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Finally! A proper electronic DH rear derailleur. I've been wondering when we'd be able to pay $1500 to ruin three derailleurs on the same rock in one race weekend. Can't come fast enough.

I am having fun, thanks for asking. Apparently this is serious bidness for some, sorry for interrupting your program.

Dat frame looks very Santa Cruzy to me, including the suspension link and hardware.

Anyone else seen this

The VitalForum Law: Given sufficient length all threads descend into tech talk...regardless of the orignal purpose of the thread.

Fine if you feel that way, but I try to ask for riders opinions on the current state of the sport and also anything happening inside so people from the outside can learn more, Finns response was great and a lot people enjoyed his opinions. I interview riders who are doing well in the race, on race day my video is to tell the story of the race. I can't make a judgement on a case where no one actually knows the full story, and we never will it seems, so until then I will interview the riders who performed...

BREAKING NEWS: Maxxis MTB Division releases 10,000th tread pattern, earns commemorative wrist watch from corporate headquarters in Cheng Shin to mark event:

Wild guess here that nobody has made yet....but maybe it's a TMD?

who is? i've seen a video and it showed how much a " look we make this cool thing here"product is rather than being actually better in any way

One of my favourite things about this thread is the the mix of people commenting. One one hand people who seem to have behind the scenes knowledge vaguely referring to things they know to be true but can't say, and people with no idea of the actual details confidently stating things they have no direct knowledge of. This is what keeps me coming back. Keep it coming

The plot twist in this video literally had me dropping my jaw

This is not mtb but its one of the more interesting ideas lately, has it been already mentioned here?

It's the Walmart method. Price yourself just enough lower than everyone else for comparable goods that some consumers will get on-board...and then wait. Mom & pop stores will eventually close and you can raise your prices. If you have the cashflow to survive it - it doesn't hurt to have a large enough scale that you can get product on the shelves cheaper than others can and sacrifice a little bottom line in the shorter term - it's literally just a matter of time. Keep lowering prices and your profit margin in the short term to close the other brands...

For Hope, do people realize they have open source tools to help you with the bleed process and alignment? https://www.hopetech.com/open-source-tools/ Someone I saw on the local hill this week mentioned that Hope is supposedly coming out with a Tech 5 lever to appease the people who don’t like their brakes because of the need to roll the membrane when closing up the system. I would assume it would be something similar to how Shimano has the screw that is removed and the funnel installed when bleeding.

Since the last Trump tariff battles in his first administration, more and more bike stuff has left China. Santa Cruz has largely switched to Thailand for their frames, at least what I am seeing in the US. This is pretty recent so I’m not sure if it’s a total swap. They have historically been built in the skybox composites factories, who make several other high end brands. I don’t know if they switched mfgs or just moved or expanded locations. Lots of other higher end mtb stuff is in Taiwan and Vietnam. Some brands don’t bother publishing, or including on...

One thing I want to flag is the possibility of a tariff-evoked credit crunch in the outdoor industry. Though no business is immune, I'd argue businesses with seasonality, long inventory turns (most outdoor industry stuff), and purveyors of elastic goods are extra exposed to the problem. In short, if we see continued softness with respect to consumer spending, prices go up a material amount due to tariffs, the COVID (inventory) hangover lingers, and companies are unable to stay within the covenants of their debt instruments, we might see a whole other level of pain, and this could come to fruition...