2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker

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4/23/2026 12:22pm

How’s her mechanic think about it ? 

Obviously, he wants to find a way to get one. 🤣

If you can get him to order an extra s5 I’ll split it with you between Oregon and the Rockies 

I first thought , fuck that pricing. 
But after sleeping on it, I’ve decided: 

I need to ride this bike all year !!!

Or half the year if you’re down 

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4/23/2026 12:24pm
Evwan wrote:
Buying a Santa Cruz usually costs a bit more, but there are some legitimate reasons other than VPP to buy one. Kinematics / ride dynamics are well...

Buying a Santa Cruz usually costs a bit more, but there are some legitimate reasons other than VPP to buy one. 

  • Kinematics / ride dynamics are well engineered regardless of linkage used
  • SC geo is usually solid, nothing weird
  • Build quality 
  • Ability to purchase replacement parts for many years (try buying parts for a 5 year old frame from any other bike company)
  • Lifetime warranty (one that you can actually count on). 
Having ridden bikes from several major brands, my SC Megatower has easily been the best I’ve owned when it comes to product support, parts availability, and...

Having ridden bikes from several major brands, my SC Megatower has easily been the best I’ve owned when it comes to product support, parts availability, and clear, reliable customer service. I used to make fun of people who had an SC, but after dealing with repeated warranty issues on other bikes, I get it now. The Mega is a sick bike, the VPP suspension rides great, but honestly, it’s the overall ownership experience that really sets Santa Cruz apart. I'm in the market for a shorter travel ripper, and SC is at the top of the list, even if it's just for customer service support. 

Santa Cruz owners of 25 plus years all knodding their heads in agreement …. As they’ve put the grandkids down for a nap and can go to the garage and stroke their expensive anodized metal bike collection (still have good bearings !!) 

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1
jones007
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21
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Location
SEASIDE, CA US
4/23/2026 12:37pm
Eae903 wrote:
I think the confusion comes from the idea that anolog is the opposite of electronic. The extra stupid thing is that PWM (assuming pulse width modulation)...

I think the confusion comes from the idea that anolog is the opposite of electronic. The extra stupid thing is that PWM (assuming pulse width modulation) is digitally controlling and analog output. So yeah, the motor is an analog output, but it's still an electric motor controlled by a digital signal sent by a computer, and not the same thing as a non-motorized bike. 

Calling bikes without a motor "analog" is dumb. Calling PWM "analog" is just incorrect. PWM is a digital signal. 

Just trying to catch up after being away for 4 days. This whole discussion of PWM (pulse width modulation) is pretty stupid. PWM signals are, as the "width" part of the name indicates, a voltage that is either low or high (the digital aspect of the problem), but the actually data is encoded in the width of the pulse, and that is analog. Clocks on the sending and receiving end of the signal are needed to determine the actual value of the signal. Since clocks vary, some calibration procedure is needed so that both ends can agree on what 0 and 100% look like. The racing drone market ditched PWM for an actual digital signal nearly a decade ago. The brushless speed controls for the motors typically also use PWM, but in a more digital way, to control duty-cycle to control motor output. 

While the term "analog" for pedal-only bikes may seem a little odd, I think everyone in the community knows what you're talking about when you use the term these days. If we can deal with SPD pedals being called "clipless" for the past 34 years, analog seems fine to me.

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4/23/2026 12:58pm
jones007 wrote:
Just trying to catch up after being away for 4 days. This whole discussion of PWM (pulse width modulation) is pretty stupid. PWM signals are, as...

Just trying to catch up after being away for 4 days. This whole discussion of PWM (pulse width modulation) is pretty stupid. PWM signals are, as the "width" part of the name indicates, a voltage that is either low or high (the digital aspect of the problem), but the actually data is encoded in the width of the pulse, and that is analog. Clocks on the sending and receiving end of the signal are needed to determine the actual value of the signal. Since clocks vary, some calibration procedure is needed so that both ends can agree on what 0 and 100% look like. The racing drone market ditched PWM for an actual digital signal nearly a decade ago. The brushless speed controls for the motors typically also use PWM, but in a more digital way, to control duty-cycle to control motor output. 

While the term "analog" for pedal-only bikes may seem a little odd, I think everyone in the community knows what you're talking about when you use the term these days. If we can deal with SPD pedals being called "clipless" for the past 34 years, analog seems fine to me.

You could use this same logic to say that a DAC is an analog component. PWM is a digital signal. 

5
jones007
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Location
SEASIDE, CA US
4/23/2026 1:21pm
jones007 wrote:
Just trying to catch up after being away for 4 days. This whole discussion of PWM (pulse width modulation) is pretty stupid. PWM signals are, as...

Just trying to catch up after being away for 4 days. This whole discussion of PWM (pulse width modulation) is pretty stupid. PWM signals are, as the "width" part of the name indicates, a voltage that is either low or high (the digital aspect of the problem), but the actually data is encoded in the width of the pulse, and that is analog. Clocks on the sending and receiving end of the signal are needed to determine the actual value of the signal. Since clocks vary, some calibration procedure is needed so that both ends can agree on what 0 and 100% look like. The racing drone market ditched PWM for an actual digital signal nearly a decade ago. The brushless speed controls for the motors typically also use PWM, but in a more digital way, to control duty-cycle to control motor output. 

While the term "analog" for pedal-only bikes may seem a little odd, I think everyone in the community knows what you're talking about when you use the term these days. If we can deal with SPD pedals being called "clipless" for the past 34 years, analog seems fine to me.

You could use this same logic to say that a DAC is an analog component. PWM is a digital signal. 

Yes - in the sense that the voltage is high or low, but no - in the sense that the width of the pulse can be continuously variable, not confined to discrete values. You might sample the signal to produce a digital signal (a DAC), but that's not required. Old RC gear used a pot on one end to produce an analog voltage proportional to the gimbal displacement. This was used to generate a PWM signal with analog width proportional to the analog voltage from the pot. The servo on the receiving end used another analog pot to provide a feedback signal to drive the servo to its analog position. The only digital aspect of that whole thing was the fact that a threshold voltage was used to determine if the signal was high or low at any given moment. The actual data carried through the signal is the width of the pulse, which in this case is very much analog. Semantics I suppose.

This discussion has little to do with bikes, electric or otherwise, and is not a rumor or innovation, so I probably should have let this die 4 or 5 pages ago. Wink

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3
storm.racing
Posts
300
Joined
2/15/2022
Location
Silverton, CO US
4/23/2026 2:14pm
husker411 wrote:

Where is this from? I heard they were close to releasing a new sixfinity regular bike.

pinkbike. I guess I started following them back on there during the frequent season videos with Blenki, Gwin, and Leov. Occasionally you get the oddball notification...

pinkbike. I guess I started following them back on there during the frequent season videos with Blenki, Gwin, and Leov. Occasionally you get the oddball notification like such

chriskief wrote:

yeah, just saw that. stoked to see further support for him!!

1
Kusa
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Location
CH
4/23/2026 4:14pm
11
overbiked
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Location
Park City, UT US
4/23/2026 5:16pm

Looks like Chris Canfield has something else cooking, based on his patent applications I think he’s got some shorter travel bikes planned. 
IMG 4072 0

11
jasbushey
Posts
131
Joined
10/6/2015
Location
Durango, CO US
1 day ago
overbiked wrote:
Looks like Chris Canfield has something else cooking, based on his patent applications I think he’s got some shorter travel bikes planned. 

Looks like Chris Canfield has something else cooking, based on his patent applications I think he’s got some shorter travel bikes planned. 
IMG 4072 0

This is the titanium version trail bike, still lots of travel. It initially was posted but hasn’t released to production.  

https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/vampire-bikes-basement-chris-canfield

3
Znarf
Posts
23
Joined
4/30/2013
Location
DE
1 day ago
Kusa wrote:

The rocker looks different. Much lighter Smile

Raaw XC bike? Madonna SL?

 

IMG 0086
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1 day ago
IMG 0984.png?VersionId=9Lf3taK5
Melamed back on the ‘prototype’
15
FullSend
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7/14/2021
Location
DE
1 day ago

Most of you probably won't like hearing this. I certainly didn't.

Earlier this week I had a chat with a guy who works in a product management role for Ralf Bohle GmbH, which is the owner of the Schwalbe tire brand. Mainly I asked a bunch of XC racing related questions, about compounds, casings, radial ply, rolling resistance testing, wheter we'll ever see the speediest XC casing with a black sidewall and why they felt they needed to change their naming scheme for casings and compounds.

The gist of it is that they are hard at work behind the scenes, because they are about to completely re-do their entire line-up of XC- and most of their gravel tires for 2027. For XC, basically, everything will change. Different casings, different compounds, different treads. Apparently this will also include XC tires with radial casings. 

We also talked at length about the various advantages and disadvantages of 32" wheels for XC racing, as compared to 29" wheels. Long story short, the rep agreed that 32" won't be universally benefitial, but Schwalbe sees a lot of potential for tall riders and select courses.

I also asked wheter we'll see any 32" production tires soon, because the Rick XC Pro models that were on a bunch of 32" bikes at Sea Otter looked ready. To which he answered something to the effect of that they might soft launch the 32" Rick XC as an OEM-option to selected bike brands this year, but they are generally planning to launch the 32" XC models some time in 2027. 

Now for the juiciest bit of information: The Schwalbe rep also mentioned that so far, outside of their XC product-line, their 32" and 30.5" tires are effectively still in prototyping stage as Schwalbe (and most bike brands) are trying to figure out the best use case for these new sizes (- plural!) and that specifications might still change according to demand. He refused to go into further detail when asked about 30.5" wheels.

So, yeah, 30.5" wheels are apparently a thing and one of the biggest tire manufacturers in the cycling industry anticipates them existing on production bikes in the not too distant future.

Prepare to have not one, but two new wheel sizes shoved down your throat, I guess.

33
Sir HC
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7/5/2014
Location
GB
1 day ago

Pbike rumouring size specific wheel size, seems very anti profit margin and a disaster for multiple skus and an aftermarket disaster

10
thegromit
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11/19/2015
Location
Durango, CO US
1 day ago
Kusa wrote:
Znarf wrote:
The rocker looks different. Much lighter :)Raaw XC bike? Madonna SL? 

The rocker looks different. Much lighter Smile

Raaw XC bike? Madonna SL?

 

IMG 0086

I just got my madonna..........

6
dolface
Posts
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10/26/2015
Location
CA US
1 day ago
thegromit wrote:

I just got my madonna..........

That's why they are releasing this now: "Hey boss, can we start teasing the new goods? Not yet, gotta wait until thegromit orders the current version...."

44
ballz
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Ouagadougou EH
1 day ago
thegromit wrote:

I just got my madonna..........

dolface wrote:

That's why they are releasing this now: "Hey boss, can we start teasing the new goods? Not yet, gotta wait until thegromit orders the current version...."

Image result for the gromit

29
sollie
Posts
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Location
Longmont, CO US
1 day ago

"10 Years Raaw" sounds more like a special edition paint job than a new bike, but fingers crossed for an XXL downcountry bike. 

9
thegromit
Posts
225
Joined
11/19/2015
Location
Durango, CO US
1 day ago Edited Date/Time 1 day ago
thegromit wrote:

I just got my madonna..........

dolface wrote:

That's why they are releasing this now: "Hey boss, can we start teasing the new goods? Not yet, gotta wait until thegromit orders the current version...."

😭

Why they have to do me like that?

4
1 day ago
Anyone have more info on this conversion for v10.8? Apparantly dropout part and frame were drilled to 20mm to make the mech fit?

Anyone have more info on this conversion for v10.8? Apparantly dropout part and frame were drilled to 20mm to make the mech fit?

IMG 4943

Yes, it was made here in Brazil. 

He enlarged the hole with a drill and made a half-moon shape on each side, thus making it possible to use an original dropouts again.

 

This tells me that 2027 seems very likely to be when we'll have the new v10.

1
ZAKBROWN!
Posts
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Location
Salt Lake City, UT US
1 day ago Edited Date/Time 1 day ago

Just got an early access email from RMU about their new bike the Nighttrain - 170/170 full 29 DW Orion dual chain.  Pricing is good at $2500 frame/shock.
 

IMG 1430.jpeg?VersionId=4w.WyyWOB69aOPq39YgH7RvEJ
IMG 1429 0

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Znarf
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DE
1 day ago

Man, that looks quite tasty. I´d love to try that one out!

1
Evwan
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Location
Sunnyvale, CA US
1 day ago
Anyone have more info on this conversion for v10.8? Apparantly dropout part and frame were drilled to 20mm to make the mech fit?

Anyone have more info on this conversion for v10.8? Apparantly dropout part and frame were drilled to 20mm to make the mech fit?

IMG 4943
Yes, it was made here in Brazil. He enlarged the hole with a drill and made a half-moon shape on each side, thus making it possible to...

Yes, it was made here in Brazil. 

He enlarged the hole with a drill and made a half-moon shape on each side, thus making it possible to use an original dropouts again.

 

This tells me that 2027 seems very likely to be when we'll have the new v10.

I don't see any reason to think that the v10 is going to move to UDH. 

Moving to UDH means giving up adjustable chainstay flip chips, and Syndicate runs Shimano drivetrain which doesn't use UDH anyway. 

Most people don't want or need a heavy, expensive, battery powered derailleur on their DH bike. 

8
Eae903
Posts
358
Joined
10/20/2023
Location
Laramie, WY US
1 day ago
Anyone have more info on this conversion for v10.8? Apparantly dropout part and frame were drilled to 20mm to make the mech fit?

Anyone have more info on this conversion for v10.8? Apparantly dropout part and frame were drilled to 20mm to make the mech fit?

IMG 4943
Yes, it was made here in Brazil. He enlarged the hole with a drill and made a half-moon shape on each side, thus making it possible to...

Yes, it was made here in Brazil. 

He enlarged the hole with a drill and made a half-moon shape on each side, thus making it possible to use an original dropouts again.

 

This tells me that 2027 seems very likely to be when we'll have the new v10.

Evwan wrote:
I don't see any reason to think that the v10 is going to move to UDH. Moving to UDH means giving up adjustable chainstay flip chips, and...

I don't see any reason to think that the v10 is going to move to UDH. 

Moving to UDH means giving up adjustable chainstay flip chips, and Syndicate runs Shimano drivetrain which doesn't use UDH anyway. 

Most people don't want or need a heavy, expensive, battery powered derailleur on their DH bike. 

The derailleur cost doesn't bother me, it's the 500 usd 7 speed cassette that does. They could go with bolt on drive side drop out and keep the adjustment, leave the non drive side alone. But yeah, changing the rear triangle design to accommodate a single derailleur is short sighted, maybe when mechanical DH transmission or a lower price point comes along. 

4
ebruner
Posts
345
Joined
3/29/2018
Location
Tustin, CA US
1 day ago Edited Date/Time 1 day ago
Yes, it was made here in Brazil. He enlarged the hole with a drill and made a half-moon shape on each side, thus making it possible to...

Yes, it was made here in Brazil. 

He enlarged the hole with a drill and made a half-moon shape on each side, thus making it possible to use an original dropouts again.

 

This tells me that 2027 seems very likely to be when we'll have the new v10.

Evwan wrote:
I don't see any reason to think that the v10 is going to move to UDH. Moving to UDH means giving up adjustable chainstay flip chips, and...

I don't see any reason to think that the v10 is going to move to UDH. 

Moving to UDH means giving up adjustable chainstay flip chips, and Syndicate runs Shimano drivetrain which doesn't use UDH anyway. 

Most people don't want or need a heavy, expensive, battery powered derailleur on their DH bike. 

Eae903 wrote:
The derailleur cost doesn't bother me, it's the 500 usd 7 speed cassette that does. They could go with bolt on drive side drop out and...

The derailleur cost doesn't bother me, it's the 500 usd 7 speed cassette that does. They could go with bolt on drive side drop out and keep the adjustment, leave the non drive side alone. But yeah, changing the rear triangle design to accommodate a single derailleur is short sighted, maybe when mechanical DH transmission or a lower price point comes along. 

DH bikes aren't made to have wide appeal to consumers, the current demo is an obvious sign of that.  Respectfully, they do not care if the consumer would be miffed at an expensive cassette or don't really care about total cost of the frame +/- 500-1000.  Besides, it's not an either or... maintaining UDH compatibility still allows for cheaper, standard mount drivetrains that have a variety of cost options.  

There is no reason that they wouldn't go to a UDH design when all of their other rear triangles are headed that direction.  It seems obvious that they would go to a pivot swinging dropouts or a crestline style of rear dropout to support chainstay length adjustment while also utilizing UDH compatibility.  (this would also facilitate Kolb potentially wanting to ride a full 29 setup if he is passionate about that) It also wouldn't surprise me if they just stuck with UDH and either a) did not provide multiple/adjustable rear dropouts for chainstay length and just told the riders to deal with it (it would not be the first time they have done this) or b) did the above mentioned adjustable dropouts yet still stuck with UDH or c) just made custom runs of rear triangles utilizing their in house carbon lab if it were that important to a given rider.  

There is really no reason out there to design a derailleur hanger that is anything but UDH.  Santa cruz is already making their own version of UDH hangers that are fully aluminum (instead of the sram partial plastic/aluminum versions).  Seems crazy to think that they wouldn't apply that same engineering and computer/manufacturing detailing and programming to the DH bike.  

10
1 day ago
ZAKBROWN! wrote:
Just got an early access email from RMU about their new bike the Nighttrain - 170/170 full 29 DW Orion dual chain.  Pricing is good at...

Just got an early access email from RMU about their new bike the Nighttrain - 170/170 full 29 DW Orion dual chain.  Pricing is good at $2500 frame/shock.
 

IMG 1430.jpeg?VersionId=4w.WyyWOB69aOPq39YgH7RvEJ
IMG 1429 0

Gott damn, Dave Weagle sure does love his short chainstays!  Also the increase of ~3.5mm per size is near pointless.  And yes I know CS length will grow at sag.

 

13
GRM50
Posts
31
Joined
4/30/2024
Location
Lebanon, NH US
1 day ago

RMU is Rocky Mountain?

Rocky Mountain Underground - primarily a ski brand now dipping into mountain bikes, different from Rocky Mountain. 

8
Eae903
Posts
358
Joined
10/20/2023
Location
Laramie, WY US
1 day ago
ebruner wrote:
DH bikes aren't made to have wide appeal to consumers, the current demo is an obvious sign of that.  Respectfully, they do not care if the...

DH bikes aren't made to have wide appeal to consumers, the current demo is an obvious sign of that.  Respectfully, they do not care if the consumer would be miffed at an expensive cassette or don't really care about total cost of the frame +/- 500-1000.  Besides, it's not an either or... maintaining UDH compatibility still allows for cheaper, standard mount drivetrains that have a variety of cost options.  

There is no reason that they wouldn't go to a UDH design when all of their other rear triangles are headed that direction.  It seems obvious that they would go to a pivot swinging dropouts or a crestline style of rear dropout to support chainstay length adjustment while also utilizing UDH compatibility.  (this would also facilitate Kolb potentially wanting to ride a full 29 setup if he is passionate about that) It also wouldn't surprise me if they just stuck with UDH and either a) did not provide multiple/adjustable rear dropouts for chainstay length and just told the riders to deal with it (it would not be the first time they have done this) or b) did the above mentioned adjustable dropouts yet still stuck with UDH or c) just made custom runs of rear triangles utilizing their in house carbon lab if it were that important to a given rider.  

There is really no reason out there to design a derailleur hanger that is anything but UDH.  Santa cruz is already making their own version of UDH hangers that are fully aluminum (instead of the sram partial plastic/aluminum versions).  Seems crazy to think that they wouldn't apply that same engineering and computer/manufacturing detailing and programming to the DH bike.  

The only thing I meant to say is that there's no reason to rush out an update for the rear triangle when there is only a single drivetrain on the market that makes use of it, and one that would make the adjustments the current bike has more complicated to impliment. The next V10 should have it, because you're right there isn't a good reason to not have it on the next bike. Maybe a mid run update would be worth it if Sram drops a mechanical, or lower price point axs version but I don't see that happening really soon. 

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