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Exactly. Neko's whole MO was "let's show the entire process of bike development" where Zink's was "announce I'm starting a frame company, and it's all secret and exclusive". Zink's methods aren't exactly bad, exclusivity and mystery can drive interest really well, but Neko's openness really resonated with the bike community.

What Neko is doing is not comparable to what Zink is “doing”. Neko has been open from conception whereas Zink has just turned up with a frame. I’d wager most would buy a Frameworks if they could. A Zink, I’m not so sure… The dude can FreeSlope with the best, but “design” a bike…

I'm not sure why anyone would be chomping at the bit so much that they HAD to be first on the order books to pay full price for a frame from a brand new company who: 1. has no reason to be instilled with consumer confidence or trust other than marketing and a solid spokesperson/owner (i.e. limited info out there on the bike, no reviews, no history of other platforms, no history of customer relations, etc); and 2. has no real bespoke or novel tech, particularly progressive geometry, or other reason to try this before everyone else other than "Look...

I agree the T4 V4 lever feel takes some adjustment esp coming from brakes with normal levels of feedback, I nearly ate handlebar the first time I ran them because I was feeling for that engagement point. I gather the E4s have more lever feedback and feel more like a traditional mtb brake, but I haven't tried them personally, just what I've heard

Not super heavy, only race enduro recreationally, Mavens are my favorite brakes. Had Saints, Saint/XT Combo and Curas on my own bikes, have tried Maguras, Codes and Hopes on other bikes. Mavens are the first brake where I feel like I don’t need more power out of it and the modulation is still there. I found that I need to think about braking a lot less. Lever force is only a problem at the beginning of the stroke, once you reach the bite point it’s completely fine and unless you have weak hands shouldn’t be a problem for any decently...

Sure everyone has preferences, but aren't you letting your own biases lead you to disregard his reviews as flawed or invalid? The mavens do have a very heavy pull compared to other brakes on the market, Shimano, Hayes, maguras, other srams, and if you are not an amazing or experienced rider, you are going to drag your brakes far more. Heavy pull and brake dragging leads to hand fatigue and arm pump. That can be corrected with different braking technique, but one that is more suited to racing, braking late and hard only when you need to. But the majority...

i still believe mavens are for a small amount of people, racers that go all out and heavy people especially on ebikes, i can't wait to spend some time on them if i get the chance but the feel is not good at all imo, between the hard to pull sram style lever and the lack of proper modulation to handle that amount of power.

Loam Wolf? I'd disagree, even this "review" aside. They released a video maybe a year or two ago about how you should peel the wiper seal back on your fork and insert chain oil into it. You read that right, chain oil, into a suspension fork. They got called out in the IG comments for how dumb it was, several suspension shops commented saying the same thing, and LW repeatedly defended it, claiming DVO told them it was a good idea. Even the RockShox IG account was throwing shade at it in the comments and Loam Wolf continually argued it...

Congratulations on releasing a Spectral, Cam! :D

Are there any reviews out for the Forbidden Supernought yet? It was released end of last year, yet I haven't seen any of the major outlets do a review yet.

One problem with your conclusion. If air remains in the caliper, the bite point won't change the way they were experiencing it. Air in a caliper will result in a consistently softer feel with more lever throw until the air migrates up the system and (hopefully) into the reservoir. Then the brake will firm up, but it should not result in the near zero dead stroke that they were getting. That looks to be either a seal roll issue (pistons unable to retract fast enough so more fluid enters the system from the reservoir) or a port blocking issue where...

https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/nerding-out-brakes-shall-we-not-ano…

You clearly haven’t ridden them. The only brake that might outperform them is the Maxima. Way more power than my Tech 4 V4s or the MT7s I had before.

the Sram response to this is: once the brake is assembled before it reaches the customer it could take more than a year, therefore it does need that piston massage as it's been sitting for too long. that's what they told me when i asked that question

Every Hope brake I’ve owned has been a straight forward fit. I’ve never needed to and have not known anyone else need to do any extra abnormal steps during setup (unless a mistake was made)

The bike industry is full of things that scream poor design and manufacturing. It's far from a SRAM specific problem.

Exactly right. Popping the piston out during the piston massage basically proves they're not paying attention to the correct setup procedure and invalidates their review. 1/6 working correctly is an insane stat and would be costing SRAM millions if this was playing out across all customers. Clearly it isn't, which unfortunately points the finger back at the guys reviewing them.

I'm sorry, but all of their issues do make them sound exactly like rubes. Managing to pop out a piston while doing piston massage? If you're doing what you're supposed to (leave pads in, insert thin side of pad spacer, advance pistons until pads hit the spacer, hold, flip the pad spacer to use thick side to force them back, repeat), that's not even physically possible. Like, there's not enough space for the piston to come out. The problem with a lot of reviewers and even bike shop mechanics is that they assume that because something looks similar to something...