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When I reviewed the Dominions for a mag back when they first came out, I discussed the design goals with Hayes themselves. They said that every aspect of the brake was designed to minimise resistance in the system while maximising stiffness. This includes seals, springs, and a larger ID for the hose than normal. This is the main reason that the Dominions are easy to pull. The linear lever with very little pad retraction is the other reason - the pads sit very close to the rotors. There was no sacrifice to leverage ratio or relative size of pistons that...

I kind of state the following in my opinion on the Dominions. I really don't think a light dead stroke matters as much as some people think. Since we don't spend most of our time in the dead stroke area but rather the bite point. The bite point tends to lead to brake fatigue in my experience and you can get just as much fatigue on a Dominion as any other brake. This is why a GR4 interests me...a lot.

This statement "Dominions have a light stroke but take a lot of force to get enough power out" sounds like a pad or rotor issue to me. I have tested the Dominions extensively against many other high-performance brakes, and while they fall just short of something like a Maven or a Hope EVO GR4, I still put them firmly in the "powerful brakes" category. They do have that superlight action as you initiate the brake, they then tend to bite pretty good on first contact and keep building from there. When compared to the absolutely effortless way the Mavens deliver...

This was so good... I can listen to JRich all day.. Obviously very smart, well spoken, and his story telling ability is amongst the best. Thankfully, he said he's not going to read the comments... The part about the ants really hit home for me. I remember being at Nellis around 07, I had an awesome weekend. Wasn't outside top 3 all weekend, a couple of wins.. I was stoked, but I couldn't get too excited because I knew I wasn't going up against the heavy hitters that were NBL east coast guys.. @Jason_Schroeder your mountain biking reminds me of...

Fresh podcast went up yesterday! We chatted with Jason Richardson, ex-pro BMX racer who has been a sports p sychologists the past 10+ years working with a lot of top cycling athletes. We actually recorded this a month ago, so I'm excited to listen to it again as we covered so many interesting topics about how to change your mindset and set yourself up to produce the outcome you're looking for—whether that is in a racing environment or just life in general. Enjoy!

@notthatbryan - crazy story! and yeah, i forgot "syncopy" in the term. the human body is fascinating. re: fantasy, i think we'll keep normal timing after Q2 like last year and will discuss rider values. thanks for the input, everyone.

PSA: Peeing while sitting causes your blood-pressure to drop. I know this because I did it up in Mammoth and apparently dropped like bag of cement when I stood up. Bounced my head off the toilet and tagged the baseboard on my way down to the stone floor and opened up a 3" gash in my scalp. My poor wife found me in a pool of blood on the floor and thought I was dead... The ER doc who stapled my head closed told me that it's called micturition syncope, mediated primarily by the vasovagal reflex, and was likely caused...

Re brembo: Will be interesting to see how they survive in the real world. Was telling a buddy of mine that WC racing isn’t really a stress test considering that those brakes are bled every run. Based on hydraulic leverage ratios they will be quite powerful… Another player isn’t a bad thing…

I'm totally sold on chain wax for off-road riding in dry conditions, but hard to imagine this is worth it when all the other Muc-off lube products are so terrible.

To JVP's point about rougher terrain... Coming from the world of cyclocross tubulars.... A super supple casing at 20psi (almost riding on the rim) is faster on very bumpy grass/rough fields than a stiffer casing tire at 30psi because of deflection (casing having to deform over bumps). The same is true these days with UCI road racing and gravel racing. All are going to lower pressures and all have supple casings. Also, rolling resistance tests on drums are helpful for comparisons between tires, but they aren't fully translatable to the real-world trails. The Radials definitely rolls slow on smooth terrain...

Yes, meant comment on this as well. There was a telling video segment from the 2024 season where a Frameworks mechanic talks about how he usually only has riders doing 2-3 runs, 4 max on a set of Contis DH tires before the casings are too broken in/soft. He says the tread is fine, but the casing is what is 'stressed' and not the same. I know all stouter DH tires experience this on some levels, but I was personally shocked by my Conti DH tire... I went to replace the rear tire after it had been used for a...

Ah yes, the periodic table of continental tire skus. If there ever was evidence of how impossible it is to keep mtb consumers happy, it's the list of tire mfg skus.