This is the bike Steve Peat rode in Canberra, Australia when he won the 2009 Downhill World Championships. After 17 years of racing, with many World Cup wins and several silver medals at World Champs, it almost seemed like Steve was never going to have much luck with the rainbow stripes. But in 2009 Steve upped his game, with some new training and mental coaching techniques, he had a good early season and confidence was high.
The Canberra race course was quite flat, with only a few technical sections and a long, hard sprint towards the finish. Many riders were running short travel bikes, but Steve stayed with the long travel V10 that he was used to, with some small changes like slick tyres – to help it roll as fast as possible. Steve won by just 0.05sec ahead of his team-mate Greg Minnaar
This was a custom painted frame just for that race, it was never used again afterwards. Steve has kept it un-touched since that very memorable day – as you can see from the race number plate and the rust on the chain, could be from all the Champagne spraying?!
Update: Some great extra info thanks to Martyn Hoyle (Josh Bryceland’s mechanic at the time). Rick Clarkson (Steve’s mechanic) had built this very special custom wheelset, to be as light and fast as possible. He used DT Swiss ex1750 enduro rims – the powder coat was stripped off and the alloy was polished by hand. Bladed spokes, with red/white/blue nipples. No seals in the hubs with just some very light oil. Steve destroyed one wheel in practice, which meant Rick had to spend several hours stripping, polishing and rebuilding. Definitely a very light wheelset, it was right on the limit of what could be used. But with just 0.05sec between Steve and Greg, it was probably worth the effort. All or nothing!
2009 UCI DH Mountain World Championships. Canberra, Australia
1. Steve Peat (Great Britain) 2m 30.3s
2. Greg Minnaar (South Africa) 2m 30.4s
3. Michael Hannah (Australia) 2m 31.0s
| Frame: | Santa Cruz V10.3 Alloy. 10″ travel |
| Rear Shock: | Rockshox Vivid Coil. 600lb Ti Spring |
| Fork: | Rockshox Boxxer World Cup |
| Pedals: | Crank Brothers Mallet DH (without steel plates) |
| Grips: | Lizard Skins Lock-on Peaty |
| Cranks: | BlackBox Truvativ Stylo |
| Chainring: | e.thirteen |
| Chain Device: | e.thirteen LG1+ |
| Rear Mech: | SRAM XO |
| Cassette: | SRAM 10-speed |
| Brakes: | Avid Elixir |
| Handlebars: | Truvativ Boobar 780mm |
| Stem: | Truvativ Holzfeller direct-mount, 50mm |
| Seatpost: | Truvativ |
| Saddle: | WTB Pure V Custom |
| Hubs: | Chris King |
| Rims: | 26″ DT Swiss EX1750 (intended for Enduro use) |
| Tyres: | 26″ Maxxis High Roller 2.5″ (F) & High Roller Semislick 2.35″ (R) |
| Other: | Crud Steve Peat Fast Fender (not used on race day) |
| Weight: | Estimated 17-18Kg |
