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started a Loudenvielle World Cup forum topic here - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/2026-loudenvielle-world-cup-downhill - start lists were just sent out. FYI, there is no lawlor at this round but we'll have pit bits photos from Rick and Fantasy will get rolling too.

Hey Matt, I rode and wrote about the Tallboy HERE. After only having two days on the bike now, my suspicion is that it's not really going to play that nicely with coil shocks. Ie: the beginning and ending lev ratio, combined with the amount of shock stroke won't offer the support a coil spring requires, nor the distance needed to control the shock with the lower overall progression rate. Like, you might get away with this lev rate on a 60/65mm+ stroke shock as there's more time to control the suspension movement with compression. Hopefully that makes sense? If...

Is there a Can of Worms emoji?

Jesus, sorry I asked about a coil shock on the new Tallboy.

Sir, I believe your bike has a cascade link.. so wouldn’t that mean you’re the one that called?

Probably refers to the fact that Jay, the owner, now lives in Taiwan and does the QC on site. Keith, the designer/engineer is from Scotland and rest of the crew is in the USA. If that makes it a Taiwanese company so be it... The fact that whole brand is basically run by 4 people is just amazing, is FW still run by just Neko and his brother or are there others (not counting the team)?

I will also chime in here as a bigger rider that does enjoy this style of bike... a more linear feel like that is ideal because of the pressures I need to run. Otherwise bikes get WAY too progressive for larger riders. Easier to add tokens than be left with none to take out and then still be way too progressive. one of my favorite bikes was the strive... specifically because after the Vital review from Robot etc. they said it was way too linear and had to add spacers. I got on it and rode absolutely perfect for me.

You have to remember the true target market of this bike....if you really need that much extra resistance then a Tallboy is the wrong bike for you, full stop. The forum guys wanting to run a coil shock are a niche of a niche type of mountain biker so they aren't going to design the bike with that in mind. I also don't think its that far off, and they maybe chose to ship it with that shock spec so people can easily remove the spacers if that need to. And plenty of people have run coil shocks in bikes...

I think this might be more of a US/Canada-centric view. The Specialized Turbo Levo line is over 10 years old. The Canyon Spectral:ON line is over 8 years old. Those are just two examples of model lineage/aging, but they were released to capitalise on an already-growing market. In Europe, eBikes are huge, and they totally dwarf mountain bike sales. This isn't a recent phenomenon - it's been the case for a while now. All the reports from shops are that they don't really sell many/any mountain bikes over the £/€3,000ish mark - once consumers get to that price point, they...

@CascadeComponents right now...

For the VPP question, I feel like VPP doesn't really matter until you hit 140-150mm+ travel wise. Smaller than that and the benefits are less note-able and the system adds weight to platforms that need to shed it in the configuration SC currently had it in. When the OG Intense Spyder VPP and SC Blur came out they were simple layout frames that were pretty light and that carried on until the late 2010's when they went low shock mount for better center of gravity. Horst link with a vertical shock position helps keep the weight lower than the low...

RL_FN_EDC_2_Ft.William.pdf Results from the IXS in Fort William had some upsets last weekend. First year elite privateer racer Noa Walker in second in front of some big name factory dudes!

If we compare the new horst link tallboy with the Allied Fitz, Forbidden Reya and Transition Smuggler, there a few difference: Tallboy is the only bike using a trunion shock most likely a 185x50, Smuggler and Fitz use a normal 210x50 shock and Reya use a 190x45 shock. So Reya most likely have a higher starting leverage ratio that could limit heavier rider that are getting close to the shock max pressure. Reya, Smuggler and most likely Tallboy use double bearing setup at the chainstay. Santa Cruz does the same for the Bullit and Vala. Allied Fitz has no exploded...

Zerode are launching a new frameset, looks like two travel variants, 160 and 140mm. Shadow and Shadow Trail. 450mm chainstays on the large too. Internal frame storage too. Curious what the kinematics are. Looks pretty cool imo! https://zerodebikes.com/products/shadow-origin Rob continues his streak of only launching bikes like a month or two after I buy something else...

You mean chainstays?

Cybertruckers revealed!

yeah I prefer this to arguing about brake mounting standards tbh