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I'd be so stoked to see the Alpinestars airbag systems used in SMX move into MTB. Barcia's crash at A1 to me was just a testament that there's tech that can save lives readily available (for the right price) for downhill mtb. Hopefully this is an entry point for a similar "Alpinestars Medical Team" system into UCI DH.

Heres something unique I have been working on lately. Probably a first for the front of a MTB....two position spring rate and travel at the push of a lever. The dual suspension is working beautifuly and is sooo compliant and sooo good in rock gardens etc.....there has been one issue tho. Because its soo compliant with 235mm of front travel, its main drawback is once you get onto a faster say more open flowy bit of smoother hardpack track, all that super soft travel is a bit of a drawback...the front gets pitchy and wallowy and imprecise when pushing hard...

Here are some of the earliest known data acquisition photos I have seen in mountain biking. These are posted by @vintage mountain bike podcast. An interview they said that Greg Minar was riding this Honda. Very heavy and dangerous to with data on because the covers it would get caught in cross winds. We have come a long way!

The Honda program was legit

I'm overdue to write that Telum review, but in short it's phenomenal. If the damper is anywhere near as good as the shock, it will be unreal. I couldn't believe how much better my fork felt with the MRP Lift damper, so I'm totally down for a Vorsprung fork damper.

It's not the whole story when it comes to handling, but it does determine where the reach and stack should be to compliment the f/r ratio, and ultimately determine riding position. Personally, in size larges, I've found that 1.8 is the happy number, up to 1.84. Past that cornering performance starts to suffer unless you're riding that front end like a unicycle (longer reach, lower stack). Above 1.85 you're driving the bike with your hands and shoulders as much as your feet. Below that and you are progressively driving the bike with your feet and hips more.

2026 Frameworks DH and Enduro frame information and details https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/frameworks-launches-2026-do…

How are we calculating F/R ratio? I assume it's (WB-CS)/CS = F/R ratio? If that's the case- I may have accidentally ended up with 2 bikes with the exact same F/R ratio (S4 stumpy Evo and an old S2 Status). Could be an interesting comparison... Have only been jumping the status, but might need to set it up for some trail riding too.