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Yup, a "tighter" histogram is a good indication of a more stable chassis as the bike isn't bouncing up and down past sag all the time. If its spread out a lot that can suggest a bunch of things - offset towards the end of the travel (relative to the dynamic sag number) can mean too little compression damping, too much rebound damping or not enough progression. And vice versa, if its higher than sag it could have too much compression or not enough rebound damping. Although a track with lots of jumps will skew the values heavily towards zero...

I hope this design solves the issues with Meta where bearings got pushed out and swing arm was grinding on the rocker arm. I saw a post on Facebook where this went so far as damaging the bearing bore, so bearing was loose, but that means rider did not check it often enough, But this was not a surprise, I knew that could happen, but I saw MILTONATOR had issues with one of the earlier models it was the 2018 model but still bought never models. Clearly flawed design. But Commencal claimed 2019 models don't have this issue. He has...

Here's a minor update. I took a picture just to illustrate my point. The footpeg height on the MX bike is at least comparable with the BB on my Commencal. However, note how much lower the seat is and how much higher the handlebars are. I can see why pedaling would throw some of this into turmoil (especially while seated,) but imagine coasting downhill while standing. There's a much different body position on the motorcycle, and I think it would be beneficial for DH and Enduro guys. For me, at least I think it would. Check it out:

Some additional thoughts that I haven't heard yet: 1. 29ers have taller front ends. Someone mentioned that as reach lengths got longer, WC pro's started lowering their handlebars. That's actually not true. It might look like pro's front ends are coming down because we see lower rise bars and fewer stem spacers, but that's because with 27.5 & 29" wheels, frame stack heights have gotten higher. A 29" front wheel and fork is 2" higher than a 26" frame and fork. That's part of the reason why a lot of companies are speccing stupid short head tubes on their 29er...

I'm in no way an expert but *have* spent the last 4 months messing around with riser height, stem length, bar width and headset spacers. tl;dr is pretty much what @Falcon said. Climbing steep stuff would be trickier, a little (or a lot) less grip in corners and a more upright position overall. Some of it you can adjust for w/ body position but that can lead to other issues. I ended up going from a 130mm fork w/ 35mm stem and 780 bars to a 150mm fork w/ a 50mm stem and 740mm bars to get the position and...

Holy smokes! A Dorado on a test bike in a real review? As always, Vital FTW!

Love seeing dh bike reviews up here. Keep it coming

Awesome concept and format for a bike showdown. One of the most worthy videos I’ve seen in the genre of “test review.” Really well done. But this is a comment in the comment section, so… LAME ASS MUSIC! We’re testing DH bikes here! Leave that elevator fusion stuff at the hotel lobby and play us something with drums, bass, and screaming guitar as we roll through the rock garden!

I was rooting for Bernard or Finn, but in the end, it was perfect that Finn got his first WC win in front of a home crowd. I was definitely getting a little teary-eyed watching it. (my susceptibility to crying has increased 1000% since having kids) Did anyone notice the exchange between Rob and Eliot at the end of the broadcast? It was likely their last one together and they both seemed genuinely bummed. It really sucks that the team of Redbull, Rob, and Eliot will be ending, I feel like the broadcasts the last 2 seasons have been top-notch.

Obviously all this is speculation but damn I'm worried. Loved that you could watch the full replay whenever. Living in the PST time zone I would normally wake up, go for a quick ride and then watch the full replay at my leisure. As long as you stayed off social media it was like watching live. Also bummed that we wont be hearing Rob, Elliot or Tracey any more. Whats the chance that they find some dude who have never even ridden a bike to commentate this?

All I can think of is Olympics coverage. "And now back to the studio" after we see 2 minutes of coverage. This is going to be ugly from what we are seeing so far. No live coverage, instead some highly edited hits reel with 40% of the 30 minute show dedicated to commercials.

are people bummed about the ads on a red bull broadcast? i can't say i've ever noticed them in a way that detracted from the watching experience.

Remember when the US Open first arrived & was a fully open 2 class race for anyone who wanted to try to qualify for top 60. No sanctioning body, bigger prize money than USAC was offering. If Red Bull wants to keep the racing, they just need to jump on that format & offer far more prize money. Problem solved. Just gotta get those (stereotype) murdering Saudi oil barons to shift capital from the LIV golf tour to us.

This is the most ominous part of all. How are people who didn’t know there were factory teams going to”bring it to the next level”? This is like when someone tell you they just got a really nice mountain bike at Dick’s and we should go ride sometime. By the way, whats next level mean, anyway? If it doesn’t bring more income to the racers, more track coverage, and no more ads than RB coverage had, it’s going in the wrong direction. Gnarlier courses are not part of it - I think we’re already at a point where some course...

@dirty booger - some of the $ figures i hear spent on a single video project that might last a week on the internet could power a magazine issue from start to finish. the idea of going from a print mag to video content as a way to save costs by reducing staff is BS, especially when compared to the non-public statement made on the video call about going from private to public company.

@SprSonik personally I say medium because having ridden small, medium, and large sized bikes, I know I can grab a size medium and be comfortable on it with very few tweaks. Also, listing out the geometry numbers is simply not practical for 99% of riders. I ride 4 different bikes on a regular basis and couldn’t even tell you the exact reach numbers on all of them, I just know they’re between 435-450mm haha I like to believe the industry has stabilized over the past few years and sizing has become more or less universal amongst the larger brands. Also...

Different strokes for different folks. I won more than a few races on downhill tires at 28/29 psi. Like previously mentioned by others, there’s no universal tire pressure that works for everyone. For me, anything under 25 psi (maxxis, schwalbe, bontrager, specialized, or continental, those are the tires I’ve ran most) squirms around on me in corners and seems to not hold up to square edge hits as well for me. I also ride size medium bikes which is not on trend with todays “size up” mentality, and this allows me to really pin point where my weight is on...