MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation

 Y’all are doing a great job proving Spomer is right to close this thread. 
Tell me some news!!!

Rumor has it there will be a new Vivid next year...

Cane Creek Prototype inverted fork shown in this slideshow. 
 

New 3.2 damper as well.

Interesting. I wonder what "flaws" they're iterating on with this damper? The 3.1 is already pretty amazing.

Same here, recently bought the new ZEB and absolutely love the feel of it. Most likely switching my 40 out for a Boxxer based on the feel. 

Well hello there

It has very Stratos S8 vibes

Replying to this and the 3.2 damper. 

There will be a new boxxxer and Zeb coming with tweaked dampers for the new airspring that we have got the spy shots of. 

Canyon makes a mountain bike helmet now, but it's not just another me-too product. New safety tech puts them #1 in Virginia Tech's rankings, while a funky chin strap arrangement is sure to raise some eyebrows: https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/canyon-debuts-five-star-rated-deflectr-mtb-helmet.

Seems like a quality helmet.  The integrated magnet light is a nice feature as well.  But you couldn’t pay me to use that boa goattee chin strap.

Can I be honest, if I can't just click on one thread and read the entire conversation, I probably won't read the forum at all. I find this thread pulls me in and then when I have more time or I'm curious, I check out other threads. But without this main one, I wouldn't bother visiting vital. Wish it were different but I hope I'm at least helping by giving voice to some other people out there.

I enjoy catching up on 6 pages of inane comments to find a nugget of cool rumors. Others might be different.

Yup, this thread is what brought me to Vital. So far I've just enjoyed reading, but with the impending closure, I decided it was worth making an account to cast my vote for annual versions of the tech-rumors thread. 

I only sub to 3-4 threads this is one of them yearly would be great like teams.

Next one:

Frameworks is rumored to shift production to one of Taiwans premium aluminum manufacturers for better manufacturing quality and consistency.

This would also help with availability.. Unfortunately, until something changes here in the US, this is a move that is hard to avoid..

Also adding S and XL sizes. Other than the fact that I love my Madonna, not having an XL would have been one of the things keeping from getting a FW. Looks like it's back on the menu. Ha ha.

How old is Frank the Welder? Dude has been making frames since before I can remember. I wonder if he can, or even if he wants to keep up with Frameworks growth?

He definitely not a young guy... I follow him on IG.. I think he enjoys welding and doing projects of sorts, but doing full on production runs may not be his thing now..

Frameworks Newsletter

Thank you for following along with Frameworks! We have our 2026 DH and Enduro Frames coming into stock soon and wanted to give you a quick update on what to expect. 

DH Frames will be shipping in February, and Enduro Frames will be shipping in March. We prioritized the DH Frames so that our racers who will be starting their season in March would have them in time to build before season. 

New for 2026: DH frames will be available in 4 sizes: S,M,L,XL. More details coming soon in our next newsletter. In short, we’ve added an S and XL to our existing size line up. 

What's not new is the ride quality and reliability that you'd expect out of a FW bike. The same race winning, stable geometry, and predictable kinematics that we’ve built our brand on, in a package that’s easy to live with. 

If you are a Frameworks customer, chances are you are going racing. We are too! Our staff, teams, and athletes will be at the following race series:

Downhill Southeast, Monster Energy Pro Downhill, and UCI World Cup DH.

If you have a warranty/crash replacement issue at a race, come see us at our pit space. We are committed to honoring warranty/crash replacement claims on-site and helping with Frameworks specific small parts needs whenever possible to keep you running in the unlikely event you have a problem. Perhaps at some races we can do more, but at the very least you can count on us being there in person with FW specific spares. Fine print to come, but it's simple: we are committed to the highest level of after purchase support.

Keep an eye out for our 2026 Frameworks Racing team roster. We have some new athletes on our World Cup Downhill team for next season and we can’t wait to share the news. 

We hope you consider a Frameworks for your 2026 race bike. We’ve done the homework on bike set-up for you, It's developed to go fast, and it's easy to maintain.

Thanks!

Neko

I believe they already had  the small atleast for the enduro. The xl is new though i think. I'm 5'9" and was on the medium. With how long the chainstays are and my terrain i probably could have sized down to the small. Its a burly bike that wants to go fast but felt pretty big on flow trails. 

So as the year and this thread draws to a close, what were 2025's most significant innovations? What could get nominated for the Innovation Of The Year Awards?

32" wheels? That seems like nominating a shoe size.

Fox's Glidecore air piston? That seems awfully similar to what Formula and perhaps others have used already. 

Some aspect of Shimano Di2? Maybe the wiggly shifter buttons or the angled brake levers?

I really hope the greatest innovation isn't founders coming out of retirement in hope of saving their foundlings from extinction.

We've had this discussion amongst the Vital staff as well, which basically resulted in our "Best Of 2025" Gear Show a couple of weeks ago: https://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/best-new-mtb-products-2025-vital-mtb-gear-show.

We'd be super interested in hearing the answers from the greater community to this question as well - what stood out to you guys in "Team Green" at large :-) ? We felt like it was a year of incremental advancement and refinement, as opposed to new innovations that stood above the others in a more significant way.

The single most newsworthy innovation is widely available USD forks.  

Regarding other things that stick out to me from this last year:

-Chain Slap / Anti-kick back devices: E13 sidekick hub, DT Swiss DGDF

-Drivetrain items: Shimano Wireless, Sram c70/c90 mechanical transmission

-Misc suspension: MRP Lift Damper, Fox DHX/X2 lineup, Push Sv8/vtx, More Bomber/DHX aftermarket tuning options

-Brakes: Hope's new lineup, Maven Base, Shimano's new brakes, Lewis Xerox Machine, thicker rotors, rotor shrouds

-Ebike: Bosch cx gen 5, DJI avinox, specialized fast charger for levo 4

-Apparel/Accessories: Battery tire inflation pump madness, Canyon's new breakaway helmet design, The return of shoulder strap packs (many), the return of shorts in downhill racing, garmin inreach 4?

-Tires: Schwalbe Radial tires, 120tpi tire options (more), Maxxis HR3 and dissector 2

I'm sure there are more that I am forgetting... at least I hope there are.  

I'm going to preface this with "I absolutely zero interest in electronic shifting", but I think it's hard to argue against Shimano actually producing a wireless groupset being one of the biggest tech stories of the year. It might not be groundbreaking in the same way AXS was, but I appreciate SRAM doesn't have a monopoly on wireless anymore. 

I also think full production ready looking Specialized Demo dh bike being shown to the world is pretty huge after years and years of different prototypes.

Shimano has been on the “me too” cycle with mountain bike products for at least the last 10 years. It’s all just been reactions to what SRAM and others have been doing. Nominating them for any kind of award is just a hard no in my opinion. 

https://www.transitionbikes.com/Bikes/Spire

The innovation we see the most this year. Bold new  graphics. This is the new Trek Project One Spire

noticed on the press release for the new limited editionYT tues, looks like a 20mm variant of industry nine's 1/1. No 20mm options on i9's configurator currently, I believe the bearings they already run have space for a 20mm axle, i9 just hasn't ever made the endcaps. Maybe YT got them to spin up a batch for these builds, maybe there's a 1/1 2 coming down the pipe. just caught my eye

The V10.8 I bought in 2024 has a set of 1/1 hubs with 20mm end caps...

Yeah reserves have been coming with 20mm 1/1s for a few years now