ehvahn

Hey GoPro. For future reference, minus is good, plus is bad. In every timed sport in existence. Since forever. Anyway...

@bkm303: This is my same thought. I've rode Crabapple, I've rode all sorts of nutso stuff. Guess what my biggest scare was? Failing to unclip on a climb with exposure. He wouldn't be making the same argument if that was what was on film I offered this too - Scotty Cranmer. Mental rider, but his life changed not on a 45ft transfer, but due to a pothole. Worlds dangerous. He's 10, he knows riding carries risk (you don't get this good without getting bit a few times). So limit him, or don't, but it's illogical to limit him purely on the basis of a lack of understanding of risk, not only because the gauge is an illogical fallacy, but because everything is dangerous.

I see your argument, and I raise. How is this any different than football. You can die in football, and you can get serious lifelong injuries in football as well. How is this any different than what I was doing as a kid on my bike? I was breaking bones, getting stitches, all sorts of stuff. How is this any different than when this kid climbs in the family van? How is this any different than any youth racing downhill? Or racing moto? I could slip a step leaving my house and die. I could die at anytime doing anything. Scotty Cranmer made a name for himself doing some of the most insane transfers on the planet, he got injured over what amounts to a pothole. Life is inherently risky. I'm sure he understands the risks. You don't get to the point you're throwing backflips on dirt merch without bailing quite a bit. His inspiration is Zink. The man is basically the terminator with how much metal he has in his body. I bet he knows that too. Here's my point. Life carries risk. That risk may be amplified in certain activities or by certain choices. His riding is far superior to many kids, but I argue that it doesn't really increase risk that much compared to just cycling in general. Unless his father wants to completely shelter him, this is just part of life, of football, of bmx, of motox, of anything. At the speed he is riding, the risks are not amplified. They just aren't. Most riders I'm aware of that have had a life or death situation occur had it happen doing low level riding. I just can't agree, and there isn't a great way to sum this up except to say the world is sharp, so you either stay inside and let it find you anyway, or you go out, you get cut, and you keep on moving until you get cut again.

Hell no, I snapped 7 axles on the OG hydra. That's what is important

Buy SR Suntour. Basically the same weight and Ohlins, presumably, still uses their dampers. (They won't respond to emails, comments etc. and I've completely lost faith in their product). There is a reason the Big S used them for one season. Hot, expensive, heavy garbage.

Entry level forks are always slept on. Fox and rockshox make an excellent product from the ground up. Low-speed compression can be nice to have, but in the past I've preferred the performance of my entry level rhythm damper over my Grip2's. I've only ever ridden Rockshox Ultimate forks, but even then I just run +1 click of highspeed and +2 clicks of low speed with fairly neutral rebound. TL:DR, base model high end forks are probably more than enough for anyone who doesn't travel a ton and is just looking for a good ride.

As an engineer - never really understood center lock. As a bike mechanic - it's pretty tight.

I've had my shimano shoes for 7 years and plan on buying more in the future. SRAM has them beat on many items, but the shoes, shimano FTW!

Really not a fan of the matchmaker clamps, hope SRAM updates these in the next gen. They slip around on most carbon bars, make it impressively easy to scratch the paint, and have very obvious pressure points. As much as I am a sram simp I hope the opt for something more like i-spec in the future.

Listen. I know it seems like everyone on pinkbike is into 27.5, but lets get real here: if the demand for 27.5 bikes was there, they would still make them widely available and bike shops would still stock them. But the demand really isn't there, despite what you all may think based on your pb market research. So, if you want them back, call your senator... or I mean like, just go buy one that is available; they are out there being made still.