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They changed Marketing managers and gave their budget to Josh bryceland

Definitely a bit exaggerated but on the right track. Ebikes are slowly getting lighter and more powerful but I feel like it is more of a technology plateau currently. I've owned my Turbo levo for 3, almost 4 years now and it's been a great bike. Other than having the motor replaced under warranty I've never had any motor/battery specific services. Just standard brake/tire/suspension maintenance. I'm not surprised with the current motor and battery issues with these bikes as most of the bigger brands are only on their 3rd or 4th iterations of e-mtb. so performance/reliability gains have been nominal...

Aww jeez. So we've got acoustic components as well as bikes now? I'm off to find some clouds to shout at.

Not if you bike where hunting is allowed.

OK folks. This is a tech rumor thread so......

I'd say nobody wants them to be underpaid, I certainly don't, but I DO want to see them either learn how to do better sponsorship deals so they're viable, or attract an agent to do that for them. Perfect example - a local sunday league football (soccer for you stateside readers 🤣) unexpectedly got through to the next stage of a European inter-club Cup a couple of seasons ago. It was a great opportunity for them but outside their budget. Did they demand an appearance fee? No, they hustled hard with local businesses to raise the travel and accomodation fees...

I smell an ERA bar and stem, and new Fox.

As I understand, Rotorua does kick in a good amount of money for the event.. Does that mean that money covers all the expenses? Maybe it does and that's how the extra money was put up for this event , and why the organization couldn't guarantee the same for the next 3 rounds. I'm willing to bet some of that money also goes towards the other events on the CW calendar.. As I've said before, it would be awesome to see a detailed P&L on an event like this..

I had to replace all spokes in my front 29" xm1501 wheelset after two seasons, which hasn't happened with a 32 J spoke wheelset and hasn't happened on 27,5" wheels. The braking loaded spokes simply started failing. The only similar situation was an older xm1501 27,5" wheelset where the rears were starting to go under pedalling load after threeish seasons of riding. Carbon wheelsets probably handle 28 spokes because of rim stiffness but it's also a problem for the loading of the spokes themselves. It's the spokes that can start failing... And I've found straight pull spokes are a pain...

These are rated for "Trail/All-Mountain" use, so yeah, literally aimed at the trailbike market.

The same people that loose their marbles over 10mm in reach probably check their tire and shock pressure like once a month lol. people shrink probably like 10 mil over the course of a day from when they wake up to when they go to bed. Riding a bike with suspension down a mountain is such a dynamic/changing situation. As long as reach is even remotely close to recommended you’ll be fine.

Maybe trying to meet a weight goal? At this point it feels like some of these production "enduro" wheels are more suited to the trailbike market than they are bigger bikes. That price too, ouch. $1600, why would anyone buy these over WAO at that cost?

28h straight pull is an immediate disqualifier. Unfortunate.

Not all pros are anal and picky about their setup and just ride what they get. They are simply fast. Some need to tinker to hell and back. It's the same with average riders, some thinker and some just ride. There is no sense to bemoan people that take a different approach to riding. As long as they articulate their feelings and can defend them rationally, it's all good in my book. Same goes for the Yeti vs. Specialized choice, if you can defend the choice of the Yeti by saying "I want what I want" it's much better than...

Product development is done by people who are good at product development. A multiple world cup winner or world champion does not necessarily fit that role... Not saying Sam wouldn't be good at it, just saying he might not be a good fit for the role. Plus Australia is not the best location to do product development for Sram...

I'm in total agreement with the 2 posts above. The general public (including me) can't appreciate the little variations in tricks that make certain tricks way harder than a similar-looking variation. You see this pop up after every single Rampage, where the public says X should have done better, and the judges say "no, because nuances you don't understand". So the general public would likely get just as good a show without some of the top guys, and possibly better when you don't know who is going to win before the show even starts. Personally, I'm less interested in slopestyle...

I don't know the bloke at all but from what you see on social media he looks like he's committed to his kids racing rather than his and fair enough...he's got nothing left to prove to anyone . The level at world cup DH is so high now and with the format that unless you have some chance of making at least the semis I'm not sure it would be worth it from a sponsors point of view , but if a bike manufacturer gave Sam hill a bike and some money and made a few videos every year of...

So many comments recently with people being overly pedantic about reach numbers. (Not just here). 10mm is literally nothing. Swap a 50mm and 40mm stem , get narrower or wider bars, try a different back sweep. Get thinner or thicker grips, bar roll stem spacers, adjust your cleat position etc. H ell, the hand position difference between single collar lock on grips and double collar probably changes your torso position as much. Reach is just one aspect of bike fit. Writing something off because the reach isn't exactly a perceived magic number by 10mm without trying it is very close...

Aren't the riders just barking up the wrong tree? I get the safety part of it, but it isn't on Crankworx to pay the riders is it? Ask your sponsor. They don't want to pay you more? Well, time to realize your worth, whats happening in the industry, and go do something else to finance your hobby.