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I think we're entering into a new pricing scheme in mtb. And it's happening because human brains are so dumb. Bikes are going to - over time - be priced higher and higher and higher and higher until ebikes and meatbikes (my favorite term for non-e-bikes) are almost the same price. Then mtb riders will start looking at ebikes more as a "why WOULDN'T I just get the ebike?" sort of way. Normalizing the higher meatbike price while directing more people to ebikes. All the while, the mtb industry is Hobby Lobbying the shit out of their prices. All the...

anyone shared this yet? not exactly a secret, but this is the most official thing i've seen outside of his IG https://www.bikemag.com/news/chris-canfield-launches-vampire-bikes

There's pretty obviously no point to running this and an O-chain simultaneously... Two ways to skin the same cat. Cool tech and a creative solution. I can't help but feel that an O-chain is still easier to add to an existing bike, but if I was already looking for new wheels for a descent focused bike, or perhaps building something frame up, this would be a good solution. It's worth mentioning that O-chain is horrifically overpriced for what it is (I assume because the volume remains very low) so perhaps competition will help drive prices downwards?

We're excited to hear what the Robot overlords think. Back to back testing with wheel swaps is certainly the way to go. To comment on the single pawl on the pusher and concerns with torque/loading: that pawl never actually carries any drivetrain loads, it only acts to engage the 3 traditional pawls on the freehub, so those are actually the items carrying the drive loads.

so this week i had the chance to put the rear wheel that jason used in the test on my 130mm trail bike (dual 27.5 vitus...basic 4-bar carbon bike). i normally run an onyx out back, so from instant engagement, to 18 degrees of slack. tires were exactly the same, rims both carbon (diff brand), but my normal cassette is 10-50t X vs the gx DH cassette on the test wheel. i weighed the wheels and the weights were within an ounce of each other (e13 hub weight made up for lack of cassette weight, i guess). i did back-to-back...

I'm curious how the mechanism differs from Tairin's current hubs.

Stumpy alloy is massively heavier. Thats a bummer. Was hoping it would be a 1lb weight penalty, but looks to be almost 4lbs! S4 carbon weight = 6lb 4oz, where S4 allow = 9lbs 8oz.

I had a concussion earlier this year and I love the idea of a bike that's so linear they had to make a special air shock being sold with a coil in the top spec.

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Racing Talk 🙏🏽

0-100mm of travel for XC... meanwhile, among current XC bikes, the Scott Spark, Specialized Epic, and Cannondale Scalpel are all 120mm rear travel. WBD/UCI apparently don't even know what people are currently riding in the disciplines they're trying to standardize.

Ha, literally staring at my full cart right now. Been on a Kavenz for 4 seasons, now that the Smartshift Pinion is available I think I’m finally ready to pull the trigger on a gearbox bike.

New Kavenz VHP G2 pre-order just opened for email subscribers. Looks like you can choose any of their rear travel options and it uses the same interchangeable rear dropouts. Also, has a pinion smart shift option

No notes. This chapter in your upcoming book is ready to print.

I agree with every point you made, when I first got into mountain biking the chore of finding a spare hanger was way to complicated and also the fact they were like $40 is insane for a simple CNCd piece. The Universal hanger was an actual awesome idea and the way it mounts is great and no matter where you are a bike shop will have one in stock. Then for some reason when Transmission came out it was like everyone was secretly hating having to mount your derailleur to a second piece instead of directly to the frame?

Transmission, it's weaknesses, and "solutions" for those weaknesses all seem kind of insane to me. Hey we have this little uvula looking thing on the back of frames which the derailleur attaches to. Usually, derailleurs aren't that expensive these days but just in case, it's meant to bend instead of allowing the derailleur to break. Because our frame is made of steel, we can usually just bend it back for free! How nice! Since we moved on to alloy/carbon, we had to make the hanger its own item. We went with aluminum alloy so it's stiff and light, but if...

What about the Syndicate? The new corporate overlords must be asking questions when the only results they’ve had this year are from Ollie Davis who I’d bet is on a significantly lower salary than the rest of the team. Laurie’s had an unlucky run lately but I could see him moving over to intense factory with Olly Morris whenever his contract is up. Could the syndicate be after a second big hitter to keep the show on the road if Jackson gets injured again? Reese Wilson or Kolb would be a great fit IMO.