All

Boy, for personal reasons I hope you are right but I'd bet a lot of money this gets settled outside of court. What I really want to see happen is the "IP" Strava has is invalidated. I still can't believe matching data is somehow something you can patent in the modern era, meanwhile the transformer was something Google just let sit on a shelf. Mind blowing.

Power to the People: Do you all want this thread locked being we've hit the two year mark and a new one created or should it persist? How to Vote Thumbs Up - Lock It Thumbs Down - Keep It Open Voting window is through the weekend.

Bottle Rocket in name only.

RE: lifetime warranties on rims. When WAO sold to I9, there were several interviews with both sides. Neither of them indicated that warranty replacements were a big cost item. Surely it's non-zero, but there is so much other shit going on in the industry that are bigger factors. Likewise, for Santa Cruz / Reserve, their warranty replacement costs have got to be such an insignificant line item. But the big difference between Reserve/WAO and the CSS wheels is the former are tough as hell. Yeah, it's possible to break them (I broke 2 different WAO rim models, and I know...

I agree, it looks like it’s full 27.5. It seems like an odd business decision though, other brands seem to be trying to cut down on number of models. Currently Transition has the Sentinel (can be long shocked to 160), the Patrol (160 or 170 depending on shock), and the Spire (160 or 170 depending on shock). Adding a 4th bike in the 160-180mm range is an odd choice. The Patrol is great in a Dual Crown Freeride setup. Maybe they’re gonna combine the Patrol and the Spire into one bike. They’re both due for update, and that would cut...

They better bring back the PBR edition!

Let's be real though, lots of high end sales involve carbon wheels, and lots of people go after them thinking carbon wheels will make them better but they still ride blue flow trails and the wheel are being extremely under ridden, as well as road bikes. The amount of people smashing carbon rims multiple times vs the number of people that they'll last forever due to their riding level, is hugely Sku's to the rich blue trail riders that are more likely to have a blown up freehub body than a damaged rim. I've been pounding on a set of...

do we call that a second seat tube?

CSS Composites is done: https://escapecollective.com/us-thermoplastic-carbon-manufacturer-css-c… They are the guys who made the thermoplastic carbon wheels for Revel, Chris King, etc, as well as under their own name Forge + Bond.

Looking at the failures, it's past the edge. All she did was go nose heavy off a drop and it snapped way worse than those GTs people have been riding into trees at speed. Pretty sure Devinci just recalled a bunch of bikes for something similar

My guess is that its either a manufacturing defect or the frame was previously crashed and weakened at the downtube.

We’ll cover this on the pod in a few days, but the idea of Markus buying the company back isn’t all that surprising. One of the companies I consult for went through something similar: a private-equity exit gone wrong where the founder bought his business back from the PE firm for just 10% of the price he sold it for. Within a year, he had restored it to its former strength. The key difference here is Markus himself. He’s shown very little aptitude for running a sustainable business. While I don’t have all the financials, nothing suggests he can consistently...

Is anyone else thinking the YT brand isn’t worth saving? Terrible warranty reputation, plus the latest fiasco with shipping a new bike while existing orders are in limbo, and TWO large scale exits from world cup racing. Why would anyone choose to give them their money in a saturated market?

a cult brand is something positive in the german language

Perfect timing for the Vital podcast.