping' heels

 

[schwaaa31]

Looks like the Rat is rubbing off on Harry Heath. One point that they both say were factors in getting away from WC DH, was the dumbing down of the tracks. When the F will the UCI listen to the riders? (I know the answer to that question) If they're looking for more viewership, losing racers, including one of, if not the most, animated guys on the circuit because of lame tracks (amongst other things) they're not helping themselves.

https://dirtmountainbike.com/features/harry-heath-fell-love-world-cup-racing.html

 

[Inclag]

I'm a hack, but I appreciate that I can relate to some of the pro's when it comes to wanting to have scary and difficult natural features in race tracks....

I know traditionally that hasn't been a popular opinion online. I don't know if these threads still exist but somewhere in the depths of this forum and others are some pretty ripe threads regarding things like Mt Snow Yard Sale.

Seems like Ratboy hit the nail on the head. Downhill is supposed to be hard and scary, but I guess there will always be the vocal few that want things to be 'safer' so that their 70th place is ~15-20 seconds behind the winner vs. ~45-55 seconds...

 

[jonKranked]

I'm a hack, but I appreciate that I can relate to some of the pro's when it comes to wanting to have scary and difficult natural features in race tracks....

I know traditionally that hasn't been a popular opinion online. I don't know if these threads still exist but somewhere in the depths of this forum and others are some pretty ripe threads regarding things like Mt Snow Yard Sale.

Seems like Ratboy hit the nail on the head. Downhill is supposed to be hard and scary, but I guess there will always be the vocal few that want things to be 'safer' so that their 70th place is ~15-20 seconds behind the winner vs. ~45-55 seconds...

agreed, but their is a balance that needs to be struck there.

 

[ianjenn]

Just have go a around that are slower. Numerous s turns versus the 3' tall rocks stacked in a steep shoot.

 

[Sandwich]

I'm a hack, but I appreciate that I can relate to some of the pro's when it comes to wanting to have scary and difficult natural features in race tracks....

I know traditionally that hasn't been a popular opinion online. I don't know if these threads still exist but somewhere in the depths of this forum and others are some pretty ripe threads regarding things like Mt Snow Yard Sale.

Seems like Ratboy hit the nail on the head. Downhill is supposed to be hard and scary, but I guess there will always be the vocal few that want things to be 'safer' so that their 70th place is ~15-20 seconds behind the winner vs. ~45-55 seconds...

race courses are mirroring the trails people want. thunder and highland are considered the best on the east coast, and I'd peg each as having about 1-3 downhill trails. Plattekill can barely keep the lights on but they have no FLOW TRAILS. If only they had FLOW TRAILS, and fat bike compatible lifts, then they might be doing better. Similar stories with attitash, jiminy, mt snow, who knows where else. People want flow trails...I mean we also got don trump, so people can be fucking stupid.

 

[jonKranked]

race courses are mirroring the trails people want. thunder and highland are considered the best on the east coast, and I'd peg each as having about 1-3 downhill trails. Plattekill can barely keep the lights on but they have no FLOW TRAILS. If only they had FLOW TRAILS, and fat bike compatible lifts, then they might be doing better. Similar stories with attitash, jiminy, mt snow, who knows where else. People want flow trails...I mean we also got don trump, so people can be fucking stupid.

mt creek i think is an excellent example of how to do a bike park. they have several flow trails, feature / slope stylish trails, and some real gnar DH, so something for every skill level. windham, despite only 4 trails, covers the full range too.

mt snow does have an AWESOME flow jump line, and another good-ish jump line (in addition to the old school DH) but the crew that built that stuff is gone.

 

[jonKranked]

i can't comment on thunder or highland as i haven't been to either.

 

[Sandwich]

mt creek is an excellent example. they started off all gnar and added the flow stuff but didn't totally neglect the real trails.

I'm not trying to knock thunder, they've done a great job and the ramped bike paths are what bring people in. I just will always long for the days of less zig-zaggy steep trails like you might find at jiminy, plattekill, or elsewhere. Highland is what it is. ODB is an awesome DH trail but it's about 3 seconds long. Paddy glades is a shockingly fun section that is half a second long.