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5 bikes between wife and I, and yes I agree with every word this guy says. All my rear wheels are 148 boost axles, makes it easy when.... 1. One needs to be trued/serviced 2. Rim cracks at the bikepark 3. Biking trips I just bring an extra ready to go rear wheel I will also likely never own anything superboost, and if I get a DH bike I'll find one that's on 148 (frameworks/forbidden etc.)

I run the same rear wheel size and rotors and tires and forks and frames on all of my bikes for maximum interchangeability

I'll put money that is a test mule for geo and kinematics testing. Has zip tie cable routing, different shock mount options… Santa Cruz only does alloy as an afterthought. But making a Nomad/Megatower dual crown capable makes a lot of sense. Hopefully they'll make those two models more interchangeable with a linkage swap like Trek did with the new Fuel.

X01 Eagle is the bees knees. I ran the same chainring (gx aluminium), cassette (the old 10-50t),shifter and derailleur for 4 and a half seasons on my old bike with only a new X01 chain about every year. The derailleur is still being used on one of the bikes by a friend who bought it off of me. I ran the last chain for 2 seasons (and I started waxing the chain in the same time frame) and just recently gave it to another friend to use it some more as I only measured 0,35 % wear rate on it...

I have a 20 year old 36 with a 20mm axle in the parts bin. From before someone dreamed up this 15mm foolishness.

I'm no expert, but I don't think kids will learn much on a full sus ebike... I've gotten a Trick 24 for my kid and that is an awesome bit of kit already. Also, I'll carry the ebike shame and let the boys grow on pure, cheap(ish), accoustic bikes

E-bikes and relatively low power lightweight electric motorcycles will be the main transportation method for large parts of the world. Imagine replacing every 2 stroke engine in a Vietnamese city with something clean. Once the tech is affordable enough it would mean a massive improvement in air quality and noise. So what’s a niche or recreational market in some places can be the norm in others.

Why are you talking about QR and old shitty Ringle stuff? That has nothing to do with... anything really. Fox 36s and everything else used a 20mm thru axle, and most frames were 142 thru. Ringle stuff was always shit and cracky. I did wildly stupid things to my 1750g Mavic wheelset, absolutely beat it to shit, and I only retired it because I bought a 27.5 bike. https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/matf1,19896/setup,33576?keyword=SB66… There's a 160mm enduro bike with alloy rims and a 180mm fork. 13.6kg. It wasn't uncommon at all to build them up under 13kg. What's an SB160 weigh with an equivalent...

Moto Max is teasing a new bike on his insta. Can we rub our brain cells together to figure out what it could be? https://www.instagram.com/p/DK7ODT0Rr3n/?img_index=1&igsh=MW13MDRtZWpyN…

I love 29+, I've had 5 bikes set up that way, starting with an OG ECR 10+ years ago. My current #1 is a Stooge rolling on 29x3.25 and 29x3 rubber, and I've won a couple local taxes like that. It can be surprisingly fast, and if you're into building weird rigid bikes, it's a suspension cheat code. 27.5+...never got along with. Less roll over, no perceivable, to me, benefit with the smaller/lighter wheel. When I'm not on a weirdo bike, 29er all the way...I've been that way for 15 years

It'll be much, much sooner than that.

XO is way beyond XT and closer to XTR , GX is more compareable to XT from my experience.

Hey Vital, this is so good and I'm always looking forward to your coverage of the WC pits, thanks for delivering

Anyone want to take a shot at explaining the lack of a clutch on the new shimano stuff?

Glad they are showing 30 seconds of the bike and start gate and zero seconds of the run halfway through the women’s.

On the whole handlebar alignment thing... I once watched 2 friends argue for at least 30 minutes over who's bars were off and by how much... The best entertainment one could ask for while enjoying a beer...

Apologies if I missed this discussion, but I’m very curious to know what smarter people than me think about the Rallon’s low anti-squat. As someone who has been planning to get a new enduro bike and DH bike over the next 12 months, I find this bike very appealing. However, I love big backcountry days on the enduro bike, and I’m worried this bike won’t be particularly good for that without an electronic shock to compensate for the anti-squat. Anyone else having similar thoughts? On a related note, good on Orbea for not glossing over this compromise and formally addressing...

The website is not the prettiest, but the shop and the support are great

Source?

They're just copying srams retarded decision to tuck the hoses up against the bars as though we're all roadies that are going to integrate them into our bars and headsets. I thought we'd effectively communicated to manufacturers that we didn't want that shit but Shimano is late to the party and has misread their customers once again. So now we get more cable rub and noise from both the major brands, unless you're a weirdo who buys Scott I guess. Gives everyone else a little more motivation to explore other options.