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+1 on mount and shred them! I think the unforgiving cornering you reference has more to do with the overall knobs geometry than just the height. Big Betty sideknobs are quite square and wide. Whereas the TC, with a more open leading edge corner, allows corner entry to be less aburpt. Also now that the TC has a more widley spaced pattern on the tread cap for the 2.5" radial version, it also has less off a dead spot. When you add in the radial casing defelction, it's pretty much elimianted. Compare that to the cornering behaviour of a Big...

TC radial front, Romy rear on my trail bike. Really really liking the combo. Good rolling speed relative to the dual diagonal TCs I had on there previously, doesn’t feel like it gives up much cornering grip at all (guessing it’s the radial grip making up for the tread pattern change on the rear,) and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t mute the buzz nicely and suction cup up techy climbs. I’m sold on the combo for anything less than full on DH, that said it’s been quite ideal conditions in the PNW lately so I don’t have any options...

Had a pretty big ride on the new 2.4 Trail Romy radial, just because it’s quite a bit shorter than the Albert I went up 1 psi, I’m impressed by the grip, after the first ride it measures 60mm knob to knob, gained 2mm from when freshly mounted. It rolls considerably faster than the Albert, I can make it drift/slide without forcing it with the brakes unlike the Albert, still great traction on tech/slippery climbs and great braking traction on the way down too, really nice tyre

I havent ridden the trail casing but I’ve ridden the same tires in gravity casing on a last gen nomad. It was fun in the phoenix area but the I agree the xynotal cornering knobs are almost none existent. I havent ridden in the northeast, but if there’s high grip rock and your corners are more darty direction changes then the xylontal is great. I still run one on a trail bike, but I prefer tacky chans or something like a dh22 for my bike that sees any sort of bike park or higher speed turns.

I pedal 3cg/ultra soft tires on 6-8 hours rides because it's worth it. Tire rolling speed is not the reason that I am capable of finishing or making it through a big ride. I'm either fit enough or in the right head space/physical readiness state or not. 3-5% of rolling resistance doesn't make or break my fitness, but more than makes up for it on the descents.

I prefer the krypto-r on the back vs the krypto-f for the riding I do. If you're doing super steeps, then the dhr2 paddle style tread provides more straight line braking, which is helpful for laguna and the santa ana mountains in socal. The krypto-f in back, is better for bike park or faster easier gradient terrain and soil with a lot of organics mixed in. IMO, the krypto-F does roll faster in back, so for anything but straight line braking loose over hard or scree situations, it may be the better choice. Regarding rubber conti ss vs maxxis 3cg...

This is a great exercise and trip down memory lane. According to my count, I've owned 43 mountain bikes (where "bike" refers to a distinct frame, even if parts were moved over from the previous bike) and 66 bikes total (which includes road bikes, gravel bikes, BMX's, and my original kid bike when I was 5). Many of them were amazing, some of them sucked, but all of my bikes taught me things and took me places. Puts it into perspective how lucky I've been to have owned and ridden so many bikes. And out of those 42 mountain bikes...

Many shit bikes. Bikes of note: Trek fuel ex 9.7, the 130/130 model loved this bike til the chainstay snapped during COVID Kona Hei Hei CR, great bike for my locals replaced the Trek. Specialized Enduro, only sold this as I got a great deal on the Meta Commencal Meta V5 Kona Rove Ti, the shit weather fitness bike

More than I can remember properly. And I'm a poor man. it's a sickness. Aside from the four that I made myself, two that stand out are a Hunter Cycles that I traded a used Boxxer for so that he could build a bike truck which he rode to a fourth place finish at Leadville and a '46 Schwinn that I mounted a Hannebrink fork and homemade bars and seat post to.

I won't give the years because I've honesty forgotten. Yeti SB95 - It was... Fine. Transition Scout V1 - Great bike, but I should have gotten the patrol instead Evil Wreckoning - Great that it was one of the first long travel 29" but as it turns out I'm not a huge fan of linkage driven single pivots. Scott Spark - Who knew light bikes could be so much fun? Sentinel V1 - Good bike without the cascade link, amazing bike with it. Much preferred it over my Evil Sentinel V2 - Still one of the best bikes I've ever...

Wow that's lit when I typed it out 🤯 plus it's been raining non stop wtf... 96 Gary Fisher Wahoo / 98 Specialized Stumpy M2 / 2002 Schwinn Straight 6 / 02 Balfa BB7 / 05 Giant DH Comp / O7 Sinister R9 / 08 Giant Glory / 2010 Specialized Demo 8 / 15 Scott Gambler / 2016 Commencal Supreme . That's high school to last full dh season in 19. Add in 05 Spec P3 / Chase DJ / 2014 Giant Trance 2010 Giant Reign / 15 Trans AM Hardtail / 16 Specialized Enduro Comp / 21 Commencal META...

just like half the DH teams on intense M1s back in 1999 : )

sorry, it's not ebike talk, but here are pit bits photos from leogang https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/pit-bits-2026-leogang-world-cup-dow…

and for everything electric it's just power, torque and battery talk. yawn.

Not the part of CT you are thinking of. That’s been e-bikes for years just like Westchester NY has. I’m talking the redneck eastern part of CT where the trails are in places shared with hunting and we have permanent deer stands built 20ft up in the trees at my local spot.

Charlie no

I haven't observed the same in NH, ME, and upstate NY. I see probably 80% analog bikes except for Wendsduro at Highland where there are more. I really wonder how regional this is, or if it's more dependent on the trail systems or days of the week people ride.

Pretty far from 97-3 ratio I'd say. The G-A-S region has always been an regional specialty when it came to performance mtb. They resisted 2x, 1x, progressive geo, real tires, to name a few things, well into the adoption phase in other markets. Being a leader in eMTB market penetration doesn't mean that they're early, more that the MTB culture is different there.

I'm sure this is the case in many other pockets of N-A as well but there are some trends that point to a balancing of the market. A return to a more analog world with Gen Z, combined with economic pressures that don't mesh with selling a version of MTB that is significantly more expensive would be two topical ones. Meanwhile, on the topic of MTB Tech rumours, I predict that we will soon see 1 frame design used for both eMTB and MTB, as packaging for eMTB has recently gotten considerably smaller. This is a logical way for any...

The German market isn't reflective of North America; and possibly other core MTB markets like Australia and New Zealand, however small they might be. The amount and quality of riding in North America, for example, fosters a completely different riding culture. Of course eMTB has a place here in North America, but we still have a large percentage or riders that want the analog experience. Squamish is a good example of a super core area for riders and, while eMTBs are seemingly everywhere there, my anecdotal perspective is that the split is still in favour of analog. My prediction is...