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For years people have been asking for MGUs from SRAM and Shimano and there has long been speculation that those brands didn’t get involved because they didn’t want to undermine their own market share of expensive, high wear components. In doing so they’ve left their flank wide open for a Chinese company to swallow up the drivetrain market while solving issues riders have complained about for decades. Horrific miscalculation from the drivetrain cartel.

True that, Charlie. Look at all the ebikes in for service where only the 14 tooth cog has ever been used. People struggle with shifting. That was before motors double their output. Even in the eMTB space I don't see the derailleur and cassette drivetrain surviving the power wars. Our beloved and wickedly efficient bicycle drivetrains didn't evolve to put out 150 Nm and 1500 freaking watts. Constant watts. That's 2 HP for Joe and Jane Blow compared the 1/4 HP a reasonably fit human puts out. You're simply going to need thicker cogs hanging off that back wheel. But...

Please let this kill the Derailleur Mafia for once and for all.

Fair, but there had to be a better name than ‘Rhapsody’. Someone still got paid to think up that name. It’s cumbersome to say and at least for me all it invokes is George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and United Airlines commercials from the 1990s Why not just call it ‘Crankworx Whistler Slopestyle’. EDIT: it also reminds me of how a romance author would describe the heights of an amorous tryst, NOT a mountain bike slopestyle. Haha

Excuse my French, but could we fucking please stop calling bikes "analog", "acoustic", or -the worst I've heard- "bio"? Bikes are bikes. Ebikes are something else. Now get off my fucking lawn you punks!

I’ve watched my friend get pushed into a tree and also pushed off the trail. Two different e-bikers on the same ride. He doesn’t like e-bikes and now I get it. You may not realize the precedent that other ebike riders have set before you cross paths with an analog rider

I'm guessing Greg Minnaar is happy to see Danny Hart qualify for finals. I know I am!

Remi's line, 5:32, is sick as hell. Not sure if its faster but that was cool as hell.

Probably time to kill yourself… ❤️

There are no words for how disappointed younger me would have been with older me. Empathy and that whole "prefrontal cortex" thing have both been pretty wild.

I was listening to a road biking podcast recently. One of the guests on the podcast is currently a DS for a bigger team and used to be a world tour rider. One of the things that came up in discussion is how absolutely insane the new generation of riders are. They are SO fast. They are SO good in their training. They are SO dialed in their nutrition and recovery. The guest made a point to bring up an interesting-to-me factoid: They can't let the younger riders anywhere near the big-name riders during team training rides. None of them...

Brosnan gonna show up with donuts

8:30 practice? All the dad's in the WC field will be eating it up.

The etiquette piece might be my single biggest grievance from the ebike crowd. I'm a big guy and climbing is not my strength, so I have PLENTY of experience with being passed on the uptrails by both regular and ebike riders. The ebike riders are exponentially worse at saying excuse me, on your left, or simply making some noise to let you know they're behind you. I've even seen groups of ebike riders talking and laughing about how fast they're cruising past other riders at the top of the climb. These aren't new riders. At the end of the day...

I can feel the downvotes coming, but I'm reminded of a comment I made back in February comparing e-bikes to GLP-1 drugs... Maybe I'm a purist, but isn't part of mountain biking the physical effort and reward? I understand capitalism, but when I see brands cutting analog models while e-bikes continue to dominate sales, it feels like another example of a broader trend: we're pouring investment into technologies that make difficult things easier. Is it possible that because analog bikes have essentially plateaued, so people who already have a sick bike are rounding out their quiver with an e-bike? Also...

Seems like a lot of e-bike talk in here lately, can you move this to the e-bike thread?