Monster Energy / Specialized - 2012 DH World Cup 1 - Pietermaritzburg - Video

 Hill is not my favorite, but I am not listening to everyone bashing him. Anyone who is not known for pedalling pulling 11th place in a world cup race on this track is clearly not past his prime. This year is going to be exciting!

 Bashing hill is just dumb. Without him pushing the envelope and showing everyone what the potential of DH could be back in 06/07 noone would be riding the way they do now. He completely changed attitudes and approaches to the sport.

 redrook is dead right. Hill made the sport what it is today. He showed what flat pedals and balls out riding can do. He's not past his prime at all.

 in that case..Peaty is a good reference as well. Brosnan is like the young Hill version2.0! what's Warner's nickname for Hill and what's in that Aussie water?!! brosnan, hill, the hannahs, and graves!!

 Geez, 2 months until next world cup event at Val Di Sol? Neethling was right...they need more races added into the season. That's so much down time in between, both for athletes and for the fans who want to watch and keep up with the excitement. Throw in 2-3 more races and cut the time down between each...

 Agreed 'kbrock'. I cannot believe there isn't a round in New Zealand, so much good riding over there as 'Follow Me' showed. Its an insult to the NZ scene to not give them a round.

 i,m i the only one who have seen a 4 piston x0 brake?

 Is that the new carbon demo?

 i believe it is a carbon demo. but i have not seen or heard anything from specialized about being carbon

 sam frikin hill.......

 The demo is carbon. Its supposed to be under wraps and all we know is what we see

 Sam ran flat peddles on that course and managed 11th. That's amazing.

 FULLBUG...Its not the Aussie water that helps our riders,there is no money in Australian sports...We do it for FUN,FUN,FUN and it reflects in their riding...Not sponsorship,not fame and fortune....just a bloody good time....Peace

 and yet troy is far smaller and with less pedalling power and had a slow puncture and still got 8th, there is a reason people bash hill...troy should be the team number 1. i do think troy will give sam showing this year

 I didn't realise there was a team number 1, probably because there isn't.

 yeh not officially but pretty much most teams have one rider that is their best hope, they get the most attention, support, etc... trek world racing - aaron gwin gt factory racing - gee atherton devinci global racing - steve smith scott11 - brendan fairclough yeti fox - jared graves monster spesh - sam hill most teams follow the same kinda thing, where there is always one rider with the best chance of success who will naturally get more attention

  Uh huh, like Troy hasn't been getting a TONNE of attention. The riders who do well get attention, obviously.

 Bashing Sam Hill? Let's see up until his crash at Ft. Williams 2 seasons ago he was still ranked as # 1 and defending champ. After basically ripping his shoulder off with multiple surgeries and probably equal mental as physical rehabilitation...he is finally back to 100% strength....but that puts him past his prime now? What is he 26? Seriously....any top rider that endures a wreck like that is going to be down for quite a bit. I would say that in his absence, what has truly prevailed it we now have seen what type of impact he has had on WC DH racing. Look at what it takes to be a constant podium placer. Unless you are super human fast making very little mistakes in your run....you don't have a chance at making podium let alone first. The dude has a lot of 1st places and WC wins left in him. Just because he has been out a couple of seasons, all the attention has turned to the latest and greatest...but never rule Sam Hill out.

 'unless you are super human fast making very little mistakes in your run' seems like aaron gwin, i agree he cannot be ruled out , just like peaty, Garcia or any one of the top 30 who would and do place on the podium, so yeh move on from sam hill

 Gracia, not Garcia.

 Anyone who writes off Hill is an idiot. And results don't make the team #1, the personality and leadership does. The captain of a sports team is not necessarily the best player.

 sorry bout the spelling there. an if you read the current dirt mag with the pre season overview it actually discusses this whole no.1 team member thing redrook

 paul, drop it mate and stop you've still given no reason for anyone to "move on" from sam hill, he's still an incredible rider with potential to win every day.

 but i love neg props

 haha yeah hes so casual talking about the bike talking about everything on it. i was hoping he would talk about the carbon and the weight!

 The swing arm isn't carbon because the brake mounts were welded on. But the front is.

 Yeah that's what's I read

 Nah he was on the naughty step

 i met sam hill aswell when he was in newcastle (at my lbs)for the last round of the nationals. he signed my bike (specialized demo of course). he is a really nice guy.

 definitely a slow leak in his rear tire, not leg

 ya at 4.37 his rear tire looks a bit low

 On the live broadcast, Warner thought he had flatted when he crossed the line

 they'll probly show it at their summer dealer show this year when showing all the 2013 stuff

 Maybe... they looked to be 4 piston too...

 4 piston ftw! well maybe not needed for this track but they are nice!

 yeah i was like an xo on a race dh bike??? then i saw the caliper...definitely a 4 piston.

On a side note i just built my glory with xo brakes and i really like the feel of them

 Yeah I spotted that too. I think the official release about these is on Thursday.

 yeh they are pegged for release later in 2012, lever is being changed up a bit, loses the silly bite adjuster for a simpler look, and will be a similar model to what is out now and also the 4 piston one too, which has 2x 16mm pistons and 2 x 14mm pistons oh and a price hike...

 can you not figure that out yourself?

2 clues:
1 - they ride for the sram group
2 - they are using 'blackbox' 2013 products

 boxxer.. i suppose i'm just startled to see a black one.

 dlc coating