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You guys are welcome to keep debating this stuff, but I'd prefer it didn't happen here. I recognize that politics impacts the bike industry, and discussing those impacts objectively is absolutely fair game. But turning this thread into a debate over how terrible one politician or another is on the world stage isn't really where I hoped the conversation would go. There's plenty of room for that elsewhere.

This was the first cut i did where the side kbobs were about 8mm and center knobs about 6mm in height. I did a couple of runs and it was quite squirmy on rocks. So i cut it down a bit more, so now i have 7mm side and 5,5mm height in knobs. The goal was tho have a magic mary with higher side knobs. It feels realy good, like on rails in soft ground and still good enough on hard pack. Note that i ride mostly natural stuf, no hard berms riding. Here is a picture on the last...

I haven't tried EVERYTHING but a decent cross section of tires like ALL the old stuff but recently the Schwalbe Radials in gravity and trail plus different sizes front and back on 2 different bikes, all of the usual from Maxxis including the DHX, and consistently find that on my very loose and rocky most aggressive trails, and this in on my Wild e-bike, the most consistent traction is with a front Mazza race 2.6 & the rear Martello 27.5 x 2.6 Enduro tires. I can't find anything that hooks up better up front. In the rear, I'm not all...

If you want to come to Italy, you have to know there are parts of it that have now living costs as high as Switzerland. South Tyrol, my home, is now unaffordable due to the overwhelming tourism. The bloddy dolomites get trampled over and the results are skyrocketing prices. Think of Jackson hole! But there are plenty of old houses and terrain left behind in other zones. Buying there isn't or shouldn't be a problem. Actually there are zones, where you can buy 1€ houses in Italy as they are confronted with dying towns, especially in the areas where there...

Hard MTB Finals Highlights

It looks to me that the lower shock mount is placed there so the e-bike version can have an identical rear end/shock length/ suspension kinematic.

I think most riders seeking a premium alloy frames are buying from companies that have an established history of building long term durability not the cheapest option available.

@schwalbai spill the beans, from what i see it's a Race Pro casing, Radial, and Ralph thread, i'm curious how different it would be in terms of construction vs Trail Pro

If you’re not big into skiing, you’d be forgiven for thinking Rocky Mountain Underground must have something to do with industry veteran Rocky Mountain Bicycles. On the contrary, this is RMU’s first-ever bicycle. Born of a self-described obsession with mountain biking, RMU aims to bring its boutique manufacturing passion to mountain biking with the Nightrain—a 170mm, 29-inch “freeride/enduro crossover machine.” While no single feature of the Nightrain is particularly out of the box in 2026, its combination of 6-bar, mid-pivot, dual-chain, dual-idler, flex-pivot, size-specific geometry, and industrial looks offers plenty to gnaw on for those infatuated with the obscure...

I'm happy to help with planning, recommendations and whatever you guys might need. I am here and can make all sort of connections. Soon I will be also able to tell you what races we have next year. ))) We can wrap this whole thing wearing VitalMTB t-shirts and taking a selfie for the guys on the forum. Bring it on! Mx

My buddy lives in East Burke VT and the riding is pretty awesome. He bought a pretty sweet house and 5 acres for 120ish. No opportunity to make a good living out there, and he's an engineer working mostly remote. I went to the ews at burke and sugar loaf when they came through, such a rad town. Like said before cottonwood/prescott valley or outskirts of prescott would be sweet. Close to sedona, flagstaff, prescott riding is great, and not too far from some chair lifts. Prescott has a pretty good economy it seems like. I have been to bellingham...

Kinda surprised nobody mentioned Spokane. My car broke down and I spent a few days on Beacon hill, and it was rad. Median home is 400k compared to 750k in Durango. less trails and vert, but what’s your metric, miles to house cost? Maybe has Durango beat. And you are 3.5 hours from Nelson.

The spots in Romania and Bulgaria sound very cool not even on my radar. I went into a good rabbit hole on both and they sound very nice. This is the reason I started this thread to hear about places like this. Thank you for all your responses.

Liguria is definitely up there as has been mentioned, a big part of that would be the quality of the food for almost nothing. I still love that Paul Aston announced buying his farm (house + barn + land) for less than "3 Sworks bikes". An option I haven't seen mentioned is Oaxaca in Mexico, I visited but didn't bike, I believe they have great trails and the location is really nice and cheap. But anyway, I live near Nice, on the expensive coast, but I think there are better places than the ones mentioned above. Dirtbag plan: Allos "the...

In 2013 I bought my house for $130k (still live here). My closest local trail has 2200 feet of vert, with several more in that range just a few min away. The trail that I ride from my office parking lot has over 3k of vert. All of it excellent Enduro style riding. Since then my house has tripled in price. Its a shame that kids who grew up in this place cannot return from college and afford to live in the town they grew up in.

I moved to Knoxville from Denver 5 years ago. Zero regrets. The west is great for looking at gorgeous mountains and for having over 300 days of rain-free riding per year. But the trails, campsites, and cool towns are hella crowded. Also, the toll of climate change on the Rockies is real, and the winters keep getting shorter and drier, and the smoke is getting more constant. I mean, we are all contributing to that, no matter where you live, with our car-centered life. But when you are literally driving out 70, into the mountains to have fun, and that...

I was gonna suggest the Eastern Tennessee area. WNC has gotten kinda crazy with prices recently but east TN is killing it. There's soo much riding within a 45 minute drive from the Knoxville area. Housing is cheap and the riding is year round. I prefer the riding in Knoxville (they've done so much work on riding infrastructure) to Bentonville any day.

I'm here in Brașov, Romania. Cost of living is obviously cheap, being the country we are, although some prices line up with the West, where the wages don't necessarily. But it is generally cheaper for most things. Mountain biking? How about FREE shuttle service on state-operated local buses, that take you up 12 km to our local resort? You just pay a normal bus ticket, which is about 1 EUR a ride, and on Fridays it's completely free. From the local resort (Poiana Brașov), you can either ride back down on a plethora of trails (of which some are shared...