Shuttle laps are something we can all relate to. There's nothing that makes me feel more at home than doing laps in the fog on Mount Seymour. Hop into your trusty shuttle rig, and come for a lap through the trees with me on one of the iconic North Shore mountains; where it all began.
Aside from that drop at the end... what part of that trail warrants a "shuttle rig"? Seems like this could have been done on an xc bike to practically the same extent. Not dissing it at all, it just looks exactly like the trail across the street from my house that I've ridden on a schwinn hardtail with a blown rockshox judy.
It's also about a 1000m climb on a road at 8% or trails at significantly more than that, not particularly fun. If your going to shuttle anyways why not bring the dh bike
It's all about time and energy. It can be done on a XC rig. You would just have to work a lot harder on the way down. And probably a good option if you got no shuttle. But if you got a shuttle you can focus on the DH. And then why not beef up the gear and setup to ride DH harder and faster?
@microfiz: I've ridden empress on a 100mm 26 hard tail, not exactly race geometry but not slack. bailed on the last roll though. I'm not a great rider by any means
I'd like to see someone go down Empress on an XC bike... that would be interesting.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1WqI1__4bQ