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I'm not saying the trail itself isn't worthy. It could use more maintenance and trimming but it does the job. Its more the bizarre nature of top level professional athletes on prototype gear blitzing a trail in public open space that's crowded with hikers, dog walkers, jerrys etc. Like why hasn't MTB in the US/CA progressed to a point where these companies have private tracks? Seems pretty advantageous for R&D and added benefit for athletes that visit.

As long as you don't wear a team uniform and draw attention to yourself almost nobody notices, especially on work days. I rode Digit prototypes around Laguna for years and nobody noticed. That all changed when I added stickers, started telling the story, and wearing a logo jersey.

i think it's a fantastic track for testing (kinda has everything including some decent speed and riders probably know it well and can feel product tweaks easily), just bonkers so much stuff is out in the open at such a popular locale.

wonder if it'd be worth renting a car from jan to march and just living at TOTW parking lot to snag shots of stuff being tested?

I recently had to re-attach the rear view mirror mounting button to my car's windscreen and, judging by the poor user reviews for the kit I used, the average person can't even manage to properly prep a glass/ceramic substrate (using a supplied cleaning/activation pad!) and apply a single drop of adhesive to it. But it's only been up for a few months so it remains to be seen which group I'm in...

Can we stop with the pipe dreaming, people would be more likely to glue their head to the table than properly use industrial adhesives in a frame jig. Most people struggle with IKEA,

With that said, if I had to choose between a frame bonded by pivot or the average pinkbiker, it would be a tough decision.

Here’s how I would approach this situation. This is a bit CFO-ish. First, let’s establish a few key assumptions: Soft Market: Raising prices in a soft market is challenging. Inventory: Many brands are sitting on excess inventory, including "stale" (older) stock. China-Only Tariffs: In the near term, tariffs are only affecting goods imported from China. While a significant amount of goods originate there, many also come from other countries like Taiwan and Vietnam. What Does This Mean? Ultimately, the strategy will depend on the financial health of the business and the "game theory optimal" approach balancing your product’s average selling...

Well, the trade war has officially begun. Good luck to any companies that have significant cross border trade, particularly the small ones based in Squamish and Vancouver area.

I'll do a bigger post on this later, but it seems to me there is a greater likelihood of recession than I expected even 8 weeks ago. A few data points caught my eye today: Buffett Indicator: Currently sitting at ~2.1 standard deviations above the mean, signaling historically expensive equity valuations relative to GDP. Atlanta Fed GDPNow: Forecasting a sharp economic contraction of -2.8% in Q1, a significant shift from recent strength. Polymarket: Pricing in a 40% probability of a U.S. recession in 2025, reflecting rising concerns among market participants. If a recession materializes, especially alongside broad tariffs, ongoing inventory...

From Apricitas Economics post this morning; The costs of these actions are enormous, covering $1.3T in US imports or roughly 42% of all goods brought into the United States. If households and companies tried simply to import the same goods from the same countries as last year, they would now be forced to pay an 11.5% effective tariff or more than $370B in total So yeah, shit creek without a paddle it is.

I wonder how many companies are marking up inventory that is already in their warehouses?

Almost but not quite. There will be a mechanical T-type spec option but that launches later when the embargo lifts. What you see is the cable which runs to the battery from the electronic RD and the controller screen at the handlebar. This looks like one hell of a bike though.

New Whyte eMTB releasing March 6th. Looks like mechanical T-Type as per the housing at the rear, the housing near handlebar/headset that is routed internally and the shifter shape that is not looking like the usual square POD. https://www.instagram.com/p/DGlXg40olT8/?hl=fr

Two thoughts KTM Good callout by Stik. The root of the confusion seems to be that most people don’t know who Pierer Mobility is. So in casual conversation, you often hear, “Yeah, it was e-bikes that sunk KTM,” which is technically true. But that quickly gets misinterpreted as “KTM e-bikes sunk KTM,” which—ironically—is not true. AI-Generated Content Like it or not, this is here to stay. Ethics aside, companies like Outside using DALL·E, Stable Diffusion, or similar tools will become standard. No more royalties or payments to photographers, ultra-low costs, and continuous improvement—this train isn’t stopping and the outputs are...

I kinda fell for it. I used to like loud-ish hubs, but not I9 loud… Admittedly been on Onyx hubs for a couple years. Can’t deal with excessively loud hubs anymore.

I noted this in the comments section—another great and informative piece from FortNine. However, at 13:01, when discussing Pierer’s investments (acquisitions), the video overlays an image of a KTM e-bike while the narration states, "they invested 300M in e-bikes." While Pierer Mobility has indeed made significant e-bike investments ( Raymon, Puello Family, Husqvarna E-Bikes, GasGas, etc.), KTM Bicycles is not part of Pierer Mobility or KTM Moto. This is a common misunderstanding, but an important distinction— KTM Bicycles remains an independent company, operating as it has for many years, and is not involved in Pierer’s restructuring. Just wanted to clarify...

I guess this goes here? Brutal/funny commentary on Trailforks/Outside use of AI images:

Is TQ gonna make a full power version of this very cool motor?

I've never ridden the SJ15, don't need to as I rode a SJEVo for 3 years and every single thing that I wanted them to fix (i.e. leverage progression, sta, and BB height mainly), Spesh went in the opposite direction. The one thing they had done right (CS length) they went backwards on. Not surprised that bike is a crash and burn. A used SJevo with a Cascade is flat a better bike. I liked mine with the Mullet shock clevis thing, but still running as a 29er. That fixed a lot of crap by making the BB adjustment actually...