Tech from the Pits - World Cup DH, Lenzerheide
After winning his first British Downhill Series race one month ago, he repeated with another win at Round 4 last weekend. Confidence is riding high and I'm sure Joe will be looking to beat his board's number.
Two name stickers = Big Time
Joe is using a lightweight steel spring spring with a plastic spacer at each end. There are two advantages to this - first the spring is lighter, and second the plastic acts likes a bearing, sliding and stopping the spring from rotating and coiling tighter as it compresses.
Prototype Nukeproof pedals. Sam Hill has a more refined pair, with extra machining and laser etched graphics.
Handlebars?760mm bars jacked up high, high rise bars and the fork stanchions that are pushed a fair way through the crowns.
Tire pressures?23/26 psi, standard tubeless. No problems usually - knock on wood
Suspension settings?.73psi in the forks, compression mid way and reasonably slow rebound. 325lb lightweight steel spring, fairly high compression too.
Frame size?.Medium, I'm 5'8".
Angleset?.-1 degree up front, so it's down to 62 degrees now.
Any changes for during this week?.I've fiddled around with the compression settings, but nothing major. I usually just set my bike up and then leave it for the most part of the year.
Manual Fumic is a beast, that's a big chainring for a cross country race.
Bike-Ahead Composites produce these wheels in Germany, along with custom frames for XC racers and a patented bar/stem combo. I spotted this is the Cannondale pits, but the mechanic was keen to point out this is nothing to do with Cannondale Factory Racing. But he did say, "These wheels are incredibly stiff, some argue too stiff, but they are really strong. They are really aero, especially for XC, they really roll a lot better than most others, they're light at 1200grams but really just incredibly stiff. This wheel is adapted to the asymmetric Cannondale rear triangle, the 6mm offset rear end on the FSi."
Moto foam wherever possible.
Brendon + Dog = Brendawg.
Signature 'Deathgrips'
Tape to cover the crown casting is pretty common at the WC, nowhere for mud to collect and makes the mechanic's life a little easier at the bike wash.
Scott-Gstaad mechanic Ben is another wrench that goes the extra mile. Moto foam in all the smallest nooks and crannies, tape to stop dust build up on the back of the forks, and hours of his life dedicated to cutting down spike tires ready for race day. He mentioned that they have been playing with spokes recently, using flat blade spokes to increase wheel flexibility.
Sam Blenkinsop's pedals have some interesting added metal. No official word, but I'm guessing it will help to guide the cleat in to place.
Looks like a.... Session?
Embroidery my Mum would be proud of.
Looks like a....?
Gee is running a seven speed cassette, with no spacer to take up the room left by losing some cogs, and both of the smallest cogs are the same size. He was also running carbon Stan's Flow rims.
Taylor Vernon is running a 9-speed cassette, and again both of the smallest cogs are the same size.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
Riding an actual bike instead of looking at parts would be up there.
Consuming alcohol or a mind expanding substance might slip in at #3?
Not exactly, the L shaped side lug is inverted
Big difference between owning all the brands you make products for, and simply being contracted to make on their behalf. Theoretically each company would have their own molds and compounds which would not be available to their competitors simply because they lived in the same building.
CST can make tyres for anyone and produce tyres for most of the brands out there, in particular Maxxis, CST are the largest bicycle tyre manufacturer (except for Schwalbe who have their own factories in Vietnam & Indonesia and they only produce for themselves) as mentioned in a previous post you can tweek the overall design,compounds groove spacing & sips and create a new tyre, look at the WTB version of the Muddy Mary this is blatant copy and yet there is very little Schwalbe can do about that or probably want to do about it as the tyre is discontinued & so I would hazard a guess that the moulds on offer to Maxxis are open to Bontrager as the moulding most likely belong to CST in the first place.