bkm303

Such a good episode. Made me really happy to have put my kids on Woom and Prevelo. They're doing great work and it shows in the weight and finishing touches on their bikes for sure.

@HuckGnarris: Idk, seems like a good, linear(ish) shock + bottom out protection. I feel like people generally like hydraulic bottom out features on dampers, and this is basically accomplishing that with a variable volume air spring instead of a HBO circuit in the damper. IMO it actually seems like a good solution because a nonstandard air sleeve & spacers is probably way cheaper/simpler than cramming in more damping features & dials. And it's kind of interesting to have a bottom out system that actually returns the energy instead of just dissipating it. What I don't really understand is why they're offering a coil version though. Feels like they can't both work well. I know that Ohlins has an elastomer bumper but still... Anyway, I actually like the shock concept but wireless only is utter bullshit. Spesh has actually been releasing some really cool aluminum bikes lately (Chisel FS, Crux DSW) though, so maybe there will be an aluminum version with mechanical shift routing in a year or two.

This. There was nothing wrong with the actual rideable features on the course... separating the lines with jagged walls of boulders just cranks up the consequences of a crash for no reason. It was an obvious hazard in the most challenging part of the course, and the rocks weren't even all padded in the early practice videos. There were so many other options to separate those lines... tape, barriers, bushes, cones, the list goes on.

@tommyrod74: Correct on all of that. And if we're being honest, the super techy courses rarely produce the most entertaining racing. The first two races in Brazil were super exciting from start to finish specifically because there were big non-technical sections where people could overtake, groups could form and work together to pull back the leaders, etc. Contrast that with VDS last weekend, or MSA in years past, where the winning strategy is just to get up front early and stay there while the chase groups get jammed up on narrow sections and impede each other. I love tech elements in these courses but the racing is just better when the field isn't strung out by lap 2.

Nino's partner in the Cape Epic this year had some major chain retention issues too. Chain dropped like a dozen times in a single stage or something stupid like that.

Totally agree. Also huge props to the course designers for making a track that's technical AND still allows lots of overtaking. A few times in the past I've been hyped for technical XC courses only to be let down when the tech features aren't really a deciding factor, or they become such a bottleneck that the race gets strung out too quickly (MSA a couple years ago). Pretty awesome to see the front group(s) stay together through the whole race. Tactical racing is always more interesting than just seeing one guy ride off the front for 3 laps.

@WarOnErrorism: Matt Beers did one of the Lifetime races last year and is planning on more this year, and Blevins does BWR and some other gravely stuff. I think Specialized is pushing their atheletes to do some crossover/gravel stuff. Even some big names in world tour road racing are showing up occasionally (Kasia Niewiadoma won Big Sugar). I wouldn't be surprised if we see a little more crossover in the future. Especially from XCM type riders. But I do agree it's kinda small potatoes, and I would fully expect WT / WC pros to rip the legs off people in Lifetime races, provided they can avoid crashes, mechanicals, etc.

I get that the doping regs are kinda loosey goosey in the LTGP but the making accusations isn't cool unless you have some evidence. He's probably making way more money off his personal sponsorship deals + prize purses than he would if we gave all that up and joined a WT team as a 29 year old domestique/stageur on a newb's salary. And he gets to live at home. He's making all the right moves unless he's really dying to go live abroad and do the WT lifestyle. I also don't think there's much reason to think he's on par with the grand tour big guns. His numbers are awesome, but he was 7 min behind Mohoric at gravel worlds last year. Wout was like 2 minutes behind him even after a big crash and a puncture he struggled to fix. Keegan has raced XCO world cups before and never cracked the top 10.

I know of multiple bike shops in the US that have DIY'd lift systems for ebikes because the Park lift stand cost is hard to justify. The topic has come up over and over on bike mechanic forums/subreddits too - those BSO ebikes are heavy as shit. For $805 there are a LOT of shops that will be jumping all over this. Also the US (OSHA) lifting limits are basically the same as in Europe so idk what you're talking about.

Woom does make tiny hand specific cable levers, FYI. They have tool-free reach adjustment for small hands (in addition to the cable tension adjustment). They're also color coded to match the V-brake pad colors so kiddos can tell front from rear, which is cool. They're actually the main reason we went with Woom for my kids' bikes (that and the super low weight). Not sure if they sell the levers by themselves anymore but it's worth emailing them for those interested. IMO discs and big tires don't really have major advantages over V-brakes for the kind of riding most 3-5 year olds are doing. My kid was (mostly accidentally) doing stoppies and skids with his Woom V-brakes at 4 years old, and it's not like he's going to bend a 16" rim out of true. We looked at some of the kid-sized mtbs out there but the weight difference vs Woom and Prevelo are a pretty significant % of a kid's body weight in most cases. I probably won't seek out a disc brake bike until he's a little bigger and riding steeper trails - for now it's mostly pavement and pump tracks.