Welcome back to the #1 MTB newsletter brought to you by RECON, mountain biking’s fastest growing media brand and online store.
Wild fact to start your Friday: The UCI only allows belt drive bikes in downhill racing. A bike may not be belt driven in any other UCI Mountain Bike World Cup race.
On today's ride:
🏁 Leogang World Cup Report
🍟 Heavy Is Better For Bikes?
🍎 Riding School From Mastery: Berms
👇 Quick Picks
🏁 XCO Dream Story In Leogang Austria
Out of nowhere: After decades of coming up short and at age 34, Ondřej Cink pulled off his first-ever elite World Cup win in Leogang, beating the Swiss duo Flückiger and Püntener by nearly 20 seconds. Azzaro and Forster rounded out the top five. In the women’s race, the dominant force Puck Pieterse ruled the brutal course and took the win with a huge lead over Maxwell and Forchini. Puck also won the XCC the day before!
🐣 ANYTIME Update: The New Goldstone Segment Arrived!
Jackson Goldstone is finally in ANYTIME. After a gnarly crash sidelined him during filming, the missed segment is now live in the updated “Gold Edition.” Shot on Mt. Prevost and backed by Shimano and the Trail Born Fund, this version hits harder—with more speed, style, and heart. Streaming now on Red Bull TV.
🦸 Canyon Drops The New Stitched 360
The legendary dirtjumper is back—fully revamped and built for big airtime. Canyon gives the Stitched 360 a tougher alloy frame, longer reach, slacker head angle, and dialed-in features. Two builds to choose from: the standard for €1,099 and the CLLCTV edition for €1,499. Both come with 26" wheels, 100 mm travel up front, and a fresh “Sundown Session” paint job. Ready for park laps, trail hits, and everything in between.
RACING
🇨🇦 The Canadians Came Back For Seconds
Austria's Leogang World Cup served up razor-thin margins and home crowd heartbreak this weekend. Jackson Goldstone and Gracey Hemstreet both snagged their second wins of 2025, while Austrian favorites Andi Kolb and Vali Höll watched from the sidelines of glory.
The Maple Syrup Express Rolls On Perfect conditions met gusty upper-section winds, creating chaos for big names. Goldstone squeezed past Loïc Bruni by a microscopic 0.059 seconds after making up serious time in the woods—the kind of finish that makes you check the timing twice. Henri Kiefer grabbed his best elite result with third.
In women's elite, Hemstreet's aggressive woods run put her in the hot seat early. Hometown hero Vali Höll looked poised for another Austrian celebration until she hemorrhaged time in the lower section, settling for third and snapping her two-year Leogang streak.
Photo Credit: UCI
Junior Surprise Package New Zealand's Oli Clark shocked everyone with the first-ever gearbox DH World Cup win, torching the field in the technical lower woods. Austria did salvage some home pride when Rosa Zierl delivered a dream performance in junior women's, chasing down Aletha Ostgaard in the woods for a 1.3-second victory.
TECH
⚖️ Is A Heavier Bike The Key To Speed?
Oisín O'Callaghan won his first elite worldcup with extra weight! Photo: reproducão / Instagram
Something weird is happening in World Cup downhill: riders are voluntarily adding weight to their bikes. And it's all thanks to e-bikes teaching them a counterintuitive lesson about speed.
The Irish Pioneer It started with Ireland's Oisín O'Callaghan in 2023, who showed up with a few hundred grams of extra weight bolted to his YT Industries Tues. His logic came straight from e-bike experience:
Extra weight down low = better grip in corners
Lower center of gravity = more control
All those e-bike laps at home = real-world physics lesson
The payoff was immediate: his first Elite World Cup win at Snowshoe.
No electric hightech box, just weight below the downtube! Photo: Lars Scharl
The Trend Spreads The dominoes started falling fast:
Germany's Johannes Fischbach showed up with a visible weight pack on his Liteville at Cero Abajo
Orbea went full commitment, converting an e-bike into Martin Maes' comeback weapon—the Rallon DH with built-in weight compartment
Tahnée Seagrave promptly won the first World Cup of 2025 on it in Poland
The Canadian Gamble Jackson Goldstone dropped jaws by adding 1.8kg to his Santa Cruz V10. That's nearly four pounds of extra weight—and a World Cup victory that has everyone rethinking the "lighter is faster" gospel.
The Gearbox Connection This trend might explain why gearbox bikes are gaining traction. Pinion systems already carry extra weight near the crank, exactly where these experiments are happening.
Bottom line: E-bikes accidentally cracked the code on cornering physics, and now the fastest riders in the world are carrying extra baggage to the podium.
TECH
🤝 Industry Nine Is Wheelin’ N Dealin’
Photo Credit: The Pro’s Closet
Two of North America's heaviest hitters just became one family. U.S. wheel specialist Industry Nine officially acquired Canadian carbon experts We Are One Composites, combining Asheville precision with Kamloops craftsmanship.
The Power Couple This wasn't random—they've been collaborating for years:
Industry Nine: Wild-looking wheels and CNC-machined aluminum precision
We Are One: Founded by ex-DH pro Dustin Adams, known for handbuilt carbon components
The Game Plan Next-gen wheels mixing I9's aluminum wizardry with We Are One's carbon magic. For now they're keeping separate locations and names, with the same customer service. Eventually everything funnels under Industry Nine, though co-branded products will stick around.
Bottom line: When two North American manufacturing powerhouses combine forces, expect some seriously impressive wheels hitting trails soon.
RIDING SCHOOL
🚄 How to Rail Berms Like a Pro
Photo: Nick Waygood
Berms are trail candy—banked turns that let you carry ridiculous speed while looking effortlessly smooth. But there's actual technique behind the magic.
The Foundation Get low and athletic: elbows bent, knees flexed, hovering above your saddle. Drop that outside pedal and weight it hard—this creates the traction that keeps you glued to the turn. Most importantly, look through the corner toward your exit, not at the dirt in front of your wheel.
The key insight? Lean with your bike, not just your body. Let the berm's banking do the work while you stay balanced over your wheels.
Read the Berm Shallow berms need aggressive outside pedal weighting to drive the turn. Steep berms want level cranks to keep you centered and fast—think downhill racer smooth, not motocross aggressive.
Always scan the exit early. Some berms fall apart where they matter most, forcing you to brake mid-turn or drift wide into trouble.
Execution Matters Enter just above center—too low puts you in loose gravel with zero grip, too high risks sketchy dirt edges. Brake before the turn, then stay off the levers completely. Your finger should hover over the brake lever like a safety net, but never squeeze mid-corner unless you're about to eat dirt.
Pro Moves Tight berms respond well to dropping your inside foot motocross-style for extra stability. On hairpins after fast sections, try "squaring off"—brake late, slam into the berm, then pop off the exit pointing toward your next line.
With Mastery, you can learn MTB skills fast. It's an app making it simple to learn MTB skills from top pros. The app is launching soon so join the waitlist to ensure you get first access.
🎥 Video Of The Week
🎧 Podcast Of The Week
🚵♀️ Current Giveaway Bike
Our newest giveaway bike is a Forbidden Dreadnought 3 MX. Entries are now open on ReconMTB.com! Read more about the bike. USA customers only are eligible to win.
This newsletter is written with ❤️ every week by Nic Bean, Michael Sikand, Justin Rausch, and Marc Brodesser
