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Can we put the wrap back on?

handlebar diameter thread started - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/mtb-handlebar-diameter-debates-31-8… take the discussion there, please.

Yea, not a Pivot.

Tim at Esker here. You are correct sir, it's not us. The only thing I can say is that every guess in this whole thread is flat out wrong.

The vital community still has 1 day left to crack the code on this one to maintain undefeated status. Or else, may it forever be locked away in history. 😎

The stock links are identical between the two bikes so this was suppose to work all along. Hence the part numbers are BH-xxxx. Only just got around to verifying clearance recently though. But yeah exact same changes for the Hightower as with the Bronson. Glad you like it!

Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features and exposed more bedrock from Washington State north. Oregon didn't get the sweet, sweet ice sheet remodeling. The maximum extent of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was Tenino, which is between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. In the Seattle area you have a lot of glacial till soils that the ice pushed around. Further north the ice scraped away soils and smoothed the bedrock, making terrain for amazing tech riding. This...

Shoot, I thought Oregon had the gnarliest of trails...

Can I be honest, if I can't just click on one thread and read the entire conversation, I probably won't read the forum at all. I find this thread pulls me in and then when I have more time or I'm curious, I check out other threads. But without this main one, I wouldn't bother visiting vital. Wish it were different but I hope I'm at least helping by giving voice to some other people out there. I enjoy catching up on 6 pages of inane comments to find a nugget of cool rumors. Others might be different.

I know the visuals and tubing profiles aren't the same, but the suspension design is (minus the horst link)

Peeked the prototype sixfinity Yeti SB160 while on my ride today. Didn’t get the greatest look as they were being sneaky-sneaky with it. I chatted to the product manager (who was on SB140) a bit, all he’d divulge was that it was the SB160 and that it’s a “sweet bike”, while the guy on the 160 was hiding in the bushes. But what I saw was a vertical shock orientation, and frame storage door, looked sleek AF and could be close to production ready...

It kinda looks like it could be a generic bike out of Asia also. I have seen quite a few open mold companies selling direct and coming out side some actually nice looking designs. It could also explain the parts mix that is on it. If it was a photo for a larger company, it wouldn't have lower/mid-tier products on it. That said, what's going on with the chain stay? It looks beat to hell and I'm hoping that black piece is just a shadow, it looks like it's a leaf spring or just flat out broken.

The cable entry design at the headtube, lack of in frame storage, and the overcomplicated pivot/link situation at the bottom bracket, all lead me to suspect Yeti. I feel like Yeti needs something complicated like dw6 or switchfinity is to convince people they are buying the premium suspension option. Meanwhile, suspension designs from 30 years keep winning every DH world cup

That proto frame goes way back. I shot this photo of it in the early fall of 2023. Sorry for poor quality. The obvious heel rub and linkage swap-out (on your more current photo) shows it's seen a lot of hours. The guy riding it started working for a different bike company, so he may have offloaded this one to another industry friend. At the time, I was thinking it was maybe a Diamondback prototype that got canceled/never saw the light of day. He was fairly open with it; it was spotted at local Seattle area watering hole(s), etc.

Probably around the same time you start being civil...

cough cough, brake discussion thread - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/nerding-out-brakes-shall-we-not-ano…

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...

36lbs for a medium alloy frame with a coil shock, heavy hubs, and DH tires is actually really good.