Video: Aaron Gwin Interviewed About Fort William and Val di Sole

 Hes right, it just goes to show how fast these guys really are and that winning a WC race isnt easy...i just dont get why there are so many gwin haters out there, i guess its like he said at the beginning, when you win so much that if you take second people start to freak out

 Hard to believe a guy like Gwin hasn't ridden a rough track all winter. Assuming his priority is the world cups, seems very odd that he hasn't been testing/tweaking his bike and setup and training on rough stuff - especially with the big sponsors behind him.

 He's so humble, it's amazing.

 the interviewer was great in that he didn't seem to have much care fo tip-toeing around the corporate behemoths. he wasn't disrespectful at all... he just pushed for answers that the likes of us couch-riding-wanna-bes formulate in our minds. it was a great, revealing interview. you could sniff a touch of squirming in the air. but as mentioned, one race does not a season make. i'm having a blast already this year! thanks for the great coverage.

 1. What works for pros rarely works for the rest of us.
2. Everyone acknowledged the bike didn't work for Gwin, so the speculation is over.
3. High speed stability and cornering precision are on two different ends of the spectrum. (slacker does not = better cornering )
4. Short chainstays with a long front center will require an exaggerated forward riding position. (contrary to the myths out there.)

 watch the video on angelfire's pinkbike page then think about gwins statement about nothing rough enough in the US.
www.pinkbike.com/video/317097

 I still say, he ranted and raved about how good the bike was over the winter and how good the Specialized was. Then first race OOPS I was on the wrong size....How much preparation???? Hmmmmmmmm

 So, he finally has an off-weekend and people finally question his training routine. Funny how nobody questioned it when he was winning almost every race. Quite honestly, I was more shocked that Minnaar was as far back as he was at Ft. Bill but nobody seemed to worry about him. What gives?

 Rather than ragging on AG the interview is really about bike size trends often not talked about in DH. At 6'1 (three inches taller than AG) i have exclusively ridden a large trail bike for years without issue. Every time I have gone to demo a DH bike, I've always gone medium as that is highly recommended. I think as we see DH become more popular at resorts and the market gains more momentum, more of us average mountain bikers will want to transfer our trail skills to the DH parks for more levels of fun.

That being said, this winter, I bought a large DH bike having not even tried too many. I regretted this decision initially, until I actually got some lift served runs in this past week. The longer top tube is very stable at speed, and for an average rider, this proper fit is more important than having the "flickable" smaller frames that is good for a few corners on the runs.

I think the interviewer was trying to hint towards the new trend of longer bikes. When asking AG about so many specifics, AG shrugged it off like "who cares"? I think a lot of us regular folks do, and these kinds of things will impact the market in the future.

 Q you running a 30 rise bar...? A. "a comfortable rise handlebar"
Q a 45 deg. stem with 0 rise...? * eyes glaze over* A "you guys are getting too into this "


top answers!

 To me its not about Gwins previous dominance, Johnny Tomac is probably my fav rider of all time, but I just don't warm to Gwin in his interviews, actually US guys try to play stuff down to much, current crop Peaty is my fav, but Im a fan of Hill, Stevie, Macca Hart etc, they tell it straight, Gwin is always nonchalant and that wears on me. You can say its just a race thats his attitude, he doesn't really get into the roots of the sport, he could walk away tomorrow go do something else, people participate on these forums in the most part because they love the sport, the history, the tracks, countries, riders, bikes, we immerse ourselves in it because its our passion. I don't get that from Gwin, thats his choice, I also don't like his attitude to World Champs and it shows his lack of respect to that title, history, the sport and how hard it is to win on the day, Peaty took 19years, but he never gave up, he never dissed it. Gwins a great rider, but a typical American stereo type me me me, its the same in Motocross now, I remember growing up with Ricky Johnson, David Bailey, Johnny O'Mara, Jeff Ward, Bob Hannah, my heroes, they are the Peatys of that sport, watch them on utube being interviewed they made the US great, dominant and they loved riding, they respected the sport, especially the outdoors even though they brought Supercross to mainstream, none of those guys would have been a Supercross only rider, they let they're riding do the talking respected the sport that treated them so well, they paved the way for today, I wonder what they think of the riders now! Just not a Gwin fan. Rooting for SamB or Hill and Stevie this weekend.

 Haha I think this is hilarious - just the title now.

You win so much and then you do bad once everyone starts about "what happened " , "why'd you do bad " etc.

Give the guy a f*cking break he's at the top of the sport it ain't easy.

 It appears Specialized didn't do their homework. You'de think with all that has been invested, a new rider, on a new bike, they would have spent a bit more time getting things dialed. It seems like all the other big teams do it; SC, GT, Trek, CRC. Why they didn't spend a week getting things sorted on propper tracks is beyond me. Aaron said he doesn't like to travel in the off season, but that seems like a poor excuse considering the number of changes that took place.

He just wasn't prepared, while all the other guys went above and beyond this off season. There is no way that 20 guys are suddenly faster than him. He just wasn't prepared.

It will be interesting to see the redesign of the Demo this off season. Those guys are shitting a brick right now.

 Quite a bit of squirming from Spesh.... lol

 Ok, so after six month of testing and one World Cup, they just understand that medium size is too small for him.

 Thank you for this interview. It was really informative especially with the bike setup.I too would like to say something about this 'issue'.

First of all i hope this whole thing isn't something like the 'Ducati syndrome' of MotoGP, where the factory team/bike cost many riders their careers. Even the mighty Rossi couldn't handle it for two seasons and after his departure, he said that the Ducati team just didn't listen to him and didn't do the necessary things to sort the bike. He also said that he couldn't understand how Stoner could handle that bike in the past. Excuses or not, that was what he said. The fact is, he couldn't win with that bike.

Now i don't know if Demo is a good platform for DH applications or not. I read many demo owners saying that the suspension didn't feel alive for DH stuff. We will see how much of this is true this season. Aaron Gwin dominated downhill scene last two seasons. It just can't be a rider issue. Maybe it was just bad luck in Fort William and that was it. We will see.

I'll just say this nevertheless; Gwin should have stayed with Trek. It's his career and his life so we can't dictate anything but i just think it was a bad move. Bike was obviously working for him and he was dominating the field already. 1-2 more seasons would have kept pleasing our eyes. Maybe he wanted more challenge and that's why he left, dunno

In the end i wish him best of luck. I hope everything goes well for him this weekend and he gets the top spot.

 let the mindless commenting begin
(good luck on the race tomorrow to all of the racers)

 Jacey S is awesome btw, and I thought Jason Chamberlain was also great with his answers to some of Jonesy wierd line of questioning, I know what hes fishing for but sometimes hes like a dog with a bone on whats been anaswered 5 times already, but Jason handled it well, nice work, my only real neg and a surprise is with a team with so much experience why werent they testing this before hand, I mean off season is about testing, everyones making excuses so as to support the American hero, but thats my question!

And Specialised should have a rack of frames ready for him esp at a WC, didnt he go to Specialised because they offered better support, hello! Pretty unprofessional from one of the biggest bike brands in the world, Im sure its no one persons oversight, but this is a good learning point for any pro team I would have thought.

If you analyse especially the Euro top riders even ones that have great DH training tracks, they still go overseas for the off season to race train test to build up for WCs, Gwin said it himself, surely he has the means to do this, maybe it shows a lack of life experience on the World Cup esspecially when success has come so quick!

Maybe this is Brendogs problem he goes to America to train, but I suspect its more of a good time, while his country men who improve come to NZ, or indonesia, somewhere its good in winter with nalry tracks and events to train and test, something to think about dawg and maybe Gwiny?

Anyway this was one of AGwins better interviews, I guess everyone is going to be selling theyre medium frames for larges now huh, Ive always been riding a size bigger myself and Im 5'11" thanks Jonesy, never subcribed to the smaller frame theory never liked it.

 Nothing in America that is world cup rough? How about the Windham "World Cup"! It was a world cup track after all, and lots of spots on the east coast are rough, like Plattekill. The past few years Aaron has been racing with trek world racing at Mountain Creek and Plattekill before the world cups, but this year he decides not to and isn't quite up to speed at the first race. On the contrary, Brook Macdonald did both those races and nabbed second at Fort William. I think that could be something that has to do with it. Aaron only did sea otter and Port Angeles, while loads of dudes like Gee, and others did the BDS rounds right before Fort William. I think these tune-up races are a lot more important than people think, and Aaron not doing too many of them may have negatively effected his readiness for Fort William.

 Thanks Dirt, Mike Jones and Pinkbike for this video. Please, please please more of it, Steve Jones can actually articulate a lot of good questions and it's about time that we get a bit more than just the wam bam in your face sponsors all over it and just a great piece of journalism. If you ask anyone who is a professional bike fitter that at the same height, other factors can make a huge difference on bike size like arm length and leg length and or general body proportion, not to mention shoulder width and overall weight of the individual. There was a comment posted above that was bang on the money the last 2% of tuning is where the difference is. Jacey mentionned that Aaron didn't want to change too much and that was the difference on the monster track of Fort William, length and speed!

 That was probably the most uncomfortable interview I have ever seen. Everyone in the tent looked like they wanted to punch that dude for asking the same question over and over.

 Nice scoop from Dirt. But the constant questioning regarding size as if some new discovery has been made for the general bike buying public is annoying. Clearly while its not just about the bike, it is about how you feel on the bike. I think we all recognize that; why should it be any different for the pros?

 Go big aaron like last year!!

 Gwin isn't looking too frisky in that interveiw

 I like Aaron and I don't like to see him loose, aldo I am more a fan of the Athertons, but I think that the bike that Aaron is riding is just not as good as the other bikes out there, and Specialized now know that and they are in the mind of many people so this is a big problem for them, so to me this video is just a lot of excuses, so that people don't blame the bike, but for those who have some sense in their brain we know that it's the bike to blame, not Aaron.

 High rear spring rate but I bet his fork is the same as last year. If the medium had 445mm chainstays he would run less rear springrate, have a more forward/balanced weight distribution and a more stable, faster bike in his size (medium).

 great great interview. I wish there was more of this with the details of fit in regards to body measurements as to what these maniacs are using. I've just changed up frames to fit my short leg/long torso for a play bike, def not there speed/racy type bike. went from a med951 to small demo. confirms I've gone in the right direction. bar/stem reach and width is a component to that. bought the med 951 for reach but while vpp eats up trail awesome, the rear axle felt way back behind me with my shorter legs. the small demo has good reach with the shortest chainstay feels better for me so far. still apprehensive because the 951 has been so good on some terrain regardless and only had this demo a couple days. fingers crossed, I just wanted more of a custom fit for me over actual suspension system. thanks pinkbike and i'd vote for more of this

 That interviews annoyed me.. How many times do you need to ask why did you go to a large?! Seriously, you got he answer from the horses mouth then proceeded to ask the same questions again and again. Personally, I don't see the need to know the exact stem and bar height etc that one person rides. Everyone is different, even if you found 2 people with exactly the same body proportions they would have different riding styles so would still probably use different setups. It was constantly remarked last year and before how everyone (other racers) were noticing and that Gwin ran really stiff suspension, yet people are shocked he runs a hard spring? He wasn't happy on the medium, he swapped to a large. Bang, next question! How about something interesting like, will you be redesigning the Demo now to suit Gwin more, will you be changing geometry etc.. This interview could have ended after 2 mins for me.

 His switch to Specialized seems to be going a little rough. Just judging from his comments on the frame geometry and style, it seems it's not an easy adjustment. Not meaning to knock his decision in any way, but I wonder if there is any regret on his part for leaving his Trek sponsorship. Hope to see him continue to do well and keep climbing the ranks this year!

 Even with his 2nd yesterday, he's not even close to being as fast, as he was last year (almost 8 sec ahead in both runs). Makes me conclude, that he lost all his advantage from last year because of the bike still NOT suiting him well (be it a M or L).

He might do well this weekend, as the track suits him, because he's such a skilled rider, but he's not going to put a dent in the WC universe this year, unless S comes out with something adequate.

 Dear Orpheus Productions,
For such an important interview, why did you use an intern camera man? I mean really. You should have asked Rob Warner. Even he could have done a better job with the camera.

 If your ball cap is worn over your ears, it's too fucking big for your head! Get a clue!

 So there are no comparable/similar tracks in America? I find that hard to believe. Why not go and train abroad if there isn't.

 Gwin now rides a Magnum size, end of story!!!

 This interviewer has an unparalleled ability to make everyone feel uncomfortable

 Cheap drama continues... Who normal cares? Stop making a freak out of the guy. Let the lad just ride his bike, f*ck...

 The bottom line is he's fast. Faster than you. He went to specialized, so I did too.

 "At the end of the day, the rider has to be comfortable, be confident, and have trust in his bike, and whatever set up that is, he should ride."

...So long as it's a Specialized.

 more video's like this please!

 Investigative reporting! LOVE IT! camera in the specilized guys faces with a hail fire of question. Awkwarddddddd

 Did he complained about the Demo or it is just my idea? Not a bike he can feel comfortable in as easy...

 Brilliant interview. Rider, mechanic, managers etc.. And the funny guy in the background.

 got to talked to araron in val di sole ans aksed him what happened in fort william and said the same thing, he said he was on a medium frame and now on a large one

 Now all people will sell their smaller demo and buy a larger frame

 Poor guy, haters want him to go downhill. Careful you don't get there first.

 I actually prefer the paint scheme of that bike to the tld one..

 I love how he rides so well, and has no idea what rise bars he has lol. I really hope I'm proved wrong about his winning days being almost over. BUT I'd like to see UK staying on top! Especially gee. He's from my village!

 He's got a great attitude!

 PS Brilliant interview strategy Steve Jones!

 I have a few trails he should try out...

 why cant I see de video......??? just a black screen

 get it gwin

 Steve jones awkwardness.

 Specialized did a good job covering there asses

 You guys are too into this stuff... haha

 Still rootin for gwin no matta what!!

 GWINTERVIEW

 what a twat