JARTassie

@blanshard16: you could easily start it at the hairpin on the road and it would still have enough elevation. I have heard it can’t be an World Cup race due to not being close enough to a hospital with certain capabilities - not sure how true that is though

As a previous gen1 owner, id just like to say i bloody loved that bike and had this one shortlisted as a potential new frame … but after looking at this it appears to have gone backwards in damn near every way.

@hayden19: I’m not saying there wasn’t an advantage to some degree, I’m just saying that this type of advantage is being pretty blown up considering the distance it is to where the majority of riders actually reside, these are trails they travel to, something that all riders have the opportunity to do. It seems to be the primary narrative about why they were successful, I’m just putting it into perspective.

Lots of Talk of home town advantage in the articles and comments for the Australian riders, yet only one is from Tasmania, which is an island state south of “mainland” Australia. Troy and Connor are both from South Aus - which is approx 1500km from Maydena, Luke, Ryan and Moir are from NSW - approx 1700 km from Maydena. Maybe the real hometown advantage here is that the riders haven’t had to fly 20+ hrs to race, and they have their families friends and support networks around them. Fun fact - you can swim from England to France.. yet no one has ever swam from Melbourne to Hobart, because its waaay further, so this whole emphasis on a hometown advantage arguement is about as good as saying the UK riders have a hometown advantage in France.

99% certain this kid was on the DH world champs junior podium last year racing in an Australian jersey - very fast

I bought an e bike, rode it for a few months and sold it because i found myself enjoying my normal bike way more. But Where i have to disagree entirely is the handling aspect, a well balanced e bike handles incredibly well, the extra weight actually helps improve their handling and this seems to be widely accepted and promoted by the vast majority of people/pros/tech editors i hear talking about e bikes. Where they aren’t great is if you need something really lively and manoeuvrable, and for exceptionally steep stuff because the mass is below your feet, which definitely assists the momentum required to go OTB, but ! If you’re riding undulating flowy, rough tracks then they are a dream!

@BigAlfonz: i was not aware of this, that does seem a whole heap more dramatic than the image i had in my mind; still i stand by the fact that i think it is provoked, and understandable to a degree, and probably not worthy of a recorded conviction, those things stick around, it could effect his chances of getting visas in certain countries, More good could have been done with a large donation.

The oddest thing to me is the fact that he was actually served with a recorded conviction! Whilst it wasn’t smart on his part, it was definitely arguable that it was provoked, and given the circumstances it can easily be understood as to why someone may act out.. is it okay? No, has he accepted responsibility? Yes, is he an overall bad person likely to reoffend ? Most likely not; will this verdict negatively effect his professional career in some way? Yes. It is hard to understand why the judge did not view this case more leniently, make him make a substantial donation to the victims of crime fund, and serve him with a verdict of “guilty - no conviction recorded” and then be done with it.. this just seems like a gross over reaching of the judicial process, punishing someone much more severely than is merited by the act and their overall character. Still, don’t punch people… even if they may be deserving of it.

I used to feel this way aswell; how are these people destroying wheels so often? Surely bad technique, i rarely ever got flats. and Then I moved… now I can’t seem to get a full ride out of an alloy wheel without it needing serious tlc or a replacement. And for exactly this reason I now have we are ones, 18 months of abuse and not even a flat!

As an Aussie I’m a bit bias, but seriously the Meier-Smith brothers just fly under the radar, And deserve so much more credit and publicity! Remy is a consistent top 3 guy in both DH and the Enduro scene and never seems to get any fan fare, and his older Brother is on the verge of being a consistent top 15 guy now, and again never gets much a mention..