What Was Loic Bruni Adjusting on His Fork in Lousa?
Screenshot: Red Bull TV
Shortly after the hype dies down in the finish area of a World Cup, the photographers typically grab the winning bike to snap a few quick shots to file later in the evening. In Lousa, that wasn't possible. Amid all the excitement of Loic Bruni's win, his bike had been quietly ushered away and put back in its pits, away from curious eyes.
The reason is likely because Loic Bruni was running his bike a little differently than everyone else in Lousa, and the evidence of that was clear to see on the live feed. We have already seen his frame-mounted carbon box that seems to be concealing something connected to a switch on his handlebars, but in Lousa he seemed to be pressing another switch, this time on top of his fork.
It takes some serious guts to take a hand off your bars midway through a World Cup race run to flick a switch, and speculation is rife about what he might have been doing. Below is what we know and what we can guess from the evidence we have.
The modification was new for Lousa
Look at any picture of the top of Loic Bruni's fork from the past 12 months and you'll see that the cap on top of his left fork leg is gold, and the one on top of the right is blue. In Lousa, this was the other way round. This tells us that something was definitely different on Loic's fork for the races last week. Bruni had been testing in Lousa earlier in the year, and while Louzanpark closed the track so that it would be fair for all the riders, we've no doubt Loic will have got a pretty good idea of its layout. This seems like something he could have been cooking up with Ohlins for 6 months or more.
Loic's fork shot in Maribor - gold dial left, blue dial right
Loic's fork in Lousa - blue dial left, gold dial right. Original photo from Nathan Hughes, here.
Loic pressed the switch at the same point in both runs
In both races, Loic popped the switch as he fired out of the woods and down onto the road pedal section. It definitely seemed like a press, not a twist, as you would expect with a normal fork dial, which makes us think that it's an on/off, two stage system.
Given the position on track, we're assuming it's some sort of compression adjustment that made pedalling on the last straight along the road and the over the final few jumps easier for Loic. Looking at the footage, his fork seems supportive, but it still clearly moves, meaning this isn't a full lockout but more like a pedal platform. This suspicion is further confirmed by Loic later talking about it with Wyn Masters in Wyn TV. Loic said, "It's a bit of hydraulic for the pedalling, so it was a bit sketchy to take the hand off but I thought it was worth it. Pedalling and not having so much pumping on the front."
Loic's fork was definitely still compressing after flicking the switch so we know it wasn't a full lockout. Screenshot: Red Bull TV
We think the fork could be borrowing the climb mode feature from Ohlins' single crown RXF 36 fork. The RXF has four clicks of HSC adjustment - the first three clicks of HSC change the high-speed compression, but the fourth acts as 'climb mode,' turning it to the fourth position actually shuts off parts of the LSC circuit to create a firm LSC pedal platform.
This currently isn't a feature on the DH38 fork, but seeing as the double crown fork took a lot of design cues from its skinnier sibling, including the same TTX damper and piston design, it is more than possible that Ohlins have fitted a similar feature on Loic's bike.
Was it faster?
Possibly. Loic activated the switch mid-way through the fourth sector and didn't seem to switch it back before the end of the course. Loic was 2nd fastest through sector 4 and 6th fastest through sector 5 in race 1, and fastest through both splits in race 2. Take that with a pinch of salt though, this is Loic Bruni we're talking about, and he could have won these sectors with or without compression adjustment.
What will Ohlins tell us?
We reached out to Ohlins to see if they would give us any more information, and Terje Hansen, Racing Manager at Öhlins Racing, said:
“We are a brand committed to racing and making the fast even faster. A big part of our R&D is made within racing. It is an ongoing development process to make sure Specialized Gravity riders have the highest level of suspension performance at the starting gate. We do not get into details on their suspension equipment or set up, but winning features will be integrated in our products as a running change or a new model.”
Given that the fork now has a win racked up already, it may not be too long before we see this on Ohlins' consumer offerings.
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He before the sprint started he just closed a little the compression it hand. For the suspension stay a little more stiff for sprint and final jumps.
Not exist any switch he just turn clockwise the nut of compression.
Is a thing very simple and very smarter for brunni.
You can made the same in your fork not madder if you have a fox or rock shox or ohlins or other.
Lousã is a special track. In top is more technical and in bottom is flat. So a suspension it different setup is very good for this situation.
But is a think very simple not exist nothing special and any switch. I'm shore the ohlins are laughed when they ask if suspension have some switch... The brunni is a champion and he just closed a little the nut compression.
The ohlins in this moment is possible the best fork in market for mountain bike. But don't worry they not have nothing different from another world.
If I'm wrong please ohlins, specialized or pinkbike give me proves. Because I want know if are some more special....
He only engaged SuperBruni after half way down, as Jack told him "there isn't enough elixer syrum for a whole race run"
My question has been wouldn't something to firm up the rear provide a bigger advantage? especially with the rest of the trail pretty smooth a stiffer rear would allow better pumping the backsides.
.
"World, the time has come to
World, the time has come to
World, the time has come to
World, my finger is on the button
My finger is on the button
My finger is on the button
(Push the button)
The time has come to
Galvanize"
Don't hold back.
It's the Eve of Destruction.
Compression lockouts keep the suspension from moving down in their travel, and can be fine-tuned to only be stiff enough to support the rider and the rider's torque (power) from their body movement and forces on the drivetrain, allowing for "blow off" valves in the event of a hard hit while locked-out.
www.pinkbike.com/news/stop-the-skinsuit-rule.html
And btw it sounds like "lowzahn".
Thanks.
Brunis bike firmed up alot on both ends. He was roosting.
Found the rulebook.
4.6.003 "No bikes with any kind of automatic transmission, pedal assist motors or engines are
allowed."
Although it's not a gearbox, it's strange that they then allow Di2 / AXS which can shift the front chainring automatically. And with a power meter and app it can probably be programmed to shift the rear automatically. Only really applicable to road bikes though.
I don't see anything banning electronic suspension.
BTW there is no way you could translate only power to gear ratio. Not even with cadence. The best metric to translate to gear ratio would actually be speed, but the system still wouldn't work well in non-casual cycling. Not until the system could read your mind.
Kid could win (or at least podium alot) if he'd relax and get out if his own way...