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Sure, there are bikes that it is well implemented on and the geometry is preserved between the two settings - The current Ibis Ripley/Ripmo and G3 Kona Process 134/153 and Process X are all bikes that do it well.

I tend to fine myself on the other end flip chip theory. I tend to be more anti flip chip as it always tends to make thing more complicated and doesn't really add to the ride feel of the bike. There's also something to be said with a bike manufacture creating a bike with one specific geo and running it like that. Although, I am currently on a Forbidden Dreadnought V2 with drop out adjustments. I think this is one of useful adjustments as it makes a noticeable change without complications or compromises. Along with that I think that the...

Wow that’s a weird brake/shifter angle. Cool looking bike, though it’s not clear to me why anyone needs a bike to make trails even easier than they already are in this era of shitty flow trails.

counterpoint - $600 is easily the cost of an ER visit for many people 🤷‍♂️

When I was watching supercross I saw a few of these go off. Its impressive how much they puff up. Also I assume quite a few dudes were running them all season and no one had it go off while just riding. Its a bummer because we all could probably benefit from one of these when riding park, but I imagine its a 1 and done thing when it goes off. And 600$+ is just too much.

My 1st Luca memory: He & Walker as little kids doing full sprint laps on the Hendersonville BMX track chasing Christopher Herndon. Walker was older & bigger but Luca was ferocious pedaling every single lap latched onto them & relentless. I was putting on races with buddies just to have races & we were so excited to have kids committed to DH suddenly. I’ve enjoyed watching the Shaw Brothers progress from little BMX groms to National Champs & now a World Cup winning family.

From the downtime podcast, apparently when Loic crashed he was wearing an alpinestars airbag system. The tech MX system is on the market already (Barcia was wearing it during is insane supercross crash ealier this year), but it would be fantastic to see mtb-focused versions as well.

Torrent is clean. Bottle rocket is adjustable freeride. Quake is a capable race geo. (Iirc) Different bikes for different folks . I freeride and park my race bikes - and xc ride my enduro bike. But the world does seem to want FUN 27.5 park bikes and the racers do seem to want FAST DH WEAPONS. Why can’t we have both? The marketing isn’t even for us. There are literally armies of 15 year old boys AND GIRLS! Getting really into modern freeride, just riding down shit and off shit and being park rats in jnco jeans where I live...

Man I’m shocked at the discussion this thing is generating. This bike looks GREAT

External cable routing! heck yeah

I'll tell you one thing it is, way cheaper to buy in Canada! $2800 CAD vs. $2999 USD, that's close to $1000 difference!

Some sort of UDH +15mm chainstay standard would fix a lot of XXL bikes.

I used to be all about flip chips and adjustments but now I see them as a great way to lose half you season trying to find “the perfect setting” instead of just learning to ride the bike.

Most geometry adjustments are flaw not a feature to some people. I have ridden enough bikes over the years that I can adjust to a few mm or a degree here or there quickly. What I want is the simplest, easiest, most reliable frame. Adding in flip chips and adjustable headset cups just adds more places for tolerance stack-up to fail and creaks (or worse) to show up. Based on the shear volume of warranty experiences I’ve had to deal with, no thanks. I’d probably pay the extra ~$400 for the Norco over a Transition to NOT have flip chips.

If you don’t like the torrent DH, the bottle rocket and the Marin quake you might not have kids who are regularly sending their carcasses— emulating Everything they see on YouTube— I do have kids. They don’t quite send yet…. but my fellow parents that have high school aged kids that send ( like what the fuck!! These “kids” are sending seriously raw lines, maybe not heavy af but the youth are currently charging hard everywhere and always ) are always pleased to see much cheaper, and aluminum frames that aren’t going to break the demographic for these “ not...

The Torrent isn't for bike nerds. It's for people that set it and forget it and spend their day lapping A-Line and Dirt Merchant. And for that purpose, the Torrent sounds like a perfect bike. Simple, reliable (hopefully) and affordable.

I have to admit, I do not love the side profile of some of the 32" bikes that are coming out. They end up looking like XS bikes with cramped triangles and kinked bottom/top tubes. Hopefully more progressive geo will enable these things to look like something other than a 2010-2012 era niner.