Final weekend’s Fort William Spherical of the British Nationwide Downhill Sequence was a star-studded affair; Greg Minnaar, Matt Walker, Laurie Greenland, Camille Balanche, Loris Vergier, Amaury Pierron, Nina Hoffmann, and your present reigning World Champion himself, Loic Bruni, had been all trying to get their eye in on the observe that can host the 2023 World Championships this coming August. For the second time this yr, the latter was seen aboard a Specialised Prototype DH Bike.
That is an all-new body development from Specialised, with carbon tubing and what-could-well-be 3D printed lugs, suggesting the model is stepping into Additive Manufacturing. Certainly, its development appears not dissimilar to that of Atherton Bikes. It’s not usually we get to see the complete image with any of Bruni’s bikes; they’re normally coated round key areas of the suspension. Alas, final weekend was no totally different.
Is Loic Bruni on a 3D Printed Downhill Bike from Specialised?
Realistically, there isn’t a heap we will glean from the few photographs we managed to snap of Loic’s bike as he crossed the road into the end area. Nonetheless, it’s instantly clear that this bikes represents a grand departure from the present Demo DH Bike that was beneath Loic’s group mate, Jordan Williams.
On the entrance on the bike, the carbon fiber prime tube and down tube seem to insert into what could possibly be a 3D printed headtube lug. An identical fitment is seen on the junction between the highest tube and the seat tube; the highest tube inserts right into a lug that seems to be wrapped across the seat tube. A prime hyperlink connects the seat keep to the entrance triangle by way of one other of those joints.
Whereas the braced seat keep seems to be manufactured from carbon, the machining on the drive aspect chainstay would counsel that this piece, in addition to the highest hyperlink, are each manufactured from aluminum.
As for the largely out-of-sight linkage… arduous to say. Nonetheless, the presence of the quick prime hyperlink and the Horst pivot (word: the rear axle is separated from a direct connection to the entrance triangle by way of a pivot on the chainstay) would counsel that Specialised has not deserted its four-bar FSR suspension platform fully.
However, on condition that the chainstay may be very tall because it terminates close to the BB, it’s not unreasonable to counsel that a number of body members could possibly be linked to it. That’s the place our hypothesis involves an finish; the multi-panel stealth cowl shields the shock from view, and thus we will’t see how precisely it’s being pushed by the linkage.
It’s arduous to know whether or not Specialised intend to go to market with this new body development, or whether or not they’re merely utilizing it for prototyping functions. We’ve got reached out to Specialised for remark.
All The Telemetry
Now, let’s flip our consideration to the bike’s central processing unit. There aren’t any fewer than seven wires getting into and exiting the downtube-mounted field of mysteries. Numerous these sneak off beneath the body cowl, presumably main the rear shock the place they’re prone to be gathering data on its conduct – information that Bruni’s mechanic can then use to make educated selections concerning the damping setup, for instance.
Although it could’t be seen clearly in any of the pictures right here, the Ohlins fork was additionally sporting some form of telemetry gadget mounted to the non-drive aspect. Such telemetry is quite common in downhill racing. Certainly, we noticed a lot of Mondraker and Canyon frames draped in wires throughout seeding runs on Saturday. Nonetheless, none of them appeared to be fairly as rigged up as Loic Bruni’s prototype. Judging by the sensor on the rear brake mount, it appears to be like as if the group can be all in favour of Loic’s braking efficiency, and/or the suspension’s response to braking.
One other Digital Distant
For those who look intently on the World Champion’s left hand, simply inboard of the Magura brake mount is a distant with two buttons; one crimson and the opposite blue. A wire will be seen briefly because it exits the distant, earlier than it’s wrapped up with the brake hose. We reckon this to be some type of digital lock-out that Loic can name upon at key factors on a race run; for instance, the motorway part at Fort William.
It’s not the primary time we’ve seen Loic’s bike with such a distant; certainly, we noticed one thing very related on his Specialised Demo at Snowshoe in 2021.
How did Bruni get on?
Saturday’s seeding runs put Loic Bruni into fifth place with a time of 4:35.124 – simply over three seconds again on Jordan Williams’ quickest time of 4:32.014. Sadly, a flat tire put Loic again in fortieth place on race day. It was Laurie Greenland who took P1 on Sunday, with a time of 4:25.609, over 4 seconds away from Matt Walker who positioned second.
Charlie Hatton took third, with Amaury Pierron in 4th and Troy Brosnan in fifth.
You may see the full outcomes right here.
