- Look at that.
- They spin like a dream.
That's crazy, four years old.
- Four years old.
(upbeat music)
- One of the most talked about sponsored changes
this year has got to be none other than Yoann Barelli here,
moving over to Colorado based company, Guerrilla Gravity.
Now Yoann's infectious personality
has been very popular on the mountain bike scene
for quite a while now,
dating back a good number of years.
And so we're obviously really excited.
We wanna know about the shift in your career
and where you're headed
'coz everybody knows
when this guy's onto something it's full of gas.
(Yoann screaming)
(both laughing)
So Yoann I know this isn't something
that just manifested overnight.
You've been looking into this for a little bit of time now.
So can you tell us more about how you
and Guerrilla Gravity kind of started this relationship?
- So as you said, it started quite early last year in 2020,
I was basically kinda looking for a brand, a company
that was based in North America.
And I had this vision in my head
of a bike that you cannot, you can tweak, you can modify
and a bike that you can actually keep
for a little bit more than one or two years.
So I did a little bit of research on the internet
and then Guerrilla Gravity popped up and I was like, well,
this is pretty cool,
pretty oriented to all the environment as well.
So I reached out to them on Instagram,
pretty randomly and I got an answer right away
and we had the first meeting.
Had a little chat.
And the vibe was great, right at the beginning.
- So we know their office is in Colorado,
but where are the bikes actually produced?
- In Colorado.
But unfortunately I haven't had the chance
to go visit them due to a good old COVID.
- What's that?
- Boarders are closed
so we've had like a lot of conversation over the phone,
zoom calls with all the team.
And what was really good with GG's that,
you know, there is this like kind of human scale.
And when you talk to people at GG,
you talk to the boss at GG,
you talk to the engineer,
you talk to everybody that created the company,
which is not the case everywhere.
And that was pretty random.
You know, like I will get like answers right away.
And for me that's a little bit
what I'm looking for right now.
I really want to have a good relationship with my partners.
And I really want to have a section with them.
Cause it's a two way work.
It's not just one way.
And if we can do that and it's perfect.
- Now, if you've ever been around the Whistler area,
particularly in the summer, spring, fall
and you've seen this guy on the side
of the road collecting garbage,
it's not because he's on probation and he has to go do that.
- It's actually because-- - Its my passion.
- It's his passion in life.
(Yoann laughing) He loves picking up garbage.
So I know that about you.
And I think it has something to do
with your desire to work with a company like this.
So can you kind of round that out for us and fill us in?
- This is, yeah, this is a bit one
of the reason why I reached out to GG
as well is because I saw these things
that this bike is made It's called revved,
its not traditional carbon, and it's recyclable.
We can recycle this bike.
We can melt it.
Then we reconstruct another bike
and normally right now today we cannot recycle carbon yet.
So all these things normally goes garbage,
landfill or whatever.
With GG all these scrape.
They scrap scrap, scrapes, scraps, scrapes, scrapes
(both laughing)
They can actually remold them
and then put them back into future frames,
which is super cool.
Now issue, for example
if there is a trouble like you break a frame
or whatever send it back to GG and they will repurpose
this frame again, recycle it,
put it back into new frames as well.
- You mentioned you were able
to try the bikes a little bit before you made
the commitment signed a contract.
- Always.
- How did that go?
How is that as like a sponsored rider reaching out
to a company?
- Well, so that was actually pretty surprising
for me because, you know,
like we were all the time every after every conversation,
I was like, wow this company is actually super rad.
Like, you know, there is always things happening
that are amazing for me.
And that's one point we're like, okay
well now we need to test this bike.
What about if this bike is a piece shit
and it doesn't ride?
(Yoann laughs)
So they sent me a bike
and did some testing back to back testing.
And the bike was a the bank was pretty fast,
like surprisingly pretty fast.
So this bike right now that we have in front of us
this is the Gnarvana,
this is the Enduro bike, in size four.
So this is the extra large size,
inspired by the Grim Donut.
(Yoann laughing)
But, you know, like we had so many conversation
with GG about that test that I did with the Grim Donut.
Because it was such a big eye-opener for me.
And I was like, guys.
So at first I tried a size three, which is a size large
and that's what I normally ride.
And the size three was super fast.
It was really good.
Then I did the test
with the Grim Donut and I was like, guys
there was something there we need to do.
We need to do some research here.
And they were completely on board with that.
And we're like, yeah, let's try it out.
If we gonna commit to some races next year,
let's figure out the right setup for the right tracks
what goes fast and what does not.
So, which is pretty incredible.
So they sent me a size four right there
and testing size four and size three right now
and trying to figure out which size is faster
on which kind of terrain.
So I have, we have database and we know exactly
where size three works where size four works better.
So this is a size four,
and the reach of this bike right now size four,
it goes from 500 to 490.
So right now I ride it in the shorter version 490.
490 millimeter is it 490?
No 790, 790?
What am I saying here?
What's really cool with this bike is
that you have his little asset caps here,
and you can flip them super easy.
And you go from 490, which is my setup right now
to 500 the longer version.
All the frames in every sizes,
they come with this.
So you can really adjust your reach really easy, super easy.
Now, this bike...
So this is the bigger travel size four.
If we change the seats there
and the shark,
I can go from the 120 meter to a 120 millimeter bike
to a one 160 millimeter bike.
Go for example, you go to Chile and you go to Colombia
which are two completely different race.
And Colombia, I think will be better
on the shorter travel bike.
So it will be the smash 150 millimeter traveler,
150, 140, and then you go to Chile,
and you have the this one.
Now by now, 160 millimeter 174 for you guys.
- So what have you got in mind for this bike for 2021?
I mean, races aren't in your contract
but obviously you're gonna do some races what else?
- Well racing is gonna be really dependent on COVID
and travel restrictions and everything.
'Cause if it's the same Sheetrock,
I'm probably gonna not gonna travel much,
but I wanna do a few races here around the (murmurs)
for sure, because I kind of miss it.
That's what I've been doing all my life.
So I wanna race a little bit
and I really want to race this bike.
This bike is actually gonna motivating me to go back
to the gym and train and get fit again,
because I'm a little fat these days.
But I haven't trained in the one year on most.
- Wow!
- Which is not (murmurs).
It was, I wasn't a, there was no commitment.
So yeah, but I'm going back to the gym training for that.
Racing a little bit we'll see.
And coaching business, growing bunch of camps,
bunch of ski session here in Whistler,
a lot of contents for the brands,
because that's the really this relationship
that we've been talking about.
So there will be lot of contents.
Watch out in the next a few months.
Yeah, you're gonna be pretty or again,
this is the body again.
We've gonna ride it.
(Yoann laughing)
- Now it's cool I'm super pumped on that.
That's one of the part of the job that I love
and now I'm pretty excited.
- Can you just give us a little rundown on the new stuff?
- So GG of course, Industry Nine for wheels,
we've got PNW for grips
and about we've got right gal this is a little fender
but this is kinda this is a little thing
but this is made out of a discarded plastic.
So basically all the time I go pick up garbage
on the side of the road, it becomes a little fender.
We have NSB, we have break adapters.
We have these little top cap blah, blah, blah,
with (murmurs) on top of it.
But there is some really cool stuff coming in the future.
Hutchinson tires has been four years
we signed an over year contract.
Contract is gonna involve in the future.
'Cause there is some other stuff coming with them.
Am supper pumped on these tires.
They made like, Remy and I kind of develop like a tire
with some sidewalls that are already (murmurs) forced.
So you don't ride with any like Costco
or entire insert or anything.
They are kind of DH casing,
but you can feel on the side here
that there was like a reinforcement here.
- Yeah.
- Anyway, so these tires right now
they are not available for the public
but they will be in the future soon.
That's the plan with them.
So I'm on board for everything RockShox suspensions.
SDG seats earlier, we're gonna have a little thing coming
with SDG as well.
Yeah, and of course, right rap.
That's not on my bike right now,
but they are doing all the measurements and everything
and they are probably printing my wrapping stuff on my bike.
- Forget everything else I said earlier,
what they really wanna know is
how much PSI do you run in your tires?
- That's a really depends if it's dry or wet.
- Did you change your tire pressure or no?
You can do the same. - Yeah definitely.
I changed one PSI.
- Okay, so in the wet 20 PSI in the font,
in the dry 21 and in the rear 22 to 24 that's all.
- So you've got
that super special little head cup set going on there,
but you're not running any spacers on the bottom.
It looks like, is that your happy height?
Or--
- That's my happy height.
This is a pretty big frame.
And we've a spacer.
My stack will be way too high,
so no spacers down
and they feel great like that.
I actually don't know what's my measurements here
but it kinda feels similar to what I used to ride.
- And what about the rise on the bar?
- 25, 25 millimeter and I think
that's a seven degree sweep, yeah.
- What about the width?
- 780 or 800.
It really depends for me going shorter
or narrower 760 if is ready wheeled.
But from 780 to 800.
It doesn't, it's not a big difference
and I feel pretty comfortable on both.
And we've already depends.
- Most of the I nine wheels I see rolling around
are laced onto their carbon rims.
But these are alloys.
So can you run us through that?
And how you chose those?
- So I've been riding with Spank for three years
and the only wheels that they were making were alloy.
So for me, it was like, okay, I'm gonna go to a alloy
and see a little bit out of that feel.
And they sent me the Enduro 305 and the grade 300.
The grade 300 is the beefier version.
And I really liked the feeling of those.
I think I'm gonna ask to try the carbon wheels
because the carbon wheels are made in BC in Canada,
which is pretty amazing.
- What about those break levers?
I mean, there's a lot of science,
a lot of French science behind this.
- If for example, I ride with my break lever down,
I feel like you use your thumb lot
to hold on your onto your lever,
and basically when you do
that you really contracting your forearm.
And after when you're racing after like,
two three minutes you get really crazy (murmurs)
and just putting your lever more flat,
you kinda are resting on the palm of your hand
and you've really shifted your position
a little bit more up.
You see a little bit big things come, you know,
it's kind of monitored.
But, little tip you should do that if you wanna try,
if you have your levels down
that means that you underbite is probably kind
of rotate it for a while a little bit.
So if you put your lever flat,
you need to rotate your underbelly a little backwards
or it's not gonna work.
And it's gonna make like a really weird angle in your wheels
and it's not gonna work at all.
- Ooh, you got the new ZEB.
Exciting.
How long have you been riding that?
- Since June last year.
Yeah, May, June last year, like really early.
- Have you settled onto your setup with the fork?
Are you still kind of fiddling around?
- Right now I have 85 PSI and probably one or two.
Yeah. One, two click of the high speed
and probably four of the low speeder or five.
Yeah, five.
Now we go and for the rear I think there is 160 PSI in that
and the buff, the fork and the shark are completely stuck
and there's nothing magical inside.
160 PSI, yeah, PSI, no tokens.
And I think there is one click of completion.
Yeah.
- So tell us a little bit about your drive train here
and what sort of gear ratio you're running.
- (murmurs) drive train little battery in the back here.
1050 cassette and the 32 on January.
- Thank you guys for watching today.
Thank you so much Yoann.
- Thank you.
- To see all this new and exciting stuff.
- I'm pumped.
- He's super pumped.
But I wanna know your old bike
could not beat the Grim Donut.
Do you think this one will?
- Do you?
Probably you gonna do it, yeah.
- All right, we'll keep you guys updated out there.
When the trails melt out that is.
- Yes, and i will keep everybody posted,
but yes this is bike is gonna be (murmurs).
Sorry Mike, sorry Ryan.
(Yoann laughing)
- It is what it is.
- I'll get a present for you guys.
- Little present.
- Which one do you want?
- You want the-- - Oh my gosh.
- I want the pewter, that is so exciting.
- Which one do you want Alex?
Blue?
- It's pressure, you're going to look down every time now
and be like girl.