for expert / all abilities / pride?

bluechair84

Just filled in the bike opinions poll and thought some of the questions were very odd...

What do you consider to be a make to be proud of / a make for expert riders / a make for all abilities?

I'm proud of my bikes because of the effort I put in to building them, even painting the Canyon myself over the course of a week. But it's not the name that I'm proud of. Expert riders... well, as brands have a range of models they tend to encompass all riders with most having ultra-high end bikes for the pros (in at least one category for instance).

So what are people's perceptions on these three questions? Do you think brands are to be proud of? Associated mainly with expert riders, or encompass all riders better than other brands?

ilovedirt

There are some brand that only produce high end models, Ibis and Santa Cruz spring to mind...

lawman

ilovedirt wrote:

There are some brand that only produce high end models, Ibis and Santa Cruz spring to mind...

answered for me the maxlight is difficult to class, because its not a mega expensive bike, its been built up in various forms over the years, started at about a grand or so, so its not highend, but I consider it to be a bike for a pretty experienced rider who knows what he wants, or a rider looking for something different to the norm.

bluechair84

I don't catagorise boutique brands as for expert riders; intense, santa cruz, ellsworth, nicolai don't exactly have a big presence on the race scene. The V10 being the only frame that springs to mind having success on the DH. They might make exclusively high end bikes but there's little or no pedigree behind them (maybe a tad sweeping? But I'm comparing to Giant / Specialized / Trek). I tend to think of expert riders as heading towards other brands with concerted race efforts. (Ellsworth weren't even on the list of selectable frames! A shocking omission I think!)

IBISMojoHDamon

bluechair84 wrote:

I don't catagorise boutique brands as for expert riders; intense, santa cruz, ellsworth, nicolai don't exactly have a big presence on the race scene. The V10 being the only frame that springs to mind having success on the DH. They might make exclusively high end bikes but there's little or no pedigree behind them (maybe a tad sweeping? But I'm comparing to Giant / Specialized / Trek). I tend to think of expert riders as heading towards other brands with concerted race efforts. (Ellsworth weren't even on the list of selectable frames! A shocking omission I think!)

Yeti were at the forefront of racing in all disciplines including XC since 1985, maybe not so much in terms of XC of late but I'd class Yeti as more boutique than mainstream... SInce 85, how much pedigree do you want?

In the 1990's Yeti couldn't afford the big names such as Tomac, Rockwell, Deaton, Furtado, Missy Giove etc so paid a lady called Carolyn Curl (a DH Skier) to attempt the DH record on a custom made Yeti Lawwill in Les Alpes in order to get the publicity that they were lacking by not having a race team.

Ibis, what about Brian Lopes? He still raced (maybe still does)

Intense, Until recently they had Chris Kovarik and the CRC Intense race team until a year or so ago?
The M1 from the 90's?... Does that not give you pedigree?

I would of thought that expert riders lean towards the bigger brands who have more money to spend on race teams rather than the boutique brands that don't sell as much and have a limited budget to spend on racing

bluechair84

Ah yes, I forgot about the CRC Intense team and Brian Lopes with Ibis. And I suppose Intense has a long running affinity with DH racing through their M frames. Ok, some good teams I'd forgotten about. But oddly they weren't the ones that sprung to mind.

IBISMojoHDamon

bluechair84 wrote:

Ah yes, I forgot about the CRC Intense team and Brian Lopes with Ibis. And I suppose Intense has a long running affinity with DH racing through their M frames. Ok, some good teams I'd forgotten about. But oddly they weren't the ones that sprung to mind.

I had to think too.... ;0)

I prefer the smaller teams, and manufacturers, it may be an English thing where we champion the underdog.

I was into Yeti at the time but my favourite team & rider was Intense / Shaun Palmer... Loved reading about him, his racing style, the anti-establishment and ride on the edge approach.

ilovedirt

bluechair84 wrote:

I don't catagorise boutique brands as for expert riders; intense, santa cruz, ellsworth, nicolai don't exactly have a big presence on the race scene. The V10 being the only frame that springs to mind having success on the DH. They might make exclusively high end bikes but there's little or no pedigree behind them (maybe a tad sweeping? But I'm comparing to Giant / Specialized / Trek). I tend to think of expert riders as heading towards other brands with concerted race efforts. (Ellsworth weren't even on the list of selectable frames! A shocking omission I think!)

Intense, not having pedigree/presence on the race scene?! They probably have more racing pedigree than any other brand! The Intense M1 was THE downhill race bike to have back in the day, not to mention the CRC team and chris kovarik (who still rides for them AFAIK) as IBISMojoHDamon said. Ellsworth have some presence as well, heard of Jack Reading? one of the fastest racers on the UK scene, he rides for Ellsworth.

bluechair84

Yes. Did you read the thread fully?
I found the questions odd though. They wouldn't be my first brand-drop if asked to discuss race teams.