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Oh and the data card at the back of the machine - Typical peak speeds are about 6-8m/s on downhill bike forks, and shocks will be up to around 2.5-3m/s. Most dampers "should" be fairly linear up to those max speeds - some aren't by design, but its rare for the ports to "choke" and start generating excessively high rates at those speeds (despite what some people think). It's more likely that high acceleration causes issues (so very high frequency but relatively low speed) which is why the linear actuator dynos exist.

Honestly, with how much 32 has been prototyped and with the imminent release of forks, wheels, and tires for 32, I don't think it's going to be nearly as big as people thing. We should be seeing a lot more 32 at races and other events than we are, this feels like it's going to be a lot more like 27.5+ tires and wheels than anything else.

The idea of a company that only does development cycles when they feel they have changes worth making does sound nice but you would think the new Di2 drivetrains would be better if that were the case

Saint drivetrain with 12sp chain and no clutch, now a competing UDH standard. (incoming 13sp MTB drivetrain? *eyeroll *) Can Shimano come out with a single new product without a braindead decision? Maybe the new brake rotors but come on that's not interesting or innovative. Also does anyone give a f about Shimano's new brakes? I've yet to see them in the wild, and have seen exactly ONE wireless Shimano drivetrain. Very sad to me because I've always been a Shimano fanboy because they made simple, sensible products. I woke up one day and all of my bikes have been...

My Italian is a little rusty, but it seems this was made using a servo from the RC world, connected to some kind of stroke measuring device on the brake lever blade. The idea being to change the compression settings of the shock under different types of braking events.

A big part of the braking discussion is completely ignoring gradient and suspension performance. On flat tracks you can brake relatively evenly; the front wheel gets load transferred to it and can do more braking. On steep tracks you are already loading the fork a lot, heavy braking causes even more load which on a progressive air spring now means a firmer spring rate and less traction. That is probably even a secondary effect from the increased weight transfer and pitch forward when you start trying to brake heavily on the front. Think about exiting a typical rock roll on...

1- MaxxTerra DHX DH casing should be in the next 1-2 months. Other pattern DH casings in Maxxterra in the fall, or end of year at latest. 2- the grade of nylon was changed for the new DH casing compared to DD. The ply overlap has also changed, DD has 4 layers under the tread in most locations, where the new DH has 6 layers consistently out to where the under tread overlap meets the sidewall protection. This ends up giving more under tread protection compared to the old 2x60tpi DH casing by around 30% in a plunger force test...

mass and force are different. “maximum mass” is actually the exact right wording to nullify your question about g force.

I do not disagree that income inequality, housing costs, weak local economies, and the erosion of discretionary spending make it harder to sell expensive recreational products. I have been making that argument for a while, and it fits directly into the “barbell hypothesis.” That said, invoking homelessness, smartphone addiction, Strava, cul-de-sacs, and the broader failures of capitalism does not demonstrate that independent bike shops are unbankable or that cycling culture is broadly collapsing. This conversation has taken a relatively narrow discussion about dealer economics and expanded it into a sweeping cultural diagnosis that is difficult to respond to directly, though...

Might be an unpopular opinion, but I think swapping wheels and tires matters more than swapping bikes. I'd rather pedal a reasonably efficient enduro bike on light wheels with trail casings than a downcountry bike on DH casings. And the gap between an enduro on lighter tires and a downcountry on trail tires just isn't big enough to justify a second bike — especially since I'm never on XC trails. I used to run a shorter-travel trail bike alongside the enduro. Now I just have the one bike — 170 front / 160 rear — and two wheelsets.

And then next thing you know there’ll be position sensitive damping and I’ll be sitting here wondering why so much complexity has been added all to solve something easily doable with a linkage. Springs in series result in a crazy low initial spring rate unless you’ve got at least one very stiff spring in there. Half of what they help with in off road applications doesn’t apply to bikes at all. In theory it does let you pick an initial sprint rate, final spring rate, and transition point, but without winding your own springs the customization available is surprisingly limited.

BigLinkage in here trying to sell their leverage rate conspiracies.