MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation

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Stewyeww
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Location
CA
2/24/2024 9:19pm

I wonder if it's going to be less than the $19k CA +tax Cannondale are wanting for there new ebike?

1
2/25/2024 12:15am

That’s the current model. This guy just has some weird diaper on his.

New VLT Sight and Range are both high pivot.

lloyd506 wrote:

So now random kooks are covering bikes? 
Everybody stop doing this. It isn’t a big deal, it’s a bike. 

slimshady wrote:

Seems like ebike shaming is becoming a real thing...

I'm gonna take a guess and say that the "diaper" may be to cover up the motor, testing a different motor on the current design. The current Sight and Range run Shimano motors. If you look at Minaar's story, his new ride has a Bosch remote and controller. So if that's the new Range, there's a switch in motors. Maybe the Sight will be getting an update to a Bosch motor soon.

image-20240225171512-2

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1
Primoz
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SI
2/25/2024 12:48am

And riding RS suspension? Are they buying Fox? 

2
1
jonkranked
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Norristown, PA US
2/25/2024 7:40am
slimshady wrote:
Shimano holds a patent for that, handed to them by Honda. It's what prevented Hayes from popularizing the PeteSpeed gearbox after they bought the design from...

Shimano holds a patent for that, handed to them by Honda. It's what prevented Hayes from popularizing the PeteSpeed gearbox after they bought the design from B1. And you can be damn sure they'll keep it sealed until they have milked the rear derailleur for many more years.

w4s wrote:

interesting.  how long do design patents last?  I know it's 15 year in US and I think it's 20 years internationally.

In the US a utility patent is 20 years from date of filing (submission), design patents are 15 years from date of issue. 

5
Uncle Cliffy
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Location
Medford, OR US
2/25/2024 8:03am
Lacanuck24 wrote:
I'm gonna take a guess and say that the "diaper" may be to cover up the motor, testing a different motor on the current design. The...

I'm gonna take a guess and say that the "diaper" may be to cover up the motor, testing a different motor on the current design. The current Sight and Range run Shimano motors. If you look at Minaar's story, his new ride has a Bosch remote and controller. So if that's the new Range, there's a switch in motors. Maybe the Sight will be getting an update to a Bosch motor soon.

image-20240225171512-2

The bike Greg is riding is 100% the new VLT Range.

The Range and Sight are both getting Bosch motors. They will be mullet only.

6
brash
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AU
2/25/2024 1:03pm Edited Date/Time 2/25/2024 1:08pm

more likely the sight, historically the range VLT comes with Coil shock only. But that does look like a BIG travel Zeb upfront, who knows.

I'm curious if they do the same front and rear triangle thing across all 3 models (fluid/sight/range) and just change the rocker/yoke between the models like the old one. That was a clever way to minimize cost. But at the same time, could you imagine riding a size small with a 462mm rear chainstay?

3
jezken
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Location
AU
2/25/2024 1:16pm
Primoz wrote:
A single stage gearbox is a no-go as it reverses the direction of rotation, Effigear uses an 'idler stage' in the old design that makes the...

A single stage gearbox is a no-go as it reverses the direction of rotation, Effigear uses an 'idler stage' in the old design that makes the two shafts concentric in the current design. But yes, having the output not be concentric with the pedals GREATLY simplifies the gearbox design and gives you the possibility of playing with the pivot location. A best of both worlds.

But that's an 'if gearboxes take of'. I'd expect HP idlers to be more popular than gearboxes unless something drastic happens on the gearbox front.

Ya, i know there is an initial stage to flip the direction, but that should have pretty low losses.  My dream is two road cassettes right...

Ya, i know there is an initial stage to flip the direction, but that should have pretty low losses. 

My dream is two road cassettes right next to each other with one flipped, and a single chain connecting them. Somehow, some way, a selector like a derailleur slides the chain up and down both cassettes at the same time. As each cog moves up or down in size, the other cassette moves the opposite, so there is very limited chain slack negating the need for derailleur pulleys. Two 250% road cassettes would then give us the mountain bike range needed in a compact space with minimal drag and freedom for pivot placement. 

EDIT: like this, but two road cassettes and a chain since sliding belts on CVTs have poor efficiency 

Pin on nice

Primoz wrote:

Fuck me, had the exact same idea literally days before the Shimano patent was publicly shown in all the news outlets!

Have a look at the Nicolai gboxx, they essentially did the two cassettes opposed to each other with a magnetic pawl system to select the gear. The main difference was they used a chain linking each stage on all stages and 7 gears only. There were some design flaws in the pawl system that affected durability but it functioned pretty well for dh applications.

The Pinion gearbox system is way more refined in every aspect though 

 

1
2/25/2024 1:31pm
bizutch wrote:
Random... @iceman2058 you guys ever consider doing a tools/tech shootout on digital shock pumps & digital pressure gauges?   I don't so much need a competition style...

Random... @iceman2058 you guys ever consider doing a tools/tech shootout on digital shock pumps & digital pressure gauges?  
I don't so much need a competition style format.

But would like to see an article/video combo going over all the in's and outs of them.  

90% of them use identical internals so if someone wanted to make something new here that would be great! 

 

Otherwise the biggest difference is the type of fitting/chuck/hose that they each use

1
Uncle Cliffy
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Location
Medford, OR US
2/25/2024 3:38pm
brash wrote:
more likely the sight, historically the range VLT comes with Coil shock only. But that does look like a BIG travel Zeb upfront, who knows. I'm...

more likely the sight, historically the range VLT comes with Coil shock only. But that does look like a BIG travel Zeb upfront, who knows.

I'm curious if they do the same front and rear triangle thing across all 3 models (fluid/sight/range) and just change the rocker/yoke between the models like the old one. That was a clever way to minimize cost. But at the same time, could you imagine riding a size small with a 462mm rear chainstay?

Range gets an air shock now. Not sure why.

The Sight and Range could definitely have the same front triangle, but not the Fluid. (Sight and Range are HP.)

lando
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4/6/2017
Location
Missoula, MT US
2/25/2024 4:11pm
brash wrote:
more likely the sight, historically the range VLT comes with Coil shock only. But that does look like a BIG travel Zeb upfront, who knows. I'm...

more likely the sight, historically the range VLT comes with Coil shock only. But that does look like a BIG travel Zeb upfront, who knows.

I'm curious if they do the same front and rear triangle thing across all 3 models (fluid/sight/range) and just change the rocker/yoke between the models like the old one. That was a clever way to minimize cost. But at the same time, could you imagine riding a size small with a 462mm rear chainstay?

The Fluid is already on the Norco website and is entirely its own bike.

2
2/25/2024 6:03pm
90% of them use identical internals so if someone wanted to make something new here that would be great!    Otherwise the biggest difference is the...

90% of them use identical internals so if someone wanted to make something new here that would be great! 

 

Otherwise the biggest difference is the type of fitting/chuck/hose that they each use

I work with a digital shock pump on a daily basis, and I am very frequently frustrated by the lack of an Abbey-level equivalent to the garbage that seems to come from the same factory, with different suspension manufacturer’s names poorly printed on the head. At the same time, I am constantly reminded of the question Spomer asked Jordi on his episode of The Inside Line: “Have you ever attached a FitBit to your shock pump?”. It seems ludicrous to me (and to Jordi also, it appears) that I should have to inflate a CAD$1300 fork with a $60 steam-punk style tool that wastes my time and energy, when the tool I smash with a hammer to remove a foot nut costs the same amount. Someone please make a higher quality alternative, because I will buy it and so will others. Rant over; thanks for listening; back to tech rumors.

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nskerb
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Kelso, WA US
2/25/2024 6:31pm

If it’s that important that you’d be willing to spend money in the realms of what abbey charges for other stuff why don’t you rig something up yourself? Measuring air pressure outside of the bicycle world does happen and I’m sure at times it is done at very precise levels. 

2
2/25/2024 7:28pm
nskerb wrote:
If it’s that important that you’d be willing to spend money in the realms of what abbey charges for other stuff why don’t you rig something...

If it’s that important that you’d be willing to spend money in the realms of what abbey charges for other stuff why don’t you rig something up yourself? Measuring air pressure outside of the bicycle world does happen and I’m sure at times it is done at very precise levels. 

Let’s say we really wanted to ball out and be able to do lots of shocks as quick as possible and with crazy accuracy…

400 psi compressor 

+/-0.05% digital pressure gage 

T the high accuracy gage into a QD to schrader line and you’d be able to get pressures accurate to less than half a psi in no time. Lots of money and I can’t see anyone needing +/-0.05%, but sure would be nice. 

6
boozed
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AU
2/25/2024 7:55pm
90% of them use identical internals so if someone wanted to make something new here that would be great!    Otherwise the biggest difference is the...

90% of them use identical internals so if someone wanted to make something new here that would be great! 

 

Otherwise the biggest difference is the type of fitting/chuck/hose that they each use

I work with a digital shock pump on a daily basis, and I am very frequently frustrated by the lack of an Abbey-level equivalent to the...

I work with a digital shock pump on a daily basis, and I am very frequently frustrated by the lack of an Abbey-level equivalent to the garbage that seems to come from the same factory, with different suspension manufacturer’s names poorly printed on the head. At the same time, I am constantly reminded of the question Spomer asked Jordi on his episode of The Inside Line: “Have you ever attached a FitBit to your shock pump?”. It seems ludicrous to me (and to Jordi also, it appears) that I should have to inflate a CAD$1300 fork with a $60 steam-punk style tool that wastes my time and energy, when the tool I smash with a hammer to remove a foot nut costs the same amount. Someone please make a higher quality alternative, because I will buy it and so will others. Rant over; thanks for listening; back to tech rumors.

Is that an argument that shock pumps are too cheap or the foot nut removal tool is too expensive?

6
2/25/2024 8:10pm Edited Date/Time 2/25/2024 8:12pm
boozed wrote:

Is that an argument that shock pumps are too cheap or the foot nut removal tool is too expensive?

Both, but admittedly the foot nut smasher has probably done 500+ Fox forks in 3 years, and still works as well as day one. So I think it was worth the money, and I also think there needs to be a mountain bike suspension specific pro-level shock pump. I’d buy one.

edit: if we have access to brake burnishing setups with motor driven rollers sitting on the floor of the shop, we should have a pro shock pump. 

5
2/25/2024 8:53pm
boozed wrote:

Is that an argument that shock pumps are too cheap or the foot nut removal tool is too expensive?

Both, but admittedly the foot nut smasher has probably done 500+ Fox forks in 3 years, and still works as well as day one. So I...

Both, but admittedly the foot nut smasher has probably done 500+ Fox forks in 3 years, and still works as well as day one. So I think it was worth the money, and I also think there needs to be a mountain bike suspension specific pro-level shock pump. I’d buy one.

edit: if we have access to brake burnishing setups with motor driven rollers sitting on the floor of the shop, we should have a pro shock pump. 

Shock pumps are simultaneously too expensive for what they are but I would also pay more if they were a lot better! Things improved when I found Cane Creek sold hoses as replacement instead of buying an entire pump so I stocked up on them. Yes you could buy analogue pumps to steal the hose but they are still pretty spendy for what you get. I'm still amazed there isn't something better here yet....My Lezyne floor shock pump is pretty decent but not perfect or what I would call "pro" grade

 

1
2/25/2024 8:53pm
Primoz wrote:

And riding RS suspension? Are they buying Fox? 

You mean buying Fox Suspension for the Norco DH team? No way.

Greg is getting money from Fox to run their stuff. 
I heard through back channels that money played an important (but not 100%) role in him using Fox suspension. Fox knew they had to throw good money at him (and therefore the team) as if the Goat changed to Rockshox, Fox was going to look really bad. 

 

2
nskerb
Posts
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Location
Kelso, WA US
2/25/2024 8:59pm
Let’s say we really wanted to ball out and be able to do lots of shocks as quick as possible and with crazy accuracy… 400 psi...

Let’s say we really wanted to ball out and be able to do lots of shocks as quick as possible and with crazy accuracy…

400 psi compressor 

+/-0.05% digital pressure gage 

T the high accuracy gage into a QD to schrader line and you’d be able to get pressures accurate to less than half a psi in no time. Lots of money and I can’t see anyone needing +/-0.05%, but sure would be nice. 

It would be sweet, yeah. And that’s what I’m getting at, if ya gotta wait for abbey to make one, you’re gonna be 1) waiting for a while 2) paying out of your ass. It would be cooler to do it yourself with something like that, I do think you’d need the gage to be as close to the wheel valve as you could with a check valve as close to the gage on the upstream side of the gage as you could also, and run as small of a diameter air line as possible, because if we are talking measuring values this precisely, you’re going to get a big difference from the pressure reading vs the actual pressure being used after disconnecting the pressurized line. 
 

This is all make believe pretend land stuff and I don’t care because I check my pressures like once every couple months because I suck and a psi +/- is not the reason I’m slow. But it is entertaining to think about. 

6
2/25/2024 9:00pm Edited Date/Time 2/25/2024 9:04pm
Seagrave7 wrote:
New 2024 Specialized Epic?   https://www.instagram.com/p/C3vaf5joDTT/?igsh=ZWI2YzEzYmMxYg==

Oh I bet that's the "unreleased flex-stay 120mm/120mm XC bike" mentioned in the NSMB article I brought up earlier (I assume it's a new Epic Evo).

9
2/25/2024 9:10pm
Primoz wrote:
Extra volume negative can by the looks of it... @Onawalk Forbidden is a HP company, the Slash is an enduro racing machine and Norco is adding...

Extra volume negative can by the looks of it...

@Onawalk Forbidden is a HP company, the Slash is an enduro racing machine and Norco is adding two models lower down. Not exactly overwhelming high pivotness across the board, there are more through headset routed bikes out there. Development cycles take a few years so the realistic picture will be known in a few years if high pivot really is the hotness above everything else or not. Wouldn't be the first hat I eat, but I stand by my comment that we won't see idlers en masse below enduro bikes. 

From a completely inquisitive POV.. would a company be able to design a 2 position rear triangle, one HP w/ idler pulley, and then have a second hardware mounting position for a traditional, let's say 4 bar or VPP setup? 

I am sure an engineer could simply reply to this saying "that's not possible" and I would be happy with the answer but it's a question that's been bouncing in my noggin for a bit. 

3
2/25/2024 9:44pm
From a completely inquisitive POV.. would a company be able to design a 2 position rear triangle, one HP w/ idler pulley, and then have a...

From a completely inquisitive POV.. would a company be able to design a 2 position rear triangle, one HP w/ idler pulley, and then have a second hardware mounting position for a traditional, let's say 4 bar or VPP setup? 

I am sure an engineer could simply reply to this saying "that's not possible" and I would be happy with the answer but it's a question that's been bouncing in my noggin for a bit. 

You 100% could. Hard to say what it would do the kinematics without doing some real numbers. With VPP could likely correct it with at least one or two links if it did something funny. Could look something like this… blue is hp black is lp. 
IMG 4652.jpeg?VersionId=GEgCQGd26kX1hW4dQ 39qdLpoa2Bw

10
Primoz
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SI
2/25/2024 10:44pm
Primoz wrote:

And riding RS suspension? Are they buying Fox? 

You mean buying Fox Suspension for the Norco DH team? No way. Greg is getting money from Fox to run their stuff.  I heard through back channels...

You mean buying Fox Suspension for the Norco DH team? No way.

Greg is getting money from Fox to run their stuff. 
I heard through back channels that money played an important (but not 100%) role in him using Fox suspension. Fox knew they had to throw good money at him (and therefore the team) as if the Goat changed to Rockshox, Fox was going to look really bad. 

 

That's what I meant yeah. Worded it badly. 

It's not a good look for the goat to ride RS suspension then... It's an off the shelf bike probably, but still 

Primoz
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3649
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8/1/2009
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SI
2/25/2024 10:49pm
90% of them use identical internals so if someone wanted to make something new here that would be great!    Otherwise the biggest difference is the...

90% of them use identical internals so if someone wanted to make something new here that would be great! 

 

Otherwise the biggest difference is the type of fitting/chuck/hose that they each use

I work with a digital shock pump on a daily basis, and I am very frequently frustrated by the lack of an Abbey-level equivalent to the...

I work with a digital shock pump on a daily basis, and I am very frequently frustrated by the lack of an Abbey-level equivalent to the garbage that seems to come from the same factory, with different suspension manufacturer’s names poorly printed on the head. At the same time, I am constantly reminded of the question Spomer asked Jordi on his episode of The Inside Line: “Have you ever attached a FitBit to your shock pump?”. It seems ludicrous to me (and to Jordi also, it appears) that I should have to inflate a CAD$1300 fork with a $60 steam-punk style tool that wastes my time and energy, when the tool I smash with a hammer to remove a foot nut costs the same amount. Someone please make a higher quality alternative, because I will buy it and so will others. Rant over; thanks for listening; back to tech rumors.

Sometimes I yearn for the Specialized floor shock pump... Would make inflating shocks from zero much easier. 

2
Primoz
Posts
3649
Joined
8/1/2009
Location
SI
2/25/2024 10:51pm
90% of them use identical internals so if someone wanted to make something new here that would be great!    Otherwise the biggest difference is the...

90% of them use identical internals so if someone wanted to make something new here that would be great! 

 

Otherwise the biggest difference is the type of fitting/chuck/hose that they each use

I work with a digital shock pump on a daily basis, and I am very frequently frustrated by the lack of an Abbey-level equivalent to the...

I work with a digital shock pump on a daily basis, and I am very frequently frustrated by the lack of an Abbey-level equivalent to the garbage that seems to come from the same factory, with different suspension manufacturer’s names poorly printed on the head. At the same time, I am constantly reminded of the question Spomer asked Jordi on his episode of The Inside Line: “Have you ever attached a FitBit to your shock pump?”. It seems ludicrous to me (and to Jordi also, it appears) that I should have to inflate a CAD$1300 fork with a $60 steam-punk style tool that wastes my time and energy, when the tool I smash with a hammer to remove a foot nut costs the same amount. Someone please make a higher quality alternative, because I will buy it and so will others. Rant over; thanks for listening; back to tech rumors.

boozed wrote:

Is that an argument that shock pumps are too cheap or the foot nut removal tool is too expensive?

Compared to how Rock Shox does their forks and what's needed to service them, the foot nut tool price is absurd. Tooling is THE reason for me to not consider Fox products at all. 

6
Primoz
Posts
3649
Joined
8/1/2009
Location
SI
2/25/2024 10:55pm
Primoz wrote:
Extra volume negative can by the looks of it... @Onawalk Forbidden is a HP company, the Slash is an enduro racing machine and Norco is adding...

Extra volume negative can by the looks of it...

@Onawalk Forbidden is a HP company, the Slash is an enduro racing machine and Norco is adding two models lower down. Not exactly overwhelming high pivotness across the board, there are more through headset routed bikes out there. Development cycles take a few years so the realistic picture will be known in a few years if high pivot really is the hotness above everything else or not. Wouldn't be the first hat I eat, but I stand by my comment that we won't see idlers en masse below enduro bikes. 

From a completely inquisitive POV.. would a company be able to design a 2 position rear triangle, one HP w/ idler pulley, and then have a...

From a completely inquisitive POV.. would a company be able to design a 2 position rear triangle, one HP w/ idler pulley, and then have a second hardware mounting position for a traditional, let's say 4 bar or VPP setup? 

I am sure an engineer could simply reply to this saying "that's not possible" and I would be happy with the answer but it's a question that's been bouncing in my noggin for a bit. 

I think Chris Canfield has a patent pending and some prototypes out in the wild doing exactly this. With three positions actually. 

5
MTBrent
Posts
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7/7/2015
Location
Concord, NH US
2/26/2024 5:26am
Primoz wrote:

I think Chris Canfield has a patent pending and some prototypes out in the wild doing exactly this. With three positions actually. 

"CF3" with the main pivot able to rotate around the rear axle/pivot so geo doesn't change when the main pivot changes.  He talked about it on Bike Rumor's podcast I think.

https://suspension-formulas.com/

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210380195A1/en?assignee=Suspension+Formulas%2c+LLC

2
slimshady
Posts
126
Joined
9/16/2011
Location
AR
2/26/2024 5:39am Edited Date/Time 2/26/2024 5:42am
Primoz wrote:

I think Chris Canfield has a patent pending and some prototypes out in the wild doing exactly this. With three positions actually. 

MTBrent wrote:
"CF3" with the main pivot able to rotate around the rear axle/pivot so geo doesn't change when the main pivot changes.  He talked about it on...

"CF3" with the main pivot able to rotate around the rear axle/pivot so geo doesn't change when the main pivot changes.  He talked about it on Bike Rumor's podcast I think.

https://suspension-formulas.com/

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210380195A1/en?assignee=Suspension+Formulas%2c+LLC

So he wants to patent te ability to move the main pivot along the seat tube? Geez the US patent system needs to die a horrible death as soon as possible.

 

EDIT: No wonder why that patent got rejected...

6
jonkranked
Posts
799
Joined
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Location
Norristown, PA US
2/26/2024 6:28am
Primoz wrote:
Compared to how Rock Shox does their forks and what's needed to service them, the foot nut tool price is absurd. Tooling is THE reason for...

Compared to how Rock Shox does their forks and what's needed to service them, the foot nut tool price is absurd. Tooling is THE reason for me to not consider Fox products at all. 

you can find fox tools made by individuals that are notably less expensive than the official fox version on ebay, etc.  i have a couple and they work just fine.

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