Endosch2

Were any of the riders grounded? Is that why so many DNfed?

All the riders are juiced. Its the current thing to do.

Also Pinkbike will predictably and undoubtedly hump the leg of whatever trend keeps its readers attention spans and satisfies the fake trend of the week to try to sell you a new bike!

Its not to make the wheel stiffer, its to let you keep going if you break a spoke. It stays contained within the wheel. Not sure where the author got the idea it made the wheel stiffer, you need an old guy like me to know these things.

Like others have said, no weights mentioned. I was hoping for a more incremental improvements. It looks like all they did was bury the shock.

They use their twin-locks a tun. Why do people hate them so much? Frishi is doing traction mode and Nino is locking out to do the standing climbing.

You should do a similar test on a downcountry or xc bike like a scott Spark. I ride a 120mm Spark most of the time and I use the lockout religiously. On long climbs you can get up out of the saddle and really stand on the pedals which really allows you to fly uo hill.

@WildboiBen: For sure! I agree, but even with more equal opportunities and access people need to be able to shed their social norms and what they put value in to be economically mobile.

@HB208: To clarify its not values meaning truthfulness, honesty, character. I did not mean it that way at all. Its what you put value in that can define who you are and what you become. For illustration, does your upbringing put more value in learning about 4-wheeling or learning to code? I know that sounds really snobbish but that kind of stuff adds up to make people who they are and may limit their socio-economic mobility.

@SunsPSD: Kate Courtney is a rock star but she also embodies someone who is the product of a system very few people get a glimpse of, that is the product of a lot of support resources that come with a lot of money. There is a whole class of uber-achievers out there who have been created by the same system. She is what a top 1%er is really like, for every one millionaire / billionaire that the media portrays like Trump there are 50 others who are low key, not necessary conspicuous, not flamboyant. They are just focused on doing their thing in the world and they would prefer not to have too much attention. Some of the things they spend the most money on are the least visible like expensive education. 90% of Americans stay near the rung of the ladder they were born on to. There is not a lot of economic mobility out there in reality. The thing that prevents people from social mobility is more often their values and social norms vs their skills. Fundamentally they wont ever feel comfortable with a crowd that is so different from how they grew up, so they end up self selecting out of situations, relationships, and opportunities that may be advantageous in terms of economic mobility.