The first event of Crankworx's Summer Series kicked off today in SilverStar bike park with the Enduro. You can normally find Henry Fitzgerald, Lucas Cruz and Elliot Jamieson of Norco Factory Racing traveling the World Cup circuit, but with 2020 the way it is, we tracked them down to check out their Enduro race bikes. All 3 riders were on the Sight 29, with almost identical specs but with some crucial differences to set them apart.
Despite heights ranging from 180cm to 186cm, all 3 riders choose to ride size large frames. Elliott and Lucas would be on XLs if they were racing enduro regularly, but as these are their non-race bikes usually, they prefer to downsize for the playfulness. This is something that is becoming more common across EWS bikes and we've seen rider such as Richie Rude and Matt Walker wunning medium frames even though on paper they should suit a large.
| I rode the XL for a while and it was just too long for me in the rear, I like this one, it's more playful.—Lucas Cruz |
| I got sucked into the hype of the large and I've been liking it.—Henry Fitzgerald |
Suspension Set Up
All 3 riders were running the same fork and shock combo. A 170mm RockShox Lyrik Ultimate, 10mm more than the stock 160mm fork and 42mm offset. A Super Deluxe Coil with a slightly longer 55mm stroke over the stock 52.5mm to get the tiniest bit more travel and a custom linear tune. Despite running the same fork and shock, settings are drastically different, due to different weights and riding styles.
Wheels and Tires
Drivetrain and Dropper
All three riders were running SRAM AXS 12 speed drivetrains. The only difference being Fitzgerald runs a 34 tooth chainring compared to Cruz and Jamieson's 32 tooth rings.
All 3 riders were also running 170mm AXS Reverb dropper posts.
Brakes
All 3 riders were running SRAM's Code RSC brakes with a few subtle differences. Cruz and Jamieson run their brakes with Metallic pads and the levers in a fairly neutral position, whereas Fitzgerald runs his levers close to flat and with one metallic and one resin pad in each caliper. All riders use 200mm rotors for max stopping power.
Cockpit
Fitzgerald:
Bar: Deity Skyline 787 31.8, 25mm rise, 787mm width
Stem: Deity Copperhead, 50mm, 10mm spacer
Grips: Deity Waypoint
Henry likes to run his bars rolled back to centre his body position as he naturally rides over the back of the bike. He also much prefers the feel of a worn in old set of grips than a fresh pair.
Jamieson:
Bar: Deity Skyline 787 31.8, 25mm rise, 770mm width
Stem: Deity Copperhead, 50mm, 10mm spacer
Grips: Deity Knuckle Supracrush
Elliot is a fan of Deity's larger diameter grips.
Cruz:
Bar: Deity Skyline 787 31.8, 25mm rise, 780mm width
Stem: Deity Copperhead, 50mm, 10mm spacer
Grips: Deity Lockjaw
Extras
Lucas runs an STFU chain silcencer, whereas Henry goes for a more homemade approach.
That's the conclusion I came to at least. Only really makes sense if you want to prevent bottoming and your airspring is too soft, which is a horrible setup anyways. I guess also if you are riding rampage sized stuff, or just for DC forks with huge positive volume.
155lbs, ride a lot of DH, don’t send stupid stuff.
And I am pretty fast so....
I set mine up using the Ride Aligned system and bottomed the shock out super hard on a feature that I know well because I built it..... I'm around 175lb and would have had to have had 'beyond Pro' pressures in order to get the bottom out resistance needed. Then one loses initial sensitivity. I get the argument for running more air and less tokens, but not everyone wants to ride at 110% (which is when the Sight is at it's best) all the time. I'm not normally a serial token-adder but this combination of shock and frame rate required it.
Assegai, Agressor 2.5 combo on mine. 23/26PSI
Just to try, I have now gone from 1 to 0 tokens in my 170 Lyrik with Debonair C2 air spring, and added 5 psi. We’ll see if I like it.
Could it be that with progress made in reducing stiction, we no longer need to run super low pressures to get the sensitivity we’re after?
This paragraph is so confused. Elliott and Lucas would usually run an XL for a race bike... but it's becoming more common in the EWS to run a smaller size for a race bike... and today these guys are running smaller sizes, but _not_ on race bikes.
In my defense though, I posted this while intoxicated.
Thanks
Other than that nice looking bikes that are all equal in terms of all components