Crankworx 2025: Village finds in Whistler

The 20-year celebration of Crankworx is well underway in it’s iconic Whistler home. Along with the incredible racing and competitions, there’s all kinds of new (and very old) bits of tech on display around the village. Here’s some of the best coming in mountain biking’s future, and from its past, from Crankworx 2025.

Brandon Semenuk's custom Session make for Crankworx' 20th anniversary

Versus the bike he rode to compete nearly 15 years ago

Clean looks and a stunning paint job

The "fine china" details adorn the frame from headtube to dropouts

Just a Sesh

More details

some connecting themes to the old bike, beyond the name

All of which is a stark contrast to the "get it done" style on Semenuk's bike from the early 2010s.

There's a lot going on here to get brakes and shifting cables through that headset

When Blackbox was a bit simpler...

Semenuk's bike had a few names:

Remedy on the front end

Session on the back end

Back in the days when shoving a tube in the BB was the low tech solution for trick bikes

RockShox's memorable Argyle fork

From Argyle to Fine China, the looks have improved over time as much as the tech has

SRAM XO looked a little different back then

As did the tiny tiny cassette

Larsen TT xc tires for Semenuk, in 26" of course

And the early Minion DH up front

Early days of Chromag gear

Trek connects Semenuk’s past and present

Trek was showing its new Fuel platform front and centre. But step into the booth and there was history. A special “fine china” custom scheme for Brandon Semenuk on the 20th anniversary of Crankworx at one end of the booth. At the other end, a prototype Remedy/Session dating back 15 years to the heyday of the Canadian’s Slopestyle reign. A lot has changed in that time. Semenuk’s position at the forefront of the sport and the name on the bike under him have not. 

Galfer arrived showing off its soon-to-be-released rotor that will be a step up from the current Rotor Shark

The center is made from 7075 T5 alloy, and comes a range of colours from raw to black and, of course, Kashima

The G grommet is a place-holder, where a magnet for eMTB use can be cleanly mounted.

What it looks like without the G

Incredibly detailed, the new rotors take over 8-times as long to lazer cut as Glafers basic roters.

The larger cut-outs give the rotor strong bite while the shark teeth and tiny holes help disperse heat

Galfer also has a new, incredibly light rotor for road, gravel and XC use.

The wave cut-outs give better modulation to reflect the different use, compared to a really strong bite point for the gravity rotors.

Galfer arrives in Whistler

Galfer makes rotors and pads and, well, that’s pretty much it. But the Spanish brand brings a 75+ year history to bear on rotors, showing just how detailed and nuanced the seemingly simple part can be. From a detailed machining process done in house in Spain to a laser-cut pattern that changes significantly to reflect how it will be used, changing bike point, modulation and heat-dissipation, Galfer reflect a hyper-focused attention to detail. 

Chainsaw details on a raw Devinci Chainsaw

The full bike, fully RideWrapped

RideWrap doesn't sell custom wraps like this, but it can make them for special pojects, like this #longlivechainsaw bike

Details all the way from tip to tail

VHS tape looks retro and helps keep your chain silent. It was recently bought by RideWrap

Ride Wrap + Devinci Chainsaw

Ride Wrap showed off the recently-acquired VHS chain silencers in its booth. But in the Devinci booth, there was evidence of what the Whistler-based brand can do with its custom work. A special, Chainsaw edition Devinci Chainsaw coated the raw aluminium with Ride Wrap’s clear protective film, adding details the reflect the bike’s heritage and design. 

Fox's new Podium fork was front and centre

The inverted fork made waves when it was released this year

Gold details, down to the fork guards

Matching Kashima on the new X2

Race Face joins the Kashima party with pedals

And grips.

A lot of ink was spilled on the podium. But one new tech detail is that Fox apparently uses a spiral bushing up around the "o" in Fox to help keep oil up where it should be in the fork legs

Inverted forks require a few design adaptations for the brake mounts

There's no gold on the XTR derailleur, but it sure is nice

A little local flavour from Vancouver custom saddle brand, Reform

Race Face Era bars come in a wide aray of colours and rise/width options

Including a new 55-mm rise option

Also new this year are the Era SL wheels, designed for BCXC or downcountry or light trail or whatever you want to call it

Light weight with a shallow depth and sidewall that flares out to make for better pinchflat protection

Compared to the smoother external shape of the standard ERA rims

And deeper profile for a less compliant ride feel

Fox and Race Face go for gold

With Fox owning Race Face, the two brands line-ups have some cross talk. These range from functional, like upgrades to Race Face’s dropper posts (from Fox tech) to, now, the Kashima creep into Race Faces line. To show off the new Fox Podium inverted fork, Race Face had a Pivot dripping with so much gold it wouldn’t be out of place in the Oval Office. Also in the booth are the new Era SL wheels and a high-riser version of the Era carbon bar.

BlackBox Labs van

Some flavour for this classic ride

Fresshhhhhhh

BlackBox Labs

Licensed and road ready?

Some rigs of a vintage to match the ride

SRAM drives back to the future 

Reflecting on the history of SRAM and RockShox Blackbox development program, the booth displayed the revived, sort of, husk of the project bus. Carrying a good chunk of wherever it was dug up with it to Whistler, the bus stood out in the midst of a sea of brand-new bling. 

Knolly had a few staff dream builds to show off in its booth

nice!

Stunning bike

With some shiny Industry Nine wheels

Matching Fox gold, er, Kashima, too

Simano's new wireless groups were on a lot of bikes at Crankworx

Knolly's also updating the Cache Ti gravel bike

More mounts for this "adventure" gravel bike

It's the GRXT combo for this Cache Ti

With the sleeper 9-45 cassette option from XT

And GRX hoods

The Cache Ti will now be suspension corrected

Dropper post ready

And with clearance for up to 55mm tires

And so many mounts

Knolly customs and Gravelworx

Boutique Burnaby brand, Knolly is showing off a mix of bougie staff builds, potentially reflecting a new direction for the brand’s build options, as well as a preview of the second generation of Cache Ti gravel bike. More clearance, suspension corrected, better carrying options, UDH hangar compatibility and a few other changes bring the well-received Cache up to date.

An impressive collection of the most iconic titles in mountain bike filmography lined the Bicycle Nightmares shelves

From VHS releases to USB for "Where Does The Trail End", it's still physical media, of a sort

The Rise Partymaster and other bits were one of the brands available in the pop-up

Real, printed paper and a classic downhill video game. Nice

Bicycle Nightmares + The Rise 

While Ride Wrap was showing VHS-themed protective strips, Bicycle Nightmares’ pop-up had a extensive collection of actual VHS tapes spanning the history of mountain biking’s history. That display sat alongside a selection of brands tapping into mountain biking’s core, and future. That included Quebec’s The Rise alongside Shredder, Ride or Die and a few other deeply core brands. All un-ironically housed in a storefront in one of Whistler’s more expensive hotels. Not that there’s any cheap real estate in Whistler…