vinay

@danstonQ: Oh, but how does this make it strange then? Is it common to see both frame and suspension originate from the same country? In how global this industry is, more than a few countries house DH bike brands. And many don't even produce these frames in their home country. I think both (German) Nicolai and Alutech do produce frames in house and do spec Formula suspension. That's close enough.

@mattwragg: Oh, would you do that in a space that is not nice and clean? Just like I wouldn't do a lower leg service in the car park when a sudden gust of wind could dump sand and dust inside. Obviously things aren't that exposed when you swap the CTS cartridge but you're still opening an entry towards the damping circuit. Would hate to have that contaminated and wear things down prematurely. Then again, I absolutely understand this isn't my job like it is yours. Once I'm already at the trails and the bike is working fine, it is time to ride not to finick.

EXT shocks?

@fruitcake: Get the orange one and install the yellow spring as the negative spring.

@Helmchentuned: Yeah, I know. It just seems like there were only four velocities tested (including zero speed) judging by the sharp kinks in the graphs. Not such a huge issue as on this scale with a lack of values a higher resolution would not have made things any clearer. It is just that sending a half-assed over the internet isn't going to help anyone. I think there are some really clever people at Formula and I think the CTS stuff is a clever option for the end consumer to tune their suspension. All this greatness just doesn't come across. If you're going to publish a chart, you shouldn't leave your audience guessing or assuming what it means.

Juniors race the same track and those are free to watch. Doesn't this also go for the qualifications and semi-finals?

Anyone even understands the chart without a vertical axis? It says "valves behavior" in the subtitle. So does that imply that all cartridges behave better at higher speeds though green does best and all cartridges misbehave at low speed? Basically seems like you need to give them a beating to keep them in check and when the bike sits idle at night, you have drop by every few hours to insist to keep it quiet. I trust Formula makes amazing stuff but I'd like to have a dyno with this one, just to keep it entertained when I want to chill.

@bikes-arent-real: You make of it what you want. End of the day, you need a bike, basic protection and basic tools. Then have fun in the woods. Maybe those who frequent these magazines like Pinkbike which attribute a large portion of their space to ads, reviews, press releases and "first looks" may get a different impression. Instead if your magazines are Cranked, Eskapee or anything from Misspent Summers, the focus is more on riding and you may feel less of a need for buying the latest and greatest. But there is a point when you move on from getting the cheapest stuff you can that keeps you going for a little longer to something that might be a bit more expensive but which is going to last you for a long while. And both in terms of cost as well as environmental footprint, that might be the better option. So whether it is expensive or not, what is important is that people can buy what they really want so that when they do, they hold onto that and don't buy anything else for a couple of years.

@Velocipedestrian: I don't think I'm feeling that bold. I'm also not sure what I'm looking for in the shape of these bicycle glasses so I don't think it is clever to iterate. It might just fail through fatigue well before I've reached anything acceptable. When driving a car, my head is upright and sunglasses work well. On a bike, the head is always tilted down a bit, you've got these motions and vibrations, you just need more to keep the glasses in place. So the legs really need to clamp my head and it takes a while for me to discover whether it stays put and/or whether the clamping gives me a headache. I once had glasses from Specialized with photochromatic lenses which did indeed work really well for me, but that was only a lucky shot. I never found anything like that later on. But yeah, it is just easier to just get some good goggles which are being held in place by an elastic strap instead of these legs. Obvious downside is of course that the foam gets sweaty. Glasses don't have that.

I've got a screwdriver shaped one from Wiha which goes up to 6Nm. I like that shape over a lever-shaped one. I pretty much only use the 4Nm and 6Nm settings though. So if I were to buy something now, I'd just get those TorqBits from Topeak and use them with whatever driver I like. A long one when needed, a short one when I don't need a long one. I could even use an electric driver if I really need to rush, but I doubt a home mechanic ever needs that. But yeah, most of use already have something for other jobs so could just as well use it when we feel like. I honestly don't know whether the slip rings on those tools resemble the torque values in Nm. Otherwise you might even want to use that if you already have them. Something relatively small is most convenient. I have a blue Bosch Go which comes handy when working with wood, though I think their latest green (and cheaper) Bosch IXO stuff also has this option now. Obviously such gadgets only make sense when you already need them for other jobs. They don't make sense if you only want to tighten bolts to spec.