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They were very careful to announce this on March 31st and not yesterday.
Well, opinions are like (you get the drift...) so take mine with a grain of salt.
I think longer travel bikes are a better platform for comparing shock performance then shorter travel in general. As far as the nomad goes, the frame construction is well sorted to ensure no side loading of the shock and it does not change feel with a difference in shock construction (ie 10mm shock shaft vs 15-18mm, think previous gen to current gen dhx2). It has a middle of the road (moderate) amount of frame progressivity (linear progressive) and a rather middle of the road starting leverage ratio. The FC/RC (in most, if not all sizes) is a step short of Brian Cahal "goated" territory, so it's not off long chainstay gang by much, but also no where near short chainstay gang, again middle of the road with moderate chainstay growth. It doesn't require a dead nuts sag percentage and can be setup in a range of 28-33 to the riders liking, without truly throwing off the intended performance of the bike.
Basically, it's modern without being conservative. The kinematics and geo are rather middle of the road but still modern and nothing stands out as an outlier. It's basically a consistent platform that doesn't require an oddball shock tune, nor does it have any particulars or bad manners that would put any one shock at a disadvantage. For example, HBO or not, you can setup the shock to feel good without ending up at a weird spring rate. There likely isn't a situation where you would review a shock positively or negatively on a nomad, that would be so vastly different then on another platform. It's not going to be hard for people to extrapolate what that shock would be like on a forbidden, ibis ripmo or a specialized demo, if the base impressions were developed on a nomad.
Look at it this way, if you want to do a review of different ice cream toppings, blue moon icecream or orange sherbert are not the base ice cream you'd select. You would want a staple that is enjoyable on it's own, that doesn't taint the results. Think haagen-dazs vanilla. It's good without being boring and it won't ever steal the show. That's the nomad in a nutshell.
how is that not just the stumpjumper 15?
Short stroke SJ 15 and 140mm air spring up front, 90% the way there.
Well it's confirmed (by email),
RMU (Rocky Mountain Underground, the ski company) is making a bike (with DW)
That likely explains the aluminium not-a-pivot we saw some time ago (photos in this thread).
Well done folks, it was figured out here first
Thank you, that was an excellent explanation.
Arc'teryx has entered the mtb space, because you know, there just aren't enough premium brands trying to sell $350 riding pants and $500 jackets. lol
(For real, though, even though all of my Arc stuff is the best fitting stuff I have, 0/10 would not pay those prices for it. The only riding pants I'm willing to spend full price on is NF. 10/10 worth it)
Does anyone have any inkling on what Spesh will release for their allegedly imminent radial tires? Wondering if they will bring the tech to all sizes and models
It would be entertaining if Arc' making bike gear was in retaliation for 7Mesh making non-bike stuff...
I would assume it's more of a customer/market segment where users will pay the premiums associated with goods/brand premiums. And boy oh boy does the bird love charging an absolute Brinks truck for any piece of gear, and customers line up to pay.
Economics, man.
From my perspective, it's cool to see the outerwear companies start to trickle into bikes. I've been really impressed with Outdoor Research's catalog and Patagonia is starting to make some good waves too.
But I'll stick to my akta gear. Shoutout the small guy.
on the expensive pants note, a new "does anyone ride in non-MTB pants" thread got going here and it's pretty interesting the responses so far - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/who-rides-pants-arent-specific-mtb-pants
For all the discussion on what Specialized is releasing - Reading on other forums, it seems like it is not a 130/140 trailbike (which I was hoping for), but a new, lighter, even more race focused Epic, without in-frame storage etc.
Only 2 years since the Epic 8 dropped, so it seems a bit early. But they are probably fast-tracking the drop for this new "epic 9" so they dont have to wait a year longer when they inevitably drop a 32" XC bike next time around.
I am finding that the products from outdoor gear companies branching out into bike is often better than that from traditional bike brands. I'm a big fan of my OR jerseys and gloves, and I have some Patagonia bike shorts that are ~6 years old and still awesome (plus a couple pairs of their pants that are only like a year old but my favorites). My theory is they actually employ actual garment designers that do the sport, rather than contract it out to a garment contract factory in Asia where the designer's never actually biked but will happily slap a logo and make a few minor changes to something in their catalog. I finally got my first Arc ski jacket this year after getting jealous of my wife's (and a lifetime of buying cheaper stuff every few years and ultimately being disappointed). I'm sure they have a very specific audience who is very passionate about the sport and appreciate execution details and a long product lifespan.
I hate my patagonia dirt roamer shorts for riding. Worst pocket layout.
Was discussed in this thread a page or two back and tire thread numerous times.
Release looking like next week or the following.
Dark web saying only Butcher and Eliminator for this initial release (unfortunately). Likely won't see them this year on the Cannibal and Hillbilly since Specialized Factory Racing gets 1 year exclusive to tire tech, before public.
I think my shorts are the Landfarer... they have a drop-in phone pocket and a couple of thigh pockets good for gloves, glasses wipe, etc. Them and the pants have a nice stretchy fabric that doesn't tear in crashes or when a tire buzzes the butt.
Love your answer and I agree.
I'll also add that the current Nomad and recently updated Bronson have dramatically lower levels of PK and Anti-Squat compared to the outgoing Nomad and current Megatower, which makes them worse for testing PK devices but better for testing shocks. PK creates a lot of suspension "noise" that can make it hard to isolate what's coming from the shock and what's coming from the brake or freehub. Another reason why the current Nomad would be a good platform for shock testing.
Exactly what I'm waiting for. Something like a Chisel FS 32
DJI pivot incoming
Cross-post from the 32" forum thread:
Wheel- and component manufacturer Newmen has some interesting, fact-based opinions on 32" wheels after doing some lab testing:
https://www.newmen-components.de/en/32-Inch
They conclude that 32"-wheels are over 30% less stiff than 29"-wheels and thus require a different hub standard with wider flange spacing. Thicker gauge spokes or increased spoke count apparently unable to solve the stiffness problem.
Question is does "less stiff" mean "not stiff enough"?
I have too many bikes, so for one of them I bought an enve 142/100 wheelset for a steal and I use spacers. Full 29. It's not anywhere near "too flexy"
Pivot must think that EMTB motors are like Pokemon... gotta catch 'em all!
Shimano EP8, Fazua 60, Bosch CX 5, Bosch SX, Avinox M2... only ones they've missed are the TQs.
32” bikes gonna to be running super boost. You heard it here first.
Doesn't Matt Beers ride for Specialized?
Edit: my bad - two different people. ;-)
What's the over/under on the DJI pivot base model price?
I heard from someone today that the epic will be 32 but the epic Evo will remain 29. They hinted that the third will be the new demo
The caption to that reel says “RMU 🤝 D.W.” for even more confirmation.
The inverted fork from Cane Creek will be 15x110 stock
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