Bike
Bike
The fastest downhill bikes that the pros ride
Fancy strapping on a number board and having a crack at racing? These are the machines that the professionals trust to get the job done – fast.
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From super-fast, high-speed and dusty dry to slick, muddy and root-riddled, the 2022 Mercesdes Benz Downhill World Cup series tracks have had it all. To win on any of these courses is a major achievement, and the fastest racers in the world work hard to ensure their bikes are perfectly tuned to give riding perfection in the harshest of conditions.
These are the bikes that carried their riders to victory in 2022.
01
Myriam Nicole’s Commencal Supreme V5
Myriam Nicole's Commencal Supreme at Val di Sole
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
- Frame: Commencal Supreme V5
- Fork: Fox 40 Float
- Shock: Fox DHX2
Myriam Nicole steered this bike to two victories this season at Lenzerheide and at the last World Cup race of the season in Val di Sole. In 2022, Nicole was riding the update of Commencal's Supreme DH frame – the V5 – a bike which she rode as prototype in 2021 when she rode to two World Cup wins and a World Champs victory.
The Commencal Supreme as a make and model features significantly on this list as it was the bike that took the most race winning wins in 2022. If you were looking to judge the fastest downhill bike out there, it’s probably the one you want to get.
02
Nina Hoffmann's Santa Cruz V10
Nina Hoffmann's muddied V10 at Fort William
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
- Frame: Santa Cruz V10
- Fork: Fox 40 Float
- Shock: Fox DHX2
Nina Hoffmann bagged a win on this bike at Fort William, in her first season with the Santa Cruz's trade team, the Santa Cruz Syndicate. Hoffmann is no stranger to Santa Cruz's V10 downhill bike, however, having ridden its various forms in preceding years as part of her own privateer set-up and on the Juliana women's downhill team. With guidance and team testing Hoffmann was encouraged to ride the V10 in a mullet wheel set-up for 2022, and it proved to be a successful decision for the German this season, and especially at the Scottish-based World Cup race.
03
Finn Iles's Specialized Demo prototype
Finn Iles's new Specialized bike has been kept under wraps
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
- Frame: Specialized Demo prototype
- Fork: Ohlins DH38
- Shock: Not known
An emotional first ever World Cup victory on home soil in Mont-Sainte-Anne for Finn Iles was delivered on a prototype frame that is yet to break cover in terms of exact detail. Iles and his teammate Loïc Bruni had been running Specialized's recognised Demo downhill bike earlier in the season but then started using the prototype from the Lenzerheide round onwards. The rear shock is covered up on the bike which may lead to speculation that a Ohlins prototype may be running here also or that Specialized are not keen to reveal that part of the bike at the moment.
04
Vali Höll’s Trek Session
The Trek Session that took Höll on to greater success this 2022 season
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
- Frame: Trek Session
- Fork: RockShox Boxxer Blackbox
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Coil Ultimate
It proved to be a second successful season on the Trek Session for Vali Höll with World Cup wins in Vallnord and Mont-Sainte-Anne and the little matter of becoming women's World Champion in Les Gets.
05
Loris Vergier's Trek Session
Vergier knows how to pilot this steed to victories
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
- Frame: Trek Session
- Fork: RockShox Boxxer Blackbox
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Blackbox
Frenchman Loris Vergier was another racer who managed to win twice on the World Cup this year with victories in Vallnord and Val di Sole, and did so aboard a Trek Session. RockShox and SRAM are the major component suppliers to Vergier's Trek Factory Racing outfit as they are to Vali Höll's Rockshock Trek Race Team.
06
Matt Walker's Madison Saracen Myst
This Saracen Myst was pulling punches at Leogang
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
- Frame: Saracen Myst
- Fork: Fox 40 Float
- Shock: Fox DHX2
Matt Walker produced some magic aboard the Myst in Leogang, beating former teammate Danny Hart to victory in the men's race. It was a first ever win World Cup win for the Brit and he did it with a ballsy ride in tough racing conditions.
07
Amaury Pierron’s Commencal Supreme V5
Pierron's clean looking Commencal Supreme at Lenzerheide
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
- Frame: Commencal Supreme V5
- Fork: Fox Float 40
- Shock: Fox DHX2
Amaury Pierron was back to his best in 2022 with four wins on the men's World Cup circuit as he romped to taking the men's overall World Cup title. Like his teammate Myriam Nicole, Pierron was racing the new Commencal Supreme V5 frame. With his and Nicole's victories it meant their Commencal/Muc-Off won the team standings at this year's World Cup.
The winningest bike with 2022's winningest team
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
08
Camille Balanche’s Commencal Supreme V5
Balanche's Commencal made a winning start in Lourdes
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
- Frame: Commencal Supreme V5
- Fork: Fox 40 Float
- Shock: Fox DHX2
Yes, it's another Commencal Supreme but this time for another team that Commencal owner's help out with – Dorval AM Commencal. Camille Balanche has been winning a lot of races on the Supreme over the last couple of years, and that continued with the V5 this year as she took the women's victories in Lourdes, Leogang and Snowshoe.
09
Loïc Bruni’s Specialized Demo prototype
The World Champion on a World Champs winning bike
© Bartek Woliński/@wolisphoto
Loïc Bruni made up for a disappointing World Cup season by becoming the UCI Mountain Bike World Champion for the fifth time. The Frenchman is fastidious in his quest for perfection but cut largely a frustrated figure on the World Cup circuit with injuries and lack of form impacting his race runs. With no pressure on him he put down a mercurial run on home soil to become World Champion.
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