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speaking of Orbea, remember how I was talking a few weeks ago about how Trek was dropping A-level dealers in BC? It turns out they talk to each other and a bunch of them are all talking to Orbea, who in return is naturally very excited at the opportunity and has promised increased support in Canada if a bunch of them come on board.

So I'd guess that we can expect a 32" bike from Santa Cruz pretty soon.

It doesn't work that way. The only thing that matters is the braking torque and the effects on the suspension which is what antirise is.

I wonder what severance was given to all the employees whose jobs he lost

I'm certainly not an anarchist, but it's hard to not advocate eating the rich when this guy's makes $20M when overall he lost his company $400M

He says in the interview that he disappeared for a few years because he felt stung by the industry. He's back riding now and seems to be enjoying himself.

Yeah he's an icon, but he basically doesn't ride MTB anymore. All he wants to do is ride moto with his kids and maybe show up to 1 or 2 MTB events per year and not even participate then. Why would any athlete manager at a brand want to throw money at that in this economy? Five Ten in particular was gobbled up by Adidas who just wants to push Samba wannabes on everyone, without actually knowing what makes a good flat pedal shoe.

Are you trying to tell us unskilled labour salaries in food industries have increased 20-40% since 2021? I'm sure the people in those industries would have a few things to say about that. Edit: and I've made a faulty assumption here in that the totality of the increase in consumer prices is attributable to labour cost increases.

a mechanic here is someone who has the 3 year apprenticeship. self taught can work too but can’t ask for that salary before they prove themselves

Prolly gps or r something to track your ride without having a stupid ah screen on your top tube or even worse your stem

The future of long travel enduro bikes is being modular and compatible with dual crown forks to double as park/DH bikes. It makes a ton of sense from a company and manufacturing perspective

Northeastern US. Now that the geo of a 140-150 bike is what the 160-170 bikes were a few years ago those of us that still pedal are on the shorter travel and the e-bikes are the longer travel. Personally I’ve got a Stumpjumper 15 that’s mostly used on big solo or after work rides and a YT Decoy MX that’s mostly used for group rides or when my knee is really acting up. If I could only have one of them, it would be the Stumpy, but that’s not a common idea locally. Luckily I got both bikes on big...

If they do, they’ll need to figure out the drag with the current system. It’s fine on a DH bike but I wouldn’t want to pedal it all day.

I’d say it is a mixed bag in 2026. We currently have a Raaw, an Ibis, two Santa Cruz bikes, a Specialized and a Riese Müller in our household and in general these have been astonishingly reliable. I selected these specifically (among other things) for reliability and ease of maintenance, because we ride them for years. (because bikes got so good) There still are brands out there, where reasonable pivot/bearing maintenance doesn’t seem to be a feature for the designers. That said, I agree that QC IS still an issue. I’ve had a 2026 Fox X2 (the new monotube one)...

There are definitely some questionable things out there in terms of product manager decisions and some questionable false economy choices (aluminum nipples is a good example). There is also a mild amount of QA/QC and general quality issues still present in this industry... But if I can offer perspective on the journalist comment. " I can't believe some reviewers out there keep stating "there aren't any bad bikes anymore" or "modern geo is pretty good already"..." That's being said because it's pretty much true. 16 years ago, there was a large majority of bikes that were complete shit. Nearly every...

Weight weenieism is alive and well in my group of riding buddies. We bought up all the remaining mechanical XX1 Eagle gear as T-type was taking over. All on Blurs that are under 22lbs. One with a sub 16lb Mondraker Podium. I'm sure this varies by local and riding style, but I think the move by SRAM and Shimano to heavy electronic parts has been a boost to the boutique component market, like Madrone, Garbaruk, Darimo, etc.

Real Enduro racers will still pick the stumpjumper

I agree with this. Clearly the FW bike isn’t holding him back, and the team environment seems great for him based on what we see. I think a lot of FW team sponsors would rather pony up more $$ supporting FW than see Asa leave to Specialized Gravity in particular as I don’t believe they share any team sponsors.

Pretty sure it was a 3 year deal last time, and included a stake in Frameworks. I don't see Asa going anywhere anytime soon, he's stoked and comfortable where he's at. Don't forget cash from other "personal" sponsors such as Fox (head and tail), Redbull, etc. Dude's in a position to really rake it in right now.

Half speculating and half vague memories: the contract is signed a month or so beforehand, but the helmet handover event is a surprise. The timing is key, and bullseye perfect here: Aletha has the overall wrapped, A-Aron hands over the helmet before qualies at the last race on home soil. Chef’s kiss. 😘 👌🏻