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@leon-forfar: To me it sounds like way too less tension before you tightend it. if you squeeze cross sections and you can easily flex it for a good part, you would probably be shocked how low the tension is, if you measure it with a tensionmeter. With many hubs you get something like 1100N (for example Ex471 max tension) on steep side and 750N on the flat - which is on the lower limit. I guess what you feel is spokes unloading, so the force is distributed to less spokes, which is the only possibility to in fact make it softer. But the wheel would need regular trueing, the spoke holes would tend to crack and the spoke heads can rip off over time. All due to cycled loading/unloading. DT sometimes built wheels for us when time was tight. They strictly stuck to max tension on the steep side, because they said it's the most reliable build and if we wanted to change stiffness of the wheel we would have to change spoke gauge. We where using DT Swiss Competition Race (2,0 - 1,6 - 2,0) left and right on 27,5" EX471. Was perfect for us.

To give you some further explanation ... spokes are used in their linear part of the force/elongation graph. therefore it makes no difference where you are on the graph, stiffness (force per elongation) is the same, nomatter if you have for example 1100N tension or 900N tension. Problem with lower tension is, that you have less elongation in the spokes which reduces the capability of handling dents in the rim. Also tension will start to get too low on the flatter side (for example: front non brake side) which can lead to cracked spoke holes, as the alloy will start cracking due to cycled deformation (not because of too high spoke tension). Trust me, I'm an engineer ;-) I was a mechanic for MS Mondraker when DT was their sponsor - had many discussions with their WC mechanics which had the same experiences as me. As an engineer for a carbon rim company I also built a test stand for wheel stiffness and did several tests which showed, that the stiffness only changes at the point where spokes start to be loose in the unloaded wheel - which clearly isn't useable.

It's disturbing to read that people still change spoke tension to change the stiffness of the wheel. It's probably the most "I have no clue what I'm doing"-thing out there. Changing Tension makes no difference to the wheels stiffness and is pure placebo for the clueless rider/mechanic. Please don't try lower tension for more grip - only thing thats happening is your wheels will be destroyed quicker than with higher tension and you have to true it more often.

Are we ignoring the fact, that it actually is a OneUp cockpit and not a WeAreOne? I am disappointed to not find some geeky pinkbikers complaining about it .... ;)

Yo Andrew - misspelled your name in the title :)

XC also has 17/18ish ... it's called juniors classification (races went down yesterday). There is just no U23 classification in DH. For me U23 is strange anyway. Old enough to just call it adults / elite race :D

MS are the initials of Markus Stoeckl, who is the team owner.

lol with all that suspension stuff i forgot to say what i actually wanted to point out. it's also about his riding style. if you take a look at brook - he is always bombing and hucking trough everything - which looks great, but this also makes his suspension do much more of the work compared to gwins. gwin has a bmx sx backround - he is sometimes riding like if he was on a rigid bike - absorbing all the landings and humps, even if it's not necessary. he always looks way more active than other riders - he tries not to work against the terrain - like if he was floating - and that makes his suspension look bored. The Lourdes run is a good example. Look how much travel he is using in some corners and in the finish area. But he is absorbing the hits and landings so smooth on the track, that the suspension looks way stiffer. http://www.singletracks.com/blog/downhill/video-aaron-gwins-crazy-fast-winning-run-at-the-lourdes-world-cup/ at least that's what i think

if you really want to know how much travel he uses just play sherlock an look at the details :) ... i guess it won't work with the mobile version of pinkbike as the photo resolution is really crappy (at least on my android). for example the pic with the bikes standing in front of the podium gives you a good idea of the used travel ... it's all about the o-rings ;) the vitalmtb slideshows are a good option to compare different riders - good photo quality in fullscreen. If you take a look at videos of gwin, where he is braking hard (for example in the finish area, or leogang in the last woods, before the outside line) you can see that he is also sitting relatively deep in the travel (probably at 2/3). He is for sure running something around the mid-setting at low-speed in combination with a very stiff shimstack - that's the basic stuff. Spring rate is higher than average (for WC riders) and should be relatively progressive - but not as crazy as most people think. To give you an idea - gwins set-up for MSA 2010 on yeti (clicks from closed position): "Fork: Fox 40 Fit RC2 w/ Kashima Coating Low Speed: 8 clicks HS Speed: 14 clicks Pre Load: Zero Rebound: 12 clicks Spring: Green *Special Tuning: Custom Compression valve stack. If a consumer's valve stack is rated a 5, then Gwin's is a 9 for firmness." Yes it was a different fork model, but the green spring wasn't that stiff at all. But you can see, that the shimstack is nearly twice as stiff as normal - that's a HUGE difference. A very stiff shimstack with little preload (on the shimstack, which means many clicks out) works much finer in terms of grip and small bump sensitivity than a normal one fully closed - while giving more ride height and g-out control. (please don't go and close your HS adjusters haha - it won't effect things positively). hmm ... god save the freaks ... and gwin ... and the rat.

guys he was just joking because of gwin running his suspension so stiff that he uses only 120mm of the travel ... but don't worry, he's also using his 200mm ;) but just not that often