13 custom Downhill bikes from the 2024 DH World Championships in Andorra / Worlds-Bikes 2024

Introduction Hello dear friends of well-kept two-wheel mountain sports. I'm standing here in Andorra. The 2024 Downhill World Championship is here this weekend and the Downhill World Championship always means really cool custom bikes. I'll just take the pits from you now, please. They're behind me here and we're looking at the 2024 World Championship bikes. Wyn Masters - GT Here behind me you can see the pits from Team New Zealand. The World Cup is sometimes organized a little differently than World Cups. There are also the pits from the big teams, but there are also national pits here in New Zealand. And one person who is very, very important to the New Zealand downhill sport and is also very, very committed is Wyn Masters. The GT driver has been nominated for the World Championship and drives a white GT Fury with a few black accents. It's a very, very stylish bike and just nice to see that Wyn Masters is here. Do you do his trackwalk videos, all his interviews, but he's also really good on the race track and is just a really good guy who promotes young talent, who promotes New Zealand kids. So two thumbs up for Wyn Masters. Atherton Bikes now it's getting colorful We're now in the Athertons' pits. The mood is great. Beautiful Andreas is sitting back there, just bringing in a hamburger. Otherwise you screw on the wheels. Here to my left is the bike with start number 1. Charlie Hatton became world champion in Fort William last year. Andi Kolb came second in Fort William last year. Silver medal. So it doesn't really get any better than that. Let's see what our favorite blogger does this year. And the two guys have very special bikes from Atherton. I think for the first time in the company's history, painted wheels. Charlie on a bike painted dark blue or anodized or I don't know. In any case, it is blue and no longer black. Andi as an Austrian on a red bike. Both look really chic. Yes, otherwise from a technical point of view I honestly don't know if that much has changed. But at the World Championship the focus is a little more on the look of the custom bikes. And from what you hear, also from what you hear from the team, the bikes should work incredibly well. And here in the mountain air of Andorra it will be really exciting to see what the two fast guys can do in the final on Saturday. We're definitely keeping all our fingers crossed. Nina and Laurie's Santa Cruz For us German potatoes, of course, the best hope for a gold medal here at the World Championships is Nina Hoffmann from the Santa Cruz Syndicate. Yesterday we looked at her bike and Laurie Greenland's bike. Both received a custom design. Olli Davis also in Australian design. We haven't filmed it yet. In any case, all three bikes are really nice. I always find it a bit difficult to implement the German national colors on a bicycle. I think Nina Hoffmann's V10 worked really well. Black and red Santa Cruz V10 with a few gold accents, gold O-Chain. This is just a really harmonious bike that I personally would actually hang on my wall or buy. And I'm sure that Nina will really step it up here this weekend. She already won here in Andorra last year. The route is really good here. She is motivated to the core. Yes, and also Laurie Greenland, he's had a bit of health problems this year. He doesn't quite get going, but on a good day he's still a driver who really fights for the win. In my opinion, his V10, blue-white-red in the British national flag, may have been a bit more successful. It looks a little more like a World Cup bike. And the V10 is generally beyond all doubt. So it's a really good bike. Now also in the right design for the World Cup. I don't think anything can go wrong for Syndicate. Dakotah Norton Mondraker One driver who everyone is really waiting for to finally break the knot and finally get his first win is Dakota Norton. It hasn't worked out in the World Cup yet. Maybe this one at the World Cup. Since this year the American has been driving for Mondraker, for the Factory Team. All three guys on the team have very, very cool custom painted wheels here. Ronan Dunne, Ryan Pinkerton and also Dakota Norton. Dakota in a blue, white and red design is clearly an American. And the special thing about his bike is of course the handlebars with an incredible amount of rise. If I am correctly informed it is 75 millimeters. So if you keep it that way, jokes are still made every now and then that he drives a Harley. But it really suits his driving style and his stature because he is very tall but also has quite short arms. That's why he just wants a high stack. That's what he achieved with this measure. And otherwise the Mondraker, the prototype, is extremely customizable. There are more flip chips than I can count. You can expand and change the entire bottom bracket area. And what's very interesting is that they have mounted such small weights on the rear brake mount or the rear triangle. There is a container in which there are springs and weights. They're supposed to take out some of the vibrations. This is something that you can now see a little more obviously for the first time. And a measure that teams like Mondraker, but also other teams, are experimenting with to simply take performance to a new level. Really an exciting thing. Madison Saracen One of the not so great news of the last few weeks was that the Madison Saracen Factory Team is closing its doors at the end of the season. But that didn't stop the boys from pulling out some really cool bikes for the World Championship. Greg Williamson and Matt Walker start here. One is British, the other is Scottish. We looked at Greg Williamson's bike. Really chic design. Greg Williamson injured his shoulder at the last World Cup in Léger, but is now fully fit again and has had a really strong season so far. With some top 10 results. Is the best season of his career so far. And we'll just keep our fingers crossed that he can achieve a really great result here again and maybe put himself in the spotlight for other teams too. That's why, toi toi toi! [Music] Loris Vergiers Trek Session A bike that doesn't look all that spectacular at first glance. On the second but even more so is the track session by Loris Vergier. Got a custom paint job here for the World Cup. I hope our camera child Patrick captured it appropriately. And in general, Loris Vergier's bikes are thought out and tricked down to the last detail. What is interesting here for the bike in Andorra is, on the one hand, the RockShox Flight Attendant chassis, which he rides. So an electronically adjustable chassis, which might also do a bit of work for him. I'm curious to see whether the upper part of the route uses a different setting than the lower part. Or you can then change it with a lever. And like Dakotah Norton, he also has these containers with weights and springs in them on his bike. One at the rear in the area of ​​the damper and one at the front, nicely hidden behind the start number. This is supposed to filter out these vibrations and you can be sure that the team has experimented a lot. His mechanic who sits here is really known for taking apart every little detail. Yes, it's really crazy how much effort goes into this. And Loris Vergier is traditionally quite strong in Andorra. He also lives here in Andorra, spends a lot of time here, trains a lot here. That means you really have to keep him on your radar for the race on Saturday. Cube Two15 Max Hartenstern A really cool bike. One of my favorites is the Cube 215 from Max Hartenstern, the German hope for men. Kind of a Sam Hill inspired design. So chrome colors with neon green accents. Looks really chic. The more you get involved with the bike, the more details you discover. Yes, it's just a very, very exciting car. Cube has been driving the prototype here in the World Cup for some time. So four-bar rear suspension with high pivot system and braking torque support. Now Jess Blewett has to go through here for a moment. She also drives for Cube. It's also with the ladies, you have to keep them on your radar. Yes, and otherwise you can be sure that the team will have a few more up their sleeves. I'll just ask Kevin who's pumping here. Are there any details that you weren't allowed to reveal here that we're not allowed to show? Any top secret stuff? My biceps. His biceps, yes. Okay, that will be the end of the time for you. We keep our fingers crossed. Camille Balanche Commencal Supreme DH The men's race is pretty exciting, but the women's race is even more competitive. There are five or six absolute top favorites for the gold medal on Saturday. One of them is definitely Camille Balanche. She had a race here last year that she would certainly like to forget. Had a bad fall. Still suffering from the long-term effects of a concussion, but now in really good shape again, he drives the Commencal Supreme. Unfortunately, the team is closing its doors at the end of the season. That means there will be some changes, but the motivation will be even greater to achieve really good results here in Andorra at the Commencal headquarters. And Camille Balanche has already become world champion and will certainly want to win the title here again. And she does this on a very, very stylish white and red work tool, the Commencal Supreme, with a bit of a Swiss design. There are some interesting details on the bike. For example, she is not yet driving the brand new Shimano Saint brakes, which we are not allowed to show, but she continues to drive, using XTR stoppers in combination with the Saint drive, otherwise Fox chassis and Michelin prototype tires. And you can be sure that there are still a few details here that we can't talk about in detail right now, but that you might recognize if you look a little closer. So, take a good look. Frace Bikes Simon Maurer Hello, I'm Simon Maurer, I ride for Fraze-Bike and this is my Fraze-Bike prototype. Here we have the second prototype, the Fraze-Bike brand. We have a completely CNC machined wheel that is milled from one piece. We don't have a single weld on the bike. We're currently in development and have a lot of things that we're testing and trying out. It's a very, as you can see, very wild concept. Looks cool. I drive a RockShox chassis at the front with a Klausmann suspension setting. We're always doing a lot of testing and trying things out and finding the best setup for the respective routes. I'm currently using a Fox shock at the rear, which works best at the moment and we have the best setup. We currently also have a new brake torque support at the rear, which simply decouples the braking system from the main frame and allows us to take other anti-rise curves. Per se. Otherwise we have an O-Chain, very important, we have an O-Chain with 12 degrees. The bike has exactly 12 degrees of pedal kickback, so we basically cancel that out completely and are completely neutral. Otherwise I drive a relatively high cockpit, I would say, compared to other people. Simply because I like it better and it makes me stand a little more on my feet at the back and yes, that's good for me. Otherwise I ride DT Swiss wheels and Continental tires. In the front at the moment the Argotal, because it's quite dusty here and there will be deep ground and that's why I think it's relatively good in the front and in the back it's quite normal the Kryptotal Front. I always drive front and rear and if that's the case, then I drive an intermediate at the front. Otherwise we don't really have anything left. Oh, carbon saddle protector, also very important. Just because it's cool. Vali Höll YT Tues We have to heal, Vali Höll's bike is currently being ridden out of the pits because the women's training is starting. Luckily we had a bit of time to photograph and film the bike. It has a Yt Tues with a super chic custom paint job, a mix of white and purple with the rainbow stripes. Vali Höll became world champion last year. She is the absolute favorite among women. She's number one on a good day, virtually impossible to beat, still very difficult to beat on a bad day. And her work tool for the World Cup is quite something. I just mentioned the custom paint job. Otherwise, it also relies on the RockShox Flight Attendant landing gear, i.e. electronics on the landing gear. The Yt Tues is a very customizable bike in the latest version. In a mullet setting with a 27.5 inch rear wheel. This season she has already ridden with chain deflection, so a bit like a high pivot. This time she decided not to use the chain deflection, at least before training. Maybe that will change after the training impressions. Yes, and she also has the RockShox Boxers in a custom design. So from front to back this bike is simply a success. So, yes, definitely one of my favorite bikes here at the World Championships. David Trummer Intense When you talk about Austrian downhill stars, Andi Kolb and Vali Höll immediately come to mind. Another Austrian who is incredibly good and has already been on the podium at a World Championship is David Trummer. Unfortunately he had a bit of bad luck with injuries this year and last year too. He was seriously injured at the start of the season but is now on the mend. Will be racing here in Andorra. He just finished on the podium at the Austrian championship a few weeks ago and his Intense M29 is a really, really nice bike. Red with a few black and white accents. So the Austria theme was taken up very nicely and otherwise tried and tested, which the team knows well, the Intense M29 frame made of aluminum with high pivot, six-joint rear triangle or four-joint or five-joint. The community is still arguing about how many joints there really are. Fox suspension was specially adapted to him by his tuner in Austria and David attaches great importance to a bike that is very flexible and has a lot of flex, especially for racing. For example, the spoke tension is reduced a bit. It works really well for David because he has a very precise and smooth driving style. That suits him well, but you have to be able to do it and if anyone can do it, it's definitely David Trummer. Pivot Prototyp The final bike in our World Bikes pit lane tour is Jake Jewett's Pivot. The Pivot team has been working on the prototype for some time with two chains and a very innovative rear triangle and drive concept. Now new, the team has been using a carbon rear triangle for a few weeks now. Before that it was just carbon tubes that were held together with sleeves. Now it is, so to speak, a one-piece carbon rear triangle that comes out of the mold, which means that you can see from the bike that it is getting closer and closer to series production from the prototype stage or is at least being improved. Unfortunately, I don't know whether the bike will ever come into series production. In any case, the entire Pivot team is very international. Each Pivot driver has a country-specific design. Jake Jewett of course with the Canadian flag and the Maple Leaf on his bike. His little brother drives the Star in the juniors, one of the favorites. And now we'll just take the lift up, watch the training, continue with the V-Max RAW video and just take a look on the track at how all these fancy custom bikes perform in practice. Have fun, if you have any questions about the bikes, just leave them in the comments and thank you for watching. Bye! [Music]