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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...

No, the Scott engineers are furious because Specialized added so many new links but didn't seal them inside the frame. They're yelling at their screen right now, "Just make it look like a pregnant whale! It's so easy!"

“Hey do you guys have a spare HighGear perimeter seal and lower case bolt o-ring in stock? I’ve got a race this weekend.”

Engineers at Scott must be going insane after finding out Specialized has beaten them at making the most complicated MTB to service, the next Gambler will have 32 pivots in retaliation

I recognize that's not an apples to apples frame weight because most frame weights don't include a dedicated crank and chainring. An 83mm Saint crank and chainring is 931 grams ( FC-M825, 36T, 170mm) and a matching 83mm BB is 96 grams, which is 1027 grams total. So a comparable frame weight with a shock would be 10.5 pounds, which isn't light, but it isn't terrible either. It's closer to 11 pounds if you were to build up a normal frame with a super light crank and chainring.

@TEAMROBOT hot takes from sea otter

SO happy to see that derailleur cable

should have known, thanks for the link.

This Just In! Stark Motorcycles is going to be joining the MTB world with its EBike Called the Stark “NotaMoto”. This ebike has 80 horse power and a gear box. Apparently they made the decision to join the bike industry after one of the executives said- “ I mean its all bullshit. You can buy an ebike from Specialized at the same price as our motorcycles. But with like 1/1000th the power. We should just put mountain bike wheels on a Varg and just sell it to them. Theyre just in denial that they want a motorcycle and want to...

Not saying you’re wrong, but this is their official answer 🤷

The latest Tesla power wall is about 11 kwh of usable electricity. That's about a gallon and a half of propaine run thru a cheap generator, with current ~20% efficiency. The theoretical peak ICE => electricity generation efficiency is over 60%, with perhaps the practical limit being around 40%. It's not a matter of 40%, 50%, or 60% power density gains that batteries need. It's an entirely different paradigm.

I don't want to come off as angry or pretentious, but I find what's going on with Avinox and the Spesh "class 2" emtb disgusting. I'm curious how the people at traditional bike companies feel about what they're helping proliferate into our world for all of the people who created and maintain the trails (mostly volunteers like myself) to contend with. How conflicted are they? Between the general financial malaise in the industry, 32" wheels nobody truly seems excited about, and the unprincipled embrace of avivox/DJI/amflow, what is general morale like? Conversely, and assuming everyone there isn't also yelling at...

Just started the latest Bikes and Big Ideas podcast with Chris Cocalis... Gives you a good idea about how connected Amflow and Avinox are within the first 10 minutes..

One of the other things I'm pretty sure influences that choice is the fact that the large-negative volume air shocks don't play well with highly progressive enduro bikes - they are either too soft or too progressive. They suit DH bikes or trail bikes with less progression, but don't seem to be ideal in very progressive frames. They also require super high pressures, especially the Vivid and I have a feeling a lot of people would be maxing out the pressure rating in a Vivid, which is something I observed in a few bikes lately. I notice there is no...

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.

Unfortunately, a 140 mm head tube makes running a dual crown difficult. Oh wait…

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...

The funny thing is... the garbage can is still the most important tool for cushcore install....