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Some thoughts regarding that USD-fork-rumor: back when Fox decided against their USD-proto entering series production, they explained they couldn’t make it stiff enough without making it extra heavy with the current-for-that-time tech available. But that was, I think, the time when they were raving about having the stiffest dh-fork on the market - a feat that ended up being not so perfect as some needed flex proved to be beneficial to the riding feel. Since then they’ve incorporated some into their forks, production technologies have made incredible leaps since, so putting 2+2, my bet is on Fox trying to USD-fy...

MS Racing with Zerode bikes? 🤔

When you think of a week in Vital time.....

Reece latest IG story hinting on a new bike sponsor, i think the chance is high that he has signed with Gamux Bikes.

Looks like Valentina Roa Sanchez e Sebastian Holgin, colombians, are with Zerode frames. But with same part as in 2024 team. Maybe an new zerode team being born?

Cathro got the scoop back when dirt mag was still around 🦖

If a select few riders in the men’s field are earning enough to drive €150k+ cars and flying to races in private jets then they’re likely earning close to 7 figures. In 2025 I’d expect Vali to match this. If you want World Cup wins and rainbow stripes for your brand she’s as close as you’ll get to a guaranteed result.

It would be criminal if Vali is on 100k. I would expect her base salary to be 3-4x that at least.

Seen as Vali's salary is likely 3-4 X that of Kolb's, I'm sure she doesn't mind having a graphic welcoming him to her team giving him prominence.

I mean, obviously they will try to market/show Kolb as much as possible, since he's the newest recruit. I wouldnt read too much into it.

Here's the full announcement in all its glory, including non-black screen video 😀 https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/andreas-kolb-joins-yt-mob

There are many current and recently ex-employees from Rocky, and almost all of them had no bearing on the current financial outcome of the company.

I can assure you there's less Capex with their method of manufacturing than the traditional carbon molding methods. Same goes for their alloy frames vs. traditional construction methods. Their unit costs might be a touch higher and might not scale as easily or cost effectively but my assumption is they don't sell enough frames to be successful the traditional way with amortizing tooling costs so it seems they are taking the right approach. Capex can higher on alu projects than carbon ones, but the volumes with alloy make it worthwhile to turn a profit. For all small and medium brands...

Here's the official announcement from MS Racing, moving on from Intense: https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/filmsmith/blog/01/06/2025/entry/1292….

Remi on spesh. Ok - but no chance they’re paying him to travel around the world to get 30th on a circuit with zero coverage. I’m not being mean here - just truth. Same with Blenki - guy was cooked (results -wise) 3-4 years ago. There’s zero chance anyone picks him up to race wc dh. On a similar note, Lucas Cruz - has he ever had a result? And Norco is taking him to all the WCs? Again, not being mean - just facts. I think he has a family connection at Norco but there’s no way anyone’s expecting...

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEfeircsCzi/ “In our opinion, the future of mountain biking innovation lies in gearbox technology“ … Zerode would make sense. However, as far as I know, Shimano is one of their biggest sponsors... so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Not sure if this was posted before but Biggiecomponents released a SRAM T-TYpe adapter that fits older Yeti bikes between 2019-2023 that are non-UDH, The adapter kit cost only $65 USD. https://www.biggiecomponents.com/shop/p/t-type-conversion