The Best Tech From Vallnord DH World Cups
Vallnord is a brute of a track with a flat out top section giving way to an extended cascade of steep chutes from the halfway point down to the finish. It's easily the most consistently steep track on the circuit and one of the most feared as a result. To combat the difficulty of the course, we often see new set ups and equipment brought specially to Andorra to give racers every advantage possible. We've been covering that tech at this race since it returned to the calendar in 2013 and here is some of the best we've spotted:
2013
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The longer stays also boosted the travel of Gwin's Demo up to 215mm so the spring rate and damping also had to be slightly tweaked.
2013 saw the onset of 650b wheels in downhill racing and the black Fox 40 on the left was the first time we saw a fork to match. At Val di Sole and Fort William previously, riders had been running the 26" version (white fork on the right), which left a very snug fit and no room for the spikes riders were opting to run in Vallnord.
Spotted in one of the local shops, no doubt with a price to make you weep.
The mane man Colin Meagher giving the local wildlife a helping hand off the course during trackwalk. The best equine pun in the comments gets a gold star.
Mark Fitzsimmons relishing the chance to use any mechanic's favourite tool.
The Syndicate turned up with a steering damper, or as they called it a Steering Technologies Dampener, we'll leave you to work out why. Doug Hatfield explained it was "two bits of metal we machined ourselves to offer 8 millimeters of fore/aft adjustment. We use a Chris King Preloader to make the entire thing act as a steering dampener, while at the same time offering the cockpit adjustment."
George Brannigan was still waiting for a custom built knee brace but discovered a Marsh Guard did a pretty good job at improving the one he already had.
There aren't many places in the second half of the Vallnord track where you're not full pull on the brake levers. Rotors get very hot, very fast.
Mechanics aren't the only ones who innovate at World Cups, check out this triple air horn heckling implement, complete with a TLD grip.
Zarja Cernilogar was enjoying her best ever season as a privateer coming into Vallnord in 2013 with two top tens at the opening two rounds. She passed away in a non-bike related accident in 2016. RIP.
2015
2015 was a World Champs year and that meant custom kit for the racers. Danny Hart's helmet design was dreamt up by a Pinkbike user for a competition and then made a reality by Bell.
Aaron Gwin's Demo got his traditional Stars and Stripes World Champs livery.
While Troy Brosnan's got Aussie gold and green
A Simba yellow, Lion King themed ride for the GOAT.
Neko Mulally's Gambler also got a US themed paint job.
More Union Jacks than you can shake a stick at on Hart's ride.
Connor Fearon's custom Operator.
Polished to a mirror finish over six weeks by Loic's mechanic Jack, this custom Lapierre was one hell of a surprise for the future World Champ on the first morning of practice.
Patriotic parts for Martin Maes
It's not just bikes that get those custom touches.
Casey Brown may not have had anything custom painted but this Bergamont prototype was totally fresh for the race. It was a 26" wheeled bike while the rest of the team were on 27.5" Straitlines and was a big departure in design too, with a single pivot swing arm and a compact linkage tucked up under the seat tube.
2016
Dave Garland was so confident in the Giant suspension set up his racers were running "basically an XC rim."
Live without warning. Bruni's custom lid for 2016.
Big stacks are the name of the game for Andorra as riders go for higher front ends and softer shocks to help them through the chunder.
There was only one bike to talk about in 2016 as Steve Peat said his final farewell to the World Cup circuit. What a bike to send him off with though!
Peaty's final season was full of custom bikes including Fort William's tartan number and the cow themed ride from Lenzerheide.
Not a shabby palmares
One of many RAF roundels on this bike for the best of British.
2017
As the years go by, the brake mounts have only got bigger at Vallnord. From 200/203mm we've grown to 220/223mm and in 2019 we even saw 246mm rotors.
Hot pink for Finn Iles in 2017. He was still racing as a junior in 2017 but his race time would have seen him finish 7th in Elites at this race.
2018
The Pivot boys taking data acquisition to the next level with this Eddie Masters designed system.
An EXT Arma shock used by the AB Devinci team.
The grip tape is a classic touch on a downhill racer's bike but we also noticed that Reece Wilson was running Rev suspension grips for the Vallnord steeps.
A rough and ready idler on the protoype Gambler.
The Norco Factory Team were testing out a couple of linkages in Vallnord, one harder and one softer tune.
2019
John Hall ensuring Gwin will be shooting straight on race day.
Gwin also got some new grips to celebrate the July 4th race day.
Finn Iles channeling Guy Fieri with this custom Demo.
He also got a pair of custom brake levers which are shorter with a more aggressive hook.
Canyon had some new paint jobs, a pretty big departure from their usual black, white and yellow.
Brosnan's totally dialled, purple anodized cockpit is the stuff dreams are made of.
Baptiste Pierron's humongous 246mm rotor from Galfer.
If there's any track you don't want brake jack, it's Vallnord. Saracen's wild floating brake bar was unveiled in Andorra last year.
Despite having one of the longest bikes on the circuit already, Minnaar wanted to go even bigger and was using these 17mm dropouts to get him more centered on his frame. Reading between the lines, he could have gone further but 17mm was as long as he could go without risking failure.
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Last year I went from a 170 to a 150mm dropper and while the former was slightly better on really steep rocky stuff, the 150mm one is easier to use as a contact point and makes feasible to seat and relax the quads for a couple of seconds mid descend.
Would love to see a reference to that on future WC DH bike checks so we can have proper data.
Yes, seating for a bit also helps me with hands and feet/calves. With the 150mm dropper I can seat down comfortably and even put down some pedal strokes. With the 170mm one I feel like I'm taking a number 2 in the woods.
As for the drop on droppers, I have a 150 that is sticking out by at least 10cm from the seat collar. If I could get a free swap to a 250 and have my seat right the way down to the collar, I would. I only have one bike and I use it for everything. The lower the better for hitting jumps, in my opinion.
What downside is there to having a longer dropper?
Enduro bike and downhill bike, both 27.5 and lined up at the bb. Seat height difference is only due to angle of the seat itself. Enduro bike sta isn’t on current trend, so move that forward 20mm if you’d like and there might be enough room for a 200mm OneUp dropper as I’m only using a 150.
Stop reading stuff on the internet as gospel and do some actual side by side comparing/measuring/riding in the real world. Both the bikes get ridden on the same trails from time to time, neither one has an issue with seat height on the steepest double black trails I can ride.
At full extension the nose of my saddle is less than 40mm from the center of the bb with the saddle in a neutral position. A quick look at most of these newer bikes that supposedly have much steeper sta and they still have a similar spacing. My bike the actual sta is 70, the sta relative to the bb (not at sag) is roughly 76, and mine is the slacker SX with 170 fork.
Are you a WC racer? I’m not. Their setup means jack to me. (That does however show me that Connor Fearon runs flats and his seat at the same relative height, just like me)
www.pinkbike.com/news/aaron-gwins-troy-brosnan-specialized-demo-prototype.html
Can't lie though, the new one is a magic carpet, but f*cking minging.
Theres another interview where Brosnan says the 2015 Demo pedaled well and was very maneuverable, but "hard to ride fast" compared to his new Sender.
It’s interesting to look at things in hindsight. Look how popular high pivot bikes have become over the past four years.
Also, it makes absolute sense to try to get the front and rear axle paths to be parallel. The back end of that demo did have a wildly spaced Horst link setup, so I doubt the axle path would have been as bad as he made out in the original diagram, but it certainly wasn’t that good either. It’s a shame about those broken hyperlinks. It would be good to see all the evidence presented by everyone on that thread.
Apologies. Accidental downvote. Was supposed to be an upvote.
Bartender says, "fancy a pint of ale?"
Pony: "Water will do. I'm just a little hoarse."
Still f*cking lose the race and doesn't place lol
I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more
I'm gonna take my horse to the Vallnord track
I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more (Kio, Kio)
You'll have to excuse me, I'm a little horse.