MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation

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boozed
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AU
5/8/2025 10:47pm

Chinese trade shows apparently make good games of "name the knock-off"

5
TimBud
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GB
5/8/2025 10:52pm
jonkranked wrote:
Would very much like to switch both my sets of eewings from 14mm bolts to 8mm. I posted as much on their fb. I will drop...

Would very much like to switch both my sets of eewings from 14mm bolts to 8mm. I posted as much on their fb. I will drop them an email too I reckon.

I had the oringal eewings with the 8mm. After they’d been on for a while i came super close rounding that thing off. Made sure I used a lot of the ti prep (copper grease) on it after that. The 14mm one was much better and its not hard to find tools when you look outside of the bike world.

3
krabo83
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5/8/2025 11:41pm

can anyone identify what RR has on his bike instead of an ochain? it‘s not rimpact…

IMG 2575.png?VersionId=z Hk0v L
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seanfisseli
Posts
594
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4/16/2024
Location
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
5/8/2025 11:50pm
krabo83 wrote:
can anyone identify what RR has on his bike instead of an ochain? it‘s not rimpact…

can anyone identify what RR has on his bike instead of an ochain? it‘s not rimpact…

IMG 2575.png?VersionId=z Hk0v L

Yeti Switch Infinity Chainring

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1
lickmycrinkle
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Location
Beverly Hills, CA, USA
5/8/2025 11:55pm
krabo83 wrote:
can anyone identify what RR has on his bike instead of an ochain? it‘s not rimpact…

can anyone identify what RR has on his bike instead of an ochain? it‘s not rimpact…

IMG 2575.png?VersionId=z Hk0v L

Power2Max power meter.

11
Fredo90
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4/4/2012
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DE
5/9/2025 2:25am

@krabo83 It´s a power2max system, i build a few XC Bikes for a German Team and they use them too. 

1
1
sethimus
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953
Joined
9/20/2014
Location
CH
5/9/2025 4:12am
Would also be cool if some more info is shared regarding the products, or at least if there are websites of the manufacturers. For example, several...

Would also be cool if some more info is shared regarding the products, or at least if there are websites of the manufacturers. For example, several frames are pretty interesting (ok, the high- and mid-pivot ones 😃), with bombastically-low prices, and one cannot check their details or try to buy. It’s like “see, here’s some pretty good product for an absolute bargain of a price… yeah, you can’t order, you can only watch pics!” 😅

are you gen z? do you need help in how to use a search engine?

5
13
5/9/2025 4:57am
jonkranked wrote:
Would very much like to switch both my sets of eewings from 14mm bolts to 8mm. I posted as much on their fb. I will drop...

Would very much like to switch both my sets of eewings from 14mm bolts to 8mm. I posted as much on their fb. I will drop them an email too I reckon.

TimBud wrote:
I had the oringal eewings with the 8mm. After they’d been on for a while i came super close rounding that thing off. Made sure I...

I had the oringal eewings with the 8mm. After they’d been on for a while i came super close rounding that thing off. Made sure I used a lot of the ti prep (copper grease) on it after that. The 14mm one was much better and its not hard to find tools when you look outside of the bike world.

The original 8mm bolt was made of titanium. Titanium bonds to the crank and is softer than steel. That is why they changed to a 14mm steel bolt. If you are interested in a 8mm steel bolt check this

1
Finkill
Posts
239
Joined
9/2/2015
Location
GB
5/9/2025 5:27am
jonkranked wrote:
Would very much like to switch both my sets of eewings from 14mm bolts to 8mm. I posted as much on their fb. I will drop...

Would very much like to switch both my sets of eewings from 14mm bolts to 8mm. I posted as much on their fb. I will drop them an email too I reckon.

TimBud wrote:
I had the oringal eewings with the 8mm. After they’d been on for a while i came super close rounding that thing off. Made sure I...

I had the oringal eewings with the 8mm. After they’d been on for a while i came super close rounding that thing off. Made sure I used a lot of the ti prep (copper grease) on it after that. The 14mm one was much better and its not hard to find tools when you look outside of the bike world.

The original 8mm bolt was made of titanium. Titanium bonds to the crank and is softer than steel. That is why they changed to a 14mm...

The original 8mm bolt was made of titanium. Titanium bonds to the crank and is softer than steel. That is why they changed to a 14mm steel bolt. If you are interested in a 8mm steel bolt check this

£85 for a bolt. 

3
5/9/2025 5:30am
TimBud wrote:
I had the oringal eewings with the 8mm. After they’d been on for a while i came super close rounding that thing off. Made sure I...

I had the oringal eewings with the 8mm. After they’d been on for a while i came super close rounding that thing off. Made sure I used a lot of the ti prep (copper grease) on it after that. The 14mm one was much better and its not hard to find tools when you look outside of the bike world.

The original 8mm bolt was made of titanium. Titanium bonds to the crank and is softer than steel. That is why they changed to a 14mm...

The original 8mm bolt was made of titanium. Titanium bonds to the crank and is softer than steel. That is why they changed to a 14mm steel bolt. If you are interested in a 8mm steel bolt check this

Finkill wrote:

£85 for a bolt. 

correct

1
Primoz
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4676
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Location
SI
5/9/2025 5:32am

Made in Zürich... 

2
5/9/2025 5:35am
dolface wrote:
Side side note: They also updated the fixing bolt to 8mm (so no more 14mm hex) BUT it's not backwards compatible.The CC CSR I talked to...

Side side note: They also updated the fixing bolt to 8mm (so no more 14mm hex) BUT it's not backwards compatible.

The CC CSR I talked to said he was on a personal mission to get them to update that to make it fit the older cranks, so give them them a call and let them know if you want that too!

jonkranked wrote:
Would very much like to switch both my sets of eewings from 14mm bolts to 8mm. I posted as much on their fb. I will drop...

Would very much like to switch both my sets of eewings from 14mm bolts to 8mm. I posted as much on their fb. I will drop them an email too I reckon.

They will considered it but will not update it. They want to sell "new" cranks.
Check my bolt that is retro compatible.
 

2
Finkill
Posts
239
Joined
9/2/2015
Location
GB
5/9/2025 5:41am Edited Date/Time 5/9/2025 5:44am
The original 8mm bolt was made of titanium. Titanium bonds to the crank and is softer than steel. That is why they changed to a 14mm...

The original 8mm bolt was made of titanium. Titanium bonds to the crank and is softer than steel. That is why they changed to a 14mm steel bolt. If you are interested in a 8mm steel bolt check this

Finkill wrote:

£85 for a bolt. 

correct

£55 gets me a whole SLX crankset with a chainring and I have £20 left for a few pints at the pub. That is a challenging value proposition for a relatively simple turned metal part. Appreciate we are talking about a part for a £1000 titanium crankset. 

9
HexonJuan
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406
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Location
USA
5/9/2025 5:45am
whitesq wrote:
The steering tube is the most highly stressed component on the fork and possibly the whole bike, so adding stress risers in the form of threads...

The steering tube is the most highly stressed component on the fork and possibly the whole bike, so adding stress risers in the form of threads is a non-starter. 

I think creaking can be nearly eliminated in the current design, but at the moment it comes down to the balance of increased production cost/time vs warranty cost/exposure for the big guys.

Dave_Camp wrote:
I think a lot of the issue is oem concern about weight and stack height.  Make the crown height 2x taller and add wall thickness to crown...

I think a lot of the issue is oem concern about weight and stack height. 
 

Make the crown height 2x taller and add wall thickness to crown, steerer and stanchions I’ll bet you solve the problem completely.   

Easier said than done though.  Forks would be taller and heavier for same travel. 
 

Finkill wrote:
My warranty replacement Zeb CSU crown is thicker around the steerer tube and the flat area around the crown race is now wider than the headset...

My warranty replacement Zeb CSU crown is thicker around the steerer tube and the flat area around the crown race is now wider than the headset cup. Hopefully this makes it less prone to creaking, but making the interfaces taller would be way more effective as you say. 

Wonder if they're using the same crown as used on their 1.8 bottom steerers. From a mfg standpoint, having one crown to rule em all makes a lotta sense financially.

3
TimBud
Posts
544
Joined
2/29/2012
Location
GB
5/9/2025 5:48am
Finkill wrote:
£55 gets me a whole SLX crankset with a chainring and I have £20 left for a few pints at the pub. That is a challenging...

£55 gets me a whole SLX crankset with a chainring and I have £20 left for a few pints at the pub. That is a challenging value proposition for a relatively simple turned metal part. Appreciate we are talking about a part for a £1000 titanium crankset. 

£1200ish now and they have a stupid 30mm spindle so you bb bearings are tiny.

 

6
Finkill
Posts
239
Joined
9/2/2015
Location
GB
5/9/2025 5:50am
Dave_Camp wrote:
I think a lot of the issue is oem concern about weight and stack height.  Make the crown height 2x taller and add wall thickness to crown...

I think a lot of the issue is oem concern about weight and stack height. 
 

Make the crown height 2x taller and add wall thickness to crown, steerer and stanchions I’ll bet you solve the problem completely.   

Easier said than done though.  Forks would be taller and heavier for same travel. 
 

Finkill wrote:
My warranty replacement Zeb CSU crown is thicker around the steerer tube and the flat area around the crown race is now wider than the headset...

My warranty replacement Zeb CSU crown is thicker around the steerer tube and the flat area around the crown race is now wider than the headset cup. Hopefully this makes it less prone to creaking, but making the interfaces taller would be way more effective as you say. 

HexonJuan wrote:
Wonder if they're using the same crown as used on their 1.8 bottom steerers. From a mfg standpoint, having one crown to rule em all makes...

Wonder if they're using the same crown as used on their 1.8 bottom steerers. From a mfg standpoint, having one crown to rule em all makes a lotta sense financially.

Possibly it's the 1.8 crown forging, it's not massively different to the original one so hard to know without being able to compare. As you say, simplifying the number of crown forgings makes good sense. 

2
5/9/2025 5:58am
Finkill wrote:

£85 for a bolt. 

correct

Finkill wrote:
£55 gets me a whole SLX crankset with a chainring and I have £20 left for a few pints at the pub. That is a challenging...

£55 gets me a whole SLX crankset with a chainring and I have £20 left for a few pints at the pub. That is a challenging value proposition for a relatively simple turned metal part. Appreciate we are talking about a part for a £1000 titanium crankset. 

600£ gets me one single prototype bolt with two threadbolcks to tighten both bolts to 55Nm for 200 times before increasing torque by 5Nm every 10 cycles until the max torque of 100Nm is reached and very sore arms have to give up.
The price is just high enough that I don't loose to much money without even including prototypes and my time. Comparing Swiss made small batch parts with shimano SLX is kind of rude but mathematically you are not wrong.
 

4
2
Finkill
Posts
239
Joined
9/2/2015
Location
GB
5/9/2025 6:07am

correct

Finkill wrote:
£55 gets me a whole SLX crankset with a chainring and I have £20 left for a few pints at the pub. That is a challenging...

£55 gets me a whole SLX crankset with a chainring and I have £20 left for a few pints at the pub. That is a challenging value proposition for a relatively simple turned metal part. Appreciate we are talking about a part for a £1000 titanium crankset. 

600£ gets me one single prototype bolt with two threadbolcks to tighten both bolts to 55Nm for 200 times before increasing torque by 5Nm every 10...

600£ gets me one single prototype bolt with two threadbolcks to tighten both bolts to 55Nm for 200 times before increasing torque by 5Nm every 10 cycles until the max torque of 100Nm is reached and very sore arms have to give up.
The price is just high enough that I don't loose to much money without even including prototypes and my time. Comparing Swiss made small batch parts with shimano SLX is kind of rude but mathematically you are not wrong.
 

Not trying to be rude, just highlighting the cost differential and relative value proposition. The average EE Wings customer is probably okay with the cost of the bolt and it's good to know you are pricing it in a way that covers your costs and makes it viable to produce. 

Personally I'm a little concerned with the trend towards bikes being more and more expensive and would love to see more effort being put into value and utility oriented product improvements rather than the high end stuff that tends to grab attention and headlines, while offering  little actual innovation.

Those SLX cranks are as good as anyone would ever need and will last a long long time. 

8
5/9/2025 6:35am
Finkill wrote:
£55 gets me a whole SLX crankset with a chainring and I have £20 left for a few pints at the pub. That is a challenging...

£55 gets me a whole SLX crankset with a chainring and I have £20 left for a few pints at the pub. That is a challenging value proposition for a relatively simple turned metal part. Appreciate we are talking about a part for a £1000 titanium crankset. 

600£ gets me one single prototype bolt with two threadbolcks to tighten both bolts to 55Nm for 200 times before increasing torque by 5Nm every 10...

600£ gets me one single prototype bolt with two threadbolcks to tighten both bolts to 55Nm for 200 times before increasing torque by 5Nm every 10 cycles until the max torque of 100Nm is reached and very sore arms have to give up.
The price is just high enough that I don't loose to much money without even including prototypes and my time. Comparing Swiss made small batch parts with shimano SLX is kind of rude but mathematically you are not wrong.
 

Finkill wrote:
Not trying to be rude, just highlighting the cost differential and relative value proposition. The average EE Wings customer is probably okay with the cost of...

Not trying to be rude, just highlighting the cost differential and relative value proposition. The average EE Wings customer is probably okay with the cost of the bolt and it's good to know you are pricing it in a way that covers your costs and makes it viable to produce. 

Personally I'm a little concerned with the trend towards bikes being more and more expensive and would love to see more effort being put into value and utility oriented product improvements rather than the high end stuff that tends to grab attention and headlines, while offering  little actual innovation.

Those SLX cranks are as good as anyone would ever need and will last a long long time. 

Apparently this is what people want but you can easily find very affordable stuff used or even new. I personally ride a starling and the price of 2k for a made in uk steel frame with 7 years of warranty is amazing. 
If you want a cheap crankbolt for your slx, we offer one too lol

5
5/9/2025 7:15am Edited Date/Time 5/9/2025 7:19am
Would also be cool if some more info is shared regarding the products, or at least if there are websites of the manufacturers. For example, several...

Would also be cool if some more info is shared regarding the products, or at least if there are websites of the manufacturers. For example, several frames are pretty interesting (ok, the high- and mid-pivot ones 😃), with bombastically-low prices, and one cannot check their details or try to buy. It’s like “see, here’s some pretty good product for an absolute bargain of a price… yeah, you can’t order, you can only watch pics!” 😅

sethimus wrote:

are you gen z? do you need help in how to use a search engine?

May be, just may be, I’ve already tried to search and if we don’t count Extension Bikes, who have almost all the info regarding their new enduro bike uploaded on their website, all the others don’t have websites or share no additional details in their Instagrams. Think Wissco can be found on some sort of a website, but it’s all in Chinese with no translate option, so it’s as if there’s no website. Seemed only logical to ask the people that were there physically to share something more! Wink Given that some prices are shared under the photos here, while there aren’t any in the websites (whoever has one anyway) makes me think Vital’s members might have some additional info - only asking them to share more! Cause, let’s face it, a high-pivot enduro frame MY2025 for less than a 1000$ brand new is a crazy bargain! 

5
Shinook
Posts
169
Joined
12/29/2015
Location
Asheville, NC, USA
5/9/2025 7:26am Edited Date/Time 5/9/2025 7:26am

Every 18 months I poke CC about a steel Ewing... tooling is the big issue.

Translated, this likely means ORA doesn't want to do it and they probably can't find financial justification to work it out. I gather ORA is somewhat selective on what they do and Cane Creek isn't going to do this themselves. The typical market for eeWings probably wouldn't buy into them either and I'm not certain (but could be wrong) they could do it cheap enough over what they are already doing with titanium. 

If you want something like this, my assumption would be Starling would be your best bet. They seem more likely to do stuff like this with higher emphasis on steel, but they'd similarly use ORA and probably be told the same answer. Personally I'd love it if they did.

dolface
Posts
1713
Joined
10/26/2015
Location
USA
5/9/2025 7:40am
Would also be cool if some more info is shared regarding the products, or at least if there are websites of the manufacturers. For example, several...

Would also be cool if some more info is shared regarding the products, or at least if there are websites of the manufacturers. For example, several frames are pretty interesting (ok, the high- and mid-pivot ones 😃), with bombastically-low prices, and one cannot check their details or try to buy. It’s like “see, here’s some pretty good product for an absolute bargain of a price… yeah, you can’t order, you can only watch pics!” 😅

sethimus wrote:

are you gen z? do you need help in how to use a search engine?

Do you wake up every day wondering "who can I be a d1ck to on the Vital Forums today"?

Assuming good intent and extending a modicum of kindness takes almost no effort; give it a try!

43
Primoz
Posts
4676
Joined
8/1/2009
Location
SI
5/9/2025 7:41am

Every 18 months I poke CC about a steel Ewing... tooling is the big issue.

Shinook wrote:
Translated, this likely means ORA doesn't want to do it and they probably can't find financial justification to work it out. I gather ORA is somewhat...

Translated, this likely means ORA doesn't want to do it and they probably can't find financial justification to work it out. I gather ORA is somewhat selective on what they do and Cane Creek isn't going to do this themselves. The typical market for eeWings probably wouldn't buy into them either and I'm not certain (but could be wrong) they could do it cheap enough over what they are already doing with titanium. 

If you want something like this, my assumption would be Starling would be your best bet. They seem more likely to do stuff like this with higher emphasis on steel, but they'd similarly use ORA and probably be told the same answer. Personally I'd love it if they did.

ORA? 

4
Javigutz
Posts
43
Joined
10/6/2022
Location
Beverly Hills, CA, USA
5/9/2025 7:46am

Every 18 months I poke CC about a steel Ewing... tooling is the big issue.

Shinook wrote:
Translated, this likely means ORA doesn't want to do it and they probably can't find financial justification to work it out. I gather ORA is somewhat...

Translated, this likely means ORA doesn't want to do it and they probably can't find financial justification to work it out. I gather ORA is somewhat selective on what they do and Cane Creek isn't going to do this themselves. The typical market for eeWings probably wouldn't buy into them either and I'm not certain (but could be wrong) they could do it cheap enough over what they are already doing with titanium. 

If you want something like this, my assumption would be Starling would be your best bet. They seem more likely to do stuff like this with higher emphasis on steel, but they'd similarly use ORA and probably be told the same answer. Personally I'd love it if they did.

Primoz wrote:

ORA? 

5
5/9/2025 7:58am

Cyber Cycles in Germany does make a tubular steel crank with sram 3 bolt chainring attachment. Cheaper than EEwings but not really budget compared to RF turbine or Shimano SLX/XT crank. 

https://www.cybercycles.de/en/cranks/cyber-cranks-or

6
jonkranked
Posts
1207
Joined
5/5/2016
Location
Norristown, PA, USA
5/9/2025 8:07am
dolface wrote:
Do you wake up every day wondering "who can I be a d1ck to on the Vital Forums today"?Assuming good intent and extending a modicum of...

Do you wake up every day wondering "who can I be a d1ck to on the Vital Forums today"?

Assuming good intent and extending a modicum of kindness takes almost no effort; give it a try!

sadly not limited to vital......

10
Finkill
Posts
239
Joined
9/2/2015
Location
GB
5/9/2025 8:16am
1llumA wrote:
Cyber Cycles in Germany does make a tubular steel crank with sram 3 bolt chainring attachment. Cheaper than EEwings but not really budget compared to RF...

Cyber Cycles in Germany does make a tubular steel crank with sram 3 bolt chainring attachment. Cheaper than EEwings but not really budget compared to RF turbine or Shimano SLX/XT crank. 

https://www.cybercycles.de/en/cranks/cyber-cranks-or

Good find, had not seen these before, I like that they use a 24mm spindle also. 

4
krabo83
Posts
733
Joined
12/26/2017
Location
AT
5/9/2025 9:02am Edited Date/Time 5/9/2025 9:03am

a little birdy told me about a new dt swiss hub/system coming probably in september working similar to the e13 sidekick hub.

should also be retrofit able to current gen dt hubs.

25
NY_Star
Posts
96
Joined
11/28/2010
Location
USA
5/9/2025 9:38am Edited Date/Time 5/9/2025 12:16pm

Any guesses on new DH bikes being at Poland? Maybe a production specialized?

2
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