All

Great question. I read something recently that said XC mountain bike design, geometry and tech has basically been tapped out and every brand makes a very capable bike. Certainly plenty of bikes that look like the Epic. That’s hurting the industry as there’s not much new/improved to sell us consumers. So the question is, are 32er’s really an improvement or just something the industry is hyping to help boost sales? I don’t see a need for a 32 but will stay open minded. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

That looks even more like a Specialized Epic than the previous photos suggested.

Podium on a hardtail is actually hilarious.

Someone over FB mentioned that new demo is 12K eur bike with just a RS build, no Brembo. Lol if true.

Seeing Jackson’s brakes, it wouldn’t be the first time shimano has prototyped stuff on race bikes and then not released them. IMO the rest of the group set needs updating. The cranks don’t accept an ochain, and the derailleur is a noisy 10 speed. The whole saint group set feels outdated compared to sram. I’d love to see the new brakes come out but I’m not holding out hope. Could be this year, next, or never. Shimano moves slow, but pivot is spec’ing saint on their top tier phoenix so maybe people still want it? I wouldn’t drop $9.5k on...

Not sure this is news anymore but Luke Meier Smith on the new Fox And just for fun, new 40 and new Boxxer in the same shot

Agreed it looks just like the frame you can already buy?

That looks like a SJ 15 EVO

I have a helmet for them...

Don't worry, I used to date a geologist. Our soil here is actual loam, not mtber loam

Just chiming in to say my body is perfect in every way.

Might be best to bring it over here before tech talk gets sidetracked again. https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/e-bike-talk-not-tech-rumor-derailme…

I'm still wondering why industry went straight for 32, rather than trying a less extreme increment of 1.5'' to a 30.5. It will be interesting and annoying to see 5yrs from now what the ideal wheel size combo will look like for different applications... 30.5/29 for eebs? 32/30.5 for xcountry? 32/27.5 for DH? To be honest, I'd have thought radial tires were an opportunity for companies to play with section height, adding more rubber instead of more rim resulting in something like 29+ tires

Do we have to go down the 'I think you'll find its a 4-bar/6-bar/8-bar/linkage driven single pivot, axle-pivot-crab-12-link' again?! 60% of the last tech thread was this endless circle - Start a new thread!

I think they’re going to be called Hope techfour evo V6 and given the V i’d assume these will be the ones fitting the Vented rotors

wow this is some classic vital content right here. Sspomer you can lock our threads but you’ll never make us not idiots

Vital Forum Law - given sufficient time all threads will descend into pointless tech talk. Regardless of the initial point of the thread

How about lets 4-bar our way back to Rumors and Innovation More bars here: https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/it-4-bar