Rob Warner returns (briefly) to DH racing, on a vastly improved bike
WHO IS ROB WARNER?
Rob began his two-wheeled reign of terror in motorcycle trials before quickly progressing to mountain biking right around the birth of DH racing. Along with Steve Peat and the late Jason McRoy he was one of the first UK riders to turn pro – and the first to win a World Cup, at Kaprun in 1996. He won three British National Champs titles too. Rob is now a professional commentator for Red Bull.TV and is widely regarded as being the (loud) voice of mountain biking.
WHY IS THIS A SUPERBIKE?
This is the bike that one of the biggest figures in UK downhill racing chose to make his comeback on - It may have started life as a production bike but it’s been fettled to within an inch of its life by a World Cup mechanic - It has an unusual suspension set-up to accommodate Warner’s unique riding style
Nearly a decade after hanging up his full-face helmet, Red Bull’s outspoken World Cup commentator took to the track once again this autumn on this rather special machine. How did a newfangled 650b wheeled, 203mm (8in) travel Giant Glory compare to the DH bikes he used to race?
Back in the saddle
“The bike’s incredible, it’s SO sick!” Rob Warner is, for now anyway, a happy man. He’s back in the pits of a DH race – the one-off Legends event at the final round of the 2015 British Downhill Series (BDS) – among his old sparring partners and aboard a bike that he’s falling more and more in love with every run.
The bike he’s so excited about is leaning against his (nearly) vintage Jaguar XJ6 and started life as a stock XL Giant Glory Advanced 27.5 0. It took shape over the course of the summer, with Rob grabbing uplift days where and when he could, including a couple of days riding the torturous World Champs track in Vallnord, Andorra. Riding a full-on DH bike isn’t the only thing he’s been getting re-acquainted with though – his old mechanic, Dave Garland (who now spanners for the Giant Factory Off-Road Team’s lead rider, Marcelo Gutierrez), is on hand to help keep the bike, and Rob, in check.
After issues with the stock Avid brakes heating up on longer runs, Dave swapped them out for Shimano Saints, and Rob much prefers the powerful ‘on or off’ feel. A larger 203mm rear rotor helps further with dispersing heat and improving consistency, and Rob has been running one metallic and one organic pad per calliper, simply because “that’s what Greg Minnaar runs!”.
Warner’s bar set-up is a little different to most riders’, with his brake levers set nearly horizontal. His tall frame and love of flat pedals means that he tucks down quite low and far back on his bike, which makes the high lever position more comfortable. He rolls his 780mm Truvativ BooBar quite far back in the stem too, again to accommodate his rearward position on the bike.
Like a pro
Thanks to Dave’s box of factory team trickery, Rob was running a Schwalbe First Ride rear tyre at the Legends race – a prototype with a low-profile tread and extremely soft rubber compound. It was set up tubeless to save weight, and Rob was duly impressed: “Even when you manual out of a turn, as soon as you pick the front end up you can just feel the bike accelerate on that thing!” He was also rather taken with the prototype-denoting blue band around the sidewall. Dave was adamant that there was just 22psi in the tyres. They felt firmer to us, but who are we to argue with a mechanic who monitors and adjusts pressures according to barometric pressure?!
The behaviour of his tyres is particularly important to Rob because of his soft suspension set-up. The bike came with a 400lb/in spring on its RockShox Vivid rear shock but he swapped to a 350lb/in and had the lightest-graded spring dropped into his Boxxer World Cup fork. “I’ve always liked my bikes to sit really low because it helps me turn them better in the corners,” he says. Over the course of the race weekend Rob did try to convince Dave that he could go harder with his suspension, as is the trend in modern DH. But his mechanic reckoned it wouldn’t be any faster and advised him to stick with what was comfortable. Dave also removed the heat-shrink wrap from the fork spring (designed to stop any rattling) to allow it to move more easily through the opening part of the stroke.
Rob’s big frame and heavy weight prompted Dave to replace the stock carbonbacked MRP chain guide with an alloy version just in case he did start sumping out through the jagged Welsh rocks. Finishing touches to the bike included custom-etched factory team ODI Ruffian lock-on grips and some motorcycle fuel line wrapped around the rear mech cable to help keep things secure and quiet.
The comeback unfortunately didn’t go to plan, and Rob lost a bet that would see him add an unwanted tattoo to his collection. But with a bike as flash as the Glory, he loved being back at the races and pinning it between the tapes.
BIGGER & BETTER
The Glory 27.5 is Giant’s first production 650b DH bike and for bigger riders like Rob the larger wheels make a lot of sense: “It’s the first DH bike I’ve ridden that actually fits me!”
EXPERT TOUCH
When you have a World Cup mechanic like Dave Garland on standby not only do you get a good dose of ’90s rave music but also pro tweaks like removed heat-shrink, delicately balanced suspension and carefully monitored tyre pressures.
DAMAGE LIMITATION
Dave fitted an alloy-backed MRP G3 chain device instead of the stock carbon version to ward off rock strikes due to the bike’s soft suspension set-up.
ANCHOR MAN
Warner prefers the solid bite of Shimano’s Saint M820 brakes to the more modulated feel of the original Avid stoppers. He’s also swapped to a 203mm rear rotor to better handle heat build-up.
SOFTLY, SOFTLY...
Rob is a big bloke but likes an extremely softly sprung machine. There’s a 350lb/in spring on his Glory’s RockShox Vivid rear shock and the softest spring available in its Boxxer World Cup fork.
RARE RUBBER
Rob was running some special Schwalbe First Ride DH tyres. He had a Magic Mary up front and a prototype rear tyre with a low-profile tread and ultra-tacky rubber compound.
Price 7950$