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The point about defence spending having a positive affect on the rest of the economy- in my lectures this was talked about using the concept of the multiplier effect. This is the idea that if someone, ie the state, spends £1 on something then it increases national GDP by some amount because that’s been spent at a local supplier, who then pays wages, their employees go to the local butcher, who buys from the local farmer, etc etc. The issue with defence spending is it has a comparatively poor multiplier effect vs other forms of government spending. If I spend...

Domestic manufacturing/sourcing has been been a requirement (for some products, at least) in DoD procurement since the Berry Amendment of 1941.

Torrent is clean. Bottle rocket is adjustable freeride. Quake is a capable race geo. (Iirc) Different bikes for different folks . I freeride and park my race bikes - and xc ride my enduro bike. But the world does seem to want FUN 27.5 park bikes and the racers do seem to want FAST DH WEAPONS. Why can’t we have both? The marketing isn’t even for us. There are literally armies of 15 year old boys AND GIRLS! Getting really into modern freeride, just riding down shit and off shit and being park rats in jnco jeans where I live...

I will probably get flamed for this, and will offer the caveat that I have only been skimming this page, but I feel like these bikes are great propositions and are in my eyes cool bikes because they’re made to be cheap and practical workhorses for younger demographics that don’t have as much disposable income and want a playful park bike that they can maintain themselves. Maybe I’m just haven’t been following the thread well enough, but I don’t see why the ebike bit is necessary to explain the appeal. Not everyone can afford bougie boutique racing machines, or ebikes...

As someone who, for 20+ years, got at least 1 new bike every year, I haven’t purchased a new bike in almost 3 years. I feel like 90% of bikes in the last 5 or so years have been great. So much so, that I’m actually considering buying the last gen Norco Optic as my next trail bike. Coming into 2026 I was convinced I would get a “New” full suspension frame this year. While I’m sure I’d be happy with the new Tallboy, Reya, or Ranger, it’s hard to justify the $$$$ for a new frame when I can...

counterpoint - $600 is easily the cost of an ER visit for many people 🤷‍♂️

Maybe 2027 race talk?

This a common straw man argument I see on this topic. It’s important to remember that anyone capable of going that fast uphill is only do so with a lifetime of skills as a foundation . Anyone in a pro xco race is likely never putting out 1500w in that race, and if the are it’s for about 5 seconds during a sprint finish. Theres just a lot more nuance man. No human is putting out world tour sprint finish power for the same duration as a 800wh battery Humans are creatures of the path of least resistance. If you...

Translation: drone warfare is popping off and we want in on that bag 💰💰💰

Apparently its this thing https://www.alpinestars.com/products/tech-air-mx-system

I would assume it’s alpine stars tech air system. Which one exactly I have no idea

What the the details on Loic's airbag body armor that reportedly saved him from serious injury?

The “if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball” school of DH course design

This is the same energy as replacing steering wheel airbags with big metal spikes

My 1st Luca memory: He & Walker as little kids doing full sprint laps on the Hendersonville BMX track chasing Christopher Herndon. Walker was older & bigger but Luca was ferocious pedaling every single lap latched onto them & relentless. I was putting on races with buddies just to have races & we were so excited to have kids committed to DH suddenly. I’ve enjoyed watching the Shaw Brothers progress from little BMX groms to National Champs & now a World Cup winning family.

Scathing comments on youtube... It seems it didn't matter how many time they mentioned, "Flight attendant" it served not help in keeping up. To have a delay as bad as they had is truly embarrassing. Amateur production standards from Chris Ball and his cronies. Of course we were spoilt with the hype master Warner. However he also did his research and had good stuff to talk about. Flight Attendant being this rounds key word. Was it O chain-chain damper or mass damper last year? Warner wont be replaced but a good middle ground between snoozing Slugger and adhd Carson can't...

You can have remote audio production (mixing, commentating, etc) and compensate for any distance / delay.

But that would require actual investment....

You can really tell with the delay that they're announcing off site. They're always a moment or move behind where Rob and team would explode in the moment that something happened if what they were watching. It takes the enjoyment out of it almost completely. When Gracey hit the hole in that corner and almost lost it, she's recovered and was two corners out by the time they addressed it. Same as when Vergier crashed.

Dumb problem #2: I didn't consider that