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As for speed difference, XC bikes are slower going down than DH bikes. MX bikes are even chunkier than DH bikes so logic goes that they should handle terrain like that even better.
Anywho, I never said it's not worth investigating USD forks. Hell, i'd love to have millions just to throw money around and make proto USD forks, proto frames with reach values differing by 5 mm. Seat tube angles changing by 1°. Try out high pivot suspensions, change chainstays lengths, etc. Sadly, I'm not in that position. Based on what I can see and what I've experienced, I'm making my observations. And usually, if something is not on the market or is a niche on the market, it could be that for some reason it's not as good as what is on the market. 29ers were shitte, everybody said that. But now they are not. It's not that the wheel size got cool. The geometry changed to make them good. And so on. So maybe the reasons USD forks 'don't work' aren't true anymore and the market hasn't followed yet, but to have such a low hanging performance fruit with no drawbacks and not have it picked in the last 20+ years is simply impossible to me, if there is not some kind of a drawback behind it. And i was just trying to look for those.
As for experiments and not worth it, you can read in my 'first' post regarding this topic that i propose FEA analysis using Ansys to put get the numbers what USD and RSU forks do at different parameters (axle clamping, diameter, wall thickness, sliding tube diameters and wall thicknesses, hell, bushing overlap, etc.) in regards to torsional and longitudinal stiffness. If that's not promoting analysis (on the cheap), I don't know what is...
Proceeds to write the biggest wall of text. 😂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PISaSHSDBy4
There was a bitchin electric MX bike a few years ago, it was called Alta MX or something and it was downright competitive with a 250F. The powers that be said no and the company eventually failed, so we will see gas powered motocross until the sport dies I think.
I've done a few races, I even did the megavalanche last year and surprised myself at the result (and disappointed myself at the same time with the riding I did in the race...).
Yeah, uphill performance in enduro races isn't a priority and maybe we'll see enduro racing specific bikes (Enduro being an example of that). But enduro bikes sell (maybe for the wrong reason) in the general riding public and many don't get taken to a race ever.
I have a dual 150 mm 29" bike (did the Mega with it) and my short loop is an hour ride with 3 minutes of descending. Everything else is pedalling. That's why I say pedalling is important. I was previously on the 2015 Reign, which was at the forefront of race inspired geometries. And there were quite a few Reigns in my riding group. This year the group got a good price on Santa Cruz offerings and most people chose the Hightower (I managed to convience two looking at Hightowers). One of them, against my judgement, chose the Megatower. After trying the Hightower (switching with a riding buddy) last week he feels he got the short end of the stick. I can see why. But that's the thing, people want more and race inspired enduro bikes will always be bought by people who shouldn't buy them. Granted, that's not an excuse to chop their legs of to make them fit the general public, but at the same time companies will probably hardly see a reason for a full race bike sold in tens compared to a 'lesser' model sold in thousands.
Honestly, this comes back to the failure of the 'DH is the F1 of MTB' claim. Race bikes should be custom. Unavailable to the general public. Maybe throw enduro bikes along with them for the pros. Though then you have the question who can buy those bikes, why not everybody, etc. etc.
Gah... I'm going out for a beer
Our tires could not have handled what we throw at them now, back then same with brakes, that all being said the 70’s were incredible with all the engine development & suspension development, happening almost simultaneously and the earlier USD Forks were crap.
1st rule don’t try to fix what ain’t broke!
So, I do not assume, i HOPE the market will figure out what the market needs. Based on the 'fight' I had with above mentioned two members into convincing them into buying a Hightower over a Megatower (they are both thankful for it now) and based on the lost fight with the third one, I can see the reasoning and 'excusing' behind buying something that is over what you need. Can't say i'm not guilty of that at some point in life (look at me typing this on a six core unlocked CPU with 32 GB of RAM that i use for forum flamewaring and youtubing), but still, objectively it makes no sense...
So yeah, maybe we will see specialized enduro race machines with the market turning towards trail bikes that actually fit their purpose, but honestly i'm not holding my breath.
And short chain stays still rock. At least on my bikes.
new prototype spotted?
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=351751139105757
In other news, I think I'll be looking for a Dorado to see how it works on my bike. :D
Dual crowns on an enduro or a really small demo?
VW
The new X2 replacement shock looks ready for production to me! I’m guessing it’ll be officially on the market this spring/summer
I would bet money that the slacker your head angle, the more advantage an inverted design will have with regards to bushing bind. big upper tubes are going to flex less than paper thin stanchion tubes. So it might very well be that an inverted design would help with some of the problems suspension manufacturers are facing with modern forks, on modern bikes. I mean, for those keeping score at home, FOX, Rock Shox, and MRP all highlighted the work that they'd done to reduce seal friction in their 2020 offerings.
Modern forks are great, and I don't want to go back to old stuff, but if you squish a big dumb open bath fork from 15 years ago, next to a fancy modern fork, you WILL notice that the older fork is far less sticky.
(provided they've both been serviced recently.)
I bring this up because we are very near that point and it is not going to matter how much or how little weight they are asked to deal with the binding is gonna be the issue.
But definitely is 38mm