Commencal/Vallnord DH Team Signs with Enve & Bell
PRESS RELEASE: Commencal/Vallnord DH Team
2018 has certainly been the most successful season in the team’s history, but it’s now time to look forward and work even harder towards our new goals set for 2019 – nothing less than staying on the top step of those podiums.
While COMMENCAL will celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2020, 2019 will mark the 10th year of partnership with the Ruffin Brothers’ Riding Addiction!
Why change a winning team?
With the unconditional support of two Andorra’s best-known sports players COMMENCAL & VALLNORD, Amaury Pierron, Myriam Nicole, Rémi Thirion, Thibaut Daprela, Gaëtan & Thibaut Ruffin will battle the world’s best racers on-board their beloved COMMENCAL SUPREME DH V4.3 29’’ and 27.5’’.
 | If you’ve never won a race then you won't know what it's like! Some think that it’s easy to leave the pits and roll to victory, that easy. On the contrary, the more you're at the top, the harder the fight! The #1 plate is for the big hitters not the playground and we only feel the fear of being beaten! Now we know, we simply don't like losing. With all of the members of the DH team it’s the same fight. And we all love sport because we can reset the markers and the clocks each year. Nothing can ever be taken for granted… We work hard, we train hard and together we will endeavour to make the 2019 season as exhilarating as the last! |
As always, equipped with SRAM XO1DH transmission and CODE RSC brakes, as well as the ROCKSHOX BoXXer World Cup DebonAir forks and Super Deluxe RC World Cup shocks, we are confident that we have the best performing components in that area.
To give our riders the most competitive bike out there, we’ve listened to what their expectations are for this year. Their wish to switch to carbon wheels was clear. The opportunity then came to partner with the best carbon fibre components brand in the world. We are delighted to announce our partnership with ENVE! The M930 wheels, M9 cockpits and seat posts have already taken over our SUPREME DH bikes.
| As a product driven company, professional team sponsorship is primarily about product development. Much of ENVE’s success in the broader mountain bike market can be attributed to the product development that has transpired over nearly a decade of World Cup downhill partnerships. We are humbled that the performance of our product and our reputation for being a great technical partner opened the doors for us to work with the COMMENCAL/VALLNORD world cup race program. Having the winningest team in downhill, riding the sports best product is compelling, but it’s the products that will result from this partnership that really get me excited because these products will result in a better ride experience for ENVE and COMMENCAL’s customers around the world. |
With a brand new range of products coming in force, IXS will continue to dress our riders with their new Trigger pants, shorts, jerseys, gloves customised with our team colours. They will also keep us safe with the Trigger Kneepads and Trigger Upper Body Protective.
If you’ve been on social media in the last minutes then this maybe isn’t a surprise... In the making for some time now, we are excited to finally join forces with BELL Helmets! Many champs have worn these helmets in the sports we love and so it’s an honour to be part of the team. The Full 9 is simply all we can ask for in a DH helmet!
| We at Bell are all extremely excited to partner with COMMENCAL/VALLNORD. This partnership has been in the works for a while and we think it is perfect timing with the upward momentum the team has shown over the past few years and we are confident these types of results will continue to mount for the entire COMMENCAL team. We are very excited about the team’s youth and their influence in Europe and around the globe. Adding COMMENCAL to our roster will further extend Bell's dominance not only in the downhill mountain bike category but mountain biking around the world. We can’t wait to watch some racing! |
Because grip is our friend, SCHWALBE is essential to us. You’ll have no choice but to keep seeing our bikes with the ultimate tyres for all conditions, the Magic Mary and Dirty Dan and their infamous Addix compounds.
Another great addition to our partner roster is the famous Portland-based precision components manufacturer, CHRIS KING. They will equip our ENVE wheelsets with ISO range hubs, as well as custom Buzzworks Inset headsets to fit our COMMENCAL frames.
OAKLEY will keep providing the Prizm’ Airbrake for our optimal vision on track. Our long-time pedal partner, HT COMPONENTS, will supply the X2T and AEO5T. LIZARD SKINS will take care of grips as they have many choices to suit our riders including the Charger Evo, Bearclaw and Peaty signatures, or the Expert Machine. WTB’s High Tail Team is the best DH saddle on the market and their support is essential for us. e*thirteen will stay on-board as we rely on their LG1+ Bottoms Only for a lightweight and efficient chain guide for our SUPREME DH. We’ll have our usual choice of CN SPOKE to complete our wheel setups. The final touch on our bikes will be MARSHGUARD mudguards (and number plates) to keep us clean!
We’ll also have the backing of UNIOR TOOLS, FIVE TEN, RYNO POWER, FINISHLINE, GOPRO, SUPER ALLOY RACING, STENDEC, AXXIOS TECHNOLOGY, FORBIKE, PROBOLT FRANCE, RIDE ALPHA, FEEDBACK SPORTS, CUSHCORE, BUDS SPORTS.
| I couldn’t be more stoked with our 2019 partner line-up! We have great people and brands behind us. We also have amazing people in the team who will work super hard to make 2019 as crazy as 2018. Having the same rider/staff roster for a second year running, who are all extremely motivated, is certainly a strong foundation for another great year! Bring on the races! |
With all these committed and DH-passionate partners behind us, we have all the assets to succeed, so we can’t thank them enough. Add to this a bit of luck and a lot of hard work and we’re ready for 2019!
See you at the races soon!
MENTIONS: @COMMENCALbicycles
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That being said, I am excited to see what they can do this season following their success last season!
The question is are we rich enough to buy £2000 wheels every 2-3 years for safety purposes?
Also, any damage to the carbon is also not visible to the naked eye (like a dent on an aluminium wheel). if a carbon wheels fails on a DH run the potential for serious body harm is really high (I mean you can be paralysed for life if you are really unlucky or even die). And whom in reality is going to get their carbon rims checked by a professional every few runs? Amateurs are not as smooth as professionals and bash their bikes much more casing jumps for example, so the risk for carbon damage is really high.
Too many valid arguments for no carbon for me (inclusive having had 2 massive cracks in the down tube of a bike after rocks jumping off the trail and a minor scrape) - I was lucky enough to have the paint chip as well as the carbon and noticed them before the frame completely failed mid run.
www.pinkbike.com/news/aluminum-vs-carbon-separating-environmental-fact-from-fiction-in-the-frame-materials-debate.html
He said he would not do Chinese made carbon due to the conditions for workers.
He said he did European made carbon but its was to expensive but work conditions where ok.
I don't see anything in his statement that would be in conflict with US made Carbon components.
I think it is save to assume that the working conditions in the ENVE production line are not the same as in a Chinese factory, especially 6 Years ago.
..it would probably not be very practical...
www.bikeradar.com/news/article/enve-launch-dh-rims-and-wheels-33221
As for carbon needing replacement every 2-3 years from poster below that isn’t for all components otherwise you wouldn’t have reserve wheels with lifetime warranties. It may be true for some handlebars etc but the same is said for aluminum bars as well.
Everything can be damaged no mather what material it is made of.
My personal experience: I have successfully ridden broken carbon rims out of trails, even continued multiple days on them before i could get replacement. On the other side i had aluminum components and frames that just cracked in to pieces and sent me on long hikes home.
Bottom line its purely circumstantial and depends much more on the what and how you damage it than on the material the damaged component was made of.
How it used to be, shorts, short bikes, roots, rain
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmvDk8fcheI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP5aqAC8PPY