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but Dow is at 50k!

So they're shaving the turd instead of polishing it then.

Longer rear centers of course! Really though a longer rear helps quite a bit when climbing and climbing plays an outsize role in xc performance. Personally I think there is really something on the table there.

I want range which mean often times a big battery. My 50+ lb bike can do anything my 40# enduro bike can do on the descents. I want to ride big routes in the mountains and enjoy them or ride up shit that used to be hike-a-bike only. I would agree if was the mid power or SL bikes were the only options I wouldnt buy one. I have a moto thats a completely different activity. Climbing on my ebike with friends I can still talk and have a conversation. Riding moto you have 20 mins total of conversation for...

It's not all about climbing speed and fitness though, the 120/130 bikes FEEL very different on the trail. You get a lot more direct feedback and much more "snappy" behavior, which can be very rewarding if you ride them on trails that suit them. Even a light build on a capable 150 bike doesn't get anywhere near that same feeling. Of course it all depends on the terrain you ride. If you take your shorter travel bike on essentially the same kind of steep and rough trails that your 150 bike excels on, you'll just beat yourself and the bike...

Sb120 LR gets my vote. Im in the same position. I have an All-Mountain HT V4. Need a rapid 120 bike and DH rig on either side of it. Tallboy is a top option all around - leaning more descent focus in the category. It's also being replaced this spring(think full 29 5010) Geometry and efficiency the SB120 takes it for me.

Tallboy is a beloved bike but I found it to be not quite what I was looking for. I had mine built up with an overforked Fox 36. The result was a 120mm bike that was barely better on the uphills and definitely worse on the downhills than my 150mm bike. I had a Transition Sentinel and Santa Cruz Tallboy in stable at the time and going back and forth between the two was pointless. The Sentinel was only slightly heavier and substantially better on the downs. Not to say the Tallboy is a bad bike but for my skills...

Wait, YOU could not get a warranty!?!? Lmao. Yep, The bike business is cooked!

Apologies if this is too far off topic, but Escape Collective just announced they're now cash-flow neutral (they've been running a deficit since they launched). Pretty impressive when you consider how much high-quality content they put out and and doubly so that it's funded entirely by member subscriptions.

Great question. I don't know yet. I'm going to ride the fork when it gets back without any additional info, and then follow up with Push to get the details. Whenever possible, I try to know less during a product test so I can hopefully avoid confirmation bias.

18.34% of this is accurate.

My co's Q4 and year end results came out. Tariffs gobbled up 67 million dollars from production. A pal who works in the med field had his co get taken for 175 mill due to tariffs. And I do mean taken. There is little wonder why many of our (former/soon to be former) international trading partners are looking at their neighbors and across the ponds for reliable trade partners. I'll wager that on the big brand/OEM front, survival is job 1, and that means many lines will get cratered before they get replenished.

I can speak to clothing as I run a tiny MTB apparel brand, Abit Gear. The short story is that for USA brands, tariffs are making it a royal PITA and covid saw a glut of inventory that isn't yet cleared. Sure, margins are good on paper, but you have a SKU problem with apparel do to size and color variants, you have to carry a lot of aged inventory, and fight discounting from competitors more than with hard goods. For technical apparel, China is, by far, the best quality. Most of the technical apparel factories are in China. They...

Can we put the wrap back on?

We're definitely going to have to go with a band-based mullet nomenclature system: "I was rocking a Journey for a few months and didn't really like how it cornered. I was Billy Ray Cyrus for a few years before that so I might try a full Foghat setup before me and mixed wheel sizes go our Separate Ways."

"Our patent-pending Slacky McSteepTube™ design..." the hell were they thinking with that name

DragonSpeed is doing sportscar/endurance racing since about 15 years. 24 Hours of Mans (1 class win), 24 Hours of Daytona (3 class wins) and other major races (+ 3 participations at Indy 500). European Champion in Prototype, doint World Endurance Championship, last year runner-up in GT Pro (USA) with a Ferrari, this year with a new Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Why MTB DH. The team principal (former pro driver) and myself, we are passionnate about MTB DH first (I did at low level when I was younger). Then, of course, all the technical aspects - suspension, brakes, tires... - and all...

@sspomer isn't there another thread for this exhausting debate?

Roger Moore on Mondraker