Hello Vital MTB Visitor,
We’re conducting a survey and would appreciate your input. Your answers will help Vital and the MTB industry better understand what riders like you want. Survey results will be used to recognize top brands. Make your voice heard!
Five lucky people will be selected at random to win a Vital MTB t-shirt.
Thanks in advance,
The Vital MTB Crew
IIRC the carbon rear end saved around 400 grams. If that isn't noticeable, I don't think the weight difference of a derailleur is going to be noticable.
Screenshot and link? Spoiling us
What are we considering as a "heavy wheelset" in the context of this conversation?
Combining some 2024-2025 redux and hopes for 2026, are there any rumors on consumer-focused data acquisition systems a la Motion Instruments - something much more accurate and useful than Shockwiz, but not nearly as complex as what's currently available.
Anybody know if Spesh is considering doing anything with MI other than sitting on the IP? Maybe integrating it into their bikes in some sort of proprietary fashion? Been quiet for quite some time.
Thats a good question. Curious about this too. Once upon a time I had a heavy WTB wheel set and WTB tires. The wheelset went on 2 bikes and in hindsight there were my favorite performing bikes. I thought it was just the frames, but now Im kind of thinking it may be the wheels after reading this.
Posting this in both Tech Rumors threads for visibility.
Looks like a new/updated ohlins rear shock, as well as a different airspring top cap on the updated fork.
I mean, I usually ride ex471 rear rims, 2.0-1.8-2.0 spokes, laced to whatever dtswiss hub I get my hands onto (28h straight pull hybrids right now). Same setup for the front, except for the 30mm, slighty lighter rim (as I like "soft" front wheels) I suppose this is not light nor heavy of a wheelset...
There's an interesting travel/sag-o-meter type deal on that, it's connected to the shock hardware where it meets the frame as opposed to mounting either side of the spring. I love winter, it's peak rumours and r&d season!
My guess is they will sit'n spin on the IP to make sure no one but internal dev teams have access to it.
No way a good faith, universally compatible product that can be used by other competing entities for development will be released from the S. Happy to be proved wrong as I REALLY want the MI kit but this feels like something that will never see the light of day now that it's been ingested by phagocytic IP entities.
I haven't heard anything (I had my System 2 MI order cancelled the day before it was supposed to ship 😡) and keep an eye on this thread for any hints/signs of hope.
Headtube lengths?
Schwalbe Radials are my innovation of the year. They came out in August 2024, but after riding them in all 4 seasons It'd be hard to go back to running a non-radial in the front.
I swapped out gx transmission/cassette for Gen 1 axs/xo DH which saved around 300gm I think, the difference was very noticeable. Same shock, same pressures, same tyres. Retrospectively, perhaps rebound could be sped up to counter the heavier setup, but seems like a bandaid solution I guess.
I've had nothing but bother with transmission, it does shift awesome under load when it's running right. It's been interesting trying di2 wireless, I think it's the superior system. B-tension and more emphasis on micro adjustment (with greater range than sram) in inital setup seems like a better solution to me. Transmission cages take a hiding hanging so low too.
Sorry this turned into a rant about my dislike of transmission rather than a valid point
dedicated thread (with poll) to unsprung weight if anyone cares - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/does-unsprung-weight-really-impact-…
Absolutely not for me. Way too tall way to long way way too big chain stays.
https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/modern-geo-talk-chainstays-stack-re…
Me too. Bet the vinn diagram of MI2 preorders and people with a vital profile was pretty much a single circle.
Here's to hoping 2026 is the year!
Banshee is perfect except for dropper insertion
And prototype radial-casing-esque Cannibals.
Bruni said the bike is the best on the circuit but I've always wondered about tires and if the team has a disadvantage... Spec tires are great value for money and a good option for regular riding but I've always found them a tier below maxxis/conti's top tier (and haven't tried radials yet). Then again I'm not riding at Loic or Finns pace.
We might see the Brembos make an appearance soon. I think I spied silver caliper/lever brembos on a story of Finn's turbo levo a few weeks back.
Have you tried the Cannibals? They are seriously good tires
Saw this and came to check if anyone beat me to it!
Ohlins currently put the spring in the right hand fork leg, so unless they've stopped that, that is a new damper in the left leg
Any particular reason you think these are radials?
there were rumors towards the end of the WC series that spec was working on radials. finns tires have the labels covered.
Yea, and every brand has been re-tooling/messing with their casings since the Radials dropped. Specialized has their own R&D tire lab just for race tires, so they're always cooking stuff up. We'll see most of the brands have some sort of 'updated casing' dropping in 2026-ish. They won't all be full-on Radial, but will likely all be going that direction, if even just a little bit. As has been discussed many times, the current Maxxis High Roller 3 in the DH casing has a different casing from all the other tires. Maxxis will be rolling out the new casings soon with PR, etc. I suspect they have further modified it since the High Roller 3 went into production.
Not sure if this is real and if it’s been posted. New decals for Öhlins forks. Looks horrid in comparison to the old decals.
Just stick a pair of googly eyes over them. A snake tongue maybe or some shark teeth. We should at least try to have some fun with them, because they are indeed horrid
Putting the new logo onto a fork doesn't help it.. That old logo was so iconic across so many different fields that it just makes no sense to me.. @jeff.brines find the person responsible for this an interview them..
I dont know Im usually someone to nit pick and bitch about things in this thread, but honestly looking at the logo does not look that bad. Its weird given that it has a heritage and the old one did look okay. But objectively, it still looks okay. Its just different. Now one thing I would like to see is the molded/cncd logo on their rear shocks, I hope that does not adopt the new one. But if it does, whatever. It least they are not making their forks bright orange.
I don't know, I love the yellow lowers that Goodman Santa Cruz was running for some time.