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I worked at a Specialized dealer when the Levo came out and we had to remind most customers to actually shift. Most of them would leave it in one of the highest 3 gears and just use the power modes as the "gears" when riding the bike. Steep climb? Just put it in turbo and pedal a sub-20 RPM cadence. Lots of snapped belts and replaced chains. The majority of eBike buyers are nothing like existing mountain bikers

Throwing this out here on the dedicated ebike thread, Jeff and I go deep on Avinox and Amflow on the Vital BS Podcast: https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/b-s-podcast-rise-dji-drones-e-bikes

I stopped riding my ebike and rode the natural short travel trail bike every day this week. It's just more fun. Less decent for the same amount of time. It's been glorious.

Is 100k actually a carrot? Hardware development is expensive, I'm certain Atherton didn't developed their gearbox bike for less than 100k. I feel like riding a winning platform is more valuable than the prize money.

I’ve always loved having thicker grips and have been riding diety supracush for a long time which is a 34mm diameter. I’ve recently created my own grips in an effort to have my own larger grips. Two of these listed in the link are at 36mm and I use a rubber/foam mix to make them. Been riding them all season. https://mtbairgrips.com/collections/grips If anyone wants to try them in exchange for a review lmk or you can also of course buy them. I’m currently working on a silicone injection molded version, to give it a feeling more like the many grips...

Little insight I got. July release for yeti Avinox cvt system is not 100% and far out from coming to the market. Apparently issues with the system auto shifting down when rider puts high watts combine with motor. Sounds like System protecting itself. Not sure if this is just a software or the system not being able to handle it. We’ll see. Some high ups in specialized are not happy. A nasty email sent to engineers/ product developers to step it up and motor/gearbox combo bike priority 1 Specialized has an unreleased bike the industry will get to see at...

All this drivetrain efficiency/Gearbox discussion is making me think about the joy I get from riding my singlespeed.

Everybody serving the gearbox coolaid and how ebikes are getting them and how that will trickle down to pedal bikes, remember that the Avinox and Gaobao or whatever they are called have a CVT gearbox using two electric motors. That kind of a "gearbox" (integrated variable transmission to be precise) is wholly incompatible with bikes that do not have batteries. The only viable gearbox option covering both ebikes and bikes is the Pinion which is, functionally (speaking in volumes), non existent in both camps. As @Shinook and @Uncle Cliffy have said, the future has been promised for years now with...

Gearboxes, the “fusion energy” of MTB.

I swear this is SRAM propaganda: "It just doesn't make sense to add a more complex, harder-to-maintain, more expensive option that's locked to your frame and that no one has parts for." More complex to maintain? The Pinion service interval is 6,200 miles — people race entire seasons without touching their gearbox. Meanwhile derailleur drivetrains need constant adjustment and eat consumables, especially on ebikes. Gearboxes will take over ebikes within a few years — the motor negates the efficiency loss, the weight is low and centered, and ebike torque destroys conventional drivetrains anyway. DH won't be far behind (less unsprung...

That's a clever idea. On my Santa Cruz with tube-in-tube, I do a thin, tight wrap of self-fusing silicone tape on the cable/hose just outside the ends of the tubes and then wiggle the wrapped tape just into the tube ends. That quiets it down. But I'm sure the exact size of the tubes and how the ends are configured means that won't always work. My Madonna V3 with external routing and machined clamps is easily the best cable/hose management I've experienced. But we'll have 480 rear center, gearbox-equipped frames with USD forks before external routing comes back.

My question is why is it so complicated mechanically and with all the electronic suspension. Frameworks doesn’t seem to need all that extra stuff on it.

To conclude the gearbox talk from me, I think it's very likely ebikes will have some sort of gearbox in the future, but I doubt that will happen for pedal bikes. I think 1x11 and for sure 1x12 drivetrains were the nails in the coffin of gearboxes. Traditional drivetrains work too well and don't have the negatives (drag and weight) the gearboxes have. Furthermore, ebikes with the current crop of powerful motors need a gearbox due to the power getting out of control. Plus SL bikes are going away so emtb is becoming a different sport to regular pedal bikes...

FWIW regarding upcoming gearbox ebikes and trickledown to classic bikes, it's a big no. The way these gearbox concepts from Avinox and Gobao work requires an electric motor, so it's a no go for a non electric bicycle. As for shifters, Pinion has electric shifting via triggers and Effigear always supported trigger shifting, but brings it's own problems in regards to shifting with it. Regardless if the benefits it's quite likely the current crop of gearboxes would indeed be a no go for the average rider based on the limitations they bring with them.

I think some of it has to do with both the sport and its participants aging. When I first started riding in the late 90's, I didn't know anything about geometry. I based my bike preferences around what I saw in Mountain Bike Action and on the racks at my LBS. When looking at spec's of a bike, I usually looked at what fork it had and what "level" rear derailleur. Does anyone remember the days when bike brands would spec a bike with a rear derailleur that was 1 level higher than the rest of the drivetrain? There must...

as much as everyone treats reachnumbers as the holy grail, i stopped caring. in the last 6 years i rode 4 different bikes between 515 and 470mm and every bike was great for another reason. all of those bikes were enduro, long travel trail bikes whatever you might call them.

These arrived last week, haven't ridden. Def stamped. For comparison, I weighed an HS2 200mm rotor and it was 198g.