Fabio Wibmer Announces Departure From Specialized

132 Comments

276 4

steviestokes FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:31)

IS ANYONE RIDING FOR ANYONE IN 2020?!?!?!?!..........

70 0

anotherstoneinthewoods (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:36)

Sam Hill isn't moving teams. So at least one

24 4

cwatt (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:03)

I logged-in just to ‘like’ this post.

39 0

tobiusmaximum (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:17)

the year of the pro-vateer?

28 1

loamaddict (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:13)

Barelli will Shred his Commencal again in 2020!!

Lone-Wolf-Productions (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:44)

William Robert off Commencal too.

53 3

niconj (Dec 30, 2019 at 16:23)

I‘ll still be running my Santa Cruz.

15 44

scott-townes (Dec 30, 2019 at 19:05) (Below Threshold)

Good lord.... PB is just covering anyone leaving a sponsor this year. Its nothing new. PB is just ramping up their BS team swap coverage which doesn't mean squat.

juanes91dh (Dec 30, 2019 at 19:33)

hahahahaha

48 5

vjunior21 (Dec 30, 2019 at 21:14)

This just in. Prototype XC rear triangles off of the trail bike front triangle for 2020.

Rear triangle statement:

Goodbye and thank you Pole trail frame front triangle! It's been an honor riding, during the PB bike review, for such a supportive front end! We've accomplished very little together and it’s been an unbelievable journey. Thank you Pole for believing in me for such a short period of time! It’s now time to move on and although I am crushed and broken, I’m super excited to be redesigned in 2020.

CnynSndr (Dec 30, 2019 at 23:23)

So... I’ll just be... sitting here... just chillin... with no sponsors... yay

xmicherx (Dec 31, 2019 at 7:50)

I still ride for myself in 2020.

rustyhorse (Dec 31, 2019 at 9:15)

Lay off employees that we've staffed with all of our Family and Friends or let go of a super star Global Rider? Sorry Fabio Nepotism wins every time with these companies...

rustyhorse (Dec 31, 2019 at 9:16)

@xmicherx: Following...

CentralVTMTB (Dec 31, 2019 at 9:46)

I'm riding for myself. which is what we all should be doing. Does that answer your question?

filmdrew (Dec 31, 2019 at 10:42)

My undies are no longer riding for OneUp

drjonnywonderboy (Jan 2, 2020 at 4:23)

@anotherstoneinthewoods: Good to know I will be riding the fastest enduro bike in the world x4 then

145 4

steelpolish (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:41)

Next: Gee Atherton is off of Atherton Bikes...

17 0

WasatchEnduro (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:43)

How baller would it be tho if Atherton picked up Fabio?!?!

30 1

karoliusz (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:49)

@WasatchEnduro: that would be cracking news

45 0

BenPea (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:51)

These articles are becoming an infinite feedback loop, with comments recycling themselves through new brains. Something needs to end 2019 fast.

rjrx (Dec 30, 2019 at 16:17)

@WasatchEnduro: that'd be sick...Gee do it mon...sign that lad up.

10 0

Gassymagee (Dec 30, 2019 at 17:25)

I can’t think of a better way to show people how strong their fabrication method is than to get someone like Fabio thrashing those bikes

11 3

taskmgr (Dec 30, 2019 at 17:43)

Yt has the $ for fab

dookiehill (Dec 30, 2019 at 20:13)

@WasatchEnduro: if they picked up Fabio and dropped gee ????????

konamat (Dec 30, 2019 at 23:52)

@BenPea: I was just thinking the same, I read the same comments on every team related posts lately..

neimbc (Dec 31, 2019 at 3:51)

@Gassymagee: Exactly- must have bike brands scared he 'll break their frames. That's never good press.

TheBearDen FL (Dec 31, 2019 at 7:25)

@BenPea: I mean.... Time moves pretty quick...

the-burd (Dec 31, 2019 at 9:42)

@WasatchEnduro: No doubt he would break those things.

brodoyouevenbike (Dec 31, 2019 at 11:18)

@makripper: First thought too.

56 1

Andypanda82 (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:33)

Heard he is starting his own brand of bikes specially designed for hammering flights of stairs

85 0

mtbmaniatv FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:47)

called the stairmaster... wait

11 1

rideitall-bmx-dh-road-unicycle (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:48)

maybe they'll start with one that doesn't bottom into the seat every hit

5afety3rd (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:58)

@mtbmaniatv: FBM already did that

21 0

pargolf8 (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:28)

Peloton bikes look promising..

10 0

felimocl (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:11)

I heard he's going to .243 racing and developing a new triple clamp dj

sdurant12 (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:21)

@rideitall-bmx-dh-road-unicycle: is that what the sound was on basically every landing in urban freeride 3?

daugherd FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:32)

@felimocl: deep cut

BEERandSPOKES (Dec 30, 2019 at 16:33)

@felimocl: Thor Wixom's JIB 3 Fabio Edition!!!

tbell1979 (Dec 31, 2019 at 11:28)

@mtbmaniatv: ha!

rideitall-bmx-dh-road-unicycle (Jan 2, 2020 at 8:34)

@sdurant12: yes.... so crazy they didn't fix it haha

brassinne (Jan 2, 2020 at 8:38)

So...Brooklyn Machine Works?

36 0

chri92 FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:36)

We'll see a lot of canyon gaps and big senders. Maybe he'll get some stitches too

5afety3rd (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:59)

maybe even shift him into shape

BenParfitterole FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 16:57)

@5afety3rd: love it

shawnca7 FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 17:45)

It does seem like he strives to get better.

Angu58 (Dec 30, 2019 at 18:14)

Whatever bike he is on, it will have to put up with a lot of torque.

rrolly (Dec 31, 2019 at 5:38)

All we know is that Specialized is Fabioless. Great, just great.

35 0

learningcycles (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:57)

For Sale 2019 Specialized Demo. Never seen dirt. Pro owner, mechanic serviced.

27 2

Rhymer (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:44)

Moving to Brooklyn Machine Works.

29 6

WAKIdesigns (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:01)

He’d need to grow beard first...

onemanarmy FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:08)

@WAKIdesigns: so good. Lol

TheBearDen FL (Dec 31, 2019 at 7:26)

@WAKIdesigns: he could call up Jordan from Sick Bikes and ask if he still plans to move forward with that Kickstarter bike...

19 0

RedBurn (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:06)

2020, MTB STOPS EXISTING

16 0

nyhc00 (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:54)

2020 is the return of Iron Horse bikes and Fabio is their first rider!!

10 0

brianpark FL Editor (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:56)

I ship this.

25 7

WAKIdesigns (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:02)

Iron Horse Some Day

taskmgr (Dec 30, 2019 at 17:44) (Below Threshold)

Please no. Iron horse was over rated

Kacus88 (Dec 31, 2019 at 0:36)

@makripper: you know nothing!!! Iron horse for fun and off cambers

Sick bike

vinay FL (Dec 31, 2019 at 7:06)

Sam Hill may have been on a modified Sunday but I think Adam Brayton was on the stock bike and he got along quite well (considering his part in the Earthed 3 video).

taskmgr (Dec 31, 2019 at 8:00)

@Kacus88: have you owned a Sunday or any of their bikes? The maintenance was horrendous. Also heavy af. It's the rider not the bike

12 0

MaksVraz (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:14)

Fabio Wibmer signs with Karpiel Bikes and helps create a looooooong travel stair-hucking dual shock freeride rig together with Josh Bender Imagine that

11 0

tacklingdummy (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:34)

All the pros leaving want to be part of the Pinkbike 2020 Privateer series.

13 1

onebikeman (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:03)

Santa Cruz...with Danny?

loamaddict (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:13)

my money on this!

funkzander (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:20)

would be sick but why would they want two similar riders in their rooster? one danny is enough ... or a triple threat with danny, fabio and chris akrigg

Gravity-Fiend (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:49)

@funkzander: but isn't the DH team essentially that...?

funkzander (Dec 30, 2019 at 16:55)

@Gravity-Fiend: besides the popular dh team

blacktea FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 23:43) (Below Threshold)

Danny who?

vinay FL (Dec 31, 2019 at 7:09)

2019 isn't over (at least over here) so chances are Danny MacAskil still lelaves SC before Fabio joins.

Crisskan FL (Dec 31, 2019 at 4:24)

Not that anyone really cares but I will be moving on from my trusted YT Capra (for sale in January) to ride a Lapierre Spicy Fit 8.0 for 2020.

Happy New Year everyone at Pinkbike and thank you for yet another year of world class reading and viewing material!

Staktup (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:36)

Mongoose doesn’t have deeper pockets than Spesh, right?

Wibmer is SICK!

vinay FL (Dec 31, 2019 at 7:08)

Not sure. The margins on cheap bikes are much bigger than they are on expensive bikes.

MeLikeBike90 (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:35)

It seems everytime i log onto pb someone quit lol

25 0

Wozza-nz FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:55)

So you're to blame?

MeLikeBike90 (Dec 30, 2019 at 17:06)

@Wozza-nz: lol

jawz (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:35)

i feel like all these announcements could just be made on one post....this is getting ridiculous

taskmgr (Dec 30, 2019 at 18:22)

Clickbait is real.

DutchmanPhotos (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:06)

I heard he signed with Husqvarna to ride their Emtb’s...

YellowFlowers (Dec 31, 2019 at 11:38)

I think its YT. After droping so many pros it would make total sense to have someone ride there bikes who has an huge influence on the kids and then buy a YT

losidan (Dec 31, 2019 at 15:54)

Losidan has announced he is parting ways with Kona bikes. In a statement on his insta page “the last four years have been amazing and I thank kona for letting me pay full RRP on their bikes”

When asked what the future holds “depends what’s in the january sales really”

vinay FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:41)

So, no more Specialized bikes. More riding on the Inspired bike and for the rest everything on the bike from "Out of Mind".

dark-o (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:14)

I wish the UCI would say Goodbye to mtb

nozes (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:30)

Any alternative comes to mind?

indobiker (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:44)

He's coming for Mongoose.

Will-narayan (Dec 30, 2019 at 16:54)

As someone says on "that other site", I wonder if the market is saturated or if these are early signs of recession, as in this case marketing budgets are the first to get slashed.

taskmgr (Dec 30, 2019 at 17:46)

Economic slowdown is already happening globally but mtb is never hit that hard. It's a small market

swan3609 (Dec 30, 2019 at 23:34)

Want to know where the market is going?

Ebikes.

Specialized Turbo line is out selling all their other bike lines except for mountain bikes.. And that gap is closing fast too.

DDoc (Dec 31, 2019 at 17:17)

The world has been in a recession since 2001. We are seeing the short term effects of central bank money printing diminish and salaries cannot keep up with the cost of living. it's called stagflation -same shit world wide. Bike companies hardly make money anyway and sponsors have better places to invest their money. unfortunate.

fuzzydunlop (Dec 30, 2019 at 21:33)

Will be interesting to see which company is willing to see their bike destroyed in front of 5 million + youtube viewers

onemind123 (Dec 30, 2019 at 22:08)

Won't be Rocky

RowdyAirTime (Dec 31, 2019 at 9:39)

@onemind123: I agree, won't be Rocky or Pole the way Fabio rides lol. I believe his last video spelled the end of his relationship with Specialized or maybe his contract already ended and this was his last Specialized video (so he decided to go all out). Will be interesting to see which bike company will take the chance with Wibmer, or maybe they will have some more strict rules for him and his videos (the rewards could be worthwhile, as long as he does not break their bikes). I do know he won't be doing the "huck to flat" videos for PB, as none of the bikes may not survive...lol

blacktea FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 23:42)

In and out but will any company support Denim Destroyer?

lncorgnito (Dec 31, 2019 at 5:29)

Levi's

Connerv6 (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:16)

Hear me out guys Fabio = SICK! = Sick = bike company

cool3 FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:55)

I'm inclined to think the same -- Fabio is so big now that I would not be surprised to see him create his own bike brand.

rrolly (Dec 31, 2019 at 5:36)

@cool3: He can build a brand around the romance novel circa 1980 with names like the L'amour, Scandalous, and Lover's Bluff.

pinkdog321 (Dec 30, 2019 at 16:22)

Commencal is stocking up!!!

blackapturphoto FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 17:18)

Gabriel Wibmers cousin just ended with the big S

sethius (Dec 30, 2019 at 21:07)

Hyper finally ready to release their bikes for 2020. Walmart stair hucks coming up!

dontcoast (Dec 30, 2019 at 21:13)

Wonder if the last video with the broken bikes and security scrambles had anything to do with it?

ORAORA (Dec 30, 2019 at 22:59)

Or maybe he knew the contract wouldn’t be prolonged and went all in for that movie? Conspiracies everywhere

dontcoast (Dec 31, 2019 at 11:56)

@ORAORA: Sounds quite likely, good perspective.

wilbur FL (Dec 31, 2019 at 0:47)

I'm pretty sure "SANTA" came with a deep pocket gift this year ;-)

Beez177 (Dec 31, 2019 at 8:48)

What ever happened to loyalty. Stupid to get rid of this guy, his edit are money!

nevertoofast (Jan 2, 2020 at 7:17)

bender sent Fabio a dm after that stair hucking video and said bruh you n I need to have a yerba mate and talk...

tabletop-master-ls (Dec 30, 2019 at 18:49)

New freeride bike company everyone is porting over to?

JackStephen (Dec 30, 2019 at 17:48)

Too many broken bikes?

jimwoodmac FL (Dec 31, 2019 at 5:27)

Sponsored by Atherton bikes. I'd like to know when one could even buy one?..

lance-h FL (Dec 31, 2019 at 12:10)

Email them, they are starting production

MikeBikerson (Jan 1, 2020 at 15:14)

5 years is really long for a demo ride

simekfilip (Jan 3, 2020 at 7:56)

Good one

loamaddict (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:14)

Big move for Wibmer.... $$$$$$$$$$$ (is that enough $$$ signs???)

owlie (Dec 30, 2019 at 17:36)

I'm betting this was Fabio's decision.

endurojeff29bzh (Dec 30, 2019 at 22:29)

Well he broke a lot of them in Paris ... hahahaaa

Lornholio (Dec 30, 2019 at 23:26)

Can we have a "Racing rumours" option in the news settings filters please?

Lornholio (Dec 30, 2019 at 23:54)

...or just tag these articles "Racing" as well.

daretoplay (Dec 30, 2019 at 19:08)

My money on Santa Cruz!

BigE-Rosen (Dec 30, 2019 at 18:11)

Breaking news: The Athertons part ways from Atherton bikes

betsie (Jan 2, 2020 at 1:26)

I get the satire behind your comment. Shame others dont.

BigE-Rosen (Jan 3, 2020 at 20:35)

@betsie: thank you ahaha

FRKA (Dec 31, 2019 at 1:05)

Scott for sure...

Arin (Dec 31, 2019 at 1:52)

Welcome to Canyon bikes.

Bstimndl (Dec 31, 2019 at 4:15)

Canyon 100%

Below threshold threads are hidden

12 19

rideitall-bmx-dh-road-unicycle (Dec 30, 2019 at 13:47)

Clearly it is because specialized can't build/setup a bike for him that doesn't bottom out... bothered me a lot about urban freeride 3... bike nonstop bottoming & buzzing the seat. raise the seat man it made the video sound all messed up haha.

67 0

noahr2011 (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:22)

generally when you jump 25 stairs to flat bikes bottom out

38 1

jaame (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:24)

@noahr2011: it's just a setup issue. He went for the 550 pound spring and he should have gone for the 6000 lbs...

2-1RacingUK FL (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:21)

How about tuning your suspension for the task. It’s not the frames fault if it moves through the travel. You’ll spend loads of cash on a bike, yet you won’t spend 200-300 of whatever currency to spec it properly.

zyoungson (Dec 30, 2019 at 15:43)

Its a dh race bike not a huck machine. Go back to 2003

krashDH85 (Dec 30, 2019 at 20:29)

@2-1RacingUK: I beg to differ. Tuning your suspension involves being able to use all of the travel. All of the travel means being dangerously close to using all the geometry the bike is capable of. It's going to happen. Raise the seat or move it forward a tad, it's not an uphill bike that needs sit down pedaling erganomics. Why but a 203mm bike if you're running it for 170 mm of travel so the seat doesn't touch? Seats are wear items!

lightsgetdimmer (Dec 30, 2019 at 21:35)

@noahr2011: bmx never bottoms out

Kimura (Dec 30, 2019 at 14:13)

Whats with all this lame shit?