Wednesday was a down day for most of the riders, so there was a chance to ride some other bikes. Ines Thoma and Max Schumann took the stylish option to carry them to the beach.
While Justin Leov worked on the new Canyon Strive prototype...
This is maybe one of the finest touches anywhere in the pits, courtesy of Canyon's Larry and likely only the eagle-eyed will have spotted it... For his riders he runs one metallic pad and one organic pad as he says it provides a better all-round compromise for feel and longevity.
How obsessive can the gram counting get? How about shaving off the excess parts of your chainguide?
Alex McGuinness is one of the few riders to get his hands on RockShox's Super Deluxe shock, complete with its very sexy bezel-style rebound adjust.
How full enduro has Sam Hill gone? How about bush guards deep. While many may have dismissed them as simply French cheating guards, talking to a few riders they do offer some interesting benefits. For instance, some riders are currently compromising on bar width to keep their hands out of harm's way on track, whereas with these you can still run a full-width bar and keep your pinkies safe.
Let's just take a moment to fully take in Sam Hill's insane paint job on his Nukeproof Mega (we posted a full bike check earlier this season).
Nico Lau has all the good sponsors - this week the Cube guys received custom back-rolling equipment from the guys at Blackroll.
He may be something of a big deal now, but Jesse Melamed was out putting in the work to help get his own race bike ready for practice tomorrow.
Here's a great tip from Seb, one of the Rocky mechanics. A second layer of electrical tape over your rim strip helps protect from really extreme hits where the spoke are pushed back into the rim. Normally they would puncture the rim strip leaving you stranded, but with this system they feel it offers a much greater degree of security to keep racing.
Alex Lupato definitely wins the prize for the prettiest shock in the pits, with this Ohlins TTX mounted on his brand new Trek Slash 29.
Out front he is also one of the first riders to be running their 36mm- stanchion fork.
Damien Oton and Theo Galy have ridden all season with this touching memorial on their top tubes.
It's 20 right now, but will this be 2 for Damien Oton after this weekend?
@poah: There are bikes in my dreams, how can they be boring?
@Lookinforit : Totally! I'd vote for some subbed gold pinstripes, the kind TLD git famous for and/or Maori inspired design on the top tube. Gotta be careful with the red/yellow mix though.
They will deflect the blow or dampen it a bit. But they really shine against branches not hitting your fingers and/or brake levers. Of course, they are useless in bike parks, but our local trails are full of that kind of unpleasant and thorny vegetations and those hand guards are excellent.
They are great for finger size branches and bush limbs.
Ran them on my moto bike. Pretty popular for bush riders.
Ours are a full metal bar under the plastic that clamps to the bar by the brake lever and the other bolts into the end cap of the handle bar.
Saved my hands countless times.
One day Niels Bohr was visited by his friend. As the guy knocked on the door he noticed horse shoe nailed to it. He entered the house of the famous scientist and asked in outrage: What is this horse shoe?! Don't tell me that you believe in this nonsense superstition! - Bohr replied: - Don't be stupid, off course not. But they say it works even for those who don't believe in it...
I heard of this several years ago and some guys swear by it... I brought it up last year to some buddies (we all grew up riding far apart from each other) and they said guys they knew have been doing it forever as well. I honestly have never tried it, but apparently it's an age old trick
@kev1n: I think its been said that Hose side of the caliper has more pressure or force so i would say metallic on hose side. All speculation but ive heard that thrown around.
@kev1n: Greg minnaar did the same thing earlier this season. He was running the organic on the front on the opposite side to the back. It was to do with airflow can't remember the full details. It was on one of these pit walk photo articles for a World Cup early in the season can't remember which possibly Lourdes
@Thustlewhumber: must help him as much as his patented way of testing the shock rebound by throwing the rear of his bike hard against the ground in the pits. Even Adrian Newey would be impressed
@WAKIdesigns: When they did that the first time, I was like "wtf ever" but then he started winning races and now I throw my bike like that and am disappointed.
It's like only using three bolts in your rotors so thy don't warp as easily...... Geniously superstitious and well the mechanic prob only had one of each... That's my guess.
I'm surprised Jesse is still on the '16 Altitude when a couple of his Rocky Mountain teammates are on next years Slayer. I guess he wants to stick with what has worked for him all year? I know I could go faster if I had a new bike!
It's interesting that the rider is running Duster rims as well. That's a pretty mid end Bontrager rim.
Wonder if there's clearance issues running the 30mm Internal Line rims.
I find it interesting that people are commenting on the brakepads, without mentioning that they are mounted with the backing plates closest to the disc!
@Lookinforit : Totally! I'd vote for some subbed gold pinstripes, the kind TLD git famous for and/or Maori inspired design on the top tube. Gotta be careful with the red/yellow mix though.
Wow. Is that a little too close to the bone?
Metal on the inside front; outside rear.
Fair enough!
Duster rims are still such an odd choice. I really want to know why haha.
Also, whats the difference between that Ohlins with the more traditional looking piggyback VS the original one??