All

Get the frame only and the mullet link, then spec with a 170mm 650b fork and voila.

Hell yeah Don Burl!!!

Yea T!!

There are a variety of reasons a PM may go with the red S over the blue S, reasons that are beyond exploring in this landscape. The most practical reason, and 100% speculative here, would be the more limited availability of Deore. I may be very much wrong, but you asked, and that is my best *guess* I am a massive fan of Deore and would love to see it on many more bikes. The price is excellent and the performance is stellar. A Deore/Maz alloy EVO would be the cat's meow from a consumer perspective.

Yes

I mean, YT yanked his distribution from him, so I’d be pretty bitter too.

I mean, YT yanked his distribution from him, so I’d be pretty bitter too.

Pon (owner of santa cruz) scooping up dorel (owner of gt, cdale, schwinn etc) https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/Santa-Cruz-Cannondale-Schwi… all athletes in new meetings. "what would you say you do here?"

This is true for everything. The issue is that it would hurt for a lot of people before it got better (and maybe it would hurt for quite a few people to actually see what they are worth, to see the pecking order). A lot of times ignorance is bliss. But yes, hiding salaries is only beneficial to the employers (okay, and mental health in some cases ). Also, when talking about athlete salaries, the relevant part of this podcast is very much on topic: https://open.spotify.com/episode/54VCJ9YCLfXJkTYj4uO0mn

I never meant to imply we'll see NBA sized paychecks in mountain biking; not at all. I also acknowledged the differences between ball sports & mountain biking. However, I am suggesting, hiding salaries rider to rider in fact puts the rider at a disadvantage. Its the old Kramer in the coffee corporation office. "We'll give you free coffee for life and...." I"LL TAKE IT!!! I've thought about it long and hard, and ultimately believe hiding salary information benefits the companies more than it does the rider. This is true in just about anything IMO.

A little bit of a derail here, but this theme keeps coming up in this thread. One thing I genuinely wonder a lot about is if we were more up front with contracts, and what riders really get paid (EG, every ball sport), would that change things for the better? Kids should know what they are in fact chasing and how unlikely it is. Being "pro" doesn't always mean you are "pro" (eg, you pay for your life with your racing) if you know what I mean. Moreover, for the riders who are near the top, they could more effectively...

This reminded me of something: In 2004 we were with our National Team at the Worlds in Les Gets and the last World Cup round in Livigno. Vanessa Quin won the Worlds that year on a baby blue Intense M3 with Dorados, that was still to be released. She was riding on the Dirt/Intense team, with Shimano, Manitou and Troy Lee as co-sponsors. I was watching the men's finals and slowly descending the course, when I met Mike Rose, who was talking to somebody, most likely Sabrina Jonnier. What I overheard baffled me: Dirt/Intense weren't sure if they could provide...

It's not that your mechanic has to deal with 2 extra cables, since he's probably working in a Scott shop, he has to deal with 2000 extra cables a year. If it was limited to XC race rigs I could get behind it, but it has no place on a Ransom for example. Ever worked on a Ransom eride? Kill me now.

If the bike is 5% better but 15-20% more to deal with and issues, is it a better bike? I can tell you the new spark and ebike are going to cost $$$ in repairs for the extra leg work to deal with the suspension and tuning the twinloc on the spark is going to take way longer to tune. I've rarely run into a situation other than fireroad where I even want more than a firm up on my fork, twinloc is a new rider sales feature at best and something expensive to replace if you hate it at...

Along those lines, all the custom parts on bikes too - weird standards of headsets, custom, one-off shocks, etc.

Twinloc is living proof that the designers don't give a fuck what mechanics think.

Pricey way to get josh back with rob and peaty.

I run 29psi rear and 27psi front

It's a bummer how DT Swiss hubs have taken a dive in reliability. I had my EX ratchet replaced after learning about the surface defects in the first batch, and it's already showing wear.