Originally Posted by
vanguardx3
Sure, but my question is "why?" Is it to tilt race results in favor of FS bikes? Are course designs influenced by marketing considerations?
We live in an age where we have to design the Race Courses to Fit the Bike... and NOT the other way around.
Marketing and New Sales always drives all Industries, and NOT just biking. The goal is to get people to buy new bikes, and one way to do it is to have Factory Racers ride on certain rigs to get people to buy buy buy.
Whenever I see a "XC Race" that is NOT a loop. I have to highly question how the course was laid out. If you are shortening the course, or putting in rocks and drop offs across the trail to take away the ideal line, or if you are making the course more DH, then to me that is not really a traditional XC Race... because all you are doing is making the race to fit a bike (and not the other way around).