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Happy two-year anniversary. @jeff.brines got on the horn with @TEAMROBOT and I to discuss what's happened in the bike industry over the last two years. The podcast is below, but I can't thank all of you enough for such an incredible discussion. The knowledge and courtesy in this thread makes me proud to be involved with Vital, and as I say a few times in the podcast, this thread in particular has felt like receiving a free education. We all hope anyone who has lost a bike industry job in the last two years is back on their feet or...

I'm not a weight weenie, I like stuff that doesn't break unless I did something really wrong, and this is a bit off topic, but . . . if we're making a list of problems with lifetime warranties, we should probably also add weight to the list. One of the ways you make lifetime warranties work financially is to overbuild to drive the warranty rate as low as possible. An interesting question is whether a lifetime, original-owner warranty or a 5-year, transferable warranty would create more exposure for the manufacturer. I think I'd bet on the latter. I'd even wonder...

My pace of writing is not sustainable but with the long weekend coming up, thought some of you may like to read my pricing predictions post. // Substack // Blog In essence, I'm predicting we are in for some serious sticker shock in 2026; thereafter things begin to look a bit rosier.

Jeff, I really liked this write up and felt it had the right level of depth + data(we need more leaks from big bike companies btw). I like your short quips and added insight to this forum, but this write up really takes the cake for showing what you know vs the average mtb'er. Thanks for taking the time to do the write up and stay sassy.

Hey everyone, not mad at anyone in this thread (besides maybe myself). I clearly have ideas and a delivery style that probably isn’t ideal for a mountain bike forum. Robot wrote a genuinely great post (he’s a better writer than me), and I realized there was no way for me to counter it. Not because I didn’t have anything to say, but because I started turning into this (actual photo Tucker took of me this morning): Any frustration you see from me is with myself, not anyone else. I like friction. I like debate. What I don’t like is knowing...

Very much this; I've learned a tremendous amount from this thread alone, and have been delighted and surprised at how civil and thoughtful the conversation has been. Jeff, I hope you reconsider and feel welcome to return but either way, thank you for sharing your time and expertise so freely, it's a been a real pleasure to be a beneficiary!

I don't have a horse in this race other than being very sad if Jeff stops posting his type of posts, and interacting with all of us in reply to help us along. It seems to me Jeff's posts were (are) nearly universally loved here, there's a reason I started jokingly referring to this thread as "bike industry talk and lessons in finance with Jeff". It would be a different landscape without Jeff and I hope he reconsiders.

I get it and simultaneously want a class 1 e-mtb still yet. Every time I get to borrow one and ride it I am simultaneously reminded that being able to dart uphill as fast as you can is absolutely not normal mtb activity. I also can admit that I want one so I can do 20 mile loops after work in the span of 2 hrs. I've had one head on and almost had several other head on collisions with emtbs coming up hill fast enough to be roosting berms uphill. The types of "bikes" above would be hard to...

Man, thats a $hit response, If youve got some knowledge, help the group out, especially if you know what youre talking about. If not, no need to respond at all. We are all here in this forum to learn and embrace new things. So go ahead and enlighten the group...

I am personally very concerned about the ability for the user to toggle to class 3 and the higher speed cutoff. Specialized just opened a can of worms with access issues and ebikes being lumped in with electric motorbikes. Going to be interesting to see how this plays out.