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StarlingCycles Added a comment about press release Starling Cycles Introduces the Girder: A Full-Suspension Mountain Bike with Weight in its DNA
4/1/2026 2:59am
This is probably a better explanation of the weight theory (it's certainly good logic): https://www.starlingcycles.com/does-bike-weight-matter/
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This press release has 11 comments.
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 11:41pm Ha, yes. A customer used QRs on the bolts that clamp the eccentric dropouts. This allowed him to quickly adjust the tensioners, and run two different sized cogs. I love customers doing this kind of stuff. It what I did with all my bikes before Starling. The world would be a boring place if everyone was the same and had...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 9:13am Simplicity is hard to achieve. Its always easier just to keep adding stuff to solve a design problem, rather than going back to the start each time as assessing what is really required. But that make me sound clever. In reality, the restraints of the manufacturing in steel, along with my poor 3D CAD skills mean a simple solution is...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 8:03am I would definably not be designing something like that under the radar!!!
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 7:00am I think fore/aft balance of suspension is one of the key thing to set up a bike correctly. You see far too many people setting their bike up based on 'getting bottom out once per ride' rather than chassis dynamic stability. In the simplest terms I set a bikes suspension by riding along and pushing down super hard towards the...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 6:14am Linear and coil works great, see here: https://www.starlingcycles.com/why-single-pivot-steel-and-coil-is-the-b… I think the word progression has just become a bit of a marketing term now. Bikes can ride great without being progressive. None of our customer complain about this...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 5:36am We have built a few of our Spur bike using a Effigear gearbox. It rides amazingly; the suspension (due to reduce un-sprung mass and no flappy chain is amazing). But there is an amount of drag in the gearbox that means it doesn't lend itself to being a trail bike. It's definitely more winch and plummet of lift assisted. We...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 5:33am We did a video about this, let me know if it doesn't answer your questions. Lots of other interesting stuff there too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPYwcTwuCG8
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 3:07am Brake Jack is more of a static issue, sorry I'll start that again... Brake Jack is defined by a static resolution of forces. But as you say it's a much more dynamic issue than that. I have a real problem with the 'psuedo' science that proliferates in biking. The real behaviours are much more complicated; moving riders, rough terrain, dynamic...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 2:55am BLE is the most fun bike ever. I ride mine more than anything and it just reminds me of why biking is fun!! We will keep selling them until there no more demand... But we are just limited by the batch sizes we can do. We know our bikes are expensive, but manufacturing here in the UK is expensive. And...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 2:52am Thanks Twisted Nipple (ouch)! The frames are super strong. We've had one return of a V3 frame, this was an American rider who was a big strong high level racer and hucked everything; if you watched his videos you winced. He had a crash where he bent his fork steerer, and the same time he flared the head tube a...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 2:48am I think for riders who still value manoeuvrability over stability, the smaller wheel size makes sense. 26" even... I don't think it's a UK specific thing, just it's easy for us to offer, so why not! For the bigger brands they need some kind of narrative to justify the bigger batches they have to commit to. Personally I'm not that...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 12:42am Before I started making bikes, I had a variety of different designs, but had always preferred single pivots. They just felt more lively and engaging to ride. And even thought I was doing a bit of racing, I felt this was most important. It's never the bike that is slowing me down, so a bike that I felt most confident...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 12:26am That was a lot of questions in one post!! I've answered them all now, but please one questions per post please. I'm a simple man and can't hold too much information in my head at once!!
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 12:25am You opened the doors at Starling in 2015 and Brexit happened a year later. Has Brexit impacted your business? Yes, I think Brexit has had a huge impact on our ability to sell into the EU. In reality there's no extra costs, just a little bit more complication with having to pay VAT separately. But it has added an element...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 12:22am Why would you say Stewart Lee is the best comedian the UK has ever produced? Yep, he my favourite Lefty Guardian reader. Hilarious!!
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 12:22am How much flex is too much flex? How do you balance front triangle stiffness with rear triangle stiffness? Gun to your head, would you rather have a stiffer front triangle or rear? We've actually been doing a bit of lab (improvised) testing that show that Starling bikes are no less stiff than others. The 'compliance' that is talked about (even...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 12:19am What sort of shock tunes play best on single pivots? More/less HSC compression in the shimstack, progressive or regressive rebound, etc? We tend to find a standard Medium/Medium tune is a great starting spot. But faster riders might do better with a slightly lighter compression and rebound tune. But most importantly, since the leverage ratio is linear and constant, they...
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 12:16am Favorite local curry in Bristol? Favorite local Kebab in Bristol? My house!! I'm a pretty handy cook, so don;t really like spending money to eat out when I can do it as well at home!!
StarlingCycles Added a reply to Vital MTB Forum Hot Seat: Joe McEwan, Starling Cycles Founder
2/5/2025 12:15am Favourite local trail spot in/near Bristol? The amazing trail just outside the city in Leigh Woods and Ashton Court and few other little bits of woods. Perfect for my BLE singlespeed bike But built with XC tyres to make the riding a bit more exciting. Otherwise, we're super lucky to have amazing riding 40 minutes away in South Wales, Forest...
