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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...

Some sort of UDH +15mm chainstay standard would fix a lot of XXL bikes.

Torrent is clean. Bottle rocket is adjustable freeride. Quake is a capable race geo. (Iirc) Different bikes for different folks . I freeride and park my race bikes - and xc ride my enduro bike. But the world does seem to want FUN 27.5 park bikes and the racers do seem to want FAST DH WEAPONS. Why can’t we have both? The marketing isn’t even for us. There are literally armies of 15 year old boys AND GIRLS! Getting really into modern freeride, just riding down shit and off shit and being park rats in jnco jeans where I live...

I used to be all about flip chips and adjustments but now I see them as a great way to lose half you season trying to find “the perfect setting” instead of just learning to ride the bike.

If you don’t like the torrent DH, the bottle rocket and the Marin quake you might not have kids who are regularly sending their carcasses— emulating Everything they see on YouTube— I do have kids. They don’t quite send yet…. but my fellow parents that have high school aged kids that send ( like what the fuck!! These “kids” are sending seriously raw lines, maybe not heavy af but the youth are currently charging hard everywhere and always ) are always pleased to see much cheaper, and aluminum frames that aren’t going to break the demographic for these “ not...

Most geometry adjustments are flaw not a feature to some people. I have ridden enough bikes over the years that I can adjust to a few mm or a degree here or there quickly. What I want is the simplest, easiest, most reliable frame. Adding in flip chips and adjustable headset cups just adds more places for tolerance stack-up to fail and creaks (or worse) to show up. Based on the shear volume of warranty experiences I’ve had to deal with, no thanks. I’d probably pay the extra ~$400 for the Norco over a Transition to NOT have flip chips.

"Is the state of manufacturing in the US really that bad that a company, backed by the most important VC firm achieving 30 million motors per year is an achievement?" I'm not in a great position to comment on the annual global production of drone motors, but I can tell you that yes, the state of manufacturing in the US is pretty bleak. By one measure, China's manufacturing sector accounts for roughly 26% of their GDP, Japan is at 25%, Germany is 18%, but in the US that share is only 9% of GDP and continuing to trend downward annually...