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Just buy a new Leatt Gravity 8. That’s also moto rated and will give you the best protection. Doesn’t solve questionable line choices though.

You must know this already as you own the proframe, but my 2c. I have a proframe for racing and a dropframe for every other usage. I litterally don't consider the proframe to be safer than the dropframe, the only scenario I think it would provide additional protection is a small face-perfectly-centered impact, I can't see that chin bar resisting any kind of serious impact. So to me the proframe is a safe trail helmet, but not a real DH/ bike park helmet. That said, I don't own a real DH helmet anymore, so when I do go to bikeparks...

Interesting article, I’ll pull it tomorrow to check out at work when I can log into asme with my work credentials. Worth noting that anytime polymeric aging studies are done you typically need controls to compare the new vs the aged materials to determine if there was degradation or not. Sounds like they just rounded up a bunch of old helmets and compared their properties against baseline material standards, which is possibly a valid approach, but possibly not. When we conduct HALT testing on bespoke polymer blends at work we don’t just pull crap out of a drawer and pop...

I work in the medical device industry. All polymers degrade over time, especially with exposure to UV light, heat, and humidity. Which properties degrade depends on the polymer and amount and type of exposure. Base Polystyrene is known for embrittlement over time especially under the conditions previously mentioned. While it can / does occur with eps, it tends to do so at a slower rate. Whether or not it's enough to reduce overall performance/ safety is tough to say, as there's a lot of factors (manufacturing quality, storage conditions over time, how much use it's seen, etc). All that said...

Im certainly not planning to bin off my rarely used 2018 fox rampage pro carbon. Bloody lovely helmet and the best fitting I've owned. Feels very sturdy, more like a motorcycle helmet. I actually binned an original model proframe this morning, pre that stupid twiddly adjustor. Not used it for years as i replaced it with a leatt gravity 4.0 after a hefty impact. Felt absolute garbage comfort wise. Can't believe i used to wear it. I notice dyfi, bpw etc saying helmet over 4 years(?) old are not to be used. I can't see this being enforced.

that study has a sample size of 63, and the abstract doesn't indicate how (or even if) the aging conditions were managed consistently across the sample set. i would take their conclusions with a grain of salt. (note: part of my job function includes studying aging & performance of polymer based materials)

Preeeeeetty sure Frameworks isn’t being kept afloat by 32” wheel social media buzz, bud.

I can comment on these setups. I have posted on vital MTB a little before and felt there was a closed mindedness to this kind of a-typical stuff... That seems to be changing in MTB circles. I am not here to change any minds. I have my own opinions, coming from the moto side of things and the trends in MTB just do not feel right in terms of front wheel grip and rider / body position. I post regularly on VitalMX and have been a motocross racer for most of my life at the amateur / expert level. June...

Surely not every bike fits everyone, but I do think people freak out over mere millemeters when the fact is - you can get used to just about anything. Its just fucking bikes. I've got an XL GT Fury with 515 reach & 70mm bars: best DH bike I've ever had in 20+ years... a 2019 YT capra with 480 reach and 50mm bars: super fun, still going strong. A size L 2023 Marin Alpine with 490 reach and 35mm...no 50mm... no 80mm bars. Super fun. I move around on these bikes, jump them all mercilessly and continue to get...

Combine that setup with the ever-growing front wheel trend and we're slowly but surely getting there

Conventional wisdom up until a week ago would have said this setup is unrideable and has no place at a World Cup. The fact that they were even in touch with these bikes demonstrates that there are still lots of places to go and things to explore re: bike geometry/fit

I think the "it needs a special frame" part of the equation is, observationally at least correct. Hattie is the smallest on the team and her setup, to my eye looks proportionally the most correct and is also the first time I've seen the RR stem on a bike, including the various test mules on instagram and thought; "Oh, I see what they're actually trying to achieve here". Both of the male riders look like they're riding a Segway with their hands in their armpits.

Absolutely going to feel that if you're not "buying a bike for it". So for me that was highly exaggerated. For Brian it's a bit more interesting because I believe he ran it on a proper bike (along with trying the custom mule). Along with being a much better rider, I expected him to basically utilize it more but also struggle when trying to push. Which makes sense as a mere mortal, it's not like Brian makes 0 mistakes on a normal bike, as well as I'm not sure how long he's committed a specific time period to the stem...

There is merit in it to me. I came from Moto. I would set up my enduro dirtbikes bike with sky high bars and lowered footpegs to give a upright/strong riding position for long days. Coming to mtb I always struggled with the low stack heights. My current bike has relatively high stack, 40mm bars, 30mm spacers under the stem and a 462mm chainstay. I'm as close to riding a dirtbike as I've ever been. I feel "in" the bike now rather than on top of it. That security of been centered between the wheels is confidence inspiring. You utilize...

Not enough data points yet to determine if this is good setup or not. Reece's 2025 WC finishes: 6 missed finals and 22nd place average for the 3 finals he made. His best result came from Lake Placid, a new track that all riders had to puzzle over. What we could infer, is that Reece is a quick learner and can dissect new tracks better than many racers but that, eventually when all the racers catch up and learn the track, his avg race speed is still slower than the top 20. I'm stoked to see the puzzling on the...

"Fashion has taken over mtb, if a bike doesn't look right it's not going to sell." Cycling has been in the fashion business for a long time. Image over substance. Marketing over engineering. Features over benefits. Trendy picks and subjective opinions of a few tastemakers (product managers) setting the course 24-36 months out. Where it has gone in the last 8-10+ years is more "fast fashion," unfortunately. Guess on the trend due to poor data (color, style, etc), over-produce, flood the channels, dump the remaining inventory, rinse and repeat in time for the next season. Artisanal lugged steel, Colnago C-whatever-number-they're-up-to...

First generation Avinox bikes were already a foot-throttle compared to everything else on the market. 1000w+ of output with less than 150w of input is no longer a mountain bike in any meaningful way. Doing a sustained 32km/hr up the Blackcomb access road shouldn't be possible without pro-Tour legs and lungs on you. These bikes are going to be an absolute menace on shared climb trails.