RichardCunningham

I agree that the depth of the women's XCO field is many times better at present - technically and physically. The greater differences in times between the top ten finishes, however, is the point I am making here. The closer the times are, the more accurately it can be judged whether there is an advantage to a new technology, or riding technique, and the harder it will become to overcome a disadvantage. We can see this beginning to occur in the women's field. - RC

@bman33: Yes, Mondraker says internal routing for a dropper.

@jewpowered: Exactly. The vibe was casual. They were joking around like they'd known each other for years. Dungey is one of the most down to earth racers I've met. The recording would have been a good listen. The trailhead was alongside a busy highway, so there was too much ambient noise..

@g123: There are two sides to unsprung weight. Bikes are pretty lightweight vehicles. As far as the wheels go, heavier wheels store a lot of inertia and their gyroscopic effect creates a significant measure of stability while descending. The trade off for that mass-related stability are negative steering traits and poor acceleration at low speeds. The effect of unsprung weight on the suspension less important as far as mountain bikes are concerned. Unlike motorsports we use higher (relative to our total mass) spring rates and much less negative travel. High speed video of mountain bike suspensions at work reveals that the tire and rider do the lion's share of smoothing high frequency impacts, while the suspension takes care of lower-frequency, higher amplitude events. That said, the difference can be felt, and I agree that there is a break point where the mass of the wheels (and weighty frames), becomes an albatross for anything but descending.

@Cbc4447: Satan?

@speedfreek: What he said...

Yeah EC says he will be shaving it off soon.

That was a quote from the Haro people, I was hoping it was a slip-up

Not for lateral stiffness. A small amount of material used to triangulate the head tube junction an make a huge improvement in strength there. It's good engineering. A handful of brands, like Ibis, Specialized, and Cannondale have used a similar brace. Boxing the area is a similar strategy, but that only optimizes well with smaller head tubes.