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That won’t matter.
BMW once tried to sue a Chinese manufacturer over an X5 clone. The Chinese courts laughed them out, saying that it didn’t look anything like a BMW X5
China definitely doesn't care, but we can decide if we want to buy them.
Apparently Trickstuff let their patent lapse or there was some issue with their patent while this underwent development, not sure on the details but just a rumor I read online.
I've watched the teardown video and I wouldn't go out and say its a Trickstuff carbon copy.
Also not sure why you think I wouldn't buy parts from Taiwan? I'm just looking for the best product for the best price, I also just purchased the Lollipop driver set directly from 711L in Taiwan after hearing about them from the PB podcast.
While I don't ethically agree with everything China does, I'm also not gonna pretend that buying mountain bike brakes is somehow supporting genocide? America isn't exactly an angel either, so I'm not gonna think about the political impact of my mountain bike purchasing decisions haha. I see a great product at a great price point. Lewis seems to be offering a great product at a great price and you're just going off the rails here about Xi's genocide and how he runs the country? Dude I'm just looking for good brakes. If you don't want to buy them, then don't.
What patent did Lewis violate that was held by Trickstuff?
I'm in no way disputing they look identical and similar, but that doesn't constitute a patent violation. Some functional aspect of the brake would've needed to be duplicated that was patented by Trickstuff, there are only so many things unique they are doing (maybe the clamp or lever pivot?). If anything the Lewis design is slightly more innovative because it allows you to rotate the cam in the lever to adjust lever progression, something the Trickstuff brakes lack (although I'd find hysterical if they duplicated).
"Something looks like something" isn't a patent issue by itself. It's clear where they ripped off Trickstuff aesthetics, but if they didn't copy any functional aspects of Trickstuffs design then there is nothing there from a patent perspective anyway. Brakes just aren't that complicated and there are only so many things they could do unique enough to really be functionally different enough for a patent.
Don't get me wrong. I have no desire to own these brakes, not because of their country of origin, but I do agree the ripoff aesthetics gives me a bad vibe. I've owned Maximas and love what Trickstuff is doing, so supporting Lewis in this isn't something I can do, they should have been creative enough on their own to come up with their own aesthetics. That doesn't mean they violated any Trickstuff patents, though.
And if we loop in 50 posts about how much strain our fingers will endure with Lewis' brake levers, we'll have come full circle.
My damper is dampening with excitement.
While it's abundantly clear Lewis took copied a lot of the aesthetics from Trickstuff, it does seem like the inner-workings of the brake are Lewis's own. I'd love to try Trickstuff brakes but there is no way I would ever pay $1500+ for brakes in my life so I'm happy to try these. And I'm not trying to say these should be as good as Trickstuff, for the price I'm looking with something with slightly improved feel/power over my TRP's And these can potentially offer that while looking a lot better. As ethically ugly as this looks, we consumers are ultimately the winners in this product arms race.
Freeride e-bikepacking--surprise!
g-out project from windrock
https://www.vitalmtb.com/g-out-project-2024-tennessee-national-downhill
I’m xenophobic for not wanting shitty knock off brakes made in a sweatshop? Ight cool lol.
Some Fox RAD bits on Asa's Frameworks...
Another angle of the lever.
Between this and Flight Attendant on the Trek bikes, looks like electronics are about to hit DH.
I wonder if that's some sort of electronic actuator/piston or if it's something used for telemetry
It's this...
I'm talking about the giant black part sticking off of the brake calipers.
It's a sensor of some sort. It's shown in that video I linked to.
Some exciting tech coming for sure. As if AXS drivetrains weren't expensive now I'll need to worry about Electronic Fox suspension
Excited for it nonetheless
Anther look at the new TRP Levers.
Curious to see Fox's implementation. Not trying to bash Rockshox but flight attendant seems like a flop so far. Maybe took it too far with the front fork stuff. Honestly who needs/wants to firm up their Zeb. Too complicated for marginal gains.
Interesting pad contact adjustment à la Hope but also a single bolt near the master cylinder split clamp like current shimano lever instead of the older shimano split clamp with the single bolt under the bar.
Probably because the current range of TRP adapters absolutely suck.
lol they deleted my pic of the new altitude. hahahah. Just a picture of a bike in a parking lot with tape on it. Of all the spied pics here they delete that one? lol
Heard from a friend of a friend that fox distributors have already received technical documentation of the new dampers so the release should not be far off.
and new enves nobody noticed
IIRC Fox was using a sensor on the front fork to adjust the rear shock, but not making changes to the fork.
They both seemed to be riding both during practice...and I'm pretty sure Ryan raced his old bike.
Guys, let's the lawyers discuss about IP and stuff, let's just enjoy the parts we are getting.
Zrace, WestBiking, ZTTO, Akantor, Tanke, Onirii, Rong Lun, III Pro are all different from each other. no one looks exact carbon copy of the main brands.
I've got a pair of RongLun brake levers that look similar to magura or older shimanos, but have a banjo at the bottom to redirect the hose under the bar, 4 piston shimano calipers at the front, 4 piston TRP slate at the back, SS hoses, 2.3mm thick ZTTO disks, Kingstop metalic pads and MOTUL 2,5w oil. They are BRILLIANT. Light actuation, zero friction until the pads contact the disks, heaps of power and modulation. Might get some mavens calipers in the future to use with 180mm rotors on a downhill bike.
Another thing about taiwan and china, the US would not give a dead shit about taiwan if there was no silicon being produced there. Just look at how Haiti has succumbed to guerrilas, how hamas has taken power of Palestine, how Iemen is controlled by terrorist group Houthi, and so on.
Let’s please keep global geopolitics out of the tech rumors thread.
It's slightly less exciting than it sounds. The "bunker" was just for datalogging and tuning start-stop/idle/stationary emissions/etc., basically anything that could be tested without a road speed. It was a effectively a several acre area surrounded by a wall of 2-high stacked shipping containers. Anything that saw road time was heavily camo'd, like these bikes.
*asks for guys to only let lawyers discuss IP.
*Proceeds to discuss geopolitical situations across the globe.
What really bothers me is that Lewis brakes CHOSE to MIMIC the way Trickstuff brakes look. Hope/Trickstuff/Intend/Sram/Shimano/Hayes/TRP all look pretty distinguishable, even between some of their own models. It's not how brakes are made is a secret anymore. You have a lever that pushes a piston that pushes fluid that pushes another set of pistons. Sure you can add cams here, adjustments there, play with leverage ratio, fancy cnc, parts, it doesn't really change the way brakes work fundamentally. Not discrediting the manufacturing of these brakes in any way. For a set of the more pricy Lewis brakes you can get just about anything that isn't super bougie like Trickstuff/Intend. So yeah, I don't really see a reason why someone should own these, unless you have to have something that resembles a Trickstuff and you don't have the money, or you just really like the way Lewis sounds or the feeling of these brakes just wowed you out of the world (highly unlikely).