[Closed] Pro XC Tweaks

Is it just me that thinks the bike looks like it has a huge wheelbase? I guess the short stem might be making it a trick of the eye?

Looks fast mind

Stunning bike.
Reading the article, i called it right on the tyres way back up there 🙂

The top tube of that has all his champs wins on shields painted on. Must be huge inspiration.

Pinkbike have covered Bart Brentjens new bikes:

[url= https://www.pinkbike.com/news/first-look-american-eagle-atlanta-20.html ]American eagle on Pinkbike[/url]

I'm shocked at the lack of mud clearance round the chainstay/bb, must be asking for trouble!

Fairly surprising for a non-US designed bike certainly.

Here's my friends kit dump, pit 2, round one, Novo Mesto, fortunately not needed yesterday:

[img][url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4168/34405992950_d7054043ac_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4168/34405992950_d7054043ac_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/UqkH21 ]2017-05-21_08-31-22[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Nino's psikk new whip hits the scales.
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P to the I to the M to the P!

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Fontana still running the peak and baggies! And a dropper, by the looks of it.
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38
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[url= https://www.pinkbike.com/news/rumble-in-the-czech-jungle-nove-mesto-women-u23-and-men-elite-2017.html ]Big respekk to da Pinkbike masseeev for da Psikkk coverage, brah.[/url]

Very interesting that Nino is still running a Fox shock, considering SRAM is a title sponsor now.

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Not sure why they are creaming themselves over the 38t ring, with a 50t eagle on the back it's roughly the same ratio as 32fr 42rear

Is that chainsuck damage behind that xx1 chainset?

Hope that weight is with a bottle or something - not especially light?

<10kg is hardly heavy for a FS bike - especially with that monstrosity of a cassette. Certainly didn't seem to slow him down any!

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I particularly like the emergency toilet roll dispenser under his saddle.

Is that chainsuck damage behind that xx1 chainset?

Hope that weight is with a bottle or something - not especially light?

I particularly like the emergency toilet roll dispenser under his saddle

Too many gels will do that to a bloke! 😆

Nove Mesto is a bit of a tyre killer isn't it. Might be running something with a heavier carcass.

Only reason I say is as a mere mortal I can get just sub 10kg on a race fs with pedals and decent tyres etc. XX1 11sp not 12. Also no tubs?

Tubs = can depend on wheel and tyre sponsor. Some will let it ride, some won't. Also depends how good tubeless offerings from the sponsor are.
The advantages of tubs get smaller every year. Lighter wheels, better tyres.

And Sub 10 kilos at WC level, sponsors will not tolerate not finishing due to stupid kit decisions.
You've probably got a kilo of "must finish at all costs" margin in there.

And FWIW, a kilo extra weight on an FS MTB is pretty much an irrelevance. Escpecially when he's putting out 350+ watts.

Paint job WANT!
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Stem DO NOT WANT.

https://www.bikerumor.com/2017/05/23/spotted-mondraker-prototype-carbon-full-suspension-xc-mountain-bike/

Not sure why they are creaming themselves over the 38t ring, with a 50t eagle on the back it's roughly the same ratio as 32fr 42rear

Probably a chainline issue, as he can spend most of the time racing in the middle of the block, and he's paid to run 10-50 cassette.

[quote=ferrals ]Not sure why they are creaming themselves over the 38t ring, with a 50t eagle on the back it's roughly the same ratio as 32fr 42rear

That's kind of the whole point - the 50 allows them to run a bigger ring for a higher top gear for the sprint finish.

Yeah I get that, on the PB article they seemed to be making out only super fit pros would run a 38t chainring, but it seems to me it would be the sensible size to run (if you had the cash for eagle that is!)

but it seems to me it would be the sensible size to run

Sure, makes perfect sense, just so long as you have quads like Greipel. For mere mortals a 32 or 34 still makes more sense.

Helen Grobert for example ran a 32:
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/helen-groberts-cannondale-scalpel-si-xc-world-cup-round-1-nove-mesto.html

Used to be common before the days of wide range cassettes, pick your rings to give you good gears for most of the race in the middle of the freewheel. (Road, not MTB, used to see some odd combinations on bikes of the more retentive types.)

So here it's probably to avoid spending a quarter of every lap in either first or 12th, with the associated risk of bumping the chain off due to chainline.

And obviously to psych out the opposition on the start line (and start line sprint)

Sure, makes perfect sense, just so long as you have quads like Greipel.

DOn't really think thats true. I have weak little chicken legs and have not found a climb i can't get up with a 34fr 40t rear (on 650b admittedly so equivalent to 32fr on a 29er), whears I regularly spin out in fireroads. My natural cadence seems very low though - about 70rpm, anything over about 95rm and I feel like my hips are about to fall apart.

I run a 36T oval against a 10-40 at the back (XT 10-36 with superstar components 40 XPR). I get up everything except loose rocks or boulders like some bridal ways in the lake district. Started my 1x10 with a 32T but wanted more ummmff

I chose a 36T for the power and speed, when you hit that sweet spot on a smooth climb, you can just push it hard and drop everyone. Control is fantastic on climbs too when you're inching along and I dont spin out on roads. I recently bikepacked 100miles in the lakes but had a 25mile road ride first and clocked 16mph fully loaded. They say, the 36T oval gives you 38T power..

Schurter runs the 38t as he loves to drop everyone, the power he's got is immense and unless he's tired Absalon, who runs 32-34, can't chase. Remember Albstadt last year, absalon is spinning like crazy to the line, but Schurter inches past him grinding the bigger cog=win.

My natural cadence seems very low though - about 70rpm, anything over about 95rm and I feel like my hips are about to fall apart.

It must be very low, on 32/11 on a 29er I can comfortably hit over 34kph on flat and spinning down hill I've got to 53kph

My natural cadence seems very low though - about 70rpm, anything over about 95rm and I feel like my hips are about to fall apart.

It must be very low, on 32/11 on a 29er I can comfortably hit over 34kph on flat and spinning down hill I've got to 53kph

90rpm 32/11 is 34kph on a 29x2.1
70rpm same setup is ~26kph, youd need a 42 on the front to get 34kph at 70rpm.

Anyway. What hasnt been pointed out is the jumps between ratios at the small end of the cassette is significant, so you want to stay in the middle and use the smallest sprockets for final sprint only, or you will be in the wrong gear and wasting energy (remember some of these guys are running power meters or train with them so will be managing their power output)

It must be very low, on 32/11 on a 29er I can comfortably hit over 34kph on flat

Likewise with 34-11 on 650b, on a recent 2km flat strava segment my average speed is just over 34kmph with a cadence of 90, that feels comfortable, however if I up the cadence a touch to 95ish i feel uncomfortable, just nned to train higher cadnces more although the only time racing I've found it an issue was at the fisrt national at PEmbrey.

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Whip it. Whip it good.

Mathieu van der Poel is now going to race the Albstadt WC! Will be very interesting to see what he can do with a front row gridding. He must have been at least the second strongest rider in the field at Nove Mesto to get 8th from 90-somethingth on the grid, getting caught up in two crashes along the way.

Not from the XC, but CFH reminded me of this
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I hope it was the picture, and not me, that made you think of that....!
😯

Sure, makes perfect sense, just so long as you have quads like Greipel. For mere mortals a 32 or 34 still makes more sense.

I used to run a 38t (11-32 cassette and 26" wheels) in the Peak, my logic was it was mid way between big and middle rings, and I'd never used the granny. This was before 1x drivechains were a thing, before 2x even, and before the internet was full of people offering opinions on other peoples bike setup. It was also before I got fat and had to buy 36" jeans to get my legs into them rather than my hips.

As others suggested, it meant I spent 90% of the time in the middle of the cassette and 38-32 is still a significantly easier gear than singlespeed!

OTOH, I had a knee arthroscopy at 21 which may have been contributed to by a combination of pig headednes, that gear and Conduit hill!

I hope it was the picture, and not me, that made you think of that....!

We've all seen your shoes, and they're not exactly FMB's.

How Mathieu van der Poel goes on a course with longer climbs will be interesting. Could be a good 3 way battle with Nino & Absalon.

Although Nino did run a 38 he was running very high up the block on the climbs on the weekend, that's even though he is a small compact rider, compared to many others.

Mathieu's only real weakness is that he rides on the limit everywhere, all the time. His skill level is ridiculous but he doesn't always get away with it...

[b][i][u]HOLY SEATPOST, BATMAN![/u][/i][/b]
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I need to limit the travel on my dropper. Any ideas?

*rummage, rummage*

Yep, that should sort it.

*Pro-Bodge*
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Did you spot that tiny silver square on the inside of the fork arch? Many World Cup cross-country and downhill racers are sticking these silver-colored squares onto different parts of their bike, and while they look like tiny GPS trackers from a spy movie, their true intention is much more interesting. They're made by Axxios Technology, a Swiss company that says that their AXS Sensor System is able to allow a rider to go faster thanks to their tiny silver stick-on squares providing a ''massive reduction of the negative impact of vibrations of the bike.'' How much faster? ''Among the best racers in the world, the improvement is 1 second per racing minute; among amateur pilots, time saved is even greater, about 2 or 3 seconds per minute.'' Those numbers are no joke when you at the level of Mathias Flückiger, whose bike is pictured here.
Axxios says this is possible due to a series of small oscillating circuits (capacitors and inductors) inside the stick-on AXS Sensors that act as very fast access energy reservoirs. I'm going to let them explain how the system works: ''Whether in a solid, liquid or gaseous medium, the AX Sensor acts directly within the material by inducing atomic diffusion. It affects the electrical and mechanical properties of the material onto which it is bonded, by means of electromagnetic interactions. Effectively, because this material and the AXS Sensor are of different natures, a difference in contact potential is created at the interface, since the energy required to remove an electron differs between the two materials. All potential differences give rise to an electromagnetic field that affects the basic material: higher elasticity modulus, higher natural frequency, and reduction in amplitude of parasitic oscillations.''
More vibration control is said to equal less fatigue, better performing suspension, and more traction, but does it actually work? The AX Sensors are being used in motorsport, human-powered sport, and industrial fields, but I'd have to try it myself before becoming a believer.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/cross-country-tech-vallnord-world-cup-2017.html

"parasitic oscillations" - what a load of guff!!

I recon the stickers would be at least 30% more efficient if they had holograms as well.

Haven't we done those before? Still utter bobbins though!

OMX Pro's Silverbacks rolling on Knight/Aivee/Sapim:

[img][url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/35960284033_51780a4864_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4364/35960284033_51780a4864_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/WMFRB8 ]2017-08-24_05-19-54[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[img][url= https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/36599490862_a166088a3d_o.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4405/36599490862_a166088a3d_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/XLaXww ]2017-08-24_05-20-15[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr[/img]

237g of red fastness.