We normally start these bike checks with an introduction about the rider, their background, and their bike, all we need here is:
Richie Rude, #1, SB6. Renthal takes care of Richie's cockpit, and his choice of parts seem to shun current fashion. At 5'11" he uses a medium sized frame with a 60mm stem, along with his mechanic Shaun Hughes, they have been testing out large frames but always settle on the medium. Bars are seemingly narrow but Shaun said: "
If you look at Richie's hands you will see that he has massive scabs on his fingers, he seems to hit trees a lot, even with the 740mm. It's another safety thing, narrower bars will work with all different tracks around the world, he's used to them now and doesn't seem to be struggling with them."
Richie is stacked and it's no surprise that he weighs in around 205lbs/93kg's. The fork has undergone a couple of internal mods, but nothing major. 98psi and full to the brim with four orange volume spacers still gives him around 25% sag, and Richie still manages to get through all of the travel regularly.
Damping wise Fox tuning wizard, Jordi Cortes, suggests that Richie, along with Aaron Gwin are both using a harder compression damping tune than anybody else in the world.
At the rear end of the bike, Richie uses a Fox Float X2 with the climb switch. Pressure fluctuates between 200 and 205psi depending on the venue with a few volume spacers in there, but not maxed out, "We have the SB6 really well balanced at the moment if you watch Richie riding the bike, it's looking pretty comfortable for him." Shaun says.
It's interesting to note that Richie doesn't use Shimano Di2 electronic shifting. Mechanic Shaun prefers them to use mechanical stuff that the riders can repair themselves, to some extent - both Richie and teammate, Cody Kelley, carry spare gear cables for example. Shaun says: "
Ritchie is the ultimate bike tester, he can wreck anything if he wants to!"
Richie mixes Shimano's XTR levers with Saint 4-pot calipers for extra stopping power. People often mention that fast riders don't need brakes as much as regular guys, as they don't use them, Richie's sheer speed and size means that when he does occasionally pull them, they better be ready.
The team has been relying on the 25mm internal width EX471 rim from DT Swiss for two years now. A 30mm EX511 has been added at the front with the 2.5" Maxxis Minion DHR. Shaun says, to be honest, they haven't spent enough time testing the wider rims and are worried that a 2.3" tire on a wider rim on the rear can leave the tire sidewall exposed to damage from rocks. More testing is needed before they take it to the race track.
Pressures are also pretty high compared to most other riders but so is Richie's weight and the force in which he smashes into the earth, 27psi in the front tire and at least 30psi in the rear Griffin - safety first.
MENTIONS: @yeticycles / @foxracingshox /
@shimano /
@Maxxis /
@ergonbike
Bad ass bike btw...form and function just killing it!
5'11", 205#. Monster HP, sticking another 5 seconds on everyone on the climb? If his bars were any wider he'd rip 'em off the bike!
Fired up for Aspen!
The Quarq graph of the women is remarkable as well, demonstrating the time to be had going all out in one of the slowest sections of track.
i run a 34 with a 11-42 but on normal rides i try not to go to the last 2-3 easier gears, on races i basicly climb as easy as i can to not frie my legs
but about road riding, you spin your legs more than on the mtb, i ride mostly 50/50 of my time betwen road and enduro and is a total diferentstyle of
My "GUESS" is that it's probably not solely a big guy thing, but also technique. I come from motorcycles and I'm used to strong inputs at the bars (counter steering) while at speed. The moment I got more leverage everything felt twitchy.
Anyway, here is a pretty good read on the subject.
www.ridingfeelsgood.com/suspension-linkage-kinematics-basics-anti-squat-pedal-kickback
Here is the segment I have in mind when choosing gears:
www.strava.com/segments/701622
I can usually ride it without dipping below 22/32. I try to stay in 22/28 but so far that is just been too brutal for me.
I've seen single speeders ride it with a 32/20 but that was a long way to go without sitting.
Still very impressive. FTP isn't as important for MTB as it is for the road.
(Squatting 235 kg in the gym)
Richie 36/40=0.9, 93kg
me 34/36=0.944, 92kg
a friend 36/36=1, 96kg
my girlfriend (2by) 22/32=0.69, 58kg
I know trails are different, but as reference I can say that I was with my friend in Andorra, we were ok with no lifts.
As Waki points out it's not just about fitness though, depends on how your body works. Maybe one day pinkbike will grow up and stop the "man up" comments. maybe on day...
I talked to a dude who had a midlife crisis, started to run, do marathons, triathlons, yoga, and after 2 years got depressed because he was barely progressing while he buddies were doing great. Then through Yoga he got into some gymnastics, body weight training and he rips. just like that. 1 year, and he's the best in his peer group.
So there are people who are into high cadence, low cadence, but mostly people who are in between. I guess it can be trained, but I am sure the best thing you can do is to capitalize on your genetics and the way your upbringing shaped the rest of the way your body is built. The most stupid thing someone can do is to read some sht about how you're supposed to pedal, either by some loonie on a forum or in some stupid magazine for kooks, and just have a go at it. Fortunately all sorts of media are getting smarter about it, like GCN, who do some basic tests, showing what I just wrote about above. Doctrines are for idiots.
XC - 730
Trail - 740
Enduro - 750
Park - 760
DH - 770
Dickhead - 780+
What do you do if you want to race enduro on your trail bike, or ride park on your dh rig? Seems like a lot of cutting, or switching bars...
OTOH, I also have a large '11 Kona Operator with an 800mm bar and a White Brothers / MRP Groove 200 up front. It's long as a train and heavy! Stable at speed, but to get the most out of it, you have to take it by the scruff using a little muscle! Not about to get rid of the 800 on there!
Anyway, I think you're right. A combination of a lighter shorter bike and rider weight/size/muscle could easily mean less leverage at the bars is a good thing. :-)
Isabeau Courdurier from Sunn uses a 785mm bar and she's lke 5 feet nothing.
I guess a fender would do the trick too...
Dude is a unit!
A lot of the enduro guys are super slim - be interesting to know how much power he puts out carrying around all the extra muscle.
www.instagram.com/p/BH7w2QbDtPN/?taken-by=marcosborne92
Not sure I would like to go back to anything longer than 50mm but I am a turd compared to Riche on a bike.
He is running some pressure / volume spacers in that fork too but at 205lbs and charging that hard I suppose thats what you need!
Interesting to see both running "narrow" bars. And Rude has obviously gone back to XTR levers - anyone know what the difference is feel is between the Saint and the XTR levers??
"i can get up to 70 miles per gallon on this hog"
Its also worth noting that the normal riders amongst us use larger frames to increase stability, when you are #1 in the world I imagine you are a little more confident / less crap than the rest of us!
But Richie is running this exact setup I wanted to make.....which makes me wonder now.....
forums.mtbr.com/brake-time/anyone-run-saint-calipers-m988-xtr-servo-levers-688158.html
www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/f40/m988-xtr-levers-m820-saint-calipers-30555.html
forums.mtbr.com/brake-time/xtr-m987-levers-saint-m820-calipers-929186.html
Also, this one:
www.chainreactioncycles.com/us/en/shimano-saint-m820-disc-brake-caliper/rp-prod82469
Look at the Q&A direct from CRC. There's just so much conflicting info out there. Stupid internet.
I am running XTR Race(M985) levers with Saint M820 calipers, it works great, a lot of power, great lever feel. It is a bit more fiddly, as the reservoir is a bit smaller, you have to bleed it/refill mineral oil as the brake pads get worn. I don't consider this a problem, as I normally have to bleed my brakes more often than I change pads.
Great that you follow up on our curiosities
What are your thoughts on running those same Saint calipers with the M988 levers?
Edit: Nevermind, it's a Griffin.
That appears to be a DH casing Griffin.
Perhaps he wants a full DH casing for this event and this is the lightest and only 2.3 Maxxis offers in DH casing?
The 60mm stem is not surprising. I found 35s to be a little silly, and moved to 50mm and found I had more control.
36-40 is insane. I wish I was that strong. 34-42 was bad enough on silly steep things, but was ok on extended alpine climbs.
Tell me more.
www.enduroworldseries.com/quarq-race-intelligence-how-did-rude-do-it
This guy is an animal~
Run-on sentences:
"We normally start these bike checks with an introduction about the rider, their background, and their bike, all we need here is:"
"At 5'11" he uses a medium sized frame with a 60mm stem, along with his mechanic Shaun Hughes, they have been testing out large frames but always settle on the medium. "
"If you look at Richie's hands you will see that he has massive scabs on his fingers, he seems to hit trees a lot, even with the 740mm."
"It's another safety thing, narrower bars will work with all different tracks around the world, he's used to them now and doesn't seem to be struggling with them."
"60mm stem and a medium frame for a 5'11" rider, what is this, 2014?"
"We have the SB6 really well balanced at the moment if you watch Richie riding the bike, it's looking pretty comfortable for him."
"Ritchie is the ultimate bike tester, he can wreck anything if he wants to!"
"People often mention that fast riders don't need brakes as much as regular guys, as they don't use them, Richie's sheer speed and size means that when he does occasionally pull them, they better be ready."
"Pressures are also pretty high compared to most other riders but so is Richie's weight and the force in which he smashes into the earth, 27psi in the front tire and at least 30psi in the rear Griffin - safety first."
(Also, it's "with which", not "in which".)
"The alloy EX471 rim from DT Swiss is an enduro and DH rider's favorite, it's same model rim that Gwin used without a tire at Leogang two years ago."
Corrected punctuation:
"Damping wise, Fox tuning wizard Jordi Cortes suggests that Richie, along with Aaron Gwin, are both using a harder compression damping tune than anybody else in the world."
And seriously, go mark the kids homework and get some sleep!
Or to paraphrase Sam Jackson: "English, motherf&$ker! Do you even write it?" :-)
Here's a good chart to show how grinding off the coating (required for the process) will show different ranges of color as well, so the parent material, and the ultimate thickness of the coating with affect color.
www.kashima-coat.com/en/img/color_pc.jpg