Dexvd

Neutral to the Fuel EX winning bike of the year but seeing the Allied get nominated over the Ibis irks me a bit, in that test it really seemed like they wanted the Allied to be 'the winner', I ride a Norco so am pretty neutral but they seemed to down play the performance of the Ibis and Trek and amplify the performance of the Allied, when the 3 seemed to perform fairly similar.

So the Sector XC wheelset would come in at >1800g... Probably a pretty tough wheel but not something I'm gonna slap on my XC bike

@Lokirides: I would like them to compare to bikes tested in the past, particularly interested to hear how the BMC and Ibis compare to the Top Fuel and Blur TR tested last year.

Would really like to hear how the BMC and Ibis compare to some of the top performers from last year's test like the Top Fuel and the Blur TR. Currently have a Norco Revolver FS as my one and only MTB that has to cover XC racing and trail riding/training. Would love a bike that is more capable in the trails and descents that is just as fast on the race course and it sounds like these XC biased down country bikes are where I should be looking.

They could have just used a gravel bike.

Would have really liked to see the Syerra in that comparison at the end. Or at least how the Syerra and Ground Control compare.

Was there a follow up to this? It ends with "I'm going to keep putting the miles in on these, and will report back on durability, as well as with some comparisons against other options in this category." Wondering how it compares to the Syerra.

When do you think dirt bikes peaked?

I wish I could modify one or two things and have the other measurements automatically adjust in a way that would mostly maintain the intended handling. As a short guy, some bikes (mainly older CX geo) have standovers that are too high for my inseam, there may be a size or two that does have a standover that fits me but they are like a size 47cm and made for someone that is like 5 inches shorter than me in terms of the stack and reach just because I need like 2-3 cm less in standover... The first bikes that come to mind for this are the previous gen Specialized Crux (current one is fine) and the current Specialized Epic Evo. 780mm standover heights make me cry.

Awesome, have been waiting to see Haley and Andrew's new team for a while. Looking forward to seeing how they make out with their events this season!