Video: Claudio Caluori Chases Nino Schurter Through the Jumps of Chur Bike Park

 I agree. Brendog is awesome but Nino is also awesome.

 From what I've seen, nobody is better than Nino on a XC bike whether he's on a world cup race track, or riding in a bike park. In fact, I would think Nino's faster riding technical downhills on his XC Spark than most of us would be on a full enduro sled... Ride it like you stole it. Go Nino Go!

 Interested how they'd compare actually. Both on the same frame, setup tweaked to their preferences etc. Nino has more experience on that frame and he probably is also quite familiar with this track. Brendog was happy with his bike within a single ride so once he's become more used to it, I can imagine him pinning and styling it just fine.

 @vinay: Nobody from the DH world would even come close to keeping up with Nino on a Spark. Same goes for the women and Neff.

 @deco1: Those are pretty bold words about the world champ. Whatever hes doing, right or wrong is working really well for him.

 @deco1: well buddy, since you are mouthing off and use bold and derogatory language - it is time to show your goods! Get yourself an XC bike, go to the bikepark and make a video showing that you are the man, for us all to see. If you don‘t, well, we all know what you really are - a kid with a big mouth...

 @deco1: I'm with @Heidesandnorth dude. Let's see what you got. Wheres your rippy shredits with you boosting huge gaps and drops dripping with steeze??? As the kids say these days. "Anyone who knows anything would agree with me." Well perhaps @mikelevy could chime in since he knows a thing or two about a thing or two and has first hand experience getting schooled by Nino.

 @deco1: you are underestimating Nino's overall skill.
Let's ask Nino to race any EWS rider, Nino gets home advantage but rides his Spark, the Ews rider has his choice of bike, all proceeds go to charities of their choice. Or maybe Phil Metz will take the challenge.

 @Jimmcw: do you think he’d really have a shot on his Spark, on a proper set of Enduro stages, against the top EWS riders? I’m not seeing it.

 @jclnv: Let's leave the verdict until they've actually tried. Brendog just got the bike and only just started tweaking it to his preferences. Nino has put some proper time in on that bike, on those trails. Heck, he most likely had a hand in designing that very bike. So yeah, why not just allow Brendan to get a fairly familiar with the bike and then see how they compare? I'm not going to say now who's going to do better. Just curious, but open to whatever happens. Nino still may have some home advantage but maybe make it a two-piece challenge. Both ride this descend on this XC bike. Both ride Brendogs Rampage line on a DH bike. That should kind of level it out.

A good while ago the two actually had a ride together, documented on video. But it was more on enduro-type bikes.

 @deco1: when is the last time you did 7-8 meter jumps on a bike with a 69 degree head angle and a 100mm dropper? Let’s see that video and see if you look “spastic.” Nino would drop you in less than 10 seconds on a downhill.

 @deco1: have you seen a actual World Cup xc course? Like in real life? Those things are techy af. They just don’t show a lot of it on tv.

 @Alexmdmtb: Agreed. Guy I know raced dh world champs masters in mont st anne. He also checked out the XC track and said it was gnarly. And so are the other world cup courses as well. How people can even think that Nino can't descend well is beyond me. Or maybe they're just children who don't know much.

 @Bike078: And then think about how there are still a few who don’t ride droppers! I doubt that most of the people in this thread would have a good time trying to ride a World Cup xc course, especially more than once in a row.

 @RowdyAirTime: MVDP

 @henrybsick: MVDP???

 @deco1: Seriously, put down the best XC rider ever, including PB content and anyone who pedals or likes XC riding and then call them all dorks? Wow, great idea. Not only that, but clearly, it sounds like you have never ridden an XC bike, as try riding a 100mm XC bike at the speed and jumps Nino was hitting and let's see how good your style is and if you even survive the ride. Not only is Nino hitting these jumps in a bike park with XC geometry and only 100mm of travel, but he is clipped in and doing tail-whips at full speed not even slowing down. I'm not sure anyone could ride a RC Spark as well or as fast as Nino on any technical uphill, downhill or flow jumps for that matter.

I've seen Nino on an enduro bike and he's actually pretty good. I'm a big fan of Brendog, but on a Spark, Nino is in a different leaque. Nino's bike is full on XC and Brendan's Spark was beefed up including the fork travel which would make a difference when riding downhill. Just because Brendog "flatted" his tires does not mean he can ride better than Nino, so wonder why you would say that? Maybe Brendan was using thinner sidewall XC tires, running too low of pressure for an XC tire (as he's used to running burlier enduro tires which can handle lower pressure) and he definitely weighs more than Nino. Being a freerider, Brendog is also probably much harder on bikes compared to Nino who is so naturally smooth, but again, this does not mean he is faster or better than Nino? Let's be serious, even if they were not on Nino's trails, Brendan would lose if they were both riding a Spark, and that's going uphill or downhill. However, I'm sure Brendog would win if they were both riding an enduro, DH, trials or Freeride bike.

When you mentioned to the other PB readers "athleticism and climbing as that’s what your into right! otherwise you would ride DH or enduro?" Looks like you missed the most important bike category, and it is called" TRAIL". Actually Trail riding is what most of us do, as we don't have shuttle service or only ride bike parks, and need to pedal to the top to have fun going down.

 They do ride together with more respect than we even manage to share a website together. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgQbIB_98NM
Now that Brendan has the same frame, of course they'll ride those together too. Why wouldn't they?

As for Brendan not being smooth, I disagree. He grew up riding dirt jumps, he must have been doing loads of demos on tarmac pumptracks for Velosolutions. pumptrack.com/news/kriss-kyle-brendog-tear-up-glasgow He seems more than smooth enough.

 Nino got robbed !

 @deco1: Suuuureeee, ever been to Mont Saint Anne? It’s pretty techy. I’m betting you’ve watched a few videos, but have never actually ridden a course. The videos/photos don’t do any course justice.

 @deco1: I used to ride motoX for years, so my mistake not calling them as "moto whips".

I said earlier on this post and also said on Brendog's videos before, I am a big fan and think he is one of the most stylish riders out there, so wtf are you talking about? Just because Brendan blew out his tire, is heavier and harder on bikes than Nino does not mean he is faster and he even said he hit a rock when he landed. On any type of bike (trail, enduro, DH) I'm sure Brendog would be faster than Nino, without question. However, Nino is probably easily the best downhiller on the XC world cup and knows the Spark like it was part of him, so cannot see how you can easily say Brendan would be faster going downhill on Nino's Spark RC?

Needless to say, I will not waste my time anymore with someone who just reacts and uses anger and unrespectful name calling to deal with anything in life...

 @RowdyAirTime: I agree. Should probably stop arguing with this person. I’d like to knock some sense into him/her though.

 @deco1: there are actually two videos of Nino and Brendog riding TOGETHER! One of them is Finale Ligure. Finale Ligure is known wide and far as the hardest and most technical enduro race there is. Watching the video you can see that Nino is every bit as capable of riding tech and chunk as Brendog. But you said hes a beginner in the tech. Who are we supposed to believe?? An actual in the flesh video or some dude on PB? In the other video hes hitting all the same jumps Brendan is (no, they're not huge) but he's hitting them with the same authority and styling them out every bit as well as Brendog. Brendog even says, and I quote, "obvously there's the famous Nino whip, that's giving me a run for my money." Is he beginner level there? Clearly not. Dig a little deeper and you'll see that Nino raced an EWS at finale. He had a mechanical and received a 6 minute time penalty related to that mechanical and as such his result was pretty poor. But, if you compare individual stage times you'll see that Nino was strait up GAPPING many legends of enduro and downhill, including Peat, Bryceland, Gracia, Mark Scott, Yoann Barelli, Joe Barnes, Keene etc. (Riders that put gaps into brendog btw). Clearly a top notch technical rider. Now who's insulting who?

I'm not saying Nino could ride rampage or fest series with Brendan. (But who knows, his fundamentals are there). But EWS 100%. WCDH, probably considering many argue that DH has become muted and benign compared to enduro (a different argument for a differnt time). Hardline. . . Maybe, maybe not. Also, am I saying that Brendog could ride Olympic xc? Absolutely not. Short track xc. Absolutely not. Enduro racing, yeah, he's competed in a few but never had (or posted) much of a result. Different horses for different courses. Obviously Nino is gonna be better at xc racing because that's mainly what he focuses on, but to call him beginner at other aspects of bike handling is "insulting" as you put it.

And get over the "spastic" shizz man, its ignorant, uninformed and bigoted. A derogatory insult to people with Cerebral Palsy and Muscular Dystrophy every bit as disgusting as calling a FAS or Downs child a Retard. Educate yourself and quit spouting BS in the comment section.

 @deco1: Ha! That's the best you got?! Killer argument man you've totally proven your point.

 @deco1: somehow your adolescent need to use insults strikes me as the typical behavior of an insecure teenager. Your arguments, if they exist, will carry more weight if you jumped off the „I‘m-a-tough-as-nails-white-suburb-teenage-gansta-dude“ train and communicated like a semi-educated human being.
Give decency a try, it might work even for you!
And last, but not least: using extremely insulting terms like „spastic“ to describe something you do not appreciate shows that you are not able to reflect about the people and their value as humans overall. Quite offensive, quite despicable, quite cheap...

 @deco1: Nah, I'm not necessarily XC loving or everything-but-XC loving. I just like mtb, bmx, trials and whatever embraces skill and fun. We can talk all we want, Brendog only just received the bike Nino has been racing for a good while and which he probably had part in developing. Allow him some time to get used to it and if they even care, they might throw down a mellow DH race on whatever is suitable for that bike. No need to discuss the result until it has actually happened. I think style will always be different simply because Nino probably has developed the muscle memory that there is this no fly zone above the seattube whereas Brendan is confident in using all that space. I personally always leave my saddle low and tend to use all the room I've got even on mellow trails. And people who ride the same stuff with their saddle higher survive just fine too, just using a different style.

As for Nino pulling on the cleats, I trust nearly all top level racers (XC, BMX race, all those who race DH in clips etc) get along well on platforms too. I agree I have no sources whatsoever, I just find it hard to believe that a rider as good (yeah, I think he's good) as Nino wouldn't be able to use proper platform riding technique. Or heck, why not. Let both of them race that XC bike down that line, both riding platforms. If Nino weren't already comfortable riding platforms, he'll learn it real quick and it shouldn't hurt one bit to add it to his abilities.

I like your Corona time social distancing game of trying to guess age, skin color without ever have seen each other. Love that. Add shoe size, vegan/carnivore, car brand, wheelsize, sexuality, left/right/no handed and minimum time to install a tubeless tire (with Cush Core) to the list, just to keep yourself entertained.

 @vinay: I agree, Nino has used flats before, there are a few videos of him playing around on his DJ bike.

 I'd love to see that mashup!

 @digitalsoul: I’m guessing no one you know could keep up with Nino Schurter on any bike.

 @cebolla: when?

 @PHeller: www.rootsandrain.com/race2023/2013-oct-20-enduro-world-series-7-finale-ligure/results/#hopenm

 If you look at some of the stage times he is top 15, but for some reason he has a lot of penaltys...

 @gunnyhoney: For some reason now I’m invested in this. Nino got 6 min in penalties (no clue what for) take away those penalties and he gets 41st. Seconds behind Josh Bryceland and Yoann Barelli. No he did not dominate, but to just show up at an EWS and hang with the top 40 is impressive.
If you think you could hang with Nino on the downhills you need a reality check.

 @gunnyhoney: For whatever reason people suck at nuance. Nino is way faster than almost everyone down a hill. He's still way slower than the fastest guys in the world down a hill. Both these things can be true. But somehow in order to give respect to Nino's technical skills people feel the need to disrespect the best gravity riders.

 @cparrett89: Way slower? He went 15-55-19-9-94 in terms of stage placing at an EWS race. Three top 20 stage results. There are plenty of enduro "pros" who have never had anything remotely comparable results to him. He beat Cedric Gracia, Steve Peat, Joe Barnes, Greg Callahan, Yoan Barrelli, Josh Bryceland and others on multiple stages.

 You also gotta wonder if there wasn’t some self preservation at play as well. His sponsors pay him handsomely to win World Cups, not EWS.

 @LeDuke: Yes, that's amazing, and none of that indicates that he'd be able to be competitive enough to win an EWS or get on the podium, especially when the level at the EWS seems to have moved up since then.

I really don't get this....it's possible to both think that Nino is incredible and recognize that he can't beat the very best specialists in a totally different discipline.

 @cparrett89: the level of EWS riding has certainly gotten way, way rowdier. There's also nothing to indicate that Nino has also not gotten better. Of course, expecting him to win one right away against the specialist riders is silly, just like expecting Richie Rude to win an XC worlds is silly. However, the fact that he raced and was putting serious time into the best in the sport (at the time 2013) cant go unnoticed. Its reasonable to think that given a certain amount of time to train he could definitely be a top ten guy.

 @cparrett89: You're right. I think he would do pretty well if he focused on it, maybe even enough to be a mid pack pro, but not an EWS champ.

However, I also still think he is rad af.

 @RobbieBrighton: definitely a rad rider. Crazy skill no doubt.

 @Trudeez: Nino has probably gotten a bit better, but he was already in his prime then and I don't think his improvement would track with the development of a sport that was pretty new back in 2013. Anyway my personal guess would be top 30 or perhaps just inside the top 20 would be the limit for a guy like Nino, but that's just a guess and I generally agree with you.

 @kyle1812: No I completely admit that there is no way I'd be able to hang with nino on any course. And yeah I bet if he trained for enduro solely and raced he'd probably do better than top 40. All I mean is a lot of people seem to think this run on video here was some sort of dh prowess out of a xc racer and that obviously isn't the case.

 @cparrett89: I definitely didn't mean to disrespect nino or any pro riders as I understand i'll never be as good. But I agree he just looks awkward on jumps doing a whip. Maybe I should have said that lol

 Doing whips on a long stem with narrowish bars is probably always going to look awkward. Most of us would probably wreck trying that on a similar setup. Then again, Barelli was getting rad at Whistler on a gravel bike.

 @cparrett89: I'm not saying that he's capable of being the very best. I'm simply objecting to the statement that "he's still way slower than the fastest guys in the world down a hill", when clearly, he is not, as he is in fact capable of being faster than many of them, as the results from his only EWS appearance demonstrate.

 Wow, didn't know Victor is such a great dirt jumper. Next John Tomac!

 @martin737: unfortunately pinkbike pays attention only to nino

 Yep, looks like Claudio has changed sponsors.

(Scott would have E-Fullies available AFAIR)

 @FloImSchnee: Was Claudio even sponsored? He used to be team manager for the Scott DH team but they quit the team so he doesn't have any formal links to Scott anymore, as far as I know.

 @vinay: I'd be surprised if he didn't get his bikes for free, with all the media coverage he gets.

But true, probably not a "sponsorship" in the narrower sense.

 Wouldn't he have one of these 360deg cameras which allow him to adjust the viewing angle afterwards?

 Brendan Fairclough. Scott rider. His nickname is Brendog. I think that is what you are referring too.