Amukinado

@bodhibruh: Small bike shops usually don't have easy access to huge chunks of money to keep their businesses afloat if things don't go according to plan. Our resources are limited and we need to make choices. So usually it's either brand A or brand B. If I chose brand A and the brand does not deliver, brand B is only going to be able to provide me with product next year. And this could mean thousands in losses. The bike industry is several times more complex than most people seem to grasp. That's why we are seeing the Accel group failing, SIGNA failed, Kona was repurchased from Kent Outdoors by Dan and Jake, YT, Stanton, Pole, Revel (and some others) were close to failing but managed to stay alive.

@bodhibruh: When brands don't have their sh*t together, they can ruin bike shops. Imagine that you order some bikes and they get delayed several months and come in more expensive. Are you going to upcharge your customers on a bike that is super late? Or that you are working with a specific demographic and in 2 years the brand raises their prices between 30 and 40%. I also had an issue with Santa Cruz when they failed to deliver 17 bikes (10 were already sold). I had nothing to sell during that year. So yeah, I am not being dramatic.

Kona was one of my favourite brands growing up. Several years later, I became a Kona dealer and oh boy, was I thrilled about that! Then that exact same year they decided it was a smart move to position their prices to be more expensive than Santa Cruz and started releasing ebikes that were 2 years behind. I had to drop this brand and look elsewhere before they destroyed my life as a LBS owner. They still make some dope bikes but it's sad how they are clueless about what direction to take. This is just another bike that came 2 years too late, too expensive and looking too weird. It's sad.

Have you seen the Moterra LT?

Tenho aqui várias ebikes para te vender. Quando me vens visitar?

Does this one require a normal bike travel bag ?

@djjohnr: To be honest I would not recommend to anyone who wants to ride bikes regularly owning just one ebike. Ebikes are way more prone to having issues that you cannot fix in a couple of days than normal bikes. Waiting a month for a new drive unit or battery is very common accross all brands. Take some time to think about all of the logistics involved: -Your LBS needs easily 2-3 hours to take care of the process (submitting the claim, uploading evidence and documents, disassembling the unit, cleaning the unit - because everyone delivers the bikes fully covered in mud and dust - and packing it up). This is something that they need to add to their sometimes already overbooked schedules. 3-4 days gone plus another 1 or 2 days that the brand takes to respond. -Couriers usually take 1-2 days to pick the package up and take another 2 to 6 days to ship it to the brand, depending on location. -The part arrives at the brand and they need to assess it. This could take from 1 day to 10 days, depending on the load of work that they have at that given moment. If they have stock, they can ship it straight away. If they don't (because stock is not infinite) then you need to wait a bit more). -Let's assume they had the part in stock and they ship it straight away. Another 2 to 6 days. -Then the bike shop needs another 2-3 days to reasemble it and proper test it. Add this up and absolute best scenario you are looking at 10 days wait. But it easily gets to 20-30 days because there are a lot of parties involved.

These bikes do look funkier than usual, which is just a natural consequence to this system's design. Having said so, I can see a lot of advantages that make RM keep investing on this platform. For once, the engine is just pulling the chain: there are no riding forces being applied to the bottom bracket, which make most engines last only a couple of years when being riden hard. It is also way less prone to water ingression. The looks department is indeed a con for the system, but I can see them eventually evolving into a smaller unit that is way more discreet. Having said all that, this is a bike that excites me because the brand is actually doing something different.

@bizinsider: I am just throwing around some wild guesses as I don't know what's going on inside SC engineers' heads. Also it's not certain whether this is a final production model. And there is also remote lock outs for people that don't want to spend their life savings on wireless technology. Or maybe they are moving away from lower speced bikes and they are selling more and more ebikes. Like I said: wild guesses.

It's just the brand's answer to the new upcoming shock technology. Modern times require modern solutions. Doesn't really matter what they've been doing for 30 years if the future is in a different direction.