2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker

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12/10/2025 2:10pm
Re #2: I think SC believes so for now - the new hightower and bronson are an air cartridge and longer stroke shock away from the...

Re #2: I think SC believes so for now - the new hightower and bronson are an air cartridge and longer stroke shock away from the current mega and nomad. But the gap between the stumpjumper and enduro make me think (hope) that specialized is inclined to fill that gap with another bike eventually.

I thought the Hightower and Bronson shared a front triangle and the Mega and Nomad shared their own front triangle...

I meant loosely from a geometry perspective - the current nomad and bronson are incredibly similar.

6
jones007
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12/10/2025 3:21pm

The latest gen of Hightower and Bronson have increased travel. I'm curious if the new MT and Nomad will continue the trend.

2
TEAMROBOT
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12/10/2025 3:49pm
Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth...

Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth and flowy. BC and Washington are classic west coast in my books.

Correct. Growing up racing DH in Oregon we used to chop holes and whoops in the dirt to make our practice tracks rougher. There are rough trails in Oregon, but for the most part trails in Oregon get smoother over time. Not so in most of Washington and California. Just something about the clay and lack of rocks in the Willamette Valley.

That said, digging dirt jumps and berms in the Portland area is like cheating. A land of milk and honey for digging, where you stick your shovel in the ground anywhere and immediately find gold. Miss that. 

7
owl-x
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12/10/2025 4:13pm

Oregon is not part of the Northwest. 

13
pinkrobe
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12/10/2025 4:38pm
owl-x wrote:

Oregon is not part of the Northwest. 

🍿

16
Brian_Peterson
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12/10/2025 4:38pm

I meant loosely from a geometry perspective - the current nomad and bronson are incredibly similar.

I wonder how much tweaking is possible before the geometry gets wonky? 

2
Ob917
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12/10/2025 4:58pm
owl-x wrote:

Oregon is not part of the Northwest. 

Haha that’s funny

3
TEAMROBOT
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12/10/2025 5:17pm
owl-x wrote:

Oregon is not part of the Northwest. 

I will fight you.

18
ntm95
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12/10/2025 5:21pm

Shoot, I thought Oregon had the gnarliest of trails...

 

Oregon-Trail

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jsray
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Gilbert, AZ US
12/10/2025 6:59pm
jones007 wrote:

The latest gen of Hightower and Bronson have increased travel. I'm curious if the new MT and Nomad will continue the trend.

Megatower is done, according to rumors. 

8
owl-x
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12/10/2025 7:55pm

Idaho: also not in the Northwest. 

5
boozed
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12/10/2025 8:49pm
owl-x wrote:

Oregon is not part of the Northwest. 

Considering it's a country that calls a group of states that are mostly in the east the "midwest", I believe you!

3
12/10/2025 11:10pm
TEAMROBOT wrote:
Correct. Growing up racing DH in Oregon we used to chop holes and whoops in the dirt to make our practice tracks rougher. There are rough...

Correct. Growing up racing DH in Oregon we used to chop holes and whoops in the dirt to make our practice tracks rougher. There are rough trails in Oregon, but for the most part trails in Oregon get smoother over time. Not so in most of Washington and California. Just something about the clay and lack of rocks in the Willamette Valley.

That said, digging dirt jumps and berms in the Portland area is like cheating. A land of milk and honey for digging, where you stick your shovel in the ground anywhere and immediately find gold. Miss that. 

Where would one go for the rough trails in Oregon? Moving there next year and prefer the rougher stuff. Sorry for going off topic.

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1
12/11/2025 12:11am
Consider this post my subscription to the new thread.. 2 things..1) Is it time for us to accept that some of the legacy brands we have...

Consider this post my subscription to the new thread.. 2 things..

1) Is it time for us to accept that some of the legacy brands we have known might be gone new players might be taking their place? That TeeWings looks a lot like a bike that at one point had wings in their logo..

2) Is the future of the longer travel enduro bike a 150/160 bike with a longer stroke shock and possibly a link?

Re #2: I think SC believes so for now - the new hightower and bronson are an air cartridge and longer stroke shock away from the...

Re #2: I think SC believes so for now - the new hightower and bronson are an air cartridge and longer stroke shock away from the current mega and nomad. But the gap between the stumpjumper and enduro make me think (hope) that specialized is inclined to fill that gap with another bike eventually.

Gap between stumpjumper 15 and enduro? Between more than capable trail bike and an enduro bike? Didn't know there was a gap that needed filling.

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12/11/2025 2:11am
TEAMROBOT wrote:
Correct. Growing up racing DH in Oregon we used to chop holes and whoops in the dirt to make our practice tracks rougher. There are rough...

Correct. Growing up racing DH in Oregon we used to chop holes and whoops in the dirt to make our practice tracks rougher. There are rough trails in Oregon, but for the most part trails in Oregon get smoother over time. Not so in most of Washington and California. Just something about the clay and lack of rocks in the Willamette Valley.

That said, digging dirt jumps and berms in the Portland area is like cheating. A land of milk and honey for digging, where you stick your shovel in the ground anywhere and immediately find gold. Miss that. 

Where would one go for the rough trails in Oregon? Moving there next year and prefer the rougher stuff. Sorry for going off topic.

Agreed with the others you go to Washington or ideally further north to get more gnarly.

There used to be a couple unofficial trails in north Portland that were short but pretty decent.  Dropped from the plateau to down by the river.  Not rough but stupid steep.  Not sure if they are still there or not.

5
12/11/2025 2:41am

Gap between stumpjumper 15 and enduro? Between more than capable trail bike and an enduro bike? Didn't know there was a gap that needed filling.

I'd agree there isn't really a gap, especially with Cascade doing their link which bumps the travel to 152/156 (27.5 has more). I've got an Enduro and one of my friends has a Stumpy 15 Ohlins - I've thought many times about how much I'd sacrifice making the change..

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1
ballz
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12/11/2025 5:23am
jones007 wrote:

The latest gen of Hightower and Bronson have increased travel. I'm curious if the new MT and Nomad will continue the trend.

No, they didn't, Bronson V5 is a 150mm bike just like the V4 was. It has ample room for overstroking though.

5
TEAMROBOT
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12/11/2025 6:36am

Where would one go for the rough trails in Oregon? Moving there next year and prefer the rougher stuff. Sorry for going off topic.

Unfortunately all of those spots are hush hush, so I'm not at liberty to say. But they do exist if you meet the right people.

The good news for people seeking rough trails in Oregon is that, with the dual combo of climate change and increased ridership that makes everything extra dry and blown out in summer, everywhere's getting rougher in Oregon all the time.

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12/11/2025 8:08am Edited Date/Time 12/11/2025 8:15am

Gap between stumpjumper 15 and enduro? Between more than capable trail bike and an enduro bike? Didn't know there was a gap that needed filling.

JerseyMojo wrote:
I'd agree there isn't really a gap, especially with Cascade doing their link which bumps the travel to 152/156 (27.5 has more). I've got an Enduro...

I'd agree there isn't really a gap, especially with Cascade doing their link which bumps the travel to 152/156 (27.5 has more). I've got an Enduro and one of my friends has a Stumpy 15 Ohlins - I've thought many times about how much I'd sacrifice making the change..

I meant to say hole in the lineup that would exist if the enduro got the axe whereas if the mega and nomad got the chop, it wouldn't be as big of a hole in SC's lineup imo.

 

I haven't ridden the stumpy 15, but there is a notable difference between the previous evo and enduro, even with a cascade link, 170 fork, and coil etc... but I think that boils down to the earlier discussion about ~150 vs ~170 bikes and which trails they're ridden on. The difference on wheelbase alone is 20-30mm depending on which stumpy and size. That 15 ohlins build does look great though.

2
12/11/2025 8:24am
jones007 wrote:

The latest gen of Hightower and Bronson have increased travel. I'm curious if the new MT and Nomad will continue the trend.

ballz wrote:

No, they didn't, Bronson V5 is a 150mm bike just like the V4 was. It has ample room for overstroking though.

I think I heard in one of the EDR vids on youtube, someone suggested that Dan Hooker had over stroked his bronson.

Either way, if a bike larger than the bronson/hightower continues to exist, I think SC would make something with a ~ 1285mm wheelbase for a size large. Similar to the frameworks enduro, raaw madonna. 

1
JVP
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12/11/2025 8:56am Edited Date/Time 12/11/2025 8:57am
Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth...

Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth and flowy. BC and Washington are classic west coast in my books.

Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features and exposed more bedrock from Washington State north. Oregon didn't get the sweet, sweet ice sheet remodeling. The maximum extent of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was Tenino, which is between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.

In the Seattle area you have a lot of glacial till soils that the ice pushed around. Further north the ice scraped away soils and smoothed the bedrock, making terrain for amazing tech riding. This is what makes North Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler such amazing places to ride tech and big slabs.

USGS-Channeled-Scablands-Map.gif?VersionId=.nxfg9ZrVsEYe4pe5

 

ger explore glaciers ice thickness

(ice sheet thickness in feet) from Washington's Glacial Geology | Department of Natural Resources

OK, back to tech rumors...

49
Poleczechy
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Hartsel, CO US
12/11/2025 9:05am
JVP wrote:
Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features...

Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features and exposed more bedrock from Washington State north. Oregon didn't get the sweet, sweet ice sheet remodeling. The maximum extent of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was Tenino, which is between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.

In the Seattle area you have a lot of glacial till soils that the ice pushed around. Further north the ice scraped away soils and smoothed the bedrock, making terrain for amazing tech riding. This is what makes North Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler such amazing places to ride tech and big slabs.

USGS-Channeled-Scablands-Map.gif?VersionId=.nxfg9ZrVsEYe4pe5

 

ger explore glaciers ice thickness

(ice sheet thickness in feet) from Washington's Glacial Geology | Department of Natural Resources

OK, back to tech rumors...

the-simpsons-homer-simpson.gif?VersionId= pus8GpWOEKeIm8a4lfK
27
1
dolface
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CA US
12/11/2025 9:21am Edited Date/Time 12/11/2025 9:22am
Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth...

Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth and flowy. BC and Washington are classic west coast in my books.

JVP wrote:
Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features...

Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features and exposed more bedrock from Washington State north. Oregon didn't get the sweet, sweet ice sheet remodeling. The maximum extent of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was Tenino, which is between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.

In the Seattle area you have a lot of glacial till soils that the ice pushed around. Further north the ice scraped away soils and smoothed the bedrock, making terrain for amazing tech riding. This is what makes North Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler such amazing places to ride tech and big slabs.

USGS-Channeled-Scablands-Map.gif?VersionId=.nxfg9ZrVsEYe4pe5

 

ger explore glaciers ice thickness

(ice sheet thickness in feet) from Washington's Glacial Geology | Department of Natural Resources

OK, back to tech rumors...

Heck yeah, let's get MORE soil science, glaciology and and geomorphology in here! Who wants to nerd out on the Franciscan melange?

Also:
image 511

15
Digit Bikes
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Irvine, CA US
12/11/2025 9:22am
bnsleit wrote:
Can someone do the math and tell me if I'll have a similar axle to crown if I swap this with the Marz 888 on my...

Can someone do the math and tell me if I'll have a similar axle to crown if I swap this with the Marz 888 on my Sunday and keep the 26"

I know you're kidding, but you need crown-to-ground because the axle is about 3" higher. Fine tune your clearance with crank length. 

 

3
1
12/11/2025 9:59am Edited Date/Time 12/11/2025 10:03am
JVP wrote:
Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features...

Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features and exposed more bedrock from Washington State north. Oregon didn't get the sweet, sweet ice sheet remodeling. The maximum extent of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was Tenino, which is between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.

In the Seattle area you have a lot of glacial till soils that the ice pushed around. Further north the ice scraped away soils and smoothed the bedrock, making terrain for amazing tech riding. This is what makes North Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler such amazing places to ride tech and big slabs.

USGS-Channeled-Scablands-Map.gif?VersionId=.nxfg9ZrVsEYe4pe5

 

ger explore glaciers ice thickness

(ice sheet thickness in feet) from Washington's Glacial Geology | Department of Natural Resources

OK, back to tech rumors...

Glaciers smooshed my state and all I got was this ~~dumb t-shirt~~ terrible sandy soil

(Edit: I thought I knew the formatting here but I guess not)

5
Evwan
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Sunnyvale, CA US
12/11/2025 10:20am
Ob917 wrote:

Most parts of the US 150 is PLENTY!

But not the west side, 170 all day 

Having ridden on both west and east coast.  I kind of disagree.  Climbs on the east coast are shorter and most trail centers are on the...

Having ridden on both west and east coast.  I kind of disagree.  Climbs on the east coast are shorter and most trail centers are on the janky rocky side versus flowy with some tech sections.  A lot less machine built trails in general as well.  I’d be way more inclined to sacrifice some travel for efficiency if I was still in Oregon.

Either way people should really think about what they like to ride and how they like to ride it.  Even if you are a park rat you are probably a ok on a mid travel trail bike if you are going to hit the jump trails all day and occasionally veer off to a tech trail that you don’t necessarily ride with a lot of confidence or speed.   But if you want to push yourself in any section you come across some extra travel goes a long way.  No replacement for displacement.  Just got to work a little harder getting to the top and in flatter sections.

 

Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth...

Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth and flowy. BC and Washington are classic west coast in my books.

Add Santa Cruz to the west coast mix. Lots of chunky / steep / fast stuff that merits a slacked out 170mm bike. 

Like yeah, I could ride a 26lb stumpjumper on those trails, but I'm having way more fun on a DH capable enduro rig. 

I don't think the enduro style of bike is going anywhere. It's more fun than a 150mm trail bike in a lot of scenarios. 

12
saskskier
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Location
Calgary, AB CA
12/11/2025 10:58am
Having ridden on both west and east coast.  I kind of disagree.  Climbs on the east coast are shorter and most trail centers are on the...

Having ridden on both west and east coast.  I kind of disagree.  Climbs on the east coast are shorter and most trail centers are on the janky rocky side versus flowy with some tech sections.  A lot less machine built trails in general as well.  I’d be way more inclined to sacrifice some travel for efficiency if I was still in Oregon.

Either way people should really think about what they like to ride and how they like to ride it.  Even if you are a park rat you are probably a ok on a mid travel trail bike if you are going to hit the jump trails all day and occasionally veer off to a tech trail that you don’t necessarily ride with a lot of confidence or speed.   But if you want to push yourself in any section you come across some extra travel goes a long way.  No replacement for displacement.  Just got to work a little harder getting to the top and in flatter sections.

 

Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth...

Oregon isn't really representative of the riding on the West Coast when people talk about needing bigger bikes out here. Oregon is known for being smooth and flowy. BC and Washington are classic west coast in my books.

Evwan wrote:
Add Santa Cruz to the west coast mix. Lots of chunky / steep / fast stuff that merits a slacked out 170mm bike. Like yeah, I could...

Add Santa Cruz to the west coast mix. Lots of chunky / steep / fast stuff that merits a slacked out 170mm bike. 

Like yeah, I could ride a 26lb stumpjumper on those trails, but I'm having way more fun on a DH capable enduro rig. 

I don't think the enduro style of bike is going anywhere. It's more fun than a 150mm trail bike in a lot of scenarios. 

I wonder if there will be more bikes like the Bottle Rocket? I'm not sure there are a ton of enduro racers on 170/180mm "enduro" bikes, but rather on 150/160mm "trail" bikes. 

Along those lines, I know some guys who are doing 20-30ft road gaps/jumps/etc on Spec Enduro's and don't seem them replacing them with Stumpy's anytime soon. I wonder if there is more overlap between Enduro and Status riders than Enduro and Stumpy riders. Maybe?

5
Jotegr
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339
Joined
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Location
Interior, BC CA
12/11/2025 11:33am Edited Date/Time 12/11/2025 11:33am

I think the French DH riders have it right when they just describe everything as either a DH bike or a trail bike. It's wild to me that people are thinking 150mm bikes are trail bikes now. I should be a bit more French. 

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