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single speed and internal gear hub guys are gonna be pissed at you for saying that! I think they’ll be best served if nobody wins it. Right now we say their name every week. If someone finally scrapes out a win it’ll be the end of the story. Red Sox became really boring once they finally won.

I'm waiting for drivetrain-free systems to catch on. Aaron Gwin demonstrated the benefits of pedal-free DH long ago, but sponsorship for that approach seems to be lacking. Imagine, no DR, no cassette, no chain, freedom to use any crank length or even pegs if you want.

I too am a left foot forward guy. I have had pretty good luck over the years with derailleurs and hangers. If all of a sudden, they were gone, a whole new world of line choices would open up for me. I think I have always given an extra bit of caution to that side of the bike. Also, would not mind the improved rear suspension feel without that additional weight back there. Color me gearbox curious for sure.

Why don’t DGI just spec electronic suspension to cancel out the inefficiency of gearboxes, are they stupid?

Anyone remember if Brembo will be doing other colors like we saw at Sea Otter? About to order some but have only seen the red. Hoping to know if maybe the whites will be available (if I put my name on the levers, I can feel like Sam Hill on old juicy ultimates haha)

I don’t think it’s really a flawed test methodology, but rather a lack of understanding how to interpret the results and over extrapolating. Testing a tire on a steel drum tells you how fast it rolls. It doesn’t tell you everything that happens when you put that in a much larger system. The main thing people forgot about was the giant meat damper sitting on top of those tires. Off road it’s much more difficult to test the impact of the meat damper because suddenly the relevance of the compliance of the tire is much more variable because the surface...

Speaking for myself - it's not that I don't want a GB - it's that I don't want a worse drive-system than I currently have. If GBs get to the point where the weight penalty is small and efficiency is comparable, I'll be riding them. I think many of the folks you think are Luddiltes are really just people how value performance and don't break a lot of DRs (I've been riding since the late 80's, and I've yet to break one).

This is my last post on this, I don't really want to derail anymore than I have, but I think you need to consider more than just the technical aspects here. There are issues with the technical stuff, but business and user experience are just as, if not more, important when you consider adoption of new innovations (any innovation, not just gearboxes). As a user, if I have a Pinion gearbox fail or need service, that means it has to be removed from the bike and replaced. Who is doing that? How long am I going to be out of...

Gearboxes, the “fusion energy” of MTB.

People have been saying gearboxes are the future for what, a decade now or more? I think they are really cool and innovative, but they aren't going to see widespread adoption or replacement of current drivetrains. They are heavier and less efficient, the frame also has to be built around it, which means if you don't want it for some reason, that frame is out for you. They are more complicated to maintain, shops don't have the expertise to deal with them widely across regions, and do the smaller brands like Pinion have the facility to deal with large scale...

Bike industry surprises everyone with new tech. Forum discusses its innovative nature and implications. Members start complaining about the relevance. Rinse and repeat.

There are some pretty tough engineering challenges that need to be overcome before gearboxes can find their way into mainstream pedal MTBs. They pretty much have to be fully enclosed, as lubricated gears at BB height would never survive otherwise. That's a lot of material to form that enclosure. Perhaps some use of really tough fiber-filled thermo-plastics could offset some of this weight, but the GB is also the bash guard, and there are a lot of internal stresses that the shell has to handle. Due to material properties of even the most exotic metals, the gears really can't get...

I don't think most people articulate why they dismiss gearboxes very well, or at all haha. For me, I'm not too interested in them for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I don't have the issues with derailleurs that others seem to have, I don't smash them or snag them on rocks, and I race DH and enduro in Utah and Colorado so there are plenty of opportunities for me to do so. Secondly, I like mechanical drivetrains and don't like grip shifts. Unless I have missed something, all mechanical Gear boxes have to use a grip shift to pull cables...

I think part of the problem is that "MTB" covers a really diverse range of riding styles, and for the different styles, a variety of engineering requirements and interests. It's easy for people (myself included) to only consider the style(s) of riding they do when they promote or bash posts. I agree that there might be interesting trickle-down technology from the latest "moped" innovations in MGUs for predominantly gravity-driven forms of pedal MTBs. While the idea of a gearbox that is comparable in weight in efficiency to a conventional 1X drive train is exciting, from the engineering side of things...

Yeti Sixfinity enduro bike from la thuile pits here - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/yeti-sixfinity-enduro-bike-spotted-… (in its own thread as to not disturb efficiency discussions : )

I am going to be completely transparent here in that I work for FSA, but I will say I worked really hard on making the 31.8 40mm Gradient alloy bar one of the most compliant on the market. and here is the proof: (chart from PB article)

Guys and gals, one less post ride beer will do what a $1k drivetrain can't do. Chill, and go ride your bikes (though maybe not today if you're in the heat zone)

Because they consume 2+ % more of your wattage, and that only gets worse the worse your chain maintenance gets! In addition, the idler produces more noise and potentially a rougher feel when pedaling, which can create a greater than 2% change in a subjective sense. Those losses are from chain link articulation on the highly tensioned top run of the chain: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/tested-how-much-slower-are-idler-bikes-wh… If you find evidence that electronic suspension will provide 2% gains, then it could offset the idler losses, when compared to a non idler/non electronic suspension bike, but you would still be 2% behind a non idler...