Richie Rude stormed his way back to the top of the podium at the third round of the Enduro World Series in Olargues, France, his first victory since Whistler in 2016. He was aboard a Yeti SB5.5, and if this bike could talk, it would surely have some wild tales from those eight stages of hard racing.
DH casing tires and CushCore foam inserts were installed front and rear to help ward off any flats or rim damage, necessary steps on a rocky course like this, and when you've got a hulk like Richie steering the ship.
Are we going to witness Richie return to his former dominance? We'll have to wait until the end of June, when the EWS travels to Slovenia, to find out.
Shimano Saint pedals help keep Richie's feet in place, and a OneUp chainguide prevents the chain from jumping ship.
Richie's cockpit components consist of Ergon grips, a Renthal Fatbar handlebar, and a Renthal Apex stem.
MENTIONS: @yeticycles // @EnduroWorldSeries
Yes you would risk a flat or too to enjoy a ride, but here we are talking about results in a pinacle competition and Richie Rock 90Kg and 100psi on forks...
What you're calling a compromise I would probably end up pushing up a climb.
Also noticed that there are no colored logo's on the driveside of the rear tire. Makes one think that there is some prototyping going on with that one too, as a normal production DHF would have color logos on that side for the photos. Wonder if it's a new casing they are working on?
Really though...
What on Earth is the point outside of proprietary corporate willy waving? Is it like I drive 2.0 fixing problems that never existed by pushing stuff with string?
I couldnāt be more against it. It seems impossibly dumb.
I'm kind of thinking the details are what we want in a bike check.
Ā£2.50 on that if youāre taking bets @brianpark
Edit: sorry what I meant was increase the travel by 10mm not just add 10mm spacer to the steerer.
There's probably some reason RR has the external headset cup instead of just a longer fork. Could be a negative reach adjust headset (which needs to be external cup for a tapered steerer to fit) but doesn't look like it to me especially at the top cup.
I need to know damnit! Tell me now!
I tried calling his mechanic but I wouldnāt answer my call. Left him a msg āon behalf of Pinkbike I demand to know immediately why you are doing thisā. Let you know when he gets back to me
There is no room to move the upper bearing around inside of the headtube so it certainly cant be reach adustment - It also doesnt look like there is any change in head angle.
I think its the simplest explaination - He just wanted to raise the front end 10mm or reduce head angle a little but didnt want to increase travel, you say there are easier / more effective ways to do this but what would those be? - Offset bushings screw up kinematics and alter BB height too much, longer forks will alter the way the fork works / feel of the front end in different manner.
This really is going to be a simple case of an exernal 56mm headcup.
How can this day get any worse?
A higher crown race would do the same
These pictures are great, but there isnāt anything in the text that you canāt see in any decent side shot of the bike. Hell, I had to look at the head tube shot to know the frame was a turq and not a standard c.
I wonder if that's an out of the box frame though. Knowing Rude was going to be slamming that on EWS and only 140mm if I was Yeti I'd want to wrap a few extra layers on there. Maybe that would be too difficult but it doesn't seem like it would be much of a problem to specify a batch with a stronger layup. These frames are on the lighter side of Enduro bikes as it is.
I'm of the opinion that 29" is always the right size.
Flipped stem and high rise bar doesnāt decrease reach like riser stem (or spacers under stem) and low rise bar. Lower headset spacer raises front end and makes the bike slightly slacker, but also slightly decreases reach in the process. Maybe he wants his bike a bit slacker and bars a bit higher without decreasing reach?
It seems strange that two tires are identical but have different markings. Thanks for the info.
At any rate, stack height and bar height arenāt really the same thing. Lifting the headtube further from the wheel will affect handling in a different way to simply changing the bar height, as it affects BB height and will have an effect on HA and reach too (albeit very minor)
The debate continues...
Possible he wanted to lift the front end without making the fork longer. 29er forks are already quite long I suppose.
Or i made it up. Whichevers better.
sram didnt stop making 11 speed cassettes , did they?
I def need to check out Werner. I just bought little .75 acre over in Stagecoach so I will be up that way soon.
Thoughts?