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synBike Liked a reply to forum topic The Mountain Bike Bearing Discussion
1/6/2025 2:38am
From an industry perspective Enduro is almost ubiquitous for a few reasons: 1. They offer a lot of bicycle-specific sizes that can be very hard (and relatively expensive) to source elsewhere. They are one of the few suppliers with a wide range of max complement small bearings. Max complement is a big improvement in load capacity for the specific use case of suspension pivots (high dynamic load, low rotation speeds). 2. They are well known and have lots of international support for people replacing bearings. Go try replacing all the bearings on a Pivot Firebird with NTN equivalents. You might...
This forum topic has 53 replies.
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Mountain Bike Bearing Discussion
1/6/2025 2:38am Do you design bikes out of interest? You seem very knowledgeable on the minutiae of bike design. What are your takeaways then of how to design a frame correctly from a bearing perspective? Use larger bearings, accurate tolerances, and preloaded (is a collet style main pivot good for this?) seem like the big 3 from what you've said. Obviously it's...
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Mountain Bike Bearing Discussion
1/3/2025 3:02pm I think the issue with solid lube bearings is you can't "flush" the dirt that gets stuck in the bearing and wears out the race. With a normal cartridge bearing you can pop the seal, clean the old grease and reapply new grease to get most of the gunk out that causes wear.
SteveClimber Added a reply to MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation
1/3/2025 2:57pm Be nice. Also, you have to remember that development is secret and maybe he doesn't want to put that XXX brand is making a USD fork as they will know he is the one who leaked it, as potentially only a handful of people currently know.
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
1/3/2025 1:05pm We've suspected Evil is in trouble for a while, as they haven't released a new bike in god knows how long.
mickey Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
1/2/2025 7:30pm
Manufacturers shouldn’t be saddled with carrying the burden of a social safety net though- that is a particularly American Problem, and it’s why this thread exists in the first place… The American economy is a blind consumption machine based on hope and smoke and mirrors and the fantasy of infinite economic growth The underpinnings of the economy are not sound- poor STEM education, horrible educational outcomes per dollar spent, 3rd world healthcare outcomes, historic attacks on family planning, zero affordable housing being built or subsidized, automobile and intermodal-shipping container-centric infrastructure… all Americans pay real social and economic costs for these...
This forum topic has 5203 replies.
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
1/2/2025 5:58pm The median income in the last ranked state (Mississippi) is higher than the median income for the entirety of the UK. Your problem is lack of social programs, not lack of income. American's are obscenely rich, yet have ~15% poverty rate (from OECD data). If you get an international perspective you'd realise how well off the majority of Americans are
SteveClimber Added a reply to 2025 Team Rumors
1/2/2025 2:45pm That is called being a professional. They're used to it. Sometimes your forced to use new gear that its objectively worse than what you were using before, but its how you get paid.
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
1/2/2025 2:36pm Has anyone seen how insanely expensive Brompton's are? I'm not surprised they're struggling for buyers @sspomer Comment of the year awards when?
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
1/1/2025 12:50am Those companies have European subsidiaries/offices, and in this instance Data centres in Europe and the UK. But the profit will flow through to the US eventually, and hence the R&D and head office are based there so the US gets the extra employment. So these counts as exports, but it's not a dollar for dollar, as some of that income...
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
12/31/2024 4:42pm Its interesting to note the tariff talk has died down over the last few weeks. I can only assume they have done more modelling and realised people don't want to pay more for groceries, and acknowledge that it was a large part in the Democrats losing, and if they don't control groceries prices they'll suffer the same fate. The tariff...
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
12/31/2024 12:39pm Your economy doesn't need to be turned around. It's the most successful in the world by an insane margin. Americans are so much richer than the rest of the world it's nuts. Your problems are lack of social policy, not lack of economic activity. From The Economists reporting China themselves are getting annoyed at the offshoring of their companies to...
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
12/24/2024 2:12pm Organisational failure is rarely one persons fault. But those at the top bear the responsibility of organisations that fail.
sethimus Liked a reply to forum topic The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
12/23/2024 2:21pm
This forum topic has 5203 replies.
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
12/23/2024 2:21pm Jesus. I thought Rocky's inventory of 100k+ bikes is bad, but 265k motor bikes is insane! Pierer sounds like an absolute fool.
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Bikeconomics (Mega)Thread
12/23/2024 11:50am Surely Rocky are large enough to have a CFO full time. It's a company with 70m+ revenue each year, I'd certainly want someone employed to safeguard the risks that come with selling consumer products to that amount. The largest business I've worked for had revenues of 3 million, and we even paid for modelling of potential downturns and profitability forecasts...
SteveClimber Added a reply to The Garage of Dumb Ideas: changing a Santa Cruz Megatower to a Hightower?
12/22/2024 8:15pm For a start you wouldn't have to buy a new fork or shock. Just buy a 160mm airspring to put in the 170mm fork to lower the travel, the shock you can put a spacer and make it a 230x60 as well (at least you should be able to) so it won't cost a lot of money. The rear geo...
SteveClimber Added a reply to MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation
12/22/2024 2:22pm Entirely true. The machined tolerance of moulds has to be very high. But again, people make carbon bikes at home, it's just that the mould for a rim is mega expensive as it's normally one massive central piece and a bunch of interlocking rams to compress the carbon. It's just not worth it for a "cheap" part for people to...
Primoz Liked a reply to forum topic MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation
12/22/2024 2:14pm
Baking a rim is the easy part. It's not even needed depending on the choice of resin. And you don't need high pressures, you can get a lot done with just vacuum (and ambient air pressure compacting things). Making the molds is the hard part. At least for rims.
This forum topic has 30430 replies.
SteveClimber Added a reply to MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation
12/22/2024 12:46pm Brakes are challenging. There's quite a bit of engineering involved in sealing them, and making sure they stay sealed properly, as you can have a rim crack, but break failure is totally unacceptable. So given that you need to have a 0% failure rate, it makes it quite a serious undertaking. Rims are relatively simple, it's just that nobody has...