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I know there are a ton of Neko fanboys in here--I'm one of them. But he cannot be left alone in the booth with just Rick. Once Josh left the booth the energy and excitement level just dropped off. I was feeling the lack of energy (towards the latter half of the men's finals), and my wife also made a comment about how the commentary turned very low energy. Neko's commentary itself is great, in terms of knowledge, but Neko is a very chill/cool dude by his nature. He doesn't 'hype' or get fired up like Josh, which is helpful...

there's a dedicated thread to what you guys are discussing. use the search, find it and talk there.

Good question. Slight tangent, but I’ve been toying with the idea of launching a monthly podcast where I unpack stuff like this. I didn’t think people would care, but when you break it down in a way that maps to our world, it actually seems to land. And honestly, it’s way easier for me to riff on this in audio form than hammer it out on a keyboard. Anyway, I read through the last few pages of comments, good to see Revel back from the dead, by the way. I’ll probably share more thoughts on that later (maybe). For now...

Airdrop dropped new batch of their bikes in limited-edition Stealthy look. I expected it to pop up here or on PB, but nothing so far. They probably (and hopefully) will sell them anyways. Thanks lord the Slacker is still not available in MX, I’d have a tough conversation with my wife. Edit: one can’t upload pics from mobile here, am I right?

Wyn's farewell to GT after ten years riding for the brand:

Sharing @nathan999x press release for their Tube Tether that I think is pretty neat way to carry a tube with a used tube (tube-ception)- https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/introducing-tube-tether-sim… The Tube Tether is currently available for $30 CAD through NWG Outdoor Gear's online store. Every unit is handmade with attention to detail, meaning stock is limited. For more information, visit https://nwgoutdoorgear.square.site/

Talking about weights, I just ran some numbers from a test I did with and without BB weights. Same trail, no changes besides 1000g on bb. Using Syn data and 6 axis IMU on axles and BB recording 2000 times per second. 1. Rear Axle vertical Acceleration with weight Positive Acceleration: Decreased by ~1.93% Negative Acceleration: Decreased by ~3.18% 2. BB frame vertical Acceleration with weight Positive Acceleration: Decreased by ~0.54% Negative Acceleration: Decreased by ~5.48% Yes there’s always negatives to adding weight, but just giving an idea of what I found.

The cover is officially off, Orbea's new Rallon DH and Enduro bike is live - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/first-ride-revealing-rallon-orbeas-du… Rallon Highlights - Carbon front & rear triangle // alloy rocker and lower link - Enduro - mixed wheels or 29-inch // DH - mixed wheels only - Linkage-driven single pivot design with Orbea's Concentric Boost rear axle pivot Travel: - DH - 200mm rear wheel travel // 200mm fork - Enduro - 170mm rear wheel travel // 180mm fork - Progressive and linear leverage rate adjustment - High and low geometry flip chip (enduro models) - 442mm or 450mm chain stay length -...

I burnish bushings in my struts so I'm interested in this topic, but we're really getting in the weeds here. Let's continue this discussion here: vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/fork-friction-burnishing-chassis-alignment-etc

Holy mother of God!!! I would not want that thing anywhere near my bushings (fork or otherwise)!! For real, as @Dave_Camp said this thing will do all kinds of nasty stuff to the bushings besides burnish it to size. This is what is recommended by GGB for their DP4 bushing (steel backed, sintered bronze and teflon coated, looks very much like the stuff that is used in shock eyelets, probably very different to what is used in fork lowers): https://www.ggbearings.com/en/our-products/metal-polymer-bearings/dp4

I don’t think you get it Dave. We are going to revolutionize fork manufacturing on this forum without ever having visited a factory or even talking to a designer or engineer about the myriad of factors that affect the design and manufacture of said forks.

Was this mentioned here? SR Suntour are working with Rogue Racing to develop an electronically actuated shock. Pictures are from the pink website. Apparently the actuator is controlled by a software that reads the terrains and it acts on the normal compression circuit. The shock can be locked out too.

Anyone know what brake lever Troy is using on his Mavens?

It is worth noting that the tariff surcharge does change depending on the price of the bike. Some are as low as $39 (there may be even lower ones, I didn't check every model) so they are somewhat based off of the value of the bike, which makes sense. As much as it sucks, if it were me, this is the most straightforward way to add a (hopefully) temporary price increase that is due to a very specific and ever changing policy.

Didn't catch this news beforehand, but Kona is showing a tariff surcharge on their online store of $179/bike. They also have a scrolling chyron up top calling out the increase.

Yes many factors with axle thickness can play a roll. The clamps make a giant change as well. The dorado going from 1 bolt upper to 2 bolt upper added a lot of torsional rigidity.

Cool comeback..... But let's think about this. Do you want the racers to make more money? I can say I do and I am guessing, only guessing you do too. So how does that happen? They have to get outside of the cycling industry sponsorship. Pick a country and their companies that might want to join as a sponsor, they will have limits. Amaury got in some trouble a few years ago for his Insta post with braided hair and a quote using the N word. Commencal Mucaoff jumped on that real quick, a large company would have distanced themselves...