Introducing the 2022 Pinkbike Racing Team
Pinkbike is going racing! We've dreamed about this day for a long time and we can officially share some details about our plans for the 2022 UCI World Cup downhill season.
The 2022 Pinkbike Racing Team: Jackson Connelly, Aimi Kenyon, Thibault Laly, & Ben Cathro. Art by Taj Mihelich.
With Ben Cathro at the helm, we're hoping to do things a bit differently with our team. After our State of the Sport Survey last year, we were shocked at how little support many of the juniors and lower ranked riders are getting today. The financial commitments required for many young riders to race a full season are so high that it generally requires enormous sacrifice from their family or they simply have to watch their racing dreams evaporate. We don't want World Cup racing to be where only the most affluent are able to compete, so we're setting out to help juniors and riders on the bubble that need support to break through and build a foundation for sustainable racing careers.
We're providing the team with wages, full race support, top quality race bikes and we'll be covering all their World Cup racing expenses. so that the only things they have to worry about happen between the tape. We'll also be documenting the entire season so you can watch the struggles and successes as they race at the sport's highest level. So, without any further ado, let's meet the team.
The Riders
Jackson Connelly
Jackson Connelly was winning everything there was to win in Australia (including four National Championships and 2 Oceanian championships) up until this year. Unfortunately when he became a first year junior, Australia wouldn't grant him a permit to leave the country as he wasn't on a UCI team, so he was forced to sit out the series and watch it at home on Red Bull like the rest of us.
Now he's a part of Pinkbike Racing, Jackson will be competing as a second year junior finding his feet in on the European race scene for the first time. As if that wasn't hard enough, Jackson is also rehabbing from an offseason surgery and is fighting to be fit in time for the season.
Now he's a part of Pinkbike Racing, Jackson will be competing as a second year junior finding his feet in on the European race scene for the first time. As if that wasn't hard enough, Jackson is also rehabbing from an offseason surgery and is fighting to be fit in time for the season.
Aimi Kenyon
Aimi is the youngest member of the Pinkbike racing team but has shown amazing potential in her short racing career so far. In 2021, she completed a perfect season with 4 British National wins and the National Championship all under her belt, what's more impressive is that she won with times that were rivalling those of the elite women too.
Stepping up to World Cup level will be a challenge with stronger competition, tougher tracks and increased pressure but Aimi has bags of potential and the drive to succeed at the highest level.
Stepping up to World Cup level will be a challenge with stronger competition, tougher tracks and increased pressure but Aimi has bags of potential and the drive to succeed at the highest level.
Thibault Laly
Well, we had to have a Frenchie, right? At 24 years old, Thibault Laly comes to Pinkbike Racing at a crossroads in his career. He has been racing since he was a teenager, has achieved junior World Cup podiums, and has been invited to Hardline in the past. But he's yet to crack into the fabled Elite top 20.
Those of you who follow racing closely will know that Thibault joins us from a factory team, but he hasn't always had the support that you may think that might entail. Pinkbike Racing will allow him to focus more of his time on racing and we can't wait to see how this leg-up will boost his career. We're hoping he'll be able to find the missing ingredient that makes him a regular top 20 rider as part of the team.
Those of you who follow racing closely will know that Thibault joins us from a factory team, but he hasn't always had the support that you may think that might entail. Pinkbike Racing will allow him to focus more of his time on racing and we can't wait to see how this leg-up will boost his career. We're hoping he'll be able to find the missing ingredient that makes him a regular top 20 rider as part of the team.
Ben Cathro
Anchoring the whole project, Ben 'Line Guy' Cathro should need no introduction. Pinkbike Racing was born out of Ben's time as The Privateer, when he helped Jamie Edmondson and Mikayla Parton kickstart their careers in Lourdes 2020.
Ben will be the team's coach and will be using his technical knowledge and World Cup experience to help the rest of the team find that missing ingredient to help them achieve their goals. Alongside that, he'll be producing his usual mix of content for Pinkbike will be hoping to enter a few World Cups himself to improve on his stellar run of form from last year.
Ben will be the team's coach and will be using his technical knowledge and World Cup experience to help the rest of the team find that missing ingredient to help them achieve their goals. Alongside that, he'll be producing his usual mix of content for Pinkbike will be hoping to enter a few World Cups himself to improve on his stellar run of form from last year.
Partners:
No, the team won't be racing on the Grim Donut this year (the Donut's superiority would be unfair to all the other teams, obviously) but we've got plenty of great support. A team that isn't focused only on getting the most results for the least money is a rare thing in this sport, and we couldn't have made this project work without partners who get it. We're incredibly grateful to these sponsors who have embraced this project and the goal of the team.
Continental - tires
Shimano - drivetrain, brakes and pedals
Santa Cruz - frames
Reserve Wheels - wheels
Dharco - clothing
Deity - cockpit
Bluegrass - helmets and protection
Adidas Five Ten - footwear
Shimano - drivetrain, brakes and pedals
Santa Cruz - frames
Reserve Wheels - wheels
Dharco - clothing
Deity - cockpit
Bluegrass - helmets and protection
Adidas Five Ten - footwear
We also want to extend a special thank you to Mondraker and the MS Mondraker team for helping us out of a hole at the 11th hour. All will be explained as the series kicks off in the spring.
PS. The series will be available publicly on Pinkbike.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Unless you want want to complain about 70s appropriation.
It's just a retro colour jersey.
Why don't you complain about Toyota ripping off the colours.
This is clearly a TRD rip off. Or FOX.
@fabwizard People aren't complaining about Toyota ripping off the colors because they were using those stripes in a motorsports format when they weren't vintage... they were just cool. They were off the back a little bit compared to FOX but that stripe format has become synonymous with TRD. Kinda like Kleenex is a brand but pretty much everyone calls snot rags that. It's the layout that makes it weak. Use the colors if you're trying to pull off a retro vibe but not in that specific format with the the logo breaking it up exactly like the TRD badges.
Would have been cooler and made more sense if they did sleeve stripes like the old Canucks jerseys.
TRD?
FOX?
I just thought the team was being sponsored by K & N Air Filters?
And K&N was founded in 1969... and they're a motorsports brand.
Ken and Norm both came from the same background as Bob Fox.... racing motos.
Full disclosure we just sent a bunch of old VHS tape graphics and the Pinkbike + Outside pantone colours to the designer Paul Mullen (www.paulmullen.co.uk) and he came up with a nice little retro brand pack.
@Hayek: I love the idea of getting some jerseys/socks/etc into the store to help support the team. I'll look into it.
Someone has a liking for details.
Regardless, this is probably the coolest thing Pinkbike has ever done.
Hideous...but cool
I always thought they were cool little trucks.
Now the trophy trucks are monsters.
I saw a Blu/white one with the yellow/red the other day.
T'was dope.
But dang, it’s freaking cool truck!! Piece of art for sure and with him in it, he’d still beat so much of today’s racers/trucks!
www.ebay.com/itm/373684717099
May favorite was always the '84 PPI Long Cab Trucks.
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OK, back to our regularly scheduled program..... Thanks for the trip down memory lane,
The PB version would be correct for the Drivers side.
Bell used the exact same stripe pattern on their custom 500. But again... they have a motorsports history with true heritage going back to the 50's.
FOX used it as well.... before there was a head and tail.
Those are all 3 motorsports brands with real heritage.
It's not an uncommon set up to use, but this layout is about as rip off as it gets.
I really am curious what story they're going to try and tell.
www.santacruzbicycles.com/files/styles/scb_natural_2000_auto/public/frame-thumbs/nomad-profile_1.jpg
www.santacruzbicycles.com/files/styles/scb_natural_2000_auto/public/frame-thumbs/bronson_website_profile_1.jpg
Best of luck this year!!!!
Even if Outside is doing a lot of the heavy financial lifting, it kind of proves that it was a good idea from their end for them to buy PB. They wouldn't be throwing money at something they didn't think would have some kind of return.
How about Hayes/Manitou for brakes and suspension? You guys should roll on the revised Dorado. Would be pretty neat to see them return to WC racing.
...As for the other comment RE: results, it's hard to get them when your racing budget is near minimal to non-existent, the SRAM/RS and Fox/Marz racing budgets seem almost bottomless and it's kinda lame to see the same stuff on the podium week after week
Obviously it’s fun to think the boutique shops have some secret sauce the big guys are too unwieldy to make, but it’s not at all obvious that there’s room to improve significantly on the foundation of the big offerings. Maybe it pays to drop a custom tune or vorsprung upgrade on it, but actually buying a helm or onyx? Seems like that’s more of a cool factor purchase than actual performance driven.
I mainly wanted to push back on the idea that the products couldn’t possibly be the source of the difference, because by all accounts the current top level products from the big 2 are quite extraordinary.
This is gonna get downvoted to oblivion but that's fine.
As for the jerseys.... personally I think they're lame. Does Outside have some sort of old race heritage that I'm unaware of? Serious question. Those are heritage racing stripes. FOX, Toyota/TRD and others have used them since the 70's. Outside has heritage back to 76 but Pinkbike doesn't. And as far as I know it has nothing to do with motorsports and racing.
All you did was take the FOX/TRD stripes and slap them on a jersey. Thinking.. hey heritage... cool. We'll borrow real heritage and put it on our jersey. Least you could have done is used them creatively. Fake heritage is wack.
So yeah... looking forward to the race content and more Cathro. Jerseys... meh.
But to blatantly (again, just look how many people immediately pointed it out... it's not at all subtle) coopt the design for a brand-new unproven team, that's just lame. Pick your own design and build your own legacy, don't ride the coat-tails of others just to try and add false legitimacy to your efforts.
Maybe maybe maybe if they had a full Fox Racing sponsorship, at least at the level of the Shimano or SC deals, using the tri-color would make a tiny bit of sense.
It reminds me of this "homage": deluxecycles.nyc/collections/trd - Not as well designed, but also not an actual team.
At least they didn't knock off the Rich Energy F1 look.
And back in the day being... 2006 or 2007? What ever happened to Justin Willoughby?
I think Pinkbike supported quite a few people/teams in that like 2006-2009 time frame? Pinkbike Divinci in 2007-2008. Etc. But I'm getting old because that doesn't seem like back in the day to me. LOL!
It would be interesting to have an informal race of the pro team on the “budget” bike versus the Pinkbike staff members on the “baller” bike.
Is Inverness the new South of France, with shitty weather?
Hahaha....not yet, but it's great to see Aimi Kenyon, Greg Williamson and Jamie Edmonson (Grantown is not far away) up there!!!!
The scene is soooo good up here just now, how luck are we eh.
All we need now is some hills with the odd track on them
A chairlift at the Mast maybe?????
We have people at the top of most categories in Dh and Enduro up here just now, not bad as we have to travel to unfamiliar tracks to race.
Imagine if folk came to race our local tracks/trails!!!
And the building and maintenance scene is buoyant just now all over the place.
The sport is in such a great place.
1) Brave strike-through choices on the VHS.
2) Should have a translator sponsor. I'm learning French as I'll be moving to France later this year, but those Scots. When my mom (Glaswegian born) got to talking with her sister on the phone I could never tell what the hell was going on. In fact I think Ben was talking to another Scot on the phone at the start of the vid, and I thought he called Jackson an "Australian ginger". I think I'd have an easier time chatting with Thibault. And Jackson, well, who doesn't love an Aussie accent and slang that I think references stuff that can kill me.
It would be so interesting to get more information about the backround of such a team. How many people are working behind the scene? What are you doing right now, to bring on the team? How many mechanics are working? What's the team managers job? Who cares about logistics, how many spare parts do you carry to each race? How do you find the right physiotherapist? What about the costs of one race weekend? How do you carry spare parts to overseas? What about the training of your ambassadors? How do they get fit for the races. How do they train their abilitys? Who is supporting them mental and preparing them for a race weekend....
So many thing which would be so interesting and what "Fox Dialed" only gives a glimpse about but never gets into details. What about the payment of the riders? Do they get money? Or do they get parts and material support? Who does suspension advisory... so many things and you can make tonns of content which would be sooo interesting to get more knowledge about.
Awesome.
Not the best place to ride in France, but quite a good one : see this project : spots.bike (which aims to inventory the MTB spots around Clermont-Ferrand)
How can we trust reviews and information any longer ?
I did ! Especially Mike L ones