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Nothing remarkable happens in 2026.

Biking will continue to be a lot of fun and selling bikes will still be pretty dang rough in the woods and streets.

😤 markus doing absolutely everything but apologize and take accountability for all the employees and riders who got canned 😤

what about cheap hardtail bikes. the more optimized, tuned and electrified everything gets, the more I feel the urge to get something simple and and forget all this crap. Just recently I borrowed a friend's hardtrail that was a completely wrong size and I just rode it without questioning anything and had fun. How about trying to make shine the gear we got instead of trying to shine through better gear. It's never as easy as it is now and it's tempting. I want to get back to simplicity and not giving a f*ck about technology.

Still in: non-business "micro-sponsors" that support World Cup riders out of pure love for the sport.

Here’s hoping AI thumbnail images and other slop are OUT.

The bike maintenance & vaping takes had me spittin up my cheerios🤣

I already have my saddle nose down in the optimal position for climbs. I don't sit on it for the descents. Yes, if I didn't have a dropper and the saddle was always down, like a DJ or DH, it would be nose up. But I do have a dropper. What am I missing

Kinda sounds like specialized should revisit their dropper post and make it longer travel...

Make it spring loaded too so it snaps into the nose-up position when you hit a lever next to your dropper while standing. Press the lever again and sit down to level the saddle back out.

Because its fucking cool looking

Without any experience on one of the things, this is what I imagined the ideal use case would be. Up and down terrain? Too much of a faff, unless some bougie remote version appears. Winch and plummet? Perfect, and more perfect the steeper it gets.

Since this has been one of the most prolific threads on the site, thanks for anyone who got things going, kept us informed or on the hook, or tossed everyone off the scent of that's was really happening until it did. And thanks for the Vital crew for switching to a yearly thread like team rumors.

tech rumors forum update - you've spoken and have been heard we'll lock out this thread at the end of the year (no matter what, it's just too darn big now), and will carry on with yearly tech rumors threads that will be stickied for easy participation. the 2026 thread is already underway here (not yet stickied) i just want to thank everyone for their feedback and insight on what this piece of the vital community means.

To me it’s like a dropper post, it’s almost always up or down.

I wonder how many people asked for eight steps. I am not always 100% confident in which of the three positions my saddle is when things get busy, I can't imagine dealing with eight.

Anyone with a CNC could make a Gamux Sego too if they REALLY wanted to

GPUs now cost five morbillion dollars because of people who rub their belly while laughing to shit like this

Unless you bend over and pull yourself far over the bars, use a setforward seatpost, etc. etc., using a longer reach bike is exactly the issue we are talking about balance. No, it will not move the balance forward, it will make the front/back balance even worse. You're not meaningfully moving the weight away from the rear if you keep the chainstay the same, but you are moving the front further away. Imbalance 101. It actually makes more sense to go with a smaller size to improve the balance.