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If you want to know the defnition of what a forecast is, I cna try to explain in my own words (that is how we work with forecasts and does not need to apply for others): For starters, we are an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) for many brands. That means that companies buy our products to put them on their complete bikes. Usually, before the beginning of a new year or model year, our customers will provide us with an estimate of their complete demand for a certain period of time. This estimate is called a forecast. This forecast can...

Completely O/T but a big shout-out to @Sacki - your posts changed my dropper experience from a random gamble to a reliable, dependable, don't-have-to-think-about-it-anymore boring matter. Boring is good.

The bike industry as a whole could have sold more than they did in 2020 and most likely throughout the whole 2021. However, the supply chains simply were not able to cope with the demand. And I completely understand that, for some companies (those that essentially everyone needed parts from) it was impossible to give exact lead times. Their systerm could not scale for that demand and that's why you suddenly heard about lead times of 700-800 days. In reality it could have been 300 or 1000. Simply because no one could accurately scale it up just like that, because...

Thanks @Sacki , for the detail! @jeff.brines how about asking Sacki if he's up for a podcast? I best we'd all be into hearing more about Bike Yoke!

It's a very interesting and impressive interview. Thank you, Sam, for taking the time and going so much into detail and also Jeff, of course for trying and then making this happen! It was interesting to hear how YT experienced the turbulent times during covid. For us, I can say, that we already saw OE orders being postponed and cancelled already around Q2 2022. But the more important thing happened to me in April 2021. There was one particular OE customer who used to need around 1,500 post per year from us. End of 2019 (pre-Covid) we received a projected...

(me listening to all 90+ minutes) "Well now I just have a deeper appetite for all the juicy stuff we're missing..." It was nice to get some extra clarification on Markus' role during Sam's tenure. Although I think we were all under the understanding that Markus never 'left' and had a hand in everything the entire time. It feels, put simply, Sam was brought on for a future that could have existed and was projected to exist... But it was never going to exist due to the inherent post-covid climate. To which I'll give Markus credit for choosing someone suited...

Banshee is perfect except for dropper insertion

To go with your last point, companies should build different bikes as not every rider is looking for the same feel and handling from a bike.

The RAAW and ebike comments in the rumors thread are really interesting. Might make for good discussion here or even a good podcast topic. The upshot is: Core Brand has a market niche along the lines of "we got rid of the MBA's and marketing department, and then designed a couple of frames we'd want to ride and maintain for many years." Catering to very avid, highly knowledgeable riders. Core Brand is watching as ebike sales continue to grow and regular bike sales continue to decline. Obviously, they are aware of all the missteps made by frame manufacturers over over...

On the Raaw E-Bike topic: This is quite interesting... https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hepha-gmbh-ebike_hepha-raaw-hephaxraaw-a…

The question is, can brands survive without making an ebike? Based on what I know about sales at bike dealers, pedal bike purchases are in persistent decline. In order for a brand to grow or even stay the same size, they will have to make an ebike. I think there have smartly been many hold-outs... and I agree, maybe producing a product like an EMTB is too intensive and requires too much warranty overhead to the point where that process can kill a small/mid sized brand. But I also can assume that most brands aren't in business to persistently struggle...

If they keep their release strategy the same, they’ll release the new 38 on April 7th, 2026.

RAAW is a german company, last year, the total numbers of all MTB sold in Germany was about 80k, that number is getting smaller and smaller in the last years. now look at EMTB sold, that was 800k, 10x as much as non motorized MTB. so they exist in an ever shrinking market if they don’t adapt to the new reality..,

And the 2025 "Simplicity is the ultimate innovation award" goes to Transmission 90 mechanical and XT M8100 for their outstanding lack of electronic component complication, perfectly acceptable shifting performance and general affordability. We thank you for being as good as anyone ever would need.

curious if the new 40 will come at the same time.

Not particularly set on an ebike myself, never owned one,the way I look at it, most of them go from shitty to "good" but poor value with nothing in the middle. Thats why I think that the realibility, serviceability, life expectancy, and quality of life features that Raaw puts at the forefront of the bikes they design will make for a compelling proposition if they decide to enter in the ebike market. Who knows, we will see. Another quote from that same email: ... Julian shapes the RAAW universe – whether it’s owner’s manuals or logos for a new bike...

I don’t have data on this but it feels every smaller company when they release an ebike goes under shortly after, especially if it was carbon. Revel and Deviate that was the case. Maybe it’s the cost of the R&D is so much it strains the company, I don’t know.

The PB article links to the YT website which offers no info on the bike and continues to use the likeness of riders they fired / stop paying months ago. Classy.

Allow me to rewrite this headline: “YT Attempts to Rebuild After Bankruptcy With New Pricing and New Bankruptcy.”