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And that's the issue with being a bike nerd in western canada. I value descending performance over most other metrics, and like a bit of character to my bikes. Couldn't care less about road or gravel bikes. Specialized "specializes" in bikes that appeal to the weekend warrior that will be dropping the kids off at soccer first. So darn vanilla that you'll fall asleep reading the geo/spec chart. And I'm not talking about the advertising, I'm talking about the bikes. Ride a forbidden druid v2 and a sj15 back to back. The difference is stark. The levo 4 was a...

what, they didn't wanna make tens of dollars?

I'm not sure I'd put the SJ15 as a success, perhaps it's my own dislike of the special shock stuff, but the wireless only on the carbons and then the alloys being quite a bit later put a bit of a downer on it, felt like a step backwards vs the previous generation. Chisel is great tho, I love my chisel evo, there does seem to be a hole in the lineup between a chisel and a stumpy on the alloy front.

Gotta say, while not a huge specialized fan, there was a while there where i had to be like, don’t love em, but no denying they are doing good shit, but i think the stumpy and all their recent e-bikes have really missed the mark. I’m sure the new demo will be good, but that was developed back when all the good shit was being developed. Wonder if there were big changes over there, or they just missed.

Nah, The Industry™ will widely adopt the same marketing/design paradigm Orange wielded for so many years, moving the main pivot a couple milimeters up, then a couple milimeters to the front, then machining it before heat-treating the frame, then afterwards... Circle development, seasoned with a subtle price hike on each stop.

Great question. I read something recently that said XC mountain bike design, geometry and tech has basically been tapped out and every brand makes a very capable bike. Certainly plenty of bikes that look like the Epic. That’s hurting the industry as there’s not much new/improved to sell us consumers. So the question is, are 32er’s really an improvement or just something the industry is hyping to help boost sales? I don’t see a need for a 32 but will stay open minded. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

https://www.crankbrothers.com/products/plug-mate-tire-plug-anchor-kit 👀 No more blowouts.

Forbidden will have the e-dreadnought, with m2 motor, in april-may time frame. Limited initial run.

I think it was said elsewhere on here before, but Specialized is winding down their apparel production and will no longer be producing anything besides gloves, helmets and shoes. Even those will have heavily reduced SKUs.

Again, I am happy to answer about the project itself.

The staff will be the "chaperone", we have other women is the crew too. Zoé is feeling safe and she is safe. No question about that.

@sspomer isn't there another thread for this exhausting debate?

He's in Aus, so until unless they send it down, or there is a WC level event in the southern hemisphere they run what they have until they meet up with the team bus again. SRAM are coming for hardline and doing some testing post Hardline as well as Frameworks are staying for a week doing testing as they'll open the DH track just for them to test on. I'm sure some new gear will be trialed that week, not sure if I can get spy shots for you all.

“Marzbomber888 parts ways with Tetro.”

Huh?

Reading through here, there seems to be a lot of discussion around the possible suspension layout change for the Tallboy, but does anyone have any idea when we might see it? That and the six-finity non-E Yetis have remained on my mind a lot lately

https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/2026-team-rumors?page=25