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The question is, is the shock new as well? Are there any other new products on the bike (drivetrain?)?
I'd be surprised if we don't see some updates on the drivetrain side fairly soon. XX1 came out in 2013 and XX1 Eagle came out in 2016. 2019 brought the AXS stuff and somewhere along the same time we also saw the 10-52 cassette - a bandaid solution for Shimano offering 1 more tooth on the big cog.
13 gears is the obvious way to go (one better), but at least a rethink of the whole cassette to reduce the nasty jump between the 42 and 52 tooth cogs would be nice to see. And a more functioning derailleur clutch (one that doesn't just die) would also be useful. Road groups apparently already use the hydraulic version, something something not strong enough for MTB use, but that isn't something a few years of development couldn't solve?
Just rambling here, but I've been thinking about shorter pitch chains for a while (10 mm link length instead of the standard half inch, for example). Shimano has already made a Dura Ace groupset with a 10 mm chain in the 80s and it obviously didn't catch on. Why shorter chain links? For the same diameter (more or less same cassette size) you get more teeth on the chainrings. Which means less chain articulation when wrapping around the ring, giving lower drivetrain losses and less of a chance for the polygon effect to show up. Sram's road groups with 10t cassettes enabled the use of smaller front rings (less weight, obvs), but are apparently really disliked by the World Tour pros. Supposedly because of efficiency...
The reason for my ramblings? We've got 29ers on MTBs. The bigger the rear wheel, the smaller the front ring has to be to keep the same overall gear ratio or roll out distance. 30T rings are not uncommon on 29ers (I'd sooner go for a 28T ring than I would for a 32T on a 10-50T cassette). Adding range requires the big cassette ring to get bigger, as you can't really go smaller than 10T realistically. With a shorter chain pitch you'd get some more freedom when it comes to gear ratios. Granted, the smaller the sprocket diameter (regardless of the number of teeth), the higher the forces in the chain, so it's a balancing act. But with how integrated the manufacturers want the drivetrains to be lately, is a shorter pitched chain just a matter of time?
https://wheelbased.com/2021/10/11/bicycle-packaging-system-by-trek/
one thing that I find interesting is that they filed a US patent for a box they don't plan on using here. thinking about it some more, on the surface that may seem odd, but it's probably more to keep their IP from being poached here, so others don't see the design in use in other markets then implement it in the US market.
A fork has a plastic stand in a fork box. Bikes have been shipped in box already. Boxes without staples or adhesive probably existed already.
I mean it may be a neat idea to put the 3 together but unless I miss something, does it deserve a patent ?
An interesting thing was who we shipped to. 40-50% of online sales were to locals. We'd ship or they'd come to the store for pick up. Most of the rest was domestic sales, although there were a surprising number of sales to Europe. The reason that many of our domestic customers gave for ordering from us, was that their LBS wouldn't special order them anything - it was a consistent response from well before the pandemic started. All those shops have access to the same distributors that we did [other than the ones restricted to the bike lines we carried], with similar terms of service and shipping costs. They just didn't want to order the product.
I now work in a small shop. Bike sales are a much smaller part of the business. Service, clothing, parts, accessories are much bigger. If somebody wants something that we don't have on hand, we order it, no question. If someone walks in with a part they bought elsewhere, we install it at the same price we would charge if the customer bought it from us. Same with used parts. There are two other LBS that we compete directly with, and our focus on customer service in all its forms is critical to our success - if we don't do the job, somebody else definitely will.
The takeaway is that online sales won't kill the LBS - not meeting their customers' needs will kill the LBS. If bike companies pursue D2C sales aggressively, we're going to make money by assembling and repairing those bikes, selling upgrades, clothing, shoes, snacks, etc.
In that regard, yeah, the servicing service and customer relationship will likely be crucial.
FYI, I've never worked in a bike shop and likely never will, neither am I much of a customer (I do internet ordering for the vast majority of stuff I buy), so I may be way off.
And Semenuk's got that fancy short cage XX1 AXS mech on again.
Some pics here...