Ask Sam Hill

 Sam, exactly what DOES the fox say?

 i think everyone is hoping that sam hill will do what stevie did, when that is not the case. PB is doing an interview and doesnt know what to ask, so they turned to us haha

 26inch, 650b, or 29er, what do you prefer and what's your take on the whole tire size controversy

 Do you think the UCI should let the riders select the tracks for the following years world cup rounds? There are enough riders across Mens, Womans and Juniors field to make it even. (Im my eyes the guy coming last every race would rather ride Val Di Sole over Pietermaritzburg)

 ^ only problem wwith that is the venues are having to pay fairly large sums of money to host the venue under the "uci world cup" flag. so its like a bunch of people in whistler forcing whistler to put a world cup there. it just wont happen.

 Man juice obviously.

 railing ruts or nailing sluts?

 Ass or titties?

 sam whats been your craziest experience ever on and off your bike?

 Is it tough being away from your family traveling the world? Do they come with you?

 Please tell us your favourite joke

 He runs them 'Moto' style like all people in Aus (and other countries that drive on the left) you can see it in the picture at the top of the page.

 Wasn't even thinking...

 Actually, a lot of people in Australia still run your 'standard' configuration. Any rider that has moved from BMX to DH will usually run this set-up, like Troy Brosnan for example.

 Iron Horse sold their company along with their name so no, the company is not really "still going." way to steal someone else's question

 ye ironhorse are well and truly gone, its a pitty cus there 2010 sunday proto type looked sick

 yes... if you are in to department store quality...they are going and going strong. My 4 yr old has a better bike!!!

 You keep saying the new iron horse is shit but the iron horse you used to have was one of the best bikes ever, yet the iron horse you had is one of the new ones...

 If you loved the iron horse Sunday then you can ride it's reincarnation in the pivot phoenix.

 different owners, different frames, different engineers, different factory, different components, different quality, different management = different company

 @elanto, I can't tell if you're trolling or really that dumb. They are completely different company's, nothing is the same except the fact that this company bought the right to slap the name Iron Horse on their bikes.

 I'm pretty sure thats what elanto meant to begin with but wires were crossed or something.

 He didn't because he said, "if they made their 'Real' bikes again". "They" can't make their "real" bikes again because the company that is now Iron Horse never designed or made any "real" quality bikes to begin with.

 You guys know that the new owner of Iron Horse is Dorel Industries who also owns GT and Cannondale. They own a couple shitty bike brands as well, but they already have 2 big, successful bike brands under their name so keeping Iron Horse as they were isn't really necessary for them. IMHO the bikes they make now are perfectly fine for beginners to the MTB scene and kids. They will never be a big DH WC scene bike company anymore. But fuck me I want a Sunday so bad.

 This question deserves more props, I really want to hear his answer on the subject...

 Also wanted to say you've been a major idol to me and probably most everyone in the community for years. Watching you race is what really got me into the sport and I look forward to seeing more of your races in the future! Keep ripping!

 I would think he wouldn't be doing it if he felt a disadvantage in speed..

 Also, why do you think most racers ride clips (again) these days? Level has gone up/smaller margins? Tracks have become more straight forward? Fashion? The sport maturing to a more 'professional' level?

 Maybe he does feel a disadvantage in speed but can't ride clipped in! Clips can do everything a flat can do and more. Some guys me included can't ride dh as quick stuck to the bike. I can use clips but it normally results in slower times. Unless the course is basic,I run flats. Just all in the head,even on flats I barely ever dab a foot ,soon as I'm clipped in,its all I think about. Wish could use them though,I can see the benefits.

 confidence

if your not confident on clips you will never ride as fast and that very very tiny benefit on a pedal wont do anything. unless you can ride clips as fast and as confident and wild as you can flats there is no point using them. unless the track is stupid pedally like SA when what you might lose in the rough you make up in the pedal.

serious clips vs flats is way over stated its the smallest difference id rather take a 1% increase in fitness and run flats than run clips and not get any fitter.

 There are lots of benefits ridding clips,like that fact in the real rough stuff your feet stay planted no matter what. You can pedal over rocks roots without slipping a pedal,even with 510s I still lose a pedal occasionally. The whole ride position is different,keeping your body more central instead of off the back is way more efficient

 Running flats I have never lost my footing in the rough, you appear to have also ridden flats so you know the feel of flats, they do take a different approach and you get some float feel over the pedal but I have never had trouble in rock gardens or pedaling over rocks and roots with flats (even running crappy skate shows with no grip).

the benefits of hopping and feet been stuck can all been obtained with good technique on flats.

clipless can also cover up poor technique, riders who rely on the clips for hopping or moving the bike, as soon as you put them on flats they cant hop or move properly. (obviously not all riders are like this)

 You should never be relying on clipless for crucial fundamental skills. how often do you actually see those wc riders on flats slip a pedal? very very rarely. Its not a big issue if you know how to ride on flats.

 I do ride flats but only because I'm not as confident clipped in. Don't get me wrong,flats are great and maybe more fun and definitely better for learning your skills on. I've been riding 20 years I can hop, jump,drift etc on flats just fine. I'm saying for pros who have these skills dialed in,then imo clips are better because they do everything a flat can do and more. Id say most pros who ride flats do so because they're slower clipped in due to the mental side of it more than anything else . If you've NEVER? Slipped a peddle when riding flats over rough terrain id say your not riding that fast or maybe that rough a track. Or maybe your awesome lol.

 Obviosuly awesome haha nah I don't know, my speed and trails are perfectly fast and rough dont worry, Gotta be after all its dh Iv just never slipped one. Either luck or just good flat control I don't know, but I'm way more likely to go off line or crash than slip a pedal.
Yeah I see the advantage of a clipless but only if its not slowing them down elsewhere. That was my previous point. Its not something you would sacrifice other areas for, I think people over estimate the clipless vs flats debate. For a wc rider yes it's more valid but the would assume they have very identically runs with no time to be made elsewhere with only the pedal left. We know there is lots more time to be made up in the rough we have seen it in previous races. Its rarely if ever going to be a deciding factor. If you put Sam on clipless and Hannah on flats mick would still out pedal Sam, his just better in that area.
Clipless vs flats is the worse debate its probably the most pointless but the biggest one too lol.

 There is still some rough tracks on the WC circuit...

 i was in MSA this year..even with everyone saying that it was dumbed down.. its still pretty fucking hardcore at some point.

 Was scrolling down to type a similar question, looks like you beat me to it. Great wording though!

 the same few people are at the top, so it all balances out. If a WC racer can only compete on one type of track then he is a one trick pony.

 My guess is Andorra

 Mont Saint-Anne

 I'm pretty sure Schladming and Maribor, he is unstoppable on this track

 Schladming Obvs

 surely champery

 Willingen

 He said it was Andorra at that race.

 Gotta be Bright!

 oh crap waki is at it again

 This is actually a really good question! I'm the same as you, same gear unless there's a bad stick point.

 If they didn't use their gears, I'm sure they'd take em off to save weight. I have seen pics of WC bikes with a cassette modified to be 6 speed.

 modified or the micro drive? either way im sure both exist. the micro drive is a 6 speed out the back with a smaller ring up front it gives a very similar range to a 9-10 speed but gives more clearance and less shifting. There are also those who modify their drives to take out the unused gears.

You would find most do use gears, they figure out what gear they need to be in before the next pedal so they can power straight away with maximum acceleration. In the entre you hear sam talking about it during track walk.

 HAHA I ask people this all the time!

 just need a kiwi accent for that question

 Hahahahaah

 hahahaha

 Do you notice a difference in humour between Americans and the rest of the civilized world?

 Well, I haven't seen too much of the "civilized world" so I won't speak to all of it, but the riders from France and Greece liked it. I'd say those are both civilized non-American countries.

 Im not Sam, but I ride with a brace and I dont even notice it when I ride. I havnt taken a crash with it on so it might give you a psychological boost of confidence a that if you fall you wont get as hurt

 my friend broke his collarbone in 3 pieces last week, doctors said that the neckbrace broke his colarbone, with the pressure of the helmet on it, if he didnt wear it this day, he would have broke his neck... so yeah a neckbrace cost less than a rolling char.

 @hoolydooly gtfo

 @hoolydooly No, you're not. Sam Hill doesn't ride a Gt Ruckus and spend his weekends trolling on PB

 ...and you're a total f*#king gronk, so f#%k off. And you probably ride bikes like a complete newb.

 just looked at 3 of your vids and they are nothing special. Just an average PB vid that only your buddies have viewed #youwishyouweresamhill

 Answer no 5!

 why are you responding to the questions?

 And how did that sponsor notice you?

 In prehistoric times, humans only lived to be in their mid 20's to 30's. Genetically, you have higher testosterone levels and more physical fitness during these younger years.

 That's great. Sam is 28 or so, as is Gee, Minnaar is 31, Hannah is 29, Peaty (granted, he's no longer on the podium) is 94. I don't think Sam's age has anything whatsoever to do with it.

 chainstays

 One of them is a DH bike ?

 ^ Nailed it!!

 Sam got his Nukeproof to run shorter stays.

 If he is in Australia at the moment he will be asleep. He just has a hell of a lot to catch up on during breakfast!

 All I was saying is that because he isn't answering yet, doesn't mean that he won't reply.

 it says ask Sam Hill anything, nobody said he was going to reply. (just kidding)
what i read in some comments below was that the pinkbike staff will select some of this questions and then they will have an interview with him, this is not going to be like stevie Smith ask anything post.

 He's not personally replying to any of these comments.... Someone is going to sort them and find out which ones are worth replying to and then they're going to be in a video interview........ .. . . .. .. . . .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. . ... .. . . .. .. .. .. ... . .. . . . .. . .. ... . . . .....................

 These days it's hard to find a WC DH racer that does not spend more time training on trail bike than they do on their actual race bike. It's great for physical conditioning as well as making you a smoother rider.

 I'd imagine if you train on you big rig all the time you'd be more likely to have a big spill?

 He's Han solo

 How do you know he rarely rides in the rain? Australia isn't one big desert you know.

 Champery in 200...7? During an intetview after his wicked, wild, and arguably one of the most historic rides, Steve Jones asked him about riding in the rain, and Sam said he doesn't ride in the rain back home. "You get your bike muddy".

 Fair point

 I think it's because everything we ride on in WA is rubbish for grip. Mostly pea gravel, silt like icing sugar and sand. Although the powdery stuff does get pretty wild when it rains. Could be wrong though...

 Ban the TROLL!!!

 yeah. someone needs to ban this cat

 He has sig bars made by nukeproof, my guess is he uses them, so go look on their website

 He may have cut them down though

 True, but when you have sig bars, they're generally tailored to your needs and likes so that cutting down isn't needed.

 I guess

 I wanted to ask a similar question as I now have a 20 month old and another on the way. To add to your question, how do you balance your home life and maintain the same motivation and drive? Where do you see yourself/what would you like to be doing in 5+ years from now?
Cheers!

 There were actually pictures of him on a road bike during some specialized camp. He was wearing baggies and using flat pedals! Which actually makes sense as he rides flats on his dh rig

 Look at his Instagram, i called him out on it and he said "only on my road bike"

 Fucking hell saxon shut up. if your trying to be funny its not working.. if your parties are bunch of your mates sitting up til 3am thinking your funny as on pinkbike then yes you do 'party' all night. fuck me dead you can be so lame sometimes

 lol, you really need to be back in pre school

 He's already on it bro ;D... If you are on instagram, Bam already have his bike XD

 Hes definitely going to be a ripper. Id say he might go dirt bike though. he loves his little dirtbike haha

 please say METAL \m/

 haha and crc isn't a big corporate machine!? That said they are by far the best shop out there

 Or your riding in general for that matter?

 Yea, a professional athlete will answer this ...

 His answer will be nukeproof, because they pay his bills.

 His a badass?

 I second this! Come on out to our ghetto series - you'll have fun. Last one I attended, Gwin Beat Mik Hannah by .2 or something like that. Some great riders have ridden "the wall."

 I agree

 or dog?

 He has a pug (or more than one)

 Agreed. Well, favourite rider after Wyn, Brook, Sam, Cam and those lovable rogues from the Marae...

 All Mountain/Enduro...that's what I did at least! hahah.....34 y/o, 6months old baby, married....used to DH and race locally but I've made alot more of my time on an AM rig since I depend on no one for the shuttles, plus, I don't need to shuttle hehehe....These bikes are awesome now days..uphill: check, downhill: check, jumps: check, tech stuff: check, awesomeness: check...they do it all.

 he has used them for races like south africa, clips are not going to improve a rider if it also damages other areas.
for instance you gain very little on clips on a dh run (fitness is going to be much bigger on a pedal) and most the time is made up in the rough and corners, if going to clips would stop sams killer instinct in the rough the small benefit he gains on a pedal section wouldnt mean anything. some riders go over board on flats because they are too confident, sam controls this perfectly. if anything id say flats give him an advantage.

If you can ride with the same head on clips then there may be a small benefit, but even then its so small its rarely going to be the deciding factor. Its all about comfort

unless there is so much pedaling where it outweighs flats it wont matter. SA is a exception hence why we saw so many dude running bigger wheels and clipping in or dropper posts.

Id like to here him respond to this but im fairly sure it will be along the lines of "Im comfortable on flats and see no benefit for majority of tracks."

 38lbs it was online the other day.

 A mountain of chrystal meth

 The questions will be asked in an interview by PB, not the Q&A comments style thing they've had in the past I think.

 I think you already know the answer...

 HiWay Cycles perth about 2001 im guessing

 Not yet. As I know he will answer not like Stevie, here in comments, but in interview style with selected questions by Pinkbike. Correct me if I'm wrong.