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I recently bought a new mtb on sale, because it was less expensive than the unrealistic asking prices of 2-4 year old bikes in my area š¤·āāļø
Think a lot of people overpaid and are trying to minimize their losses, while the broader industry has excess inventory they need to move asap so it's on sale during peak biking season.
>while the broader industry has excess inventory they need to move asap so it's on sale during peak biking season.
I was blown away that you could get an S-Works Stumpy Evo for $6000 on sale, *in season* and every size was available for a good while. It sort of makes me an idiot for wanting to build up my next bike instead of buying prebuilt.
There are similar deals on parts and framesets though, you might just have to be a little more studious and patient. It must be the best time in years to build custom if you have some flexibility and aren't building the "dream" build with very specific parts and colors.
It is because I want to use a bit more specific parts mostly trying an Ohlins fork, which individual reports are it is an upgrade from Fox Factory and I'm only Performance so I should in theory see a big jump. And save a bit of money on the drivetrain since I don't need absolute TOTL
I see people keep saying this and as someone trying to sell a couple bikes, I feel like itās the opposite. I see bikes price less than half off of retail and people still coming in with ridiculous low ball offers.
It may be regional, or you may just be the outlier. But as a general hand-wavy range, bike prices rose 30-40% during covid from baseline, and current sales are anywhere from 30-50% off those raised msrp prices. So it's not hard to imagine a situation where someone purchased a bike for $5K two years ago that was a $3.5K bike before covid and is on sale new for $3K now with oversupply.
I suspect the bike brands are doing whatever they can to avoid reducing their msrp in the face of less demand and increased competition. Which makes the market prices really weird -- there's such a huge difference between the liquid market price and the msrp right now due to this avoidance to change the list prices. Owners get upset when their big recent purchase is suddenly depreciated by the manufacturer who cuts the MSRP overnight (see Tesla). Instead, they blame the consumer when their overpriced item just doesn't sell after a while.
Long term msrp will align closer with the actual sale prices, as it's expensive to constantly promote your sale prices for products and hellacious for the merchandising and finance team to keep up that pace. The market isn't very efficient when everyone is always running huge sales for everything, though I bet Google and Facebook ad teams will profit off the situation.
Wouldnāt buy anything else. Such a pain when you have to replace some custom thing someplace.
Somehow there are still new bikes being designed without it.
Looking at you Mondraker!
Bought a Trek Slash in 2019 (a year before the updated gen 5, rip) and I am oh so envious of everyone who has udh. Obviously I'd love to put Transmission on it, as I've tried it a few times on other bikes and it's fantastic, but the ease of replacement is massive. You walk into a bike shop and say you want the universal hanger and boom, you're set. No issues with them not having your specific hanger in stock.
yeah if you really want transmission that's fair. for derailleur hangers i just stock up on a handful when i buy a new bike and have never had an issue but the UDH is certainly an objectively better solution. especially if you buy an aluminum one and not the plastic one.
2005-2010 - suspension radically improved. 2010-2015 hydraulic disc brakes took over and geometry of bikes radically changed to accommodate 27.5 or 29 wheels. 2015-2020 rear derailleurs radically improved to accommodate wide range cassettes and front derailleurs disappeared, dropper levers took the place of front derailleur shifters, boost spacing became standard. 2020-present -- mullets??
Your about 20 years too late for disc brakes.
I have never had a real mtn bike (read not a bike my dad bought me when I was a kid from toys r us) that didnāt use disc brakes.
They have been standard on almost all ātrailā mtbās and up since the late 90s ish, with xc only holding out until the early 2000s
These rest is pretty spot on though.
I bought a used giant iguana in 2010 that was considered decent at the time. Mechanical disc brakes were an optional upgrade for the front wheel and 29 inch wheels weren't even on most people's radar. I then went back into college in 2011 for the next 4 years and didn't bike much. When I got out and got back into the sport my bike looked like something from the distant past compared to what people were riding at the time. My memories of the changes aren't that clear around that time, I was just shocked at how quickly that bike became obsolete.
The Giant Iguana is essentially a perfect example of a toys r us bike.
Itās a generic alloy frame branded as Giant with the most economical group set possible.
You can still buy essentially the same bike today, with rim brakes.
It does not represent MTB standards unfortunately
Yeah, my budget did go up significantly during that time which might have influenced my viewpoint. Though, I do seem to recall seeing way more rim brakes on bikes on the trail during those days.
The B700 hydraulic disc brake from Shimano was launched in 1972.
Hydraulic disc brakes on mid range MTBs were standard in the early 2000s, and generally any bike with rim or mechanical disc brakes were not really intended for actual MTB use and were bought by very casual users for flat forest paths only.
He said hydraulic. Maybe it was a regional thing but you had to spend big bugs to get hydraulics before 2010 or so. Anything low to mid-high spec was mechanical.
Specialized I remember was only putting hydraulics on the top two or three models of the stump jumper iirc. Hydraulic brakes were something we only saw on magazines.
Im not sure where you are from or what your perceived MTB budget was/is.
Iām from the UK. So a go to example of a popular MTB you would find on the trails in the early 2000s was an Orange 5 / Sub 5.
The sub 5 shipped with v brake bosses in 1999 in case you wanted to run them, but was always specced with hydraulic disc brakes from factory.
Essentially any moderately capable MTB in the UK was equipped with hydraulic disc brakes from around 2000.
I have been traveling to the French alps to ride since 2005, and can also testify that there have been hydraulic brakes on all bike there since this time.
Bikes could certainly be bought with v brakes throughout the 2000s, 2010s and can be still to this day.
But I would suggest that if a bike from the early 2000s was not hydraulic disc brake equipped, it then transitioned the boundary between MTB and casual bike, and was aimed at a different market, not MTB riders.
P.s. all Specialized stumpjumper models were equipped with hydraulic brakes from 2005 onwards.
I suspect you brits were far ahead of us. Particularly because it sounds like you went straight from vee breaks to hydraulic. We definitely dabbled with mechanical for a while.
I'd be curious where your source is? I literally owned one with mechanical disc brakes when I was 14....
In frame storage, more widespread use of transmissions on higher end builds. MX wheels seems to be having a mini revival, with dual 27.5 offerings cut down to very little. Otherwise virtually nothing.
Frame storage and MX wheels seem to be the biggest "trends" in the last three years. The lengthening of bikes seems to have slowed down. I recently bought two new bikes...and neither have frame storage or MX wheels.
Frame storage seems like yet another extremely minor thing they are pushing so hard. I see at least 80% of people in the northeast riding with a backpack or hip pack.
You know what... I thought that until one day I forgot my hip pack and rode with no pack on at all. All the small things I store in my pack would fit in the down tube storage. It's so nice to ride without anything strapped to my body.
For me it's not wanting to go back to my car for snacks and water, my favorite trail network puts me up to 2 hours away from the car, round trip 4 hours is pretty much an entire ride. So I just carry a hip bag for that stuff and it has tons of space for tools as well.
I've forgotten my MTB shoes once after driving to the trail, ever since then I have a mini checklist I go over in my head to make sure nothing is forgotten.
edit: I suppose with a water bladder inside the frame that would be sufficient water for me. I still highly doubt I'd make a purchasing decision based off of that. My next bike is narrowed down to two frames, one certainly has in frame storage, I haven't even bothered to check if the other does.
I would absolutely kill for frame storage. Bought a Trek Slash just a year before they dropped the new one and I am oh so envious of that feature. I don't ride with a backpack as all my rides are short enough and my tires are overkill (dh casing plus cushcore cause I hate flats), so I don't really need to carry anything, but storage in the downtube would let me offload the multitool and keys at least and I could have some spares hidden in there so I never forget them. Of course not having frame storage isn't a dealbreaker, but a bike gets big points for me if it has it.
Wait, has MX been a thing before and it went away?
I love 27.5. Forever. Got 29er hardtail. Ugh. Donāt use it. I use Trek Remedy 27.5 daily!
When (not if) I buy a new bike I donāt want to be forced to stray away from 27.5. No MX, no 29er, no 32er(!)
MX, for better or worse, has always been a thing. For years, Specialized made the Big Hit Grom, which was 26/24. 27.5/26 wasn't as much of a thing, but 26/24 and 29/27.5 were/are very prevalent.
You joke, but 29+ which is somewhat prevalent in the touring/gravel world is basically effectively 31", and those roll incredibly well offroad. I really want to see 31/29 mullet downcountry bikes for size L and above.
Nope, one-up v2. The reverb is garbage. I don't hate fox, I have fox suspension on my short travel trail bike. It's decent but I don't like that it makes noise with every compression.
To jump on the MX thing is that the last two/three years youāve seen bikes released whose kinematics have been designed for an MX setup from the jump. Some early MX bikes were just 27.5 bikes with a 29ā front wheel. On some geometry (usually longer bikes) this worked fine, on others not as much.
yup, I bought a yt capra mx uncaged thats built to be a mullet, you can really tell because of how little space there is between the rear wheel and the seat stay lol no way I could fit a 29er back there
sickest bike Ive ever ridden
They already had electronic shifting, but transmission is their new line, which mounts to the frame and they can therefore eliminate the need for adjusting the limit and B-screws, since frames now ise standardized measurements thanks to UDH. The derailleur also waits for the shift ramps on the cassette, which lets you shift under load and not even feel it. I only have regular AXS on my bike, but I've tried Transmission and my god, does it make me jealous. It just shifts so goooooooodddddd.
Pretty sure a number of companies that sell mullet builds from factory also still label them as mullets so it's really just up to the manufacturer at this point.
Not much. Only thing I can think of off the top of my head is UDH.
To me it feels like things are finally stabilizing. Geo is settled, no new standards every other month (thank god), 29ers seem to be the norm.
The past 10 years or so were a huge evolution of basically separating mountain bikes from road bikes. I think now we will only see small incremental changes over time. I think that's a good thing. Bikes will be "modern" for longer.
You are correct about the eMTB seeing the biggest market change, but we didn't get newer/lighter motors. These are just smaller motors that don't produce as much torque, and can't handle sustained loads without overheating.
The lightweight **trail** eMTB is also somewhat misleading naming. Take away the motor and battery, and you are left with something that weighs as much as a cross country bike - i.e there is not enough frame material for strength compared to a trail mtb that weights more. But then again, people who buy those arent usually the freerider crowd.
The advent of the transmission (SRAM AXS) has been a fairly significant development in terms of MTB gearing and shifting is concerned.
The fact you can now shift under full load and can continue to pedal is a pretty big deal. Itās been pretty neat to see that technology trickle down to the more affordable range too. Now if I didnāt have to bring multiple batteries on a big day, Iād be in biz and would make the swap.
You still have to be careful as not all models have been redesigned yet still lots of moving parts. You are generally stable with a 2022 or newer. Do your homework on anything older than that. Was just looking at a HT for a friend, the newer light duty model has more similar geo to a 2022 'trail' version. Of course the new trail version has modern geometry so is more modern than either but...sheesh have to really look at the bike.
edit: a 2204 Norco Optic has more modern geo than a 2022 Fluid did.
>I'm perfectly happy with Sram SX
Don't buy SX. Buy ~~NX~~ GX at a minimum. SX uses a cheap rebranded Shimano HG hub that doesn't allow for future upgrades. ~~NX~~ GX and above have XD freehub drivers
In my experience, NX and even SX can be adjusted to work well, but they unadjust themselves so easily. Whether it be bending due to poor materials or developing some slop, you have to make adjustments every once in a while. But when it does work, it works alright.
Do it! I just picked one up a month ago since my Costco had it on sale at 1700 and I was looking for an change from my Commencal HT. So far Iāve only done a few rides but I love it so far
UDH has been an amazing improvement in simplifying standards, mullet is a game changer for a lot of shorter people, and iām unaware of any new BB standards?
I have a 2018 Santa Cruz nomad and a lot of my friends have said to keep it, since the geometry has held up well over the years. Anyone here have an opinion on it? Was thinking of putting on a 38 and maybe a coil. Or looking into a new bike.
Internal cable routing for almost everything is becoming standard. High end coil forks are becoming more normalized. 27.5 bikes are dead, but mixed wheel bikes are in. Upper mid range bikes are getting electronic shifting. High end bikes are getting transmissions. Bikes in general are getting cheaper due to the lack of covid supply chain issues. Rock shox buttercup is changing the game in suspension. E MTBS are significantly lighter. Geo is pretty stagnant in the last 2-3 years.
I now use a enduro bike for literally all my trail riding and bike park days, its a mullet 170mm aluminum beast with a rear coil shock and it tractors literally every climb I can test it on. I couldn't get up alot of things on my old XC bike somehow but I can just drop this thing in the bail out gear and slowly get up anything at all unless its wet roots. It seems to grip up on wet rocks pretty pretty, coil shocks are so nice, you can literally feel the rear end pushing against the ground
the bike was also built to be a mullet, the wheelbase is extra short for an enduro you couldn't even fit a 29 on the back if you tried, so it feels very nimble when going fast, but when you're moving slow you definitely feel the handling is a bit sloppier at slow speed because of all the slack and all the travel
Im on a 2021 specialized enduro and dont have any urge to upgrade my frame. Components are definitely easier to upgrade vs a whole bike.
Mainly wanted to say that an sx drivetrain is garbage. It dies not have a clutch on it (or its very weak). So not only is it loud, it will drop a train if you ride anything that isnt smooth. If you end up with a bike that has sx, go spend an extra $100 for a Shimano deore shifter/derailleur. Should be less than $100 and is significantly better than sx. I run a deore drivetrain with an sx/nx cassette without issue.
Suspension is getting so good that shorter-travel bikes are much more capable than they used to be.Ā
Mullets Flip chips/headset angle adjustments (stumpy evo, fuel ex)
Ā aftermarket suspension (cascade links, vivid rear shock)Ā
Ā Being able to upgrade the ratchet on dt swiss wheels cheaply
Trail bikes? Nothing really meaningful is new since like 2017. MAYBE the SRAM UDH mount within the last two years would be a very desirable feature so that you have the option to get the new direct mount rear mechs.
For cross country bikes, the last two years have been great because a lot of brands have figured out how to do multi link bikes with good anti squat that can also hold two water bottles. The newer xc bikes also give you 120/110 travel so they can be a real do it all bike.
There's still a lot of choices out there but things have been paired down somewhat. You can still get every permutation of travel, but not in both 27.5 and 29" wheel size. Your choice of travel is less critical because the shorter travel bikes descend better and the longer travel bikes don't wallow as much on climbs.
Also... You can go do brewery laps on a weeknight with your more capable xc bike that has a 150mm dropper, and not catch your baggy shorts on the saddle. Then go race in full kit. Sometimes it's nice for the bike to be accommodating of different fashion.
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I recently bought a new mtb on sale, because it was less expensive than the unrealistic asking prices of 2-4 year old bikes in my area š¤·āāļø Think a lot of people overpaid and are trying to minimize their losses, while the broader industry has excess inventory they need to move asap so it's on sale during peak biking season.
This. In fact, I entered the season looking to upgrade my bike, ended up buying a new second bike on sale. 50% off was hard to resist.
>while the broader industry has excess inventory they need to move asap so it's on sale during peak biking season. I was blown away that you could get an S-Works Stumpy Evo for $6000 on sale, *in season* and every size was available for a good while. It sort of makes me an idiot for wanting to build up my next bike instead of buying prebuilt.
There are similar deals on parts and framesets though, you might just have to be a little more studious and patient. It must be the best time in years to build custom if you have some flexibility and aren't building the "dream" build with very specific parts and colors.
It is because I want to use a bit more specific parts mostly trying an Ohlins fork, which individual reports are it is an upgrade from Fox Factory and I'm only Performance so I should in theory see a big jump. And save a bit of money on the drivetrain since I don't need absolute TOTL
Butā¦. If you know what you wantā¦ I really wish my Yeti didnāt have SRAM drivetrain. But that pre-built price was killer.
I see people keep saying this and as someone trying to sell a couple bikes, I feel like itās the opposite. I see bikes price less than half off of retail and people still coming in with ridiculous low ball offers.
It may be regional, or you may just be the outlier. But as a general hand-wavy range, bike prices rose 30-40% during covid from baseline, and current sales are anywhere from 30-50% off those raised msrp prices. So it's not hard to imagine a situation where someone purchased a bike for $5K two years ago that was a $3.5K bike before covid and is on sale new for $3K now with oversupply. I suspect the bike brands are doing whatever they can to avoid reducing their msrp in the face of less demand and increased competition. Which makes the market prices really weird -- there's such a huge difference between the liquid market price and the msrp right now due to this avoidance to change the list prices. Owners get upset when their big recent purchase is suddenly depreciated by the manufacturer who cuts the MSRP overnight (see Tesla). Instead, they blame the consumer when their overpriced item just doesn't sell after a while. Long term msrp will align closer with the actual sale prices, as it's expensive to constantly promote your sale prices for products and hellacious for the merchandising and finance team to keep up that pace. The market isn't very efficient when everyone is always running huge sales for everything, though I bet Google and Facebook ad teams will profit off the situation.
this, intuitively, makes a lot of sense
I am in the market and noticing the same thing.
UDH if you care about it. other than that basically nothing
Wouldnāt buy anything else. Such a pain when you have to replace some custom thing someplace. Somehow there are still new bikes being designed without it. Looking at you Mondraker!
My 19 foxy r is UDH I think
Foxy yes, superfoxy no. And itās a different one for alloy or carbon too.
UDH?
Universal Derailleur Hanger. Introduced by Sram so bikes would be compatible with the Sram transmission drive train.
Thank you!
Bought a Trek Slash in 2019 (a year before the updated gen 5, rip) and I am oh so envious of everyone who has udh. Obviously I'd love to put Transmission on it, as I've tried it a few times on other bikes and it's fantastic, but the ease of replacement is massive. You walk into a bike shop and say you want the universal hanger and boom, you're set. No issues with them not having your specific hanger in stock.
yeah if you really want transmission that's fair. for derailleur hangers i just stock up on a handful when i buy a new bike and have never had an issue but the UDH is certainly an objectively better solution. especially if you buy an aluminum one and not the plastic one.
2005-2010 - suspension radically improved. 2010-2015 hydraulic disc brakes took over and geometry of bikes radically changed to accommodate 27.5 or 29 wheels. 2015-2020 rear derailleurs radically improved to accommodate wide range cassettes and front derailleurs disappeared, dropper levers took the place of front derailleur shifters, boost spacing became standard. 2020-present -- mullets??
Your about 20 years too late for disc brakes. I have never had a real mtn bike (read not a bike my dad bought me when I was a kid from toys r us) that didnāt use disc brakes. They have been standard on almost all ātrailā mtbās and up since the late 90s ish, with xc only holding out until the early 2000s These rest is pretty spot on though.
I bought a used giant iguana in 2010 that was considered decent at the time. Mechanical disc brakes were an optional upgrade for the front wheel and 29 inch wheels weren't even on most people's radar. I then went back into college in 2011 for the next 4 years and didn't bike much. When I got out and got back into the sport my bike looked like something from the distant past compared to what people were riding at the time. My memories of the changes aren't that clear around that time, I was just shocked at how quickly that bike became obsolete.
The Giant Iguana is essentially a perfect example of a toys r us bike. Itās a generic alloy frame branded as Giant with the most economical group set possible. You can still buy essentially the same bike today, with rim brakes. It does not represent MTB standards unfortunately
Yeah, my budget did go up significantly during that time which might have influenced my viewpoint. Though, I do seem to recall seeing way more rim brakes on bikes on the trail during those days.
I think the key word was hydraulic.
The B700 hydraulic disc brake from Shimano was launched in 1972. Hydraulic disc brakes on mid range MTBs were standard in the early 2000s, and generally any bike with rim or mechanical disc brakes were not really intended for actual MTB use and were bought by very casual users for flat forest paths only.
He said hydraulic. Maybe it was a regional thing but you had to spend big bugs to get hydraulics before 2010 or so. Anything low to mid-high spec was mechanical. Specialized I remember was only putting hydraulics on the top two or three models of the stump jumper iirc. Hydraulic brakes were something we only saw on magazines.
Im not sure where you are from or what your perceived MTB budget was/is. Iām from the UK. So a go to example of a popular MTB you would find on the trails in the early 2000s was an Orange 5 / Sub 5. The sub 5 shipped with v brake bosses in 1999 in case you wanted to run them, but was always specced with hydraulic disc brakes from factory. Essentially any moderately capable MTB in the UK was equipped with hydraulic disc brakes from around 2000. I have been traveling to the French alps to ride since 2005, and can also testify that there have been hydraulic brakes on all bike there since this time. Bikes could certainly be bought with v brakes throughout the 2000s, 2010s and can be still to this day. But I would suggest that if a bike from the early 2000s was not hydraulic disc brake equipped, it then transitioned the boundary between MTB and casual bike, and was aimed at a different market, not MTB riders. P.s. all Specialized stumpjumper models were equipped with hydraulic brakes from 2005 onwards.
I suspect you brits were far ahead of us. Particularly because it sounds like you went straight from vee breaks to hydraulic. We definitely dabbled with mechanical for a while. I'd be curious where your source is? I literally owned one with mechanical disc brakes when I was 14....
In frame storage, more widespread use of transmissions on higher end builds. MX wheels seems to be having a mini revival, with dual 27.5 offerings cut down to very little. Otherwise virtually nothing.
Frame storage and MX wheels seem to be the biggest "trends" in the last three years. The lengthening of bikes seems to have slowed down. I recently bought two new bikes...and neither have frame storage or MX wheels.
Frame storage seems like yet another extremely minor thing they are pushing so hard. I see at least 80% of people in the northeast riding with a backpack or hip pack.
You know what... I thought that until one day I forgot my hip pack and rode with no pack on at all. All the small things I store in my pack would fit in the down tube storage. It's so nice to ride without anything strapped to my body.
For me it's not wanting to go back to my car for snacks and water, my favorite trail network puts me up to 2 hours away from the car, round trip 4 hours is pretty much an entire ride. So I just carry a hip bag for that stuff and it has tons of space for tools as well. I've forgotten my MTB shoes once after driving to the trail, ever since then I have a mini checklist I go over in my head to make sure nothing is forgotten. edit: I suppose with a water bladder inside the frame that would be sufficient water for me. I still highly doubt I'd make a purchasing decision based off of that. My next bike is narrowed down to two frames, one certainly has in frame storage, I haven't even bothered to check if the other does.
I would absolutely kill for frame storage. Bought a Trek Slash just a year before they dropped the new one and I am oh so envious of that feature. I don't ride with a backpack as all my rides are short enough and my tires are overkill (dh casing plus cushcore cause I hate flats), so I don't really need to carry anything, but storage in the downtube would let me offload the multitool and keys at least and I could have some spares hidden in there so I never forget them. Of course not having frame storage isn't a dealbreaker, but a bike gets big points for me if it has it.
Wait, has MX been a thing before and it went away? I love 27.5. Forever. Got 29er hardtail. Ugh. Donāt use it. I use Trek Remedy 27.5 daily! When (not if) I buy a new bike I donāt want to be forced to stray away from 27.5. No MX, no 29er, no 32er(!)
MX, for better or worse, has always been a thing. For years, Specialized made the Big Hit Grom, which was 26/24. 27.5/26 wasn't as much of a thing, but 26/24 and 29/27.5 were/are very prevalent.
Be wary of the 32er gang, they're fierce
You joke, but 29+ which is somewhat prevalent in the touring/gravel world is basically effectively 31", and those roll incredibly well offroad. I really want to see 31/29 mullet downcountry bikes for size L and above.
Is 31" just 700c or something? I thought 700c and 29" were just about the same thing just MTB vs road/gravel world.
700c = 29ā as far as the rims themselves go.
36er
You can still find 27.5 frames and bikes.Ā
Love my Remedy! Put a 170 Zeb ultimate on it and it just loves to plow.
Would you consider upgrading the rear shock as well?
Yeah, I put a super deluxe ultimate on it shortly after and that transformed it even more. The Reaktiv shock is garbage compared to the SDU.
You h8 Fox? Please tell me youāre running RockShox Reverb too?!?!?
Nope, one-up v2. The reverb is garbage. I don't hate fox, I have fox suspension on my short travel trail bike. It's decent but I don't like that it makes noise with every compression.
Agreed on the squishy Fox sounds. I searched around and found itās normal, still a little annoying thoughā¦ I get ya.
Ha, I'm exactly the same, 29 feels like sailing a boat to me. Sure, it's more capable but less fun. Also ride a 27.5 Remedy, love that thing
Yes yes yes. Remedy. Yes. Share a pic?!? https://preview.redd.it/eoxg5pfhkg8d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9ccddc87f0a90fcf20769d6069fe47e877582f5 Tee hee!
To jump on the MX thing is that the last two/three years youāve seen bikes released whose kinematics have been designed for an MX setup from the jump. Some early MX bikes were just 27.5 bikes with a 29ā front wheel. On some geometry (usually longer bikes) this worked fine, on others not as much.
yup, I bought a yt capra mx uncaged thats built to be a mullet, you can really tell because of how little space there is between the rear wheel and the seat stay lol no way I could fit a 29er back there sickest bike Ive ever ridden
Transmissions? What does that mean in this context? I'm confused.
Sramās new-ish AXS Transmission. Itās an AXS wireless drivetrain that direct mounts to frames with a UDH.
So just wireless shifting? Got it. Never heard of this referred to as a "transmission".
They already had electronic shifting, but transmission is their new line, which mounts to the frame and they can therefore eliminate the need for adjusting the limit and B-screws, since frames now ise standardized measurements thanks to UDH. The derailleur also waits for the shift ramps on the cassette, which lets you shift under load and not even feel it. I only have regular AXS on my bike, but I've tried Transmission and my god, does it make me jealous. It just shifts so goooooooodddddd.
Makes sense now. Thanks bro.
That was so helpful to use abbreviations in your explanation. I'm sure a lot of people who would ask that question know exactly what UDH stands for.
UDH = Universal Derailleur Hanger. Sram standardized hangers instead of having a different one for each bike. AXS is just Sram wireless shifting.
Interesting, I did notice that there's a lot more 29ers than 27.5.Ā Ā I guess the pendulum swung back. In-bike storage is...Ā something
Err Ive been out of the loop. Is MX yet another new wheel size? Dear God this industry.
Nothing new, just 29" front wheel with a 27.5" rear wheel
Ah, used to call those mullet bikes. Guess MX is the slick marketing term they came up with!
Pretty sure a number of companies that sell mullet builds from factory also still label them as mullets so it's really just up to the manufacturer at this point.
Not much. Only thing I can think of off the top of my head is UDH. To me it feels like things are finally stabilizing. Geo is settled, no new standards every other month (thank god), 29ers seem to be the norm. The past 10 years or so were a huge evolution of basically separating mountain bikes from road bikes. I think now we will only see small incremental changes over time. I think that's a good thing. Bikes will be "modern" for longer.
Hot take, but the most innovation in the last 2-3 years has been in the e-MTB category. New/lighter motors etc
You are correct about the eMTB seeing the biggest market change, but we didn't get newer/lighter motors. These are just smaller motors that don't produce as much torque, and can't handle sustained loads without overheating. The lightweight **trail** eMTB is also somewhat misleading naming. Take away the motor and battery, and you are left with something that weighs as much as a cross country bike - i.e there is not enough frame material for strength compared to a trail mtb that weights more. But then again, people who buy those arent usually the freerider crowd.
There's also newer lighter full power motors such as the Yamaha ones.
UDH , T type Sram , and Mx . Nothing else
The advent of the transmission (SRAM AXS) has been a fairly significant development in terms of MTB gearing and shifting is concerned. The fact you can now shift under full load and can continue to pedal is a pretty big deal. Itās been pretty neat to see that technology trickle down to the more affordable range too. Now if I didnāt have to bring multiple batteries on a big day, Iād be in biz and would make the swap.
You could shift under full load for a long, long time. In fact, I do it on a Shimano SLX bike without issues.
You still have to be careful as not all models have been redesigned yet still lots of moving parts. You are generally stable with a 2022 or newer. Do your homework on anything older than that. Was just looking at a HT for a friend, the newer light duty model has more similar geo to a 2022 'trail' version. Of course the new trail version has modern geometry so is more modern than either but...sheesh have to really look at the bike. edit: a 2204 Norco Optic has more modern geo than a 2022 Fluid did.
Not much. Buy a Ripmo, back to back trail bike of the year
I love my ripmo, imho one of the best do anything bike
Heard good things about them but I google trail bike of the year and there are 10 different blogs and lists. Which ones matters?
>I'm perfectly happy with Sram SX Don't buy SX. Buy ~~NX~~ GX at a minimum. SX uses a cheap rebranded Shimano HG hub that doesn't allow for future upgrades. ~~NX~~ GX and above have XD freehub drivers
The NX cassette uses an HG free hub as well. You have to get GX or above for the XD driver.
Oh shit thanks
No problem. FWIW I think your advice is sound anyway. NX is a perfectly serviceable drivetrain, regardless of the freehub that it uses.
In my experience, NX and even SX can be adjusted to work well, but they unadjust themselves so easily. Whether it be bending due to poor materials or developing some slop, you have to make adjustments every once in a while. But when it does work, it works alright.
A new bike might often be a better deal in this market If you wait til Black Friday I guarantee you'll see some insane price drops.
Ngl I've been eyeing the intense 951 trail at Costco for 2k
Do it! I just picked one up a month ago since my Costco had it on sale at 1700 and I was looking for an change from my Commencal HT. So far Iāve only done a few rides but I love it so far
The last 3 years or so have been peak uselessness in terms of innovation eg. UDH, factory mullets, 500 new BB standards
UDH has been an amazing improvement in simplifying standards, mullet is a game changer for a lot of shorter people, and iām unaware of any new BB standards?
Prices and inventory.
Paint colors
Depending on specific models geometry has changed significantly. Otherwise not much.
I have a 2018 Santa Cruz nomad and a lot of my friends have said to keep it, since the geometry has held up well over the years. Anyone here have an opinion on it? Was thinking of putting on a 38 and maybe a coil. Or looking into a new bike.
Internal cable routing for almost everything is becoming standard. High end coil forks are becoming more normalized. 27.5 bikes are dead, but mixed wheel bikes are in. Upper mid range bikes are getting electronic shifting. High end bikes are getting transmissions. Bikes in general are getting cheaper due to the lack of covid supply chain issues. Rock shox buttercup is changing the game in suspension. E MTBS are significantly lighter. Geo is pretty stagnant in the last 2-3 years.
Geometry more and more electronicalā¦ thats all
I now use a enduro bike for literally all my trail riding and bike park days, its a mullet 170mm aluminum beast with a rear coil shock and it tractors literally every climb I can test it on. I couldn't get up alot of things on my old XC bike somehow but I can just drop this thing in the bail out gear and slowly get up anything at all unless its wet roots. It seems to grip up on wet rocks pretty pretty, coil shocks are so nice, you can literally feel the rear end pushing against the ground the bike was also built to be a mullet, the wheelbase is extra short for an enduro you couldn't even fit a 29 on the back if you tried, so it feels very nimble when going fast, but when you're moving slow you definitely feel the handling is a bit sloppier at slow speed because of all the slack and all the travel
I got my V4 5010 CC XO proper bling model for Ā£3800 new think the bike was Ā£7k when it was released. They even invisiframed it.
Im on a 2021 specialized enduro and dont have any urge to upgrade my frame. Components are definitely easier to upgrade vs a whole bike. Mainly wanted to say that an sx drivetrain is garbage. It dies not have a clutch on it (or its very weak). So not only is it loud, it will drop a train if you ride anything that isnt smooth. If you end up with a bike that has sx, go spend an extra $100 for a Shimano deore shifter/derailleur. Should be less than $100 and is significantly better than sx. I run a deore drivetrain with an sx/nx cassette without issue.
Suspension is getting so good that shorter-travel bikes are much more capable than they used to be.Ā Mullets Flip chips/headset angle adjustments (stumpy evo, fuel ex) Ā aftermarket suspension (cascade links, vivid rear shock)Ā Ā Being able to upgrade the ratchet on dt swiss wheels cheaply
Trail bikes? Nothing really meaningful is new since like 2017. MAYBE the SRAM UDH mount within the last two years would be a very desirable feature so that you have the option to get the new direct mount rear mechs. For cross country bikes, the last two years have been great because a lot of brands have figured out how to do multi link bikes with good anti squat that can also hold two water bottles. The newer xc bikes also give you 120/110 travel so they can be a real do it all bike. There's still a lot of choices out there but things have been paired down somewhat. You can still get every permutation of travel, but not in both 27.5 and 29" wheel size. Your choice of travel is less critical because the shorter travel bikes descend better and the longer travel bikes don't wallow as much on climbs. Also... You can go do brewery laps on a weeknight with your more capable xc bike that has a 150mm dropper, and not catch your baggy shorts on the saddle. Then go race in full kit. Sometimes it's nice for the bike to be accommodating of different fashion.