Downhill Tech Primer: What to Expect at the Lourdes DH World Cup
The lead up to the first World Cup of the year is always full of speculation as fans and racers alike try to figure out what the competition was up to over the last six months. In some cases, companies will cheekily let out a few photos as a way to build hype for an upcoming product, a way to stoke the fire for fans of all things bike-related. In other cases, an over-eager influencer will accidentally film something they weren't supposed to, sharing a blurry image of the next high-pivot machine, or an unreleased fork that definitely has 35.99mm stanchions.
We'll have a full crew of photographers and videographers on the ground at Lourdes next week to gather all the latest DH tech bits they can find, which means it won't be long before you'll be able to see images and videos that don't look like they were shot on a potato and don't require any creative squinting to figure out if that's actually an extra pivot, or just a greasy smudge.
In the meantime, here's a round-up of what we're expecting to see when racing begins.
Revised Frame Designs
The latest version of the Trek Session racked up a string of World Cup victories last season underneath Loris Vergier, Reece Wilson, and Vali Holl. It looks like there's been some tinkering and tweaking going on since that last race of the season – several of Trek's athletes have been spotted on a version with a different chainstay configuration. The idler pulley is no longer enclosed inside the chainstay, an update that likely makes it easier to experiment with different pulley tooth counts, and improves its ability to deal with muddy conditions.
A more refined version of Commencal's unreleased DH bike was seen at the Portugal Cup. It uses the same six-bar layout that we covered last year, but doesn't appear to have quite as many linkage adjustment, possibly a sign that it's getting closer to production.
The latest version of Commencal's new DH machine.
Looks like a…
It wouldn't be a World Cup tech article without a mention of Intense's new DH bike, would it? The hype has been building around Jeff Steber's latest aluminum creation, which uses a high-pivot, four-bar suspension layout and an extra-long rocker arm. The appearance is polarizing, to say the least. To me, it looks like the love child of an Ellsworth Dare and a Cannondale Jekyll, but that's not going to matter in the slightest if it gets ridden to a podium position come race day.
Speaking of Intense, former Intense team member Neko Mulally is now on his own program, and will be riding a bike that he designed himself, and had built by East Coast legend Frank the Welder. Neko's been documenting the entire process, and it's been fascinating to watch the designing and testing progress. An injured finger looked like it was going to put a damper on Neko's plans, but things seem to be healing quicker than expected and Neko's planning to be in the lineup come race day.
New Helmets
I'll admit, I'm not the best at noticing new helmets. Amaury Pierron could be three feet away from me and I probably still wouldn't notice that he had on some new, never-seen-before full face. Thankfully, Matt Beer, my eagle-eyed co-worker, is much better at the helmet game, and in recent months he's noticed what appear to be new lids from Bell and Giro. Both brands are owned by the same parent company, which means the helmets likely share some similar technology, although they don't looks the same (even I can spot the differences).
Pirelli are sponsoring one of the three Canyon CLLCTV teams.
Kenda are working on a new downhill tire of their own.
Fresh Tires That Aren't From Maxxis or Schwalbe
A Sharpie is a mechanic's best friend on the World Cup circuit, especially when it comes to hiding the hot patches on tires that aren't sponsor-correct. Maxxis and Schwalbe currently rule the roost when it comes to DH podium appearances, although there's a handful of other brands working to come up with competitive tread patterns and rubber compounds of their own.
Continental, Pirelli, Kenda, Specialized, and e*thirteen have been not-so-subtly hinting that they have new tires in the works, and I'm sure that all of those brands have dreams of kicking off the season with some solid results.
All the Idlers
The high(ish) pivot party is still in full swing, and it looks like Mondraker and Cube are planning to join in. Danny Hart was spotted riding an aluminum-framed Cube with a higher main pivot location than the current model, while Mondraker took a slightly different route and bolted an idler pulley onto their existing Summum. Now, it takes more than slapping on an idler to get the much-touted rearward axle path that true high pivot designs deliver, but the idler could help reduce the effects of the bike's fairly high anti-squat values.
We'll also likely see OChain's Active Spider show up on even more bikes. The actual influence of pedal kickback, especially during a high speed DH run is up for debate (Seb Stott digs into it here), but downhill racers can be a particular bunch, and even if the benefits of a product are more mental than anything else they're still benefits.
Fox's electronically controlled shock.
Blackbox suspension from RockShox.
More Electronics & New Suspension
Last year we saw Myriam Nicole and Greg Minnaar aboard bikes that appeared to have electronically controlled suspension from Fox, likely some sort of remote compression adjustment that could be used to firm up the shock on the fly. The Lourdes DH track does have some smoother sections in between the rocky (and more than likely slippery) steep portions, so it could be a course where this feature might come in handy.
Fox isn't the only suspension brand with electronics up their sleeve – Loic Bruni and Ohlins have been experimenting with something on his Specialized Demo for the last two years, but we haven't been able to get a good look underneath that carbon shroud, at least not yet.
As for RockShox, while they already have a publicly available electronic suspension system available in the form of Flight Attendant, it doesn't appear that it's going to be used in the DH race world. However, it does look like an updated Boxxer is likely on the way, and the new coil shock that we first saw last year is back for more racing action.
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83 Comments
Captain?
But seriously, increasing your output threshold with the help of PEDs would absolutely give an advantage to riders. Staying pinned is easier when you’re less exhausted.
If Loic's black box suspension helped a great deal we would have heard about it already, the tech didn't make Finn much faster because it's all a mental game at the top level, tech matters, but only if you don't have it. And that advantage only last's one or two race's when it comes to technology.
They're just warming up.
It’s actually hard to think of a skill sport more suited to drugs. There are just SO many very high level physiological requirements (constant sprint and recovery, extreme unpredictable whole body strength demands, and long enough to utilize all 4 energy pathways) that it’s practically impossible to be elite in all the places you need to be.