Crankworx 2024
Ten Days in Whistler
Knolly Delirium
The 190mm Knolly Delirium is back as a frame only in limited quantities. A 62.5° head angle coil sprung frame is best paired with a dual crown fork to unleash its full potential. It's big and it just wants to go downhill fast. If you'd like you can go old school and drop a 12-speed drivetrain on it with a dropper post and pedal it to the top. The 7-spd park build at Knolly's booth with the Rising Sun colourway and Boxxer looked really good with the SRAM finishing kit on it.
4,300 CAD gets you a frame with a DHX2 shock and you can choose if you want to go budget or baller with your build. We hope we can get one of these under a fast reviewer to see what it is capable of.
Knolly's Delirium is available as a frame only but the SRAM build at their booth was a head turner!
Frames come with Fox DHX2 shocks.
Dual crown ideally, but put a 190mm Zeb or 38 on there if you want... how about a Dorado?
The "Knation" is going big.
Mike Ferrentino classing up our Whistler accommodations with Ron Burgundy the LX460.
We have been visiting this little ski cabin for years and if the walls could talk, it would tell some stories. We cornered Caleb Holonko for a chat one afternoon. Some of it was even recorded.
A Crankbrothers ride would take us to the Top of the World on Thursday.
There are new additions to the bike park that feel like singletrack in the middle of nowehere. There has never been a better time to ride the bike park. Well, maybe the first Covid year when nobody outside the country was allowed in...
Crankbrothers Top of the World ride
Crankbrothers and Whistler Bike Park invited us for a lap down Top of the World down to Creekside and it was nothing short of stellar. With the adoption of excellent pirate trails into the bike park menu, you can cruise down some sweet lines with your buddies. We had a strong showing of 15 people including Elliot Jackson and Gaspare Licata from Crankbrothers. With temperatures in the mid-teens, it was the perfect dusty and dangerously fast lap down to Dusty's for some snacks. With the revised menu and the new Crankbrothers lounge, it is an excellent spot to chill in between or after laps. My love for the Creekside trails grows daily.
Omer Dagan of Whistler Blackcomb is a beast on the bike and was our spirit guide the whole ride. Thanks for the hospitality!
There is some serious firepower in this mixtape group of NSMB and Crankbrothers.
Pete finds some rocks to roll away from the park in the solitude of the valley.
Five Ten Freerider Pro BOA
You can finally buy your favorite Five Ten Flat pedal shoe with BOA closures. Well, not right away, but as of February 2025. The new shoes will come in black/red and white/gum colourways with Stealth S1 rubber and Phantom DOTTY on the soles.
The BOA Li2 system is an NSMB favourite and the new shoe will be stiffer than the previous version to ensure better power transfer to the pedals. Your feet should fatigue less and you might even climb and descend faster.
The regular Freerider Pro and Freerider Pro Canvas will continue alongside the new BOA version. We are looking forward to seeing how they survive the North Shore muck next year!
While Adidas revives the Five Ten line up, there isn't much to see on their website. Hopefully this will change and they will add cycling as a sport option on their menu too.
White shoes look great....for a minute.
A more sensible colour option for those who ride in variable conditions.
Stealth S1 rubber and Phantom Dotty for ultimate grip.
It's a good looking shoe I have to say. I'd rock it in clips.
Very Adidas flavour to this colourway.
DH Racing is Alive and Well in Whistler
Whistler Blackcomb built a beast of a track called the 1199* for the Canadian Open DH this year. Finally officially open, the four and a half minute track is the roughest and toughest of courses available to race on. There were crashes, there were loose moments. Our own Tim Coleman took a stab at it and will fill us in on his journey soon. We brought our bikes to the upper part of the course and watched the carnage ensue.
*1199 was Stevie Smith's points total in 2013 when he won the World Cup Overall. -Ed.
Connor Fearon with the most incredible riding through this blown out chute.
Dakota Norton with 80mm tall bars was very comfortable on the steep sections of the 1199 track.
Richie Rude shook the ground as he hit the catch berm.
There was some incredible riding to see and we were pumped to ride our bikes down the park afterwards. We hope there is a new UCI race track on the calendar using the 1199 track next year. Even if there isn't, Crankworx never conflicts with a World Cup race so it might attract more pros to take a swing at this beast.
I guess we will see next year!
5'8"
162lbs
Playful, lively riding style
Photographer and Story Teller
Lenticular Aesthetician
Comments
finbarr
1 month, 1 week ago
I will buy the Boa Freerider pros the instant they come out. We need more premium flat pedal shoes!
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Jotegir
1 month, 1 week ago
It would be nice to have some non-boat anchor options from Five Ten though.
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Konrad
1 month, 1 week ago
Try the Fox Unions. I'm loving mine so far.
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Kyle
1 month ago
Really enjoying my Unions as well! They felt a little too stiff the first ride, but have since broken in really well. They don't feedback into my feet like the freerider pros do, they're a little wider toebox it seems, but don't look like geriatric mud stompers. The way your foot can adjust a little bit side to side due to maybe the oval grippies(?) seems legitimate. I really like how you can pull them off without untying them too, this is a commonly missed part of some other shoes. it must be something to do with the retained tongue, and the lower front carcass? either way, great shoe.
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AJ Barlas
1 month, 1 week ago
“There has never been a better time to ride the bike park.”
The time that Porteau Cove slid and shut the highway for a few days was also pretty amazing!
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Lynx .
1 month, 1 week ago
So Ronan crashed shortly after you took that photo of Dak then? ;-)
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Mammal
1 month, 1 week ago
Yeah the Dak Stack, non-Redbull helmet, and all that flow.
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Deniz Merdano
1 month, 1 week ago
My tired eyes failed me looking at a thousand thumbnails...
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Lacy Kemp
1 month, 1 week ago
Does anyone else think Boa is wildly unnecessary? If 5 10 just put some kind of kevlar lace in their shoes instead of cheap laces that break after a season we'd be good. But I've seen/had so many Boas explode and they're a PITA to replace. I'm a big fan of keep it simple, stupid.
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Deniz Merdano
1 month, 1 week ago
I find BOAs simple and stupid. I haven't blown up one yet but also haven't had any issues repairing one either on other folk's shoes. Definitely not worse than those shimano speedlaces and is on par with regular laces.
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Andy Eunson
1 month, 1 week ago
Yes. I have a number of shoes with Boa closures but they are no better than laces or ratchet buckles. Anyone can replace laces. Laces are infinitely adjustable. Some shoes do come with shitty slippery round laces that don’t stay tied but that’s easily solved. Boas are cost and complexity for no real reason other than being able to adjust on the fly. But I don’t do that very often. That pull cord lace on Salomon shoes or my old ME7 shoes works really well.
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Konrad
1 month, 1 week ago
I got Boas because I was tired of laces getting untucked, flapping about, getting caught, retying when wet. Boas are wonderful for on-the-fly adjustment for comfort and quick on/off before and after the ride. The convenience has paid itself off already.
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