jerrytek

@bsavery: I agree with your points, but its even closer than the numbers you posted. These costs are retail. The new Zeb Ultimate retails for $1,159 USD. A Super Deluxe Ultimate shock retails for $599. So the analog versions of the same stuff would retail for $1,758. Just like the figures you posted for actual costs right now, those will go down as the stuff gets less 'brand new'. Thus, the markup for the fancy tech plus extra parts (sensor, batteries, charger, etc) is about $1000. It's expensive, but as you mentioned I don't know what everyone here expected? All those sensors and wirelessness cost money. Based on the comments, it seems like many of the posts here are just people who didn't bother to read the article and just really wanted to regurgitate the dentist BS.

@toooldtodieyoung: Your comments are spot on. Additional mitigating circumstances: that debacle happened when they were a brand new company. They've been working with a new manufacturer for a decade, and those issues are pretty clearly in the rearview. That context is important. I was worried about this myself when I was considering purchasing an Evil a few years ago. I talked to people at a shop that sells a lot of high end bikes (Evil, Transition, Ibis, Forbidden, Revel, Specialized) about Evil's track record. They told me that they didn't have an aberrant number of warranty claims and that the company stood behind their products. I'm on my third Evil now, and haven't broken one. I don't tend to ride bikes past their intended purpose, but I do weight 230 lbs and ride often. Nothing bad to say whatsoever.

"Most of you are on a bike with reach that's too long and chainstays that are too short." This is operating on the assumption that everyone wants similar bikes, and any deviation from that is an error. There is (and should be) significant space for personal preference. If that works for you, great. But its also fine for different people to like different bikes.

@NoahJ: My point was that I can appreciate bikes with different geometry and different ride feel. I find that Evil bikes are at one end of the continuum. But I also like more stable bikes as well.

Seconded. I like bikes with longer stays, because they feel more 'jibby' (since many get persnickety about the use of the terms 'lively' or 'poppy', perhaps this works better). I've always liked Evil bikes because they definitely have this ride feel. Shorter stays contribute to that feel. I also like longer and more stable bikes. They feel more stable and composed, and tend to corner and carry speed better. The one thing I think we need to get away from is the notion that any specific geometry is inherently better.

Why? The Union rims are consistent with the intended use. However, I have no idea what "Convergence Wheel Set" refers to. Presumably a new wheelset that hasn't been released yet?

Although they haven't discontinued it, the Reverb AXS has essentially supplanted it. I imagine that SRAM doesn't want to only have a super expensive post, and also doesn't want to adopt the same basic cartridge design of most other budget posts on the market. I haven't tried the current Reverb AXS yet, but its a few tweaks away from being ideal. Not having cables is huge. It's apparently smooth and has the bleed port if necessary. If RS can poach a few features from the One Up dropper - a 200 mil option, limit the insertion depth, and make it shimable - it would be worth the cost. That's a lot of ask, through.