Pinkbike's Ben Stevens ran into Troy Brosnan at round one of the Australian national DH Series and asked him about his new Canyon Sender - and how he was getting on with the bike and his new team since leaving Specialized. In the interview, we learned that the
Canyon Factory Downhill Team's lead wrench is
Nigel Reeve, one of the best - and the man who kept Stevie Smith's racing machine sharp. So far, the 2017 DH season is looking bright for both Brosnan and Canyon.
Ben Stevens:
What’s your height and weight?Troy Brosnan: I’m 175 cm tall and about 65 kilos.
Ben:
What frame size are you riding? Troy: A medium Sender.
Ben:
Is that different than your Demo? Troy: No, same as my Specialized.
Ben:
What bar width and stem length do you run? Troy: I run a 5-centimeter Renthal stem with 38-mil’ rise, 740-millimeter-width bars.
Ben:
Do you know how much the bike weighs?Troy: No, I don’t. I think it’d probably be about 16 or 16.3 kilos – in between there.
Ben:
Is bike weight important?Troy: I think bike weight is a little bit important, especially for a rider like me. Being so light, you really don’t want a heavy bike. But also, going too lightweight, it won’t be very stable at the same time.
Ben:
Do you run any spacers under the stem?Troy: Yeah, I’ve been playing around with it, but it’s been hard to get the perfect height for every track. I’ve been going five mils’ up or down here or there at different tracks. I wouldn’t say anything is set in stone, but we are getting there.
Ben: Do you run air or coil suspension?
Troy: I’m running coil suspension front and back. We’re trying a few different things with our suspension tech this year - and we got Nigel (who is Stevie Smith’s old mechanic). He is fully doing all of our suspension and making it all custom and pretty nice, so it’s been good.
Ben: Same air pressures?
Troy: Not really. It’s a bit different with the Mavic wheels and Maxxis tires. I’ve gone down in pressure from what I was running previously, and I’ve found a bit more traction - and a bit wider rim and a bit wider tire is helping a lot. It’s a bit different, but there are no set pressures yet, this year.
Ben:
What chainring sizes? Troy: We got a 36 on this, with a normal SRAM seven-speed cassette on the back.
Ben:
What pedals do you run? Troy: I run HT pedals - the X2 models.
Ben:
Do you have a specific chain guide that you run? Troy: We got the e*thirteen - it’s the LG1, so it’s lightweight, but it still stops rocks from breaking your chain or chainring.
Ben:
Tire choices?Troy: I’m not sure yet. I’ve been running the Maxxis Minion front and Maxxis Minion DHR II right now. It feels pretty good, but I’m kind of still swapping in between the two and trying different ones on the front and the rear, and seeing what is going to be the best for the tracks overseas, as well as for the tracks over here.
Ben:
Do you run tubes or tubeless?Troy: I run tubeless.
Ben:
Have you worked out specific pressures yet? Troy: I’ve been going a bit lower, so here, I’ve got 25 and 29. It’s a pretty rocky here and a bit loose, so I’m trying not to ding my rims and not get flat tires as well.
Ben:
And, what wheels are you running? Troy: I was running DT Swiss, and now I’m on the Mavic DeeMax wheels
Ben:
How much time have you had on the new Canyon? Troy: Yeah, I’ve had a while actually. I’ve been kind of doing a little sneaky testing before the year started. I’ve been on it for a solid month of testing. It’s been pretty good, and I feel pretty comfortable on it.
Ben:
What sort of stuff have you been riding to get your base settings?Troy: Definitely the stuff at home, like my local tracks. The downhills there, I know so well - I know the tracks rock by rock, and it’s really easy to get the bike dialed in - and that’s what you have to focus on, rather than learning a new track.
Ben:
Has there been a much of a learning curve or any big changes since coming off the Demo?Troy: Yeah, for sure. I’ve learned a lot, actually, going to Canyon. And, also through Fabien and everything he’s taught me in a short amount of time. The Sender’s geometry is a lot different. I’m running a longer chainstay, and it’s a bit slacker as well. A few little things have changed here and there – I haven’t really had to change my riding style as much, but I’ve had to change the way I’m more aggressive on the bike. Getting used to it is the main thing.
Ben:
What would you say is the biggest difference between the two? Troy: The way the Canyon works. The suspension with the MX link feels lot more supple and has a bit more traction towards the ground - and a lot better ramp-up as well. The Specialized did pedal well, and it worked when you really made it work, but this bike feels easy to go fast on and I believe that it’s got the potential to go faster again.
MENTIONS:
@Canyon-PureCycling /
@SramMedia /
@benstevens
So the answer we all fear is: it depends
Air shocks quickly run out of answers to hard questions like "Lean over, bumps, a touch of brake, lean some more, can you handle it?"
Feels like home compared to SA when pushing down while standing. Can't tell you about riding though, sidelined with broken clavicle...
Soon i´ll be trying a Boxxer Shaft to get 160mm of travel for the Mega, there is no such thing like to much travel The conversion as it is now (140mm) adds 200g to a Pike 29 Solo Air.
Having put some thought into this topic over the years, I think that the any advantage given by rider height and/or body type really varies from season to season. Certain frame geometries and tracks seem to favor one or the other, and both of these factors seem to follow trends over the course of several seasons. I don't think its as easy to generalize here as it is in ski racing.
And even in ski racing, those rules don't always hold true: Daron Rahlves is not a big guy, but won many speed events. Tomba was a horse, but dominated SL and GS.
He's no bro... do you even 4 tokens in your Boxxer?
I think it's another smoke screen, like when they deliberately quote incorrect tyre pressures to throw the competition off the scent...
"I run a 5-centimeter Renthal stem with 38-mil’ rise, 740-millimeter-width bars."
They may be mixing units of measurement but it isnt that hard to understand, is it?
Troy:Same as my d!ck 50 cm.
Go Troy!!
P.S. when's he gonna start getting them custom painted like he did his Demos???
ps : I'm sure troy would still be faster than me on a push bike, so you shouldn't consider my opinion.
That was epic.
But I'm not the one with a size issue ;-)
Don't kill me I'm just kidding.
I wasn't the guy that first mentioned a 'trend' but you can't deny there was/ is one. That doesn't mean there aren't riders out there like yourself for whom wider bars work but that's why you see kids with 800mm bars down at the jumps. Not so much these days, see my previous comment.
But is there a mistake with the stem description: They say 5 cm stem, they mean 50cm, right??
Thanks :-)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3MmP4fhmnw :2min 10sec
there = There
errors = errors.
three = two
Could just be a reflection from the camera flash, though.
Do you really think a good mechanic would miss a crack that big ????