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I’ve been mountain biking since I was a teenager in the 90s and the marketing material has never been as sober as it is right now and the products have literally never been higher quality. Thirty years ago you’d drop a huge stack of cash on 1.9” tires made out of QC-rejected pencil erasers and hay, they’d be hard as coffin nails and look leprous after three rides (several flats per ride), and the marketing material would be all like “God himself couldn’t make rubber stickier; this rubber is so sticky it’s gray; you can ride on the damn wall”...

That "XC tire" conversation from customers and from a shop employee makes me want to walk into the ocean.

It seems kind of crazy right? People seemingly go to a tech site to complain... that there's new tech? Or that the fanciest, newest shit is... expensive? It seems to me a lot of the complaining is around cost, which I get, but I sometimes worry that the negativity can be to such an extent that it can slow progress. For instance I rode the Fox Podium, and came away super impressed. It seemed pretty clear to me that their explanation about friction reduction made sense, was real, and that the performance was clearly next-gen. Like everyone is going to...

No, but color me curious.

In the 2000's we all took our trail bikes to Nationals. Not because we thought we'd ride them. But because we ran uncut brake lines on them & could rob them of parts in a must have scenario. Still can't believe bikes do something that stupid.

I was saying this exact thing to a buddy last weekend that I used to race with years ago. It was common practice to keep a spare rear brake set up and swap it if needed mid practice or before a race run in minutes.

I miss external cable routing so much. Remember swapping rear brakes at a race in five minutes or less? Thank you, Norco. Hopefully others will follow.

I like that my Stumpy EVO could be 2 or 3 different bikes if I wanted it to. But I also keep the Float X, and Grip X 36 just to simplify the setup a bit because that high-speed/low-speed rebound isn't going to shave any seconds. The answer is for riders to stop fiddle-f**king with clickers and stop reading marketing-driven mtb media dissections of minuscule, fractional gains of some particular part. It seems, in fact, that certain cough--wireless--cough components seem to be marching us in the opposite performance direction of mass-centralization, unsprung mass, and system weight.

I'll tell you one thing it is, way cheaper to buy in Canada! $2800 CAD vs. $2999 USD, that's close to $1000 difference!

It’s a vertical shock alignment similar to the old Diamondback Knucklebox design (mentioned above) or a Propain. Nothing to patent. It’s just a Utah County based company thinking it needs overdo marketing as they’re prone to do. Utah is the land of perceived aesthetics.

It's not similar to a Mondraker at all. Mondraker uses a short-dual-link design with the shock compressed between both links. Ari's new design is a Horst-link platform with a rocker link that compresses the shock from one end only.

Better question is why is it worth hiding anything

Why is it worth hiding a knucklebox

It’s not. I don’t wanna ever have to have a relationship anyone in the warranty department. I just like my things to work well for years.

I've never had an issue with getting the AXS batteries wet having used them since the original Eagle AXS came out. That includes spraying with a hose, and riding in truly awful conditions.

There is something to be said for our ability to suck up the high tension drag caused by idlers on high pivot designs but bemoan the low tension drag on chain guides. Been thinking of revisiting a guide just to see how the new leaving angle of the chain from guide to the derailleur affects cage movement during suspension cycling.

I feel like I can hear the derailleur just by looking at it 🙊

Man I’m shocked at the discussion this thing is generating. This bike looks GREAT

New cable XT and Deore drivetrains for Shimano on the new Orbea Oiz. Looks like they use the new clutch style like on the new DI2 derailleurs...