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Honestly it looked like Loic had been crying on the gondola ride down. This has to be so hard for him, and an incredibly difficult decision not to drop in. He waited until the last minute because I am certain he really didn’t know if he would or would not drop in. He saw what Jackson did and said to himself, I cannot match that or get close. I have complete respect for him and he should be able to take all the time he needs to decide, including in the start hut. As for not going to the overall...

With the current VPP system, they can’t get the anti-squat to where they want it, based on the V10 project. The shock can’t be moved forward enough b/c the motor gets in the way. If you look at the current Bronson/Hightower, that is why the shock is mounted further in the frame. They are moving the VPP towards Horst link numbers anyway, so I don’t see too many downsides of the Vala/Bullit moving to a Horst.

Saw this on Pinkbike today Gamux has a new Downhill bike for the AON Racing Team in Lenzerheide. https://www.pinkbike.com/news/spotted-gamux-dh-high-pivot-prototype.html

Unless you bend over and pull yourself far over the bars, use a setforward seatpost, etc. etc., using a longer reach bike is exactly the issue we are talking about balance. No, it will not move the balance forward, it will make the front/back balance even worse. You're not meaningfully moving the weight away from the rear if you keep the chainstay the same, but you are moving the front further away. Imbalance 101. It actually makes more sense to go with a smaller size to improve the balance.

From my experience, level 1 pads makes absolutely no sense, the difference in protection between level 1 and 2 is massive at least for pads I was crashing in or seen people crashing.

This location makes way more sense to me than at the end of the swingarm.

Regardless of what any of our opinions are on the Nine One, I want to say thanks for being so involved in this thread and wanting to communicate clearly and directly. Direct and public communication between customers and the head of a suspension company is nearly unheard of, so it's appreciated! Thanks, Darren.

on the point 4... my best fork to date is an Infinity EN.. dual crown enduro.. with it's flimsy 35mm stanchions still super stiff.. got it last july (2024)... serviced it a month ago...it was flawless..continues to be..

FYI, if anyone else has 1 or more pair of worn out / destroyed Rapha knee pads with their excellent Rheon L2 inserts, I discovered that you can cram them into Fox Enduro Pro (the newer version) in place of the worthless Koroyd inserts those come with. The Fox sleeve feels a little bit more durable, but the Koroyd insert is a joke - no way I'd count on them doing anything for more than light trail riding (definitely not enduro-worthy). I've tried putting the Rapha inserts in Fox Launch Elite sleeves also, and that didn't work as well because...

The non-vpp e bike was in the works years ago. They realized vpp with a shock tunnel, battery and motor basically impossible to get a good frame package (long seat post insertion, water bottle etc)

Posted by noideamtber:

chainstay length itself is also the distance between rear axle and pivot point - this is why the actual length matters so much, that pivot could be infront of the BB or behind it. which has quite a role in anti squat, leverage of the stay etc - it also directly relates to where the BB ends up.

That's nonsense though, and nobody else I've ever talked to considers that word to mean that. There's no way to define that length for a virtual pivot bike in a way that makes sense unless you want...

All suspension designs will become Crab and all tech rumor conversations will become Long Chainstay

One of the reasons I bought a Raaw. Seat tube length and dropper insertion is not great on the Banshee and was worried compared to my Firebird I had previously. After getting used to a 240mm dropper post, there is no coming back. Riding Mount7, BC and all these steep trails around, you really appreciated having the saddle out of the way.

Alway's loved banshee bikes. If they could decrease there seat tube height and increase insertion lengths I bet they would sell a good percentage more. Americas version of Raww

It doesn’t look like it has enough seatpost insertion to be a bike for pedaling.

I am 100% on the Manitou fork cult member list. I have a mezzer pro and in my opinion it is the best non usd fork a person can buy. It always feels composed. Its so easy to adjust I am constantly ride to ride making little changes based on how I'm feeling and what im riding. Smooth jumpy rides, no issue I tweak for that. Going to ride lots of chattery rough terrain, I soften it up and linear out my settings a hair with the IRT. The HBO in a fork can not be understated too. I've taken...

A fan of the lack of a kinked seat tube or a nonsense shock tunnel to enable mega dropper lengths.

Why? Because they consistently make great bikes decade after decade and refuse to sell out? Never got the specialized hate.