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It's an interesting comparison - I needed ChatGPT to politely rephrase my thoughts on Antidote and it came back with "Well equipped, but still learning." But I also think that Frameworks is far more technologically advanced than they appear at first glance. When you look at the tools they've used for development I have a feeling they are also much further ahead than the majority of teams. The thing I really like about them is Frameworks seem to have min-maxed the hell out of the team so instead of wasting money on shiny pits they are getting all the benefits...

Is this supposed ban only for XC and gravel, or DH and enduro as well? DH rules for a long time have basically been that you need two wheels (and maybe brakes?), and that what makes it so cool. Road bike development has been stifled for decades because of the UCI, and I'd hate to see that mentality of prescriptive design come into DH. AON et al are some of the coolest setups, and limiting wheel size would be a step towards travel limits, weight limits, or geometry prescription like road bikes are.

Am I the only one who thinks the fact that we've seen some big name not make the show this year makes things pretty exciting?

Aventon is cool in my book. Sponsoring Tippie and Angel and making a quality, reasonably priced ebike. Sounds better than one more super posh boutique brand making a product that costs five figures.

Angel gets a paycheck, gets to keep racing, and I would imagine helps with developing the next Aventon ebike. What's the problem?

Domi M4. Mineral oil all but confirmed?

Dak's in Schladming in a cabin halfway up a mountain. He said the wifi is nonexistent, but the host is working to get it resolved. We planned to chat this morning, now trying for Saturday or Monday morning. Also working around the 9 hr time difference and Dak training/testing before Leogang. Ohhh the trials and tribulations of the B Practice Podcast. Sorry for the delays, peeps!

Ethics and Dave Weagle literally cannot be in the same sentence. Impossible.

B Practice podcast from South Korea went up yesterday, YouTube vid is almost done uploading. Dak's travel home + driving to Mountain Creek delayed recording but we still love him. Sounds like he's playing a bit of catch up to find some comfort before the next major block of World Cups. https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/every-run-race-run-vitals-b-practice-…

Long time lurker, first time poster here. For some background I’m an aerospace composites engineer and spent several years in Advanced Product Development with an emphasis on environmentally friendly materials. There’s so much to get into on this topic and if folks are interested I’d love to start a dedicated thread on materials and environmental impacts. The TLDR is, carbon fiber as a green product on its own is a fallacy. The raw fiber production may result in a certain level of carbon sequestering, but the process is still so energy intensive I wouldn’t call it an environmental positive. As...

it’s not much yet, but so far they are able to offer the same controls with 2 different motor makers (shimano and tq). so if this plays out, they own the interface stack. let‘s wait to summer when they release their dji bike, if that will have the same controls. that and their ability to offer the bikes in custom colors are things no other big oem can do right now.

Some of the word salad gives me Office Space vibes. I genuinely like Orbea, but as a dude who obsesses over this stuff, when I read things like "Value protection," "disciplined sales plan," and "consistency with strategic principles," I sort of cringe. The company is bouncing along the bottom just like every other bicycle company that doesn't start with an "A." Things aren't getting worse, which is good. But now that there are new kids in town and margins/sales are under pressure, it looks like they are maybe pivoting to reminding us all how good Orbea is for the industry...