While the crew on the ground gets all the details on the full bike check stories (coming soon, promise!), I thought it'd be interesting to compare some more general stats about each rider's bike at Rampage. If we do this again in 2023, what do you think will have changed year over year?
2 mini mullets in our stable, both very fun bikes. One full mullet but not sold on the 29er front myself. It has great rollover but requires a lot of setting up for tight twisty berms which I feel can go wrong very quickly if get off line.
@bat-fastard: Agree on the 29 mullet ,love the confidence it gives on the steeps but for the twisties I opt to bump my fork 20mm and run a 27.5. It seems that all of the corners in the local trails have gotten wider in the last few years or so with the popularity of the 29er IMHO. Maybe the ebikes are contributing too.
Tons of riders rode clips the first few years. Greg Minnaar, Steve Peat, Greg Smith, Chris O'Driscoll, and I'm pretty sure Cedric Gracia won RAMPAGE!!! on clips in 2003.
@TEAM-ROBOT: because they didn’t have to do all the tricks to win back then. Same reason the “freeracers” are pretty much extinct at Rampage now too. (This is not a complaint, I don’t actually mind the evolution as much as some others do. But I’ll never forget how smooth and fast Gee rode the course back in the day.)
@tomamitai: had completely forgotten this! Wish we could see it again, the last time he had an invite all the border stuff totally scuttled him, such a shame
@Venturebikes: I don't know if doing a single rampage is necessarily more or less dangerous than competing in a whole season of world cup DHs plus hardline. There are videos of him hitting 80 foot gaps as a 10 year old. I am sure with his talent he charts his own path.
Pretty sure the rider in the first photo is Ethan Nell, not Dylan Stark. Dual crown with a super short stem, not a single crown with a 50mm stem. Plus the custom paint job on the frame.
Proof that 29 isn't the most ideal for everything. Normal people should be able to buy 26/27 options of DH and enduro bikes setup from the factory. If you're going to reply "but normal people don't need freeride bikes" I'm sorry your local riding scene sucks
I feel like a noob with this, but why are most people running tubes? Seems like everything nowadays is tubeless at least on trail bikes and enduro bikes. Heck, I thought all DH riders run tubeless most with inserts too. Is this specific to freeride?
if you get a pinch on a tube and its a slow leak you can hopefully still make it down. Tubeless your run is over instantly. these guys are running like 40-50psi I believe...its not about traction its about making it down
Tubes NEVER burp....
with the impacts an stresses these riders are putting into the wheels the last thing they want is to burp out all they air half way through a Rampage run
simple
Tubeless is great for lowering tire pressure to get more grip and smoothen out the ride, this kinda falls under the same logic of having bigger wheels, both makes sense and works great for typical offroading, but not for freeriding, especially Rampage. Generally with tubeless the chances of burping caused by sideway landing and hopping into a spin gets higher along with the increasement of tire pressure as there's nothing to actually "grab" the tire on the rim, while traditional inner tube and hooked rim design has proven to be working better in this scenario. And since riders need higher pressure for easier spins and protecting the rim from those insane landings at Rampage, and Rampage is barely anything about cornering speed and that 0.01 sec gain due to more grip anyways, it's logical to go with tubes.
They say sixty-five percent of all statistics
Are made up right there on the spot
Eighty-two-point-four percent of people believe 'em
Whether they're accurate statistics or not
I don't know what you believe
But I do know there's no doubt
I need another double-shot of something ninety-proof
I got too much to think about
Fox took all of the non-race athletes and moved them to the Marzocchi program. It might be worth a look at these charts if Fox and Marzocchi were lumped into the same slice of pie.
Think only 1 dude is on Fox and it's Nell. Believe he and Bienve are the only 2 on Fox right now and it's not because of direct support from Fox.
When Fox switched to Marzocchi they lost a few riders too. TVS. Zink. Rheeder.
I'm curious how many of these guys don't have suspension sponsors. Few of them are running blacked out forks and I don't see any fork company being o.k. with that. Example being Sorge... he skirted the RS comments but talked about the Push insert... so I'd think Push is supporting him and RS is not.
That would be awesome! Top five most shit talking commenters finally have a chance to walk the talk. Maybe get a funeral home on board as a sponsor or something
I’d love to hear a breakdown from at least 1 rider from each gear count category explain how they settled on their choices. I’m sure different lines have different demands etc and it would be interesting to hear the professional detail their decision.
I can tell you that many of those choices were based on sponsorship.
But it also tells you that if someone says one brand is night and day, or you have to have a coil to go big, etc. they are full o'crap.
@ICKYBOD: I feel that freeride athletes, at least at this level, choose their sponsors more than other top level mountain bikers. Racers tend to be on teams with a group of sponsors where the freeride guys are more of free agents. Not going to say that money and perks aren't a factor in that decision, but a lot of people rep the brands they like.
Semenuk diggin till dark ?? Dudes hard core, hope hes.Got some gas left in the tank after last week n all. Not to jinx em or nothin (i hate white rabbits) but If for whatever reason he doesn’t take the win that’s gonna make things a bit more interesting. Whooos it gonna be??
They might not like the extra weight in the wheels. Alternatively I doubt they use inserts for day to day riding, so there is probably an element of sticking to what you're used to as well
@fewnofrwgijn: Not sure where you get your info - i9's ride great, look great, and are absolutely bombproof, especially the aluminum spokes. Some folks might say the aluminum spokes ride a bit harsh, but I doubt those people ride off cliffs and want the strongest wheelsets available.
Should have kept the brand colors consistent in the fork and shock pie charts. (I see that the colors are selected based on sort high-low) Otherwise very interesting!
@Mac1987: Tires at the pro level are heavily dictated by sponsorship. The real issue with non-maxxis tires where I am is distribution. I can go into any local shop and get exactly the Maxxis tire I want, but try and find the Michelin exact specs is pretty hard.
Fox pushed their freeride riders to Marzocchi a few years back. The fox rider (didn’t look it up) is likely under a different sponsorship (racing/ambassador) model or not beholden to a suspension brand.
from what i’ve heard, fox is kinda more race suspension and marz is mainly freeride. Makes sense too, marz was always known as the more freeridey brand out of all of them
I think the data point that surprised me the most was the rear shock air vs coil ratio. I thought for sure these guys would all be on coils with how big the hits are!
Tubeless is cool until you are riding tech rocky terrain. These boys are just concerned with spinning off giant groomed takeoffs down to silly far down groomed landings.
@cougar797: Gonna have to disagree. Basically everyone I know here in the AZ desert runs tubeless. The rocky terrain here constantly gives ya pinch flats when running tubes. Not to mention all of the vegetation here has pokey things. Tubes are worthless here, unless ya have ones with sealant and run at least 30PSI all the time. I ditched tubes 15 years ago with no plans of ever going back.
@tmwjr777: tubeless is great for racing and mortals. These dudes are not concerned with traction. Probably max psi to deal with side impacts without blowing the tire off the bead.
@tmwjr777: Yep your absolutely right. I mixed up tubed and tubeless while typing. We all run tubeless, inserts, and tons of sealant here too. Sorry all for being a dumbass.
@stubs179: I think your right. I still don’t understand how they don’t pinch tubes on those landings though. They look so heavy. I can’t imagine rims aren’t finding ground even with high PSI.
@stubs179: Right, I get that. Rampage is about absorbing huge impacts more than traction for cornering. But for the rest of us, tubeless makes WAY more sense in my opinion. I went from having like 8-10 flats a year to maybe once a year when I ditched tubes.
Because despite what marketing departments and your favorite YouTuber might say, there are definitely situations where a smaller wheel is better (stronger).
There are two factors. One is strength, the other is "how hard is it to rotate in the air." If you're trying to do tailwhips with your single crown DH rig, a 26er wheel is ideal.
By the way, that's the same reason people are running tubes. Less likely to explode when a spin is over-rotated. Turns out free ride is a different world.
@WaterBear: Exactly man. Though entertaining to watch, Rampage, Fest series, etc. is on another level that 99% of us can't even relate to and some Pinkbikers don't want to admit it apparently.
Not sure why there's still so may riders riding RockShox Boxxers...
Anyone whose ridden those skinny 35 mm stanchions on anything remotely dh knows that it's incredibly sketchy. I'm normally a RS guy but Fox 40 takes the W in the DH fork dept.
(No this was not serious)
(sarcasm lock on)
Whooos it gonna be??
Rider Ready!!
Anyone got an idea abtou that ratio?
Any monster riders? Or rockstar?
that's the funniest shit!!
:'D
By the way, that's the same reason people are running tubes. Less likely to explode when a spin is over-rotated. Turns out free ride is a different world.
No, Manitou Dorado.