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Now that so many companies are making things that aren't bottles with mounts for bottle bosses, i.e. tools, tubes, pumps, bags, etc, all bikes, including ,DH bikes should have bosses somewhere, even if there isn't actually room for a full water bottle. Lots of bikes have a second set on the underside of the top tube these days even though usually you can't put a bottle there (bonus for XL frames when sometimes you can). Anybody whose broken something in the top third of the Garbo zone without spares knows the pain...

Huge part of the appeal of these new 170-180mm park bikes is a water bottle. (and a dropper post)

As others have said, very few custom frame builders are getting rich out of their endeavours. It may be hard for YOU to justify the cost, but for someone wanting to go down the road of buying one of these bikes the value will be there for them and they will be able to justify spending that amount. No one is forcing people to buy these bikes and I for one am glad the option exists. I used to own a steel hardtail built by Swarf Cycles and it was night and day a better product, both in build quality...

99% of the car shop welders have never touched a thin wall steel tube and will blow holes into their first few tube sets. Their heat control will also turn the alignment into a pretzel. Majority of custom frame builders aren't making a living selling the number of frames they do make at the rate they charge.

Hi there, Cam here from Outlier MTB. First and foremost, thank you all for your positive comments and support during our recent launch! I see that some of you have been discussing the actual pedal drop on this forum. There have been some misunderstandings that we would like to take some time to clear up. Our Pendulum pedal as it was released has 6mm of drop measured from the centre of the axle to the top of the platform. Most flat pedal platforms are somewhere between 5-7mm above the axle so our pedals are essentially ~12mm bellow your average pedal...

Alright, here is my two cents on Schwalbe's radial casing and the Albert. Sorry for word-barfing so hard in a forum. So we tested the Albert at the end of summer before it launched as part of a gravity tire shootout that's dropping next week. I know, a bit of a delay. But we didn't have any information about the tire during the test, and **spoiler** it ended up being our least favorite. Part of this was due to the lack of support and damping from the casing. Part of it was due to the tread design struggling to bite...

Are you kidding? The frame has… holes for cables 🤢

I think the Medium is probably for a kid on the smaller end to grow into. I don’t see someone 5’9” starting on a Scout even though they’re in the recommended size range. If you’re already in the size range of “adult” bikes then you should start there. In my opinion, dual 27.5 bikes for average sized riders (and larger) are pointless; and they are dying out for a good reason. Unless you’re doing X-ups and barspins you’re not going to notice the loss of “playfullness” with a mullet and you will benefit from the extra rollover. That’s my hot...

Let's stop arguing about boiling points and get back to rumors. I go by which mineral oil tastes the best anyways.

Mmm, al dente tubes for crab links

"...the really interesting aspect is how America's truly believe their economy is in bad shape, when in reality is the envy of the [world] and by far the most successful over the last few years." I've been yelling this at the top of my lungs to people around me. No one in my corner of the US would believe it or acknowledge it. I THINK it's a short memory and a lack of A-to-C (and beyond) critical thinking. "It was really good and now it's worse?" They can understand that. But they can't understand "It was really good and now...

Tariffs and manufacturing bikes the USA: Last time Trump was in office, his tariffs on foreign made raw aluminum increased the price of domestically produced aluminum by 30% overnight. It was a significant cost increase to manufacturing bikes in the USA. Adding tariffs on complete bikes is a little different, but history has shown that increased import taxes (aka tariffs) increase costs for consumers and don't necessarily increase competitiveness for domestic manufacturing. See above example. My crystal ball says this about complete bike tariffs: if you increase the price of some things in the market, the price of all things...

Generally speaking, imposing blanket tarrifs on imported goods without first investing significantly in domestic manufacturing is a really good way to make everything get really expensive really fast. Nothing wrong with wanting a strong self sufficient and independent economy and strong domestic manufacturing, honestly it's better that way, but a tarrif like that is putting the wagon before the horse.

FAFO

I had a pair of clearance carbon Rovals on my gravel bike that exploded when I got hit by a negligent driver a couple years ago. Specialized replaced them quickly with a brand new pair that I then sold to the Pro's Closet for nearly what I paid for them originally. I submitted them to the Pro's Closet on a whim rather than selling locally thinking why would anyone buy these wheels when their main selling point (imo) is the warranty to the original owner. I'm assuming TPC bought them to put them on a bike rather than selling them...

I own those Roval Traverse HD and they are actually very good! The ride quality compares to Crank Brothers Synthesis carbon wheels with different front and rear carbon layup. People usually scoff at house brand wheels but I have been very happy with the 3 sets of Rovals I have for the different bikes. DT hubs, DT spokes, good rim layup and solid warranty to back it all up. In fact I had a set of the much hyped WeAreOne Union which felt like wooden planks in comparison.

There's no shortage of Ranges in my neck of the woods, which makes sense because my neck of the woods is British Columbia, where there's plenty of Norco dealers and the current Range makes a bundle more sense for the average "enthusiast" level rider in a two bike quiver than the Shore or a bunch of other options. I don't think you're right in statement that it was "never going to be a bike racers actually used in enduro". Maybe it's not the bike that the pros use, but roll up to any enduro race in BC and you're guaranteed...

The clear best solution is to just make water-cooled capable calipers. Water gets cycled through by a pump driven by a little baby pulley wheel on the outside edge of the rotors.

The following example is comparing three different theoretical bikes that have the same travel and progression, but different shock strokes. I made up a function to depict the air spring. It's not perfect, but it's not far off either. More ramp that most air shocks. This is only a portion of the picture. I wouldn't say there's any benefit to designing a bike around a short shock beyond fixing clearance issues if there are any, though. The reality is there are loads of air shocks that are plenty linear out there. Leverage curves (made them linear functions for the sake...

oh wow, theres probably only 2 people who I would genuinely be offended by getting confused with so I must have phrased that post very poorly sorry....I thought the fact I still acknowledged a good reason why the plot would use sag would be the biggest giveaway? @ebruner your hat is safe!