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For Geo I'd say Chris Porter of Mojo/geometron. The first Geometron prototype still would'nt look too out of place nearly 10 year later.

Of course I know that. I used to run tripples on all my trail bikes. Since the 180 Boxxers were around. The white 180 Turner with a black rear end and black Boxxer was my favorite.

Ah Trunnion: forever the scapegoat for poor frame alignment and QC

Because you can win it: https://astonmtb.com/product/rulezman-surprise/

Not the new bike we’re waiting for but still pretty good news in times where the little guys are closing up shop.

Chain rings! How many options do I need for this stupid metal thing. I have at least 5 chain ring/bash guards that are gathering dust because I ordered the wrong size. For a wear item, it’s too many options.

Echo some of the ones people have already listed. Superboost, cable tourism, bb standards and rotor sizing. I'd say torque caps are another one that I want to see either adopted across the board or eliminated. I have an equal spread of rockshox and fox in my fleet of bikes... I recognize that torque caps are superior, I believe that I can even tell a difference in stiffness of torque caps vs non on 35mm stanchions and lighter forks. It's annoying to have a different standard for hub end caps... maybe I'm just jaded because dt's torque cap end caps...

I’ve got a couple: * Long travel single crown forks - they ALL creak on me every time. Let’s go dual crown. * Forced 55mm chainlines on boost/148 frames. SRAM trying to push the industry to 157? In reality I know it’s better for e-bikes that live in the small cogs, but not ideal for earning your vert in the 52t. * 35mm handlebar clamps.

The SuperBoost. If you have companies who can make 148 mm rears on DH bikes, you can make your enduro bikes with 148 too. The Millyard bike had a narrow rear end for a reason. It's nice to have wheels that can go on any bike. Feels a bit like 1996. Mx

SO HARD TO PICK Headset cable routing dies forever. Passing a law that all stems and handlebars have to be two-piece on new bikes (you can buy your stupid one-piece bar/stem combos aftermarket if you want them so bad). All mountain bikes run a 73mm BSA BB. Downhill bike engineers, see next bulletpoint if you're worried about chainlines. One front and rear axle standard for all mountain bikes. It could be 15x110 and 12x148 and it would be amazing. It's easy to build downhill forks with too much torsional stiffness (see: OG Fox 40), so you don't really need a...

Get frames to spec 8x30 shock hardware on every frame every time- can run standard hardware or bearings that way. More compatibility for shock swapping. 34.9 seat posts 49mm chain line (6mm offset chainrings) Design 29” bike kinematic for 30t chain rings 31.8 handlebar Everything is pretty amazing now considering where we were 10-15 years ago.

Looks machined.

🤷

New Chilcotin

Fuck it why not 10 bars? 10 bars. All oversized bearings. Internal shock. Titanium frame. External derailleur cable but internal brake cables through the headset. Proprietary pull shock. And uhhh… dang. I think I got Scott's next Gambler.

The latest PB podcast with Jessie Melamed goes into tolerance issues. Carbon frames coming out of the mold with minor differences (a couple millimeters here and there). And why two “identical” bikes aren’t riding exactly the same. Well worth a listen.

70% rider and 30% bike. To answer the OP question, I don’t believe Greg can get on Loic’s bike and win or vice versa. I’ve heard stories from a suspension data guy who tested with twin brothers on the same bike and brand suspension. At the end of the day, the settings were different based on the rider’s feel and riding style.

As many have pointed out in this discussion already, a top rider can have good results on any bike. But I would say that all other things being equal, the bike is actually what can push you over the hump towards that podium finish or even the win. Or put another way: to score a top ten finish at a World Cup, you have to be one of THE best racers in the world, and that's all on you (skill, training, mental game, etc). But within this (very) elite group of riders, can the bike make the difference between a...