Team GT: Pietermaritzburg Race Day by MTBcut

34 Comments

mountguitars (Apr 25, 2011 at 10:50)

i agree with mick. the track gets faster by the end of the day specially in dry conditions. sometimes being last out of the gate is a disadvantage coz by the time you get out, you cannot expect the same conditions as you did before during practice.

borocks (Apr 25, 2011 at 23:28)

Agreed, I have had that experience where the track was really tacky in practice and by the time it came for me to race, the track was super crumbly and washed out berms

rclark (Apr 25, 2011 at 11:28)

Hope Mick gets better soon. Definitely one of the most humble beasts out there. A great rider to look up to!

bigburd (Apr 25, 2011 at 14:37)

Yeah he seems like a really sound guy , honest , humble and deadly fast

chop217 (Apr 27, 2011 at 8:41)

@ peterman 1234 - You have an american flag next to your name, and your slamming the first american to win a WC in how many years? who are you to say that Aaron will or will not win another WC. He's been the fastest rising danger man for 2 years, and now that he hit the top you think he's going back down? your crazy!!! Just because Fabien can't handle pressure does not mean Aaron can't. How many times has Hill won qualifying and finals? Each rider is different, and I believe that Aaron thrives on the pressure.

n1ck FL (Apr 25, 2011 at 17:31)

Mick was the only one left capable of taking Gwin for the final. And we will never know if he had it in him. Will Mick be looking to prove his speed at Fort William? Can't wait to see.

pingntodd (Apr 25, 2011 at 21:23)

way to go Steve Smith !!!!!!!! I see podium in the near future......top of the podium. Canadian boy on Canadian hand made bike. Love it!!

FarmerJohn (Apr 26, 2011 at 7:09)

ALL bikes are hand made

gromhit (Apr 26, 2011 at 18:12)

not all of them.....most of them are made by machines to increase production...

FarmerJohn (Apr 27, 2011 at 6:42)

When was the last time you visited Taiwan, China, Vietnam frame factories or any other frame manufacturing facility? robot welds are rarely used at all. with the exception of some monocoque frames where a weld may run the across the top of a TT or something easily accessed by a 4-6 axis welding bot.
frames branded Evil, Transition, Mondraker and so forth are made in both Taiwan and Vietnam and are are hand welded and hand assembled. No, they dont have to rub sticks together to light the welding tourch, it is electronically control but the welds are done by hand and they use pnuematic tools to install parts but it is all work done by humans

neimbc (Apr 28, 2011 at 17:13)

Peterman has a valid point. Why so negative? All he's saying is Minnarr is consistently on top - and never off by much. Gwin had a grerat ride and deserves all the respect - but as the WC is the True World Champion (as all racers concur) it is decided in a series of races - the most consistent performer wins. Winning a one round means little in the series - it's all about points. As it stands now - Gwin is the man to beat, maybe his day has come to take it all, but I'd love to see Minnaar take it all, having lost the series by 0.32 to Atherton (who is a beast of a great rider) last year and to Peat by 0.05 the year before - and not to mention a 3rd at the Worlds in the pouring rain. You can't get more consistent than that! Can't wait for round two!!

dingus (Apr 25, 2011 at 3:10)

Nice video. Gutted for Mick

AussieBoon (Apr 26, 2011 at 22:43)

shame about mic he was looking fast al weekend and then for this to happen....

but great work to marc for comin 7th on a track that didn't suit him too good

deakmaster (Apr 25, 2011 at 19:29)

hehe the GT B#%CH shirt. i want it.

btw everyones madd intense, take dee chill pill

ORgrown420 (Apr 25, 2011 at 11:35)

I wonder if those stem bolts were titanium or steel?

VegiAlex (Apr 25, 2011 at 12:17)

Ive sheared off steel stem bolts once before from hitting a tree pretty fast. I would like to think that Ti ones would be stronger, but i guess the unfortunate truth is if you hit something hard enough, any bolts will snap.

neimbc (Apr 25, 2011 at 13:11)

The Ti is weaker - lighter, but it's their strenght to weight ratio that determines a materials use. The steel is stronger/heavier. As stem bolts they need not be that strong, Ti is acceptable and still carry a decent strenght rating - what he did was rare and most likely the steel bolts would have failed as well or the damage would have been absorbed elsewhere - as in the bars breaking or severely bending. Soooo disappointed he didn't make the run down!!!

VegiAlex (Apr 25, 2011 at 13:20)

Oh ok, i was under the impression that Ti bolts would be stronger i stand corrected! As stoked as i am to see Gwin on the top step, i would have loved to see Mick come down, we all know he could have laid down a stormer!

cameronbikes (Apr 25, 2011 at 17:05)

I had heard that Ti bolts are stronger, but that the problem is the different strengths of Ti vs Aluminum. So you can easily overtighten Ti and strip the Alu side. I'd guess for shearing the same would go... you can pull them back out more easily than an Alu to Alu interface. Would have loved to see Mick get on the podium there. Hopefully next time. You're a champ!

jonnydh (Apr 25, 2011 at 19:36)

It depends on the alloy and grade of the steel and Ti, but they should be about the same strength ~800 MPa, about twice as strong as most Aluminum alloys.

Motomaster (Apr 27, 2011 at 20:34)

You also need to consider how the bolt is used. You also need to consider if the threads on the bolts are cut or rolled. Stems bots depend a lot on the strength of the bolt head and thread depth. A bolt used for a brake caliper encounters more of a shear load as opposed to a load directly focused at the head. Cut threads introduce small stress risers, rolled threads are much better but more expensive. The close both pattern that is commonly used should be spaced out farther apart to disperse the load forces across a greater surface area, its just too narrow with these designs. Steel bolts are the safest, save weight elsewhere. Mick sure was going to win that one, so unfortunate, great rider.

Motomaster (Apr 27, 2011 at 20:37)

Plus, wide bars introduce greater leverage on that small both pattern, yikes.

extremedhracer FL (Apr 28, 2011 at 10:05)

ti bolts have a habbit of sheering off, at val di sole someone stem came off while they were riding because the ti stem bolts sheered off and its happened again with ti bolts on mick's stem with ti bolts. i also watched a mechanic sheer the head off a ti rotor bolt in pmb and he wasnt even tightening it much. yes ti bolts are lighter but they come with a risk...

poundsand FL (Apr 25, 2011 at 12:20)

Wow busted the stem clean off. That's a big hit

chop217 (Apr 27, 2011 at 17:54)

cool vid

neimbc (Apr 25, 2011 at 10:48)

Really wanted to see him come down - he must be really bummed!!!

kaelmarkle (Apr 25, 2011 at 17:19)

Sick

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peterman1234 (Apr 25, 2011 at 18:51)

props to gwin and all but i really think he was just having an amazing ride. its like taking the ACT, you could take the same test twice, say a few days (or a WC stop) apart, and do better on one than the other. so i really give higher props to minaar cuz thats how he rides all the time.

no-ah (Apr 25, 2011 at 22:54)

you sir are dumb

peterman1234 (Apr 26, 2011 at 16:03) (Below Threshold)

we'll see who's dumb when he doesnt win another WC event. I'd love to see him win the overall, but it's just too much pressure to live up to the performance he laid down on sunday. In either F1rst or Between the Tape, Fabien Barel talks about how he never won the qualifier and final at the same WC stop because the pressure of living up to the qualifiers result was too much. Same thing with gwin, just on a larger scale

no-ah (Apr 26, 2011 at 23:38)

and i repeat sir. you are dumb.

peterman1234 (Apr 27, 2011 at 23:30)

what, do you have a secret celebrity crush goin on with aaron gwin and i offended you?

Byangoma (Apr 28, 2011 at 6:17)

Gwin has been progressively better over the last two years, and has had podiums before, so it was to be expected that he would get a wc win, maybe not so soon. We can expect more podiums and wins from him, especially now that we know he definately has it in him.
And that last comment peterman1234? That did not help your argument against looking dumb

peterman1234 (Apr 28, 2011 at 15:09)

its not my fault you guys are all hot and hard over aaron gwin.