Between the Carbon Drive System & the new 20mm through axle fork this baby had a few things that I rode for the first time. The CDS ran smoothly the entire weekend without any maintenance other than keeping the Crank Bolts tight. The crank bolts did come loose & appear to be the only consistant thing that creates noise within the system.
For a tire choice I rode the Kenda Small Block Eight's for the 1st time since 24hrs in the Old Pueblo. With all the loose gravel & loose sand in Fruita I found the tires drifted significantly. As an aggressive descender I also found the sidewall to be a little lighter then my preferences. In the smooth & packed wet sand at 24 hrs in the Old Pueblo the tire was absolutely killer but in these conditions I would prefer at minimum a front tire with a bit more bite & a heavier sidewall on both front & rear. 
I had a few flats over the weekend which hampered my race but also gave me the opportunity to test the Fun Bolts/Rocket Adjuster/CDS system. I was able to get quicker with my changes & have identified a few helpful hints while working with the system. 
Before I got this beauty up & running I had a pair of "old version" rocket tensioners. If you have a pair of these you certainly can use them with the "new" system after a small modification. You have to drill a 10mm hole 3/4" behind the current drilled hole. This allows you to have an entry big enough for the 10mm fun Bolt & still enough room on the tensioner to run appropriate poly chain tension. Here are a few tips I found during the first weekend.
1. Loosen the Drive side Fun Bolt first so the non-drive side holds the hub internals tight so it can come loose, otherwise the axle/internal parts of the hub turn & you may be unable to get the non-drive side loose.
2. Then make sure the 3mm "set nuts" on the rocket slider are in a tight position before you back them out, that will allow you to get close to the previous setting when you put the wheel back in & have to fine tune.
3. Don't loosen the Fun Bolts too much. If the threads of the fun bolts emerge out of the hub body they can get stuck on the sliding drop out & start to spread the frame apart(can bend your brake disc as well), causing it to feel like it's stuck. Just loosen them enough to allow the tensioners to slack & the wheel to feel easy to slide forward & back.
4. While removing the wheel never crimp or force the Poly Chain off the sprocket. A weakness of the Poly Chain is if the Carbon Fibers within the belt are broken during installing or removing it.
5. After you have changed the tire & have the Poly Chain on I work with only top 2 set bolts on the Rocket Tensioners. Once you have the poly chain adjusted correctly tighten the 2 remaining 3mm bolts on the Rocket Adjuster. Once all 4 are adjusted proper, tighten the "Fun" bolts on the Non-Drive side first so you can get the drive side tightened because of the same issue mentioned above
Another piece of bling I was looking forward to getting on was the new Manitou Minute 29er 20mm axle fork. Since I like to consider myself an aggressive descender I wanted to go with the through axle to see what rigidy differences I could feel. After taking it apart & adding oil I was impressed with the fork. I believe it really does offer a noticeable difference in lateral stiffness. I was surprised at how much ajustment came out of the top adjuster, it really does lock the system out or provide an noticeable adjustment. The only drawback comes in the form of the dropout. In order to change the tire you have to loosen 4 4mm bolts & remove a 6mm & the entire axle. Compare this to the Maverick system & you can see serious time & ease of use differences.
That's all I have, let me know if you have any thoughts on any of these products.
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