felimocl

Do people actually buy E13? I've never heard of anyone having reliable success with their products. I remeber a few years ago there was a generation of cranks that simply could not be removed. We would take an angle grinder to the crank, install a shimano bb and crank and give the butchered crank to the customer so they could file a warranty claim. I seem to remeber YT specced Capra's with them ~2015 when everybody's dog rode them.

Remember 2014 and 2015 before the 27.5 lyrik/fox 36 came out? The pike was enduro fork of choice! I'm still convinced that the pike was one of the best products ever hit the market. It worked extremely well, new wheels size, reasonable weight and easily serviceable. Fox still had the 36 van 26 at the time, which was a boat anchor, the lyrik was still 26. Most other brands didn't have a suspension fork that worked in production at the time Everything since than has been gradual sight improvements

Interestingly, this was already done on track bikes. As track riders always race anti-clockwise, swapping the drivetrain from the right side to left flips the side of aerodynamic drag to actually improve lefthand cornering.

I think people are overlooking that Rachel Atherton has won 35 world cup races and 4 time world champion. Greg minnar has won 22(?) Races and 3 world champs. Not taking away that he is undoubtedly one of the finest athletes the sport has produced and has maintained a highly competitive level of performance for remarkably long career in any sport, but it's still quite some way off Rachel Atherons success.

For me, 2014-2017 was peek advancement in mtb. New larger wheels became commonplace, rockshox released the charger rct3 dampened pike (fox was way behind with heavy ass ctd/talas), 1x became a standard, dropper seatposts became user friendly and the norm, geometry was completely overhauled and so were components sizes (stems shorter, bars wider), thru axles were introduced, brakes massively improved and the list goes on. Bike today are undoubtedly better, but the changes are just gradual minor improvements, not new developments.

I was convinced that wera screwdrivers were the future. Then I realised that I only use cheap ass slotted screwdrivers as a thing to hit with a hammer and to fix broken toilets in budget hotels on the road. Tips from a pro mechanic.

@nismo325: I have a case that allows me to store and acces everything extremely quickly. Its a simialar set up to any tradesperson, in fact ive never seen another tool orientated profession that has so much show and glam to it than mtb mechanics. If you look at any pro mechanic, we all use the same equipment because it works. I build race bikes and do race mechanicing in the back of the convey with all the same equipment. Having your snips buried under 3 layers of foam with 5 spare wheels on tip is totally inaccessible. You do not need more tools for a mountain bike. Pivots and shocks are just fitted with bolts. All race bicycles use roughly the same tools for building or maintaining. The most precise tools available are a hammer and a trained eye, and the hammer does not have to be made of titanium to do so. Funnily enough, it's the junkers that people here will laugh about that require the most intricate care and tools for. Ever tried pulling apart a nexus hub? Facing a cheap ass flat mount frame? Rebuilding a STI? If I were sloppy, I wouldn't maintain 150k worth of bikes daily, send bikes to the Olympics and world champs or win Paris Roubaix

I find it interesting that the mtb mechanics put so effort into the tool boxes. I work as a pro road mechanic where we practically live out out of suit and tool cases. Nobody uses a cut out case, most of us use electrian cases with everything chucked in in a rough arrangement. Same goes for tools, lots of fairly rudimentary and basic tools as opposed to the abbey/pb swiss/wera set ups mtb mechanics use. When someone shows up with a cut out case they usually get the same look as an apprentice with a full kit of milwaukee tools

Well that's one way to guarantee a race run when the janky nevis range gondola breaks down....