21 World Cup Riders' Race Bikes from the British National DH at Fort William

 Due to R&D/Carbon mold costs vs how many bikes actually sold, Aluminum will be the DH leading material again in no time if its not already.

 But no steel bikes yet... that's not completely british without steel. I'd like to see some...

 nice to see space for waterbottles

 @danstonQ: I was at this race on my steel bike - Curtis Thumpercross.

check out my album for pics

 @Jammers91: Haaaaaaaaa yes! Your Curtis is wonderful. It should have been the 22nd bike spotted at this event.
Cheers Bro!!!

 Absolutely, especially when lined up right against all these other bikes, makes all of them look like squiggly over-designed trash. If I could take one home today it would be that RAAW. Extra points for the borderline non-branded parts in all black. Looks like it should be the first result in a google image search for "DOWN HILL BICYCLE".

 Im with you on that

 For a DH bike I don't see much of a downside. Even some of these high pivot bikes are running them. Isn't the main purpose of the high pivot to eliminate pedal kickback?

 @WalrusRider: more to have a rearward axle path. The idler is then used to lower the kickback. Most high pivot bikes still have a few degrees of kickback

 @NicoOfner: depending on what gear you're in, the 2019-2021 Supreme has up to 10 degrees of kickback

 @wburnes: yes exactly! That's why I run a 6 degree Ochain on that bike. About 9 or 10 degrees of kickback in first gear, but a bit less in the harder gears that I actually use when racing. In those gears (4-6) I don't have any kickback with the 6° Ochain or only a tiny bit when fully bottomed out!

 Definitely. They don't look like sessions anymore. Well except the one session and its cross country head angle.

 Whose bicycle is this?

It’s a chopper, baby.

Whose chopper is this?

It’s Zed’s.

Who’s Zed?

Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.

 @DizzyNinja: Z's dead? It is a shame Shimano haven't updated it

 GET TO THE CHOPPA!!!

 why did they have to make it even sexier like a month after a bought the old version?

 It’s the best one

 I too am interested to know the story.

 @Afterschoolsports: I'm going to assume it could have to do with the track. It's not as steep as some others, and full of rocks that require roll over ability.

 Off topic, but I love seeing that he's on that M29 because the first year of the Snowshoe world cup that exact bike got delivered to our condo by accident. Like literally our door was open and some backwoods WV airport luggage courier comes in and just drops it in the living room and leaves. We were freaking out lol but it was like 2 AM so we got it back to Joe in the morning.

 I remember hearing on a Gwin video that on the prototype, because of the shock placement, you have to unbolt the shock to adjust pressure or settings every time. I imagine that means if your mechanic isn't there you ride the standard bike.

 @Geckoblue545: I think they have a cover under the downtube that can be popped off. Also, what pro rider can’t take a shock off? Any rider of any experience should be able to take a shock off. Most of the time it’s literally just two bolts.

 If you ride in wet conditions they’re an absolute game changer. Those marsh guards are fine for summer but the fender styles mid guards will keep 90% of the crap from hitting your goggles. People in other countries don’t use them because they think they look weird. Here it’s the other way round. You look weird squinting through puddles without a mud guard.

 @thenotoriousmic: Yep I can imagine that, whistler is ‘mostly’ dry all summer and when it does rain it drains pretty well, just the multi day storm when there water sitting on top of the rock solid trails you get lots of dirt getting past the marsh guards into your face. Or I’m just weak and don’t ride in the rain now? The more I see the bigger guards the more I get used to them, all these dh bikes look pretty good

 @jazzawil: I think that over here we always ride throughout the year, as we don’t really have much in the way of winter sports or snow, so full length mudguards get much more use. I don’t even bother taking mine off in the summer as you can be sure that as soon as you do it’ll pour with rain.

JP

 Typically the UK is a pretty moist and muddy place - mud guards ftw!

 @Jprestidge: Yep, I took mine off for summer once, then got mud in my eye on an 'Ard Rock stage and it lost me plenty of seconds, so I've never taken it off since.

 looks like it

 same with the second RAAW i dont understand

 Usually a camera lens effect from lining up the bike slightly rear wheel closer, or moving yourself slightly to the rear of the bike. Plus how it's held up. I'd like to see what their method is. If they're doin the ol hold it and jump away for a split second or if they have a nifty little acrylic stand behind a wheel or somethin.

 @two-plank: Maybe it's because the mudguard + 29er means the frame doesn't have the clearance. So if you fit a mudguard you have to downsize the wheel. Only a theory.

 Can you blame them?

 TRP/Hayes take over. Wait till UCI DH.. youll see all the Sram Stuff back.

Again, its not the product but the user. I've ran many Code series of brakes and all have been good.
the best part is - bikes i buy usally have xt on them and they sell for a premium and codes sell cheap.

FYI, I can bleed Sram great and have no issues, but recently came up with a cheeky vacuum pump system, that runs on AC or DC(12v) the thing is fantastic and takes less time and less time being spread eagle lol.

 @HeatedRotor: To each their own; you couldn't pay me to run SRAM brakes again.

 @Brave1i1toaster: thats a shame, You need to try a set of properly bled brakes then.

 @HeatedRotor: i currently have sram code r's on an enduro and dh bike. they're fine for loose dusty stuff but in chunky, rooty long rides theyre always burning when i get to the bottom. I always have arm pump from trying to squeeze them so tight. maybe the rsc's will better. I think i am going to buy some saints or xts though. i would try out the trps but i just dont know anyone that has them so i cant really test them out

 @ridelife6: Yep; I have the same issue with RSCs. I’ve gone up to 220mm rotors front and rear and it seems to help, but I’m still tempted to get something better, the Codes seem to overheat too fast.

 @eblackwell: you've sold me on moving away from sram. I was tempted to get just the rsc lever b/c the code r calipers are the same as the rsc's and then 220mm rotors. but the levers are still like 200$ so its still a good chunk of change when you compare it getting a whole new set of brakes

 @HeatedRotor: You need to try a set of properly bleld Shimano 4 pots, with properly shimmed pad throw and rotor alignment. Codes are cute, with their built in coping mechanism called "modulation", but if you want brutal stopping power XTR's/Saints are the way to go.

 @Brave1i1toaster: ill always say saints are good, but ive used alot of sets of XT etc, and if you want to "huck a skid" to be cool, shimano brakes are all the rage.
I have XT's on my new spectral.. waiting on more TRP stock... they are superior to both Sram and shimano.
Ive done alot of testing with Codes vs XT's, i always get hand/arm pain with XT's on the steep stuff and feel like im just sliding and "about to lock up" all the time, where as codes have a much shorter stopping distance as they wont just "lock" i remember when i couldnt get any RSC's for like 6 months and had to live with xt, then got codes and wonderd why i was going so slow... was all down to how well they slowed me down

 @ridelife6: put the new HSC rotors and mtx pads in them.
Heat is always a pad/rotor thing.

 @HeatedRotor: It probably just boils down to rider/driver preference, from motorsports to MTB I prefer insant-bite, low input effort setups, where the operating range is only about ~15-20% of a lever/pedals travel.

 @Brave1i1toaster: fair, my problem with Shimano brakes is: you get get instant bite but then nothing more and for us heavier riders shimano brakes(more talking non SAINT) cant supply the past bite power/feel

 Ikr so many unrideable non-highpivots... that trend went away quick... wooshh....

 Yeah, the photographer needs to retyre...

 looks like ABP

 It's a DHX2 and a 40.

 Fox 40 on the front, DHX2 on the rear. Judging from the sticker on the fork it's had some tuning from Sprung suspension, they are a tuner/service centre.

 Just built up my jibb 2 weeks ago, excellent bike

 I was about to post that it may be an unpopular opinion, but I think the current generation Demo is ugly.

 Even most pro riders drag the rearbrake a lot, it gets way hotter than the front. It may not be fashionable but a bigger rotor in the back makes sense. Or go straight double 223. The standard Galfer 223 rotor is brilliant btw.

 Yep and the Raaw. Having said that - for me those Propains get something 'right'.

 Some kind of linear potentiometer, it 'measures' how far the suspension traveled and it can be shown on a laptop, etc for further evaluation what could be optimized in the suspension settings. There are some manufacturers but every decent engineer should be able to build something like that.

 Yeah, it’s part of a telemetry system.

 The O-chain is the spider connecting the crank to the chainring. It damps pedal kickback

 @mal100: ohhh thats what I thought but didn't know for sure

 some are mullets, im pretty sure both canyon senders are mullets

 Looks like MX =15 vs 29er =6