Bike Check: Gwin and Troy's Custom Specialized Demos - DH World Championships Vallnord 2015
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Are Gwin and Troy's Demo race bikes the trickest World Championship machines ever? I don't think you need to be an American to appreciate the level of detail that Specialized, HT, Renthal the rest of the team's sponsors have gone to on Aaron's rig, with the finished product likely being the most patriotic bike in the pits. Both frames are the very same custom Demos that we saw earlier in the year, including the modified carbon layup that Jason Chamberlain, Specialized's Senior Engineer, told us may or may not ever see production. '''Stiffer' would be far too much of a simplification of what we are doing,'' he explained about the modified layup back in April, possibly hinting that the team are looking to tune both amount of flex that the frame provides and how it flexes when being ridden at World Cup speeds. The bike is also equipped with the CNC'd aluminum rocker link, machined right in Specialized's Morgan Hill headquarters, that adds a bit of adjustability and creates a more progressive suspension rate.
HT stepped up with a set of custom anodized pedals.
Renthal's handlebar is painted to match the frame.
A special gold anodized chain and X01 DH cassette have been included on the build.
See that broken chain on the back of the seat tube? It's a nod to Gwin's World Cup winning coaster run in Leogang earlier this year.
While Specialized does have a paint shop in Morgan Hill, California, that has put out some incredibly detailed bikes, both Gwin and Troy's Demos were actually painted by a shop in Europe that the team use for overseas jobs. A close look at Gwin's bike reveals some cool things: there's twelve stars that represent the twelve World Cup wins that Gwin had notched up at the time that his frame was painted (he's since won two more, though), and a bald eagle on the back of the bike's seat tube is holding a broken chain in its talons, a homage to his ridiculous chain-less win at the Leogang World Cup that saw him pump, tuck and coast to victory.
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 Not to be outdone, Troy's Demo is done up in his country's colours. |
Troy's Demo might not be quite as flashy, but it's looking pretty fresh in those colours. Both bikes are also sporting gold anodized chains and X01 DH cassettes, as well as a slew of titanium bolts all around that shave a bit more weight off. On a more detailed setup note, Gwin's mechanic, John Hall, explained that he doesn't like to flush the grease out of the bike's bearings before he hands it off to his rider, saying that he believes that it's more important that the bike sounds smooth and doesn't give off any false sense of speed, strange rattles, or sport a crazy loud freehub.
 | Yeah, it's always good when you're the Australian Champ and you run the sleeve all year at the World Cups. It's pretty cool, but then when you actually get selected to race for Australia and you have all the little bits from Australia on the bike, it's pretty good. And just World Champs in general - the whole of Australia is backing me for the win and that feels pretty good! - Troy Brosnan |
Troy is using the CNC aluminum rocker link that adds progression and provides a bit of adjustability.
A boxing kangaroo for the Australian with a broken pinky finger.
Photos by Nathan Hughes.
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Seriously though it's truly awesome what these paint shops can do
WHY DOSENT GWIN RUN HIS OWN GRIPS?!!
Do my eyes deceive me or do I see a little ghostly helper in this picture? Maybe keeping the shutter open long enough for the helper to move out of the picture?
Those pictures are worked over anyway (propably with lightroom) so it wouldn'T be a big problem to open photoshop for a few minutes and wipe out what ever holds the bike.
Yes, we might live in the 21st century and you could remove whatever you want from a picture but spending time on something that does not have to be done is still wasting money... or not earning much for that matter...
I believe what you are seeing in the photo of the Knolly is power lines catching a refection. I looked closer and think i see a power pole behind the tree to the left of the fork.
You would think they would be sporting the latest carbon/ceramic wonder rims instead of sub $100 aluminum DT's.
Brandogs Rig
It obviously doesn't affect Gwin's ability but it's just funny to see Minnaar on a bike that costs twice as much when Gwin's main sponsor is way bigger than Minnaar's (obviously I am not accounting for their individual sponsorship contract, but still)
Obviously rims that are 10x as expensive aren't necessarily 10x as good (or even 2x as good) but there's no reason to go with DT over ENVE at the same cost.
Carbon is the new (not really that new anymore) drool worthy material, but a well executed alloy is still very viable and affordable!
I thought the point is to keep the wheels on the ground and not having them roll over you.
No seriously, I would like to know.
The vibration damping of carbon results in lower perceived fatigue for most riders.
At the bottom of this page -- www.noxcomposites.com/wheel_building
I just threw carbon wheels on my road bike and I noticed that impacts are less comfortable (pot holes) but general road buzz is more comfortable.
I'm sure it depends a lot on the way the material is laid up. You can have floppy carbon or stiff aluminum.
And carbon makes also the better rim material as it stays true while aluminum loses its shape if spoketension weakens.
What spokes did you use to build the wheels? It sounds like an unfavorable combination of parts could be the reason for your poor experience rather than Carbon rims. The best choice would be to use cx-ray or even superspokes to allow the wheels to be more flexible, which should equalize your problems or even improve your experience compared to aluminum rims. Did you already consider this in any way? I also recommend to use brass nippels as aluminum ones have proven to corrode in combination with carbon rims. This should then pretty much result in the perfect wheel.
I am keen to know more about those articles you are speaking of. Also there are lots of engineers who keep doing things the way they were taught to decades ago, being unable to think outside of the box.
Besides, I can imagine many reasons to state fake facts. Last time I checked there were still scientists claiming global warming was a myth... And history has shown that it took some of those cycling engineers you are speaking of like 40years to find out that a 1.5" increase in wheelsize is the true innovation that would change the face of mountainbiking forever.