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Congratulations, you invented Hammerschmidt. In my opinion, and I've already talked about this, something like a Classified hub could be potentially viable for mtb use, but coupled with a 6 speed wide range cassette. Think skipping every second gear we have currently and having around 40 % jumps between gears. The gap in between those is handled by the internal hub. Obviously the derailleur would have to be electric then and the buttons on the handlebars would control both the derailleur and the internal hub as the latter would shift every time with the derailleur shifting only every other gear...

What if we tried putting a small derailleur on the front cogs, may be just like 2-3 gears, then a 5-7 speed cassette on the rear with another smaller derailleur? Same ratios but better weight distribution?

It depends on what question you are looking to answer. Race sim will tell you which tire you are faster on. If you want to know about rolling speed of radial Mary vs standard Mary for instance then Chung method can get you some numbers, but it's very difficult to do, especially offroad. Chung method assumes you are accurately repeating, so basically you can't use the brakes and things like that. The Golden cheetah software does have a tool to help with analysis though. The simplest way to compare rolling speed is with a section of trail with a U...

I could give this a go, would back to back race sim laps be enough to provide accurate results? At least in a way that it is consistently one way or the other?

Wild that shimano would long play something - anything for so long …

I have a semi reliable source claiming the Norco Team DH bike is embargoed for the weekend of the Whistler WC.

Two words in the title of this thread make everything relevant and on-topic. Tech and innovation. If there was strictly a “tech rumors” thread, it would inevitably discuss the technology that a product is competing against or replacing. There’s really no way around it. If you aren’t going to discuss the relevance of a new product or innovation, then what’s the point? As far as Ebike derailments go, the separate thread is nice. But you have to argue that 90% of the tech and innovation in MTB right now is because of Ebike market dynamics.

Everybody serving the gearbox coolaid and how ebikes are getting them and how that will trickle down to pedal bikes, remember that the Avinox and Gaobao or whatever they are called have a CVT gearbox using two electric motors. That kind of a "gearbox" (integrated variable transmission to be precise) is wholly incompatible with bikes that do not have batteries. The only viable gearbox option covering both ebikes and bikes is the Pinion which is, functionally (speaking in volumes), non existent in both camps. As @Shinook and @Uncle Cliffy have said, the future has been promised for years now with...