I would really like it if you carved repairing Rich's bike up and fixing it from the derailleur to the fork into 4-6 episodes so we could see in depth tear downs and rebuilds etc! Great video.
Cheers Doddy and all who watched. I honestly gave it my all in that race and the bike took a beating proving just how tough some of these pets are. With the rear wheel it took a huge impact at the top of the final stage and as Doddy said my racer mentality carried on flat out so that poor wheel took another 8mins of a beating in that state….. having ridden a tone of carbon wheels I honestly think it’d have been game over running a carbon rim. If anyones got any questions on the bike or wants to no more feel free to drop a reply. Peace out my Tech buddies 👊
Hey Rich, it would be interesting to know what type on inserts you used and the tyre pressure. I really enjoyed your getting back to pro form video series and especially the races. Cheers from Sweden!
@@sfynn1 Thanks Sean stoked you liked the series and yeah I think from a tech perspective it’s really interesting also. Maybe a full rebuild vid coming 😉
Hey Rich, really interesting about the rims and how they handled all the abuse. Could you feel any of the damage/movement in the wheel whilst riding. Currently have a set of carbon bontrager rims from 2018 on my bike and lets just say they handle abuse very interestingly. By interestingly i mean there are two dents on the rear rim and one on the front rim but they still roll so they ain't being replaced yet haha. Most likely going with alloy rims to replace the current ones so wondering if there are any rims in particular you'd suggest. Cheers from nz
This illustrates just how expensive Downhill and Enduro racing have become. Good bicycles are more expensive now than they've ever been, and investments needed in buying and maintaining them under these extreme racing conditions are prohibitively expensive for non-sponsored participants. That doesn't even include the physical tolls and transportation costs just to get to the disparate racing locations. It's almost a given that racing at the elite levels, both with mtb and road, requires one to have either extensive sponsorship or be privately well-heeled financially.
This bike costs close to what a motocross bike would set you back.. and literally every single part is worse. I know that is not really a fair comparison in many regards- but motorbikes hold up way better... and they have an entire engine full of complicated parts on top of it.
You're right. Absolutely. When I first started hitting bike parks years ago you didn't have to go very far until you saw a whole heap of top line bikes. I'm just back from Winterberg, Germany and the vast majority of folks had mid range bikes. There's just no point in the massively specced, ultra priced monsters because they just end up with the same damage and cost an absolute fortune to repair. I took my 2020 Giant Reign 2, a mid range bike and had a great time.
Myself and both my lads race we came over from Moto X the deeper we get into it (the better my lads get) I realise there’s not much cost difference. That said it’s loads more bike time and much nicer people so we’re still in to a winner 🤙
Wow. This bike went through hell. An average XC rider needs to change tires after one year or 4000 km. My rotors last forever. I barely noticed any difference in thickness. Racing is expensive for amateuers. If you need a new wheel, fork service, tire after every race. That's over 400 $/€...
@@jaimeronan It really depends on the compound doesn't it. I have had cheapish tires which had good profile but where harder / less flexible and thus didn't track as well. But because of the hard compound they don't wear out that quick. Then I have some Michelin Mud Enduro tires which had the exact same profile but are off a much softer compound. They track better because of this, but since I ride my bike to the trails over tarmac/streets this means those tires will only last a short while. Also, speed... I will never put my stuff through the same abuse because I don't race but ride for my enjoyment. Wrecking my bike with a single ride is not something I enjoy as I'm not actually racing and don't have access to replacement parts on a whim.
The damage to that wheel seems very excessive. Perhaps it was not trued properly or perhaps it is not a good wheel to begin with. Aside from that, he is speculating on the age of the rotors.
Doddy, you’ve done loads of great content, but this was next level interesting. This was entertaining and super helpful. And a tip o’ the hat to the amazing production team. Looking forward to seeing you in Bentonville 😎. Thanks.
The worst iv ever done racing enduro is I bent a rim so much the tire hit the frame and split a shifter housing resulting in the cable fraying and getting caught up in my chainring. That’s all pretty much
Tips: I reccomend to use Loctite 243 on the adjustment bolts on the rear derailleur. The bash guide does not fit his chainring as well it should, as it does not extend far enough out, so thus not a sptoyectef, especially if plate gets scraped up. Make sure it extends quite alot past the chain. I have a spare plate in my backpack incase mine fails after too many impacts.
Hey Doddy that was an awesome video! Definitely like to see more like this coming straight off the battlefield.. I have a question tho, when you were talking about the fork and possible light damage to stanchion coating, if the damaged area is small yet you can feel it with your fingernail what would be the best solution to fixing this? Nail polish or are there other useful products that are more durable? Thanks!
Not sure what they did to the M-LTD 2022. It came with carbon wheels, not the crappy e-thirteen LG1. No wonder that got beaten up that bad, they just aren't capable of taking the beating. Also it cost 9k flat (with carbon wheels) so not sure where the 10k+ comes from.
Normally you see wear sorta like this on a department category bike besides clutch derailleur wear and stuff, but to see this on a purpose built real mountain bike is just insane. Just makes me think the guy riding it was really tearing the trail up in that bike🤙
I would also be having a very careful look at the headset bearings and the area in the head tube that holds them in place. A lot of stress goes through that area of the frame doing any form of knarly riding. The fork crown and steerer tube junction should also be checked carefully for cracks.
Thanks for this Doddy, excellent review of not only what racing does but I would suggest what bike parks also do to our bikes with the terrain and volume of downhill, lots of new tips and things to look out for on my sons bike that spends spring/fall in Squamish, but gets particularly hammered in Whistler during the summer
Sounds like a normal bike vacation. One week of big mountain uplift riding equals years of flatland trails. It's probably more economical to rent a bike, but i rather spend the money on upgrading my own and there is also the benefits of knowing your bike.
I chose a mountain bike over a dirtbike because it seemed like the more economical option (not by much tho). After a season of hard riding my bike is in the shop and getting $300+ worth of maintenance and replacement of wear parts, I am beginning to wonder whether a dirbike would have been less expensive.
In terms of the running costs probably not, just the price of petrol alone would kill it for the dirtbike, but in terms of the purchase price possibly yes, in my country a brand new honda crf450r and a brand new specialized stumpjumper evo pro cost about the same price, and that's not even the most expensive specialized either.
Dirt bikes are way more expensive. Tires wear faster, fluid changes, faster wear on chain and sprockets, fuel cost, engine rebuilds, the list goes on….
Actually saw you today at Malvern but you were mid conversation with someone so i didn't want to be rude to interrupt to say hello, I hope you had as good a day as we did!
4:38 It _is_ a reflection of the wheel quality. The rim might have dents and cracks, but spokes coming loose is _unforgivable_ . That wheel was either junk from the start or woefully inadequate for the kind of stress it was subjected to.
Rear wheel seems to be pretty close to collapsing. Have the wheelset been tuned and stressed-releived properly manually before racing? Or just a factory built wheels taken straight out for racing? What you think about the flexible Zipp 3zero Moto rim for a rebuild ? To me they sound like the holy grale as long as combined with a decent insert as Rimpact Pro or equivalent for sharp rock protection and squirm stability..
Agreed. That wheel seems like absolute garbage. Plenty of folks do an enduro or even full EWS without nearly that level of damage. Seems like the rim - and spoke tension was garbage out of the box.
Technically you are right, however the term ''alloy'' is also used for aluminium rims on a car, while a steel rim also uses a steel alloy but is never called ''alloy wheel''
Pretty much all "aluminum" used for anything structural is going to be an alloy. There's no way these wheels are pure elemental aluminum, they're probably 6061 or 7075 which are aluminum-magnesium and aluminum-zinc alloys
it s amazing most of the times, we get away with just few twist and scratches and wear. Clean ,lube, retight and tyre pressure, the bike goes again and feels better.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Rich' enduro mtb post-EWS, dear Donnie! It gave me an idea as to how hard a bike is actually beaten up in such a race, something that I really do not know having not experienced joining any mtb race for that matter. Lots'a love, cheers, & Mabuhay, from tropical Philippines! #RideOn #KeepBiking
Not trying to be a dick but the question this video poses is a bit strange to me "Is racing bad for your MTB" well its not good for it, you dont go take your racecar to the track with the expectation you wont put wear and tear on it. Any form of "extreme" use like racing on the clock where youre going 101% it seems like a given to me that youre going to be beating the shit out of your equipment.
I think if you have GMBN behind you where everything is replaced for free on your bike you can really really push it. Privateers will certainly push themselves and their bikes, but I am sure we all scale it back a bit when it comes super treacherous sections that may damage your bike badly.
Yes it is, riding your mountain bike is bad for it too, because it causes wear and tear, but we don't buy mountain bikes to be used as an investment, we buy them to ride and have fun on.
@GMBN Tech: I'm curious if you consistently measure 1.8 mm for new Shimano rotors. I recently measured the rotors on the bikes at the house and found them all in the 1.6 mm range -- close to replacement. So I bought new ones, only to find when measuring those, I found them to be 1.7 mm out of the box. I then even brought home a >$200 calibrated set of calipers from work and measured the same to verify it wasn't my measuring tool that was bad. I figured the old rotors don't seem so worn after all and kept running them!
I am curious if the quality varies, but I guess different models might have different thicknesses. Was it the same brand? The minimum thickness varies between brands. But so does the rotor thickness, some brands offer rotors bast 2mm.
@@mtbboy1993 This was all Shimano (SLX and XTR). I know other brands use thicker ones . I've never tried mixing different brand brakes/rotors but have seen it done. I was just surprised that (per the video) you are supposed to get 0.3 mm of wear (1.8 mm (new) -> 1.5 mm (replace)) and brand new out-of-the-box they were only at 1.68 mm, so essentially half-worn!! (Not really worn, but you get my point.)
The rear rim (not the whole wheel) needs to be changed only. In fact, I could even straighten that rim and re-true it. But I wonder... I always hear about people changing complete wheels for a thing like this when only the rim was damaged... why? Why not think on just re-lacing a new rim? That's what I do, I just swap rims. Anyone can do it.
Swapping rims needs the skills to do it. Most riders don't have this skill level. Especially with lower end wheels it's cheaper to get a new one assembled in a factory by a machine than getting the rim replaced with expensive hand labor of a mechanic. I also haven't done this yet, but it's on my "to do" list to learn it
Great video hope i didnt cause any offence in the comments last video just a bit of banter tell us what beer you acutally like because im now guessing its crafty hen or something like that
wow if you have to fix/pay for new parts after hard riding ...this mean it will be cheaper to buy a 1000cc bike and ride with 300kph ...MTB is really expensive this days ...bike go over 10k ....madness in MTB world!
This is a quite extreme way to ride a MTB. Not many riders have the skills to push a bike that hard without crashing. If you push a vehicle too hard you will damage it, MTB or motorbike. For the skill level of a normal rider a bike much less expensive than 10k is still more than enough. The rider here is the equivalent of a professional motorbiker rider, who will also use a much more expensive motorbike than an average rider
To the deaf person at GCN/GMBN doing video editing.... YOUR MUSIC IS 10x LOUDER THAN THE TALKING IN THE VIDEO AND IT'S FUCKING ANNOYING. EVERY VIDEO. I shouldn't have to play with the volume on EVERY VIDEO, multiple times. Either learn how to mix it down or stop using music.
Cush Core wont save 4ims from little air and huge impacts, but smashing into small rocks or riding up stairs they will, but not landing 1m high drop on a sharp rock or some metal wall or stone or concrete edge. You will flatspot. But spokes should not do what they did here, maybe its cus he rode so hard afterwards. I've not managed to get a wheel that bad even after fatspotting.
I think chain wear isn't a real problem at Dh riding, since the rider hardly has to pedal there. With XC riding a chain will see more wear, here the rider has to pedal much more
@@simonm1447 touche, was a rider who snapped a chain and came first without peddling - I'd like to see this style of video in more depth. I find the failure methods very interesting
I reccomend go ogling it, nothing comes to mind for me now, but I've seen several products out there, some are rubber some carbon. But spesific one sofr spesific bieks exist too, generic ones exist. Some are upgrade from the brand you can buy.
Mine is not. 👌I've i en seen a dude bent steerer on fox 36 collapsed rear wheel on a jump, but his Geometron G1 frame survived, so I am confident in this bike. I have a pretty good build, but it's heavy at 18.14kg, but sure is robust, but I don't have the super exotic parts on it and everything lightest possible. But I don't race enduro yet.
@@petesmitt and to reduce volume to allow a bit lower pressure, but I still run quite high pressure, Cush Core only reccomends 5psi less I think. But I ran too low pressure ei think so I upped it.
It is fit for it, but he smashed the Rd, so the Rd hanger did the job, not damaging the frame and Rd but bending hanger instead. But the wheel that's a scary one. I've not been able to do that yet. Maybe bad wheel who knows. But he sure rode hard.
Not really, a new rim and tires and maybe some pads and rotors plus a full service. All of those things need replacing on a bike at some point anyway, how quickly depends on how hard you ride it.
