Two Pro Bikes from Downhill Southeast - Windrock II 2020
Christopher Grice's Specialized Demo
After becoming the 15-16 US Downhill National Champion for two years running, Christopher Grice joined Loic Bruni and Finn Iles on the Specialized Gravity Team for what would have been his first year racing in elites. With World Cup racing on hold, Christopher has been getting some extra training time in and finished with an impressive fourth place in the elite race.
The 17 year old from Asheville, NC is riding the Specialized Demo for 2020 with a whole host of top level componenetry. Christopher's race bike for 2020 features Ohlins suspension front and rear, with a 388lb spring. For tire pressures, Christopher is running 21 psi up front and 24 psi in the rear, although he says that he sin't too picky about bike setup and just prefers to ride rather than focus on the details. We'll see how long that lasts when the Specialized Gravity team start strapping their telemtry to his frame as World Cup racing begins again.
Frida Rønning's Commencal Supreme
Although we have yet to see much racing this year, Frida Rønning already has a couple of wins under her belt with back to back DHSE victories at Windrock.
For 2020, the Norweigan rider is rocking a Commencal Supreme with Rockshox providing the suspension duties front and rear. So far she has found the bike to be extremely stable through rough terrain and at high speeds, more so than other bikes she has ridden. Frida is also running a coil out back using a 450lbs spring, she's paired this with 118 psi in her Rockshox Boxxer. For tires she has opted for the classic combo of a Maxxis Minion DHF on the front and a DHRII for the rear, these are running on Factor Components hubs, laced to NOX rims that she chooses for their apparent durability.
After becoming the 15-16 US Downhill National Champion for two years running, Christopher Grice joined Loic Bruni and Finn Iles on the Specialized Gravity Team for what would have been his first year racing in elites. With World Cup racing on hold, Christopher has been getting some extra training time in and finished with an impressive fourth place in the elite race.
The 17 year old from Asheville, NC is riding the Specialized Demo for 2020 with a whole host of top level componenetry. Christopher's race bike for 2020 features Ohlins suspension front and rear, with a 388lb spring. For tire pressures, Christopher is running 21 psi up front and 24 psi in the rear, although he says that he sin't too picky about bike setup and just prefers to ride rather than focus on the details. We'll see how long that lasts when the Specialized Gravity team start strapping their telemtry to his frame as World Cup racing begins again.
Fork Pressure: 100psi upper chamber / 185 psi lower chamber. 388 lb spring in rear.
Frida Rønning's Commencal Supreme
Although we have yet to see much racing this year, Frida Rønning already has a couple of wins under her belt with back to back DHSE victories at Windrock.
For 2020, the Norweigan rider is rocking a Commencal Supreme with Rockshox providing the suspension duties front and rear. So far she has found the bike to be extremely stable through rough terrain and at high speeds, more so than other bikes she has ridden. Frida is also running a coil out back using a 450lbs spring, she's paired this with 118 psi in her Rockshox Boxxer. For tires she has opted for the classic combo of a Maxxis Minion DHF on the front and a DHRII for the rear, these are running on Factor Components hubs, laced to NOX rims that she chooses for their apparent durability.
Photos by Mack Faint
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55 Comments
That's the great thing about the telemetry. Riders can just ride, mechanics can adjust based on the numbers. A racer who doesn't focus on the details can only go so far. If you don't care about tire pressure or choice, you're going to be f*cked on a super-rocky course or when it rains. But with the data taking [some of] the judgement out of the riders' hands, even just a bit, they can go out and ride faster without having to personally focus on the details. The mechanics can deal with that, and the rider will just _know_ it's either faster, or it isn't.
Did you forget your own f*cking question? The mechanic does the setup, based on the data analysis. Since the rider "sin't too picky about bike setup and just prefers to ride rather than focus on the details", that's the perfect dynamic.
2) Glad I am not the only one who is amazed at how durable Nox rims seem to be. Going on 5 years and many, many hard hits on the first set of 29er AM rims (back when they were still called that). Other than a very minor trueing job once a season, they have given precisely zero f*cks no matter what happens to them.
Hanging with Chris G back when he was just a grom, but a hella fast grom even back then.
Rumor was that if you had a thin rim, the hydraulic rim brakes would crush the rim. Never found anybody that ever happened to, but it added to the mystique.
You also had to have a Bullet Brothers brake arch booster to run them otherwise when you squeezed them, they just flexed the crap out of the fork arch. Man...people have no clue about the "technology" we risked our lives on for the sake of DH
Everybody under the age of 45 I think has no idea what that was like. We went from wet rim brakes and 2 finger braking having to squish some water out of them before sort of slowing you down to all of a sudden coming to a full and complete stop with 1 finger. It was wizardry and magic.