tom666

@trippleacht: :lol:

So many of the key skills of mountain biking are best learned on a pumptrack

"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should"

There's 445mm and 455mm reach options. Impossible to please some people lmao

@browner: We have a concept in Europe of doing something "at your own risk"... "is this safe" Chatel bikepark: "no, lol"

Video of the hope stem being made: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db-GMq3MiPc/?igsh=MWhva2c3eGdtNGY0dQ== It actually seems pretty good value after you watch the video. So much CNC time. Once somebody starts forging stems in this design you'll be able to pick something up for like $40-50 not $150 Forging is absolutely the best way to make good stem for cheap. Full CNC is always going to be an expensive stem

It's unbelievable spec for the money. I wonder if the frame is any good. Almost nobody can do an aluminium bike for that price, much less a carbon bike. I don't trust any product management or engineering team that put the cables through the headset though, so I don't have much faith, haha

@R-M-R: You're totally right about Western Brands doing less and less of the work and the power shifting. However, in fairness, a lot of bike brands still have their own product management, 3D design and engineering functions. That hasn't gone to Asia for all brands. Most of the strongest brands have kept that in-house. A few places still assemble and paint in house too - you can watch good factory tour videos for Orbea and BCF (Ridley, Nukeproof). I believe Devinci have a lot of operations in Canada? In my experience, Asian companies struggle with marketing, branding, customer experience, market knowledge and quickly following the trends etc. Unless they have boots on the ground in Western countries (and are actually willing to listen to those boots on the ground) all the decisions get made by somebody in Asia who doesn't ride (and if they do ride it's road), so they don't really understand the customers. Western brands are still holding enough of the cards for now... Most of them are still around one way or another. Polygon are cool though, they make great bikes for great prices and their facilities look great. I think they do have good boots on the ground and they sponsor a lot of great riders. For an Asian brand I would say they are very in touch with the western consumer. Most are not.