All

Entire drivetrain industry scared that they already made the best mechanical components years ago and there is little room for improvement. Sandbagging the weight and material preserves the tier structure.

If you want to browse the full menu of new Deore mechanical groupset + brakes, here are all the deets - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/shimano-deore-m7200m6200-mechanical… My initial thoughts without having hands on the product yet: Pricing= good. High potential for a clanking derailleur = bad. New brake lever = clean 🤜🤛

Power of thiccness is a wild marketing line

unsure if been posted but that saint derailleur and Direct-mount Crank looks production ready. Surely that derailleur has a clutch.................

I'd guess personal preference, Shimano not pressuring riders to run specific products, and having a variety of reliable options to choose from rather than going from a brake that barely works to an absolute monster. In theory, you'd assume that Shimano would want everyone on Saint brakes for dh, but you only see a handful of riders running them anymore. Then there were the handful of riders mixing XTR with Saint for the feel. My understanding is that Sram wasn't happy that so many riders didn't switch over to the Pods when they were released, and people were internally motivated...

Excuse my French, but could we fucking please stop calling bikes "analog", "acoustic", or -the worst I've heard- "bio"? Bikes are bikes. Ebikes are something else. Now get off my fucking lawn you punks!

That's also because Codes were god awful and the sram riders were so happy to get on an actual brake. I recently felt some older codes on some bikes I was dealing with and they were shockingly worse than I remembered. Say what you will about Shimano brakes, but they've been consistently good for a while.

I’ve watched my friend get pushed into a tree and also pushed off the trail. Two different e-bikers on the same ride. He doesn’t like e-bikes and now I get it. You may not realize the precedent that other ebike riders have set before you cross paths with an analog rider

I recently picked up an epic evo with codes on it, and was like holy fuck how did we ride these on DH/enduro bikes it can barely slow down this 28 lb XC bike on hiking trails. Came home and put some dominions on the next day. It’s honestly more shocking that a few people didn’t switch over mid season.

Yeah but bike racing is the best sport and the only one that bike racers compete in. Unlike most sports, bicycle racing is a Life Sport. There’s formal competition from 7 expert in bmx into the 80+ field in pretty much every discipline of bike racing. Unlike most sports it’s possible to continue riding bikes post-racing, by yourself in whatever free time you can find. A governing body that is based at least as much about supporting the sport of cycling in the country it governs as winning international medals is vital. I’m not the only person in their 40’s...

You want to feel sick to your stomach? USAC asks xc/cx/road juniors to give them access to their Training Peaks accounts so that some ai-obsessed vulture of a coach can identify riders for development programs based on training metrics.. because there are so few opportunities for young athletes to compete in the United States. “Performance Oriented” national governing body philosophy was pushed on us by the Walton family when they took over USAC. We used to operate on a “developmental” model that you know… prioritized local, regional and national racing experience. Now we are sending kids with decent w/kg straight...

Nathan Pontvianne looks to have gotten his hands on the same unreleased fork stanctions (steel?) that the Specialized team have been running for a while. You can see them better in the latest Vital RAW.

I'm going for 100 days in the park this summer. Obviously, we've got an Unbreakable vs Mr. Glass situation going on here 😂

I was listening to a road biking podcast recently. One of the guests on the podcast is currently a DS for a bigger team and used to be a world tour rider. One of the things that came up in discussion is how absolutely insane the new generation of riders are. They are SO fast. They are SO good in their training. They are SO dialed in their nutrition and recovery. The guest made a point to bring up an interesting-to-me factoid: They can't let the younger riders anywhere near the big-name riders during team training rides. None of them...

Maybe my example was too anecdotal. There’s always been asshole riders in my area, regardless of the bike they’re on. New people getting into the sport that mailorder their bikes, and don’t learn the rules of the trail like the good old days. Anyone remember how the shops, magazines and IMBA used to preach “the rules of the trail” to new riders? Who’s doing it now? When I’m on my Ebike, I always try to say hello to the people I pass and make conversation. I’ve always been that way. After getting one, I’ve seen the staring and subjectively bad...