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Enduro-MTB mag is in such a weird spot, and I don’t really trust their reviews.
They used to like very conservative geometry for a while, then a year or two years later when reviewing the same bike that they complained about being too long or too slack against a field of new competitors it was now fine.
They also used to complain about bikes being too heavy, then two sentences later the lighter tires are way too prone to puncture and every bike should come with DH casings.
Their test riders are good from what I’ve seen, but their reviews often differ from the consensus that other review sites have that I sometimes think there must be setup mistakes with the bikes or suspension somewhere.
Their reviews also have this weird hype-writing where they say sick! a lot, and anytime someone says that in relation to headset cable routing it takes away any credibility. There’s also the weird peddling of lifestyle items that I can’t imagine being anything else but undeclared product placements and other stuff like that completely out of place review of an e-motorbike on a bicycle/e-bike review site.
With pb/vital/nsmb you know you get mostly neutral reviews, and after a while you know the personal preferences and biases the reviewers might have so you can adjust for that. With the group-written ones on Enduro there’s no way to do so.
Might have gone on a bit of a tangent here, feel free to move it to a „mtb review site discussion forum“, but I think it’s important to talk about how brands influence some of the known mtb websites.
Whats old is new again
also worth noting that I think they all write their reviews in German, which is then changed for the international version. So every article is a weird blend of the original reviewer's words translated, and the personal bias and style of the translator/english writer.
They also seem to speak in abolutes and exagerations, posisbly for the same reason. Is it really unrideable with a 180mm rear rotor? And if it truly was, does a mere 10% increase by upgrading to a 200mm really transform it to the best bike in test?
That aside, I appreciate the way that in general they do adequately explain the basic type of terrain and style of riding they are trying to do, and also make suggestions ("tuning tips") on how to improve the bike. While they might be a bit ridiculous, see above, at least it stops one poor component ruining the review and I think provides the right balance on the spectrum between "objectively reviewing the frame" and "reviewing the full build bike as sent to them"
FMD/Orbea DH team with a new bike tease:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DFUwj0HtRVU/
damn would have thought that it would have had headset cable routing
Orbea taking a step back from headset cable routing is a bigger deal to me than their DH bike!
I was one click from ordering a Wild, but after seeing the heaset in the flesh and reading the horrendous reports on forums I just couldn't do it. They quite litterally have the worst headset routing implementation (knockblock that breaks and knocks your spacers out, dedicated spacers + dedicated stem, need to disconnect your brake hose to get rid of all that stuff and mount an adaptor for a regular stem, horrendous looking cable angles to get into the headset no matter what you do).
They probably only avoided it to keep the race team mechanics sanity intact... Or more logically speaking: cable clearance issues with a dual crown.
Buddy of mine works for an mtb brand that did headset routing and they saw a noticeable dip in sales on these models. They’ve pivoted back on a newer model. Not sure if they’ve seen better success with that model but it will be interesting to see. My wife has a repeater and the headset routing has been a nightmare.
77designz just released their new bar after parting ways with WeAreOne. Looks like they are using the same principle as before with a thinner 33mm bar and a thicker 35mm stem clamping area. Instead of a alloy sleeve it is just thicker layup. Their previous bar was 258g and this new one is 220g. Also much cheaper at 163.85 € compared to 279.95 € before
https://www.77designz.com/barlerina
When I was shopping for my short travel bike the headset routing on the Tempo took it right out of the running for me, shame cause that Ohlins build looks like a hell of a bike otherwise.
Unno DJI Avinox:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFTMIp8uDE8/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
To me this seems silly, defeating the whole point of a Horst Link. The impact on the virtual axle path (and therefore most things besides anti-rise) between a Horst link and a single pivot or spilt pivot is pretty minimal. The main benefit is that you can define your anti-rise.
Back before the Horst Link patent was up, and I was considering getting a Brake Therapy adapter for my Kona, I thought of the following workaround for single pivot, faux-four-bar suspension layouts to isolate brake forces. If you need to fine-tune your anti-rise indepenent of everything else, on a per-rider, per track basis, maybe its worth revisiting since having custom mounting positions for this extra control arm is going to be a lot less complicated and lighter than whatever Neko (and Cube in seasons past) is doing to bastardize their Horst Links
You just made that up, right?
Most Horst links like the Frameworks have low anti rise values, and the floating brake can help further tune it without changing a thing else about the bike. Seems pretty normal to me. Cube was testing then out too a little while ago.
Bumping this spicy rumor. Hoping more gossip to be teased about it.
I thought of Airdrop first too, but the headtube junction and down tube just aren't the same. Unless they are going to have an update for it soon.
Rear axle pivots, either faux bar or Horst link, are notorious for barely rotating at all going through the travel. It's quite possible your solution wouldn't do much to change the anti rise. Therefore the floating brake arm solutions. And as noted, you can test and tune the effect of it with a setup that Neko has. It's probably there as a test or proof of concept, not necessarily as an improvement or a necessity.
Thats the price for the handlebar only, stem not included. So it comes out close to $350 with a stem, compared to $279, where it was sold as package. Edit: sold as a package by weareone that is
Does anyone have the anti-rise graph for the current Enduro? Its "common knowledge" that the Enduro has low anti-rise, or just high rise, or low brake jack, whatever you want to call it.
If you look at the video below, assuming the bike actually does have low antirise, very little pivot movement translates into lots of low antirise (I hate that term and all the double & triple negatives it creates)
https://youtu.be/V1XYCVJt3VE?si=z2nPmoQqQ9iHLSxK&t=90
77designz used to sell a la carte bar and stem no combos. The WeAreOne branded "Da Package" combo was cheaper especially during their black Friday sale last year for which I paid $228 CAD.
Here is the handlebar only price from their old store cached copy
Ah I see - Interesting that the price of their handlebar was the same as weareone charged for both stem/handlebar.
Definitely a decent price decrease from 77's side, but still quite the pricy combo. Im sure it is a very nice piece though
(And yes, the price I referred to was what I could see weareone charged in the past)
Tangentially related, but it annoys me that most 4-bar designs run bearings in that rear pivot instead of bushings. That location gets showered with water and grime, and they have always been in a disgusting state whenever I've serviced the bearings on the 3 4-bar bikes I've owned. I recall reading somewhere that bushings are ideal for locations that consistently see small angle rotations, where bearings are better for larger angles (so that the bearings actually move further in the race). Main pivot and rocker/upper link - absolutely bearings. Rear pivot - bushings. I mean, a lot of brands are going with flex stays back there, so clearly a bearing isn't really necessary.
Not sure on the proper terminology but… my ‘21 Enduro didn’t feel as good on the brakes on harsh terrain as my old ‘17 Giant Reign SX did. The Reign was more actively following the ground leading to more traction and higher corner entry speed.
You can say your buddy works at Propain it's okay.
Looks like the new X2 is almost production ready.
No.
its all true,
we just have to wait till May to officially talk about it. The rear der is a work of art, especially if you hate how big and bulky T-Type is.
its all ready, along with a new 34 and 36 chassis and air spring. Maybe they will even show the new inverted prototype DH fork at sea otter too.
34 and 36 going reverse Arch too?