Keiron

WANKBROTHERS

@sino428: Well you're right, it's not the "roughest or most technical" but nobody has claimed it is. However it IS indeed rough, technical, good jumps and steep, as well as being fast and having great flow; it really does have abit of everything to test rider ability during a race run. You won't get a break from start to finish, there's definitely no "motorway section where the rider "............." or consider taking advantage of dropper seatposts that's for sure haha. That's why it's considered a proper WC DH track by the masses. Like I said though, you really need to go there and experience it for yourself, should be on every DH rider's bucket list : )

You really need to go there and ride the track and see for yourself mate, Schladming is legendary. The WC track is rough, raggid and RAW! Even the top section before the WC track is super sick.

29ers are rad! Trust me, ride one. Evil Wreckoning & the Trek SLash 29er are ace! BUT! I wouldn't buy a DH bike of ANY wheel size until the industry has settled itself down. Industry big wigs said they'd run 26 along with 27.5 and then shortly after they abruptly made 26 obsolete and deliberately pulled a load of stuff off the market so we can't buy. Then made out "there's no market for it" to force everyone to buy 27.5. Horse sh*t! Fair play, 26 had a good run but imo it was a shady, insidious move by many in the industry and it's left a bad taste in people's mouths right into the present day. For example I remember buying my Evil Undead and then being pissed at Evil for abruptly pulling the bike off the market, no official article/newsletter, nothing. It was only this month I discovered how smaller bike companies left out of the information loop work to survive when things like this happen, what changes & decisions they have to make. (Check out the Q&A with Bryson Martin @ DVOSuspension - Apr 24, 2017). So....now after only a few seasons racing 27.5, here we go again. Yet again the army of sanctimonious clowns are back telling us to stop being so butthurt. Like oh yeah, because most are just fed up about actual wheel size, we just don't wanna change wheel size....right. It's all about the money and it's all it ever was. If bikes were more affordable / if salary's matched inflation /if money grew on trees, people wouldn't be so pissed off about all these new standards in & out the revolving doors. That real world situation tho.

....and still no Factory DH racing team?

@crankbrothers: I agree you do indeed have a worldwide distribution base that stock parts BUT my point is, it's a total stress just to get hold of them! For example, i bought my wheelset in the UK when i used to live there. I since moved abroad. But naive old me thought everything was ok as it's the European Union so I contacted Extra UK. They had this can't do won't do approach. They basically said that they won't deal with warranties outside the UK. I'm pleading, "I'm not asking for a [God damn] warranty gratification of any kind!!!" I'm literally waving my debit card at these humans saying here take my money, in exchange for brand new spares, that is all! But noooooo. They hurled some rubbish about trade issues and said they'd only deal with me if I came back to the UK but i still need to go through a local bike shop. Now if that isn't a slap in the face..... As for where i live now and the surrounding nations, it's language barriers and all the craziness that comes with it. No reply to emails, phone calls don't get answered...just doesn't work. Ordering from the US = My stuff sat in customs & when they finally deal with it, charges here and there. Stress. My point being, you can't go online and just order stuff. Select, add to basket, BUY, delivery, front door. Boom. You get my money, I get my spares. It just can't be done. I have worked in the industry for a couple of years so I do have some empathy with distribution & immediate stock availability woes; so with that being said, I'm not even expecting the likes of any popular online retailer to actually have these parts in stock, but at least for the parts to be listed & the ability to make a purchase transaction there and then which triggers a special order! To be fair, i'm aware that it's the same issue with various factory wheelsets from other brands but obviously I'm passionate about this wheelset as I own them & genuinely did like them. Great performance, they looked great, easy to maintain and they lasted me 2 years of ALOT of riding in different locations around the world. I miss them sometimes! I do feel like I've had my money's worth from the wheelset but I've truly given up, it's too much of a cat & mouse game in this day & age just get hold of a couple of rims & spokes, which is all I needed. I can grab myself an E13 Factory wheelset and I can easily grab spares for them by ordering them through Chainreaction & various other online retailers, hassle free.

From my personal experience of owning a pair of CrankBrothers Opium 3 wheels since April 2012, they were a great set of wheels, lasted me many seasons riding various bikeparks around the world with only ever having to replace one rim for the rear wheel. HOWEVER if you live outside of America and/or if you don't have industry links/sponsorship, it seems the support for them once you need replacement parts & servicing is close to non existent. Sad really, the UST & design simplicity have alot going for the wheelset. But seems like a pointless wheelset to have if support is not available worldwide with parts easily to get hold of. Don't understand why they can't distribute their spares to ChainReaction, Jenson USA, Wiggle, etc so customers worldwide who already spent shedloads on these damn wheels in the first place can go online and order what they need to their front door. It's not hard is it?!...year 2016! But noooo, CrankBrothers want you to send them off to get repaired or send them emails, find a LBS that deals with Crankbrothers then faff around with distributors until the supplies eventually turn up. Ridiculous. So yeah, I currently have this wheelset in bits,collecting two years worth of dust as I've totally given up with the run around trying to get them rebuilt. I was one of those guys that used to defend Crankbrothers when all the haters used to go "ooooh nooo, you've F'd up spending your money on Wankbrothers wheels". But I totally understand now.

What the ffffffhey man, that last combo burned my house down and killed my cat!

Omg did I write that? I feel horrible, i'm not even like that anymore, I've calmed down loads.