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Heard that RMU, a ski company with shops in Truckee, whis, and breck, are launching an aluminum, DW designed all mountain bike (170 fork) that apparently pedals quite well. There’s likely to be a 140 version to follow, and potentially ebikes to follow that. Made in Taiwan. Should drop in March, curious if they’ll be at sea otter with it.
Could it be this thing?
I am betting its the bilstein shock we saw a while ago
(Pic borrowed from P
Looks ready for release
Apparently they dropped the project. Heard that from a big suspension designer in Automotive…
that stinks! was excited to see what they might come up with!
What an interesting turn this would be, they already make backpacks and tailgate pads so there could be something to this. If I were a ski brand, after this abysmal winter in the west, I’d also be diversifying the portfolio to adding summer products… Big investment if true but the bike looks sick.
what, they didn't wanna make tens of dollars?
I actually talked to a guy at enduro2 in meribel that had full on bilstain suspension on his bike. He was working on that project. It turned out that they think the market is pretty saturated with exotic suspension stuff. Apparently that wasnt the case when they started the project. Looked nice thought.
That got me thinking about who makes fancy squishy bits, off the top of my head:
- PUSH
- Vorsprung
- EXT
- Fast
- Bright
- Manitou (arguable?)
- Cane Creek (arguable?)
Who else?
Intend and MRP, Boss is technically still making mtb stuff too. Formula maybe? I wouldn't count Manitou but I do count cane Creek.
And that's the issue with being a bike nerd in western canada. I value descending performance over most other metrics, and like a bit of character to my bikes. Couldn't care less about road or gravel bikes.
Specialized "specializes" in bikes that appeal to the weekend warrior that will be dropping the kids off at soccer first.
So darn vanilla that you'll fall asleep reading the geo/spec chart.
And I'm not talking about the advertising, I'm talking about the bikes. Ride a forbidden druid v2 and a sj15 back to back. The difference is stark. The levo 4 was a similarly deflating experience for me personally.
As you say, it isn't necessarily a trend towards financial failure, more so a trend towards design mediocrity. And I find that sad, as they were at one time trend setters with bikes like the enduro and kenevo sl.
Finally, another person in the specialized bikes are boring as hell camp. I'm so happy
More fuel to that fire...
They dont really market themselves outside of France, but Novyparts
https://www.novyparts.com/novya-amortisseur-suspension-vtt-novyparts/no…
Again I say, it looks like Giants gonna be releasing a new Reign pretty soon
Another small manufacturer that don't tend to market themselves internationally inspite of their name is "Suspension Tech International" from Rotorua NZ.
https://suspensiontech.com/rearshock/
New Burgtec chainring guard?
https://www.instagram.com/p/DVQuvClCFGE/?img_index=1
Heard on a podcast Jesse Melamed talk about helping out a local company, I'm pretty sure he rides on RMU skis. He talked about how it ended up on the vital forum so more fuel to the fire. Now here's hoping Dave W let's them have some longer chainstays.
Not sure if there is really an advantage of those bash guard being alu versus the stock plastic sram one. On the other hand, I wish those 3rd party chainring maker would make their chainring compatible with the sram bash guard.
What's even frustrating about the SRAM guards is that the different tiers of chainrings are different so the bashguards are not interchangeable. It looks like Burgtec may have worked around this by not mounting them to the chainring itself.
I hope Giant brings a new Reign without headset cable routing. If they don´t innovate too much with special stuff, a new Reign could be a great bike. Around here, availability of current gen Reigns was scarce, however. You could sometimes buy the complete bikes at full price, but honestly, they are uninteresting for that kind of money. Even at 50% off, I'd much rather build a Reign from the ground up. They have expensive parts on the high end builds, but not the expensive parts I'd pick. And they are quite expensive, 10.000 Euros for the top builds...
Frame kits are vaporware and comically expensive. But I bet they ride great!
The only tier that's different and not interchangeable is XX.
While X0, GX, 90, and 70 have different chainrings, the fitment for the guards is the same, and the guards themselves are the same exact unit between those tiers. Only difference is the size, which has to correspond to the chainring size.
Tried to get any indication: Chainstays on the Jesse's Strive: 435, on the Atitude he went with 443 i read. So maybe nothing too long coming
Ah, good info.
My experience was limited to trying X0 <> XX swaps.
For a while, half the people I rode with were on one Forbidden model or another, and honestly, those frames have some of the worst QC and overall design execution I’ve seen in that price range. Unless it’s the bike’s very first ride, they creek like crazy, and the suspension pivot hardware is borderline laughable. A buddy of mine—who posts here pretty often—ended up getting his frame replaced under warranty after endless battles with headset creaking. Forbidden eventually admitted the carbon had ovalized.
No, Specialized isn’t the most exotic brand out there, but I definitely wouldn’t put Forbidden anywhere near the same category. I’m heading into season two on my RAAW without ever touching the linkage, and it’s still as smooth and quiet as the day I built it. Meanwhile, every Forbidden I ride with can be heard from ten feet away on the trail.
Don’t get me wrong—they look like absolute rippers—but they also look like bikes designed by a team with very limited real‑world engineering experience who are doing the best they can.
Sorry to the Fobidden Fan Club (FFC) members, I do realize that this is going rile up the lynch mob lol
I've had more issues with a stumpjumper and an enduro than I have any of my forbidden bikes. 🤷♂️
I have only had their v2 versions though, no idea what the v1's were like.
Would have to agree with slavid666 my v1 Druid ate bearings and was heavy on maintenance, less than monthly full tear down, chasing creaks. Frame cracked rear triangle wore.
Forbidden was top notch to deal with.
SJ 15 bearings and hardware smooth and tight. Been through some bbs (sram) and headset bearings.
There’s an interesting perspective from remi and Henry on the quarter podcast about the SJ, one love one live with. I feel like Henry’s comments about the genie make sense for the non weekend warrior. That’s why input on a coil. None of the higher end specialized athletes are running the genie, Charles Murray on a vivid and Finn, loic, Jordan ohlins. I think remi was running a different fox non genie last year.
I've been happy with the v2's so far, no dramas, and the dreadnought got beat down hard as a park bike most of the summer. But I acknowledge that all bikes have issues, and new designs typically have more issues.
Specialized has less issues certainly because they're a thoroughly mature product at this point. But unfortunately are also dragging the conservative geo/design along with that maturity. Well polished, but ultimately uninspiring would be my best description. It was really hard to take the sj15 off the rack when there were other more exciting bikes to choose from, like the arrival 152, druid v2, sentinal, etc. I mean, it was still a sensible choice, kind of like wearing slippers in the house or wearing pajamas to bed 😄.
I have seen like 2 in the wild not under a sponsored rider. As a hater of the move to have it be electric shifting only, I take some satisfaction in that. I wouldn't call it a success.
Not to be obtuse, but could it not be a pivot proto?
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