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Hey everyone, not mad at anyone in this thread (besides maybe myself). I clearly have ideas and a delivery style that probably isn’t ideal for a mountain bike forum. Robot wrote a genuinely great post (he’s a better writer than me), and I realized there was no way for me to counter it. Not because I didn’t have anything to say, but because I started turning into this (actual photo Tucker took of me this morning): Any frustration you see from me is with myself, not anyone else. I like friction. I like debate. What I don’t like is knowing...

Very much this; I've learned a tremendous amount from this thread alone, and have been delighted and surprised at how civil and thoughtful the conversation has been. Jeff, I hope you reconsider and feel welcome to return but either way, thank you for sharing your time and expertise so freely, it's a been a real pleasure to be a beneficiary!

This might be the only mtb forum where people actually get along 84 pages in, talk about REAL books in both finance and philosophy, and say sorry. Long live vital

I don’t mean to make light of a bad situation, but this felt inevitable. Anyone with any level of inside knowledge of the bike industry could look at YT from 30,000 feet and perhaps wonder if they have long had a money tree or maybe the operation was a money laundering front for the cartel.\ Some head scratchers, in no particular order: -Aggressively low prices (like...how is this possible low pricing) -Bloated SKU count (for them, its mostly the number of builds they have per model of bike) -Complex global supplier web (true for everyone, but their vendor count is...

Funny enough, I’m reviewing a Spire right now and noticed the same thing (though to a lesser degree). I bought the bike ~4 weeks ago, and it’s clearly a COVID-era holdover. You know what? I don’t care. The 38 GRIP2 is still a killer fork, the TRP brakes are nearly top-tier, and the frame holds its own. On a similar note, the winner of NAEC was on an “outdated” Specialized Enduro. Point being: a lot of these generational changes are pretty muted in terms of real-world impact. Interest rates are up, demand has softened, innovation just not what it was...

Xynotal Enduro casing > Aggressor DD. The Xynotal continues to blow me away with how versatile a pretty good rolling tire can be. I've done a 40mi XCM race on a DH casing one and even ridden it in the snow with good results. Only thing that could pry it from my rim is a radial Hans Dampf.

The aggressor is an odd tire - it might have worked better if they offered it in softer rubber but the cornering and braking traction kinda sucks for how slow it rolls (yes it's faster than a DHR but not by that much). It feels like the dissector is the tire they were trying to make when they designed the aggressor, though it has it's own issues. I used to run semi-slicks (rock razor was my favorite) but I think the introduction and refinement of in-betweener tires (Rekon / Forekaster 2, Syerra / Martello, ground control / Eliminator) give you...

We didn't sell the Minion SS in large quantities, unfortunately. More than anything it became an option for our athletes to use in highly specific disciplines (slalom) or conditions. I saw plenty of comments along the lines of "why would I buy a pre-worn out tire?" The sizing was also a little funky on that tread since it came out just before rims went super wide. The 2.30" had a good profile but obviously low volume, while the 2.50" was too squared off and more voluminous than most riders needed. I could see a place for a refreshed 2.40" version...

Jeff Kendall Weed has a great series of slow mo shots in his Podium video with side by side comparisons of front tire skids with the 36SL, 38, and Podium, and it's pretty wild how much fore/aft flex he gets out of the two RSU forks compared to the Podium. Doesn't look like much in the still, but it's a lot of motion back and forth in the vid. Also I just now noticed he's wearing loafers for the shot, which is the most JKW thing you'll see all week. I think it makes an interesting watch for anyone, but...

Buddy had classic boot top tib-fib spiral fracture from a skiing incident, and had the hardware removed couple years after because he had issues with it causing pain and rubbing inside his boots.

mmmmm intramedullary nails

more photos of the prototype zeb. from the photog - Ella Conolly, Dan Booker and Jesse Melamed were the ones to run it here on the first practice day in Canazei. There is a cover on the left bottom side, maybe some new dials….new lowers and new bridge, so looks like a brand new fork not just some upgrade. It looks like all of them run it in 170mm travel

Great write up TR. so good to have the big boy back writing whole sentences that completely convinced me to buy some dope shit. Organic humans rejoice.

As someone who took part in a flexstay design project, I can confirm that: - The spring force of the flex stay is minimal, relative to the spring force of the shock. As in it barely registers in a meaningful way to the ride quality of the bike. This was measured with instrumentation. The shock tune is all that matters here. - We benchmarked the 2021 Epic EVO when we began our 2025 Rocky Mountain Element project, and yes that EVO frame rides stiff. There was a ton of trail feedback, and the anti rise that results from their flexstay...

This is a great point. I used to break shit all the time, mainly wheels, until I began racing XC and riding a single speed exclusively. While I no longer race, that experience still informs my trail/enduro riding style which I would describe as aggressively smooth. For the past 10 years or so my bikes were all longer travel trail or enduro bikes. A couple years back I got one of the flex stay Stumpjumpers after I bought an alloy Stumpy EVO. Both bikes are great in their own right, but more often than not, I am reaching for the...

I was working in the engineering department at Specialized during the whole "zertz" thing. They did absolutely nothing. We tested frames with them and without them on an MTS test bed as well as having strain gauges/etc and DAQ systems on for riding. They did not damp or mute anything, zero difference. The shape of the carbon stay itself did change how the rear end behaved when compared to a "normal" seat stay, but the zertz did nothing. It even got to the point where Specialized was ordering field test frames without them as the cost was a bit lower...

at 9" travel, this is the most extreme implementation of a flex stay i've seen. not that there were enough examples to generate meaningful durability data, but by all accounts i'm aware of, these were bomber. this one saw 10 years of regular use, and is still intact 18yrs later (only dusted off for the occasional nostalgic retro ride these days). super stiff laterally, silly supple vertically. as a proof of concept, it certainly succeeded.

Carbon can some impressive stuff, not too worried about a few mm of flex

Every flex design that's ever made it to market is just replacing a bearing joint that has a very very low angle of rotation with a flexure. The pivot point will have an angle of rotation in the 1-5 degrees range. The rest of the kinematics play a much bigger role than the bearing that has been replaced ie Horst / Faux bar / VPP will determine the ride characteristics and not the flex.

I think a lot of people get caught up in viewing the shock and spring as one unit. You can look at them as separate entities and the impact of a flex stay makes more sense. The total spring forcing the bike back to top of travel is the combination of the flex stay and the spring on the shock. The damper controls rebound of the entire rear end, so as long as the rebound tune is good for the combined spring rate you’re good.