2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker

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dolface
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CA US
1/20/2026 7:30pm
sspomer wrote:
MrDuck wrote:

W8 m8 I thought Rheeder's brand was Title? What did i miss?

He sold his share in Title a while back and started Signature; PB did a podcast w/ him and he said something along the lines of not being able to reach his vision w/ the way Title was set up (my memory is a bit hazy on the exact phrasing).
Apparently he put up an IG post but I'm not on Insta so can't link...

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Evil96
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1/20/2026 8:39pm
I find it hard to believe that this would be an Esker, simply because the design is more complicated than what is on brand for them...

I find it hard to believe that this would be an Esker, simply because the design is more complicated than what is on brand for them. A huge part of their ethos is simplicity: Every bike they sell has external cable routing. Why would they do internal routing, especially if this was a prototype or validation frame? With how much the industry is struggling (Esker themselves have had a bunch of their bikes on sale, including their suspension bikes they just brought back this past year), I would be surprised that they would be trying to expand outside their core market. With that said, Priority also made the Vanth out of nowhere, so what do I know? 🤷IMG 1850 1

timkrueger wrote:
Tim at Esker here. You are correct sir, it's not us.The only thing I can say is that every guess in this whole thread is flat...

Tim at Esker here. You are correct sir, it's not us.

The only thing I can say is that every guess in this whole thread is flat out wrong. 

Straight from the man himself, I love the validation! 😂 Dave Weagle starting his own brand???

He’s got one, part of it anyway, and that’s Evil Bikes 

Co owned with Kevin Walsh 

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Primoz
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1/20/2026 9:11pm

Didn't he sell that aaaaages ago in the e.thirteen days and then sold that ages ago too? 

Also, copying Phoenix... It's not copying the Phoenix, it's using the same suspension layout. I'm guessing this is DW driven, as in defined by him, not copying-another-brand driven. 

1
Evil96
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1/20/2026 9:21pm
Primoz wrote:
Didn't he sell that aaaaages ago in the e.thirteen days and then sold that ages ago too? Also, copying Phoenix... It's not copying the Phoenix, it's using...

Didn't he sell that aaaaages ago in the e.thirteen days and then sold that ages ago too? 

Also, copying Phoenix... It's not copying the Phoenix, it's using the same suspension layout. I'm guessing this is DW driven, as in defined by him, not copying-another-brand driven. 

he did sell e*13, he still owns Evil Bikes, he did the whole Geometry/Suspension design around the newest Offering V4 for example

2
Primoz
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1/20/2026 9:31pm Edited Date/Time 1/20/2026 9:37pm

That he did the geometry and suspension is no surprise since Evil uses his Delta link. In that regard it's not much different to Ibis, Pivot, Atherton, etc. It's what Dave does. But the fact alone doesn't necessarily mean he still owns part of Evil.

EDIT: from 2012: https://nsmb.com/articles/5211-the-untold-story-of-absolute-evil/ 

"With their experience, connections, know-how and now the favourable signs from within the industry and speculative consumers, Kevin and Todd decided to go ahead. Kevin retained the ownership of the business and Todd took the gamble, while Dave decided to license his design and engineering skills but not have an active role in the company."

"Dave Weagle still retains some links to Evil but more as a technical consultant these days."

While it does specifically say Dave does or does not own a part of Evil, and while the article is old (2012), it doesn't really read like he has a stake in it, at least not a sizeable one. 

peecee
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Fantasy
1/20/2026 9:47pm Edited Date/Time 1/20/2026 9:48pm

New Ohlins 

Screenshot 2026-01-21 at 3.47.21%E2%80%AFPM 0

23
boozed
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AU
1/20/2026 10:37pm

Straight from the man himself, I love the validation! 😂 Dave Weagle starting his own brand???

timkrueger wrote:

Nope, still wrong.

Polygon continuing to treat suspension linkages like pokemon?

14
1/20/2026 11:33pm

Does anyone know if Fox is updating the chassis on the 38 and 40 this year? They already upgraded the 32, 34 and 36...

1
1
TimBud
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1/20/2026 11:45pm
Marcus J wrote:

Does anyone know if Fox is updating the chassis on the 38 and 40 this year? They already upgraded the 32, 34 and 36...

Go have a look at the insta of Asa Vermette, Frameworks and Gwin... and scroll back on this thread too Wink

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TimBud
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1/20/2026 11:49pm
Evil96 wrote:

he did sell e*13, he still owns Evil Bikes, he did the whole Geometry/Suspension design around the newest Offering V4 for example

He doesn't own Evil

Go check out the Stay On Your Bike Podcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C07wmDTFUrE

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1/21/2026 12:27am
If designed to the same max load, a 35 mm bar is approximately 10% stiffer. The required cross sectional area of the 35 mm bar is...

If designed to the same max load, a 35 mm bar is approximately 10% stiffer. The required cross sectional area of the 35 mm bar is also smaller, so it would be lighter. Below is an example where the bar is evaluated as a basic cantilevered beam where the length is 400 mm and the load is 450 N. r1 and r2 correspond to the 35 mm bar and r3 and r4 correspond to the 31.8 mm bar.

Bar stiffness
Nobble wrote:
Doesn’t that comparison assume uniform cross section/stiffness across the whole length and neglect the fact that both taper to the same diameter fairly quickly? The flex...

Doesn’t that comparison assume uniform cross section/stiffness across the whole length and neglect the fact that both taper to the same diameter fairly quickly? The flex will be distributed across the whole bar, not just at the stem interface.


I would imagine that taper profile might actually be more important than just clamp diameter. I remember my old 31.8 Boobars had a weird profile and didn’t really taper until right at the controls. Most of my 35mm bars seem to taper pretty quickly.


It would be interesting to model a few bars and do some analysis on them.

Pinkbike and EnduroMTB(?) did handlebar roundups recently where they tested the bars to have a gander at. 

We did a fun experiment years ago (2019), a DIY setup to measure bar deflection under a given load. It starts at 7 minutes:

https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/35mm-Carbon-Handlebars-Flex-Tested-amp-More-Vital-Gear-Show,2801.

4
krabo83
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1/21/2026 12:30am
Marcus J wrote:

Does anyone know if Fox is updating the chassis on the 38 and 40 this year? They already upgraded the 32, 34 and 36...

TimBud wrote:

Go have a look at the insta of Asa Vermette, Frameworks and Gwin... and scroll back on this thread too Wink

or richie rude, ed masters, etc. Wink

Karabuka
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SI
1/21/2026 1:27am
If designed to the same max load, a 35 mm bar is approximately 10% stiffer. The required cross sectional area of the 35 mm bar is...

If designed to the same max load, a 35 mm bar is approximately 10% stiffer. The required cross sectional area of the 35 mm bar is also smaller, so it would be lighter. Below is an example where the bar is evaluated as a basic cantilevered beam where the length is 400 mm and the load is 450 N. r1 and r2 correspond to the 35 mm bar and r3 and r4 correspond to the 31.8 mm bar.

Bar stiffness

Oh wow I havent seen Mathematica in ages, brings back memories... 

3
Evil96
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1/21/2026 2:18am
Primoz wrote:
That he did the geometry and suspension is no surprise since Evil uses his Delta link. In that regard it's not much different to Ibis, Pivot...

That he did the geometry and suspension is no surprise since Evil uses his Delta link. In that regard it's not much different to Ibis, Pivot, Atherton, etc. It's what Dave does. But the fact alone doesn't necessarily mean he still owns part of Evil.

EDIT: from 2012: https://nsmb.com/articles/5211-the-untold-story-of-absolute-evil/ 

"With their experience, connections, know-how and now the favourable signs from within the industry and speculative consumers, Kevin and Todd decided to go ahead. Kevin retained the ownership of the business and Todd took the gamble, while Dave decided to license his design and engineering skills but not have an active role in the company."

"Dave Weagle still retains some links to Evil but more as a technical consultant these days."

While it does specifically say Dave does or does not own a part of Evil, and while the article is old (2012), it doesn't really read like he has a stake in it, at least not a sizeable one. 

i follow Evil smooth operator on instagram, Jason Moeschler, ceo of Evil bikes, i'm pretty sure he mentioned more than once that Weagle and Walsh own the company, might be wrong but i heard this more than once

4
motomike
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Linville, NC US
1/21/2026 4:11am
Primoz wrote:
Didn't he sell that aaaaages ago in the e.thirteen days and then sold that ages ago too? Also, copying Phoenix... It's not copying the Phoenix, it's using...

Didn't he sell that aaaaages ago in the e.thirteen days and then sold that ages ago too? 

Also, copying Phoenix... It's not copying the Phoenix, it's using the same suspension layout. I'm guessing this is DW driven, as in defined by him, not copying-another-brand driven. 

Also worth mentioning the US patent for DW Link expired in September 2023, so it could be anyone.

11
Primoz
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1/21/2026 4:36am Edited Date/Time 1/21/2026 4:40am

That's probably for the original DW link. DW6 (at least the dual chainz) is a very fresh patent. 

Also, Dave's secret sauce is not the link itself but supposedly the holistic design to the complete bike and the resulting ride quality it brings. Supposedly besides the suspension linkage the frame company also gets the whole geometry for the bike. 

From that standpoint it also doesn't make sense to have a stake in a bicycle company as you'd be competing against yourself essentially. 

9
1/21/2026 4:54am
peecee wrote:
New Ohlins 

New Ohlins 

Screenshot 2026-01-21 at 3.47.21%E2%80%AFPM 0

New shock, and new stanchion treatment by the looks of it. Could be the Ti-Nitride stuff they do on the moto stuff...which doesn't play well with alloy stanchions, so either it's not Ti-Nitride OR the stanchions are not alloy.

3
Znarf
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DE
1/21/2026 6:04am

I´d be interested, how you keep the proper chain tension on the short little chain (on the above alloy prototype OR the Phoenix)?

Does it lengthen, when it wears? Is that of no consequence, because there are not many links? 
Or is there some kind of tensioning device? 

If it makes the use of an OCHAIN unnecessary/obsolete, even on a pedally (enduro etc.) bike it could be actually less complicated to maintain than a regular high pivot bike? 
Or a 4bar with an OCHAIN?

1
Jakub_G
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SK
1/21/2026 6:06am
iceman2058 wrote:
New shock, and new stanchion treatment by the looks of it. Could be the Ti-Nitride stuff they do on the moto stuff...which doesn't play well with...

New shock, and new stanchion treatment by the looks of it. Could be the Ti-Nitride stuff they do on the moto stuff...which doesn't play well with alloy stanchions, so either it's not Ti-Nitride OR the stanchions are not alloy.

More likely is DLC coating.

1
1
krabo83
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AT
1/21/2026 8:47am
chriskief wrote:
sspomer wrote:
that page is so awesome w/ all the photos and video clips from last season!

that page is so awesome w/ all the photos and video clips from last season!

thought the same. i don‘t own a DH bike but that landing page gets me hyped for what‘s to come Smile

1
1/21/2026 8:55am
I find it hard to believe that this would be an Esker, simply because the design is more complicated than what is on brand for them...

I find it hard to believe that this would be an Esker, simply because the design is more complicated than what is on brand for them. A huge part of their ethos is simplicity: Every bike they sell has external cable routing. Why would they do internal routing, especially if this was a prototype or validation frame? With how much the industry is struggling (Esker themselves have had a bunch of their bikes on sale, including their suspension bikes they just brought back this past year), I would be surprised that they would be trying to expand outside their core market. With that said, Priority also made the Vanth out of nowhere, so what do I know? 🤷IMG 1850 1

timkrueger wrote:
Tim at Esker here. You are correct sir, it's not us.The only thing I can say is that every guess in this whole thread is flat...

Tim at Esker here. You are correct sir, it's not us.

The only thing I can say is that every guess in this whole thread is flat out wrong. 

Barney wrote:
i immediately thought its an Alu mule for the firebird. I dont imagine another bike company, no matter if its affiliated with DW-Link will blatantly copy...

i immediately thought its an Alu mule for the firebird. I dont imagine another bike company, no matter if its affiliated with DW-Link will blatantly copy the Pivot Phoenix layout, down to the flexstays. but hey, its my best guess. the dual idler gave it away.

So now it got me thinking, The Devinci Spartan hmm....that high pivot setup is a little dated now. ++hint hint, im also the one that spy shotted that proto several years ago on the same mountain++

And also the norco range haha

Not a Devinci, also not a Norco, unfortunately can't elaborate past that.

6
seanfisseli
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Santa Cruz, CA US
1/21/2026 9:44am
Barney wrote:
Ladies and gents i give you....the NEW Pivot Firebird spotted on the north shore today

Ladies and gents i give you....the NEW Pivot Firebird spotted on the north shore today1000014906.jpg?VersionId=1B10000149041000014900

Bet the XL reach is 493.3 and the stays are 437.2

Yeah but you can set it up in long cs mode: 442.2

4
1
Ambushell
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Aurora, CO US
1/21/2026 9:56am
peecee wrote:
New Ohlins 

New Ohlins 

Screenshot 2026-01-21 at 3.47.21%E2%80%AFPM 0

looks like they are taking more design cues from their moto shocks.

1000023239
7
Barney
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CA
1/21/2026 10:54am Edited Date/Time 1/21/2026 10:55am

It is Orion suspension. Either Esker is lying/denying or someone research who else has licensed Orion

4
marsch
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Altdorf DE
1/21/2026 10:55am
Ambushell wrote:
looks like they are taking more design cues from their moto shocks.

looks like they are taking more design cues from their moto shocks.

1000023239

They should take design cues from the logo as well and rebrand again.

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