hg604

It actually reduces that, as the line of force (gravity) through the saddle now passes closer to the bushings. Should improve durability rather than harming it.

@Fill-Freakin: fair points. I’d love to see a day where the female riders are equally valuable in their marketability and therefore make as much as the men, but not sure how (or if) the industry can ever get to that point. And when there’s so few people getting paid any liveable amount in the first place I also wonder if there’s space in the budget for that total sum of money to be spread any thinner without actually capsizing the entire boat and massively upsetting professional racing as a whole too.

@Fill-Freakin: but even the top 10 are of questionable marketable value relative to their expense (not just their salary but the cost of flying them around the world, the rest of the team, the gear etc), so what is expanding that to even less marketable riders going to achieve?

“While most riders see the viewpoint of a female rider, who is working just as hard as their male competitors but doesn't get paid as much…” Yeah but I could work harder than any of them and I’d still lose every DH race (vs fastest rider of the day) by a minute too. I’m just not wired to be a high level athlete, not sure if it’s genetic or environmental or due to the opportunities I had growing up. Does that mean that I should be able to work my ass off and get paid the same as Loic Bruni just because I tried as hard as him, even though I would never come close to his performance and never sell a single bike? Or is that just not the reason sponsors pay athletes?

@kevinturner12: say you’re a very sexist marketing manager for a bike company, and you realize you can make $20 for every $1 you spend on a woman vs making $20 for every $2 you spend on a man. Aren’t you going to go “hey we should absolutely capitalize on this cheap labor and gain a higher ROI” and hire more women than men? Or could it just be that MTB as a sport is more interesting to men than women? Or that it is dominated by male athletes because their higher absolute levels of performance tend to be more exciting to watch and therefore they tend to sell more stuff?

Hahaha 11/10.

When it enters production for retail sale…?

Having worked for a much bigger brake manufacturer than SRAM, “modulation” generally refers to a sufficiently low force vs lever displacement curve gradient. It seems that a large part of the biomechanical feedback loop is actually related to (relative) motion - if you pull the lever a specific amount harder, your brain seems to be most comfortable (ie confirms the result of your action best) if the lever physically moves a certain distance. If the lever moves too far (lever feel too soft), you lose confidence that it’ll actually stop hard enough, and even a brake with a sufficiently high ratio of stopping force vs lever force can feel weak. If it doesn’t move far enough (lever feel too firm) it can be perceived as very “on/off” and lacking in precision or control resolution (which is objectively untrue but that’s the perception). Exactly how firm or soft you want the lever to feel is the part that varies according to personal preference.

@jjhobbs: the creditors now have an above zero of being repaid, which is more than if they simply shut their doors…

Agreed. Good on them. Hope to see them make strides with frame improvements too and really get back to being a truly premium manufacturer.