Anita Gehrig's Norco Range
Anita Gehrig is running a very similar setup on her size large Norco Range as she was last season. A DT Swiss fork up front(65psi and two tokens) and a Rockshox Super Deluxe (140psi, three tokens) provide the suspension.
Going race to race she is hoping to keep the setup pretty consistent and doesn't think that she will do much to change the bike between races. Anita is comfortable on the current setup so will keep it this way for the rest of the season.
Deity provides the whole of Anita's cockpit, 760mm Skywire bar, Copperhead stem and Knucklebuster grips
WTB Vigilante tires front and rear, DT Swiss fork handling the front suspension duties
Praxis Lyft HD 170mm cranks and Magura MT7 brakes
Pedro Burns' Trek Slash
Pedro Burns is coming into the EWS series with a win at the Andes Pacifico indicating he is more than ready for a season of racing at the highest level. His bike stays pretty much the same from the multi-day race in Chile. His 19.5" Trek Slash frame is supported by a Rockshox Lyrik Ultimate (90psi) and a Rockshox Super Deluxe shock (178psi).
Three 5mm spaces the stack height at the front of the Trek, paired with a short 30mm stem
Bontrager G5 DH tires with 22.5 psi at the front and 26psi at the rear
Isabeau Courdurier's Intense Tracer
After finishing second in the overall last year Isabeau Courdurier will be looking to improve on that this year with 2018 series winner Cecile Ravanel out of the first few rounds because of injury. Her size small Intense Tracer is running the Rockshox Lyrik Ultimate up front (56psi) and a Rockshox Super Deluxe out back (100psi with faster rebound)
The brake levers are run almost flat to make it easier to grab when leaning back on steep terrain
Isabeau is running a super short Renthal stem paired with 760mm wide bars
Full Sram XO1 groupset, no AXS wireless shifting here
Previously:•
Course Preview: Blown Out - EWS Rotorua 2019•
Photo Epic: Practice - EWS Rotorua 2019•
Video: Sam Hill POV - EWS Rotorua 2019•
Video: Course Preview - EWS Rotorua 2019
MENTIONS: @EnduroWorldSeries
And how did you work out that Cane Creek are years ahead of rockshox and fox anyway? Their air shocks explode as soon as you sit on the bike.
Cane Creek came out with the Double Barrel coil in 2006. They were way ahead of the curve, and it definitely took RS and Fox time to catch up.
But it is worth noting that rockshox and fox manufacture a huge amount of shocks compared to CC so that also has to be taken into account in terms of issues and the percentage of failed shocks from Fox and Rockshox will likely be smaller compared to CC as a result.
But I digress, Cane Creek do make some great products at the moment (especially their coil stuff) but are they 7 years ahead of rockshox? No
The Double Barrel was an impressive leap forward. The shock, both air and coil, is still relevant 12 years after the debut of the CCDB coil.
When do you suppose RockShox caught up with the Double Barrel damper itself? What product matches it/exceeds it?
Fox came to the table with the DHX2 and X2 in what, 2015? Before that, I don't believe they were on par with an out of the box shock. That took them 9 years.
Ohlins designed the Double Barrel, so they should be in the same league/using the same tech.
Rock Shox I am unsure of. I don't believe they were there with Vivid/Monarch. Maybe with the Deluxe you are right - and especially with a custom tune - probably better than a CCDB. But it took them what, 10 or 11 years?
I think that is what Waki is getting at.
Gold Jerry gold I say.
My DHX2 lasted about 4 months before the main shaft seal started leaking. So she goes. The whole sealhead replacement was only $50 plus the service.
I have owned 4 CCDB coil, 1 CCDB air, 1 CCDB inline. All have been fantastic, even the original inline! None have spun infinitely, and all have functioned very well and allowed a better ride than whatever it replaced (DHX coil or air, Monarch, Float etc).
The only issue I did have was one of the shafts had a small nick/void in it from production. It was small, and didn't seem to leak oil at any rate, but CC took it back at the end of the season and did a replacement and service for me, for free.
Again, your experience sounds like it sucked, but it also sounds like an outlier to me - both the service and the operation of the shock - at least from my experience. I have been dealing with CC directly on and off since 2006 when I bought the original CCDB for the g1 Nomad.
Let’s be honest. You spend tons of money to put something on your bike. You’ll tell people it’s way better just cuz it feels different.
It’s common knowledge that there were cane creek products that were good. Because they were produced in small numbers. Then they got bigger. Quality went down. And they became not good.
I run Lyrik myself, reason? Price. Fox refused to sell OEMs to big online stores (dunno why) and RS is happy to do so. Looking at my Lyrik and some stuff I see in workshops, I would not buy a used long travel fork from RS, older than 2 years. And I advise everyone to ask for a pic of upper legs slid out of lowers before they buy. Fox? Next year I will be waiting for a used 36 Grip 2 to pop up on classifieds. No worries there
#shafted
My first couple of Cane Creek shocks were dyno'ed at CC and came with the test sheets. What was pretty neat - an no, you don't get that any longer with the numbers they do now. But They are still pretty fine shocks in my experience.
Low or no oil can be an issue. I had my Pike's warrantied here in Canada at Live to Play (Norco) and they came back with zero bath oil. Pretty garbage service.
Avalanche is great. You could custom tune your Charger and get same performance I have no doubt, Avalanche isn't going to get you leaps and bounds improvement in performance over that (much cheaper) option.
The issue I found was that, at least the old charger, did not remain consistent over a long period of time. Ride it hard and it performance would decline, and it would need a bleed. The Avalanche cartridge doesn't need as much attention - performance doesn't deteriorate - the design of the open bath cart is much more reliable.
Removing lower legs, greasing seals and filling with proper bath oil volumes is cheap and quick after you have done it just once. RS Pike lower leg service is a 10 minute job.
What pains me, is the creaking CSU's and aerated damper/bladder in the old pike. Is the new Charger any better?
If I wanted to spend less, I would buy a mildly used Yari (less creaking) and dump an Avy damper in it. I think that would be pretty sensible and very low maintenance.
Your rear is making healthy noises or unhealthy noises? Lol
Ya you’re so unique. Even more demanding than a pro mountain bikers.
If you’re good enough to know what you want, but aren’t good enough to realize it doesn’t matter. Then you haven’t been riding long enough.
You post an awful lot of rubbish dude. Just spraying nonsense. f*ck off.
Thanks.
You really have me thinking now. Wow. Thanks for that.
And of course to interact with quality people like yourself. Because, you know. I care. About you. I care, about you, Waki.
Love the article, and the format, just curios to know.
Several more checks coming up in the next few days!
Bud there’s two kinds of people in this world.
The kind that look at Isabeau. And the kind that look at her bike.
Why are they running it though, is Tracer still non-metric?
Nobody's attacking imperial, feel free to cling to it however long you like. There are plenty of imperial shocks which are miles better than a Monarch.
Monarch, on the other hand, is not as bad, but way behind something like X2 or CC.
P.S. I would add some 40mm riser bars.
or something like it that integrates with the bolt for the knock block
Also Everyone: Oh I can bolt my Garmin to it - brilliant