monkeynaut

It would actually be really good if more people knew about the KHS XXL bikes past their long headtubes. There are no other stock options available for anyone over 6'5" and the 747 Road and BNT MTB are about the only 'affordable' offerings before things hit custom builders like DirtySixer, Zinn (who designed the KHS) or Nicolai. While there are certain compromises on many XS bikes, there are at least good performance options. The world of MTB for the very tall is a grim place indeed. I saw what my 6' 10" friend's local shop did to stuff him onto a stock XL just to sell a bike, and it made me want to go kick everyone there in the junk. Tall folk deserve better.

This has been done on a number of custom bikepacking bikes and is a good solution except that it is very time consuming to add to a build, and requires a completely new frame or hundreds of dollars in labor if the tube fails.

Aero gains really kick in around the 20mph mark, so yeah, DH would benefit the most from a top speed perspective. However, given the length of XC races, it wouldn't hurt to add some aero improvements in to gain a little free speed. Plus, if you reduce the bulk of the main triangle you can gain a little bonus in strong crosswinds. Still, drivetrain efficiency, wheel bearing optimization, and tire choice probably have a bigger effect on XC than aero performance.

I like that every few years somebody reinvents the Azonic Hammer stem in increasingly nice fit and finishes.

I'll bet real money that those pedals will be on a non-insignificant number of Super 73's in SoCal in pretty short order. Alternate the colors in the laminate layers to make them look like they're made from skateboards, and you'll sell even more.

One of the best things they can do, which is finally starting to take hold with major brands, is to lean in on taking advantage of manufacturing at scale and stop doing model years. Molds, fixtures, safety testing and certifications, and worker training are all huge expenses and few people will meaningfully benefit from another 2mm of BB drop or a half degree slacker HA just to debut a new frame. You can definitely keep updating the highest end of things to use early adopters as guinea pigs for what will trickle down, but the majority of your line can remain more static with little impact. The ski and snowboard industry are experts at this and run 3-5 year product cycles that work very well for the majority of users. Slap a different graphic and color on it, update the spec as needed, and you've got a good chunk of time to go focus on the next, actually measurable change. Hell, Burton ran the same baseplates on their bindings for like a decade and just kept popping on different straps and highbacks as needed. That's a lot of money saved on their end.

Ibis are my gold standard for documentation and communication to riders. Other brands give shops the same access to info, but hide it away in dealer manuals. Ibis trust the riders enough to give them all the info the should have, for them to use as they will.

Reading the 3 and 4 star reviews of any shop can be illuminating. Those usually contain the most nuance, rather than simply effusive praise or spleen venting. Also, if there's a lot of long 5 five star reviews, like multi-paragraphs, that's usually a good sign.

Nah, if it's a good enough shop there's still benefits. A full blind-bearing puller set, and bearing press set, to service linkages is not cheap, nor are the various specific tools for any suspension service that goes beyond wipers and seals. Also, shops give you time to do other stuff you need to do that isn't working on your bike. For people with kids, long hours at work, or more, that's pretty significant. Just because you can, doesn't mean you want to. Even chefs still go out to dinner.

This is the way. The numbers don't sort for bikes much below 2.5k (I've checked), but there's a real place for boutique shops that go hard in on fitting and service. The problem right now is finding affordable commercial real estate close enough to a major client base that you can stay in business when the weather turns gross. I love cycling in pretty much all its forms (sorry, triathletes) and it's a bummer that a shop model like this excludes lower-income folk (like me!) but I think it's one of the best ways forward as margins continue to tighten. If you're near enough to an area with good infrastructure, you could even build in a high-end family bike business if you're feeling adventurous. Lotta per-hour labor bucks to be had on bakfeits, cargo bikes and other weirdness.