Don’t follow racing at all but what size wheels do they go for and do they use droppers?

All on FS and most with droppers according to this article. Assuming they’ll all be 29ers…

Bike Radar

That course was ace, proper techy sections

Does anyone have a link to show the various bikes the riders were riding. I’ve seen some sites with generic info but nothing specific about who and what (I know it’s the rider, not the bike, that wins the race but interested nonetheless)

Will nearly all (or in fact all) be on 29 for the Men. Might be a few women on 27.5, not many though these days.

Most use droppers too.

Jeez, I’m old. And a wuss.

No you have a functioning self-preservation gene and an (overactive?) imagination.

Does anyone have a link to show the various bikes the riders were riding.

Here’s a quick guide

@jeeble @convert you’re right, sorry 🙄

Takes a Brit to nail a proper XC course. 😁 Tom you absolute beauty

Yeah bit disappointing coverage, but the other Tom has been doing his thing for a long time so guess he’s going to get the front pages. Even if MVDP had stayed upright Pidock was always going to win this, he’s the better mtbr, both going to have great careers.

Great race and disappointing for MVDP, Cink and the other contenders. Had my money on Tom. Also great to note this is more about the rider than the bike. I’m sure it’s an Ineos sponsorship thing but BMC are not shouting about his Fourstroke win. It also looks like he rode without a remote LO for his fork and shock. He’s super light so could probably get away with full sus’, fully open for 7 laps!

Great ride and great course.
Well done chap.

Best breakfast viewing in a long time. Congratulations Tom.

I’m sure it’s an Ineos sponsorship thing but BMC are not shouting about his Fourstroke win.

BMC is odd in that they dont have a “BMC team” as much as I can tell (or if they do, they dont have any top riders), but quite a few teams use BMC bikes quite openly (like absoluteabsalonBMC).

I’ve never actually seen one in real life, but think they are big in Europe. Are they just a smaller brand happy to have the “frame supplier” role rather than running a pro team?

It also looks like he rode without a remote LO for his fork and shock. He’s super light so could probably get away with full sus’, fully open for 7 laps!

or…

shimano athlete I think, could he be on a prototype shi-wireless set up?

Will nearly all (or in fact all) be on 29 for the Men

Yep, even little Tom uses 29″ which is why he looked like he borrowed his dads bike. The wheels look massive as they do on a lot of female riders.

which is why he looked like he borrowed his dads bike.

you’ve almost certainly been riding since before I was born… is that your genuine opinion that his bike looks too big for him?
Because I think he looks pretty much ideal on it. Looking at old clips of tiny rigid bikes where the bars are over the fornt axle look ridiculous to me.
Leconte looks like the bike is too big for her, but I think that is the bar height rather than the wheel size.

BMC are a great brand my point was that they haven’t called out Tom’s bike for the specific reason it may be a contractural either with Ineos or Pinarello. BMC have posted pics of all of their other Olympic bikes… but not the one that won Gold which feels strange. They used to be imported into, the UK, by Evans Cycles and we can see why that ended. My LBS can get hold off them. I’d love the frame only option but looks to be a supply shortage across Europe?

It also looks like he rode without a remote LO for his fork and shock. He’s super light so could probably get away with full sus’, fully open for 7 laps!

The Fourstrokes I’ve seen a from a few years ago had the operation of the unique integrated dropper linked to the rear shock control. I seem to remember that when the dropper was in the up position the shock ran firm (or maybe reduced travel..or combination of both)- then when the dropper was activated the shock opened up its full capability. The two being linked by a cable, so activated by a single dropper remote lever on the left. Quite an unusual way to do it but makes sense if assuming one only wants plushness on the tech bits, and efficiency everywhere else. Not sure if there was any linking with the fork in Pidcocks case, but that is also possible on a few models to link with the same single lever.

What an amazing course. Makes you realise just how rubbish the London course was.

Have you ridden the London 2012 course? It’s actually pretty nails considering how close to London it was built. I still have a scar from an off on the boulder garden.

Article on that there Pinkbike site on Tom’s bike setup is implying that SR Suntour may be developing an electronically controlled lockout system for the fork, information is sketchy but they’re saying you can see an electronic cable from the fork disappearing into the frame. My suspicion is that as above the rider control of the whole system of dropper/shock/fork is linked to operate in unison and responds to a single simple left hand lever operation…so dropper up equals firm, and as soon as dropper lowered then shocks fully open. All three parts could be linked by electronic wire instead of by cable pull…and possibly include some sort of Fox Live Valve alike accelerometer varied damping. This sort of system could certainly contribute to how smooth and controlled Pidcock looked on that circuit, no faffing with multi levers just flick between on/off for tech sections, rider concentrating on flow.

Inspiring ride. Up there with some of the most dominant controlled rides I can remember seeing from a British rider in any discipline.

@endoverend Thanks for the update. It would be great to have an electronic lockout. A simple flick on and off, with settings to lock front/rear independently. Cannondale used to have an ELO set up. I wonder what happened to that? On a side note, I haven’t been aware of Suntour kit. Anybody else have a view on them performance, quality or price vs Fox or Rockshox

Wasn’t the MVDP crash on the 4th lap (or did I read that wrong somewhere else).

I’m ready to take my STW user reward now for total internet guesswork/ quasi soothsaying…BikeRumour Pidcocks XCO bike

They’re still not releasing full details awaiting patents, but definitely a system that performed well. Must be a battery smuggled somewhere, plus still reckon it could be linked to dropper action.