After a Pro Bike Check at the last Australian National Round, this race we poll the entire Elite Men's field (40 racers) to check out their set ups and hardware. The results are interesting!
If you missed the Pro Bike Check, you can review it
here. That was undertaken at the Mount Baw Baw National round, now for the third round at Mount Buller we poll all Elite Men Riders (40 racers). The results may just surprise you;
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| Choices choices choices |
;
Specialized 22%
Santa Cruz 16%
Giant 14%
Trek 5%
Banshee 5%
Kona 5%
Orange 5%
Transition 5%
Turner 5%
Commencal 5%
Intense 3%
Yeti 3%
Mondraker 3%
Morewood 3%
Interesting that Santa Cruz feature more highly than Giant, as Giant are often regarded as the most common downhill bike on the Australian racing circuit. Maybe Elite represents more serious riders who are prepared to spend more on a bike? The addition of Sam Hill, Brendan Fairclough and Troy Brosnan to the team has clearly paid off for the big S though. Suspending these frames are a range of rear shocks, Fox clearly streaks ahead in terms of numbers though.
Fox 80%
Rock Shox 8%
Manitou 3%
Marzocchi 3%
Bos 3%
Elka 3%
The fork situation was more balanced than the rear shocks and provided no surprises as Boxxers have been the fork of choice on the Australian circuit for years.
RockShox Boxxers 53%
Fox 40's 31%
Marzocchi 888's 8%
Bos Idylle 5%
Manitou Dorado 3%
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| It would be cool to have your initials on your forks! |
Drivetrain components / gears really only has two options;
SRAM 78%
Shimano 22%
Braking was another area where SRAM was victorious, with their Avid choices (the few SRAM XO brakes have been placed in the Avid percentage);
Avid 72%
Shimano 14%
Formula 14%
You will notice the SRAM group of companies (SRAM, RockShox, Truvativ & Avid) have essentially dominated their particular fields. I don't wish to speculate, so I talked to riders that used these parts, but were not sponsored by SRAM to see why they made this choice. Aside from performance, the most notable comment was the fact that SRAM have a presence at every National Round, meaning any damaged/faulty parts can be easily fixed/swapped. After paying for travel, accommodation, race entry, etc. the last thing racers want is to have a DNS or DNF due to a part failing, so they vote with their wallets.
Tyres was the choice where the percentage market share was the biggest. Maxxis tyres firmly have the lead in this department. Again rider's comments were that Maxxis are affordable, easy to find and have a good range of treads.
Maxxis 86%
Specialized 10%
Schwable 4%
The field that often draws the most debate is pedals, clips Vs flats, in this case flats were the most prevalent, but note that Bryn Atkinson and Troy Brosnan both won on clips!
Flats 64%
Clips 36%
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| Troy clips in with these Crankbrothers pedals. |
At World Champs at MSA, Quebec we did a bunch of stats and here those are for comparison sakes:
Part One - Frames, Tires, Suspension, Shoe/pedal combos, Neck Brace - Yes/No, Brand of Helmets, Brakes, and Drive Train (Shifter/Rear Derailleur Combos) Part Two - Tires, Armor, Wheels, Rotors, Gearing, Relationships, Energy Drinks, Tubes Y/N 
