As a Sea-To-Sky local for nearly 19 years, it sure was a treat to have a UCI World Cup Downhill race finally happen in Whistler, B.C.! I’ve never had the chance to attend a World Cup event, so it was great to check out the pits, the expo tents and watch the highest level of downhill racing in person. Of course, there were a few interesting bikes and products to be found at the race…
Norco had several examples of their brand new Team DH bike displayed at various locations, including team and production spec builds. Cruising around the event was an Ari 32” prototype as well, which is most likely an incoming Signal Peak XC bike. There weren’t a ton of products on display, but Lazer’s dazzling carbon and gold A-Line full-face helmet and Michelin’s everyday rider-friendly Performance Line tires caught our attention.
Norco Team DH Bikes:
Norco just launched their new Team DH downhill bike while the racers were practicing on Friday. Not surprisingly they had several bikes built up and displayed around the event grounds. In the title photo is a full production spec Team DH 2 Rockshox model, which was featured at the RideWrap expo booth. As the above photo shows, this model’s frame boasts an eye catching blue-over-silver paint job (protected with RideWrap, of course!).
Over at Norco’s tent in the pits, they were showing off a team spec build of the new DH bike. Since the team is supported by Adidas, they also teased us by displaying a pair of the new Adidas Freerider Pro BOA Clipless shoes right next to this bike. Follow the link to check out our article covering the new Freerider shoes.
Finding Greg Minnaar’s prototype Team DH bike was a nice surprise! Maxxis had the prototype Minnaar raced throughout 2024 on display at their Race Vault pop-up in Creekside Plaza.
One interesting thing about Minnaar’s bike is how Norco was wrapping the aluminum chainstays with layers of carbon fiber to experiment with different levels of stiffness. It’s always cool to see a working prototype, especially when there are production-ready builds nearby to compare it to.
Ari 32” MTB Prototype:
Just as I was leaving the race, I looked over at Fox’s booth and spotted this! No-one on hand was sharing much info on it, but it appears to be the aluminum framed Ari Signal Peak 32” XC prototype Bikerumor spotted back in April. It looks to be running the Fox 34 SL prototype fork we saw on the bike previously (this one had Fox stickers on it), and it definitely has a set of Maxxis Aspen tires. The dropped stem on this bike bore the word ‘PROTOTYPE’ on its side.
It sounded like this bike was quickly assembled as a showpiece, as someone in the booth mentioned there may not be fluid in the brake lines. Ari’s website currently has a teaser page for the incoming 32” bike, where you can sign up to get news updates.
Lazer A-Line KinetiCore Full-Face Helmet:
On display at Shimano’s booth was this awesome looking A-Line KinetiCore full-face helmet from Lazer. I’ve always liked bare carbon patterns, but I’ve never seen anyone incorporate gold into the carbon like this! The gold gilded backside of this helmet looked amazing as the sun bounced off it.
The Lazer A-Line KinetiCore helmet was announced back in July, but retail stores just recently received their first shipments.
Michelin Performance Line MTB and eMTB Tires:
Michelin was showing their line of Wild Enduro MTB and E-Wild eMTB tires in Whistler. The grippy single compound Racing models of these tires have been available for a while, but at the beginning of this year Michelin introduced the Performance Line models. These newer versions are aimed at recreational riders who want a longer lasting tread, rather than a super soft race day tire.
The Performance Line tires feature the exact same tread patterns as the equivalent Racing models. They utilize a dual compound design, with firmer rubber in the middle and Michelin’s racing compound rubber on the sides. This offers longer wear and faster rolling speed versus the Racing tires. The Performance Line tires also feature more compliant sidewalls than the Racing models, and weigh in a little lighter. Shown in Whistler were the Performance Line E-Wild front and rear tires, and the Wild Enduro MS and MH models.
