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I've mentioned this worrying trend in depth in a few podcasts over the course of last year. From last year they have hindered the ability of many top 50/60 riders to garner any points in qualifying. Pretty soon very few riders (even much less than now) will be able to rightfully enter a World Cup without being on one of the World Series top teams or federation entries. With the switch to the points now staying with the teams and not the riders this year there will even less power of advantage and bargaining for top riders. (Note if teams...

I don’t think you get it Dave. We are going to revolutionize fork manufacturing on this forum without ever having visited a factory or even talking to a designer or engineer about the myriad of factors that affect the design and manufacture of said forks.

Can you specify? I don’t know what intend does. But yeah I believe RS is making thousands of forks per day (a lot of volume comes from the lower end stuff you guys don’t think much about- eg Judy). Or at least was during the Covid peak. Tact time is a real issue. I’d worry about those rotating burnish tools scraping/burning material off the bushings. Fill the lower leg with bushing dust. The factory sizing method is different and that is what is tested and validated by engineering team. YMMV. One longevity trick is to wash your lowers when you...

I honestly think Rockshox doesn't get enough credit for their attention to friction - everyone loves to talk about the latest dampers but those come well after the friction and the spring in terms of what actually matters. I noticed things like increasing the bushing length and carefully choosing bath oil viscosity (not too thick in most forks, but the short travel skinny leg forks get heavier oil) along with good alignment and clearances in the new forks. Fox still use very short bushings in all their models, plus I'm positive the oil channels they added in the lowers do...

110% on target. Pal had a spoke pop midway thru a 25mi ride and it went through the sealing tape. Bummer, but a tube held up for the rest of the loop. Week later on my way home same damn thing happened to me on my commuter. Got hip to the idea of the Gorilla Tape over sealing tape from another website. It does stop the puncture and the sealing tape is a treat to remove as compared to year old and sealant logged Gorilla Tape. Added bonus, it creates a better seal in the tire drop zone, so even...

One reason might be to prevent flats. I've only had 2 flats in the past year and a half, but both were from breaking a spoke, which then pushed back through the hole in the DTSwiss rim and punctured the rim tape. Regular rim tape (stans, mucoff, etc) isn't good against spoke impacts, but it doesn't leave residue when you peel it off like Gorilla tape. If combined, you get no residue, but also better resistance against spoke punctures.

I tested the Albert Trail 2.5 US on the front on my Relay and it didn't cut it. It was removed after 2 rides. (same tire is great up front on my trail bike, less loose rocks, not as fast, etc.) The MM Radial went on afterwards and felt amazing. I do really like the 2.6 Albert Soft gravity on the rear of the Relay however. As far as the casing feel, it's weird for like 15 minutes max on the radials, like a bit wooden feeling. Which brings up another point: Due to my impending divorce situation, I'm running...

BMC reduction in force given current conditions but also this: Perhaps understandably, no new product launches are planned for the SCOR and Adicta Lab brands, however, the company will continue supporting riders, retailers and selling the existing range. “Market developments will be closely monitored and all options for the future of SCOR and Adicta Lab will be kept open.” Full article https://cyclingindustry.news/bmc-refocuses-on-core-business-sheds-40-jo…

Lol, well, technically the Shredda Front is a 2:2:2 pattern, but it's not a competitor against Argotal, HIllbilly and High Roller 3. All three of those tires can be ridden on hardpack/flow trails, etc. The Shredda Front is a soft conditions-only tire. Sketchy on hard pack, super hard to pedal with 8mm tall knobs, etc. Ebike soft conditions tire. This new un-released Schwable (which I posted above), but will post here again, is an all-arounder, exactly like the HR3, Hillbilly, Argotal. Obviously a bias to loose conditions but enough knob surface area and stout enough knobs for bike park/hard conditions...

The Radial casings are amazing (I'm only 150lbs) but as I've said many times there are still holes in their lineup. The Albert is a great 'trail' tire but not a summer high-speed shred tire. Just not aggressive enough. An Assegai, by comparison, looks like a beast with teeth. They need to roll out the Big Betty in Radial asap. The Betty could benefit from a bit more 'breathing room' between the knobs as it packs up quick with mud given how tight the knobs are. Also, they need to release that new 2:2:2 Argotal/High Roller 3 tire ASAP. Once...

MM is the do it all tire for all but the most extreme conditions (hard pack or mud party) if you can stand the slight drifting on more compact surfaces. You get used to it tho. I only noticed it the first few rides after coming back from a butcher/eliminator combo.

Yes, there is a break-in period. I mounted a lightly used and new radials this weekend and it's amazing how different the casing is. If mid corner support lacks try MM's. I stayed away from MM's bc input for non-radials was they're not great for SoCal, I didn't find that to be true at all. I like the MM front and Albert rear combo for conditions similar to yours.

Man, thanks for sharing all that info! It's interesting to hear the different feedback on the radials. We are hearing that for heavier riders in hard terrain, the casing can squirm in those high load cornering situations you refer to, even at increased pressure. In softer or mixed terrain where average speeds are lower, they seem to perform well.

Possible that they offer a 15mm conversion kit like the Marzocchi DJ fork? Probably not the best solution, but depending on the dropouts, it could be an option..

tried using chatGPT with a ton of quality prompts, my years of expertise to tune me up a winning Vital Fantasy team....I got worked, 312th or some crap, my missus smoked me, shes 70th and wont hear the end of it. I last minute traded in bruni to buy up some mid packers-what a bust.

Would have been nice to know this was coming.