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I am in the process of selling my eeb and back to riding actual bikes exclusively, so decided to share a rant without any goal or much reason. Context: young dad, mid 30s, 25 years riding (first and bigger part of them on BMX street/dirt). Moved closer to Alps last year, got jealous of people passing me on the ups and doing triple of my downs. I patiently test-rode on trails literally dozen of eebs, decided on a mid-power option because it still provided a rather slow climbing speed, so the brain could switch off, get bored and enjoy nature...

It’s more just a region based thing in my opinion. I know friends in the pnw who get way more tire life compared to down south. Steep and dry trails are a perfect recipe to wear through tires

Man I wish my dhr looked that good even after 200 miles

This Maxon air motor is possibly gonna be less weight vs the Tq 60? It’s slim pickins when looking for a lightweight emtb with dual 29 wheels. MTE or fuel + really all there is.

If you're not from the US and you haven't seen this yet, I can't recommend it enough. It explains a lot:

i recently learned that a 2x2 lumber is not in fact 2" in size. americans are just completely crazy when it comes to sizing stuff.

Most of you probably won't like hearing this. I certainly didn't. Earlier this week I had a chat with a guy who works in a product management role for Ralf Bohle GmbH, which is the owner of the Schwalbe tire brand. Mainly I asked a bunch of XC racing related questions, about compounds, casings, radial ply, rolling resistance testing, wheter we'll ever see the speediest XC casing with a black sidewall and why they felt they needed to change their naming scheme for casings and compounds. The gist of it is that they are hard at work behind the scenes...

Having ridden bikes from several major brands, my SC Megatower has easily been the best I’ve owned when it comes to product support, parts availability, and clear, reliable customer service. I used to make fun of people who had an SC, but after dealing with repeated warranty issues on other bikes, I get it now. The Mega is a sick bike, the VPP suspension rides great, but honestly, it’s the overall ownership experience that really sets Santa Cruz apart. I'm in the market for a shorter travel ripper, and SC is at the top of the list, even if it's...

They got it wrong all the time too. Honda in ‘97 being the prime example. How they didn’t listen to McGrath I’ll never understand.

I'm also going to push back. One of the biggest problems with ebikes is they are way too stiff in the front triangle. I'd say external batteries that allow for traditional tubing have the potential to ride much better, but let's be honest the most important priority for how an ebike handles is how good it looks.

For what it’s worth, the rear triangle on Alden’s Crestline e-bike frame that has been converted to a dh is being made stiffer for him. Provided he’s a tall guy riding hard.

Good questions! I had a great conversation with Kiran MacKinnon of Santa Cruz Bikes at Sea Otter (and it should be published as a podcast at some point), and he said that because e-bike frames have to be so much stiffer than pedal bikes, taking the motor and battery out basically produces a bike that rides like a block of wood (i.e. overly stiff and harsh over bumps). That doesn't mean that an e-bike with the motor removed is unridable (i.e. Martin Maes racing DH on the e-Wild frame as a development project for the new Rallon DH bike), but...

TQ is developing a new motor, a bit smaller/lighter than the current one but with 100 Nm if I am correct. I should be out next summer not before. So it could be the reason. It is a shame for Santa to go away from the VPP system ... :-(

Specialized dropping a highly anticipated elite level S-Works product, and you’re surprised…?

Every one of us is dumb to someone else at least once a year Can we just keep rumoring and innovationing now? Please. Thanks 🙂

This Just In! Stark Motorcycles is going to be joining the MTB world with its EBike Called the Stark “NotaMoto”. This ebike has 80 horse power and a gear box. Apparently they made the decision to join the bike industry after one of the executives said- “ I mean its all bullshit. You can buy an ebike from Specialized at the same price as our motorcycles. But with like 1/1000th the power. We should just put mountain bike wheels on a Varg and just sell it to them. Theyre just in denial that they want a motorcycle and want to...