Different dudes. Same agenda. At least sort of, anyway. Bring XC champ Russell Finsterwald and weekend-warrior champ Chris Dewar together to some posh digs in Palm Spring, California, and some stuff is going to happen. Late morning shuttle or pre-dawn pedal, it doesn't really matter - although the dawn patrol, uphill, asphalt commute to the Idyllwild trails deserves a nod. When two like-minded mountain bikers come to check out some exciting new trails, limits are pushed and some dirt is sure to fly.
Photos by Adrian Marcoux
Video by Mindspark Cinema
www.sram.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP163I0puCk
This XC, All-Mountain, Enduro crap is just a point of view.. Guess the guys in the video were having 100mm of travel, riding even better than some guys with the sickest enduro bikes..
But anyways.. sick video - makes me wanna go out with my lycras and shred some trails and do kilometers
(shredding on XC trails)
If they're gonna build a usually heavier(than traditional) USD fork, why not at least first build an AM/Enduro so the weight gets buried in the travel, and you won't get beat up by all the weight weenies because it weighs 3 grams more than their 20mm travel SiD?
No matter how light you make a USD, it'll always be heavier than a traditional fork.
Plus, methinks an XC bike is the LAST one that could use more stiffness up front(or anywhere else for that matter).
Heck, MAYBE a downhill bike would benefit from the advantages of a USD, but the more I think of it, the more I'm thinking it's just a marketing ploy.
Motorcycles have been using USD forks for, well, forever, because of their WEIGHT and the punishment MX bikes go through, the brute power and plane FORCE road racing bikes put through their forks when braking from 190 down to 20mph, and needing the suspension to help keep a combined weight of 450-500lbs sticking to the ground via a 2x2" contact patch while leaned over.
Then, at the opposite end of the spectrum you have the combined weight of Hardly rider(250lbs) and his wife/old lady(220lbs) sitting on top of the 700lbs or more 'bike', which all have to be slowed/stopped/kept under control by the suspension.
USD's are a necessity in these situations.
I'm gonna be keeping an eye on what SRAM does here, and what they do to mitigate the HUGE downside of using USD forks on such a light platform, and how they turn all of it into quicker times down the mountain.
Do u guys think a switch to the rs-1 makes sense?