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I've been away for a while, so not checking regularly for a couple weeks, so I spent a couple hours trying to catch up, prolly 12 or so pages the content and tone of comments has changed drastically in the last year. I can only assume with increased users and engagement, which has brought along with it, a much more negative and judgy tone. I was drawn to this comment section for the rumours and innovation (and spy shots, and great info from the likes or TEAMROBOT, Cascade, Dave, and many others) but I find myself turned off by the...

I watch guys on e-bikes who are more nimble than I am on an XC bike. We can adapt to the extra weight. It’s really a question of: are you into the long quiet meditative climbs? I like them and I don’t need the ratio of time spent up:time spent down to change yet

Was just reading Escape Collective's article about security researchers hacking a Shimano Di2 drivetrain (tl;dr it's possible but highly unlikely in any real-world scenario) and this quote about wireless drivetrains jumped out at me: "Wireless shifting has also made aspects like installation simple and easy to do. In fact, that’s the primary reason we have it, said Wakeham. He pointed out that riders aren’t the main customer for big component brands like SRAM and, especially, Shimano; bike brands like Specialized and Trek are. For the rider, 'wireless isn’t innovation for the user except in aesthetics,' he said, because shifting is...

while i agree that many riders often have "more" bike than they need for a given trail, i'm not sure if this comes from a desire to be "overbiked" or just that many riders have one bike. they need it to cover many different kinds of terrains and difficulty levels - which results on inherently being overbiked on some trails.

The damper is pretty consistent. Damper fluid is designed to have consistent viscosity across a wide range of temperatures… that is the whole reason to have a special oil. Plus the fact that shim valves aren’t terribly sensitive to viscosity in the first place. I’ve run these experiments on a dyno FYI- small % changes at most. Air springs on the other hand gain noticeable pressure when hot. I’m always a bit skeptical when someone complains about their coil shock becoming a pogo stick due to heat. More than likely it’s you and your (weak, non-world cup) legs getting fatigued...

The larger bushing area and tube diameter of the 38 reduces friction, especially under load which everyone benefits from. The air spring is also more optimised for things like less pressure build up in the lowers from the twin tube air spring while retaining a large negative chamber. The 36 platform needed to extend the lowers and stanchion tubes to increase the neg chamber in the latest generation. Personally I don't see the point of going for a 36 at 170mm, I think the visual difference will make people think it feels "lighter" in the front end but I can't...