valleybreezer

Strength means the axle and the pedal platform won't bend or break under reasonable conditions. Durability means beraings and dust seals won't wear out easily, and the pedal platform won't get sanded down easily. My priorities are about failure modes. 1) If a pedal is going to break, forget it. 2) If it won't hold my foot in place, then no. 3) If I can't move my foot around on it, that could be uncomfortable, or hard on my knees, so nope.

@Mike-Rogge: The F is for Fahrenheit, a Polish man who moved to Holland and then Germany before the American states united. So it's OK to honor the man and his origins on a different continent, just as any honorable person from any continent deserves. Or you can put ketchup on everything such as freedom fries and measure your whatever in freedom units. Your choice.

Beware the hungry PB greenworm

This is a variator like I had on an old moped. Like the incomparable (old style) Nissan Murano. Like the Subaru Forester. Variator bad. eCVT good.

@dirtyburger: I agree. I didn't call this science. I was just pointing out the existence of science. This is my advertisement for observing the obvious, instead of making believe that everything new is bad, every demo is for fooling people, every company exists to sell expensive things that nobody needs. You're welcome.

@tripleultrasuperboostplusplus: I Agree. Snake oil is the name for a non-product plus a sales pitch. And just another product doesn't mean a *good* product. However, certain new products do improve on existing ones. I trust Cathro, and his demo shows why the pads are likely to be more comfortable and effective than most. Yeah, I get that everybody has been cheated and lied to by companies that pump out bad products at high prices, so it's easy to shoot down anything that sounds new but probably isn't. Commenters can feel free to steam and stew about it. Meanwhile, there are truly inventors and manufacturers who are determined to deliver real improvements, so it's good to leave room for that possibility, however slim.

Initial comments are mostly so bitter, from riders who are stuck on their existing brands. Duh, nature is the way things work, science is the evolving human understanding of that, and technology is the application of that understanding. What, do you want nature, science, and technology to stand still, while you bathe in pride because you already picked a different brand? Personally, I could use some new knee pads, and if I can afford them, these are the ones I'll try first. I'm not saying they're the best, I'm saying Cathro has made the advantages of these particular knee pads obvious, and I don't want to mess around. I'm a fan of continuous improvement, which is always a theme in Ben's videos.

This is the coolest.

@clamps81: Someone else could answer this better than I can. In the U.S., some trails are overseen by the U.S. Forest Service (federal government, meaning national). Others are on state land (provincial). Others are governed by local entities such as county government, city government, or local IMBA chapter. Many trails are shared by (in descending right-of-way) equestrians (horse riders), hikers, and mountain bikers. There are many types of terrain, and some get eroded more easily than others. In the U.S., national laws require 3 e-bike designations, where the first and third types are pedal-assist, but the second type is throttle-actuated. Very confusing for Americans. There's a loophole in the motor regulations, big enough for Avinox to drive a truck through: an e-bike's top speed and "normal" wattage are limited by law, but peak wattage and torque are unregulated (at least that's my understanding). If high-powered motors (and disregard for trail etiquette) become normalized in the U.S., it could lead to severe backlash. (The arrival of e-motos and their popularity among irresponsible riders isn't helping.) All U.S. mountain bikers could lose access to certain trails. Many of us already drive significant distances to trails, so this is a dreaded prospect.

@chize: Exactly, exploiting a loophole. Avinox has grabbed power in the service of greed, with complete disregard for consequences other than short-term profit. This could rip up the social fabric that allows hikers, horse riders, land managers, regulators, and mountain bikers to agree on rules of the game. Short term profit before long term whatever. How careless. A press release doesn't fix it. Meanwhile Bosch and the others will be tempted to stay competitive by continuing to increase motor power. At some point, beefier vehicles stop being e-bikes and become something else, something that belongs on the same trails less and less. Riding an e-bike with a 1500W motor must surely be fun. Making lots of money selling those motors must also be fun. But when fun for a few, makes others miserable or unsafe? Like it or not, that's gonna end up in some kind of crackdown. Do we want the Wild West, where people who have no self-restraint upset the general public, and backlash leads to harsh justice, and corrupt disregard for others rules the day? Sorry but I think that wouldn't be fun. Mountain bikers aren't always rule-followers, but let's keep our trail access. Let's treat each other right, and that includes hikers and horse riders because if we don't respect them, we're going to lose. Let's revamp tech regulations so they're simple and smart, with no loopholes. Let's get rid of anything that will throw the whole sport out of whack, such as overpowered motors. Regulations aren't going to go away, so we might as well be smart about the changes that need to be made.