All

Okay, so I'm shooting for racing Breck Epic in 2025, so if anyone is wondering why I'm posting about XC bikes lately. Lauf will be releasing a 120/130 XC bike on the 25th, and my guess is that it will have a carbon leaf spring version of Spot's Living Link https://spotbikes.com/pages/technology I have one of their (rigid) gravel bikes, and it's really nice for the money. It'll be interesting to see what they do in the MTB space.

take the WBD/world cup/race format blah blah talk to this thread - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/2025-race-talk?page=4

Just got an email from Motion Instruments founders saying they were laid off. Excerpt: " We are currently working to get a contract negotiated to figure out what's next for MI with the controlling company. Unfortunately, until we secure an agreement, there is no way for us to refund your System2 order or give you support for your existing system." I posted the full email here: https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/will-more-companies-be-shutting-dow…

Just received the following email from Motion Instruments this morning... Hello, We have some unfortunate news to share with you. In 2021, there was a change of control event with Motion Instruments. At the time, this was a game changer for us and gave us the capital needed to accelerate development of a new system built on first principles. The controlling company wanted us to develop a next generation system and continue on as an independent brand. Last Thursday, the Motion Instruments founders, Mike and I, were laid off and the controlling company has no intention of commercializing System2. We...

I'm just here to say that I love transmission.

This also on the Fox website. Should be any day now that these get released. Live Valve Neo Kit 0 Reviews $399.00 Default Title Notify When In Stock The Live Valve Neo kit includes one rechargeable Controller battery with cover, one Fork Sensor, one Rear Sensor, a FOX battery block, a charging dock with USB-A to USB-C cable, two M6x20mm bolts and two M6x42mm bolts for sensor mounting with either standard or oversized rotors. CR2032 batteries for Fork and Rear Sensors are included. The rechargeable Controller battery is also compatible with the Transfer Neo dropper post (sold separately). This kit...

agreed. the first 2 years i rode DH i went through probably 6 derailleurs a season, then i learned to pick better lines and not smash the hell of out things.

I think it might be related to choice of derailleur too. I sold my X01 Eagle derailleur to a friend of mine who mounted it to his kid's bike where he says it shifts much better than the one year old GX it replaced. And I'm talking about an X01 that started life on a bike in 2019 and was used up to mid 2023, did over 400k meters of descending, multiple races and was, if nothing else, the only supporting point when I parked my bike sideways straight on the derailleur onto some soil fixating logs on the trail...

The thing I've learned from all this broken derailleur talk is that I don't ride hard enough.

New Fox Coil Shock?

When you enter the SNR on the fox website

It's a Rosignol

I believe.......... it is a bicycle. (Sorry)

Any ideas what this might be?

Ha, literally staring at my full cart right now. Been on a Kavenz for 4 seasons, now that the Smartshift Pinion is available I think I’m finally ready to pull the trigger on a gearbox bike.

Just saw this and thought it‘s funny (and I‘m probably the only one 😅) And

enduro world champs pit bits - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/pit-bits-enduro-world-champs

No notes. This chapter in your upcoming book is ready to print.

Transmission, it's weaknesses, and "solutions" for those weaknesses all seem kind of insane to me. Hey we have this little uvula looking thing on the back of frames which the derailleur attaches to. Usually, derailleurs aren't that expensive these days but just in case, it's meant to bend instead of allowing the derailleur to break. Because our frame is made of steel, we can usually just bend it back for free! How nice! Since we moved on to alloy/carbon, we had to make the hanger its own item. We went with aluminum alloy so it's stiff and light, but if...

This has been discussed previously but the TLDR is that T-type doesn't slow the shifts down or know when to shift, it's just a byproduct of where the ramps are in the cassette. Smashing through gears on a mechanical T-type won't shift faster or slower, as the cassette is the same and there are only so many ramps to engage the shift.