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TheSuspensionLabNZ Liked a reply to forum topic Tire chat (nerds only)
11/27/2023 6:06pm
Those are all very good points and I mostly agree, especially on the proliferation of bro-science from a lot of places. However I would still prefer to see more people at least attempting to continue testing products in a more scientific way so I don't really want to discourage that! The reason I do agree with you though is that science is boring as hell for most people. You will need to repeat the test over and over again and still not have an outcome. You spend hours, days, weeks on something and be completely wrong. You will discover that...
This forum topic has 1641 replies.
Snfoilhat Added a reply to Tire chat (nerds only)
11/27/2023 11:08am I wonder if I'm not a nerd, because I find myself for the most part pushing back against mtb culture's urge to create content or distinguish brands by quantifying whatever interested parties can get their little calipers on. But in the hope of providing something constructive, my "I work in a lab but unfortunately not a tire-testing lab" perspective starts...
Snfoilhat Added a reply to What do you prioritize from an e-bike?
11/22/2023 10:54am I’m working on the justification (so yeah you’re right!). There’s a popular and kind of babyish view of economics that simplifies every transaction to two consenting parties making an exchange and it’s really none of anyone else’s biz. My post references the fact observed by non-baby economists that there are often other parties roped into the transaction — not by...
owl-x Liked a reply to forum topic What do you prioritize from an e-bike?
11/22/2023 10:26am
…not to mention impossible to justify.
This forum topic has 61 replies.
Snfoilhat Added a reply to What do you prioritize from an e-bike?
11/18/2023 11:14am I can see that my sales pitch needs more work with the focus group. Seriously though, there’s a possibility that my ‘92 Kawasaki KX 125 i haven’t seen since 1999 is still running, somewhere. The phone i’m typing this on however is 100% certain near future E-waste. So leaving aside the ‘i get 2X as many laps on my ebike’...
Snfoilhat Added a reply to What do you prioritize from an e-bike?
11/17/2023 9:19am Whatever other features it has i just want to see an extra $1000 added at the point of sale, $500 to the purchaser’s local trails and $500 to the eventual disposal of the worn parts and environmental remediation. ‘Internalize externalities.’ 
TheSuspensionLabNZ Liked a reply to forum topic Suspension Data Acquisition
11/7/2023 2:16pm
These are good points - its an interesting discussion because on the one hand, some will argue that DAQ systems are pointless and can't tell you whats going on, and on the other you will see some people read far too much in to the data and expect it to give answers that just aren't there. From my perspective its just a tool - a really powerful too but only one piece of the puzzle. I will still start out with listening to rider feedback or feel, and then hopefully the data might have a clue as to what direction...
This forum topic has 461 replies.
Snfoilhat Added a reply to Suspension Data Acquisition
11/6/2023 7:25pm Been following this thread because the technology is interesting and it’s cool to see it grow. Looking at some of that output and some people’s questions it seemed like a good time to add this. As a greater quantity of data gets generated from the bike, i think a problem similar to one faced by a lot of researchers working...
Snfoilhat Added a reply to What are the hard truths of mountain bike fitting?
10/18/2023 11:22am I work a lot on this stuff with students who are getting bombarded with a data is everything kind of messaging. Here's a quick visualization of how I think of this. No numbers, no units, no data points and all the misleading stuff (false precision, red herrings, non-generalizeability) that can sometimes accompany them. These are hypothetical relationships and they're sometimes...
anotherbikerguy Liked a reply to forum topic What are the hard truths of mountain bike fitting?
10/18/2023 10:33am
Waiting for PVD to chime in on this conversation... But here's my thought on the original proposed idea: Most customers don't even know exactly how tall they are, let alone their inseam, wingspan, or other potentially relevant measurements. (Men, especially, tend to overestimate their height and ask for a larger frame size than they realistically need. Source: working in shops.) If this theoretical mountain bike fitting law is going to be based on or related to physical proportions, it'll only be as useful/accurate as the customer's measurements are. If those measurements are self-reported, they're probably going to be wrong or...
This forum topic has 52 replies.
Snfoilhat Added a reply to What are the hard truths of mountain bike fitting?
10/17/2023 8:26am I love that the bike fit thumbnail photo is a slalom racer (Is that Brian Lopes?) railing on a bike that might be <400 mm reach. I think someone setting themself up as a mtb fitter today has to be prepared to lead a rider through a series of choices, each of which is going to be a tradeoff. The...
Snfoilhat Added a reply to DH's Potential for Mass Viewership Outside of MTB Participants
10/12/2023 7:54am I wonder why any organizer would invest in building up a national or continental race series and aim to include a level of riding just a step below the top 60 or top 30 who would be fighting to qualify in international elite DH at a different track on any given weekend. Why aim for a level of rider rewards...
jeff.brines Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/5/2023 8:49am
Without getting really in the weeds on "what is a company", for the purposes of this discussion a bike company is any purveyor of components, accessories, soft goods, frames or complete bicycles for sale to the specialty bicycle market. (IE, not Huffy). As to the decision of how vertically integrated you really are (IE, how much do you do "in house"), its any management team's choice where they want to draw that line. No matter what company you are talking about, there is always going to be some farming out of something to make what they make happen. When we...
This forum topic has 4951 replies.
Snfoilhat Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
10/4/2023 9:27am If this is a dumb question I won't take it poorly. What exactly is a bike company, in this discussion? Like, how do you draw lines between them in a way that one is distinct from another so that we can say one failed, one survived? Whether it was purposeful or accidental, all the North American, English language, mtb marketing...
Snfoilhat Added a comment about feature 2023 U.S. Open of Mountain Biking Race Replay
9/27/2023 11:08am
Highlight: Aletha Ostgaard steps down into a fast right hander and the camera pans along, framing a spectator's giant box of cheese-its :D
Votes:
This feature has 5 comments.
DServy Liked a reply to forum topic How long before Outside Sells Out or Pinkbike is shut down?
9/22/2023 8:46am
Maybe calling people clowns isn't a great way to get people to engage in a productive discourse on any particular issue. Also, relivent: https://xkcd.com/1357/ As far as Pinkbike, I think they'll be fine for a long while. Their operation isn't too capital expensive (it's basically hosting cost and an office in Squamish) and they can always shed payroll before taking servers down. We'll probably see more "sponsored" reviews in the future, as that's just becoming more of a thing across all review sites for anything.
This forum topic has 49 replies.
Snfoilhat Added a reply to What do you like and don’t like about Strava.
9/20/2023 9:20am For me, it's more a public understanding of science thing or human dignity thing than a mtb thing. With any measurement, there's some minimum difference that matters to the person doing it. With any measuring tool, there's some minimum difference the tool can resolve. Strava was never honest with its user base about how long segments should be in order...
Snfoilhat Added a reply to What Would Make You Buy a New Bike?
9/14/2023 9:25am If there's a pie that represents my mtb ownership experience, maintenance convenience and costs are a small piece, sense of performance advantage afforded by new tech or FOMO from not yet having a new tech is even smaller, the whole conspicuous consumption thing doesn't add or subtract too much (careful use of social media, changing the subject like saying "Hey...
Snfoilhat Added a comment about feature Size Does Matter - Small vs XL with Pivot Cycles
9/13/2023 8:15am
Help me understand, please. If the shorter, lighter rider on the appropriate smaller frame and the taller, heavier rider on the appropriate larger frame are experiencing a similar ride quality because the sizes are tuned to the rider size/weight, then two different dudes are on two different bikes and it raises a technical question of how to compare their experiences to ensure that they are the same with respect to frame flex, ride feel, etc. Data acquisition, or a really well calibrated rider scoring system (with what's sometimes called 'inter-rater reliability', or something along those lines). If the lighter rider...
This feature has 16 comments.
Snfoilhat Added a reply to 🔴 FREE, LIVE RACING & RACE TALK 🔴 Loudenvielle - Peyragudes DH and EDR World Cup Double Header
9/2/2023 8:31am I've been noticing conversations about how changing the rules at the top, like the number of participants in elite world cups, can shift the incentives for racers and teams and help bring about this structural change where national series carry more of the load with rider development -- up until the point where a rider crosses to the (really) elite...
