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The Vital MTB Crew
Surely you don't take the lift at Whistler bike park or shuttle with your buddies then? Because you're a purist, right?
I would answer this question but we're not allowed to talk about ch__n__ay _ength in the tech forum anymore.
Wait, what? Specialized is killing the Enduro? I know it's been 7 years since they updated it, but I didn't realize it was going away entirely. When was that discovered?
“Physical effort and reward.” Is different for different people. In my friend group, I was the last hold out to finally get an Ebike. I was definitely snooty about them for a while until I got to try one.
You know what’s great about them? Time management. As I’ve gotten older, there’s even more responsibilities. Plus I move a little slower. This thing allows me to get a solid ride in at a third of the time, and I’m still tapped at the end of it. I just can’t dedicate a whole day to a ride anymore. Not to mention my crummy knees and back.
BUT… Is society getting lazier and looking for the shortcut to everything? I don’t disagree. At least these people on Ebikes are trying to get outdoors…
All these grievances you mention; Trail etiquette, poor attire, ass cracks, etc. These would be the same exact problems if Ebikes didn’t exist. There’s a wealth of new people coming into the sport, and that’s typically what happens. No matter what bike they are on.
Guys, I know you don't want to hear this... but the racks on that new Levo 4 X monstrosity are really cool.
Those ugly Levo X racks move all of the cargo on the bike from unsprung mass to sprung mass. As forum dwellers, we should all be able to appreciate why that's going to ride better, even if the XX cranks, the paint job, and the S-works price point are all serious headscratchers.
If you don't believe me, check out this writeup from Travis Engel at the Radavist on a similar front rack design that he bodged together on his old Giant Trance X. He was inspired by the way the significant amount of sprung mass on his Honda XR650L felt on the trail, and he did a pretty solid job fabricating a garage solution for mounting his front cargo to his frame instead of the fork. He said it rides great: https://theradavist.com/tinker-tantrums-mounting-a-bikepacking-handlebar-cradle-to-a-head-tube
Even if the new bike looks gross, even if that S-works model will only ever be a pavement pounder and will never be used for real bike packing, I've still never seen frame mounted racks like that on a production full-suspension bike, so I think this Levo 4 X counts as... can I say it... innovation?
Charlie no
Fair point
Since we're off topic enough,I might as well invest my 2¢...
I have enough experience on all sorts of bikes and their electric lookalikes.
To me a downhill bike is the purest form of mountain biking. And this is my subjective understanding of the sport.
I also really enjoy pedaling my Enduro bike. But I think most of us agree that the descent is what we call the "fun part".
A downhill bike doesn't make compromises, and focuses solely on the fun part. You could try to argue that an ebike is about getting more of that fun part, but it makes a pretty big compromise to get you there.
Name a more annoying sound than an American complaining about ebikes.
Honestly, we've all heard your opinions before. We know you have them. I don't really like or want an ebike either but there are 12,000,000 whingy comments online about how you're too pure or too dedicated or too fit or too angry at unskilled riders and you're mad about it. We don't need any more.
Talk about the market or discontinuation of normal bikes, sure, but complaining about being passed on a climb track or peoples ass cracks is tiring af at this point. You've been yelling about it for years.
Not the part of CT you are thinking of. That’s been e-bikes for years just like Westchester NY has. I’m talking the redneck eastern part of CT where the trails are in places shared with hunting and we have permanent deer stands built 20ft up in the trees at my local spot.
100% this. Don't conflate a slower rate of adoption with where things will inevitably end up
They reflect all bike Sales. As others already pointed out. I probably should have made that clear(er). So 3% of all bikesales in germany are non-E-MTB.
But still, IMO there is no way that we will keep such a wide range of MTB models. You also have to realize that each model comes in at least three sizes—which means three carbon frame blanks for each one.
With a total of 50,000 MTBs sold in Germany, I’ve been wondering for quite some time now how this makes financial sense.
And then there’s the fact that bike sales in Germany are so high only because they’re heavily subsidized through bike leasing. That’s what’s driving prices to where they are right now. None of this would exist without bike leasing. On the one hand, that’s good because it means significantly more people are cycling, but on the other hand, it’s bad because prices are skyrocketing since everyone is just leasing bikes.
But yea sorry for derailing this further...
Finale, while an awesome riding destination, isn't too efficient in terms of the public uplifts available from down in town.
Combining a single shuttle giving you 1000-1500m start to your ride depending on droppoff, with an ebike adding another 1000-1500m in pieces throughout the ride as you lap around the couple of areas that have multiple trails starting from the same/similar points, is probably quite an efficient way to do things if you are the sort of person unable or unwilling to actually ride your bike uphill yourself.
Negative. Can't comment on CT but I have yet to see a larger group of e-mopeds in Greater Boston / MA or NH. Motorized vehicles are not allowed in MA state parts regardless of their categorization so I am sure that helps, too.
Can confirm, a shuttle (we used our cars) to the top and then circling down and back up and doing between 1000 and 1500 vert pedalling (electric or not) is a great way to open up areas that are otherwise inaccessible to all the shuttle riders that are beholden to the pickup points. The breadth of trails you get access to that way is amazing and only riding the usual shuttle trails would quickly get boring otherwise.
Tech Rumors and innovation
are dead for anything not electric
btw, first day back at work and had an old geezer already that was interested in the levo 4 rack, but for his gen3 levo. those things will sell…
The etiquette piece might be my single biggest grievance from the ebike crowd.
I'm a big guy and climbing is not my strength, so I have PLENTY of experience with being passed on the uptrails by both regular and ebike riders. The ebike riders are exponentially worse at saying excuse me, on your left, or simply making some noise to let you know they're behind you. I've even seen groups of ebike riders talking and laughing about how fast they're cruising past other riders at the top of the climb. These aren't new riders.
At the end of the day, I (mostly) don't care what you ride, as long as you aren't inconsiderate on the trails. Ebike riders are demonstrably worse in this regard in my particular trail network.
and for everything electric it's just power, torque and battery talk. yawn.
sorry, it's not ebike talk, but here are pit bits photos from leogang
https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/pit-bits-2026-leogang-world-cup-downhill
I got to ride in Finale last January and my guide and I were in the minority on analog bikes. It was like 80% eebs. I love my ebike just as much as my analog, but if I've got a shuttle I'm taking the analog! (especially since most of the climbing in Finale is pavement)
if you stay in finale maybe, but head out to bardineto or spotorno the next time…
Thank you, we (the forum) needed this.
The difference between "suffering" and "totally hosed." I've watched a couple of riders try to deal with dead batteries or electrical failures 10 miles from home. While rare, seems like a really bad day.
There was a post a while back, with some comments from Santa Cruz talking about the added stiffness required for a 50+ lb e-bike making for a really unpleasant ride as an analog bike with the motor and battery removed. Probably Ok for DH, but not great for trail, and horrible for XC. Maybe on an SL, sub-40 lb e-bike.
You caught me! I'm not a purist for the following reasons:
Last year, there were 2 park days for me: one at Whistler for a buddy's birthday, and the other at Mt. Washington for my bachelor party. In terms of shuttling, if my 58-year-old riding buddy (I'm 35) wants more bang for the buck, we'll shuttle bump to the top of Diamond Head and then still do a 1,000-meter climbing day.
Some new helmet tech coming from Kali in their latest Shiva Nano model called Full Nano Technology. The main benefit being how the material can manage multiple hits without needing to be replaced, which has always been a downside with commonly used EPS foam.
It is wildly expensive at $1000 USD, and subjectively a bit hard on the eyes. But I do appreciate the effort to keep advancing helmet safety.
https://www.kaliprotectives.com/products/shiva-nano?variant=42818840526942
This will match my Yozma perfectly.
Is that a MX helmet? No vents, heavy AF...
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