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Sherwood has plenty of bussiness right now, enough that he is turning away OE clients again.

They used to be a customer of mine... Sherwood will be the first person to admit that marketing isn't his strong point. I think he's at a happy place with the company. I don't think that he wants it to be a huge company..

Always surprised that Ventana doesn't get more recognition.

Exactly... There is something I noticed during Trump's first term, it seems like he speaks first, thinks later. It comes across like a salesperson who feels like a moment to contemplate is a bad thing.. Sometimes you gotta take a breath, compose the thoughts and then say it.. Someone close to him should be able to explain the downside of blanket tariffs...

Speculative point to make today, but an important one. With CPI coming in slightly hotter than expected, and inflation being one of the biggest reasons "Trump won", I feel there is a very strong chance the tariff thing is all bark and no bite. He might have floated the idea to get elected, because it sounds good to a certain audience (trying to be nice here), but when push comes to shove, he knows tariffs are likely to be inflationary (or at least people around him do) and that'll prohibit him from actually evoking these policies, especially in the near...

Yep. A lot of A-to-B thinking without any regard for C, D, E, F, or any of the others all the way up to ZZ.

I think we all know universal tariffs will be universally bad, but the really interesting aspect is how America's truly believe their economy is in bad shape, when in reality is the envy of the told and by far the most successful over the last few years. If the tariffs come in hard and fast I definitely think it will push some companies over the edge, the bike companies are very precariously perched right now. Having to pay 10% extra on all Shimano/SRAM parts for OEM builds will be a massive burden, when we know the market will not tolerate...

Generally speaking, imposing blanket tarrifs on imported goods without first investing significantly in domestic manufacturing is a really good way to make everything get really expensive really fast. Nothing wrong with wanting a strong self sufficient and independent economy and strong domestic manufacturing, honestly it's better that way, but a tarrif like that is putting the wagon before the horse.

FAFO

Very badly. Makes all imported frames and parts more expensive, passes on those costs to consumers. Frames and parts in the country are already discounted to sell, meaning they won't be ordering any more at a 10%+ increased price as they can't already move the cheaper ones. A universal tariff is a horrendous economic policy

That phrase first got play waaay back in 1996 when Greenspan ran the Fed and he was talking about what became the dotcom bubble: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/irrationalexuberance.asp

The Making Up The Numbers folks seemed pretty confident Reece and Heather are going to Gamux. Also that the Manitou rear shock is a liability, haha.

It's already happening in the comments... But unfortunately there is no possible, logical, fathomable way to convince people the judges know what they are doing when Zink wins last year and then TVS gets 4th this year. Meanwhile Godziek probably had the best overall and Rampage-esque run, both years, and didn't win. And then a big slope run from Semenuk can win any year. So, ultimately, if they want to say that which I believe they have ultimately... Then sure a big slope run is the future of Rampage and that's how you win. Copy Semenuk or lose to Semenuk...

@Suns_PSD The Flux rims are very nice and certainly add compliance to the package, but the Sidekick hub is where the real nifty stuff is happening.

My "quick thoughts" (lol) video review on the hub after ~20 or so rides.

Love the vid and your explanations. I also had to take the hub apart and fiddle with the mechanism to figure out how it works. Based on 5 rides so far, I pretty much agree with everything you said. Now for the long-term beatdown test. At 7:00 minutes into the video, I was reminded of another Fabien Barel quote that isn't real because I just made it up: "Hyperbole, not accuracy."