Great review! I was going to leave one but you covered just about everything... lol. The one thing I would like to add is that the actual quality of the machining is amazing. As a former machinist I went over mine with a fine tooth comb and it was just about perfect! As for your issue with color matching, black matches everything!

You are definitely lucky then... I had a reverb for a few years and that thing was unreliable and WAY too expensive to rebuild. The last time it died I just bought a BrandX dropper for the price of a rebuild, problem solved.

Sorry, I totally disagree with your format... but I love the idea of giving the riders a heads up of what their line would score ahead of time. Especially if this is done early on to give them the opportunity to change things up if need be. Also, I think letting them submit what tricks they want to do on what features ahead of time and then give them a maximum possible score prior to the event could help even the playing field and let the riders better manage the risks they are taking.

It's refreshing to hear an honest take on Sram's performance with this latest crop of product rather than just stroking their ego... I've been disappointed in the ability of Sram derailleurs to take a hit since they did away with X9. Thanks for the honest review!

Your comments about the DHRII being a good choice in the northwest are spot on. I call Bellingham home and I run them front and back all year round, my favorite tire I've ridden to date. I'm disappointed to hear about the mud clearing issues though... This looked like a tire that would rival the Shorty in the slop during the winter but better on roots, so much for that thought...