MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation

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JimmyK
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56
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5/31/2021
Location
GB
6/28/2023 5:40am

New downtime podcast with Brook Macdonald is an interesting listen; he speaks a lot about the old Mondraker bike and how bad it was. Apparently just completely unpredictable to ride.

sounds like their new prototype is a welcome one, any idea what they’ve changed? 

3
sspomer
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6364
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Boise, ID, USA
Fantasy
6/28/2023 6:24am

pit bits vid from VDS. weights on the nukeproof or something else?

 

 

6
6/28/2023 7:40am Edited Date/Time 6/28/2023 8:23am
JimmyK wrote:
New downtime podcast with Brook Macdonald is an interesting listen; he speaks a lot about the old Mondraker bike and how bad it was. Apparently just...

New downtime podcast with Brook Macdonald is an interesting listen; he speaks a lot about the old Mondraker bike and how bad it was. Apparently just completely unpredictable to ride.

sounds like their new prototype is a welcome one, any idea what they’ve changed? 

I remember in another podcast he did not like the GT Fury at all either. In this Shimano bike check video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLT-HK-YURs, he says about the '16 Fury :

"I think what makes this bike is umm... it's a pretty fast looking bike I think. I mean the colors in general look pretty good and umm, make it look fast."  That's it, he said nothing else about it Grinning

So if he likes the new Mondraker, then it means it must be a good bike haha!

4
TEAMROBOT
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Los Angeles, CA, USA
Fantasy
6/28/2023 8:05am

That Brook interview on the old GT is amazing. He's clearly so bummed to be giving that interview.

6
Onawalk
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344
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CA
6/28/2023 8:17am
brash wrote:
atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish. I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63...

atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish.

I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63 deg seemed absurd a few years back, now there are 130mm trail bikes with this much rake.

Maybe I missed it,

What 130 trail bike has a 63 degree HA?

2
dolface
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1718
Joined
10/26/2015
Location
USA
6/28/2023 8:54am
JimmyK wrote:
New downtime podcast with Brook Macdonald is an interesting listen; he speaks a lot about the old Mondraker bike and how bad it was. Apparently just...

New downtime podcast with Brook Macdonald is an interesting listen; he speaks a lot about the old Mondraker bike and how bad it was. Apparently just completely unpredictable to ride.

sounds like their new prototype is a welcome one, any idea what they’ve changed? 

He goes into a lot of detail about it in this "Making up the numbers" episode too (including about how much he hated their "center stem"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLdmq5YVofY

2
TayRob
Posts
130
Joined
7/14/2021
Location
USA
6/28/2023 10:47am
Poleczechy wrote:
OneUp just dropped a aluminum bar and direct mount stem. https://www.oneupcomponents.com/products/aluminum-handlebar https://www.oneupcomponents.com/collections/stems-1/products/direct-mount-stem  

I know this has probably been covered elsewhere, but I’m very curious about these bars as I’m terrified of carbon bars but desperately want all the “compliance” possible out of my cockpit. Do the One Up 35 bars have a noticeable uptick in comfort over any random 31.8 bar, or is it just marketing fodder?

Losifer
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409
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9/12/2017
Location
Sandia Park, NM, USA
Fantasy
6/28/2023 11:13am
Poleczechy wrote:
OneUp just dropped a aluminum bar and direct mount stem. https://www.oneupcomponents.com/products/aluminum-handlebar https://www.oneupcomponents.com/collections/stems-1/products/direct-mount-stem  
TayRob wrote:
I know this has probably been covered elsewhere, but I’m very curious about these bars as I’m terrified of carbon bars but desperately want all the...

I know this has probably been covered elsewhere, but I’m very curious about these bars as I’m terrified of carbon bars but desperately want all the “compliance” possible out of my cockpit. Do the One Up 35 bars have a noticeable uptick in comfort over any random 31.8 bar, or is it just marketing fodder?

Good question. I have the carbon OneUp on my bigger bike, and I feel like it has a touch more damping than the 31.8 Deity bar on my "trail" bike. I still have a touch of trepidation about that carbon bar, so I'm a little curious about this one.

lickmycrinkle
Posts
231
Joined
1/27/2021
Location
Beverly Hills, CA, USA
6/28/2023 11:25am
sspomer wrote:
pit bits vid from VDS. weights on the nukeproof or something else?    

pit bits vid from VDS. weights on the nukeproof or something else?

 

 

(old?) Camo Maven on regular stealth levers. Mineral oil ones have been shown, so it's odd he was openly talking about it.

We saw tons of Vivids pre season, but no single one in EWS or DH since?

 

2
AndehM
Posts
804
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Location
El Granada, CA, USA
Fantasy
6/28/2023 11:29am
(old?) Camo Maven on regular stealth levers. Mineral oil ones have been shown, so it's odd he was openly talking about it. We saw tons of...

(old?) Camo Maven on regular stealth levers. Mineral oil ones have been shown, so it's odd he was openly talking about it.

We saw tons of Vivids pre season, but no single one in EWS or DH since?

 

Yeah I was wondering about the Vivid.  I wonder if all that preseason testing uncovered some design flaw that they're fixing.  I think I've only seen a couple in pit photos since then - the big name guys that were running the Vivid in preseason are all on coil or SD air.

dolface
Posts
1718
Joined
10/26/2015
Location
USA
6/28/2023 2:58pm
Poleczechy wrote:
OneUp just dropped a aluminum bar and direct mount stem. https://www.oneupcomponents.com/products/aluminum-handlebar https://www.oneupcomponents.com/collections/stems-1/products/direct-mount-stem  
TayRob wrote:
I know this has probably been covered elsewhere, but I’m very curious about these bars as I’m terrified of carbon bars but desperately want all the...

I know this has probably been covered elsewhere, but I’m very curious about these bars as I’m terrified of carbon bars but desperately want all the “compliance” possible out of my cockpit. Do the One Up 35 bars have a noticeable uptick in comfort over any random 31.8 bar, or is it just marketing fodder?

Losifer wrote:
Good question. I have the carbon OneUp on my bigger bike, and I feel like it has a touch more damping than the 31.8 Deity bar...

Good question. I have the carbon OneUp on my bigger bike, and I feel like it has a touch more damping than the 31.8 Deity bar on my "trail" bike. I still have a touch of trepidation about that carbon bar, so I'm a little curious about this one.

I've run the carbon OneUps and Chromag OSX bars back-to-back to test and the OneUps were noticeably more comfortable/compliant than the Chromags. (I've got wrist issues and am fairly sensitive to bar differences so ymmv).

2
6/28/2023 3:13pm
brash wrote:
atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish. I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63...

atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish.

I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63 deg seemed absurd a few years back, now there are 130mm trail bikes with this much rake.

Onawalk wrote:

Maybe I missed it,

What 130 trail bike has a 63 degree HA?

My Marin Rift Zone. Sure, I fitted a Works Components headset to get that number, but trailbike travel w/ DH angles is super fun. 

4
slimshady
Posts
156
Joined
9/16/2011
Location
AR
6/28/2023 3:28pm Edited Date/Time 6/28/2023 3:28pm
brash wrote:
atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish. I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63...

atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish.

I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63 deg seemed absurd a few years back, now there are 130mm trail bikes with this much rake.

Onawalk wrote:

Maybe I missed it,

What 130 trail bike has a 63 degree HA?

Not a trail bike, but my Orbea Rallón R4 with a Superstar Slackerizer -2° headset sits at 61.5° when sagged, and there's no way I'm going back to the original 64.5° static HA!

jamesma
Posts
34
Joined
10/23/2022
Location
Easthampton, MA, USA
6/28/2023 4:57pm Edited Date/Time 6/28/2023 5:40pm
JimmyK wrote:
New downtime podcast with Brook Macdonald is an interesting listen; he speaks a lot about the old Mondraker bike and how bad it was. Apparently just...

New downtime podcast with Brook Macdonald is an interesting listen; he speaks a lot about the old Mondraker bike and how bad it was. Apparently just completely unpredictable to ride.

sounds like their new prototype is a welcome one, any idea what they’ve changed? 

Can't say for sure what Mondraker has changed on the new bike or how they've gone about changing it, but I bet that they lowered the anti-squat. It was seriously high on the old bike - around 233% in the 10T gear when paired with a 36T chainring. This ridiculous amount of AS probably played a large part in the unpredictable feeling that Brook talks about - 233% would likely mess with your suspension performance pretty bad. Mondraker probably also changed the carbon layup. In "Making Up The Numbers", Brook talked about how the carbon frame was unduly flexy under heavier riders like himself.

Brook also talks about how the bike was not progressive enough in the same episode of the podcast. Maybe that'll change too.

It's a real shame that the old Mondraker had those two big design flaws because it looks like a really solid frame in every other regard. Hope Brook gets better results with the new bike!

4
6/28/2023 6:48pm
jamesma wrote:
Can't say for sure what Mondraker has changed on the new bike or how they've gone about changing it, but I bet that they lowered the...

Can't say for sure what Mondraker has changed on the new bike or how they've gone about changing it, but I bet that they lowered the anti-squat. It was seriously high on the old bike - around 233% in the 10T gear when paired with a 36T chainring. This ridiculous amount of AS probably played a large part in the unpredictable feeling that Brook talks about - 233% would likely mess with your suspension performance pretty bad. Mondraker probably also changed the carbon layup. In "Making Up The Numbers", Brook talked about how the carbon frame was unduly flexy under heavier riders like himself.

Brook also talks about how the bike was not progressive enough in the same episode of the podcast. Maybe that'll change too.

It's a real shame that the old Mondraker had those two big design flaws because it looks like a really solid frame in every other regard. Hope Brook gets better results with the new bike!

I'd guess the rapidly decreasing anti-squat throughout the entire travel would play a role in that unpredictable feeling (it decreases force at the wheel and causes the pedaling behavior to vary drastically depending on the position in the travel), but that's been an inherent trait of Mondraker's Zero suspension design for its entire existence, so barring any drastic changes I'd expect that to carry over to some extent.

2
Onawalk
Posts
344
Joined
7/5/2021
Location
CA
6/28/2023 7:29pm
brash wrote:
atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish. I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63...

atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish.

I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63 deg seemed absurd a few years back, now there are 130mm trail bikes with this much rake.

Onawalk wrote:

Maybe I missed it,

What 130 trail bike has a 63 degree HA?

My Marin Rift Zone. Sure, I fitted a Works Components headset to get that number, but trailbike travel w/ DH angles is super fun. 

Right, So no 130 trail bike with a 63 HA

8
Onawalk
Posts
344
Joined
7/5/2021
Location
CA
6/28/2023 7:30pm
brash wrote:
atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish. I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63...

atleast the rear center looks reasonably long'ish.

I would not be surprised if head angles are around 60 deg in a few years, remembering that 63 deg seemed absurd a few years back, now there are 130mm trail bikes with this much rake.

Onawalk wrote:

Maybe I missed it,

What 130 trail bike has a 63 degree HA?

slimshady wrote:
Not a trail bike, but my Orbea Rallón R4 with a Superstar Slackerizer -2° headset sits at 61.5° when sagged, and there's no way I'm going...

Not a trail bike, but my Orbea Rallón R4 with a Superstar Slackerizer -2° headset sits at 61.5° when sagged, and there's no way I'm going back to the original 64.5° static HA!

If my vest had sleeves, it would be my jacket....

So no 130 trail bike with a 63 HA stock

11
6/28/2023 9:27pm
JimmyK wrote:
New downtime podcast with Brook Macdonald is an interesting listen; he speaks a lot about the old Mondraker bike and how bad it was. Apparently just...

New downtime podcast with Brook Macdonald is an interesting listen; he speaks a lot about the old Mondraker bike and how bad it was. Apparently just completely unpredictable to ride.

sounds like their new prototype is a welcome one, any idea what they’ve changed? 

jamesma wrote:
Can't say for sure what Mondraker has changed on the new bike or how they've gone about changing it, but I bet that they lowered the...

Can't say for sure what Mondraker has changed on the new bike or how they've gone about changing it, but I bet that they lowered the anti-squat. It was seriously high on the old bike - around 233% in the 10T gear when paired with a 36T chainring. This ridiculous amount of AS probably played a large part in the unpredictable feeling that Brook talks about - 233% would likely mess with your suspension performance pretty bad. Mondraker probably also changed the carbon layup. In "Making Up The Numbers", Brook talked about how the carbon frame was unduly flexy under heavier riders like himself.

Brook also talks about how the bike was not progressive enough in the same episode of the podcast. Maybe that'll change too.

It's a real shame that the old Mondraker had those two big design flaws because it looks like a really solid frame in every other regard. Hope Brook gets better results with the new bike!

Here are the kinematics

IMG 1402.jpeg?VersionId=xIMYgStoHbLHT.6RuVEhb V 

 

 IMG 1403

 IMG 1404

 IMG 1405

 

7
krabo83
Posts
737
Joined
12/26/2017
Location
AT
6/29/2023 2:06am
(old?) Camo Maven on regular stealth levers. Mineral oil ones have been shown, so it's odd he was openly talking about it. We saw tons of...

(old?) Camo Maven on regular stealth levers. Mineral oil ones have been shown, so it's odd he was openly talking about it.

We saw tons of Vivids pre season, but no single one in EWS or DH since?

 

AndehM wrote:
Yeah I was wondering about the Vivid.  I wonder if all that preseason testing uncovered some design flaw that they're fixing.  I think I've only seen...

Yeah I was wondering about the Vivid.  I wonder if all that preseason testing uncovered some design flaw that they're fixing.  I think I've only seen a couple in pit photos since then - the big name guys that were running the Vivid in preseason are all on coil or SD air.

vali höll ran the vivid in leogang during practice, there‘s even a photo on pinkbike.

C-LION
Posts
129
Joined
10/29/2018
Location
CH
6/29/2023 3:05am

Meta SX V5 are online. 170/165.

2
Jakub_G
Posts
385
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8/7/2019
Location
SK
6/29/2023 3:50am
C-LION wrote:

Meta SX V5 are online. 170/165.

Ehm, where? Certainly not on their website.

 

FullSend
Posts
203
Joined
7/14/2021
Location
DE
6/29/2023 5:26am
C-LION wrote:

Meta SX V5 are online. 170/165.

Huh. Frame seems to be identical to the Meta V5, just with a different set of links and a 170mm fork.

3
1
Yoda
Posts
153
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9/24/2021
Location
IT
Fantasy
6/29/2023 5:55am
C-LION wrote:

Meta SX V5 are online. 170/165.

FullSend wrote:

Huh. Frame seems to be identical to the Meta V5, just with a different set of links and a 170mm fork.

that would be cool to buy some links to go back and forth for a few hundred $$$

4
bikelurker
Posts
184
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3/23/2023
Location
Bilbao, Vizcaya, ES
6/29/2023 6:15am
C-LION wrote:

Meta SX V5 are online. 170/165.

FullSend wrote:

Huh. Frame seems to be identical to the Meta V5, just with a different set of links and a 170mm fork.

Yoda wrote:

that would be cool to buy some links to go back and forth for a few hundred $$$

And a shock

1
Primoz
Posts
4693
Joined
8/1/2009
Location
SI
6/29/2023 6:34am

Bird does that with the aeris 9, a 180 mm link is just over 100 eur. Same shock though. 

3
dolface
Posts
1718
Joined
10/26/2015
Location
USA
6/29/2023 7:13am
Primoz wrote:

Bird does that with the aeris 9, a 180 mm link is just over 100 eur. Same shock though. 

Rocky Mountain does too. with the Altitude and Instinct (link and shock).

2
bizutch
Posts
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8/1/2009
Location
Fletcher, NC, USA
Fantasy
6/29/2023 7:58am

"You are not authorized" when I click the page.

1
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