Ed H from Dirt spotted this Cane Creek DB air at the World Cup pits in Fort William this afternoon.

Check it out!

Have our dreams come true? If this prototype shock that’s being tested by Orange isn’t an air sprung Cane Creek Double Barrel then I don’t know what is. Judging by the size of it it’s aimed more towards taking on the likes of a Vivid Air rather than an RP23, and although Orange were having to be tight lipped about details it appears to have all the same adjustments as their incredible coil shock. The only other thing I can tell you now is that it felt unbelievably smooth. Let’s hope we see it in production soon.

Also in the Orange pits was this return of the legendary Patriot. If the Alpine 160 isn’t man enough for you (and that’s saying something), then this 180mm travel machine will almost certainly be. For a bike with that amount of travel it felt surprisingly light.

Gwin was running this one off short cage version of Shimano’s XTR Shadow Plus rear mech (the one that puts an end to chain slap), and he was loving it. Let’s hope it makes it into production, or a Saint version at the very least.

Brake lever shot: Gwin was also running XTR brake levers to save weight, but callipers stayed as Saint for power.