Mathias Fluckinger's Prototype Radon - Mont-Sainte-Anne XC World Cup 2017

 You're better than that.

 Dude races with only one leg. It's flucking rad.

 His name is spelled 3 different ways in this post. The headline says Fluckinger, his quoted comment says Flueckiger, and the sticker on his bike says Fluckiger...

What the Fluck is going on here!?

 @NYShred: on the bike it's not a simple 'u' but a 'u umlaut' => 'ü'. 'ue' is the equivalent if the letter is not available.

 Well, it's left when viewed from the front of the bike

 @macross87: "drive side/ non drive" is a better description of the orientation of all components over all.

 Stupid

 That's gotta be typo, probably reversed.

 uphill traction?

 Better uphill traction, and xc handlebars are very low so it puts loads of weight on the front wheel on steep descents. More weight - more pressure....Hermida too rides with a little more pressure up front.

 @catelli: his bars are close to saddle height which isn't really low unless he has short arms. But the question was about tire pressure which was reported as less pressure at the rear than front. And they referred to pressure as bars. Which is atmospheres actually. One bar is about 15 psi? Is that right?

 @Someoldfart: 14.7psi

 @Someoldfart: yes roughly 20psi front / 17psi rear.I agree, his position is not extreme but the bars are lower than on a enduro bike, and xc bikes have much shorter front ends so weight is more on the front of the bike. A little more pressure up also makes the front end a little more firm, adding confidence on not burping/bitting on hard-hitting descents. I bet his fork is set up firmer than the rear end, too - this way he gets a stable platform for descending hard, and loads of traction on loose/technical uphills with suspension unlocked. On asphalt/smooth climbs he rides with suspension locked, so it doesn't change much. sorry fr the poor english -i'm from Brazil

 @catelli: bar drop from the saddle depends on the rider's build and perhaps limitations of the frame and components. On my Bronson I have my bars at close to saddle height. And I am not too bent over maybe 50 degrees? I a man 5'5". My friend's son who's 6'3" or something with long arms and legs has lots of drop. 10 cm or more on his Slash 29 with which he slays. He's a very good Enduro rider havering won his age categorie I think in Western Canada.

 Stiff.

 I want to know how they actually do it.

 MARGINAL (like maybe 1%) increase in wheel stiffness and the wheel tends to go less out of true if you break a spoke or nipple. I personally prefer twist lacing as it accomplishes the same result and visually looks much better.

 Its a little bit stiffer, and if one of the spokes break, it remains 'safe', tied and not hitting stays/fork

 @PHeller: www.urbanvelo.org/issue11/urbanvelo11_p70-71.html

 @deeeight: man I've not seen that done in years!!!!!

 @deeeight:
longer spokes= more weight

 @john65:

LOL...yeah... 5 grams... that's really going to punish me. Every wrap in the twist is 2mm more spoke length required. So a pair of wraps (which gives the classic snowflake look) times 64 spokes = 256mm, which is less than the weight of a single spoke.

 The stiffness thing was debunked over 2 decades ago by jobst brant.

 I would guess the extra power of the Trail brakes allows him to use a smaller rotor size, which saves more weight - unsprung, at that - than is gained by the Trail levers. Or maybe he's committed to the lighter 160 mm rotors and this just provides a little more power.

 +1
The fact that this company exists infuriates me, and even more so that people are somehow bamboozled into promoting them. In a field where the weight of an extra spoke or chain link matters, why adding a half dozen rubber and metal stickers with no legitimate scientific backing (lacking any empirical evidence of functionality) is a "good idea" baffles me.

 If they only had half way decent sidewalls

 The article says it is a "one off" made in Germany.