Chrome Surprise for LapierreHow do you stoke out some of the fastest racers in the world who already have the best of the best when it comes to bikes? You take that gear and come up with some very special, one-off paint jobs (
or lack of paint jobs in this case) and designs that are based on the rider's national colours, of course. This is why Loic Bruni and Loris Vergier were clearly a bit disappointed when they showed up to the Lapierre Gravity Republic pits and found their regular yellow and black team bikes waiting for them rather than the custom rides they were anticipating. The joke was on them, though, because the team had prepared special Worlds bikes but wanted to surprise both the riders on the morning of the first practice.
Loic's mechanic, Jack, had spent the previous six weeks hand polishing the frame until he could use it as a mirror, keeping the whole thing secret until it was done, and Bruni's reaction pretty much says it all. Loris' bike is more traditional and less likely to blind anyone standing on the side of track, but it's still sporting custom French colours, and both racers are in custom ONE Industries kit that go with their bikes and the French flag.
Casey Brown's 26" Wheeled BergamontBergamont are working on a new downhill bike that's a pretty big departure from
the Straitline that's currently in their catalog. The all-black machine pictured here is Canadian Casey Brown's 26'' wheeled bike (
the rest of the team are on 27.5" wheels), and it employs a relatively simple single pivot swing arm with a compact linkage tucked up under the seat tube to alter the leverage rate. Nothing groundbreaking, but it's likely built around more progressive geometry than the Straitline features, and clearly uses a very different suspension layout compared to the concentric axle pivot and large rocker link on the current production bike.
MENTIONS: @Lapierre-Bikes /
@BergamontBicycles
27.5 and moreover - 29: please, don't disturb.
edit: correction---you pinkbike armchair commenters that are literally dads with a hobby. Pretty much guarantee you don't have what it takes to tell the difference, while the folks who sacrifice it all go live at a bike park for the season, who ride more then you ever will on your occasional weekend trip with "the guys from work" still ride the shit out of 26" and rip trails up better then you ever could.
you're also a perfect consumer, cody. keep thinking that that new whatever is going to make you fast, and keep discount-selling your like-new bikes to better riders. we thank you to your face and joke about you after you leave in your Cadillac Escalade (ok maybe that's a reach. call it literary license )
maybe you could get over your smug self and acknowledge that Anchoricex has a very valid point: the vast majority of riders need dedication and the skills that follow far more than they need some new bike or new wheel size. and the vast majority of riders speak authoritatively about all things bike while in actuality they can't ride worth a damn.
BTW, this Spring I quit my job as a professional and I'm spending the entire season at Whistler. I could have been (was) you but chose something better.
Incidentally hating on dads is like cutting your nose of to spite your face.
Dad probably funded your bikes, took you to the parks and encouraged you to bike.
Who cares if dad can afford a flash bike, you probably wouldn't want it cheap of him if the wheels are wrong. Right?
i aint hatin on the 27.5, but if you cant smoke trails on either size, you aint got no place to be judgin' (out loud on public forums, anyway haha ).
Anyway @anchorichex happy shredding. You may see me on my 26 inch sled one day, but you'll probably not say hi as you are far too cool
It's obvious to anyone with common sense that you were figuatively spesking when using the dad reference, as a metaphor for people who have no skills and a brand new 650b DH bike and do nothing but talk shit on pinkbike.
Pretty funny/sad that some father would resort to namecalling and picking on a kid on the internet.
Weve all seen noobs on trick bikes and we all start somewhere.
Yes biking is a hobby
And yes dads do get pissy when the suggestion is we are not worthy
More back to the origional point. No one gives two f**ks about wheel size anymore.
It just won a world championship ????
years ago, I frank N bike'd some 69ers with 29er front and a 26" rear --- ok, those had slightly weird steering but they were just left-over parts so, I didn't care
www.pinkbike.com/news/liteville-601-mk-2-review-2015.html
Oh, and lol at the "homophobic loser" bit - and have one on me on that; I always upvote the experts!...
Cheers!
MotoGP uses different size wheels at each end of the bike. front wheel is larger diameter, doesn't need as much rubber to get the same size contact patch. Also, their rear wheels have to stand up to ridiculous amounts of power without breaking traction, compared with bicycles.
Unkle Dave on NSMB seemed to think + was the beez kneez
Have you ever noticed that mud tires run really narrow and tall? That's so they rip through the mud and bite into the ground.
Its actually really simple to think about for dh racers. Consider the video of that bmx guy freeriding that fat bike in a bike park earlier this year. It looked really fun, but it also turned like a motorboat. Its really not too different from using powder skis vs racing skis. Yes, powder skis have their place, where they absolutely excel, but if you are trying to carve turns quickly, a race ski is going to bite better and lock into the snow with more control. Not to mention with dh... sniping narrow gaps betweens rocks, trees and roots is necessary as well.
If you rolled a tire down a hill and rolled a ball down a hill, the tire is more likely to fall over and turn. The ball just wouldn't turn well. I'd rather have a car tire than a ball for a front wheel, and when you size it down, it works the same way.
To be clear, I have a 27.5+ wheelset for my 29er. Funnily enough, it corners just fine, though it does feel VERY different.