big-red

"The leap between 2010 and 2017 was much bigger than 2017 to now." So true. Going from my 2016 bike with a slightly-dated-but-current-enough design to a newly-designed bike from a progressive company in 2019 was a HUGE change, but that 2019 bike is still essentially current in 2024 despite now being a generation out of date.

Yup, when it comes to engagement points and trail riding, 36 is a pretty magic number. I used to always have decent hubs around there, then ended up with a bike with 18poe. I had so many failed attempts at ratcheting up tech that I was ready to trash the wheels, but then they trashed themselves anyway so I got a set of wheels with XT hubs and 36poe. I was perfectly happy. Since then I've replaced that bike and the new ride came with Hope Pro 4s (44poe) and later replaced those wheels for unrelated reasons with hope pro 5s (108poe). The jump from 36 to 44 was unnoticeable and I have no complaints about either hub. The jump to 108 from 44 was somewhat noticeable but had little impact on my riding. I even dabbled in trials in my 20s where poe really does make a difference and haven't found that the 36 or 44 poe hubs ever held me back from the parking lot tricks I can still do from back then.

The way I'm reading it from the new damper being "baked into the fork" and the fact that they're selling the new damper as an upgrade option for lower end OEM Psylos and Domains is that the Charger won't fit. Hope to be wrong as I'm sure the upgrade option would be pretty useful for some.

I maintain that, though yetis have sometimes been pricy, half of their $$$ reputation is simply because they only do higher-end frames and builds. Specialized and Trek actually charge pretty similar prices for the equivalent bikes/builds, but have lower-priced options as well as a full catalogue of more affordable bike models that makes them seem more accessible.

@malca: That makes a lot more sense. To clarify though, you mean when the brake is locked to the degree that the wheel is skidding or stuttering, right?

@gunslingger: It's not that simple though. On a low-POE hub - let's say 36 POE for example - you could have anywhere from 0-10 degrees of float before the hub's engagement pushes on the chain. With an Ochain, you always have at least as much float as the setting of the o-chain. So if you set it to 9deg, then you have between 9 and 19 deg, meaning there's always some relief. In that sense, a high POE hub plus an ochain actually offers a different experience than a low POE hub. All that being said, I still don't get the ochain. If you're rolling forward at a reasonable clip, the forward rotation of the hub should keep up with the forward movement of the cassette during compressions in most situations. I have a Hope Pro 5 with 108POE and I can tell when I bounce on my bike in the parking lot with the brakes locked, but once I'm rolling on the trail, I can't feel any chain feedback to the pedals. In fairness though, I've never tried an Ochain, and there are people out there that swear by them to a degree that seems to be more than just a placebo effect. So maybe there's more to it. IDK. I LOVE high-engagement hubs for their ratcheting abilities on techy climbs.

@norcalbike, you're not seeing the big picture here. This is a paradigm shift. They did some brainstorming and generated some synergies to move them to a new plateau. The idea grew organically. Originally, they put a pin in it, but now they've circled back and are ready to start their next chapter.

@speed10: I started having this problem after a couple of years with the pump. The 'proper' solution is probably to get a new set of the seals/gaskets from oneup. My solution was to keep a strip of electrical tape wrapped around the point where the pump grip meets the little rubber seal. Even if you have to undo it on a ride to use the pump, it will go back on after with enough residual stickiness to keep the pump together for the rest of the ride (and a few more rides if you forget to change the tape after like I did). As a bonus, you have a bit of emergency electrical tape for trailside MacGyver repairs.