Bike Check: Aimi Kenyon's Santa Cruz V10 - Fort William DH World Cup 2023
Aimi Kenyon is one of the young guns on the Pinkbike Racing team, competing in her final year of Juniors before making the move to Elite. She had some solid results last year, and is quickly getting used to the competition at the top end of the sport. She had a bit of a tough start to this season while battling concussion symptoms, but quickly got up to pace to secure a second place at Leogang.
Her size Large V10 is set up with MX wheels, long chainstay position, and the Works headset in the short position, making it the smallest-reach Large you can muster. Plenty more details below, dig in.
Her size Large V10 is set up with MX wheels, long chainstay position, and the Works headset in the short position, making it the smallest-reach Large you can muster. Plenty more details below, dig in.
EXT Arma rear shock.
With a Manitou Dorado up front.
Ramp and main air chambers on the Dorado.
Always press the red button.
Aimi has been running a custom-tuned shock for the majority of this season, with slightly lighter damping than the standard. However, she opted for the stock tune for Fort William, as she found her custom tune to be too wallowy for the track.
She said she's been more in tune with her suspension setup this year, with her spring rates and compression firming up as she found speed in the early season. According to her mechanic, Aimi isn't too fussy about anything, which makes sense for an 18-year-old still getting a hang of racing at the top of the sport.
Shimano Saints, ~30mm bite point.
With 6-bolt IceTech rotors.
Plenty of STFU tape to keep things quiet.
Saint drivetrain looking nice and clean - for now.
Brakes and drivetrain are an all-Shimano affair, with Saint all around. Controls are tidy, and overall it's a pretty standard setup. She's running 165mm cranks, Saint pedals with 7 clicks of release tension, and has a chainring-mounted Shimano bashguard mounted on one side.
Reminder: chainring-mounted bash guards have been around long before SRAM brought out Transmission. Shimano's Modular Chain Device is doing the job here.
Deity touchpoints all around.
Aimi runs 770mm bars with a neutral/slightly forward roll.
Aimi runs Cushcore front and rear.
Kryptotal Fr/Re combo, DH Super Soft.
The paint job on her V10 is in keeping with her custom bike trend, namely the unicorn sticker that always has a place on the frame. Her dad added that detail to her first V10, and it's remained a key detail since. Otherwise, it's a very Scottish theme, with some subtle bubble graphics and all-around nice paint done by Fat Creations.
Fort Bill bubbles.
Aimi's signature piece.
Paint shops must be busy this time of year.
Congrats to Aimi on a fourth place finish in today's Junior World Champs race.
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And she has the chainstays in the short position. Chainstays in the long position would mean a longer wheelbase without adding to the reach.
If you want a longer wheelbase but same reach you need a slacker head angle and longer chainstays. Sounds like she's just between sizes to me
LARP: "it's all real until the foam hits you"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ekugPKqFw
I had that saint bash on my bike for 5 years and it decent some rocks still scratch and do some damage but not critical.
Frame mounted means all the forces go through the bike frame as well.
Also, something like this means you can "pedal over" obstacles. If you're one to ride old school trails with logs in the way.
For folks without a dominant forward foot, just run two of the modular guards.