MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation

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krabo83
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722
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AT
6/6/2025 11:23pm
Splayleg wrote:
I’m up in the ochain gang too. OO and some of the other mob were on ochain but are not this year. Pretty sure I read...

I’m up in the ochain gang too. OO and some of the other mob were on ochain but are not this year. Pretty sure I read on here about a dt Swiss sidekick style hub so maybe he’s on that. Can anyone confirm the dt system or was I just tripping?

must have been me who spilled the beans. yes, DT is working on a sidekick style hub as i have been informed, but looking at how expensive that e13 sidekick hub is i think o-chain might be the better and service-friendlier option (no new wheel to lace up).

3
boozed
Posts
673
Joined
6/11/2019
Location
AU
6/7/2025 12:21am
Splayleg wrote:
I’m up in the ochain gang too. OO and some of the other mob were on ochain but are not this year. Pretty sure I read...

I’m up in the ochain gang too. OO and some of the other mob were on ochain but are not this year. Pretty sure I read on here about a dt Swiss sidekick style hub so maybe he’s on that. Can anyone confirm the dt system or was I just tripping?

krabo83 wrote:
must have been me who spilled the beans. yes, DT is working on a sidekick style hub as i have been informed, but looking at how...

must have been me who spilled the beans. yes, DT is working on a sidekick style hub as i have been informed, but looking at how expensive that e13 sidekick hub is i think o-chain might be the better and service-friendlier option (no new wheel to lace up).

O-chain is certainly the trail-friendly choice with the option of external control over the float.

3
Primoz
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4585
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8/1/2009
Location
SI
6/7/2025 1:05am
TEAMROBOT wrote:
I'm at Leogang this weekend and wanted to get a sense of how widely pedal kickback devices have been adopted by World Cuppers, along with all the...

I'm at Leogang this weekend and wanted to get a sense of how widely pedal kickback devices have been adopted by World Cuppers, along with all the other wild accessories like TMD's/shakeweights, electronics, gearboxes, and more. So out of curiosity and as a service to my fellow nerds, I stood at the top of Q1 today and counted all the devices I could. Note that certain devices were almost certainly undercounted, like shakeweights, added mass, and fancy chainring devices like Ochain or Rimpact (drivetrains were facing away from me in the starting lineup). There were 20 bikes total where I didn’t get a look at their chainring at all  

 
A total of 116 bikes were observed
25+ bikes with Ochain 
3+ bikes with Rimpact Chain Damper
11 bikes with Sidekick hub
25 bikes with STFU
17+ front shakeweights
3+ rear shakeweights
17 gearbox bikes
6 bikes running Two Chainz
3 running data acquisition
4+ with added mass strapped, taped, or zip-tied to down tube
6 bikes with electronic suspension of some sort
 
IMG 0095 0
Lessons:

More shakeweights than I expected

Pretty significant spread of pedal kickback devices. At least 39 of the 116 bikes I observed had some sort of visible pedal kickback device, like Ochain, Rimpact, or the Sidekick hub, and many of those bikes also had STFU.

I only saw one person with a front and rear shakeweight.

Pros really don't like it when you look at their bike and then write down notes on a yellow legal pad.

Do you have a feel of which bikes ran ochains & co and which didn't? I.e. were there teams where some riders did run it and some didn't or were there more situations where a certain bike was equipped with it across the whole team (or teams) while there were bikes that did not have it? 

1
SnusDog
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43
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12/28/2020
Location
Santa Fe, NM US
Fantasy
6/7/2025 1:08am
TEAMROBOT wrote:
I'm at Leogang this weekend and wanted to get a sense of how widely pedal kickback devices have been adopted by World Cuppers, along with all the...

I'm at Leogang this weekend and wanted to get a sense of how widely pedal kickback devices have been adopted by World Cuppers, along with all the other wild accessories like TMD's/shakeweights, electronics, gearboxes, and more. So out of curiosity and as a service to my fellow nerds, I stood at the top of Q1 today and counted all the devices I could. Note that certain devices were almost certainly undercounted, like shakeweights, added mass, and fancy chainring devices like Ochain or Rimpact (drivetrains were facing away from me in the starting lineup). There were 20 bikes total where I didn’t get a look at their chainring at all  

 
A total of 116 bikes were observed
25+ bikes with Ochain 
3+ bikes with Rimpact Chain Damper
11 bikes with Sidekick hub
25 bikes with STFU
17+ front shakeweights
3+ rear shakeweights
17 gearbox bikes
6 bikes running Two Chainz
3 running data acquisition
4+ with added mass strapped, taped, or zip-tied to down tube
6 bikes with electronic suspension of some sort
 
IMG 0095 0
Lessons:

More shakeweights than I expected

Pretty significant spread of pedal kickback devices. At least 39 of the 116 bikes I observed had some sort of visible pedal kickback device, like Ochain, Rimpact, or the Sidekick hub, and many of those bikes also had STFU.

I only saw one person with a front and rear shakeweight.

Pros really don't like it when you look at their bike and then write down notes on a yellow legal pad.

Also def a few people riding the hidden the hidden shakeweights / rimpact tmd - at least Troy, Craik, and Breeden that i know of

2
TEAMROBOT
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Los Angeles, CA US
Fantasy
6/7/2025 4:51am Edited Date/Time 6/7/2025 4:53am
IMG 0091IMG 0111

Weird shock I haven’t seen before on YT junior William Pugh’s bike (I think?), spotted at the top of qualifying yesterday and then in the pits today. When I asked about it at the pits they said they couldn’t talk about it. Looks like they borrowed the dials from a microscope or maybe a hunting scope. 

7
sr_34
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Location
DE
6/7/2025 4:57am
Bildschirmfoto 2025-06-07 um 13.56.40.png?VersionId=ZSgbj3K

Are there any infos on what Martin Maes is running for pedals?

1
TEAMROBOT
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Location
Los Angeles, CA US
Fantasy
6/7/2025 4:58am Edited Date/Time 6/7/2025 7:04am

Other random bits and bobs from yesterday:

1. Danny Hart-esque custom hub end cap to deal with brake/wheel/frame flex on an unknown to me Canyon junior men’s bike.

2. Close ups of Jordan Williams brakes on his ebike as he and Loic were track scouting dueing Q2. Probably nothing new to see here, but prove me wrong. I didn’t peel the tape off the lever but I did think about it.

3. The craziest cassette you’ll ever see on Benoit Colanges’ bike. Also, the whole Scott team is on Rimpact chain dampers, which was interesting.

IMG 0089IMG 0106IMG 0104IMG 0085

 

20
Fox
Posts
114
Joined
5/19/2011
Location
Durango, CO US
6/7/2025 5:00am

Ordered myself a STFU for my trail bike. Because World Cup. 

That Williams hub silencer looks cool. 

7
boozed
Posts
673
Joined
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Location
AU
6/7/2025 5:02am
TEAMROBOT wrote:
Weird shock I haven’t seen before on YT junior William Pugh’s bike (I think?), spotted at the top of qualifying yesterday and then in the pits...
IMG 0091IMG 0111

Weird shock I haven’t seen before on YT junior William Pugh’s bike (I think?), spotted at the top of qualifying yesterday and then in the pits today. When I asked about it at the pits they said they couldn’t talk about it. Looks like they borrowed the dials from a microscope or maybe a hunting scope. 

I thought that shock had popped up in this thread but maybe it was Pinkbike.  The speculation (note that it's only speculation) was Bilstein.

9
TEAMROBOT
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Location
Los Angeles, CA US
Fantasy
6/7/2025 5:05am Edited Date/Time 6/7/2025 5:08am
SnusDog wrote:

Also def a few people riding the hidden the hidden shakeweights / rimpact tmd - at least Troy, Craik, and Breeden that i know of

Agreed, it’s super hard to tell what you can’t see with mass dampers. Saw lots of number plates with a big vertical fold/bulge in the middle, so I couldn’t actually spot a TMD but it looked like it would be there. I didn’t include those as a TMD bike in my final count.

Similarly, added mass is almost impossible to tell from your eyeballs on an Orbea or Scott. I remember a few years back Brendan was stuffing lead weights in his crank spindles. Hard to see that with your eyeballs.

As mentioned by someone else, same with the new DT hub internals from WRP. Saw a lot of DT hubs yesterday, but who knows what’s in them?

I didn’t see any particular pattern in who was running PK devices, like low pivot or high pivot. I was surprised that none of the Giant Factory riders had one, because I think of Maestro/DW Link bikes as traditionally having higher AS levels. Wondering if that was a choice by the riders, but because zero of them had it, I wonder if the higher ups at Giant or Shimano told the riders no, or if they just can’t because they are on the old Saint crank. I did see a rider with XT cranks on their DH race bike specifically so they could mount a PK device, which was interesting. 

1
MarzMan
Posts
30
Joined
6/10/2023
Location
Westfield, MA US
Fantasy
6/7/2025 7:25am

CG > Today’s commentary clownshow

1
4
raozaki
Posts
37
Joined
5/25/2018
Location
CH
6/7/2025 7:38am

production privee teasing something new on their instagram

currently they're only listing the shan 5, which uses a different layout, on their website

IMG 0122 0
3
6/7/2025 9:00am
TEAMROBOT wrote:
I'm at Leogang this weekend and wanted to get a sense of how widely pedal kickback devices have been adopted by World Cuppers, along with all the...

I'm at Leogang this weekend and wanted to get a sense of how widely pedal kickback devices have been adopted by World Cuppers, along with all the other wild accessories like TMD's/shakeweights, electronics, gearboxes, and more. So out of curiosity and as a service to my fellow nerds, I stood at the top of Q1 today and counted all the devices I could. Note that certain devices were almost certainly undercounted, like shakeweights, added mass, and fancy chainring devices like Ochain or Rimpact (drivetrains were facing away from me in the starting lineup). There were 20 bikes total where I didn’t get a look at their chainring at all  

 
A total of 116 bikes were observed
25+ bikes with Ochain 
3+ bikes with Rimpact Chain Damper
11 bikes with Sidekick hub
25 bikes with STFU
17+ front shakeweights
3+ rear shakeweights
17 gearbox bikes
6 bikes running Two Chainz
3 running data acquisition
4+ with added mass strapped, taped, or zip-tied to down tube
6 bikes with electronic suspension of some sort
 
IMG 0095 0
Lessons:

More shakeweights than I expected

Pretty significant spread of pedal kickback devices. At least 39 of the 116 bikes I observed had some sort of visible pedal kickback device, like Ochain, Rimpact, or the Sidekick hub, and many of those bikes also had STFU.

I only saw one person with a front and rear shakeweight.

Pros really don't like it when you look at their bike and then write down notes on a yellow legal pad.

Next time add a clipboard and a safety vest to look official and you'll hardly get a second look. 

2
6/7/2025 9:06am
Splayleg wrote:
I’m up in the ochain gang too. OO and some of the other mob were on ochain but are not this year. Pretty sure I read...

I’m up in the ochain gang too. OO and some of the other mob were on ochain but are not this year. Pretty sure I read on here about a dt Swiss sidekick style hub so maybe he’s on that. Can anyone confirm the dt system or was I just tripping?

krabo83 wrote:
must have been me who spilled the beans. yes, DT is working on a sidekick style hub as i have been informed, but looking at how...

must have been me who spilled the beans. yes, DT is working on a sidekick style hub as i have been informed, but looking at how expensive that e13 sidekick hub is i think o-chain might be the better and service-friendlier option (no new wheel to lace up).

I thought I saw on here that the DT sidekick internals will be able to be swapped into current hubs like the WRP ones.

7
Jakub_G
Posts
353
Joined
8/7/2019
Location
SK
6/7/2025 9:51am
TEAMROBOT wrote:
Weird shock I haven’t seen before on YT junior William Pugh’s bike (I think?), spotted at the top of qualifying yesterday and then in the pits...
IMG 0091IMG 0111

Weird shock I haven’t seen before on YT junior William Pugh’s bike (I think?), spotted at the top of qualifying yesterday and then in the pits today. When I asked about it at the pits they said they couldn’t talk about it. Looks like they borrowed the dials from a microscope or maybe a hunting scope. 

It's been mentioned here couple of times, robots need better database lol. And it's Bilstein, I guess it was only matter of time since their partner company H&R started to sell SLS shock springs few months ago 🤷🏻

2
tsewhsoj
Posts
10
Joined
1/29/2024
Location
La Grande, OR US
6/7/2025 10:24am

Heard about an updated transition spur recently, similar design language as the new sentinel, still has a flex stay and seems to be 120/120. No word on release date.

8
dolface
Posts
1676
Joined
10/26/2015
Location
CA US
6/7/2025 7:01pm

Interesting tidbit from Dave Rome's interview w/ the XTR PM: the infamous pad rattle is caused by the pads hitting the retaining pin, not the caliper. New pads have an ovalized hole (so they can rock back and forth but not up and down) which supposedly fixes the issue.

9
TimBud
Posts
541
Joined
2/29/2012
Location
GB
6/8/2025 3:16am

Can we move this to the suspension thread please 

34
f.i.t.nj
Posts
43
Joined
3/7/2020
Location
Englishtown, NJ US
6/8/2025 5:22am
sethimus wrote:

Reckon it's a Williams Racing Products ratchet

juliusk wrote:
That has a lot shorter engagment than in the video. About the same as a standard 36T Ratchet.

That has a lot shorter engagment than in the video. About the same as a standard 36T Ratchet.

I have the WRP zero drag kit. That's exactly how mine engages. 

2
6/8/2025 5:52am

Reckon it's a Williams Racing Products ratchet

juliusk wrote:
That has a lot shorter engagment than in the video. About the same as a standard 36T Ratchet.

That has a lot shorter engagment than in the video. About the same as a standard 36T Ratchet.

f.i.t.nj wrote:

I have the WRP zero drag kit. That's exactly how mine engages. 

I thought the WRP has instant engagement? But will disengage the paws with a slight back pedal

1
dolface
Posts
1676
Joined
10/26/2015
Location
CA US
6/8/2025 7:47am

"In almost all riding situations, the mere act of stopping pedalling and the momentum from the cassette is enough to kick the system into its disengaged “zero drag” mode."

"The hub still engages with what’s effectively the same 36T ratchet rings as a modern DT hub."

https://escapecollective.com/review-wrp-zero-drag-kit-a-silent-upgrade-…

3
Roots_rider
Posts
87
Joined
5/8/2010
Location
Jackson, WY US
6/8/2025 8:13am
SnusDog wrote:

Also def a few people riding the hidden the hidden shakeweights / rimpact tmd - at least Troy, Craik, and Breeden that i know of

TEAMROBOT wrote:
Agreed, it’s super hard to tell what you can’t see with mass dampers. Saw lots of number plates with a big vertical fold/bulge in the middle...

Agreed, it’s super hard to tell what you can’t see with mass dampers. Saw lots of number plates with a big vertical fold/bulge in the middle, so I couldn’t actually spot a TMD but it looked like it would be there. I didn’t include those as a TMD bike in my final count.

Similarly, added mass is almost impossible to tell from your eyeballs on an Orbea or Scott. I remember a few years back Brendan was stuffing lead weights in his crank spindles. Hard to see that with your eyeballs.

As mentioned by someone else, same with the new DT hub internals from WRP. Saw a lot of DT hubs yesterday, but who knows what’s in them?

I didn’t see any particular pattern in who was running PK devices, like low pivot or high pivot. I was surprised that none of the Giant Factory riders had one, because I think of Maestro/DW Link bikes as traditionally having higher AS levels. Wondering if that was a choice by the riders, but because zero of them had it, I wonder if the higher ups at Giant or Shimano told the riders no, or if they just can’t because they are on the old Saint crank. I did see a rider with XT cranks on their DH race bike specifically so they could mount a PK device, which was interesting. 

Was going to mention the DT internals from Mic. He stated that multiple riders are running them, but didn’t point towards who. 

As for the steer tube shake weights, I think you need to just start causally sliding your finger into some tubes….definitely keep a tally for reactions to that one please.  

9
6/8/2025 9:37am Edited Date/Time 6/8/2025 9:38am
I'm a little surprised at the cost of the new Shimano drivetrain. I would consider it to replace my XO1 AXS shifter and derailleur (and move that...

I'm a little surprised at the cost of the new Shimano drivetrain. 

I would consider it to replace my XO1 AXS shifter and derailleur (and move that to another bike) that I've been running with an XT chain and cassette. 

Almost $1,000 for shifter and derailleur is higher than I was expecting. 

Dogboy wrote:

I'll be interested to see how the XT pricing compares. We'll know soon enough and it's a more comparable kit to X0.

yup because I just got a GX derailleur, cassette, chain, chainring and 160 cranks for $750, granted I found a code that seems like it probably shouldn't have worked and mysteriously is no longer available on the site.... 

i have to say, i like the short cage option on the xtr stuff. 

1
TEAMROBOT
Posts
1422
Joined
9/2/2009
Location
Los Angeles, CA US
Fantasy
6/8/2025 10:43am
Was going to mention the DT internals from Mic. He stated that multiple riders are running them, but didn’t point towards who. As for the steer tube...

Was going to mention the DT internals from Mic. He stated that multiple riders are running them, but didn’t point towards who. 

As for the steer tube shake weights, I think you need to just start causally sliding your finger into some tubes….definitely keep a tally for reactions to that one please.  

lol so good. I expect reactions would be... unique.

8
Fantaman
Posts
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Location
NL
6/9/2025 3:11am
505465036 9077985195637176 6482331877796490470 n

 

DVO's most recent post on their Instagram page saying ''Should we bring back the OG?'' 

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