Racing Rumors 2.0 - What's Left

Kelley may not be winning international enduro events, yet the North American has a massive following thanks to his endless style and a big presence on social media. Those two points have made Kelley a crowd favorite during his last few years on the Yeti-Fox Factory Team program, but his last two Instagram posts have consisted of a thank you/farewell to Yeti and a cryptic post referencing the EWS and inviting guesses as to what kind of bike he'll be on in 2018.

Predictions? We've heard that we'll see Cody, along with Anneke Beerten, racing aboard Alchemy's 150mm-travel Arktos at both national and international enduro events next year. Alchemy is a Colorado-based boutique brand who makes most (but not all) of their frames in their Denver facility, and while I wouldn't have pictured the relatively small-sized company supporting an EWS team, it sounds like that could be the case.

Mike Anderson, Madison Saracen Press Officer, declined to comment when I questioned him about Hart joining their UK team late last year, but multiple sources say that Hart actually signed up to ride the all-carbon Myst awhile ago, and an official announcement is probably only a few days away.

As I said earlier, I'd be surprised if we didn't also see a press release from Mondraker in the near future to announce the signing of Brook Macdonald to the team that helped him to his sole World Cup victory in Val d'Isère back in 2012.

The Scottish racer hasn't had an easy time over the past few seasons, with injuries and surgeries keeping Ruaridh from showing the skills that he obviously has in spades. The now healthy Ruaridh recently made one of those "thanks for everything" Instagram posts about leaving Canyon and all signs point towards him being on a Trek and doing some Enduro World Series races in 2018. So, is this another fast racer turning his back on World Cup downhill to focus on stage racing as Sam Hill did? I wouldn't be surprised.

That means that there's an open spot at Canyon, and it seems likely that it's going to be filled by one of the most under-rated guys on the circuit: Florian Nicolai. Flying Flo has spent the last few years on a Rocky Mountain but, despite being one of the best bike handlers in the biz, top results never really came his way. Now that he's left Rocky Mountain, it'd make sense if Flo ended up on a Canyon in 2018.

Giant's World Cup efforts have long been supported by the SRAM/RockShox consortium, but there are rumors going around that 2018 will see their factory riders with anodized green forks and shocks bolted to their bikes. DVO has some serious financial backing yet is still a relatively small (and respected) player in the suspension world compared to Fox and RockShox, but having their products on the World Cup stage is a smart way to further the brand's stock. I also have a shiny Canadian toonie that says Giant will be using Shimano running gear as well.

Backing up these rumors is the fact that Reece Wallace, Giant's slope rider and all-around nice guy, has been posting photos of his own rigs shod with DVO's forks and shocks, thereby all but confirming the news.

Despite us having only a cursory first ride on their Everest downhill sled, Unno might just be the most interesting bike brand in the world right now due to their approach that, at least from the outside, looks to have more in common with a small-volume hypercar manufacturer than a company hoping to sell a load of bikes.

Cesar Rojo, the main man behind Unno, as well as a handful of other designs on the market, is taking a no-expenses-spared approach to design and production, and one of the results is their Everest downhill frame that's made in Barcelona, Spain, and retails for around €5500. If you forget about applicable duties and the like, that makes for a frame that costs roughly $6,600 USD.