Hello Vital MTB Visitor,
We’re conducting a survey and would appreciate your input. Your answers will help Vital and the MTB industry better understand what riders like you want. Survey results will be used to recognize top brands. Make your voice heard!
Five lucky people will be selected at random to win a Vital MTB t-shirt.
Thanks in advance,
The Vital MTB Crew
I have always liked POC Coron Air b/c its using EPP for that reason. Small crashes, I don't have to worry if the shell is still in good shape.
pit bits lenzerheide world cup
https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/pit-bits-lenzerheide-world-cup-dh
Love that Shimano is making their own Transmission-style derailleur mount. I look forward to standing on someone's Saint derailleur in the near future. If anyone can get their hands on Dak, Ethan, or Benoit's Scott, please stand on their new Saint derailleur for me and let me know what you think.
Devil's advocate: I haven't noticed any excess chainslap or noise with the new XTR Di2 derailleur on my mid-travel bike (admittedly I haven't tried it yet on my long travel smasher), and most people who do find the new XTR derailleur too loud seem to find that the shorter cage 9-45 derailleur/cassette combo is much, much quieter.
This new prototype Saint derailleur without a clutch has an ultra short cage, so maybe it'll be fine? It's basically the 9-45 12-speed cassette minus the four biggest cogs. I also suspect the Saint derailleur will have extra stiff parallelogram springs, like DH derailleurs in the bad old days before clutches.
That's not a Shimano mount, it's the Stiffshifter from Eightpins. They're only available via pre-order. Mine arrived after 4.5 weeks.
Huh. AKA how to improve shifting performance at the cost of transferring leveraged impact forces directly into your $5,000 carbon frame. I see that's something they address but I don't see how it wouldn't increase risk to some extent.
Just noticed Charlie Aldridge on deep-section/aero wheels in the XCC, have not noticed that before...
Edit: apparently the showed up in Nove Mesto; "...unreleased Reserve 48 / 53 GR wheels with 32 spokes front and rear..."
Wasn't this settled shortly after the people-standing-on-derailleurs stuff? The axle takes the direct load, not the frame (or am I misremembering?)
And most of the time they were standing mostly on the axle anyway. It never seemed that impressive. But a good bit they managed to get all these reviewers do for no real reason.
plus almost 1,4 kg for that kali helmet which is moto territory. nothing nano on that 😅
With how sensitive 1x derailleurs became to misalignment of the hanger, it makes sense to beef up the mount. Either do it directly (transmission) or the way 8pins does it. Frames are also much stronger today than they were before, especially if you have an UDH mount.
New brake lever in the aon pits

After 5 years of riding and living with Dominions on a daily basis I wouldn’t change a thing. Have to give Hayes credit for not following the lemmings and routing the hose next to the bar ‘because it looks cleaner but rattles’ like the two S’s
Super cool stuff going on here, but I wonder where the middle ground of 2.3+ tires and deeper dish wheels will end up, given the 105% rule. I don't think this is going to make much sense outside of shorttrack with 2.0/2.1 tires, as the dish needed for wider tires starts to get into sketchy territory.
Currently assembling parts for an Epic 9 build, and strongly considering some 50mm deep wheels as a second wheelset.
Good points; I don't think the 105% rule applies to MTB though...
Depending on what you want to optimize yes 105% rule can apply to mtb too if your focus is aero at multiple yaw angle. Lenzerheide Short track average speed for elite men was 30.38kph and 26.85kph for elite women, at those average speed aero can make a significant difference.
https://silca.cc/en-ca/blogs/silca/part-5-tire-pressure-and-aerodynamics
https://www.hambini.com/cycling-aerodynamics-wider-tires-and-rims-examined-in-engineering-detail/
Yep, you're right! I had a brain fart and got the rim-depth and tube-ratio rules from road mixed up w/ the 105% rule-of-thumb for aero wheels..
I always interpreted that as a Trojan horse for headset cable routing
I would tend to agree. I liked mine a lot! The main appeal for me is the price being a good $50-80 cheaper than most of the competitors and deep discounts easy to come by. Though for an updated one, I would love to see pads that don’t rattle, easier and more modern bleed, and more usable adjustments but not at the cost of raising the price. That’s where I think the Hayes really shines.
It looks a little more angled parallel to the bar (similar to SRAM) than the currently generation brake no?
This is exactly how I feel about Mavens.
Hayes felt like they had too much throw in the lever for me. Even after a fresh bleed. And not quite the same power as mavens. But to be fair they are excellent brakes and if I had to run them I’d be completely happy. Just don’t think they quite match maven power, feel or build quality.
I talk a little bit about that here but I would agree. The dead stroke adjustment is kind of lost on me since you would only run it out. The long dead stroke combined light lever force could lead you to pulling too much brake for me since the lever had more momentum when it hit the power band.
It's worth mentioning that I am 140lbs and the power difference between Maven and Dominion is a lot less polarizing I found because of my weight.
I can assure you that the momentum of your lever has nothing to do with it.
I'm pretty sure Sram said at one point that the hose angle changed specifically because of the through the headset routing...
Post a reply to: 2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker