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Berd's 32" standard boost wheelset claims to be fine for XC riding with 280lbs on 28 spokes, and it is like 1200g. I imagine with a beefier rim and 32 spokes, they'd be able to make a boost DH wheelset no problem. I think the talk around superboost is largely driven by people who don't want 32" to exist.

So, going to ask this question fully understanding the debates and tech here... So everyone is saying 32" will NEED new/wider hub spacing, especially for DH. WHY? Most companies are designing asymetric rims. spoke tensions are even. now, on top of that, commencal is running 32h rear 28h front. so going down in spoke count. AND most teams are running LESS spoke tension to get better traction (and in turn INCREASE wheel flex). So.... if you take that into account, I see no need to run wider flanges on a 32h asymmetric rim at full tension. Also... most of us...

Ahhh, the good old Lenz Sport days of early 29ers….

If it’s faster: it’s faster.

did they sleeve extended dropouts over a standard 40 casting? thats... adventurous.

Yeah this almost deserves it's own thread, Mert is one of THE greats and made a huge contribution to the mountain bike world that most people probably don't realise these days. On Any Sunday still holds up as one of the greatest sports movies ever, and the opening shot of Mert walking down the street with a suit then smash cuts to onboard footage of his flattrack racer is brilliant. RIP

neko doing laps at mtn creek with a 32" front wheel and cialis-sized FOX 40. pic by luca cometti the sniper.

Excellent 👌 What a great way to display the sport. Some questions/wall of text if you have time; Do you have an opinion on viability of obtaining this kind of footage for EDR rounds and how it might be best used for promotion/racing packages? Do you see any obstacles with the speed of following male racers in top 10? Any other potential non-obvious constraints or challenges that might need to be overcome? How would you feel about EDR live podcast/radio style show, timing TBC, maybe started towards the last couple of stages. Guests chatting shit about racing shenanigans/stories/insider info in...

How do we like this?

I'm hearing this sentiment often from many companies I'm talking to. However, "Mr. Market" is clearly saying something different. I literally cannot find one Avinox powered e-bike to buy right now, let alone get a brand to send me to test. They are out of stock across the board. This is at the crux of the power-wars problem. I know in America when it comes to anything "go fast" numbers do in fact matter. Guys routinely go out and spend stupid money on a car because it has XXX more horsepower than the other car, despite the fact they can't...

Re: "Will we see any of the mega brands move to Avinox mid-term?" I agree that these price cuts are a direct consequence of Avinox eating everybody's lunch. But I don't think we'll see big brands starting to use Avinox, for compliance reasons. The one thing that draws consumers towards Avinox (- high power output) is basically also the reason why the big brands don't use them. If other electric motor OEMs like Bosch or Brose wanted to make, say, a 4.000 watt motor in an e-bike form factor, they absolutely could. I'm told there's nothing holding them back from...

Thread was briefly illegal so I wasn't able to comment right under the specialized post. I'd love to hear some expanded thoughts on this from you guys. It seems like Specialized is ready to wade right into the shit and it is so obviously in response to the Avinox releases. The next question is does Trek and others follow suit? The reality is that other than some top of the line/brand-spanking stuff, I don't think anybody was paying close to MSRP for Trek's EMTBs for some time. I'm fascinated to see Specialized try to compete on price with, in some...

Fox Factory just reported Q1 earnings. I'm waiting for the conference call transcript to do my normal substack post but the quick read throughs are as follows... Revenue beat Wall St expectations and was at the high end of guidance SSG (bikes+baseball) did not beat Wall St expectations and was a laggard Margin progress did not show up with EBITDA margin matching Q4 @ 9.7% Free cash flow was negative, which I didn't expect. Debt went up marginally and debt convenance were modified from 5.0 from 4.5 No Marucci update Guidance was kinda weak for Q2 but reaffirmed for FY26...

given how long / routinely their frames seemed to be on closeout prices, i'm surprised they didn't go bankrupt sooner

One of the guys that got us here: RIP Mert Lawwill 09/25/1940-05/06/2026 Mert Lawwill the mountain biker.

I know there’s a difference because it’s harder to control with bikes, but why is it such a big deal here when people unlock their hardware? I can drive a car faster than the speed limit, too. It’s the driver’s responsibility to follow the rules. If they don’t, there are penalties—or they lose their insurance coverage. It’s true, though, that we as humanity are apparently generally unable to exercise restraint at the moment. I think it’s illusory to believe that anyone will regulate themselves. As a personal experience: I still think my Unno with M1 is great. I don’t need...

The unlocking market has been a thing since e-bikes were a thing. Strangely seems a lot less popular on this side of the pond but you can buy a speed-limit delimiter for every single system out there already.

my 2 cents after spending some time on the bike is that I really want to spend more time on the bike. A couple anecdotes here: I was surprised at how well it pedalled and the lack of heft that I was expecting after looking at it. After giving it back for a month I had to film on it with no time to get familiar again. First trail was a rapid North Van classic that I have ridden a bunch and I was immediately sending it. It was extremely poppy while still being planted, able to pull for all...

Simplicity through complexity. 🤯