Tracy Moseley's Trek Slash Bike Check - Trans-Rezia 2016

 True. I think it's something the greatest names of the sport share. They aren't Bros and are able to talk like engineers of their stuff and do so naturally. Listen to Fab Barel, Nico Voullioz, Jared Graves, TMo and you'll understand, it's a pleasure to listen to them.

 You mean, unlike other riders, she can actually string a sentence together?

 @davidsimons: Concussions can affect working memory which makes thinking on the fly quite difficult. I'd imagine that would be one reason why athletes who participate in sports where they have a higher chance of sustaining concussions have difficulties performing well during interviews.

 @bgray1988: maybe. But if that is the case, they should not be racing anymore.

 @Someoldfart: I won't disagree that they should reconsider competing if they have sustained multiple, serious concussions, but like many of us, they would probably find it difficult to give up mountain biking.

 bit like footballers - very few are articulate

 To be fair most of the time when we see them getting interviewed they've just finished a race and are barely able to breathe never mind string a sentence together!

 Tracey just dropped a metaphoric microphone on all the other bike checks. Respect.

 @polarproton: Minnaar is another one, and Rachel is pretty well-spoken too.

 @matadorCE: Sure, there are plenty I skipped. I still have hard time coming over Rachel's verbal tic ya know, but I love her. I'd put her in the same category as Brendon Semenuk, genuinely nice and pro but maybe shy... thus not most at ease in front of a camera.

 Could imagine her working with Rob Warner in the future...

 Agreed. I suck at talking when full of adrenaline. Could have used some sag and pressure numbers from Moseley on her suspension and tyres. What wheels is she running etc.

 @poah: Part of that could be down to the study that found that over time heading the ball can cause massive cranial and brain damage/trauma...

 @Skootur TBF they are dumb before they played lol

 @davidsimons: ????????????????????????????

 you forgot the Trek Gravity Girls

 Katy Winton too!

 @bridgermurray: i think protour just found his riding buddy!

 @bridgermurray: Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed ?

 @bridgermurray: please tell us that you're just shit faced drunk.

 @bridgermurray: happiness doesn't exist because we are happiness in which we consciously create our own endeavours to which we understand most provocatively, that ofcourse conflicts with others peoples idea of what 'happiness' is

 He doesn't have a bed beds are just an Illusion

 @ErwinR: beds are for weak people, I sleep on concrete.

 @bridgermurray:
False. Love is when you get home from a muddy ride and your girl cleans your bike for you.

 @bridgermurray: sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays...on a Sunday!

 @bridgermurray: of course you do

 @bridgermurray: Real men do not sleep.

 Is Greece still a first world country?

 @scottay2hottay: So much hate and ignorance in one comment.We all are here because we love this sport and its a shame to insult one another for no reason

 @scottay2hottay: Obviously you are joking. Out of curiosity from all the people in USA how did you end up with Hillary and Trump? Good job!

 @gpgalanis: too busy worrying about / taking over the rest of the world to aee that situation creep up on them!

 @scottay2hottay: crap comment, so wrong in so many ways. #malaka

 @gpgalanis: I dont know for you guys in Greece but here in ex Yugoslavian region we are just choosing between the parties that has totally f*cked up "leftist ideas" and the other that are fascist and nacist minded dumb f*cks. Basicly we stuck in '40 and '90.

 @Jurchek: Obviously we have made so many wrong decisions in the past and we are keep making them but still mountain biking is a way to leave all this behind us for a couple of hours.

As for the politics the whole Europe is changing because nobody is really happy anymore and the disappointed people move toward the extremes (left or right) which in my opinion is the wrong approach regardless the side they choose.

Anyway. It is an interesting discussion but for a different time and place.

 @gpgalanis: True. But i think there is not enough public discussion about all that hate and extremism. But yeah pinkbike is not really the place for that.

 @scottay2hottay: see, I hate people that are so narrow.

Even though it's a "joke", there's some honesty behind it. I hate this about some people in my country. Every country has their flaws and economic problems. Also, many countries have people(just like you Scott) that enjoy riding bikes. And in this case, a bike miles better than yours. What does that make you? A third-world resident?

 Easy answer is one longer and one shorter bolt. Problem solved.

 Said this before: the seat clamp looks like it was designed by an A-level d+t student. I was really surprised to see it was unchanged for the new version.
@DirtGuru2 you make a very good point and I agree. Seat angles be all f*cked up of late.
The slash looks like a beast but the seat angle looks a little bit too much like a session.
That said this bike was designed to do the ups and downs with as little compromise as possible and we do need the saddle to be in a position that our thighs can reach on the descents and not just do some disappearing act when lowered.
But yeah the seat clamp is shit. Especially if you run the saddle tipped down as more and more of us like to do.

 @Racer951: Sounds logical, until the (longer) rear bolt is forced to... bend itself as it has to reach forward towards the upper seat clamp threads. The upper seat clamp threads (or nut), doesn't just move vertically, it rotates forward.

And the mechanism / chunk(s) of aluminum or carbon that clamps the seat rails are typically some sort of barrel shaped. So the longer rear bolt looks like it's... being bent over a barrel.

I don't have the Fox in my hands, but my KS LEV has proprietary specially shaped (ball and socket?) and quite trick and light titanium bolts. Can't just trade the bolt for a longer one. I actually tried. And the closest I got was a a collection of dished washers from a brake caliper mount (to compensate for the funky bolt angle), which made the necessary long bolt even longer.

And the KS represents the MINIMUM that a posthead / seatclamp should be biased downward in front. There's no logical reason or benefit to go with less angle.

Also, especially in the case of the Fox post or any other with a symmetrical clamp head, how strong is the clamp going to be when most of the significant seat load is being forced into the exaggerated GAP between the two clamps?

Keep in mind the gap gets even larger when you run something other than round (7mm?) seat rails as I have (7 x 9 I think).

Put a 220lb guy on a Slash 29 with that seatpost angle and the nose slightly down, and see if that thin and overly long bolt can handle the strain.

Sure, that dude should lose some weight, but that's a very real world scenario that Fox should design for.

 The clamp plates are asymmetrical. The back nut is situated lower than the front one. If you offset angle the clamp on the stanchion you could run into clearance issues when the seat is slammed or even just tool access issues. The fact that it does work on very slack actual STA like the slash proves that the design is alright.

 She should run the British Cycling MTB squad.

 An extra 3-600 grams is negligible? Not a chance. When people like Gwinn are running enduro rims instead of the full DH version, it's clear they care about every gram on the wheels.

It all comes down to risk vs reward: I'm sure most of the male riders would love to shave a pound off their tires, but since so many racers are puncturing even with DH casings, it's not worth the risk for them.

I would guess Tracey has two things going for her: she's got the experience to make better line choices, unlike some 19 year old racer, and she's lighter than her male competitors, so she isn't putting as much strain on her sidewalls. And while she is as fit as any other racer, like she said, that extra weight makes a HUGE difference over 6 days.

 @tsheep: well yes, anyone would take the weight savings if the performance was held constant. It isn't.

 @nvranka: You said that she "can't see the merit in DH casings". DH casings are neither better nor worse than enduro casings, there is a tradeoff to be made. As far as performance goes, yes, stiffer casings are nice in cornering and plowing through chunder. Lighter tires do produce better suspension and pedalling response though, as well as requiring less energy overall to move, which is a big help over 6 days.

I actually have no idea what you're getting at here- surely Tracey, being a professional racer, has examined the implications of running lighter tires. Are you suggesting that the two of us internet schmucks somehow know better than her what works for her racing?

 When Tracy still raced full time EWS she routinely posted race times around the top 50-70 pro men...plenty of pro men lining up behind her time wise, it may be more that she weights a lot less then the men and as others pointed out may be smarter with her line choices ...or maybe just runs really high pressures ...certainly seems to work for her, as I can't really recall,to many lost races due to punctures for her

 I was wondering that. Doesn't appear to, but it does have the rubber bumpers at the top of the down tube.

Guessing that Trek have tested the durability there (the carbon might be super strong) but still, would make me nervous.

 Seems that everyone wants an x2. That shock allows more off the shelf dialing to the end consumer. Personally I'm happier with my custom tuned Float X. But after shelling out the cash for a new bike I don't think the average rider wants to send their new shock and cash to PUSH.

 @gonecoastal My understanding is both Tracey and Casey are riding the Float X in shorter travel to make the bike a bit smaller for them. Casey is 5' 3" and Tracey is 5' 4". I believe 10mm shorter.

 Asked Tracey same question and the reply was no time on a X2 to compare vs her FloatX

 The X2 offers more ability to tune to the average consumer, but as a factory rider she gets custom tunes from Fox anyway, so might as well shave some weight.

 My guess is that it is the same as the Top Fuel - in the down tube, and secured with the internal cabling using a zip tie, accessed from a hatch under the downtube. Part of their "Control Freak" cable management thing.

 Could also be stored in the steer tube