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The Vital MTB Crew
Thx! Locking it now.
I think 5Dev noticed.
HA! FWIW, when I was writing copy I did look up what word I should use and even asked GPT 4o, which is frankly better than me at writing. Here were the results. Obviously, I'm using definition "2".
😂
You’ll never dampen Vital’s enthusiasm for banter
Every vibration damping patent I've seen says dampening.
I guess the ink is still wet on those.
Would something intended to mitigate vibration in soiled Huggies be a damp diaper dampener or a dampened diaper damper?
Jokes aside, great idea @jeff.brines
HA! Thx dude. All credit goes to @Dave_Camp - he's the brains. I just... "work here".
Blister has a review, but they're the only major outlet to have done so.
https://blisterreview.com/gear-reviews/mountain-bike-reviews/bikes-frames/forbidden-supernought
I think they have a bad taste in their mouth from when everybody called the V1 dreadnought an over-forked trail bike.
That's not a review, it's a press release. There's no evidence that any actual riding took place, or that Blister even had a physical complete bike.
Suppose you're right lol, didn't bother reading very far, because I don't care for blister's bike stuff. Looks like no real reviews yet!
I was OK with the Lewis brakes because of them being pretty open about them reverse engineering the trickstuff brakes and them gradually moving away from that design, but those cranks are ridiculous. Of all the cranks to rip off, why some of the ugliest on the market haha? Just don't get their visual appeal.
Yeah that's pretty blatant copying imho. Oh and the brakes are ok at best - I bought a set to test personally and it felt unpolished. Had one handlerbar clamp screw not able to tighten the clamp properly right out of the box. The power was OK, but for the price (I think it was $500 and change when I bought it) you can get yourself just about anything...Dominion A4s, Trp DHR Evos, Mavens, Maguras... Compared them side by side with the real deal Trickstuffs, and the difference was apparent. Even just the lever pull the TS had a bit more "refinement" and there was less play in the lever. In short - the brakes aren't the worst, but for the price there are MUCH better options. The cranks - there has to be a million ways to mill whatever pattern into the crank yet they had to be "inspired" by 5dev. It's BS, and my business will go to brands that actually innovate and do R&D.
Yep. Pretty ugly but form follows function.
They will likely respond by saying "no no no, you are all wrong. This is true innovation. We are definitely not copying. Here are the 3 ways we are clearly different."
For the most part us actual lewis owners are pretty stoked with what we've got. I can't recommend them enough, and I know plenty of others who feel the same.
That being said I can't decide how to feel about the crank rip off, because people with the real 5devs aren't happy with them anyways (snapping)
Oh, they have R&D - Rip-off and Duplicate 😉
Don’t take this as defence of Lewis.
But since when were 5dev the pioneers of cnc’d cranks and lattice structures.
Pretty sure guys like Goldtec played with stuff like that in the late 90’s that was just as snappy.
Of all the companies to copy Lewis have really chosen badly this time. At least Trickstuff are expensive and work bloody well. Apart from being on Neko’s bikes 5dev’s reputation is not glowing.
I think it's more the fact that if just cemented Lewis as a copy cat brand.
Their only 2 products are ripoffs of extremely expensive high end western designs made by small companies which just doesn't feel good.
Like what's next, they release a bike that looks exactly like a V10?
I suppose one potential upside of them copying that design is people will probably get to test how good their customer services are. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with things in comparison. 😅
FWIW I think there are already a couple of 5DEV copies available on Alibaba.
Yeah. Like I said I wasn’t defending Lewis.
Just attacking the other two.
Trickstuff have a very expensive and good product but haven’t done any improvements for years (and years).
5Dev are also very expensive but their product is not that good (according to the grapevine)
I don’t feel sorry for either of them being copied and along with Lewis, neither are on the list of things I have any desire to buy.
Lewis should have ripped off Hollowgram sisl2 cranks but adapted them to run the SRAM 8 bolt interface and a 24mm axle.
I bought my wife some 155mm 5dev cranks and they were great. It was a couple years back and hard to get hold of shorter cranks that are more popular today. What's next on the list for Lewis to copy? I'm gonna bet it's either pedals or hubs.
Besides, you can already purchase sketchy fly by night versions of 5dev's cranks. What's one more to add to the pile? I'd say that ordering and running $70 Aliexpress 5Dev cranks on your mountain bike would be a cool way to die, but I'd be wrong. The cranks are not cool.
They should have copied EEwings!
I love the idea, but because I'm an incurable pessimist, my first thought is that the chain continually passing through the magnetic field is going to magnetise it. If you live in an area with a significant amount of iron in the soil/dirt, this could become a problem?
unless buying their cheapest option, i still fail to see why people are buying Lewis copy paste brakes instead of higher quality Hope with their own engineering, for basically the same price!
I don't own any Lewis brakes but people seem to be happy with them from what I read in forums
I've had bad luck with Hope and wouldn't be buying their brakes unless the only alternative was code Rs.
And you know the Lewis is shit because it isn't made in a Western country? I had a feel of them on a bike and the lever is light touch, the bearings are tight and it is way more confidence inspiring quality than any mass produced S* branded brakes.
You must either have a vivid mind or a great inability to read and comprehend, I haven’t said “Lewis is shit”
I said, at a similar price point, why would one get some knockoff brakes ( despite the good quality and “improvements” these are effectively Trickstuff knockoffs ) when you can get a real brake, no copy, properly made, like Hope.
In this example we have a British company operating for years, with knowledge and cheap and mostly easy to find spare parts, Vs a newer company with a sketchy background and business strategy, you do you.
I had the chance to, like you, get a feel of Lewis and Trickstuff back to back and the difference was quite there, different tolerances do make a different, I still believe that a Hope brake is worth the money better than a Lewis despite the latter still being a good product overall