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

Tech Rumors and innovation

Fair point

Charlie no

I can feel the downvotes coming, but I'm reminded of a comment I made back in February comparing e-bikes to GLP-1 drugs... Maybe I'm a purist, but isn't part of mountain biking the physical effort and reward? I understand capitalism, but when I see brands cutting analog models while e-bikes continue to dominate sales, it feels like another example of a broader trend: we're pouring investment into technologies that make difficult things easier. Is it possible that because analog bikes have essentially plateaued, so people who already have a sick bike are rounding out their quiver with an e-bike? Also...

Seems like a lot of e-bike talk in here lately, can you move this to the e-bike thread?

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...

The headset cable routing edition of suspension layout.

Spends 18,500 on a bike Oh, you want to come and collect it? That'll be another 90 please.

100%, a high margin inventory mover. Fine for me, will get them to the levo 5 more quickly.

I was going to make a post about the core Lenz customer being a boomer suspicious of tubeless tires and dropper posts, but I thought better of it. Then I happened upon a boomer posting theirs with a rigid post. And I'm back because my soul is sour and withered.

Me: Can we stop and get a 6-bar suspension from Yeti? Mom: We've got 6-bar suspension at home: For older Amflows, but I suppose the new ones might be supported as well: https://www.mklinkage.net/

When everyone knows new bikes are to be tested in Transition's parking lot

This 100%. I have a mate who got into riding 18mths ago. He's the kind of guy that is all about the intricacies of Tomas Haake's polyrythmic drumming and any other complex undertakings, but as soon as I try and explain to him that he needs to spend a couple of hours one day bracketing his setup and his riding will improve immensely his eyes glaze over.

I recently read an article by the enduro mag. They made a survey and found out that 70% of their readers that took part in the survey never changed their rebound from what the bike came with. The amount of people riding bikes that dont have a clue about basic setup is very high. For them, something like the progression rate is not relevant. We are all so far off the average user that we are not who brands have to engineer their bikes for. https://enduro-mtb.com/performance-gap-das-dilemma-moderner-bikes/

Frame kinematics that require stuffing air cans full of volume spacers and are a big no-go for coil shocks? Hmmm, I feel like we have been here before.

That sounds an awful lot like they actually didn't get the leverage curve they wanted. Nothing wrong with designing a frame to work with the natural progressivity of an air shock, but if you use all the volume spacers in the air shock you spec stock, you probably would be better served with a more progressive leverage curve.

neko doing laps at mtn creek with a 32" front wheel and cialis-sized FOX 40. pic by luca cometti the sniper.

I think one of the largest "We're not in Kansas anymore" moments I had when I began working for a component manufacturer after years in bikes shops was when I had the insignificance of aftermarket sales explained to me. Don't get me wrong, every brand worth their salt is going to support aftermarket product bc why leave money on the table, but OE sales are king in the bike industry and ultimately OE sales drives every design decision. SRAM gets to push the convenience of full SRAM spec by limiting cross compatibility. For brands like Canyon, Specialized, etc., who are...

If you're not from the US and you haven't seen this yet, I can't recommend it enough. It explains a lot: