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Good questions! I had a great conversation with Kiran MacKinnon of Santa Cruz Bikes at Sea Otter (and it should be published as a podcast at some point), and he said that because e-bike frames have to be so much stiffer than pedal bikes, taking the motor and battery out basically produces a bike that rides like a block of wood (i.e. overly stiff and harsh over bumps). That doesn't mean that an e-bike with the motor removed is unridable (i.e. Martin Maes racing DH on the e-Wild frame as a development project for the new Rallon DH bike), but...

I hope you mean Dialed is coming back…

I've tried both the MM and TC radials in trail versions. The cornering knobs on the TC are definitely stiffer. I feel like more of the squirm on the MM comes from those siped cornering knobs. But I'm not particularly heavy (170 lbs) and ride in mostly soft conditions so probably don't experience this as much as heavier riders do.

It may not be a "whole separate sport", but there sure is a "whole separate text thread" for the e-bike riders in my friend circle. Now we rarely have big group rides as the crew is split in two and it's a pain to ride laps with both bike types together. So I'd say its a "whole different discipline" of pedaling a rolling thing with your feet.

First ride report on Tacky Chan Trail Pro radials, super soft up front, soft in back, 22psi front, 25psi rear, 29" front and rear on a Yeti SB160 on DT Swiss EXC 1501 wheels. 1143 grams each. They roll fast for a meaty tire. Better than the Magic Mary. Maybe better than the Albert. On par with a DHF exo+ maxxterra 3c I'd say. Faster than an Assegai for sure. Not as fast as a Forecaster. Same excellent radial dampening. Big cornering traction with a locked in feel that is confidence inspiring- more so than the Magic Mary. No vague...

I put in a deposit on the Cane Creek. They are local to me and it'd be interesting to compare them to the Intend, I'll report in when it shows up.

Frameworks 32-Inch Testing Neko Mulally is racing a Frameworks with a 32" front wheel and 29" rear wheel for Sea Otter downhill. He says he's been riding a bit back at home and had to purchase the front tire online (1 of 2 that he could find). He's surprised by the traction but did indicate that if it broke free, it broke free without warning. He was able to cram in a 29" rear wheel despite the rear triangle being made for 27.5. His philosophy is that it's worth the experiment to figure out if there's something more to pursue...

If only someone made a linkage that allowed a longer shock to to be run on the Levo and it yielded 170 mm of travel. That would be wild.

Hey all, I can finally take off my very sneaky blue tape camouflage to reveal that yes, I’m reviewing the new Nomad. Because I’ve spent so many years on the old Megatower, I’m framing this as a Megatower vs. Nomad comparison. Especially interesting for me because of the rumors that the Megatower is going away and the new Nomad does not take 29” rear wheels. I only have a couple rides in on the new bike, but so far the geometry feels really good and the bike feels solid and stout. Weirdly I haven’t been able to figure out the...

We built this one! It's a Mattoc Expert 🙃

New Mezzer (finally)? https://www.instagram.com/p/DW3f5x0DFww/?img_index=4

@jasbushey For our trails around Durango, I am really digging the radials with a Magic Mary trail pro radial super soft up front (21-22 psi) and the Albert trail pro soft in the rear (24-25psi), no inserts. Today I ordered a Tacky Chan trail pro radial super soft for the front and Tacky Chan trail pro soft radial soft for the rear. I am really excited to try the Tacky Chan because I loved the DHF tread pattern and it looks similar. I'll probably try a Romy in the back at some point as well depending on how the TC...

This is cool, the part that pushes on the tire looks very similar to a machine that puts on car tires. Honestly sick idea.

Happy to help breakdown all the new tech. We've been excited about this drop, lots of new changes to communicate! All new Gravity Pro casings have been updated. This is indicated by the blue "Pro" label. Previous versions of the Albert, Mary, Shredda F/R have the previous design.

Specifically for cornering: Mary is best for un-predicable and natural terrain. Mainly due to the long, narrow, and out-ward twisted shoulders. Albert is better for hardpack. Wide and stable shoulder blocks that are tightly packed. Tacky Chan is best for fast and aggressive cornering. Similar shoulder blocks to Albert, but more openly spaced and supported further down the sidewall. Romy is like a combination of a Mary and Albert side knob. Every third block is a square edged rectangular siped knob similar to a Mary. The other shoulders knobs are more similar to a Albert: Square and heavily supported.