anchoricex

1. if there's a speed advantage at the upper echelons of DH racing, you're going to see 32" end of story. the moment there's any sort of narrative behind one or two racers who are performing better due to 32", the entire rest of the field will be forced to follow, even if they don't want to. 2. bike part manufs are not as big as they larp to be, this entire industry has shown time and time again it is unwilling/unable/incapable of supporting a variety of standards and sizes, so the supply chains for 27 stuff will probably end up on the proverbial chopping block because part availability tends to follow bike releases. If bikes are behind designed around WC racer needs, then year after year you stop seeing new bikes built with 27 support. That alone delivers the biggest blow to the standard that's being left behind. then we waste our times saying "well people are buying the new standard, so surely it's working" and conveniently leave out that the old standard simply isn't being made anymore. 3. mountain bike brands as an industry don't sustain themselves by supporting old models. the expectation is that year over year they continue selling new models, which is already unsustainable at the pricing which has made the sport even more inaccessible probably more now than ever. so if only people with enough money for a spare car have enough money to afford mountain bikes are out there buying new bikes, we've already seen that that demographic tends to lean towards "give me the best money can buy" and if 32" is marketed as "faster" it's already a sealed deal and an inevitability we tend to push the wrong narratives around this stupid wheel size thing. we say "let's wait and see what WCDH thinks" but we already know where this is going, we are already familiar with how whatever they do is going to influence bike design. the bottom line is that it's an industry that should've always supported a variety of wheel sizes _without_ having to sunset another, but there are little incentives to do so. the industry can't figure out the economics of doing that, which is really an operational finance problem worth solving. the more air time we give 32" testing, the faster it's going to come. i really don't give a shit about big wheel sizes and don't care if it's faster, i was fine on 26" and i have a 27.5" now because you just can't easily find 26" stuff without paying for what is basically a collector premium at this point. if the 26" stuff was still widely available i literally would've never wasted money going to 27,5. not everyone is set out to be a downhill racer, you can go fast on any bike and everyone's allowed to have preferences here. i more or less am annoyed that after all these years the mountain bike industry at large still is in this endless discovery phase where it can't figure out the best way to build bikes and its addicted to the cyclic nature of leaving stuff behind. it's hard on the sport, it makes the barrier to entry confusing as f*ck and expensive.

@enki: that year sight is a pretty sick bike, ive seen them at the bike park a couple times people rocking them with cascade link + coil & longer travel fork. it was a pretty loudly talked about do everything bike in 2021 iirc so they were definitely doing things right. havent tuned in much to bike developments in the past 5 years but i really wanted one of those sights i kind of still do

If you buy this bike now that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.

yea tf that was actually bonkers. thats probably one of the best camera perspectives ive seen on a drop like that too and you can actually see how weird it must be to have that much hangtime falling straight down. also honorary shout out to the continued pan at like 3:35 after he does a 3 double bar outta the doohickey. legitimately stunning shot+scenery

Don't agree with your assessment that Loic is somehow gotcha'd because he didn't like 27->29 which "came from XC" but enjoys using electronic drivetrain components which "came from XC". That's not really making a point at all, it's shoehorning a shades-of-gray thing into a black-and-white "you can only like all of it but you can't like some of it" kinda deal. With 32" here's the deal, and we've already seen this with 26->27 and 27->29: 1. if there's a speed advantage at the upper echelons of DH racing, you're going to see 32" end of story. the moment there's any sort of narrative behind one or two racers who are performing better due to 32", the entire rest of the field will be forced to follow, even if they don't want to. 2. bike part manufs are not as big as they larp to be, this entire industry has shown time and time again it is unwilling/unable/incapable of supporting a variety of standards and sizes, so the supply chains for 27 stuff will probably end up on the proverbial chopping block because part availability tends to follow bike releases. If bikes are behind designed around WC racer needs, then year after year you stop seeing new bikes built with 27 support. That alone delivers the biggest blow to the standard that's being left behind. then we waste our times saying "well people are buying the new standard, so surely it's working" and conveniently leave out that the old standard simply isn't being made anymore. 3. mountain bike brands as an industry don't sustain themselves by supporting old models. the expectation is that year over year they continue selling new models, which is already unsustainable at the pricing which has made the sport even more inaccessible probably more now than ever. so if only people with enough money for a spare car have enough money to afford mountain bikes are out there buying new bikes, we've already seen that that demographic tends to lean towards "give me the best money can buy" and if 32" is marketed as "faster" it's already a sealed deal and an inevitability we tend to push the wrong narratives around this stupid wheel size thing. we say "let's wait and see what WCDH thinks" but we already know where this is going, we are already familiar with how whatever they do is going to influence bike design. the bottom line is that it's an industry that should've always supported a variety of wheel sizes _without_ having to sunset another, but there are little incentives to do so. the industry can't figure out the economics of doing that, which is really an operational finance problem worth solving. the more air time we give 32" testing, the faster it's going to come. i really don't give a shit about big wheel sizes and don't care if it's faster, i was fine on 26" and i have a 27.5" now because you just can't easily find 26" stuff without paying for what is basically a collector premium at this point. if the 26" stuff was still widely available i literally would've never wasted money going to 27,5. not everyone is set out to be a downhill racer, you can go fast on any bike and everyone's allowed to have preferences here. i more or less am annoyed that after all these years the mountain bike industry at large still is in this endless discovery phase where it can't figure out the best way to build bikes and its addicted to the cyclic nature of leaving stuff behind. it's hard on the sport, it makes the barrier to entry confusing as f*ck and expensive.

It's crazy that this has been brought up literally every single year I've watched rampage. I think at this point it should be loud and clear nothing's going to change, that's just not what Redbull wants out of the event. Even backflips at one time were roasted for being slopestyle and not freeride. Generally speaking there's just multiple crowds of people watching this event, all of whom have different ideas of what we like to see on a mountain bike. We all want to see "our guy" take a top spot. And it seems like the event is mostly tailored towards trick-enjoyers. I have no doubt that Redbull is pushing for this, even though Redbull is a free to watch event that probably makes like no money day-of, it produces a _lot_ of valuable content/media for them for the following year that feeds into their marketing machine. With that said literally every event is always going to be opaque and impossible to judge because everyone has subjective lived experiences with mountain biking and appreciates different aspects of it. I do think it's time the "flow over slopestyle tricks" enjoyers get some much deserved judging that makes them feel like this event is also representative of them too... .. but if I'm being honest I just don't think it's going to happen for the aforementioned goals Redbull has. My true take is that this should never be an event to be judged, it's just given rise to this really cheesy divisive cultural split between mountain biking enthusiasts. Things _would_ be different if there wasn't a podium, I really don't think people would take to comments to be like "get slopestyle out of rampage!" and everyone would probably take a moment to just say "yo semenuk is a freak" followed by "lacondeguy is a monster" and there just wouldn't be this pointless debate on what type of riding is better or what the hell constitutes "freeride". Freeride is just one of those things that's different for everyone. For some people they're not far off from something that closely resembles motocross (see: fest series), for others like me this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zLuqKNKOqs that got me into the sport. It's impossible to put this freeride shit into any sort of box because it's always changing but it just encompasses a huge variety of approaches to riding a bike... and that largely just buckets into "well we aren't racing so I guess we're doing something else". I don't really know what to make of it. I think every single run owns, I have favorites but end of the day it's really hard for me to just say "oh yeah he's the _winner_ of the event" that just doesn't feel like it fits. I think there's aspects to rampage that make it feel broadly more official than say a fest series event. Live broadcasting is a big deal, taking the time with on screen graphics of routes and rider information, and interviews with diggers and riders and doing overviews about their dig weekend and so on, every rider taking turns to showcase their line.. just really makes it feel like "okay this is an event of some sort". With that said I think you could honestly keep all that and ditch the judging. Every rider that got invited should just be paid to be there since they're putting their lives on the line, ditch the idea of judging and top spots, keep the broadcasting, and I think you can have an event where: - Redbull is happy and has a mountain of clips to use on social media and other marketing - Athletes are happy because no ones getting robbed - Athletes are happy because they're participating in an invite event that probably helps them take big steps towards possible sponsorship and being on camera, I don't doubt trying to ride your bike for a living is incredibly hard path to make it in. The folks at the top are in their own way a 1% of the sport. - Riders are probably safer because the pressure to make a podium by doing something batshit probably vanishes - Enthusiasts are happy because there's no need to "get slopestyle out of freeride" or vice versa - Casual enjoyers are happy because there's insane stuff happening on a free broadcast IMO it'd still be an event I'd want on the big screen at home without the judging it's just so cool. The premise is great, it's a very interesting geographical location with stunning terrain where teams spend a weekend building some weird stuff and riders throw down on it. You could still have all the fanfare and spectators, it promotes the sport and kids wanna go get autographs from these guys & much like me watching a damn youtube video in 2010 and getting into the sport, I don't doubt that Rampage has the same impact on new people exposed to it. The major difference is the live broadcast IMO, where Audi nines and fest series just have videos that get posted on the internet later, Redbull has the resources to broadcast an event and make it something you don't want to miss every year. As far as "freeride" goes aka "not racing" it's just rare to see so many riders we enjoy watching gathered in the same spot for a live event.

Yo what the fuck this is flat out the craziest analytics playback thingamajig ever??? Throw this on a front page article pinkbike this is incredible

9:03-4 loics fork just callin it a day lmfao damn that sucks

lol ya i always thought the podium back in the day was simultaneously the coolest and ugliest bike in the milky way. rode my friends back in like 18-19 cant remember what year his frame was though, and it was just a phenomenally good feeling bike really fun to throw around in the park. handled exactly how i want a bike to handle, which admittedly doesnt provide much description cause i mostly just ride like an idiot with the delusion that i can respawn if something goes wrong

@Superboost: LMAO ayo i 100% run the kirkland signature kit https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/13821018/ love meming that costco is my sponsor. based kit