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Just trying to get a feel for the audience. These seem to be the hot topics in the forums at the moment
Personally I don't mind the speedsuits, they don't look much tighter than what Bruni and Finn have been wearing. Also any developments in materials (aero and stretch) could trickle down to everyday riders.
I don't want electronics anywhere near my suspension, this is despite having an ebike and being open to AXS. I also don't think approaches that will help DH WC riders (i.e. track specific or GPS based dynamic modulation) is particularly beneficial to everyday riders.
Poll
The poll is flawed.
You can't say what SHOULD WE ban first. That's such a loaded question.
I don't want to ban either.
Speed suits look a bit odd but still better than the ice hockey player look of the early 2000's. They've clearly skirted around the UCI's poorly worded rule which means its neither the perfect engineering solution, nor good looking; which annoys me.
Electronic adjustment I'm all for. But I'm less sure of automatic adjusting. By all means set up your "roots" setting, "pedal" setting and "big hucks" setting and manuallly switch between them on course, but having the computer change it for you, especially GPS based does, as Mugen suggests, make it depart from the realms of riding your bike.
narrow-mindedness should be banned but none of the poll options.
Sorry, apparently I should have specified that I am not David Lappartient, head of the UCI. Your poll answers will not result in changes in legislation.
Just wondering what the hardcore crowd over here think of the current hot topics.
Why not both
Not in favor of banning R&D but would like to see an Unlimited type of class and a Traditional class to keep things closer.
Neither. It’s racing, teams will find other ways to make gains.
I chose other for Dak’s bars
I'm not too excited for any electronics, but my main line of thought in this topic is that in other sports many forms of "outside assistance" are banned. For example no active aerodynamics in Formula1 (I think the same is true for suspension, but not sure).
I wonder whether the same will happen here?
Technology has been advancing very quickly and the racing is closer than it ever has been.
People's view of "traditional" has changed over the years. Where exactly is the line?
First 650b DH bike, some people wanted different race classes. Fairclough stated in an interview that he would retire rather than ride a 29er (which clearly didn't happen)
Someone rode an Enduro bike (maybe Sam Hill at Cairns WChamps) and some people thought there should be a triple clamp fork rule.
I can only imagine the comments in the pre-internet days when the first full suss bike showed up...
Considering that WC DH racing at this point is a marketing vehicle for the industry to showcase their new R&D tech, banning innovation like you suggest could be a fast and slippery slope to killing the sport. There aren’t enough strong sponsorships from outside the industry to keep it going on it’s own. Neither should be banned and the only gear related rules should be safety related.
No bans
I like e-bikes and electronic shifting but in a competition context, anything battery-powered raises questions. MTB and cycling a mechanical sports but it's also supposed to be human-powered, when the racer starts to be assisted by anything else powered by anything else than his own power, we are starting to compare machines rather than athletes. I like the concept of a sport that would be skilled driven, that would let the rider perform his interpretation of the terrain rather than a jockey on a machine that would automate part of the riding.. If i wrote the rules, I would allow electronics to be used to display data (like a GPS, power meter, etc..) but not to affect anything automatically or semi-automatically on the bike..
Skin suits are banned already
Well, back when full suspension was becoming a thing I wrote a letter to Mountain Bike magazine about how ridiculous 4” travel bikes are. It got published. Who could possibly use such a thing? How could anyone need that much travel?
sure enjoy my Transition Spur these days…
semi finals just finished in fort william. top 3 elite men were within the same TENTH of a second. troy, finn, loic. they all had eletronic gizmos. unsure of what loic/finn wore yet.
I choose other: cops.
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