Recent Activity
All
Simmo Added a reply to E-bikes make you f*tter? Training with an eMTB
10/31/2025 1:01pm https://youtu.be/VD94rOJMwiM?si=6RiS2FRKjRXKrFs8 That was my pseudo-scientific effort into the subject... I'll summarise it for those who don't want to click... It's basically me mouth breathing for 5 minutes, trying to see if I could use an eeb for training zone blocks. Tldr: you can and it's surprisingly easy. But ... Since making that video, I tried quite a few times off...
More »
lando Liked a reply to forum topic E-bikes make you f*tter? Training with an eMTB
10/31/2025 12:06pm
Choose your toy and be a dick about it.
This forum topic has 59 replies.
Simmo Added a reply to Feedback Wanted: Strava-Like Racing App
10/13/2025 2:15pm I could Google this instead of replying... (And driven by curiosity and impatience I probably will go down that rabbit hole) But frequency is also key for the bizarre twisty sport we love. Garmin made a big deal of their new MTB edge being 5 hz, and by all accounts it's remarkably accurate.. what do phones, prior Garmin head units...
Simmo Added a reply to Feedback Wanted: Strava-Like Racing App
10/5/2025 12:14am @jeff.brines have you seen statistics-for-strava? Open source dashboard for Strava, the guy who made it is still super involved in updates on githib and discord... It's nothing like what you're making, but it does use strava's API, and dare I say it... has heatmaps!! You might be able to see what lessons he learned if clone the repo. Anyway project...
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/3/2025 3:56am
I do think the warranty discussion is super interesting and worthy of its own thread. I have my own thoughts, but I'll save them for if (when) that thread is spawned. I'm sure most of you have seen the YT video from the other site, if not, its worth the watch. I'll likely publish some thoughts over the next 24-48 hours. There is still a fair bit of confusion around what is happening there.
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
JVP Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/1/2025 1:01pm
Lifetime warranties are a horrible idea even if people like me loooooove them. I ride stuff for a long time, and anything (not just rims) that's not a total boat anchor will eventually break. I've literally never had a rear rim that I didn't eventually ruin, and I'm fine with that. I don't want an insanely expensive 700g carbon rim that will actually last a lifetime and not tank the company with warranty claims. I'd rather run an EX 511 equivalent rear at 550g-ish and I'll lace a new one over when needed. Sometimes pointy rocks are in landings -...
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
andyjr77 Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/28/2025 12:21am
It's interesting seeing Markus' take on it - I've worked through 6 M&A cycles in my career, and always, always, always, the PE/VC/corporate acquisition unit look at board & SLT conduct & optics. Think like an investor - would you sink money into a business with shaky (at best) financials, disrupted supply chain, global tariff wars, in a market segment in well publicised decline (probably where you've seen investment industry peers take a haircut), AND with a founder/CEO who's acting like he wants Ballerbusters to feature him? I love what YT did in terms of market disruption, brand development, product...
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/28/2025 12:21am
We’ll cover this on the pod in a few days, but the idea of Markus buying the company back isn’t all that surprising. One of the companies I consult for went through something similar: a private-equity exit gone wrong where the founder bought his business back from the PE firm for just 10% of the price he sold it for. Within a year, he had restored it to its former strength. The key difference here is Markus himself. He’s shown very little aptitude for running a sustainable business. While I don’t have all the financials, nothing suggests he can consistently...
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
SteveClimber Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
9/28/2025 12:15am
Possibly. There's an interesting phenomenon during big downturns you see in the investment/finance world where after big crashes a lot of people exit the industry for good. You think that people will learn to spot the bubbles and not repeat the same mistakes, but actually the companies are staffed with either juniors or people who weren't in the industry during the first crash, so they run head first into the next crash 7-10 years later. There are quite a few interesting economics papers written on it, but very few people tend to work through multiple crashes, they mostly exit for...
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
DServy Liked a reply to forum topic MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation
9/21/2025 1:38pm
I mean, I'll go on record and say I much prefer wireless shifting and have been extremely happy with my Gx Transmission drivetrains. That being said, I really don't give a flying monkey's banana on what people run, and I really wish people would stop being so damn angry that wireless shifting exists. I think people miss just how easy it is to swap wireless drivetrains around when you do have issues. When my Gx T-type did die, it was a quick 5 min job to swap to another one off another one of my bikes and keep going, and...
This forum topic has 30430 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
8/17/2025 3:37pm
Just threw something up pertaining to Giant's Q2 results. // Substack (Thank you to those who subscribe...it helps a lot) // Blog Also, here is what I believe to be the most important table the company has released this year. We really don't have a lot of granularity with respect to Asian based/traded companies, but this tells me we're not done with the pain.
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
8/8/2025 8:31am
My analysis is just about done, but for those hankering to get a jump on things, here are Fox's results. / and the conference call can be found here (or just wait a few hours and I'll post my thing...)
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
dancingwithmyself Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
7/23/2025 10:07pm
My version of what I think Robot was saying is that the issue is the industry is run by enthusiasts. I intentionally use "issue" instead of "problem," because I want my bikes designed by people who are passionate about riding bikes. But mixing passion for the sport with running a business in the sport can lead to the sort of irrational exuberance we saw during the COVID boom. I don't follow the financial news closely so I may be way off, but can you imagine the CEO of General Motors saying, "We just build the trucks we want to drive"...
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
7/21/2025 11:41pm
Hey everyone, not mad at anyone in this thread (besides maybe myself). I clearly have ideas and a delivery style that probably isn’t ideal for a mountain bike forum. Robot wrote a genuinely great post (he’s a better writer than me), and I realized there was no way for me to counter it. Not because I didn’t have anything to say, but because I started turning into this (actual photo Tucker took of me this morning): Any frustration you see from me is with myself, not anyone else. I like friction. I like debate. What I don’t like is knowing...
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
chriskief Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
7/20/2025 5:56am
Again just speculating, but based on the various quotes, the strategic direction (grow, grow, grow) seems like it was baked well before the CEO and PE guys came in. The CEO hire and the PE investment were both done to drive that strategy. Flossmann has decided to bring in Nicols to help, "further accelerate YT’s growth trajectory, already turbocharged by this year’s demand, while navigating the increased business complexity and customer expectations." "Markus and the team have already started making the necessary changes needed to enable YT to scale and continue to redefine how customers around the world buy and...
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
Maxipedia Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
7/17/2025 12:21am
I find it very ironical and super hypocritical for somebody like the YT main guy to whine about ”discount wars”, when they basically were the ones who brought this aggressive pricing strategy to the market. Dude, are you for real??? I honestly hope everybody will be OK after this, but I can't remember all the direct-to-consumer brands being too sympathetic towards the bike shops who, at the end of the day, stay at the core of our sport. And the problem is that people really believe that they are entitled to that discounted ”high end bike” with top parts, even...
This forum topic has 5215 replies.
TheSuspensionLabNZ Liked a reply to forum topic FOX Podium Inverted MTB Fork - Questions, Answers, Reviews
7/1/2025 1:53am
People seem to think bike companies have way more time and money on their hands than they actually do......pulling 20 units together AT ALL, let alone people with enough spare time to strip them down and rebuild perfectly is close to impossible. They will for sure be getting some kind of once over but that's going to be pretty standard anyway for a new production run....the QC from those top brands are already really really good in my opinion and the amount of "problems" certain people try to make you think exist just aren't anywhere near that bad in reality....
This forum topic has 242 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic FOX Podium Inverted MTB Fork - Questions, Answers, Reviews
7/1/2025 1:52am
I can't speak to this exact launch (obviously), but I highly doubt these forks get a full teardown and rebuild before going to media. Maybe they dyno this batch at HQ, but having tested plenty of product myself, including from Fox, all indicators point to companies pulling stuff directly out of the "for sale to the public" pile and shipping it directly to a tester. I realize press camp is a little different, but I still do not believe Jordi himself is hand-building forks (or shocks) just because they’re going to Vital or PB. In a way, some of you...
This forum topic has 242 replies.
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic FOX Podium Inverted MTB Fork - Questions, Answers, Reviews
7/1/2025 1:48am
Eh, I have a few thoughts to add for the hell of it. Some may remember, but I have had the privilege of playing "bike review guy" for Vital in the 2010s and also got to do similar work in the ski and motorski industry. I've also had a behind the scenes look into the industry at various points over the last ~20 years and can say I've never seen anything to suggest media product is somehow different than the product the public buys. That said, most of these "big" launches include a mechanic (or two) as you implied. Hence...
This forum topic has 242 replies.
