The Pinkbike Podcast: Episode 37 - The 2020 Privateer Season with Ben Cathro

 Looser should legally change their middle name to "Slow". Mike S. Kazimer/Levy...

 Do you think it's just chance that his son's name is JC?

 Or even a bike that is a few years old (with reasonable geo) and very high end suspension vs a new high end off the shelf bike.

 I have been saving up for fancy suspension on my bike for this very reason. I think if the geometry is even ok then the shocks can make up for the rest, new suspension technology is insane.

 This would actually be pretty interesting and entertaining, given all the threads and posts in forums about buying a new bike or upgrading an oldish one. Test a 2012 bike with top spec components (the major stuff) against a new bike with middle ground componentry. Like test a 2012 GT fury with all the fancy new top of the line suspensions and compare it to a 2021 GT fury pro ( I hope the model name is right). Do it for DH, trail and enduro. Keep in mind sizing too maybe. This would be a cool project for the slower winter months.

 The oligarchs have been blowing up my phone.

 @brianpark: just get Levy to go and rob a bank; tomorrow’s probably a good day for it. We need ‘PB Privateer; the team’!

 @brianpark:

Great episode!

its cool that you guys have the funding & influence but please keep what made everything great in the 1st place.

I think the laid back mood comes in big part from Cathro’s experience, passion, ability to offer the appropriate insight and the crew helping him (props to the riders and Max). And that was certainly key for success! It’s crazy how many cool things are ruined when money plays a big role. I know that everybody would take more of it but the team should be more about natural growth & help. (Seems like that’s the goal, from what I hear) The entertainment for Pinkbike ppl will come by itself. Maybe some sort of fundraisingthat means less advertising and only the best, most dedicated mtb brands that actually care about the grassroots scene.

My two cents, there is enough marketing material in mtb. I found the PB academy idea cool but it was just painful to watch all the product placement; felt really yuppy to me. I personally wouldn’t show it to friends and family because they would just think racing is a bunch of privileged people that only tie their lifestyle to cheap thrills and shiny product. (those pb academy guys and most mtber’s are obv more than that) It’s cool that PB is here to create a community platform and simultaneously make money but you guys are selling a lot of us readers short if you think that this type of content represents our passion for mtb and propensity to share it with newcomers.

If I want to lust after shiny stuff I can read a review from the Mikes and enjoy some good writing while i’m at it. Or pretty much 90% of content on here.

Cheers!

 @housem8d: A project as polished and big as the pinkbike academy needs serious funding, which comes from sponsors. The way that pinkbike provides value to those sponsors is by showing off their products to a highly relevant audience. I think they did a great job of making challenges that cleverly used sponsored products but weren’t dominated by them.
I.e...
- go pro challenge could have been done on any action camera, and still required skill, but showcased go pro.
- suspension challenge was performed on fox forks, but it was still a test of participant’s ability to work on their bikes.
- they raced on orbea bikes with shimano parts, but it obviously takes rider skill to go fast (just like when racing WC on a sponsored bike)

While they did use all new fancy stuff, in the end the results of each challenge came down to something independent of that. A 60-second edit is still a 60-second edit, whether it was done with GoPro or not.

 Sweet. I forgot calculus and kinematics after the University.

 I like that you can adjust gravity! How do I do this when I am on the trail?? It would definitely change how I ride!!

 Have you heard of air resistance?

 How can one choose "meters" as the unit for the length of the jump, "m/s^2" as the unit for g and then use mph for speed?
You Americans crack me up

 @bashhard: haha, originally I had the unit of speed as m/s, but I assumed a bunch of people would be confused so I added a conversion. The equations only work in meters haha!

 @Hambo24: No I haven't. What is it? On second thought yes I have heard of it. Do you know your cross sectional area and drag coefficient? Because if you do then I can account for air resistance in the equation for you

 Great work dude. My guess is it probably works better the bigger the jump gets too, where the effects of rider energy input (pumping/popping) are lost in the scale of a 40ft table.

Did you think about ramp shape at all? Most have some kind of curved transition.

 @Altron5000: Thank you, yeah I wasn't sure how to account for pumping. I didn't consider the shape of the ramp, the equation basically says if you instantly start going x speed at said angle "a", you will follow a certain path.
The equation does not account for any activity before the takeoff. E.g. if you start a takeoff at 15m/s but you reach the end of the takeoff at 10m/s, the equation will still accurately tell you how far you fly at 10m/s. If you hit a ramp going 10m/s and at the end of the takeoff you are still travelling 10m/s, the equation will give you the same result. Basically, the shape of the ramp doesn't matter, what matters is how fast you are going at the end of the ramp.
Curved transitions conserve the most energy and speed, and so these work best in real life because you lose less speed from going off them.

 I came to post the same, get Ben in more regularly please @brianpark - especially when there's racing to be discussed (so you've got a while to sort it out then).

 Levy.

 @mikelevy: Thats assuming that Kaz, won't be allowed to enter Canada at this time....sneaky

 Levy - dhf. dhr's run too slow.
What? Isn't that the other way around??? @mikelevy please explain

 @rrolly: I think it depends on conditions, but my experience has been that the DHF rolls faster. In straight up loam, DHR ii is better option.