catweasel

Not sure about the DH bike but Dylan Stark pulled one a YT Decoy. Seriously impressive on that fat hog!

@hamncheez: think you hit the nail on the head there! I’m presuming it’s a combination of lack of imagination and time and budget constraints. Also not enough emphasis on turns, and rhythm. You can have every feature in the world but if they don’t connect with the right rhythm it’s never gonna be truly great. Couple that impressed me recently were Darkside at Wildside (other trails are sadly mostly mediocre) for its great use of the terrain shape and Tumbleweed at Ride Rock Creek for its great shaping and rhythm. Highland I think has the best concentration I’ve ridden including Whistler (which has its fair share of mediocrity once you get away from ALine and Dirt Merchant). Cat and Mouse at Thunder is also a gem

@pmhobson: I’d agree with you on the formulaic approach taken by too many machine builds. Not enough time taken to incorporate the shape of the natural terrain and create something that’s unique to that hillside. Below is a link to a video of a trail I built with Renegade Trail Crew, the idea being it’s a modern, professionally built take on the old school natural trails we all love. We spent a lot of time incorporating all the natural features we could and by making the water management part of the trail in the form of jumps, drops, rock features, natural compressions and gravel drains. Also despite being on a slope that is a constant 30-35 degrees the trail is rarely straight (except on the top of the ridge) and doesn’t have a true switchback as we used a rock armor to give them the feel of steeper technical features. Our other big focus was to try and keep a constant rhythm to the features so you remain constantly engaged with the trail (barring the odd much needed chill out). Trail. Difficulty is black with options of varying difficulty and style to try and provide opportunity for rider progression. The point of my post is not in any way to showcase my trail building but rather to provide an example that modern trail building can coexist with old school feel, engagement and variety. Hooe you give it a watch, never met the guy who filmed this but he rips! https://youtu.be/7OaiEBM-AEc?is=TkCrGtAejozXEO0U

Good trail building requires a healthy mix of art and science, ignoring either one will have a negative effect on the trail one way or another. IMBA lean way to heavy into the science at the cost of the riding experience. I think it’s a lot to do with the larger the organization the larger the rule book and trail building is too diverse and requires too much subtlety to be unaffected by a large rule book.

@Cgocal: agreed, that in theory at least isolates braking forces (you can argue that one with Dave Weagle). I imagine any rearward axle path that isn't overly effected by braking forces should exhibit the same braking dynamics as my chainsaw but I haven't ridden any to confirm

I just built up a chainsaw dh which has a pretty rearward axle path. The other benefit I’ve noticed is as the split pivot allows the suspension to move freely under braking, the very act of hard braking means suspension compresses and the axle moves rearward. This seems to result in a more consistent contact patch under heavy braking, like the front centre is moving forward while the rear centre is staying more relatively static to the initial point of braking. The result being that the rear wheel traction is insane to the point where I’ve had to do a mental recalibration to not over brake all the time

@dungeonbeast: only if the storm made their bikes less heavy....

We do the more commonly used "thunderstorm" but as thunder is the sound lightning makes rather than the dangerous electrical activity itself media often use the meteoroloically correct "electrical storm" as it better conveys its inherent danger

@BenPea: dam facts are boring. Can we just pretend he's really into cosplay and got giant implants to go all in on his Sabretooth from XMen look?

Why are his teeth longer this year? (Extensive dental work prior to a move to yeti?) And what is he doing with his teeth to make him faster?