Times training tells us that fast competitive riders are always competitive *cough Gee cough cough* and that chilled riders still don't give a sh*t *cough ratboy cough cough*
timed training still ables us to compare some riders .. you can be sure than Gee pushed it a bit to make that time.. After, you could say for example that Vergier is in top form if he's "only" 4,9seconds back on gee
The difference is that most riders know when to chill and turn it on when it's race time, but gee just can't help being full tilt all the time! Come race day, the time card may be completely different!
Yes timed training doesn't count but it also tells you that Gee or whoever can make a fast and clean run on this track and possibly go faster in the seeding and final run.
It may not count for points but it is all part of the psychological game. Athertons may use it to stamp a bit of authority on the pack. I am sure some riders will be intimidated if they are struggling to put match their times. Top twenty riders probably don't care or may deliberately slow down to hide their capability.... Based on my entirely made up speculation :-)
That's nonsense as last season Ratboy was at the top of times trails last season. I'd hate for him to that feel that he's win over all last year means that he doesn't need to have the same drive. I feel like it was his drive last year that got him his wins and that he should carry on with the same attitude and not get complacent.
Also don't put the winner as the thumbnail photo please, take one from someone mid pack or something. It sucks when your looking for the Red Bull replay and the winner is staring you in the face.
YES! Please guys... If I can't watch it live, I watch the replay and pretend it's live. When a world cup happened I won't go on Facebook because I know some asshat friend of mine posts up the results like they were there. I know it makes for more exciting headlines, but I beg you not to give away too much.
On paper the demo isn't exactly great, hardly any anti squat for pedalling and a forward arcing axle path. Which is the worst of both worlds suspension wise. The demo has geometry on it's side and weight since it's carbon but suspension kinematics isn't on the list of strong points in my books. It's no iron horse sunday or nukeproof pulse in terms of suspension.
Sit down and work it out for yourself, the figures of the demo from 2011 onwards and the latest demo are a bit wacky. At 100mm travel the anti squat is at -25% on the 2015 demo, compared to a wilson at 120%, last gen v10 is 140%, sunday is 80%, session 88 40% and nukeproof scalp 100%. Then there's the axle path which normally is a compromise between bump absorption and pedalling efficiency but the demo has poor pedalling and a less than optimum axle path.
It'll ride ok geometry wise but that's only half the story. People complain about forward weight shifts on high pivot bikes but this bike has such a low virtual pivot that it would cause a rearward weight shift.
Euan. FYI. The pulse is terrible at carrying speed and pumping compared to the Old cheap budget scalp. But it is fast. But is wild with the rear end short.
Yeah it's not perfect but does the trick for the mast. I wonder how the latest pulse prototype compares to the previous bikes from nukeproof. Another thing I've noticed is the newer specialized enduro is actually not too bad suspension wise, the axle path is better than the demo and anti squat is acceptable.
Euan Im sure with the budget specialized have they have thought of all this. if the bike is really so shitty specialized riders would be at the back of the pack but thats not the case now is it.
I am sure a small company like specialized (half owned by Merida bikes) do not have a huge R&D budget or team. But a small team of higly specialized development engineers and a reasonable pipeline for development prototypes. Specialized only have 300 or so employees across all diciplines and administration etc. so are a small company. With a revenue of ~$500M, and a reasonable sponsorship program I would not imagine their profits are massive to reinvest. Medium companies tend to design the majority of their products in house and out source specialist functions for specific projects. They tend to have small R&D budgets for specific products also. Large companies or mass producers tend to outsource most of the lower level R&D to specific companies, world wide who specialise in the required diciplines and employee staff, principle engineers to manage projects (not as much fun as low level engineering). large companies buy smaller companies.... I have worked for all 3 sizes of company in my time as a development engineer. small companies are the most fun...
Exactly but at the same time a good suspension system will help where your confidence can't like maintaining momentum as it goes over obstacles, transferring more of the energy you put in to driving the bike forward rather than wasting it with the bike bobbing about and giving better control which will lead to faster times. Geometry is a big part but suspension is just as big, sure it's still rideable but aren't we supposed to be looking for maximum performance, not what we can just make do with.
If MTB DH had a team championship Spec & their Demo would have won it last year. Troy 2nd Gwin 4th. Not saying its a better bike than the rest but they simply couldnt have achieved those results on a bad suspension design. End of.
There are always compromises when designing bikes. High Anti-Squat bikes are good at pedaling but not so good when hitting your brakes in the bumps. I think Specialized designed the Demo to have low AS to be more active and use the shock for a pedaling platform. An active suspension for a DH bike is the way to go.
Here is a blurp about axle path from a real bike engineer (not a Pinkbike armchair one):
The problem with that is it's not unbiased. Ask dave weagle and I bet he'll say axle path is important. Who's to say that gwin might not have punctured if his bike had a better axle path that was less likely to hang up on obstacles. You don't want to use the shock as a pedaling platform as it will retract from suspension performance creating what is almost a barrier to break through reducing sensitivity. As for anti squat, yes that's true but specialized have gone too far the wrong way and basically created a bike that pedals as bad if not worse than a concentric pivot bike which is far from ideal.
Troy and Gwin have no troubles pedaling on Demos. I ride with guys on new Wilsons (high AS bikes) and they bob as much as Demos when pedaling standing up. I don't think it's as much of an issue as people think it is. Geometry and cg is the most important of a DH bike imo.
Actually the calculations that prove that don't take everything into account and it's possible to prove that yes they can in fact fly by looking at the full picture.
The demo will still be a fun bike to ride but it's not winning any prizes in the suspension design department, maybe a lot of people won't notice the blindest bit of difference but it is there.
all dh bike are designed around the same parameters. they all have their issues but are all fined tuned to minimize these issues. you are looking at the small picture here. I've seen people race and win on demos. I've seen people race and win on any other type of bike. if the bike suits the rider then it doesn't matter what the hell the bikes doing, or how it's achieving it. It will work. sam and troy helped develop the last demo 8. they both on worlds on it. Loic helped work out the new lapierre and he's doing great. those are just some examples, there a many many others. They are just bikes.
Yes you'll see top guys win on most bikes. They do have access to all sorts of data logging equipment and can take that information to tune the suspension to mask certain traits. Gwin also runs very stiff suspension so that would reduce any squat under pedalling. I'd like to hear from Specialized why they designed it in this way, to me it doesn't make sense. Don't get me wrong either, I really wanted a Demo back in 2010/11 when they changed to the newer shape Alu frame. I'm sure most owners won't be dissapointed but I was just trying to say they aren't perfect and have a strange combination of attributes in my books.
Euan... was Grinning and Gwinning running the new link today.... If so. Big change to suspension curve for a return to form. ... coincidence or luck...
Most top guys run stiiff suspension. I tried this in whis one day. I sized up fork and shock springs and it was scary how much faster I could go and had to use way more strength to control the damn thing. Just flew over everything! But I'd much rather run softer and have more fun haha
There's a balance between having forks stiff enough and too stiff. I used to run my suspension incredibly stiff and swore by it but then I realized that there's a lot of downsides to that stiffness like less grip and not absorbing chatter very well. I'm still on pretty stiff forks but at an amount that gives grip and absorbs the bumps well.
I still run stiffer suspension than most of my friends. At wc speeds the suspension and wheel dynamic is completely different. All about the milliseconds. If you can go x amount faster over all with stiffer suspension over 1 to 5 mins, it's a no brainer. Same reason for cutting treads.
Gutted for Sam. Was really looking forward to seeing him take this track apart. Part of me hopes he still races but riding this track with an injury would be a brave decision to say the least!
Neko and Loic laid down the fastest split times, then sandbagged the second half of the track. Im betting we see both of them on the podium this weekend.
Minnaar shouldn't race - that injury can take nearly two months - crazy risking the injury for what most likely will be a painful under performing run (outside of top 5 would be under performing for Greg) and maybe just get way down in the results.
Too soon for any e-spec considering this is the first day they've ridden the track and that there's absolutely zero points on the line today. I'm just glad the season has officially kicked off!!!
Ask me how I'm feeling this time tomorrow, though.
Two legit threats from the USA, five from the UK, three (hopefully four) from AUS, three Kiwis and a couple of S. Africans...then "the home town Frenchies" as Claudio would say. I know you folks read Frenchies in his voice, too!
I'm confused by something Gee's split times are 1:08.547 and 2:10.734. That adds up to just over 3:19, but his finish time is 3:09.855. Same type of thing applies to all the riders. Can someone explain how this works?
I'm a data scientist and am going to collect all the timed data and try to write a prediction algorithm that can predict the winner on race day, I want to make sure I understand all the measures first. Thanks.
They are points within the total- they are not cumulative. IE he was 1:10 at the first split, 2:40 at the second, and 3:09 at the third split, which also happens to be the end.
what a crap time training! When you see Loris 5th when it's his 1st race with the big guns it says it all. Lots of intox from the top riders there, makes gwin and gee looks stupid being 1st. lack of strategy?
Anyway, it will make for a better race since many doesn't want to start last obviously. I bet my shirt neither Gwin or Atherthon will hit the top step.
Sandbagging!!! My pick to win right there
In this case just open up redbull.tv and go find the replay.
Pretty damn annoying
And the safe place i get it on cable, one of the sports channels and have it set to record all world cups
P"
Medium companies tend to design the majority of their products in house and out source specialist functions for specific projects. They tend to have small R&D budgets for specific products also.
Large companies or mass producers tend to outsource most of the lower level R&D to specific companies, world wide who specialise in the required diciplines and employee staff, principle engineers to manage projects (not as much fun as low level engineering). large companies buy smaller companies....
I have worked for all 3 sizes of company in my time as a development engineer.
small companies are the most fun...
Here is a blurp about axle path from a real bike engineer (not a Pinkbike armchair one):
www.santacruzbicycles.com/en/us/news/344
"Drops keyboard. Walks the F*** off!"
That is all.
dirtmountainbike.com/news/lourdes-world-cup-2015-breaking-news-sam-hill.html#d7XqOl34Pb2vO3XC.97
Ask me how I'm feeling this time tomorrow, though.
P"
I'm a data scientist and am going to collect all the timed data and try to write a prediction algorithm that can predict the winner on race day, I want to make sure I understand all the measures first. Thanks.
I love downhill, roll on Sunday!
Anyway, it will make for a better race since many doesn't want to start last obviously. I bet my shirt neither Gwin or Atherthon will hit the top step.
Bummer about Sam, but that is kinda disrespecting the rest of the field, on an awesome track. Sooo looking forward to this race.