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Warning! AI Slop Forbidden testing out their new high-heel suspension platform:

Any particular reason you think these are radials?

Quarter HP just did a revisit on the Titan, and seat post insertion was one of the knocks on a six year old frame.. Considering that 170 was long at that point, that's not bad..

I believe the two "oldest" bikes on the market right now are S Enduro (2020) and Banshee Titan (2019) and they are both still perfectly relevant going into 2026... I'd say Titan became even more popular as the time went by which is pretty funny in modern times but I'd say there are more and more of us who dont really buy into latest trends of blingbling marginal gains and are perfectly happy with a simple, capable, reliable and affordable bike and Banshee ticks all of those.

I'm surprised we don't talk about the weight difference between AXS stuff and cable more. I'm no weight weenie (36 lb alloy Norco Sight w 2 lb of lead), but I'm certainly not interested in adding unsprung mass to my bike when I can avoid it. Seems odd, especially on a DH bike where suspension sensitivity is the whole point. I just checked, and a 90 series rear mech is about a 100g lighter than a GX T-type (incl battery). Better yet, an XT 12-speed mechanical rear mech is another 110 grams lighter than the 90 series. Not totally against...

RAAW is a german company, last year, the total numbers of all MTB sold in Germany was about 80k, that number is getting smaller and smaller in the last years. now look at EMTB sold, that was 800k, 10x as much as non motorized MTB. so they exist in an ever shrinking market if they don’t adapt to the new reality..,

Mondraker proto DH bike will be in production for 2026, Also comes with a 2026 Boxxer, which has Charger 3.2 and "air preload" (I assume this is that bump in the left lower) And DH transmission will be under the XX label, with new cranks ,

Unovation? I vote for the SRAM 70/90 mechanical derailleurs. The average rider has no idea that their bent derailleur hanger is ruining their shifting. In terms of performance improvement for the masses, this is one of the best advances ever.

what was not newsworthy (because nobody buys ads or sends free product for "review"): how a small company from freiburg, germany with a few employees beats the big companies in fork and brake performance and quality craftmanship

Yup, this thread is what brought me to Vital. So far I've just enjoyed reading, but with the impending closure, I decided it was worth making an account to cast my vote for annual versions of the tech-rumors thread.

Agree with others, closing the thread with no alternative is hard to wrap my head around. Alternatively, and I'm fully ready to get downvoted for this, but the "Crab" thing was getting really overplayed, I'm ready for that to chill out. Funny joke while it lasted, doesn't need to be repeated every day in response to every topic.

It’s wild to have your cranks disappear into the frame at a spot different from your chainring. Kinda really totally have to ride one of these…

So, the question is which Pon company drops a 32 first? Does GT get revived meaning Giant Tires? Maybe Cannondale.. They have a history of quirky bikes..

Honestly, we're probably all just huge nerds. Or maybe, the sad reality of it is that cycling in general is such an expensive and elitist sport that it mainly attracts people who are financially quite well off. And in most western countries, academic success is very strongly linked to financial prosperity. Rich people, statistically speaking, still have much better chances in academia and generally much better access to higher education. Therefor it is probably not a coincidence that people who ride bikes seem have above average education. I'd like to see a venn diagram on this sociology of cycling.

One thing that became almost immediately clear in the relatively short time that I have been reading and participating in bike-related internet forums is that the proportion of posters that are good at math is extremely high. It seems that 1 in 10 is an actual engineer, and the proportion of math-brained folks among the remainder is way higher than the public at large. As such, holding back geometry information strikes me as misguided because one's efforts are destined to be futile unless they also refuse to release pictures of the product. From the moment the bike is portrayed in...

I stumbled across another firmware update in the Sram app today for transmission rear derailleurs. It is another step faster now through the gears, and their 2nd improvement in shift speed this year.

Back to crab related rumours. Kavenz has started prototyping their VHP V8 which will be carbon tube and cnc’d lugs. They will be posting a series following along with all the details, similar to what they did when they created the first version of their frame.

Is a Penny-farthing the actual true crab?

Mega-mega mullet, 32/26

Normally the easiest way to identify the brand is where it's been ridden. If it's Bellingham it's Evil or Transition, Colorado it's a Yeti etc etc. But it's safe to say that the proto isn't coming to market. Full carbon frame in 2023 and we haven't seen it again since? They tested it and for whatever reason didn't continue with that design.