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Then how do you explain the benefits felt on the pawless hub test?

This is the 3rd season I've run the 18T star-ratchet on my Enduro after I first built it up and saw how much chain growth occurs with it. I also run the Shimano derailleur clutch as loose as possible without getting a ton of chain slap. I'm sure it's not as good as O-chain or chainless but it logically has to help. I don't know where the infatuation with hub engagement came from. Whether I ride my Enduro on the trails, or the near-instant engagement Race Face Vault hubs on my trail bike on super techy, tight New England trails...

It’s not for me, but that/this is just my opinion. I am a bit gutted to see that the new trend might be wirelessly gears only and I can understand why but are theses companies doing it a few years too early? Personally I would like to see wireless gear only frames once the gear cable hole is pretty much redundant. It’s also not as bad as it is being made out though, it looks like Specialized will be doing a Alu Stumpjumper that takes a gear cable and the other company getting a lot of heat in the other...

I'll add something to this discussion. I'm too dumb for electronic drivetrains. I've been lucky enough to own them on a road bike and a mountain bike, and on both bikes I had to constantly think (hard) about how to use the shifter. Months into riding them, I would still shift the wrong way because I forgot which direction the shifter went. I have so much muscle memory into physical cable-operated shifting that my brain struggles to learn a new shifting habit. It doesn't help that there's absolutely zero kinesthetic feedback for your thumb in an electronic shift beyond an...

I think electronic shifting works well, but I don’t want any technology on my bicycle that ruins a ride if the battery runs out. My only exception for this is lights for night riding for obvious reasons. If my GPS, phone, or even a power meter dies, it’s unfortunate but I can finish my planned ride having just as much fun as if the components were at full charge. If an electronic derailleur, dropper post, or suspension dies, the enjoyment of that ride is significantly reduced. And that’s not even mentioning driving to the trailhead and realizing that you have...

Smoother suspension will make you faster on a 20-minute race run or a 2-minute race run. "Comfort" can serve as a canary in the coal mine for bike setup, because if you're getting beat up and bounced around by your handlebars, that probably isn't a fast or efficient setup. A couple years ago Loic Bruni was doing a video play-by-play of his 3rd place race run at the season opener World Cup race at Lourdes, and he was talking about how he went up in compression a couple clicks between qualifying and finals, and felt like he could barely keep...

If you're at the bike park using a ski lift, and its your 6th "5 min run" of the day, its not muscle fatigue thats hurting you, its joint pain.

1000% agree. Also, just because you're strong enough to hang on to the handlebar doesn't mean you're riding well, or fast. All of those impacts you're feeling in your hands are literally heat in your joints, dispersing your forward speed and momentum into thin air, aka suspension loss. In downhill riding (DH, enduro, etc), we go to great lengths to tune the suspension in our tires, forks, and shocks to minimize suspension loss. Those vibrations and impacts in your hands are lost kinetic energy that, all else being equal, we'd prefer to keep moving with your body mass down the...

That test was pretty interesting - I hadn't seen that one! One thing I wonder with bar stiffness is related to frequency - The stiffness of the bar combined with the mass of the rider and other resonant frequencies in the front end could mean a more compliant bar is actually amplifying vibration in a certain range. So that rider might suit a slightly stiffer bar, or an even more compliant one, or attempt to find the cause of that vibration. As for training/don't death grip/going to the gym - those things might help but it's one of those chicken...

It's shocking to me how few people are willing to actually go out and try different suspension setups, even off the wall ones. It was a revelation in control and comfort for me when I increased compression damping on my fork and shock, only to find it helped me ride longer without having to stop due to my hand crap and I had more control. The issue is that a lot of people have the spring setup wrong OR the fork is fubar so they have to compensate by backing off the damper or relying on spring pressure. Some forks...

I've noticed some gloves cause me problems because they are too vague and require me to grab the bars tighter to avoid losing my grip. I run super thin lightweight gloves to help with this. Meanwhile I found padded gloves are insanely vague, create more pressure points, and shift around so much requiring me to grip harder and creating more problems. They seem to help some others, so YMMV.

Why do you think that is? Have you tested going back to gloves or using different gloves?

I agree with others who've discussed the benefits of powerful brakes, big rotors, and tall bars for fighting off arm pump. Ditto for hand exercises and changing brake lever position, which are free. Knowledge is another thing that helps with arm pump that can’t be purchased. Good suspension settings, body position, and riding technique can take a rider with stiff arms and horrible claw hands to a rider who's looking far ahead in sections, braking hard and then getting off the brakes, and riding with a relaxed upper body. But you can’t buy that. You can buy coaching, and a...

Yes, going to the gym helps. As someone who has been going to the gym to lift up heavy things for a while now I can firmly say: Bar roll and brake position absolutely matter. Bio-mechanical efficiency is the name of the game during sustained moments of exertion. With that, I'd be curious if anyone has tried improving their breathing during descents. I know I personally tend to have a problem of not breathing when I get into techy and challenging sections, and that overall tension causes arm fatigue for sure. It's been interesting listening to the breathing cadence of...

My personal opinion, based on my personal experience, is that the most comfortable lever angle depends on terrain, body position/riding style, and probably also individual strength/flexibility/proportions/etc. As an example: I was on a long-ish cross-country ride on my cross-country hardtail last fall, with my brake levers set to an angle similar to what I use on my mid-travel trail bike. Same grips, comparable lever reach, etc. That style of XC ride often involves a lot of riding out of the saddle on flat or relatively mellow slopes, where I tend to be farther over the front of the bike than...

If your rebound is too slow then it can make matters worse, because your fork or shock will pack up and ride in the middle of the stroke bumping up against the progression point, causing harshness. If your rebound is too fast then yea, it's going to bounce you around all over the place, but too slow is just as bad. It being too slow was worse for me than too fast, too fast was a control issue but didn't cause pain as much as arm fatigue. This also assumes your spring is setup properly. Some suspension products won't fully...

Tons of good solutions up above. Something I've been working on is actively 'letting go' of the bars. You see the moto guys do this in the air where they'll actively let their hands loose up on the bars. On certain sections of trail, where you can get away from it, let your hands totally relax. I do this as much as possible even on runs when I don't get arm pump. Building up that muscle memory for longer runs. Takes a good attack stance to pull this off (not saying mine is great) but a good hinge, core strength...