Aaron Gwin and his Specialized S-Works Demo 8
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Art Vanderlay
Hourly daily
I know, the bible must be tucked under his seat
Was this posted elsewhere, I can swear I already replied to this.
Is the whole specialized team now on fox or just gwin?
It would appear from photos at nationals that troy is still on boxxer? unless his bike wasn't hanging in the rack with all the others. Is monster still contracted with troy or has he lost that too with the move of hill?
Is the whole specialized team now on fox or just gwin?
It would appear from photos at nationals that troy is still on boxxer? unless his bike wasn't hanging in the rack with all the others. Is monster still contracted with troy or has he lost that too with the move of hill?
Rider15
Likes Bikes and Dirt
My understanding is that they are now a factory team and are just providing the "chassis" as such and its up to the individual riders as to what components they choose to run. So Gwin can be running all fox suspension while troy uses SRAM. Interesting to note that Gwin is running Avid brakes this year...
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bikesarefun
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Notice the modifications so he can run 40s and turn the bars past 20 degrees?
Perhaps looking for some reliability after last years Worlds. . . :flame:
dj_14
Likes Dirt
couldnt agree more. he looks so uncomfortable!
Why is that interesting? Maybe I am missing something.
I know sram and RS are owned under the same banner, but they are still individual products, shimano isn't connected with fox are they?
individual areas of development in the company so individual contracting id expect.
dirt lover
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It's just that coventially it's always been Rockshox/SRAM and Fox/Shimano, sure they're different products even though SRAM owns rockshox but it's usually a given that you get both as part of the package. Just interesting because it's against the norm.
I assumed as much.
Be interesting to see how he goes this year on board a different machine. More interested in what happens next year, I wonder if Gwin will result in a new or improved designed. Gwin and hill input on one bike is a pretty big testing crew.
Has Gwin made any statements about why he decided on moving to specialized was it purely money? Its interesting decision based on the idea that as far as i know he felt the trek was that bike that suited him and was that "perfect match". Of course maybe he was just talking up his brand.
dirt lover
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From one of his interviews, can't remember if it was on vital, pinkbike, dirt, etc, he was just saying how there were things in the proposed contract with Trek that he felt he deserved but wasn't getting but that specialized were willing to offer. From the sounds of that I'm guessing it's more money for one though he was saying how at specialized they gave him the opportunity to decide on what sponsors he wanted so that basically he could build the program around himself and his wants/needs which isn't something most riders get to do. So I think the contract just allowed more freedom for him.
EDIT: http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/feat...win-Interview-January-17-2013,17063/sspomer,2
"Gwin: Just talking with a few people. There were some things that were not really working out, I guess, on the Trek side with my contract. Things that I wanted and things that I felt I deserved or I needed or whatever. And I just had an opportunity at Specialized, you know, with talking with those guys and some different things where I was able to make those things happen. It wasn’t something where they wanted to stop me from doing stuff, they wanted to support me and just said, ‘What does that take? What is that going to look like,’ and they let me piece together my program from there. I guess that’s kind of an overview, long story short. Basically that’s how the opportunity came about.
I wasn’t really happy with the Trek deal when it showed up and before that and I had an opportunity to go somewhere else that felt was the best move for me and my career and everything moving forward. It was the freedom they were giving me within the program. It was a frame and tire sponsorship and they said, ‘what else can we do to make you go fast, to make you happy, to make you enjoy being at the races,’ and all that other stuff. They let me basically piece together my dream program. For any rider, that’s definitely the thing we all kind of dream about. To be able to race and win races and do all these things is awesome, but to do it in an atmosphere and environment that you’re really happy with…and to be able to control a lot of those details is rare. So when an opportunity presents itself like that, you have to take a really serious look at it, so that’s what I did."
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jackass'd
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Yeah but he is the "hot ticket" at the moment so he can probably get whatever he wants
I hope Troy hands him his arse and Sam is racing Troy all season. At first I was pretty amazed at the Gwin Specialized thing but being a fan of the world cup scene I now think it kind of sucks. Specialized has always had some interesting guys that push the brand quite well naturally but this Gwin thing will just be a win on Sunday, sell on Monday thing. Sam did it with flair just as he will do at CRC but Gwin won't. He'll just ride, win, do a monotone boring interview and bolt. Each to their own but that isn't what I want to see as a race fan. Boring guys don't deserve to win! :heh:
Isn't that exactly what people always used to criticize Sam about? Being boring and tight lipped in interviews?
A little yeah but his totally amazing agro style took care of that shit.