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Raleigh going under as part of this is a real kick in the teeth. It’s a big part of British industrial and cycling history, it was once the biggest bike company in the world with a huge footprint in Nottingham. Growing up everyone wanted a Raleigh bike for Christmas. I do hope they can find someone to take it on, the name holds real cultural significance.

Few thoughts going into the week... Fox Factory reports earnings Thursday. I'll cosplay financial analyst and cover it for y'all. My guess is "SSG remains flat" in tandem with phrases like "we are really excited about the next 18 months". Just to echo what @NoahColorado said, I too am happy with more choices and would love a world where a high number of motor/drive unit/gearbox companies are successful. Despite what I might have said on the pod, I actually don't think the motor race is assuredly going to become a monopoly where DJI owns the market. That said, this feels...

Sorry for the digression but to answer, I have it setup 200mm/200mm and there are two problems HTA is 61 degrees. Which is just too slack. I have a works headset coming to bring this back to 62.5 The rear suspension feels like a longer travel enduro bike, not a DH bike. Or maybe its just a firmer platform than I'm looking for. A rider looking for a lot of support may like it? I don't know. The bike just isn't eating bumps notably better than my other bikes, and in fact I'd say my current e bike I'm testing...

Don't forget the PooBah and Grand PooBah John Tomac signature shoes from the '90's by Nike ACG. They even used recycled rubber soles.

The head tube angle makes sense, 61 is way too slack. As for the suspension quality, I wonder if that's a shock tune thing or the leverage rate and other kinematics. Very weird. I'm assuming you've played around with a ton of spring rates and have tried some very soft springs to confirm that's not it.

I wonder if some of the flexy Amflow chat comes from some of the early/preproduction bikes. The bikes were seemingly around for a good bit before they actually were available for purchase, and they were shown to shops etc. However it's quite easy to believe that they changed things, including the layup before production to address issues as part of a normal development cycle that just happened to be a bit more public because they were mostly focused on launching avinox. I get that people might think the customer bikes are still flexy, but were the early bikes SUPER flexy...

Especially that guy who owns a bike company. 🙄

GoPro inches closer to bankruptcy. Nick is propping the company up by extending a loan of his own money to the tune of $20M @ 6.5% while a buyer is sought. Link.

I think 52% off a Fuel EXe is reasonable for a bike where you have to take the completely realistic risk that the company that makes the motor and battery will be defunct (or at least completely exited ebikes) before the warranty on all of the other parts is gone. On the Vail thing, I agree with Charlie. However, unless they figure out a way to turn things, we're going to see the off-loading of some properties. However, if I were Vail, there are a lot of things I'd sell off before Whistler Blackcomb. I just don't know where the...

Ouch.. certainly implies things might be a bit dubious...

"Saddleback, the major UK cycling distributor that entered administration on 29 May 2026, had a more complicated last few years than previously known. New public filings and accounts from former employees show the owners taking dividends out of the business even as it took on large bank loans and built up debts to more than 150 creditors, many of whom now face being left out of pocket." https://escapecollective.com/saddleback-administration-millions-in-divi…

Guy who owns bike company trashes competitors bike. Shocking.

To give them their due, Vail don't seem to give a shit about anything to do with the guest experience, not just Crankworx. I could go full old man yelling at the clouds about all of the cost cutting, nickel and diming nonsense (WATER FOUNTAINS COST NOTHING!!!) that irks me these days.

Apologies if there is any redundancy in what I'm posting, I've fallen behind in my efforts to keep up with the discussions here. I've been up in Whistler for a bit during our annual escape here and bikeconomics is on my mind frequently. There is the cost associated with vacationing here, amplified by the costs of keeping a 16 year old rolling down the trails. My willingness to empty my wallet here just because I like Canada and Canadians. The relationship of tariffs to the cost of bike products. The overall sense of cost cutting visible at the resort itself...

(Edit) the silicone 20A / 25A compound versions are ready in 32mm and 34mm now! I’ve always loved having thicker grips and have been riding diety supracush for a long time which is a 34mm diameter. I’ve recently created my own grips in an effort to have my own larger grips. Two of these listed in the link are at 36mm and I use a rubber/foam mix to make them. Been riding them all season. https://mtbairgrips.com/collections/grips If anyone wants to try them in exchange for a review lmk or you can also of course buy them. I’m currently working on...

Dutech Holding LTD. is in the process of buying the accell group. It is currently under anti trust investigation. https://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2026-06/68899320-laufende-…

Ten years ago, I would have agreed. I don’t anymore. We’ve talked about this a lot in this thread, but bike design, and engineering more broadly, has become increasingly commoditized. Amflow’s bikes are not good just because the motor is good. They are good because we already know what works. Geometry is free, and there is not much left to protect on the kinematics side. I'm not saying there is no gains left to be had, but draw the line. Rate of change matters. They made a bike that is good for most riders, and if they want to go...

@jeff.brines's latest is a (somewhat grim) banger: https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffbrines/p/q2-outdoor-industry-roundup and I encourage y'all to read it. These jumped out at me: "The one thing DJI and the broader Asian push have done better than anyone is move fast and iterate faster, shipping new platforms before the last ones reach dealer floors. You cannot answer that with a committee and a two-year product cycle. The West is not losing because it cannot build. It is losing because it cannot turn fast enough, and the other side keeps accelerating." And "Trek has access to capital and is very large, but if I were...