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Better in engineering terms != better in practical terms. There's a lot of people out there with heel rub on 148 frames. I also don't really like the idea of my $400 electronic derailleur being any further outboard than it already is. Sure, 157 is better on paper, but in the real world, 148 works fine for everyone from beginners all the way up to world cup pros.

Charge port placement, not good for anyone outside of Arizona because water. Cheesy name for an adjustable seat tube? Come on. 9k for a base model but that wasn't surprising was it? Same CS length across the sizes, bandaided with an adjustable drop out. Fox trying to get rid of the podiums that aren't selling? Cant wait for these to be in the way on the trails. Ridden by people who have no business riding anything but the canal path.

Anyone on a 32er?

Definitely a bar and stem combo

I agree 100%. Okay, this probably isn't true for a brand like Kavenz, which is a small niche brand targeting a small niche market. But when big brands like Trek drop multiple product lines in favor of one "Swiss Army bike," it's hard for me to read that as anything other than a cost-cutting measure and/or market hedge for the manufacturer. Ditto for a medium-sized brand like Orbea, who's able to amortize their DH bike development costs by selling heaps of enduro and ebikes on that same Rallon platform, instead of just selling a handful of dedicated DH bikes.

At the end of the day, these sorts of bikes are made for the benefit of the manufacturer, and not as an innovative way to bring value to consumer. Having one frame to cover nearly your entire MTB catalogue is an awesome way to save money during this slump. I think it is important to remember that the average MTB buyer isn't hanging out on the vital forums, and they are likely not even be aware that the Trek Fuel EX they are about to buy can be converted to two other variations. I am not mad at certain brands...

more insight with Vorsprung

Yep, just as I pointed out in the article... 😉 I even made a pun about, for your entertainment.

VPP is 4 bar Lets be frank here one of the biggest reasons they (and Intense) bought VPP was because Specialized had the Horst patent.

I get all my syringes from ali express and recently picked up a few of these ones - the turkey basting needles were novel and can be used for squirting grease inside things but I don't think I'll actually use those too much. Mine came with a little bottle brush thats perfect for cleaning callipers too. I've always found they work great and have an ancient syringe that still seals (just - I think I had to replace the piston seal recently) under a huge vacuum. Only issue with these new ones is the numbers aren't etched on so will...

That's a soul-crushing sale price for Rad Power. I remember when I saw them valued at greater than a billion dollars I thought that was obviously a pipe dream, but to get sold off for $14m is wild.