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Small nerd correction: what Orbea is doing is really smart because they can make the same (or more) number of SKUs but reduce their CAPEX (mold investments & tooling) significantly. Hypothetically, they can make 10 DH models and 10 Enduro models (lots of SKUs) but from a "single" mold investment and different metal links (reduced CAPEX). This is very challenging for Orbea because they have to essentially plan 2 different bikes in the same mold set up. More has to be figured out (compared to making separate DH and separate Enduro bikes) before they go to tooling. We do a...

Sven, you're the best. Thanks for the detailed breakdown. Don't know where else in the universe we would be able to see this info.

Bashing gates with elbows, hands, cranks and pedals is all a part of slalom. If you aint making contact with the gates you aint doing it right.

When a World Cup comes around, you must rip it.

If he turns up wearing a helmet shaped like this, then we'll know.

All that is needed for the new Rallon is for Fox to release the USD fork so the same front wheel can be used in enduro and DH mode.

Also Orbea site is showing "new Saint" for the DH bike but it seems the images are with the current version.

Support your local dive shop!

After 2 years in the trenches dealing with fork friction issues, this is what I have found: In hundreds of forks taken apart and checked for chassis alignment/bushing fit, tight bushings account for maybe 5% of the friction problems. It is almost always the chassis/CSU alignment causing the issue. In rare cases burnishing (or opening up the bushings) is the only way to get any improvement, even though the individual fit on each side is good. But in general it is the last resort (unless when testing each leg individually you find a tight fit). If the lowers are fully...

Is this you? 😉

Did the old brightness trick on the EXT pic from their instagram. Cant tell much from the pic, but there are some differences compared to the V4. Cant spot it from this angle, but if its a cheaper version as someone earlier commented, we can suspect that it doesnt come with an HBO, or at least not an adjustable one as the V4. Adjustors/lockout look similar otherwise. Possibly a normal/heavy spring instead of their lighter springs. And it looks to be a "regular" chrome(?) shaft, instead of the V4's DLC coated shaft. Might be some other differences, but it will...

That last sentence seems important…