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Why is Cannondale being so coy with their DH rig? Trying to build hype for something that nobody will buy anyway...

Love you Vital but this is kind of a funny question. There are other variables that play into the equation. EG, STA and rear center plays into this too. That said, I'd like to suggest mountain bikes will eventually figure out what moto figured out 30 years ago. 63-64 is good for just about everything. Get offset right, get the rest of the bike's geo right and I could see a time where XC bikes have very similar geo to enduro bikes. "But it'll wander while climbing" - no, not really, you just need to get used to how a...

I'm 6'4". I got a Bird Aeris two years ago. 528 mm reach, short stack at 608 mm. 64 HA. I learned two things: -stack is important, like many other tall riders, I like my handlebars up high. I'm running about 60 mm of spacers under my stem, so I'm effectively riding a bike with a 668 mm stack, and reach of 504 mm. -I'm never going back to the shorter geometry. The wheelbase is ~ 1290 mm. Manualing is tricky. Otherwise the bike kicks ass. I find the bike is just fine through very tight sections of trail. It...

As someone with an actual long bike (Pole EVOLINK 176) with a reach of 520mm, wheelbase of 1340mm, chainstays of 460mm and headangle of 63º I agree with Tristan Mayor when he says only actual riding can tell you whether or not a bike will ride well. My previous bike was a Specialized Status with a reach of 450mm, wheelbase 1225mm and 425mm chainstays. So 70mm shorter reach, 115mm shorter wheelbase and 35mm shorter chainstays. At the time I thought it rode well though I still felt the toptube to be short. I got the Pole last year at the...

If you push the front too far forward, then the bike becomes more rearward biased. As a result, the rider feels like they need to be more forward to feel centered. The STA compensates for this while seated, and the standing position is moved forward. I prefer to be relaxed, in that centered position. If I'm behind the saddle, "taking cover" behind my handlebars, I'm spending energy to maintain an unnatural position. That steep STA can make a bike feel like a SUV, with how tall it places the rider. It can affect the saddle to bar height ratio too...

I'm 185cm with long arms. I like riding grade 4-5 stuff with occasional DH track - enduro type bikes suit my very well - I don't race and I'm not particularly styley but I can ride fairly quick, get air etc.Up until 6 months ago I was riding a Large Reign X (410cm reach) - thought it fitted like a glove - loved it. Then I took a mates new (2017) Trek Slash 9.8 (the new 29er one) - large size (445cm reach in low setting) for a ride and from then on had trouble sleeping - couldn't believe the...

I love seeing all these "fixes" for Fox and RS products. More reasons I stick with DVO and the OTT.

As posted elsewhere: the Push kit is a really good concept - coil performance for the first 2/3 of the travel with an adjustable anti-bottoming system. Fundamentally both the ACS and Smashpot are pretty similar there, and with any given spring rate you'll notice absolutely zero difference in performance during the first 2/3rds of so of the travel since a coil spring is a coil spring. Both have anti-bottoming systems which as a whole achieve a pretty similar thing. However, the Smashpot is cheaper, has internally adjustable travel, goes to both longer AND shorter travel settings, has a wider range...

Gene, you pointed out why it sucks when the ACTUAL seat tube angle is not listed in most geometry charts, and the limitations of the EFFECTIVE seat tube angle. The effective angle gets slacker as you raise the post on modern bikes where the seat tube is offset in front of the BB. The effect is smaller on GG bikes than many others due to keeping the actual angle steep and minimizing the offset in front of the BB. It's a packaging nightmare to make that happen, but it helps the bike fit better. Also keep in mind that the...

Cool. But I wish companies would bark up a "tree that matters". Carbon vs Carbon vs Aluminum bla bla bla really doesn't matter all that much on the trail. Unlike road riding, there are so many factors that contribute to ride quality. Tires, suspension, handlebar etc. Carbon fiber frames aren't bad, but they feel more like a byproduct of a stale industry (back when nobody knew where to take things to sell more of them...) than something fully revolutionary. Small bike companies, here is an idea that'd be a game changer. Focus on getting the front and back tire equally...

if it's not called the Bloodline, i won't know what to think. to quote iceman in a skype chat we're having, "it works on so many levels."

name it after Hardline? Or call it the bloodline?

Bloodline is a brilliant suggestion kidding aside. Props to that suggestion.

I think it would be great if the Atherton bike line used Welsh mythology to name their bikes. Some of the pronunciation and spelling may need to be Anglicized for easier marketing but I think this branding concept can easily synergize with the other Atherton projects, like Dyfi Bike Park. The Mabinogion - a set of medieval Welsh tales, is a good place to start. But since this DH bike is the first release, the name has to be familiar, sort of mysterious, and very accessible in terms of recall. So I propose to name this DH bike the [b][u]Atherton...