Video: A Deep Dive on Martin Maes' GT Force

 Jack Moir says "Hold my size Large"

 It's almost as if the top riders know what works for them and don't need all the newest - over hyped stuff.

 It's the motor, not the bike

 And his tiny 180 mm rotors provide enough stopping power?

 @sportstuff: bit no you need 223 rotors from and rear now

 @ybsurf: to be fair.....a 240lb me needs the big rotors. Martin weighs like 160lb and knows how to properly brake so they are probably fine for him.

 And 36 over 38

 @ybsurf: Back to rim brakes, for a 29" rotor - the ultimate.

 @PauRexs: yeah, but he‘s also riding 160mm, so the 36 is the better choice for that amount of travel. 170/180 i would take the 38.

 @sportstuff: how can you even stop with 180mm rotors....I bet he's still riding that thing around unable to get off. Lol.

 @terribleone1982: his weight is still on the light side for his height.

 May I suggest you try Deity Supracush grips? Helped me immensely.

 Huh? It has to to with bike size compared to rider height. Longer frames means further reach and more upright levers. Martin is tall for the bike he's riding so he'll need the levers down further. Not sure why people say this is a trend when it's just a comfort thing. You ride better when the levers are where you need them.

 @makripper: that’s insightful - I hadn’t thought of that.

 I hear raising your levers relieves arm pump

 @radney: I never get arm pump but I tried them almost all the way up to horizontal. I’ve now settled on a kind of settled on a bit lower. Maybe 20 degrees down from horizontal because I found I like to hang off the levers when doing wheelies, rather than pulling the levers. It was just more natural with the levers down a bit.

 @radney: I think it helps...had to raise my levers quite a bit on an old bike to clear the top tube after fitting an angleset; felt weird for a bit but found my arms suddenly felt fresher on long descents!

 I doubt it’s just about feel

 This is nothing new lol….

 or zipp moto wheels (better to get rims only, hubs not great). I also feels like it just flexes away on harsh impacts and does not get damaged and does not damage the tire. weight and comfort of alloy, but no dings and flats. same weight and 4x the cost of alloy though.

 @Pelmenium: f*ck those rims, the quality at least here in Europe is horrible. I had two pairs, they had holes and sandpaper marks who made the rim not round, more like corners. This should be top notch for the price but it isnt. They even shipped me the wrong color twice, more crap you cant take from a company.
I would not trust this bad QC.
I am my self a QC guy and I would be ashamed of my self if I didn't saw it and get shipped.

To verify my findings have spoken to everyone I have spotted who runs them and surprisingly everyone have had defects on them. Some of them even had to glue it with epoxy to get it tubeless , what the actual f*ck?

 I think you're missing the point a bit. Yes, most alloy rims are more compliant than most carbon rims. But the other benefit is not about them being repairable, but rather that they will dent in severe impact and that 'give' in the rim is what saves your tyre from slicing - which is what happens upon impact with many carbon rims. Yes, you can run inserts, but they add weight and are a pain in the arse, especially if you do get a flat trail side. Lifetime warranties on carbon rims don't help when they crack and you're ten miles from your vehicle.

 @Hellchops: Well to not slice a tire with AL rims you need thick walls and a really thick tire. I certainty would not trust anything below DH for MAXXIS and nothing below Super Gravity for Schwalbe.
I mean I cut a EXO+ in half yesterday by a minor impact I did not even felt. With my Rock Razor and Super Trail I have never even had that problem for that spot.

 @Hellchops: Well put, Hellchops. If carbon rims were the shit, everyone in the EWS would use them. As it goes, hardly anyone does. A lot lower uptake than in DH where one big smack on any rim is going to end your chances of success anyway, making a catastrophic failure on a carbon rim less of an issue.

 @Serpentras: there are various options to prevent punctures/tyre cuts: high pressure, tubeless, inserts or heavier duty casings. There's no one size fits all. At 60kg on a Hightower 2 with 160 Lyrik and Cascade link - racing enduro in the UK, I run Flow rims, Maxxis DH casing tyres and no inserts at 18/20psi (fr/rr) or 20/22 if it's really rocky. This works well for me. I used to run DD on the rear and EXO on the front, but I feel more confident on the DH casings all around.

 @Hellchops: true but I talk about just the rim. I never chopped a tire with my carbon rims. But I chopped a lot with AL. If you look at the rim, the walls are more then twice as thick. That's always better to not cut anything. I had cuts without crumbling AL rims.
So I don't agree with you from my experience.
I stick to super gravity because the tires from Schwalbe damping way better then MAXXIS does.

 Offers a lot of configurability as well. I love my X2 and how much I can tinker with it's compression and rebound in the highs and lows. That's probably why a lot of enduro riders rock them for that so they can switch them up based on conditions.

Also, isn't finding service kits for the X2 right now a bitch.

 I find the biggest problem on the X2 to be the need for very specific and overpriced tools just to do basic service, while other shocks require no tools at all.

 My 2021 X2 (yes the brand new model) failed after 7 months of usage. But it failed fatally. The outer stanchion cracked. Not even kidding. Shock is not repairable ))

 @c-radicallis: Park Tool HCW5 and done for a basic air can service

 Yeah you must love how the adjustments don’t do anything to right lol @captbennett:

 @c-radicallis: There is a gentleman on e-bay if you type in X2 fox rebuild tools. He has made all the tools and clamps for the X2 shock and a couple of others as well. here is his site hope it helps. www.ebay.com/itm/2021-Fox-X2-Float-Inner-Air-Vise-Clamp-Seal-head-Wrench-Base-Valve-Sockets-for/264998658660

 @embi: I've heard of this happening to a couple people and don't think it's the shock's fault. It sounds like with trunnions a lot of lateral force from the rear wheel gets transmitted directly to the shock. IMO the frame needs to be stiffer and/or better aligned or a trunnion just isn't a good solution on mtb's.

 @embi: Damn that sucks. Sounds more a like frame problem then shock problem tho. You should prolly put some spherical bearings on if you're planning on keeping that frame.

 @gfmullet80: Thanks mate. I already knew about that guy, but it's still quite expensive for someone earning a average wage in Portugal, and ultimately would only pay off i were to start servicing other people's shocks.

 @mtbandskiforlife: Correct. The proper solution for shock eyelets would be spherical bearings, but proper solutions and good engineering are not allowed in our industry, soo we just gotta just keep buying shit, and then buy extra shit whenever stuff breaks, and keep the cycle going.

 @c-radicallis: I mean, the shock itself is expensive…he linked you a $75 toolkit lol.

 @nvranka: Yeah, but the shipping ain't free ahah.

Not expensive if you get a 15% discount on a Cube bike, which was already cheap to begin with, and was the last bike in stock

 Unfortunately common on those

 Yes absolute piece of sheet.

 I think I went through 3 before getting some DT Swiss 350s, haven't had a problem since.

 Yep they are garbage

 @justinroehlk , @stormracing , @hhaaiirryy , @flattymatty , @bigbrett , totally understand, but if anybody has roasted Neo hubs around, you might want to hang on to them. The all new hubs are almost here, were tested on bloated e-bikes, have some industrial-strength backward-compatible parts and Enduro bearings, and we'll be replacing warrantied Neo parts with the new stuff as those new parts arrive.

 Fork flex stops it moving through it's travel smoothly due to binding between the stantions and the lowers bushings. For wheels, think of the flex/softness being like the bikes suspension having some horizontal travel.

 @panaphonic: boxxer and lyric use the same stanchion diameter so the bushing binding must be similar between the stanchions and fork lowers. Haven't heard anybody state that the boxxer lowers bind up on the stanchions.

Everything I have heard or read about the 38mm chassis's is that because they are stiffer they deflect less, allowing a rider to stay on their line, not stiffness leading to more suppleness.

That's why it doesn't make sense that a fork stiffness can lead to better tracking but wheel stiffness can be a detriment to it

 I was wondering the same.. what gains does he get then?

 @Zmagas: lower bb

 @Crossmaxx: Assuming 20% sag, that's 8mm difference at front, ~=3mm at BB.

If Maes wanted just a lower BB, couldn't the team make something, or use offset bushings rather than reduce fork travel. There are many good reasons to reduce fork travel, but getting the desired BB height doesn't seem like one of them.

I wonder if he likes the increase in reach (he is also running a long 50mm stem).

 In the pictures he also runs a ~10mm spacer under the stem...

 Current generation has been pretty good to me, had a 27.5 and now a 29 muleted and liked both. Stack is a bit low I think but is higher on the Force Carbon so it should really be all good. Latest Fury is also a great bike so if the Force Carbon is a mix of both those bikes it should be great.

 It's probably the team-only DH casing Wild Enduro. They're not available to the public, but lots of the Michelin-sponsored enduro guys have been using them for years. Sam Hill, for instance.

 @TEAM-ROBOT: Well yes they Arena
It's the racing line

 They share the same casing and compound, only difference being thread pattern and bead

 @TEAM-ROBOT: at least in Europe those have been available since April or may

 @TEAM-ROBOT: they actually are available to buy if you can find them they are Magix x dh rubber on a folding bead tire.

 With a 34 chainring and a 10-45 cassette he doesn't need a motor I guess.

 Maes is 155 lbs though. Just because he uses 180mm rotors doesn't mean someone larger (especially if they're newer and drag their brakes) won't benefit from larger rotors.

 Nah, we're mere mortals. Maes only really needs them after crossing the finish line.

 Don't need big rotors if you don't use the brakes.

 @jeremy3220: I weight the same so I should be good

 In my old bike enduro I was running SLX 2 pot brakes 203/180 no problem. Shimano Saint are very powerful,so being light I see why he does not need bigger rotors.

 @homerjm: He probably does it for the modulation.

 @iliveonnitro: No brakes and roids...

 Can confirm that, works perfectly!

 I'm going to take my front off the rack in the garage and try is as a rear tire. Goodness knows the Michelin enduro rear tire was one of my least favorite tires, ever.

 Yes cheaper to produce. More durable to chain slap and impacts. Cheaper to replace. Minimal gains in weight and stiffness for a part that is only a fraction of the overall structure of the bike.

 Smaller part, less benefit gained.

In the front triangle, there is more room to really optimize strength to weight and flex to stiffness in various areas. Chainstays and seatstays are relatively small parts that really only need to do one thing: locate the pivots and/or axle. Not a whole lot of flex zones or whatnot to tune with fancy carbon magic. Just needs to be a stiff tube with pivots at/near the end (and a dropout on the seatstay on a horst-link). Sure, it could be done with a crazy optimized layup to shave some grams, but that comes at a cost that might not be worth it in some situations.

 @Trudeez: Although I've seen a pretty consistent 250-350g weight savings on the same frame with carbon vs aluminum rear triangle.

 I wish my Enduro had an alloy rear end… and an alloy front end.
The only downside would be that I could no longer refer to it as “The F-35 of bicycles”

 @jaame: do f-35’s crack that often?!

 lack of engineering expertise, being a Dorel-directed company

 @Solorider13: it’s more in reference to the looks, price and performance

 @mm732: Cannondale had flex carbon stays for a good amount of years now. I think like @jaame an alloy rear end would be less fragile if you crash the bike. I owned the last 27.5 inch Jekyll model and it came stock with a carbon linkage for the shock and alloy rear end,that piece was ridiculously light thermoplastic/cf reinforced injected in a mold.Compared to the Enduro link it is full alloy,it weight like 10 times more.
Cannondale and GT bikes are cheaper than many other brands,you could get a very good equipped 5000 6000 bucks bike nearly the top of the range for the brand. My Enduro was 5000 at it is the lowest model,Sram shit parts everywhere. My NX rear mech is so bouncy I´m worry it could break the CF rear end of the bike hahahaha .
The Enduro need a carbon fiber rear end,it has so many links it would weight a ton if made all from alloy.

 @homerjm: They do it on the demo. For me it's just because the Enduro has a reputation for cracking and mine is out of warranty. With alloy I would have the peace of mind that first it's less likely to crack if I drop it on a rock or something, and second if it cracks I can have it welded back together 20 mins walk from my house. I would have to make serious investments of time and money to get a carbon one fixed.

 @jaame: Would they heat treat it after welding as well ? I've heard of a couple people having good luck with some of the carbon frame repair shops although of course that involves packing and sending and waiting. Not arguing that rear triangle is more likely to get damaged and harder to repair, one reason I bought a Scott Ransom 910 instead of the 900.

 @jaame: You cannot fully repair an alloy frame,so that thing you said you can weld any frame in 20 mins it is not very realistic. Alloy is heat treated,if you weld it,it would need a new tempering process for the entire frame,something it is not viable. Carbon bikes could be more fragile but it could be fix no problem if the broken thing is not extreme.
It is easy to scratch the rear end,or hit some rocks. I sold my old bike to a noob and he almost destroyed the frame with a rock. It is a carbon fiber front end bike,so it was repaired and now it is like brand new again

 @homerjm: yeah no I meant there is an ally welder 20 mins from my house, but no carbon repair places nearby.
A mate of mine cracked his frame on the seat tube/top tube junction and had it welded up. He rode that frame for a couple of years after that and it wasn’t heat treated again. Not best practice perhaps, but good enough in most cases I would guess. It could be a wrong guess but.

 @homerjm: all true. i don't know that they do carbon in an enduro application. at the end of the day, im sure its a pricepoint strategy.

 its enduro, its not that important.

 I hope you fade soon too.

 then hopefully high pivot next.

 @nozes: I will when the Mullet fad stops. I'll do you a deal.

 @noideamtber: That one I don't agree with. High pivots are a great idea to improve suspension performance. Unlike Mullets which are just a fad and improve nothing.

 Got a mullet.. love it.. chin up

 @Dini2k: Fad

 @MattP76: your a fad

 @Dini2k: you're

 @MattP76: yellow saracen

 @Dini2k: Saracen. Capital, full stop.

 @MattP76: They are awesome on DH bikes as proven, they are nowhere on EWS for a reason. The same riders on High pivot now will not improve their placings on the new bikes, certain bikes like the cannondale might because they are made theirs properly an not extended the bike to winnebago wheelbase