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ebruner Added a reply to Tire chat (nerds only)
1 hour ago I pedal 3cg/ultra soft tires on 6-8 hours rides because it's worth it. Tire rolling speed is not the reason that I am capable of finishing or making it through a big ride. I'm either fit enough or in the right head space/physical readiness state or not. 3-5% of rolling resistance doesn't make or break my fitness, but more than...
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ebruner Added a reply to Tire chat (nerds only)
2 hours ago The endurance rubber is honestly barely usable because of the trail casing. I tried running a kypto-r trail/endurance on the back of a light weight trail bike and I honestly really liked the rolling speed/weight/grip trade off in a non-pinned enduro riding context. That being said, you could blast finger sized holes in that casing just by looking at it...
ebruner Added a reply to Tire chat (nerds only)
2 hours ago I prefer the krypto-r on the back vs the krypto-f for the riding I do. If you're doing super steeps, then the dhr2 paddle style tread provides more straight line braking, which is helpful for laguna and the santa ana mountains in socal. The krypto-f in back, is better for bike park or faster easier gradient terrain and soil with...
ebruner Added a reply to What exactly WAS the Kona Hei Hei Trail series?
2 hours ago Wheels manufacturing is the defacto source for old derailleur hangers. People talk shit on sram, but I remember the times where each LBS had a wall of derailleur hangers and a lot of brands had some truly terrible hanger designs. I digress, the wheels mfg version of the kona hanger was slightly better, but still would twist/break very fast. I...
ebruner Added a reply to What exactly WAS the Kona Hei Hei Trail series?
2 hours ago That is the CR/DL trail 27.5 bike. iirc, that particular one was a 2018. I had a 2018 carbon version that was my XC race bike back then. the 29r version was 100r/120f and was moderately progressive for the time, it honestly rode like an xc version of the process 111. The 29 version used a strange shock size of...
ebruner Added a reply to Is Leatt the only game in town for convertible helmets
1 day ago IMO convertibles are the worst of both worlds. I've tried a few over the years and they just generally suck. My wife has the same desire for ventilation and safety. She uses the IXS Trigger full face. It's a 600g full face with venting that is so good it's at most a 10% reduction in breathability over a half shell.
ebruner Added a reply to 2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker
1 day ago Why on earth would that specialized levo monstrosity only come in an sworks model... or even an sworks model at all? Why would the prospective buyer for this bike ever want factory level suspension, maven ultimate, XX transmission, with carbon wheels, bars etc? I envision the buyer for this being a commuter with too much money, a dentist that also...
ebruner Added a reply to 2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker
6/3/2026 12:11pm I have to admit, I do not love the side profile of some of the 32" bikes that are coming out. They end up looking like XS bikes with cramped triangles and kinked bottom/top tubes. Hopefully more progressive geo will enable these things to look like something other than a 2010-2012 era niner.
ebruner Added a reply to E-bike talk: not tech rumor derailment
5/21/2026 2:03pm I appreciate your perspective as a motorcycle and car nut from age 13 on. I just want to point out that one of the key difference between vehicles being overpowered and bikes being overpowered... is that when you get a speeding ticket, disorderly conduct ticket (display of power) or wreck your car, they don't close off access to the roads...
ebruner Started a new thread Mountain Bike Consumer - New Product Vitriol
5/19/2026 1:35pm I'm 90% certain I'm going to regret this thread and it will become old men yelling into an echo chamber about clouds, but here goes. Some of the comments sections, forum posts and general consumer feedback for recent product releases has me wondering about vitriol from consumers in this sport. I think we all realize that humans are at a...
This forum thread has 18 replies.
ebruner Added a reply to 2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker
5/18/2026 9:49am I test rode a tallboy 6 over the weekend (5mi / 600' vert). It is really, really good. I have a ht4 that I love and I love vpp for longer travel bikes. I don't miss it on the new tallboy in the slightest. It goes uphill as well as the previous version with more traction when climbing square ledges...
ebruner Added a reply to Nerding out on Brakes shall we? Not another tech deraliment
5/18/2026 9:11am Just following up on this post/question. I now have 3 rides on this setup, the first one didn't count because in typical sram/maxima mineral oil bleed challenges, I developed some soft levers half way through the ride. At any rate I am really happy with how these brakes turned out. The combo of the maven base master cylinders and the...
ebruner Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
5/13/2026 8:35am How deep into the 7 figures do you think it would take? (asking for a friend). just to clarify so that this doesn't come across as a flex... I am not the one with direct access to capital, at least not enough for a move like this... but I do have college roommates that are into the sport and made...
Bobsmothersbrother Liked a reply to forum topic 2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker
5/13/2026 7:43am
One thing missing here is the fact that with the proliferation of composite know how, there are more people around able to safely repair a wider range of issues. Rather than pretending we are recycling carbon bikes I’d love to see more frames designed in ways that facilitate repair. Repair is verifiable in a way that recycling is not, it is cost effective for everyone concerned, and it is as close as you’ll get to good for the environment. It probably flows on to other design decisions to ensure repair is viable (like bearing placement, etc etc), but designing bikes...
This forum topic has 4330 replies.
ebruner Added a reply to E-bike talk: not tech rumor derailment
5/12/2026 1:14pm I agree that it's not that great looking... They do however look less odd in person. The overall design idea does present several advantages however that are notable. Utilizing a standard crank and spindle is an obvious advantage and the drive unit design lends itself to a high pivot suspension design. Less hanging down to bash on things, which based...
ebruner Added a reply to Specialized Demo 11 - What do you want to know about it?
5/8/2026 2:57pm I'd be interested to know what lead them down the path to the drive system they ended up with. Was the suspension design and resulting packaging the chicken or the egg. Related to the first question, did they work their way into the idler placement bit by bit with minor refinements or were they targeting a specific location and then...
ebruner Added a reply to Nerding out on Brakes shall we? Not another tech deraliment
5/8/2026 2:37pm I'm in the middle of doing some stupid brake tricks. In this case, Maven base lever assemblies (with Maven b1 lever blades) and db8 calipers. This started out with the idea of just using what I had on the shelf to finish a build and is turning into an exercise in finding a middle ground in weight and power between...
ebruner Added a reply to DJI's E-MTB Play: Avinox, Amflow and the Future Business of eebs
5/6/2026 11:08am Anthropic's coding tools did not exist back then, but they do now. These firmware packages will get cracked in no time from this point forward. The more challenging firmware (and hardware logic) to crack will be the bms.
skwattypotty Liked a reply to forum topic 2026 MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation - Longer and Slacker
5/4/2026 12:30pm
I think one of the largest "We're not in Kansas anymore" moments I had when I began working for a component manufacturer after years in bikes shops was when I had the insignificance of aftermarket sales explained to me. Don't get me wrong, every brand worth their salt is going to support aftermarket product bc why leave money on the table, but OE sales are king in the bike industry and ultimately OE sales drives every design decision. SRAM gets to push the convenience of full SRAM spec by limiting cross compatibility. For brands like Canyon, Specialized, etc., who are...
This forum topic has 4330 replies.
ebruner Added a reply to DJI's E-MTB Play: Avinox, Amflow and the Future Business of eebs
4/28/2026 10:14am I think DJI is going to be really hard to beat long term. They have such an advantage on application and user interface development that their product is going to seem more refined. Beyond that, the access they have to cutting edge, and less regulated battery production and technology is going to make it much easier for them to push...
