2021 PRO equipment thread

[LeDuke]

MvdP riding tied and soldered spokes in today's XCC.

His mechanic needs to let that shit die.

I guess one benefit to it is preventing a spoke from flapping about if he breaks one, but, isn't that what properly laced 3x wheels are for?

[DanW]

Seems more like a Greg Minnaar kinda thing to do (the only other MTB rider I can think of in recent times to tie spokes) than from someone who supposedly likes to keeps things simple and not tinker unecessarily. This one must be the mechanic's doing like you say

[TwincamRob]

MvdP riding tied and soldered spokes in today's XCC.

Do you have any pics? All I see is pics with what look like off the shelf XTR wheels or something. Probably just for the photos.

[Dan Gerous]

MvdP riding tied and soldered spokes in today's XCC.

Do you have any pics? All I see is pics with what look like off the shelf XTR wheels or something. Probably just for the photos.

Pinkbike has a bike profile showing it. It's XTR hubs but apparently laced to 270gr Duke Lucky Jack SLS3 Ultra rims without decals.

[bruno2000]

Bernal was on an obsolete LW wheels even yesterday, I was genuinely surprised considering it was raining since km 0.

It just put in perspective that braking is not a real performance factor (as proven multiple times)


—————————————
- Supersix evo2 HM 5707g
- 1995 Miguel Indurain Pinarello restauration project
- R3000si Junior bike restauration project.

To add some oil to the fire...Although I like Bernal as a riders very much (and I prefer his bike to any other bike in the peloton), as being a Belgian I surely hope Evenepoel beats him (well probably not as I belive Evenepoel with his lack of racing will have a day off and probably a third guy is taking the final victory) but let's assume Bernal and Evenepoel fight it out in the mountains for the victory. Would it be a valuable idea of Evenepoel to attack in the downhill during a very rainy stage in the mountains? I know a lot of other factors are to be considered but with equal decending-abilities how much would the Pinarello rimbrake F12 vs the S Works SL7 disc brake be of influence? Or would somebody at Evenepoel's team even come up with the idea of 'we should be faster downhill with our disc brakes.?
(I'm just having fun in my head and wirting it down )

[AJS914]

With the full width of a closed road there just isn't enough braking to make a difference.

[Dan Gerous]

Bernal was on an obsolete LW wheels even yesterday, I was genuinely surprised considering it was raining since km 0.

It just put in perspective that braking is not a real performance factor (as proven multiple times)


—————————————
- Supersix evo2 HM 5707g
- 1995 Miguel Indurain Pinarello restauration project
- R3000si Junior bike restauration project.

To add some oil to the fire...Although I like Bernal as a riders very much (and I prefer his bike to any other bike in the peloton), as being a Belgian I surely hope Evenepoel beats him (well probably not as I belive Evenepoel with his lack of racing will have a day off and probably a third guy is taking the final victory) but let's assume Bernal and Evenepoel fight it out in the mountains for the victory. Would it be a valuable idea of Evenepoel to attack in the downhill during a very rainy stage in the mountains? I know a lot of other factors are to be considered but with equal decending-abilities how much would the Pinarello rimbrake F12 vs the S Works SL7 disc brake be of influence? Or would somebody at Evenepoel's team even come up with the idea of 'we should be faster downhill with our disc brakes.?
(I'm just having fun in my head and wirting it down )

The thing is, Remco's descending skills is one of his only weaknesses, he's more likely to be dropped downhill than the opposite, no matter the brake system. That's why he crashed out of Il Lombardia in the first place.

[dolophonic]

just like DG said above .. i dont think descending is the strongest card for Evenepoel.

It is great to once again to see all the industry hype being exposed, rim brakes work great.
Just like when Sagan won the worlds on a SL6 as opposed to the aero Venge.. marketing is so formulaic .. yet many people eat it up.

[jever98]

OMG, these brake discussions are sooooooooooooooooo tired. Yes, rim brakes work. Yes, industry pushes discs. Yes, discs work better than rim brakes. Yes, you can win races on rim brakes. Yes, people can descend fast on rim brakes. Yes, people will also still crash on disc brakes if they get things wrong. None of these things prove anything and are just constant repetitions of pet peeves. No one cares anymore about this bickering anymore. Get over it.

@Dan - that Evenpoel's descending is a weakness is a bit far fetched, based on a bad crash on a very dangerous road at the end of long, hard race. Nibali crashed badly in Rio and he is supposed to be one of the best descenders. Does that make him a bad descender. n=1 statistics...

[ooo]

Tompidock win - is it the first ever disc brake win for Ineos/sky/Brailsford?

[Dan Gerous]

OMG, these brake discussions are sooooooooooooooooo tired. Yes, rim brakes work. Yes, industry pushes discs. Yes, discs work better than rim brakes. Yes, you can win races on rim brakes. Yes, people can descend fast on rim brakes. Yes, people will also still crash on disc brakes if they get things wrong. None of these things prove anything and are just constant repetitions of pet peeves. No one cares anymore about this bickering anymore. Get over it.

@Dan - that Evenpoel's descending is a weakness is a bit far fetched, based on a bad crash on a very dangerous road at the end of long, hard race. Nibali crashed badly in Rio and he is supposed to be one of the best descenders. Does that make him a bad descender. n=1 statistics...

Everone can crash of course, but Remco is known to be below average in descending skills, it was known before his crash, he knows it himself, his competitors know it, he often struggled to keep up in technical downhills before Il Lombardia. He's not Zakarin bad but Bernal could drop him on twisty downhills if he wanted.

Lombardia was just one good exemple. That day he sprinted to start that descent on the front to control the speed of the front group, to slow it down to his level, they soon all passed and dropped him and by the bottom, he was waaaay back and he probably crashed because he pushed beyond his comfort zone.

He can improve fast though as going downhill fast takes time/experience and that's what he lacks compared to others, he only started competitive cycling in 2017 after all, while even other very young riders like Pogacar and Pidcock have been racing for far longer.

And I couldn't agree more on your stance on the whole overblown disc vs rim discussions.

[pastronef]

Tompidock win - is it the first ever disc brake win for Ineos/sky/Brailsford?

first SkIneos win not on a Pinarello

I remember Bernie Eisel racing on a Dogma disc back then at Sky, for one or two races. maybe some others tried discs during some minor races at Sky. but yes, being a mtb race it´s the first win for an Ineos rider on discs. (he won in Switzerland two weeks ago too)

[dolophonic]

OMG, these brake discussions are sooooooooooooooooo tired. Yes, rim brakes work. Yes, industry pushes discs. Yes, discs work better than rim brakes. Yes, you can win races on rim brakes. Yes, people can descend fast on rim brakes. Yes, people will also still crash on disc brakes if they get things wrong. None of these things prove anything and are just constant repetitions of pet peeves. No one cares anymore about this bickering anymore. Get over it.

then why feel the need to make this comment you are purely extending the argument you say you are tired of ..

The fact that riders on rim brakes are hanging in the wet technical Italian roads is fact not bickering..

BTW this is weight weenies, we care about weight and preformance.. to dismiss the reality that rim brakes are relevent makes it look like you might be in the wrong place ..?

[Discodan]

I agree with jever98, it's the continual re-litigation of the same issue that's tiresome.

[bruno2000]

I didn't want to re-start the discussion of which type of brakes are better and blablabla.
I just wanted to point out the idea of a disc brake team attacking a non-disc brake team in a downhill.
Or beter I was asking if that could be an idea now we have 2 types of brake-tech in the peloton.