montydon

I got on really well with my V1 141 and absolutely hammered it for years. I liked running quite firm suspension so I didn't have much issue with it, but after rattling around Morzine for a week and moving back to a rockier part of the UK, I went for more travel with a Nukeproof Mega that cracked within 6 months. Quickly binned off carbon frames altogether, the V2 Privateers didn't appeal to me, so I bought a Madonna V2.2 frame and I've been right at home. To me, it feels like a more polished version of the V1 Privateers and now with the new dropouts, this V3.2 looks close to perfect. I do wonder if the V2.2 can be upgraded to the new dropouts though?

These two are going places 🔥

Particularly agree with the 1st point (and mostly the rest)! 57.5mm stroke air shocks and similarly reduced strokes seem to be commonplace now, and it's a pain to figure out what you're working with since you have to deflate the shock first instead of measuring the exposed shaft. If you can print the name of your suspension design on the bike, you can put "230x57.5mm" in a discreet location next to the shock. A sag indicator is still the ideal, particularly with the rise of coil shocks, but bikes are already complicated enough. It really shouldn't be asking much to at least have a table with the shock dimensions and ballpark settings (like on most forks now) printed in the manual and/or on your site. In all honesty, I'd prefer that to using an online calculator, which is only ever good for a starting ballpark anyway.

@MTBrent: There seems to be a midpoint in sponsorship where you're not elite enough to get a full custom build and paint scheme, but are high enough on the list to be given the new kit to ride and have to ride, even if it doesn't look right. And then there's privateers that can go as matched or unmatched as they like

SO good! We need more of this in the sport!!!

Jolanda Neff's stolen bike was quickly found too. The world is healing

It would be interesting to compare this to some of the freeriders. No doubt most will be scraping by, I think Tom Isted was quite candid that his massive front flip was putting it all on the line to land a sponsor because he wasn't far from running out of money to travel to the events. At the other end, the huge compounds that Semunak, TVS, etc. have, which must have sizable backing to afford. Then there are the "lifestyle" athletes/youtubers like Matt Jones and Seth's Bike Hacks. With his Red Bull deals, Matt must be at the top of this price range.

The non-gearbox one is £3600 with an EXT shock, compared to a Santa Cruz Megatower that's £3699 for a frame with a Fox X2. It is alloy vs carbon, but the trade-off is a far higher build quality, more adjustability, and arguably the best rear shock on the market, which they'll also talk you through and tune for you. Gearbox comparison is harder, but an XO transmission groupset is well over £1000, requires more maintenance and is more prone to damage. I'm not saying it's not a lot of money, but it's not that bad compared to the rest of the market, and it'll last a lot longer.

Not making any claims as to which is better, but I also thought this would be lighter than the alternatives. According to the websites, this Rim Saver is 249g for a 29er version of their most protective "heavyweight" system and Rimpact's most protective EDH model is only 180g in 29er. About the same weight as the 183g "midweight" Rim Saver. I've found Rimpact to be far easier to install than Cushcore (but maybe it doesn't lock the bead in as well) and didn't need any special tools but this does look like it would be even easier to install, remove and clean.

@Dario-DiGiulio: Thank you for reminding me this edit exists!