The Bikes of the Bratislava City Downhill

This is what the pros, semi-pros and privateers were riding on the demanding track of the Bratislava City Downhill.


Brendan Fairclough and his Scott Gambler

One of the most stylish riders on virtually any course he lays wheels has been steezin that whip aboard a Scott Gambler known for its low center of gravity, super-slack angles and some world-cup stiff suspension. A pretty stock looking bike hasn’t been tweaked that much for the urban course, but there was something interesting going on after all. What’s been pointed out by the mechanics on site as a prototype rear shock from Fox, with a thicker shaft and possibly some internal tweaks as well, although looking almost indistinguishable from a stock RC4, has been providing 8.3 inches of travel for the UK bred ripper.



Ed Masters and his Zerode G2

Ed kept it homegrown on a downhill bike from the Kiwi brand Zerode. Although not fully sponsored, the brand helps Wyn Masters‘ brother a lot – this time to a gearbox equipped matte black frame with 8.3 inches of travel. The rest of the bike was in a true privateer fashion with Schwalbe tires in the front, Maxxis in the back, some shiny Formula stoppers and a World Cup Boxxer to help the rear with possibly the lowest unsprung mass of any bike in the World Cup right now. A black leather jacket flapping behind Eddie was a perfect match to the bike for his race runs, and a reminder, that unbuttoned old school floral shirts that the whole NZ crew showcased on the first two World Cups of the season definitely weren’t a one-time occurrence.



Martin Knapec and his CTM Carbon DH Prototype

This hot mess is a multiple Slovak national DH champion, and he’s been riding a shiny new full carbon prototype frame from a local company CTM, which takes its full suspension frames from a popular Taiwanese company Astro Engineering, also supplying to bigger brands such as KHS. 8.3“ of dual-link travel is kitted out with brand new Novatec Demon wheels with the most Chris King-ish buzz on the course.



Matti Lehikoinen and his Specialized Enduro EVO

Finnish star only brought his stock enduro bike with a dropper seat post he actually uses to raise his XC game on every day with literally no changes to it made compared to his usual cardio set-up. "I spoke to Filip on the phone and he said it should be fine, and now I kind of regret it. I wish I had my big bike, but now I have to get on with it.“ said Matti about his choice. 7 inches of travel with steeper geometry may not seem like much compared to the downhill machines of others, but then there was this guy...



Tomas Slavik and his jackhammer – Ghost fourcross prototype

2011 Fourcross World Champion got this full suspension four inch prototype from his sponsor – the German brand Ghost – just for this race and kept calling it "the jackhammer“ having quite a laugh. That is, until he snapped the linkages in two trying out some of the big boy lines in the stairs and pulled out an even more jackhammer-like hardtail, on which he smoked everyone in quali and came up just over a second short in the finals landing in fourth spot. Mental!



Gergö Palla and his Ironhorse Sunday

Keeping ti real was Gergö Palla, young and the only Hungarian on the start list. No cash to spare bought him a second-hand Ironhorse Sunday – a steed you don’t see being raced too often anymore, especially not at big races like this. "I don’t have a lot of money and this is good and cheap.“ explained the kid. Decked out with an ancient Dura-Ace derailleur, a chainring with none of the bolts matching because he smashed the one he came with in a spectacular crash during practice, and uncountable kinks on the wheels, Gergö showed perhaps the best dedication to the sport AND the best sense for color coordination.



Filip Polc and his Evil Undead

The event organizer and course builder had frizzier hair than ever trying to compete and make sure everything ran smoothly over the weekend. Just like his Evil Vengeance Tour teammate Mitch Delfs, he resorted to the longer travel carbon Undead over his enduro bike Uprising, although he played around with the thought of riding a quicker but also less-forgiving 6 inches in the rear for quite some time.



Fabien Cousinié and his Polygon DH Prototype

French rider for the Hutchinson UR team along with the Hannah siblings is now sponsored by an Indonesian brand Polygon – which has been in the business for longer than you may think, producing blanks for many bicycle companies world-wide, and only recently starting their own production of completes. What Fabien has been riding until a crash that cost him a trip to the hospital is a prototype, that resembles their previous Collosus DH bike with a ton of weight shedded. The team has been riding this bike only since the Ft. William WC and save a new linkage coming, it’s very close to production. Just like all the riders who had a choice, Fabien also stuck with his DH bike over an enduro bike he brought as well, which has interestingly been a 650B frameset with 26“ wheels.