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To be clear, only offering a perspective. DH is still mostly the racer, not the bike. Marginal gains can be had from the bike itself in our sport at Nationals. In moto, a factory bike can wipe out any capacity for amateurs to compete at Lorettas. Not comparing apples to apples here. Closest comp in our sport, it's true, would be the suspension company components. Asa showing up to Nationals on full Fox Factory digitally tuned, telemetry tested & set suspension isn't as massive an advantage over his competition as a works engine from Star.

Additionally, heres a gif. The colors come out weird because the two bikes are layered on eachother :/

The Receipts: Talking about finding sponsorship to go racing, Dom Harvey Podcast 2025: “I understand that in in like the industry but like in my eyes as well it's like you know I've been so prominent in the sport like to go to a company it it feels I kind of feel offended like if they're like 'Oh sorry we can't do that.' And I just it it's hard to understand because like you know in my eyes like I feel like I should be able to you know finish World Cup racing but still be associated with the industry...

Brines – thanks for those finance blogs, some solid reads in there. I’m subscribing. On Rapha (and bike apparel in general), saw someone in the thread say, “Walmart bought it, I’m out.” Bit unfair, no? It wasn’t Walmart—it’s the Walton grandsons. Say what you want, but they’re bike fans. And if we’re being honest, if any of us were billionaires, we’d probably scoop up some cool bike brands too. I think they’ve also got their hands in Allied and Wahoo? Honestly, not the worst portfolio if you’re trying to uplift cycling. Rapha’s got a new CEO too, and from what...

Would agree with that. I rarely see them in my region (NorCal). As much as many people may not want to admit it, aesthetics/branding/marketing play a huge role. Once your brand loses its luster, it’s a difficult slide to arrest.

hwell hwhat in the hell is that? a thread for all your union and union accessory needs: https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/bike/talkin-bout-union-and-union-access…

I'm getting really close to locking this thread.

Yes, it is a side quest. I encourage you to start your own thread on this one. I'll happily contribute, but its way too far off the beaten path for us to get into...here.

The only union we should be talking about is the one run by Steel City Media.

PSA NOT A UNION POLITICS THREAD

I traced this one in Caltopo now too (available here labeled as "Announced by GASS"). It seems more complete than the one from the fall, and even the one posted recently by Whiteface themselves. The corners are more detailed, and the overall path is a mix of the two previously released tracks.

Honestly their knee pads were so good if they focused more on practical apparel for MTB and less on rinsing roadies for everything they had, I feel like they could do very well. That said, I thought rinsing roadies for their last penny was a nearly recession-proof model. Kinda like a constant of the universe. Death, taxes, roadies overpaying for microscopic gains to their cycling experience... Need to grab another pair before they can't be found anymore.

When the poors started showing up to group rides in Rapha on last model year's bike, PNS and MAAP were standing by ready to rinse the REAL roadies with even more muted earth tone offerings.

I think Stark has fallen prey to what you describe at the end a a lot. Somehow he has garnered a vocal fan base that often doesn’t seem to have any long term knowledge of freeride mountain biking. Stark is a very talented, very solid rider. He is not, and has not ever been groundbreaking. Everything he does has to a large degree been done before. That doesn’t take away from him being good. He should still be sponsored and get supported, he is that level talent. But he also shouldn’t be heralded as some kind of game changing generational...

Fine if you feel that way, but I try to ask for riders opinions on the current state of the sport and also anything happening inside so people from the outside can learn more, Finns response was great and a lot people enjoyed his opinions. I interview riders who are doing well in the race, on race day my video is to tell the story of the race. I can't make a judgement on a case where no one actually knows the full story, and we never will it seems, so until then I will interview the riders who performed...

Brutal one for Bode Burke in practice. Hope he's mostly okay -

I'm at Leogang this weekend and wanted to get a sense of how widely pedal kickback devices have been adopted by World Cuppers, along with all the other wild accessories like TMD's/shakeweights, electronics, gearboxes, and more. So out of curiosity and as a service to my fellow nerds, I stood at the top of Q1 today and counted all the devices I could. Note that certain devices were almost certainly undercounted, like shakeweights, added mass, and fancy chainring devices like Ochain or Rimpact (drivetrains were facing away from me in the starting lineup). There were 20 bikes total where I...