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Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features and exposed more bedrock from Washington State north. Oregon didn't get the sweet, sweet ice sheet remodeling. The maximum extent of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was Tenino, which is between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. In the Seattle area you have a lot of glacial till soils that the ice pushed around. Further north the ice scraped away soils and smoothed the bedrock, making terrain for amazing tech riding. This...

My predictions for 26: 1. More bike shop closures. I think it's inevitable at this point. We're seeing a large number of shops closing on the powersports end. Dealers who've been in business for 50+ years too. If not closing they're getting gobbled up by larger chain ops.They're citing a number of factors and one of the bigger (if not biggest) is falling consumer confidence. I think decades of stagnant wages compared to inflation really hits hard at what was the middleclass. The opportunity is there for growth of service based retailers, but for large swaths that will be a...

Throwing in my 2 cents... This thread (and site overall) is an exponentially better resource than any of the others who will remain nameless but rhyme with StinkBike and EnemaTBR. I equate that to the people who visit and the structure of the site. If it ain't broke....

Pretty sure he's not getting sponsored by Title.

Prince andrew to pivot?

Honestly the best format was the yearly. I think the single thread is ideal for rumors to start the discussion, then have it break out to individual. The BIG thread got bad, but the yearly thread was dialed. Just like race talk and team rumors. I get the web resource thing, so swapping it every year works. Also great for a recap every year/5/10 to see how bikes have developed. So my vote is yearly generic thread for discussion to break out to other subjects.

This is the way. Rename the v2 Tech Rumors thread to 2026 Tech Rumors, pin it, close it on Dec 31, 2026. Rinse and repeat. Kinda similar on the MTBR NorCal forum that I also inhabit, there is a monthly thread dedicated to ride reports (and all their tangents and side conversations). Works really well and is easy to navigate/manage.

@Downtime Podcast Been busy and have sporadically been able to follow the thread. I haven’t listened to the DT podcast. Haven’t listened to Brines debrief. But I do know this. MF asked/paid Chris to provide a platform. Chris did that. Jumping on Chris for not asking the right questions is crap. MF was on the back foot from the company crisis. Chris didn’t put him there. MF had every opportunity to at least clear the air and admit wrongdoing. At any point during the pod MF could have said “Let me say this about that”. MF had an open mic...

Thanks to those who've taken time to write kind words about Downtime. I was expecting to get some hate for this episode as there is definitely a lot of frustration out there on this topic and Markus appears to be a very polarising character. For what it's worth, I put in the time to understand the concerns of the MTB world as much as was possible from forums etc and I believe that all those key points were covered in this interview. I also took time to understand the mechanisms of Private Equity and just why growth is essential and...

My only comment as an Albertan is Whistler is out of the way and kind of isolated in it's own bubble when compared to all the other interior bike parks. Minimize the driving and plan a trip dedicated to the interior vs. Whistler plus more. Sun Peaks is the only one that's kind of close to Whistler, and it's not that close. You won't be lacking things to do if you skip the coast.