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Spot bikes has been dabbling in this for a while as well, they use a composite leaf spring instead of a second link/pivot in their full suspension design. I'm a composites guy professionally and i've spent a few years working at companies that make compliant composite mechanisms for space structures (fancy hinges and booms like daneb referred to). Based on my experience in that arena, as well as what I know about how bikes are currently designed, manufactured and the margins on their sale (used to work in a bike shop) i'd venture to say we are a ways out...

Fox/rs would have their own reasons for not developing a usd fork (including tooling/development investment). Fox actually developed a usd dh fork at one point, pretty sure minarr and maybe gee were testing it? Apparently great in straight line, not so much in hard cornering and the weight increase required was beyond what they were willing to sell. I did my thesis on the torsional flex in usd forks, built a jig to actually get some data on them too. While it wasonly a static (not dynamic) test, it did allow me to work out that a large degree of...

The derailleur plug-in already exists, but they're so hush-hush about it. Trek and Scott had them on some e-bikes. They apparently have a tiny battery to give you 100 or so shifts in the worst of situations. Dropper is going to require quite a redesign and space is already at a premium at the bottom of a dropper. From what I was told, SRAM went with the Shimano motor mounting pattern for immediate and easy installation onto existing bikes. Makes a lot of sense to flood the market quickly, especially if there's no real issue with the mounting pattern. Ruh-roh...

While the racing has been amazing, the coverage has not been better. The coverage has been worse. More cameras does not necessarily mean better coverage--the drones are not a positive addition, and camera placement and operation has been less optimized than those heady RedBull days--and the commentary contributes less information and narrative to the event. It's a downgrade, and we're supposed to pay for it. I think what funktekk wrote above about the TdF makes a lot of sense. Perhaps mountain biking just got caught in the middle of a deal that has nothing to do with it... Disco/WillyBilly don't...

I usually wrap a wet paper towel around the master cylinder for it to catch any overspill. Also, Glycol isn't as horrible as it might seem, the 'corrosive' nature of it comes from it being a paint thinner. A bit of water or isopropyl alcohol deactivates it. It's actually less harmful for the environment than mineral oil (as it's not water soluble). As for Code Bronze, considering they have the swing link (thanks @boschinat0r ), they are OK. Don't buy Sram brakes without the swing link (Code R for example). They are not worth the hassle.

The Code Stealth Bronze actually includes the swinglink now, making them stealth versions of the OE only Code RS brakes that you can sometimes find for sale used. The swinglink gives it that RSC feel, but forgoes the contact adjustment wheel.

Just saw this on Sram’s IG yesterday. Victor Koretzky’s XCC winning bike with what looks to be AXS lockout?? Or possibly flight attendant. The battery “piggyback” looks quite a bit different from the other flight attendant rear shocks. Also, what is the battery (I think) strapped to the seat

Thanks for that detailed response, that was really nice!

I think we have reached the marginal gains stage of improvement at this point, maybe in the way that road bikes seem to have. Sure, there will be things that improve the rider experience, but I think we have reached a point where a bike from today will likely still be acceptable and shred-able in ten years barring any “standard” changes that render parts irreplaceable. I don’t think there will be as vast of a difference as there is between bikes from ten years past. But since we all get to throw in our two cents, there are things that...

Yes and no. I think we've reached a pretty significant plateau in terms of what I would call "real" performance-based innovation, which is where I predict it's going to start getting weird. Plateaus create stagnant markets, and companies do weird things to survive in stagnant markets. I think we're going to see a lot of "innovations" in the MTB market as opposed to what I'd call real innovations, where companies create problems and then sell you the solution to those problems. One-piece stems and handlebars, headset cable routing, PF bottom brackets, even the new Trek SuperCaliber are great examples of...

Manitou this morning