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Heavy lever pull is bad. Heavy lever pull as a consequence of a progressive leverage ratio that gives a lot of pad retract AND a lot of power is a good thing. You can't have everything... As for variable leverage ratio (lever feel), Lewis actually does this...

I think the feedback is that a large percentage of riders were looking for the most powerful brakes/brake combo they could find. If you’re developing brakes you think “well what’s the far extreme of braking power look like? What does it look like if we make the most powerful brake on the market by a wide margin?” To some the power is unusable, but to others it’s exactly what they have been chasing after. Either way they kick the reputation they earned of having underpowered brakes.

I refuse to be gaslit into believing that a heavy lever action with a super strong bite point isn't a recipe for disaster

Yeah I'm pretty sure thats it - I think it's part of those psychological tactics companies play to drive sales, where if they introduce the cheapest possible build they can do (especially if it "looks" cheap....) then its easier to upsell people in to the next model up, where they probably have more profit and definitely carry more stock (if you have ever tried to order an entry level model from a high end brand, you'll know this). But if the base model is the absolute most someone can already afford then they can still satisfy that customer. So they...

so I did a good bit of manual URL scouring on the fox service site in the days I was waiting for mine to arrive, but didn't find anything more than the user manual. Once it showed up I just gave fox a call and asked them about manuals, they said there aren't going to be full service manuals for likely 3-6 months. Their reasoning was any time they release a new product like this, they want to be doing any immediate work needed themselves, so that they can know if anything is going on with the forks. I understand...

Can anyone compare the feel and performance of the Podium to a Fox or Rockshox fork equipped with a coil conversion like the Push kit? I think yzdef mentioned he was on avalanche coil stuff. All the excitement about the Podium got me thinking back to the days when a coil sprung front fork for trail applications was one of the options from Fox, called a Vanilla, I think. I always went for the coil when it was immediately available. It just went away. And with its disappearance came a whole lotta stiction and an easily adjustable air spring. I...

Yeah, I agree with this. I'd also say I'm being a huge nerd (dork?) about all of this. We all know the most important factor with respect to bike riding is the rider. I make this argument all the time that I'm looking for a bike that allows me to go fast and go fast consistently (stay off the ground). The truth is, if this is what I really cared about, I'd leave my bike as is and go get a coach, a personal trainer, eat better, stop drinking beer, buy an 8sleep etc. Hell, an eight sleep alone would...

Mondraker Factory Racing went from riding Shimano brakes/drivetrain in 2024, to SRAM brakes/drivetrain in 2025. In the latest B Practice Podcast we asked Dak Norton about how it's been going from Shimano XTR/Saint to SRAM Mavens. It's interesting to hear how even a rider of his caliber has still had to adjust to the power/modulation of Mavens. ** Hope I'm not disrupting the conversation above too much

there's also the aspect of not making a major change to their setup midway through the race season

Yeah, I have a fairly intuitive understanding of the physics and the numbers thanks to previous jobs, so I'll rephrase to what I actually mean. The natural frequency and damping properties of the axles make as much difference to the bike as a gnat's fart does to a hurricane. It's nonsense to consider. As soon as you tension it, bolt it into the dropouts, and have two bearings and sleeves/spacers etc sitting on it, it's impossible to excite at any frequency other than what the system its now part of is now experiencing as a whole, and at that point...

Of course I recognize this, and Richie already raced the Podium back in Finale this year. https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/28138500/ Maybe he just was winging it at Finale and is being more calculated? Maybe he didn't actually like it (its possible). Maybe he just wants more time? I honestly don't know, but again, this idea he couldn't race it or had no time doesn't appear true. This goes with my hypothesis that we're in a plataue of mountain bike technology. Though it may be possible to make something different, making something notably better on the race track is hard.

Stiffness is just displacement under a given load. Steel and aluminum will have different material damping and rebound properties even when their stiffness is identical. I’m imagining the legs of an inverted fork can be thought of like a tuning fork, and axle material will change how that tuning fork sounds.

Fine if you feel that way, but I try to ask for riders opinions on the current state of the sport and also anything happening inside so people from the outside can learn more, Finns response was great and a lot people enjoyed his opinions. I interview riders who are doing well in the race, on race day my video is to tell the story of the race. I can't make a judgement on a case where no one actually knows the full story, and we never will it seems, so until then I will interview the riders who performed...

Finals Thoughts: Goldstone has won 4 of the last 5 World Cup's entered & 5 of 12 total. That's an Elite Category winning ratio of 42% Flats: With Fearon absent, anyone on the circuit (sponsored or privateer) a full time flats racer? Sam HIll ripping VDS on flats in the duff was so iconic. It dawned on me that most of the pre-show SUCKS because WBD isn't attempting to license any highlight footage. We saw ZERO historical flashbacks. ZERO comparison videos to years past. ZERO prior successes or disasters. How do you get an audience excited if you have no...

You know it takes a good year or 2 for the extent of those kinds of issues to fully shoe themselves? You can only review what you have on launch day and the float x2 is a really good performing shock, so there's not much else they can do as far as reliability and durability claims go. A follow up review 2 years later would be interesting but ultimately not change a while lot. People will buy them anyway, plus the vast majority of products go to OE suppliers which are also locked in way in advance. In reality, we...