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Pipe is defined by it's internal diameter whereas tube is defined by it's external diameter. Metal framed seat tubes are built using tube because you can easily get hole saws in the same sizes as tube, whereas reamers are relatively easy to grind or are adjustable. I imagine the 30.9-vs-31.6 issue came about because of available material and from either a frame maker is taking the lead on the design process, or a seat post maker taking the lead.
I recall hearing that BITD Specialized put a lot of time into working out which was the best fit for their product line (using mostly aluminum and steel frames at the time) and 30.9 was their answer.
I spoke to a few seat post manufacturers who ever so slightly prefer 30.9 because the thicker wall better resists being squeezed enough to bind the dropper. They also told me there are many more 31.6mm posts in the world, so they design such that binding isn't an issue.
I-beam dropper from SDG…
I didn't even know SDG still made I-beam saddles.
34,9 mm is not a dropper post related standard. I had a Scott Scale back in my xc racing days in 2005 that had a 34,9 mm seatpost.
As for binding and bushing overlap and the like, there are very few dropper posts that have a 34,9 mm specific upper (Bikeyoke Max series) as opposed to just running a thicker lower/outer tube with the rest of the parts the same as with 30,9 and 31,6 mm posts.
You may wish to edit that 1st sentence to "dropper post related standard". 😉
Thanks. Done.
A thicker outer tube isn't a bad thing in my book. Less prone to suffer from excessive clamping, less prone to binding. This is particularly bad with PNW droppers, where they of en come over-machined and you need to tighten the seat clamp to avoid them from lowering/twisting. Out of tolerance frames (I'm looking at you, Giant!) are another contributing factor.
The new Loam Gen 2 from PNW that we just reviewed uses a 26mm stanchion for the 30.9/31.6, and a 29mm stanchion for the 34.9.
The New offering looks pretty dialed, and I did say in a previous post that I would probably get one if they went back to Boost. The increase in travel, both front and rear, isn’t a huge selling point for me. My local trails are fairly mellow and my daily driver for the last couple seasons has been a 150/135 mullet trail bike. Just small enough to enjoy my local trails and just big enough to handle rougher trails when I travel to real mountains.
So that got me thinking about the new offering run as a mullet with a 150mm fork, run in the high setting. Is there anyway to figure out what that would put the BB at?
https://madscientistmtb.com/bike-geometry-calculator/
Thanks!!! I’ll play around with that
you can ask evil in our forum hot seat, too - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/new-evil-offering-forum-hot-seat-ev…
Guys a straight clown and like Paul Aston and others with mediocre skill levels use all these gimmick to try to get them to ride faster but somehow never get any better
Aston and Cahal have their quirks but calling them mediocre riders is complete BS. Both of those guys rip.
Also 435 chainstay on a modern XL mtb is a joke IMO. Especially for a frame that costs $4k.
They have poor attitudes that everything that isn’t this incredibly niche aftermarket brand that only exist in this one country are garbage is insane. Sorry I like to be able to pick my front wheel up.
I re-read this post and couldn't understand what you were trying to say. Not to mention your response seems filled with unnecessary vitriol over someone just mentioning a persons name.
Judging by your response I can only assume that you're harboring some deep seeded PTSD from him crushing you at the local beer league endubro. Which I do personally feel like that might be worth seeking some help for as it's never good to cary such such a burden mentally.
All that besides, I'm glad you feel like Evil's 435 rear center is what you want in a size XL. I certainly do not, nor do a lot of people who actually ride bikes larger than a medium. Vote with your wallet and buy one of their bikes.
Back to tech rumors. Looks like a lot of Fox 38s and 40s are on sale. When do you think they'll announce the new forks?
Post your roots and rain page, sir.
Greeting people with "what's up assholes?" in videos is not poor attitudes. Leave Unc alone, he's honest and he works hard to spread the good word of long rear centres.
Something that holds our industry back is that we think that bike skills = bike design skills. They don’t. It helps to have bike skills and experience to inform bike design, but we have some amazing riders designing some absolute turds. Once we accept some of the mediocre riders might actually have deep insights into bike design we will see some huge improvements overall.
It seems like he's backed off on that a bit lately... I thought it was funny and kinda stood out a bit.
Rode with Brian ages ago in Whistler. Certified shredder.
But since this is tech rumors, via ride companion episode with Gee, sounds like Atherton could be working on an eeb.
Rumors are 170mm aluminum ebike in the works from Atherton, probably modeled around the S-series DW4 link. Nothing confirmed on drive unit yet.
Without any knowledge to what they actually use I would guess perhaps the new Maxon Motor.
I had a quick ride on the CDuro prototype with the motor and seen the Dedicated Bike with it. Both share a similar construction as the Atherton bike and a square downtube for the battery can be integrated pretty easily.
Apart from that the motor is pretty small and powerful. It has some nice characteristics and felt pretty natural riding it on the parking lot.
I was chatting to Maxon ebike manager and he had certainly visited Atherton HQ.... Whether it makes it as the final product will have have to be seen
Any other rumours you've heard ? I'm super interested/curious about the Maxon motors... hopefully it comes on more e-bikes in the next year.
Sadly not, I'm actually just a maxon robot motors customer and managed to get a call with the guy because I was interested in the product. Still looking to maybe make my own e bike with their system tho....
isn't there an e-bike thread?
When were tech rumours banned from the tech rumours thread?
Edit: Less sarcastic response: The e-bike thread is for non-tech-rumour related e-bike discussions. The e-bike discussion above however looks very much like tech rumours to me.
For anyone interested in bracket testing!:
Looks like the Madonna might get the Yalla V2 adjustable dropout soon. Found these on mtbnews.de for a an industry event with everyone attending bike setup pictured https://www.mtb-news.de/news/bock-auf-ballern-2025/