Mountain Bru

Takealot had some ftech stuff on sale the other day... I don't think it was more expensive than other brands...... (Got the stuff today. Looks like old stock, but mint condition)

There ya go: https://tiz-cycling.io/videos/olympic-games-tokyo-2020-mtb-xco-full-race/

https://tiz-cycling.io/videos/olympic-games-tokyo-2020-mtb-xco-full-race-ladies/

100% true about the fork trail and head tube angle etc. But I think narrow handlebars do also contribute to the bike feeling twitchy, or maybe sensitive is a better word. Like it's just a basic geometry/trigonometry thing. If you make a 5cm forward or back input on 800mm wide bars, you create a small angular change in the wheel direction relative to the frame. If you make a 5cm forward or backward input on narrow 420mm road bars, you make a much larger angular change to the wheel direction relative to the frame. Not gonna do the sums, but I'm guessing to make the same steering input on narrow bars, you need like half of the hand movement. Not disagreeing that steep head tube angles and short fork trails make handling twitchy too though. Just that wide bars can make the steering less sensitive, and therefore feel less twitchy

I'm not sure if it was always going to be in place for the womans race or if they changed it due to the conditions. But if it was always the plan to have it there for the woman, it kind of would make sense to leave it there for the practice sessions and just tell the men it won't be there in the race. Like if men and woman want to practice at the same times, or if they don't want to move the thing the whole time depending on who is on the course, you have to have the ramp in place and just tell the men not to use it. The men can still practice the exact race situation with the ramp in place, but the woman can't replicate their race conditions if it's not there.

Flip it was close if you look at the second pic. I reckon if she touches her front brake, or was going slightly slower, she goes straight OTB. Definitely helped that she had a dropper post. MVDP should take some notes.

Why would you launch a fancy new handlebar and then not put Dura Ace shifters on it?

Your mates obviously only have 1 cage on their bikes. If they had a proper bike with 2, they wouldn't need to sponge off of you so much. In terms of feeling naked, afraid, and alone without a camelbak.... I'm proud of you for being brave and starting the journey towards recovery. Maybe we can start a support group for you? I'm sure some healthy community support will help you with your withdrawal symptoms and help you overcome your nasty habits of strapping unnecessary things to your back. You might feel like something is being amputated and that you're losing something, but in fact you're gaining something supremely valuable from this whole process... Dignity. Let this be a lesson to the OP. Camelbak's are like drugs. Once you start on them, you become addicted and can't function unless you have the sensation of a weak koala hugging you from behind while you ride.

Or need somewhere to mount your banana:

Yes, we need some questions answered for us to vicariously enjoy the new bike experience: Budget: Height (for sizing): Bottle Cage Requirements: Dropper Post Requirements: Suspension Travel Requirements: Sram/Shimano Preference: Rockshox/Fox Preference: Carbon/Alu/Steel Preference: Colour/Style Preference: But @Jase619 , I'm only semi joking about the bottle cage thing. I realize though that if you're new to the MTB game, it might seem like a stupid comment. On a road bike, 2 cages is standard, but not on mountain bikes. If you want to ride without a camelbak, it's a big advantage to have 2 cages, especially if you want to do longer rides or ride in hot conditions or are a heavy sweater. So it's genuinely something to consider when looking at bikes (and also a tongue in cheek joke about why the new Anthem is rubbish). There are ways around only having 1 cage like the Lyne Holy Rail system, but even that doesn't fit on all frames or all sizes (there's a thread about it somewhere). Or otherwise you have to use seat post mounted cages, which seem to be more prone to bottles rattling out of them, and also might cause problems if you have a dropper post. You can obviously ride with a camelbak and then this isn't an issue, but I personally find it far more comfortable and much better for cooling not to have anything on my back, especially on long rides, which are unfortunately the ones you'll have to use the camelback on if you want to carry more fluids. Others might not mind it though, but they also maybe don't have a choice so they've learnt to live with it, or don't do very long rides when it's hot etc. If you do decide you want a "2 cage bike", it does limit your options a bit, but that's what you want - a set of requirements that narrows down your search to 2 or 3 bikes. Like with all things in life, there are no perfect choices, only compromises. Compromise wisely.

Park in the shade seems like the most obvious answer? But realistically, how hot can it really get inside your car, especially if you use a windscreen shield thing and have tinted windows? I can't imagine that anything on a bike doesn't have a designed temperature range of at least 50 deg, so I think you're safe.

Hanlon's Razor.... Look it up

Still waiting for an answer.... 5 pages of discussion later, this might be the only question that matters. Who cares how much travel you have and what your frame is made out of when you're passed out on the side of the road completely dehydrated from only being able to carry 1 bidon. Or when your back has cramped into oblivion from having to carry a camelback, or worse....... A fanny pack ????

Top arrow is where MVDP landed. Check where Nino landed. That's at least double the vertical of the wooden ramp

At the risk of opening another can of worms......... How many bottle cages do you want on the bike?

True, but this is the shot you'd show to your friends: In all honesty though, with the downhill landing, the drop size depends on where you land. Nino was launching off the top and landing quite a lot further down the bank than the other guys before he got dropped.

Did they test if disk wheels make you faster over jumps in a crosswind? ???? Watching Blake ride and jump a gravel bike in a pink helmet convinced me that this thread and discussions about travel are invalid.

If you read my other post - Buy the bike thats best suited to 90% of the riding you do, or that's gonna make it the most fun for you. That is after all the goal - to enjoy your rides as much as possible. No bike is perfect for everything, and even in one ride, or in one race, there will be sections where a XC bike is better than trail bike and visa versa. There's no right answer here, just smaller compromises. If you do Sani2C, or W2W or whatever race, your bike won't be the limiting factor. Guys do those races on hardtails, and fly, so any dual sus will be fine. In terms of the "going away with a bike" situation - realistically, how many rides is that gonna be in a year? And what percentage of those rides is gonna be over really technical terrain? (Just an honest question to consider) It doesn't make sense to me to buy a certain kind of bike because I might do 2% of my riding in a year over some terrain where a certain bike might be 20% better. I want the bike that is best suited to 90% of my riding in a year, and is competent over the rest. If you can, maybe try test ride a bike or two though even if it's just in the parking lot? If you can jump off one and onto another, the differences will become really obvious, really quickly. I rode a 150mm travel bike for maybe 20 meters in a parking lot and knew it was the wrong bike for me, and jumped on a 100mm travel epic and loved it from the start.

This dude is sommer rocking a disk wheel at the back. Who needs travel when you're an aero beast ????

Rookie mistakes from the Dutch womans team, Rookie mistake from MVDP.... Is cycling even a thing in Netherlands? (Yes yes, I know they have more bicycles than people in Stroopwafel-land)

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/07/mathieu-van-der-poel-crashes-out-of-contention-in-olympic-mtb-race/ Maybe it's just me.... and maybe I'm paranoid.... But when there's a 3m drop on the course and there's confusion about whether or not there's gonna be a ramp there, I'd probably do my homework and make 100% sure what the story is before the race starts.

In my opinion, a stumpjumper is the wrong bike for the kind of riding you've described. From what you've described (flat and not technical), it almost sounds like a hardtail is sufficient.

In case you missed something in the acronyms and jargon, there's a few things to look for (assuming you've settled on a 29r, which you should): Travel - Around 100mm is usually a XC bike, more than that is usually a trail bike, and around 150mm would probably be an enduro bike. It might seem like more would be better, but apart from the weight differences, there's also a pedaling efficiency compromise. On a smooth tar road, a rigid hardtail will be the fastest (0mm travel, like a road bike), and a long travel downhill bike the slowest, even if you're doing the same watts, and everything else is on the spectrum in between. Soft suspension is nice, but it comes at a cost, and that cost is that it takes energy to move that suspension, and that energy usually comes from your legs (assuming a smooth flat road). Head Tube Angle (HTA) - The steeper the HTA is, the more sensitive and twitchy the bike will be. The slacker it is, the more stable and controlled. But again, compromise. Steeper head angles make bike more nimble and have quicker steering. Slacker head tubes won't steer as quickly, but will be stable and feel planted on rough stuff. My advice: Look at what 90% of the trails you ride are gonna look like, and buy the bike that's gonna make that the most fun for you. Maybe you don't care about speed and just want to be comfortable - get a trail bike. Maybe you want to go as fast as you can and smash a race now and then - get and XC bike. Maybe all you're ever gonna ride is a jeep track - a hardtail is probably good enough, but a dual sus will be kinder to your bum. Each bike is perfectly suited to a terrain and riding style, and is going to be a compromise on everything else. An XC race machine is exactly that - a race machine. So short travel for efficient pedaling, and steeper head angles for quick steering. An enduro bike is great for gnarly terrain where you don't mind compromising a bit to have a softer ride and more stable handling. A trail bike I guess is somewhere in between. I made the switch from being a roadie to mountain biking in December. Got myself an Epic, and put a dropper post on it (which I would highly recommend). For me, it's the perfect bike. Living in Pretoria, a lot of the riding I do is gravel roads, jeep track, and non-super technical single track, and the 100mm travel is perfect for that. On more technical stuff, I use the dropper, and try to pick good lines.

Very strange stuff. It was probably there in training so guys didn't have to do the 3m (?) drop over and over if they didn't want to? Wonder if it'll be in place for the woman's race. But somehow it seemed that everyone else knew to carry speed and pop off the top, so I reckon this one is on MVDP and not the organizers.