Even More Tech Randoms: Fort William World Cup – Pinkbike

Practice day in Fort William brings with it a few bike modifications that weren’t on display yesterday…

In addition to that thin CrMo steel chainstay, Amaury Pierron’s Commencal Supreme DH is now equipped with an intriguing cover on the non-drive side, adorned with the letters “KODS”. That stands for “Keep Our Device Secret”. Your guess is as good as mine.

Brother Antoine’s Supreme DH is a little more stock, with the regular aluminum chainstay.

Team mate Pau Menoyo is running that yet-to-be-named prototype from Schwalbe – on the rear only.

It looks like Minnaar is testing out some prototype brake levers from TRP – an update to the current DH-R EVO perhaps.

More prototype Schwalbe tires at the Propain Positive pits – this one a new compound for the Tacky Chan on a team-only version of the Newmen Beskak 30 rim.

The Propain team riders prefer the ride feel of the Rage CF with a 500-gram diving weight cable tied to the bottom.

Vali’s Rockshox Boxxer is now home to a Flight Attendant system…

on the fork, and on the Super Deluxe Ultimate coil shock.

Myriam Nicole’s Red Bull helmet – it’s great to see her back at a World Cup.

Shimano now has a spider-less Saint Crank to allow them to fit an OChain (a device proving very popular at World Cups). They’re also the shortest Saint cranks yet at 160mm.

Matt Walker’s Saracen Myst DH Bike.

Almost Myst this, but Walker’s frame is home to a flip-chip at the front shock mount that alters progression without altering the bike’s geometry – this flip-chip is not present on the production bike.

First-year Junior Taylor Waite is riding a prototype from Yeti. It runs the same SixFinity linkage as their eBike and has multiple adjustable parameters

Reach can be adjusted +/- 6mm

Chainstay length can be adjusted +/- 5mm

And there’s a flip-chip at the lower shock mount that controls overall progression – Taylor Wait opts for the 21% progression setting. The Yeti team were fairly tight-lipped about pretty much everything else.