Bike Check: GT Fury - Wyn Masters & Martin Maes - La Bresse DH World Cup 2018
Martin Maes and Wyn Masters will both be racing aboard the new GT Fury this weekend in La Bresse, but although their bikes look similar from a distance, there are a few key differences in their setups. Most notably, Martin is on 27.5" wheels, and Wyn is on 29" wheels. That has more to do with familiarity than anything else - Martin's been racing a 27.5" bike on the EWS circuit, and wanted the fit of his downhill bike to mimic that as much as possible. He's even dropped the fork travel down to 190mm in order to help him get his weight over the front wheel - again, in order to make the switch from a single crown enduro bike to a dual crown DH machine as seamless as possible.
Next year it will probably be a different story for Martin - he says that, "I'm planning to do more downhill racing in the future – hopefully we have a bit of time in the winter during the off-season to go testing and maybe try the bigger wheels."
As for Wyn, he's been on the 29" Fury since the US Open, and says, "I find that it's got a bit more grip and it's easier to ride for me, so that's why I'm on it. I'm happy with it – I'll probably stick with it now."
Wyn's an inch taller than Martin, and his bar height reflects that. Both riders are running 780mm Race Face SixC bars, with 20mm of rise.
Martin's running a fairly low cockpit setup, with his fork dropped down to 190mm, and one spacer under the crown.
Wyn's running Schwalbe Magic Mary tires, with 26 psi in the front, and 28 psi in the rear. There's also a CushCore insert in the rear for a little extra flat protection.
There's a cut down Schwalbe Dirty Dan on the back of Martin's bike, the same tire he uses for EWS races. He feels that it's faster rolling than the Magic Mary.
Wyn's Fox 49 has the maximum number of spacers - 9 - and is inflated to 85 psi.
Martin wasn't sure about his suspension settings, but don't hold that against him - he hasn't been on a DH bike since Fort William, where he placed 10th.
Wyn's experimented with air and coil shocks, but said he prefers the adjustability of an air shock, whether that's adding or subtracting pressure, or using volume spacers to alter the end-stroke ramp up.
Martin has a coil spring installed, but he'll be trying both options during practice to see what he prefers. He also mentioned potentially running his bike in the higher geometry setting - the La Bresse track has some flatter sections, which is where Martin says that setting makes the bike "feel more reactive."
Author Info:
Member since Feb 1, 2009
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
My point was more about user error, as you point out people reuse them or don't know what they are doing, if you are a mechanic of course the pin is easy but for your average joe its much easier to work a quick link, its pretty idiot proof while the pin isn't, i'm sure you know how wrong some people can get things if you work fixing them.
Too bad DH1 died this year :-(
Infact I think it would feel mental to try and learn to ride a motorbike (especially on the road) after years of front braking with the left hand (I am in / from the UK)
I think a better example is a car driver switching from left hand drive to right - not right to left foot braking as the controls are still in exactly the same place, you are just using different feet.
I thought about switching my bike brakes around but its really not confusing at all.