- [Narrator] Last time on The Privateer.
- It's not time to chill!
It's time to train!
It's time to get fit!
It's time to ride your bike now!
(intense percussion music)
- [Narrator] This is Adam.
Adam was a privateer working a nine to five job
to finance his passion for racing bikes.
Last year, parts and training helped him get way faster,
but success doesn't happen overnight.
This year his program has been turned up to 11,
with full factory support.
Will he be able to break into the pro ranks?
We're about to find out.
Adam's ultimate goal is to jump into the pro ranks
of the EWS.
But for that to happen he needs to show
that he can hang with the best.
Top 30 finishes are critical
to getting noticed by team managers.
That's no easy feat, so Adam needs to be perfectly in tune
with his bike.
Anyone with money can buy a high-end bike
then fly around the world to do enduro races.
But what money can't buy is access
to the world's best suspension techs and pro riders.
Adam has flown down to Lousa, Portugal
to take part in the FOX testing camp
to get his new setup dialed in.
Adam has a new bike and different suspension components
this year, so there's a lot of setup work to be done.
- Main thing I've come here to find out
is how much faster the orange feel to the black ones.
- Have to find out, I don't know.
I'm not just gonna tell you secrets!
Do you know what you weigh with kit?
- About 192 pounds.
- So you had no volume spacers,
which I think that's pretty normal,
but for somebody that's gonna race enduros,
we'll at least start with one for 174.
General rule of thumb is psi per kilogram.
You'll probably go up from that, but if you're low.
This was at 66 and 1/2.
So pretty low.
- [Adam] And another 80 kilos, it's just about 80 psi.
- Yeah.
Since we just went up 15 psi, 20-something,
we'll change rebound to get it close,
so it's gonna be a little scary.
You're almost spot on sag, you're 27%.
So that's pretty good.
- That's good timing.
- You wouldn't wanna go any firmer.
- No.
- But you're bottoming out so that shows
that you're probably gonna wanna add a volume reducer.
- Right, yeah.
- [Jordie] We've got a lot of changes to make
so the bike's gonna get a lot better.
- That is great news.
- Yeah, you'll be stoked.
Bad thing is you have to ride it like this first.
(laughing) - For a couple of rounds.
(mid-tempo music)
♪ Tell me what you did, what you did last night ♪
♪ What you did last night ♪
♪ Put the fire out ♪
♪ On and on, done and done ♪
♪ What you did last night ♪
♪ Put the fire out ♪
♪ On and on, done and done ♪
- [Jordie] I think right now it's a ways off.
- It's a way off, yeah.
- Yeah. - I'm still a way off
and I haven't really ridden this much.
- [Jordie] Yeah, it's a new bike--
- It's a new bike. - It's a new track,
you're probably jet-lagged.
We'll open it up and get you kinda close
and it might take you a little bit to get used to it.
I promise you it'll be faster and less fatiguing
at the end of the day, but it does,
the bike feels a little bit wild at first.
♪ Remember when we were still in college ♪
♪ And your girl's boyfriend friends was always tryna holla ♪
♪ Not a lot changed since then but they don't want ♪
♪ These problems, let the top fold, ride slow ♪
♪ Let 'em know I got you ♪
♪ Never been insecure but I don't play about you ♪
♪ Don't care who you were before or what they say 'bout you ♪
♪ We fresh like an open loop ♪
♪ We didn't come too far, there's no fluke ♪
♪ When you on my arm you look great ♪
♪ Let 'em hate 'cause they on mute ♪
- It felt really good, to be honest.
- Good.
- I'm getting into the swing of it now.
But I think I'm ready for all the secrets now, Jordie.
You wanna give me those?
I think next step you're definitely
using full travel on the shock.
- [Adam] Yep, yep.
- We are proper sag so we don't wanna go up in air pressure.
- [Adam] Right, yeah.
- [Jordie] So I think we're gonna add a volume spacer.
- [Adam] Just one?
- [Jordie] Probably one at a time and just let you feel it
and see what differences it makes.
- [Adam] See how it goes.
- [Jordie] Yep.
- [Adam] Yeah, anything else, or that's--
- One at a time so that you can feel it
and we'll know exactly what we're doin'.
We've pretty much made a change,
a pretty drastic change, every run.
We probably have one or two more changes to make for the day
and then we'll be pretty close.
(exciting electronic music)
- It felt really good actually.
I rode, I don't know whether if it was the bike or me,
but I rode a bit more stepped back,
there was a lot more control.
Whether it was knowing the track
or whether I could brake better.
- Yeah.
I mean it's probably a little bit of both, so.
You're not quite using full travel which is pretty good.
This track isn't hugely travel intense.
- [Adam] No.
- It's just rough and steep.
We've increased pressure quite a bit in the fork.
We've opened compression a little bit on the fork.
We've added a volume reducer to the shock, sped up rebound,
I think now we can open high-speed compression
a little bit on the shock,
get you a little more braking grip
and take away a little bit of the harshness
from some of the square inch hits.
(hiphop music)
We're gonna add another volume spacer to the shock
and see if it gets him what he wants
or if we've gone a little bit too far.
This is gonna make the air chamber a bit smaller,
make the shock ramp up a little bit more.
A little bit more bottom out protection.
♪ For people that living for the weekend ♪
♪ The type that wanna be dreamin' but never got to see them ♪
♪ What a boring story, being worried about conforming ♪
♪ Working and snoring would end up forcing me ♪
♪ Right off the deep end ♪
♪ I came to gain a brain and make a couple bucks ♪
♪ Provide for those who been riding close ♪
♪ Yeah, that's just a plus ♪
♪ I'm condoning going for it for those with a motive ♪
♪ Undivided focus opened all the roads we're taking up ♪
♪ Try to get in the zone, gotta go grind, I'm better alone ♪
♪ Fuck what they telling me, I am a better me ♪
♪ I don't know why but I fly on my own ♪
♪ Now I'm feeling up, I don't think I'm coming down ♪
♪ Even stars start their shining when they underground ♪
♪ Lamborghini dreaming meaning that no one can stop me ♪
♪ Started spittin' sloppy, now they all coming to watch me ♪
♪ Made a lane that kept me staying on my own ♪
♪ This is my throne, that's why I'm taking the high road ♪
- I've been looking around the booth
at all the top secret stuff.
Looked in all the drawers, I still haven't found
Aaron Gwin's rebound things.
But is there a lot of the changes we made
are things that a normal rider can change themselves?
- This is exactly what a normal rider can do.
There's no difference.
Your product came out of a box onto the bike
and now you're gonna race it.
And that's the case with 99% of the riders we work with.
What did you get out of it?
Do you feel like you--
Are you happy you came and you got something valid
or do you think you could have done the same?
- I would say I really felt like I was winning
just being here. (laughs)
Because it's February, we made so much progress
in such a short time which, like I say,
I normally, I'd maybe get to the same end result
but it'd be six months time.
And we really accelerate that process
'cause we're here deliberately focusing on it.
And with your knowledge, you were able to get my settings
dialed in really quickly and this, I have no questions,
I'm not like, oh, should this be that,
'cause Jordie said run six clicks.
- That's good. - Or you just went and did it.
And you're like, try this.
- And it worked. - And I'm like, oh yeah.
That felt really good when I went out and tested it.
So yeah, the confidence this will give me
going into the rest of the season is great
and I basically don't feel like I have many changes now
to the setup and I can just concentrate on riding 'cause--
- That's what we want.
It's hard enough. - This is taking
all the questions out.
- Good.
(hiphop music)
- [Narrator] Next time on The Privateer.
(intense percussion music)
- Oh yeah!
He's got it!
He's still got it.