Bike Check: Kate Courtney's Scott Contessa Spark RC - Vallnord World Cup XC 2019

 Dave sounds hideous. Probably wears khakis huh?

 @chillrider199: Yeeeep....from Costco!

 that gives riding down a hill and singing “I will survive” a whole new dimension

 @WAKIdesigns: seems like not so many people seeing things as you are Waki, or maybe they are too stiff... as suspensions now days...

 Glad for your enthusiasm.

 ~*~sPaRkLe WaTtS~*~

 Body weight dived by 7, add 2psi for the rear. She’s a fairly small yet mighty human

 @dynamatt: I've learned over the years that a 2.whatever mtb tire (casing/tread/whatever aside) inflated to 26psi and 50psi will roll the same on dirt and pavement, and at one of those pressures the tire is going to ride like shit.
Arbitrary statement af i know but it's 1230am and I should've been asleep 2 hours ago at least

 That's a myth that's been perpetuated because of road bike tire pressures for decades now. In actual fact, and this has been tested by many XC race teams, lower pressure tires ROLL OVER small trail irregularities easier than higher pressure tires do. This results in less energy being lost to the tire deflecting off a root or small rock rather than just conforming over it. I'm over 200 pounds with my pack on and I used to run 24-26psi with 29 x 2.25 tires.

 @deeeight: roadies know lower PSIs are faster now

 @clink83: That's only because they've gone to wider tires with more air volume across both the professional and amateur bike levels.

 @deeeight: Thanks that makes a lot of sense.

 @deeeight: we've been pushing lower tire pressures on road bikes for years now actually. A lot of pro teams are running wider tires at lower pressures to combat deflection. Plus with the advent of road tubeless you can go even lower than usual without the chance of getting a pinch flat.

 I prefer the 25cc compared to the 23cc that came stock on my ‘13 road bike. Same bike in ‘19 comes stock with 25cc. Might even be able to accommodate larger tyres. I’d want a new bike to handle no less than 28s though.
Specialized had a YouTube video where it showed wider tyres at lower psig is faster than narrower harder tyres.

 @gonecoastal: and 30c are even better than 28c

 Cable for the dropper blip I believe

 I see 4 from the left side. Front Brake, Fork Lockout, Shock Lockout & Seat Post .

 @Augustus-G: It's an AXS dropper

 @Kamba6: While it is an AXS dropper i think the button in the grip still has a cable than runs to where they hid the original dropper button.

edit: or goes directly to the dropper they have sram factory support.

 Probably Scott's twinloc system - a lockout for the rear shock. The dropper is probably AXS wireless.

 @rrsport: You're correct on that, though it is for the dropper which is still axs it has to run to a junction box of sorts, which houses the wireless internals.

 @Jacquers: The rear shock lockout is the silver 4-5mm housing, the mystery is what is the skinny black wire that has the spiral wrap holding it to the silver housing. Since seatpost and rear derailleur are both AXS wireless, people are confused as to why they need a wire, which looks more like something from Di2.

I think @GriefTheBro has it right, in that Blip buttons don't have their own power source, and are supposed to be connected to a master controller, like a shifter with its own battery supply, which then sends the wireless signal. They seem to have hidden the AXS seatpost wireless transmitter in the frame, and then have that wire spiral wrapped to the lockout housing in order to allow remote operation with the Blip. It is nicely executed, however it is still a bit of a bodge in my mind, as they've managed to add a wire back into a wireless system, however until there is a Blip size wireless transmitter I guess they've decided it's the most ergonomic way to deal with squeezing all those controls into a small area.

 @KillaK801: It's called a Blip Box. While AXS components are all wireless, they still need a sending unit. On the road bike the Blips attach to the shifters, but on any other setup they need a remote unit.

 Blip button is just a button. Not a transmitter, and has no power. Her mechanic has hidden the Blip button's electronics inside the frame. It is this electronic unit that sends the signal to the dropper post to open the valve. It's a slick compromise to using the twin-lock remote and a dropper remote, but unfortunately not "wireless" like AXS promises. But this really is only an issue on a bike using a left-hand operated lock-out. Otherwise the standard AXS Reverb remote mounts where a 2x shifter would mount and works totally wirelessly.

 All Twinloc bikes need this. The current dropper lever placement is... awkward.

 @boozed: I never had a problem with it. As with anything, you get used to it over time.

 @seraph: "Getting used to" poor ergonomics is a recipe for RSI.

 @boozed: It's not poor ergonomics, it's just different than what people are used to.

 Being straight is no longer allowed on pinkbike

 Becuase they're sponsored by DT SWISS

 Syncros wheels are DT Swiss anyway. The rims may differ slightly in shape but the hubs use DT internals.

 Not today though

 @nick1957: The Big Mac bites back.