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The second law of thermodynamics in the Vital Forums: all tech rumors eventually devolve to a discussion about chainstay length.

Old post, I know, but figured I'd comment since I've had just about every fork that uses 3 chamber air springs incl a RUNT and just saw this. It's easy to get fixated on the pressures in each chamber, but a critical part of this is the difference in pressures between the two positives. You could have your ramp/IRT/whatever chamber perfect but if your main is too low, then it'll spike and ramp harshly, causing all sorts of issues. The reverse is also true. Having the pressures exactly right in both is less critical than having the gap correct. The...

Hey Jeff, I'm so sorry that my forum post bummed you out so much. It sounds like you want to stop posting on Vital entirely based on what I wrote. I'm so sorry it was so disrespectful. I have really appreciated your insights and analysis, and I think everyone has, and this bike industry forum in particular has been like a mini "intro to finance course" over the last 3 years based on everything you and other people (who know way more about this stuff than me) have contributed. Rereading what I wrote, I can see how my words may...

Jeff, respectfully, there's this theme in your posts where you assume (I'm paraphrasing) "if only these companies had a good CFO things would turn out differently." If only YT had "sophisticated financial planning and analysis tools," if only they were "watching macro indicators to understand where consumer demand is headed," and "looking at appropriate comps to learn from," if only they'd "started to stress test their model and realized they had a problem with respect to volume and turns against their debt obligations while running a low margin business." Instead, it looks like "CFOing was absent. Nobody was ringing the...

From the NAEC a couple weeks ago...

Or will they stick to their 'fun aspect' and continue to make Realist MTB's for people who want to enjoy having fun on their bike.

Oblig:

I have not watched many of the numerous Fox Podium reviews as I try to avoid the influencer type content, but came across this from JKW and it reminded me of something I noticed when first swapping from a traditional to inverted fork; the front brake seemed to work better. Same brake, same wheel, same tire, same trails; it simply felt like there was more control and braking traction available with the inverted fork. With the overbuilt crown and large upper legs required to get the desired level of torsional stiffness comes an increased fore/aft stiffness which can be felt...

I love the slow mo side-by-side comparison JKW did in that video, and I agree that on the Podium I'm testing the front brake feels instantly better than on the RSU fork it replaced. I find that I can use the front brake in more places without sliding and without harshness, and the ability to use my front brake more is a change that my rear brake pads are celebrating.

We plumbed a pressure gauge in line with some Code RSCs back in the day. You can easily hit 3000 psi yanking on the lever. That would be hard to see on the trail of course, but pressures are definitely higher than most assume. The bigger limit when it comes to piston temp is more likely to be the seals. The max temp of EPDM isn't that high (about 300F). You could do some fluorinated material like FFKM to get higher temp ratings on your seals, but that's expensive. Brembo refers to their pistons as "isolated" aluminum. What I read...

I used to work in sawmills, they were/are large employers in many small towns across the US and Canada. Let's say in an older 2 line sawmill you would need 30 people to run a shift and you would run 2 shifts a day (just to run the machines, no management or trades). If you install a new sawmill now you can have 4 people processing the same amount of lumber. Will more industry bring more money to the US? Yes. Will it bring more jobs? Probably not as many as people are expecting.

The X2? You mean the shock that every bike company and their mother spec’ed on their misaligned trunion mount bike that had about as much frame alignment as a couple of soggy noodles. Not saying I didn’t have issues with that shock (I blew up three of them) but as it turns out the bike I had it on ate pretty much every shock I stuck on it (3 x2 and 2 EXTs). I don’t want to absolve any company from making shit, I really don’t. But at least in the suspension word everyone I can think of and ridden...

Jeff Kendall Weed has a great series of slow mo shots in his Podium video with side by side comparisons of front tire skids with the 36SL, 38, and Podium, and it's pretty wild how much fore/aft flex he gets out of the two RSU forks compared to the Podium. Doesn't look like much in the still, but it's a lot of motion back and forth in the vid. Also I just now noticed he's wearing loafers for the shot, which is the most JKW thing you'll see all week. I think it makes an interesting watch for anyone, but...