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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...

We tested Crankbrothers new Synthesis Enduro Alloy 2.0 wheels that launched today and were super impressed by how stout and durable they were. Our tester Mikey has broken every wheel I've ever seen him ride, and these wheels have made it just about 4 months completely unscathed. Which honestly speaks more to their durability than Commencal/Muc-Off racing with them 😂 They're sold as individual wheels, but complete sets retail for $700 (CB hubs) and $900 (i9 hubs), and the rims carry a lifetime warranty—a first for Crankbrothers on alloy rims. There is also a DH/e-MTB model. https://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/wheelsets/crankbrothers/synthesi… Highlights - Reinforced...

Fair question. Money is definitely one reason why we haven't bought an Intend to test ( or 2772 reasons). In a perfect world, I would love for Vital to buy all of our test products at MSRP, like Consumer Reports used to do (Consumer Reports is now a dead husk of their former self). But buying all our test products would require either a) more revenue from advertisers, or b) moving to a subscription model and charging viewers, which other bike sites have done (Velo, Radavist, etc), or c) more $$$ from advertisers AND charging viewers for a subscription, which...

I'm at Leogang this weekend and wanted to get a sense of how widely pedal kickback devices have been adopted by World Cuppers, along with all the other wild accessories like TMD's/shakeweights, electronics, gearboxes, and more. So out of curiosity and as a service to my fellow nerds, I stood at the top of Q1 today and counted all the devices I could. Note that certain devices were almost certainly undercounted, like shakeweights, added mass, and fancy chainring devices like Ochain or Rimpact (drivetrains were facing away from me in the starting lineup). There were 20 bikes total where I...

I’ve definitely been doing some experimentation on my 120/140 bike (REEB SST). Having spoken with the man who designed the bike, he is a low stack enjoyer and rides a medium (so the FC/RC ratio is more like 1.78 vs my Large’s 1.83). I’ve run everything from a 40-50mm stem and 20mm to 50mm rise bars, and I’ve settled on a 50mm stem and 35mm riser bars with 15mm of spacers as being the best combination between feeling “safe” on the bike and getting good front end grip without going out of my way to ride the front. A low...

See, this is the thing. I started off on a medium bike despite being 183cm, and I've been chasing that balanced feel ever since. It was something like a 455 reach and 430 rear centre. My large e-bike has a rear centre of 455 and a reach of around 470, it handles damn near the same as my old medium bike despite the large difference in reach and wheelbase. I was a lot more upright on the medium, and once I adjusted the stack to be more upright on the large bike, not only did it get a lot more...

Psshh they can try to take our name but they can't match our banter. Or the fact that we fought in the trenches and lived that B-level racer life.

That's the real kicker. The situation was bad enough as is. But being, essentially, right after a junior being DQd for being seconds? late... A minute? How late was he... How can you be so inconsistent? Also, dunno if people already talked about it but Gracey's run needs to be remembered as one of the greatest come back runs in womens DH history. She was DEAD LAST at split 1. By the finish line, she was over 3 up. She gained OVER SIX SECONDS, in all the hardest parts of the track. Against an in-form Vali Holl (who was P1...

We had a request for clarification pop up on the post, here's the answer from Öhlins with some more details around the changes being discussed in the press release above: The new surface treatment has reduced friction, and the compression damping base tune has been backed off a little. As a result, the fork feels softer. To compensate, the spring curve has been made a little bit more progressive, through the addition of spacers in the ramp-up chamber (yes, it's still the same, 3-chambner design). The "booster" they mention is some kind of insert or spacer that reduces the volume...

We FINALLY got another B Practice recorded. Talked a lot about Dak's return to riding and racing next month. Plus all the usual drama around the first World Cup - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/all-drama-poland-daks-triumphant-retu… To listen - https://www.buzzsprout.com/78237/episodes/17228329-dakotah-norton-s-tri… To watch - https://youtu.be/nKQo845FEcQ

Few details about new Fox USD fork

A slightly stiffer version of the compression tune Fluid Focus recommended was run, which was the 2nd from softest. I added an .8 x .006 shim to the C6 tune. Rebound started with the tune recommended for a 450-500# spring (using a 475#). It was topping out a bit so it was swapped to the 525-575# tune. Still tops out slightly, but it's more annoying than anything else. Similar to an Ohlins coil. The FF kit comes with a new mid valve piston and shims, a jet to change the size of the bleed through the piston bolt, and a...

3 test sessions, 18 runs, 9 hours, 1 roasted rear tire, and a few more dings in the rim. The results are finally in with the Fluid Focus tuned Marzocchi Bomber CR coming out on top in every session. All three shocks were ridden extensively prior to the timed runs, including multiple bracketing sessions to get the settings in a good place. The bracketing sessions were done purely based on feel, no timing or other analytics. Avalanche Racing Bomber CR (tuned by Avalanche) This shock felt good right away. It has a magic carpet type ride where chatter and trail...

I think that's one of the Infinity Stones. If she gets all five, she can make half her competitors vanish with a snap of her fingers. But actually... perhaps it's a suspension setting indicator, a la Loic's much-debated handlebar LEDs? The notches around the circumference resemble the Shimano BB/Centerlock pattern. Not sure if that's just cosmetic, or if it's an actual tool fitting.

Apologies for the radio silence, the winter/spring transition was a tough one for the test track. There were some changes made to the testing protocol; the number of test shocks has been reduced from 5 to 3. I want the data to be as accurate as possible, and as such the shocks are all run on the same day back to back. Given that it is a self shuttle situation, it was just not possible to do 11+ runs/day without fatigue being a factor in the times. The pedal back to the start of the track is a steep 15...

I agree. That sentence is bizarre. I'm weirded out by the implication that choosing a longer or shorter chainstay length would be a compromise, but somehow choosing a 438mm chainstay length isn't a compromise? Every geometry decision you make on a bike represents a compromise. They're all trade-offs. Either that, or Canyon and friends have stumbled upon the Platonic ideal of the form "chainstay length." We're all in the cave over here, but at Canyon they've unshackled and transcended bodily existence to discovered the one true form of bike geometry. So meta of them.