lawnchairtd

Seriously! It's weird how hard to find Unior stuff is in the states.

I'm so glad you write for Pinkbike, RC. I feel like the editorial leash is as loose as it's ever been, and to enjoy the breadth of your knowledge and experience in the industry in such a candid way is a real treat. 3mm is not enough, but around and around it goes, our little world. Thanks for another great article.

@mark, i'm home sick from work, and someone needs to keep me off the internet. uugh i wish this would just go below threshold now....

I know you guys have been getting a lot of flak about the price creep that's been happening on this website. Personally, I haven't been getting too worked up, I know how it is to be an industry guy, just riding what the companies give you and passing on your judgement. Besides, bikes are getting pricier these days. However, as I read through another glowing review of a $8k bike that really "does is all", I found myself beginning to see the logic of the pb hivemind. Here's my problem, I hardly see any reason to read any review about an XX1 equipped, $6500 trail monster any more. I know it's rad. I know you'll love it. I know I want it. Add carbon wheels and I know the only complaint you'll be able to rustle up is that the handlebar is under 800mm. And most importantly, I know it doesn't apply to me in the least. I hear you retort, "but the Trigger line starts at $3500, surely the results of our review reflect the entire lineup" No, they don't. There's actually some competition at the $3500 price point. Some brands make better compromises than others, some have more competitive pricing, some are clearly lighter than others, and some are just dogs. Every $6500 full suspension bike available today is awesome. No one has ever gotten off a bike that came stock with carbon wheels without a smile on their face. You're getting ringers here guys. Off the shelf ringers, but ringers none-the-less. Now your thinking, "but lawnchair, we review more modest bikes too." So, for the sake of a informed argument, I ran through the last dozen trail bike reviews review y'all did (I skipped two dh bikes cause they all crazy expensive, and two reviews from china I could really pull much data out of), and did some real informal data collection. Of the last twelve bikes, 7 had XX1. 4 had carbon wheels (including the one hardtail, btw). The ten that came complete have an average price of $6533. One bike was under $3k. Matter of fact, one bike was under $4600....

I only clicked through cos I was curious how many folks here checked the "in the bike industry" option. Perhaps the buying habits of the guys working at the bike shop are of less interest to pb.

Past me was a dick. He was selfish, and I suffer for it everyday. I'm not looking to screw over future me anymore, so I pad up when I'm getting crazy, so I can keep getting crazy.

I had Treks lead tire designer in the shop the other day, and I picked his brain real good. In his words, they listed a benchmark tire in each category, and set out to beat it. Obviously, a few of their tires look similar to other stuff out there. He said that they looked at the modifications that the DH team was doing to the Minions they were using, and tried to mimic a cut tire out of the box. Stop getting hung up on width. These tires measure to the size listed on the sidewall. Maxxis is notoriously optimistic with their measurements, and their 2.5 measure out much closer to 2.35, which is why Bonty chose 2.35 actual as their first size.