Those Yeti bikes with those wonderful paintkobs ridden to victories by Graves and Rude start to be as iconic for EWS as white-blue-red Lancia Delta was in WRC what a great season to follow it has been, what a great coverage! Thanks to all racers and media - along with DH it was the best entertainment internet can broadcast! Cheers!
I feel like it will be either Santa Cruz or Specialized , American brands that could thrown him big money(they also don't have a lot of big results in enduro either). Everybody probably wants a big piece of Richie though. He's only 20 and has proven he can win world titles in both DH and Enduro.
In the remark on VitalMTB I also thought Richie would be leaving. But in other places on the interweb the suggestion is that Jared will be leaving (for the Big S..?)
dude. Jared Graves is Yeti. The Man brought that company so much fame, and he's been with them pretty much since the start. i can't see him leaving his roots. they built him and he built them. if he leaves i can only see it as a money move and then him getting out of the riding game when he gets enough cash.
as for richie, God I hope he doesn't sell out to the S. santa cruz wouldn't be too bad, intense i don't think is all too interested or has enough money backing, it'd be cool to see him with pivot though.
I'm afraid it's Jared leaving. Maybe I'm reading too much into this but look at what is written on the back of his number plate at Finale this weekend. www.pinkbike.com/photo/12754925
i've seen him with the RF knee pads... but as far as i know giro doesn't make knee pads... and because he's wearing RF kneepads doesn't mean he's going to race for specialized. even tho correlation does not mean causation, what correlation do you even see?
He's sponsored by Troy Lee... I haven't seen the RF knee pad shots of him but certainly it doesn't mean he is going to Specialized. I don't see Jared making a lateral move to a brand like intense or pivot. Maybe Santa Claus bikes but I'd bank on Specialized.
Graves salary and the raise in pay Rude's title will command might be too much for one team...I've heard having to raise Graves salary to keep him was the demise of the Dh team...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_NoL1LOSMI