Varaxis

#48 I love seeing the crumple zone action

I had a flashback to Gee Atherton's ridgeline crash, seeing ass -> rear wheel

I rode a Haibike at a demo and experienced it accelerate on a compression, due to pedal kickback and my feet staying level. It used one of those old Bosch motors with the tiny chainring in 2017ish. I suspected this was a thing when I rode an Evil Following and it accelerated in the rough, but made my knees ache after long pedal days.

First priority: grip. I don't trust the reliability of grip of any pins other than the set screw kind. The hole on top and threads seem to allow crud to be displaced in case I hiked through slop, like some water crossing. Second priority: smooth and quiet. I don't want the my shoes to squeak on any exposed axle. That'd drive me nuts. I suspect some dirt jumper pedals purposely have drag, to keep them from spinning with foot off pedal when doing tricks or whatever, but actually don't mind too much as long as it's smooth. Third: stability. I don't want my foot hanging half off the pedal. I don't want it collapsing forward either. Pedals that have pins offset forward, relative to the axle, are kinda pushing it for my mid foot position. I know this is like 90% of mtb flats, and 100% for feet hanging off the outboard side. I cope with pedal extenders for my outward angled feet.

Love seeing the weirdoes not even matching left and right side. Yea, socks and gloves aren't a big deal, but itd be amusing seeing grips, brake levers, shoes, pedals, etc. differ on each side.

Had an Evil Following v1 and it had so much kickback that my knees were aching from the unneccessary shock. I think it had so much that just holding the pedals level made it accelerate on compressions. I had tried emtbs that actually kicked back so much that the motor tried to engage its assist from the kickback.

Peace of mind is priceless. For example, I thought I could just lay my bike on the ground on its NDS, but there are times when people walking around gather spots and it becomes a tripping hazard, esp if people want to take pics. Leaning the top tube against something seems preferable over just the grips or saddle, in case it moves. The wrap handles the abrasion better. I have an alum framed bike (not wrapped) and lock it up with a chain often, since I use it as a commuter. There are times when there's a pole atop a fat concrete base, which are like 0 grit sandpaper. Do I look for another spot to lock up my bike or take it? I take it if there's not any other alternative in sight, and the paint suffers. For some, it's sad to look at. These wraps look better than the frame protectors others get, like helicopter tape or whatever. Those are super thick and add a cloudy contrast, and sometimes even have creases still in them from the tape being sold folded up.

@ReformedRoadie: Hope they just keep on making these dialed trail bikes, rather than compromising just to put some novel tech out. The ride handling physics being their priority is like their signature. I know when I see Yeti, I imagine the equivalent of race-track-proven hypercar. Feels like they're made for rockstars who partner up with supermodels (at the peak of their life). A Yeti isn't something I'd take home, personally. I'd look for something with better ownership experience. Less fuss keeping it maintained and beautiful, less babying it... I also appreciate when extra development focus is spared for some NVH optimization--if something has to make noise, tune it to make it sound good.

And here I thought the cycle of going through mediocre designs before finding the peak would be shortened, due to the target market being a bit more open-minded. 29ers were niche in the mid to late 2000s, being mostly an American curiousity ridden on less technical stuff. Early 2010s had XC racers convinced, but it wasn't until the late 2010s that the gravity side saw 29ers on the top step of the podium. The early 29ers had issues borne from just fitting the wheels while trying to keep everything else roughly the same, so the longer CS lengths weren't compensated for until enduro bikes pushed the front out considerably. The Yeti SB150, released in 2018, was one of the first examples of peak 29er, IMO.

Need an innovative design that allows modication of the BB location, like the Ride-9 system maybe, as opposed to EBB. The frame doesn't need to meett at the BB. Can make it so the downtube flows into the chainstays like a moto frame, cradling the BB area from underneath.