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I counted a dozen juniors on that list that have been signed and are still racing world cups

Sure thing. That said, I appreciate @mickey raising the broader implications. We all know there’s no crystal ball when it comes to geopolitics, even the most experienced and “in the know” get it wrong. I’m less interested in what Joe or Palmer specifically think and more interested in the overarching impact, which I believe was the real tie-in to this thread. You could debate the “if” and “when” of this topic for days, citing Jeffrey Michaels, Bonnie Glaser, Oriana Skylar Mastro, and a dozen others... and still come to no meaningful conclusion. Also, calling Palmer a “mediocre electrical engineer” is...

Fortunately there are more reliable sources for geopolitical news than a steroid-addled former comedian and a mediocre electrical engineer

Unfortunately, there are a lot of evidences that/how China prepares for the war. So far it’s been only a question of when, not if. In collaboration with russia they now have plenty of ways to test their tech and staff. A year ago I raised a conversation around possible war in Taiwan with high-level managers in a MTB company which exists no more. Frankly speaking, nobody then believed in it. Overall, people who hadn’t experienced war tend to hope/believe it will never touch them. A painful discovery it will be.

So, Back to the gigantic pachyderm in the room… At least one prominent US military contractor is forecasting a war in the Taiwan straight in q1 2027. Obviously a blockade of Taiwan would be disastrous for the bicycle industry. Could any of the Big 4 survive even a year long blockade?

Hard to be a distributor when there's nothing to distribute

How many bike companies have won a World Championship, a World Cup Overall, and then folded that same year?

We will see about the dropper post but their prototype dropper lever had a really cool design and how it integrated the cable tension adjustment.

And a direct link here too. I really hope DoubleCrownAddict doesn't see it.

Pinkbike posted an article about that floating front brake setup. It mentioned it was seen at Vital first. Maybe the first time they’ve acknowledged that??

Straight to elites. Like the old days.

Jeff, I have been doing the same thing. Here is finally what I decided to go with: The great thing about this forum is great ideas and opinions are abound. It is clear everyone here wants the best for the sport and for the athletes. There is a line that we all fear being crossed and more are seeing it as a real possibility as the event is reaching some scary levels. It has always been a gnarly event but it is starting to hit differently. We seem to all agree on a few things. Riders enjoy taking risks, every...

I often think about how does Todd manage the emotions that come with this. I don't think many people realize this is his baby and as he said himself "I'm the first one there when someone goes down".

Nope alloy Fuel LX 9. As per the US Trek page $5199.99 And comparing straight conversion for the AU/NZ is laughable and quite amusing. So thats a mark up of $2361.51 AUD

Ryan Cleek is auction off a 24x36" framed print of Adolf Silva from 2024 Rampage with 100% of the proceeds going to his recovery fund. Super rad! Here is the link to auction, which closes on Nov. 3rd - https://ryancleekproductions.betterworld.org/auctions/adolf-silva-recov… (This auction is open to U.S. residents only. Bidders must provide a valid U.S. shipping address to participate.)

Few thoughts, since I keep coming back to this thread, typing something, then deleting it. This is as much self-therapy as anything else. To start, It goes without saying, but this wasn’t the update I was hoping for. I’m praying for a miracle for Adolf. It’s gut-wrenching reading the update after watching everything unfold live. We’ll never remove risk from mountain biking, or from cycling in general. People die on two wheels every day, across every discipline. It’s awful. The world can be cruel in that way. What makes this one especially hard is how preventable it feels. It pokes...