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Its ethically sourced.
Was gonna say "fair trade" however I think that contradicts this whole joke lol.
I've ridden once in the last two months (and have been generally completely inactive) and have been sick for the whole time except one week. I'm losing my mind... This is all I have at the moment.
FWIW, prior art could be argued, but nobody marketed it as a feature. It was done for testing purposes by almost all companies up to this point.
Lapierre and Nukeproof both have marketed and sold bikes with movable main pivot positions in the recent past, probably others.
Reynolds with a new prototype
Richie running new Fox coil and new shimano brakes/rotors. Also still has neo sensors by calipers but doesn’t look like Neo shock. Maybe just left them on as he’s offseason testing
Has anyone checked to see if the patent office is still a thing? Could be that none of this matters anymore . . .
I believe it's not cheap to file a patent and if you are not awarded the patent you don't get your money back so... At this time I'd say
"it's the greatest division of government ever, it's great and does amazing things. You should see the people working there. They are Amazing. They do great things, you would love them."
About the whole suspension and patents thingy, does anyone remember when EU said all of the suspension designs do the same thing and therefore do not qualify as patents which lead to a bunch of companies (Canyon, YT, Radon,...) use horst link, they just could not sell the bikes to the States untill the patent expired?
Got a link to any of it? Based on what is still patented I'm not sure it's a valid point that they all do the same thing...
Reminds me of the Jade X
Those are MT900 Rotors and Saint brakes.
I don't remember that, but I would love to know more. Does anyone know more, please?
The EU patent office seems to have a hard time retaining any understanding that my slider-cam linkage is very much not a 6-bar or Horst link.
I recieved a new misunderstanding email yesterday, so I'm trying to decide right now whether applying there is a waste of time and money compared with just securing Germany and UK.
Well, since we were talking about prior art, I hope you don't mind me asking what the novelty compared to Yeti's switch infinity and/or what Maverick bikes did back in the day is?
While I'm here. Is it rude to spread my own rumors?
Yesterday I released v2 Digit frames. I don't have a marketing plan so for now I've just posted a list of improvements here: digitbikes.com/blog/changeblog.
I'm also going to start selling a frame-only option, and an aluminum wheel build.
Maverick Monolink had the bottom bracket in the middle of the link, wheras Analog has the BB on the front triangle.
Yeti's Switch Infinity has a standard shock, wheras Analog has a strut
gen 5 trek rail+ is here
https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/trek-introduces-rail-gen-5-full-power-emtb
That I saw, yes. But you specifically mentioned you have a hard time convincing them your design is not a Horst link or a 6bar. Thus me asking what the novelty is. Kinematics wise it is very similar (conceptually) at least to the switch infinity...
What a strange launch from Trek as this new generation of Rail is up on Trek EU websites since +- 5 months now.
Yeah I am not sure what Trek is doing. They are still offering like 5 different full bikes, and 5-6 framesets from last gen Slash as well. And the new gen slash has been out for more than a year.
They also "re-released" the Slash 5 with a new colorway fairly recently. Do they just have that many unpainted frames left in stock? Still they want full price for them.
My question related to @Karabuka asking "does anyone remember when EU said all of the suspension designs do the same thing and therefore do not qualify as patents"? I never heard this before.
Patents should relate to inventions such as novel mechanisms. It's a bit of a stretch to say that any particular arrangement (kinematics) of a mechanism should be patentable. That's something that has been allowed however, which permitted both the DW and VPP patents to exist for instance. Perhaps it's the stretch of scope that they're trying to crackdown on?
It’s not that I’ve had “a hard time convincing them your design is not a Horst link or a 6bar” more that they’ve had a hard time retaining the information. For instance (this is made up example for illustration), they’ll ask for clarification of how Analog isn’t the same as a 6-bar linkage, I show the difference by counting the pivots; then they’ll ask how Analog is different from a 4-bar linkage, so again I show the difference by counting the pivots. I know it’s just that their agents aren’t familiar with our industry, but it feels like they’re playing with me.
or we (not me) could start a patent question thread?
The Trek has 650b front and back for size small. Does it still have a 29er fork? Is it worth even making 650b forks anymore? I get that some people prefer the 650b front wheel esp. in the smaller sizes, but the geometry changes between a 29er fork and 650b fork with a 650b wheel is pretty trivial, esp. for small sizes where the frame is designed to incorporate it
Having tons of stock and about to blow the F out of everything old in about a month. They've had $3800 CAD Slash 9.8s for months now and keep releasing new batches of crazy sale bikes. Get ready for 40-60% off sales of all that previous gen stuff.
I also don't get that Slash 5 limited edition flight attendant build and new colour. Who's really shelling out 10k CAD for a generation old bike when 10k CAD gets you a great new one?
I’m not opposed to that.
Patents are specifically about novel technology though, so it feels more on topic than (for instance) the repeated mention of BK braking a seat stay, which feels neither tech rumor or innovation related.
Someone who has way too much money and doesn't know any better. They're unicorn customers but they do exist.
If I remember correctly, it was Kalle Nicolai and Horst Leitner who invented the horst link and patented it, and Horst Leitner got the patent for America, and Europe was kept for Nicolai to do whatever. Leitner got into a money squeeze and sold his patents to Specialized and European brands could do whatever but sell their bikes in the US - up until the patent expired and several European brands were starting distribution in North America (Canyon amongst others).
And the invention/patents predates EU.
The large suspension manufacturers have stopped making 27.5 forks in XC and DC applications (SID, 34, etc). I assume the volumes were too low to support 2 wheel sizes for what are categories that prioritize efficiency, meaning larger wheels. I could see this being a thing in more categories. I would hazard a guess that the industry-wide split in high end bike design, including size range per model, is 90-10 in favour of 29er.
Bike brands: You don't need to tool and produce 27.5" lowers anymore, the market wants mullet and full 29" bikes.
Fork makers: Phew, what a relief. Between wheelsize, offset, and axle sizes, it's a lot of parts to manage.
Bike brands: What have you got in the works for 32"?
Fork makers: Excuse me?
no way will 32 be for anything except XC or gravel, right? please? pretty please? make it stop?