The World Cup downhill is one of cycling’s remaining wild west’s of technology. With few equipment regulations, especially compared to the stringent regulations covering road and track, and less of a focus on minimizing weight, race weekend’s always bring something new and interesting out in the pits.
This weekend, that includes the final form of Norco’s years-long Team DH bike, Finn Iles’s wireless and two-chained Specialized and, perhaps, something new from Shimano. Plus a whole bunch of ways riders are using to try deal with Friday’s mud.
While most new tech is, usually, settled by the end of the season, a longer World Cup season this year seems to mean that brands are rolling out new tech after a mid-season break in the race calendar. Several new bits and bikes were hiding in plain sight in the pits. Or, at least, hiding under a coating of mud. Richie Rude and the Yeti Fox racing team are running some shiny unmarked Shimano brakes.
While Norco adidas Race Division’s Gracey Hemstreet had a similarly unlabelled new-looking derailleur alongside the new XTR brakes.
The lever side borrows heavily from the look of Shimano’s new XTR, but this looks a little burlier. Especially at the calliper end.
Both were, of course, mounted on the newly released, long-prototyped Norco Team DH rig. NaRD is kitted out with brand new bikes, which look truly incredible in person, jerseys and, ahem, adidas Five Ten shoes to mark their home course’s World Cup debut.
A more temporarily, likely, sight on Friday was an array of different rotor covers. While the goal is clear, to keep mud and grit out of the braking system, racers seemed divided on whether front, rear or both rotors should be covered.
Most riders running a guard, though, went for the front-only option. In addition to keeping mud out, that might be in part to keep the heat in. It wasn’t just wet Friday, it downright chilly in Whistler. Especially at the top of the mountain. While racers are usually trying to keep heat at bay during the summer, the system does need to stay warm enough to feel consistent. Especially on a track like 1199, where predicable braking is key.
If the weather does improve, expect to see most of these disappear by race day.
Back in the relative warmth of the Specialized pits, Jordan William’s new Specialized Demo 11 was getting a once-over. While conditions were brutal Friday, the internals on the Demo 11 were still pristine when the cover came off.
