MTB Tech Rumors and Innovation

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12/19/2024 3:15am
TimBud wrote:

Better get the pitchforks out lads the ride vest is made in China

Also don't forget to mention I'm openly promoting diabetes. 😁

42
Cougar797
Posts
70
Joined
7/25/2012
Location
Bentonville, AR US
12/19/2024 6:25am
iceman2058 wrote:

Also don't forget to mention I'm openly promoting diabetes. 😁

Legend

1
12/19/2024 6:30am
ballz wrote:

I am waiting for someone to have the ballz to place the battery on stays instead of mounting it on the RD body.

nskerb wrote:

Yeah so you can enjoy both routing cables and charging batteries lol.

Since we’re talking about Chinese knockoffs the Risk knock off cable routing kit from Ali Express (even found one on Amazon) for $15 was the best tool purchase ever. Since they're that cheap to produce I think they should just be included in the goodie bag that comes with framesets.

9
1
12/19/2024 10:00am
baronKanon wrote:
The GeX is a gravel derailleur. The MTB one is OX. You guys even look at the WheelTop web page? I could have tried it if...

The GeX is a gravel derailleur. The MTB one is OX. You guys even look at the WheelTop web page? I could have tried it if I had a bike to put it on but I haven't.. 

chriskief wrote:
Was looking at the IG post that started this.But now that you mention it, I thoroughly enjoyed their about us page… a true classic of the...

Was looking at the IG post that started this.

But now that you mention it, I thoroughly enjoyed their about us page… a true classic of the genre!

Welcome to Wheeltop.us!

Wheeltop.us is an online store. We are committed to providing our customers with A unique, superior and thoughtful online shopping experience. We have high quality manufacturers and suppliers; At the same time, we are constantly optimizing our purchasing and production processes to ensure that our products are of high quality. Please feel free to buy our products on the website.

Our website attaches great importance to customer service, and customers' opinions are important information to promote us to develop, improve and enhance ourselves. If you encounter any difficulties during your consumption, please check out other terms of our website or feel free to contact our staff. Contact information can be found in Contact us.

Thank you again for visiting our website and wish you a happy shopping trip!

Reminds me of the side hustle people used to push about being a translator for non-English speaking companies looking to make a footprint in the US. 

Maybe I need to learn traditional and Mandarin.

2
12/19/2024 2:53pm
Since we’re talking about Chinese knockoffs the Risk knock off cable routing kit from Ali Express (even found one on Amazon) for $15 was the best...

Since we’re talking about Chinese knockoffs the Risk knock off cable routing kit from Ali Express (even found one on Amazon) for $15 was the best tool purchase ever. Since they're that cheap to produce I think they should just be included in the goodie bag that comes with framesets.

+1 got it on Ali for under $5 and using it was sublime after never having an internal routing tool

2
12/20/2024 7:16am
Since we’re talking about Chinese knockoffs the Risk knock off cable routing kit from Ali Express (even found one on Amazon) for $15 was the best...

Since we’re talking about Chinese knockoffs the Risk knock off cable routing kit from Ali Express (even found one on Amazon) for $15 was the best tool purchase ever. Since they're that cheap to produce I think they should just be included in the goodie bag that comes with framesets.

+1 got it on Ali for under $5 and using it was sublime after never having an internal routing tool

I'm gonna get downvoted but I actually kinda enjoy internal cable routing with that tool. You get some creative problem solving that isn't frustratingly impossible. It also works great for running speaker wire behind your wall, not that you'll need speakers in your shop since you won't be failing at internal routing for hours anymore.

6
12/20/2024 10:27am Edited Date/Time 12/20/2024 2:31pm

Remember when everyone got all up in arms a couple months ago cuz Specialized made a new shock for the new Stumpy that had that scary word associated with it (**proprietary**😱) and it seemed like you had to ride the bike with the shock? Well, we got to go test with Specialized for a few days to see what led them down the path of making a larger volume air shock with two-stages. And we got to ride the Stumpy with some other shocks to see what that's like. (Spoiler: the bike rides just fine with a coil or normal air shock).

Edit: Also made a forum post dedicated to SJ15/Genie for those who have questions, or own the bike and want to add info on setup, issues, solutions to issues, etc. 

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12/20/2024 12:12pm
Remember when everyone got all up in arms a couple months ago cuz Specialized made a new shock for the new Stumpy that had that scary...

Remember when everyone got all up in arms a couple months ago cuz Specialized made a new shock for the new Stumpy that had that scary word associated with it (**proprietary**😱) and it seemed like you had to ride the bike with the shock? Well, we got to go test with Specialized for a few days to see what led them down the path of making a larger volume air shock with two-stages. And we got to ride the Stumpy with some other shocks to see what that's like. (Spoiler: the bike rides just fine with a coil or normal air shock).

Edit: Also made a forum post dedicated to SJ15/Genie for those who have questions, or own the bike and want to add info on setup, issues, solutions to issues, etc. 

Would you put that shock on another bike though?

2
12/20/2024 12:20pm Edited Date/Time 12/20/2024 2:29pm
Remember when everyone got all up in arms a couple months ago cuz Specialized made a new shock for the new Stumpy that had that scary...

Remember when everyone got all up in arms a couple months ago cuz Specialized made a new shock for the new Stumpy that had that scary word associated with it (**proprietary**😱) and it seemed like you had to ride the bike with the shock? Well, we got to go test with Specialized for a few days to see what led them down the path of making a larger volume air shock with two-stages. And we got to ride the Stumpy with some other shocks to see what that's like. (Spoiler: the bike rides just fine with a coil or normal air shock).

Edit: Also made a forum post dedicated to SJ15/Genie for those who have questions, or own the bike and want to add info on setup, issues, solutions to issues, etc. 

Would you put that shock on another bike though?

Yeah, I would. There are enough ways to manipulate the way it feels that'd it be cool to ride it on different designs. I had a Genie shock show up this week (*was not in a bottle). If/when I have other test bikes that the shock fits I'll toss it on to see what it's like.

20
TimBud
Posts
428
Joined
2/29/2012
Location
GB
12/21/2024 4:05am

Hel brakes pre-order is open.

Starting from £499, with alot of customisable colour options.

 


Don’t worry, these are made entirely in Devon, UK.

16
lickmycrinkle
Posts
175
Joined
1/27/2021
Location
Beverly Hills, CA US
12/21/2024 5:11am
TimBud wrote:

Hel brakes pre-order is open.

Starting from £499, with alot of customisable colour options.

 


Don’t worry, these are made entirely in Devon, UK.

SILVER BRAKES MADE IN THE UK?!

WON'T PEOPLE THINK OF THE YORKSHIREMEN THAT ARE NOW OUT OF A JOB?

DISGUSTING

25
Onawalk
Posts
334
Joined
7/5/2021
Location
CA
12/21/2024 12:26pm
TimBud wrote:

Better get the pitchforks out lads the ride vest is made in China

iceman2058 wrote:

Also don't forget to mention I'm openly promoting diabetes. 😁

Look at you

Out flexxing in yer fancy vest.....It reminds me of my old purple quilted Roach vest (god I miss that vest)

I've been looking for this vest, and cant find it anywhere!!

1
Konda
Posts
27
Joined
5/28/2023
Location
Kidderminster GB
12/21/2024 1:07pm
TimBud wrote:

Hel brakes pre-order is open.

Starting from £499, with alot of customisable colour options.

 


Don’t worry, these are made entirely in Devon, UK.

SILVER BRAKES MADE IN THE UK?!

WON'T PEOPLE THINK OF THE YORKSHIREMEN THAT ARE NOW OUT OF A JOB?

DISGUSTING

Be reet wor kid

1
monarchmason
Posts
198
Joined
5/24/2022
Location
Nevada City, CA US
12/21/2024 9:47pm

Sidenote,

But can we petition for a vital forum comments of the Year award? 

I nominate this, and honorary mention to whoever started crab bike

Id like to see that. 

Also that would be user @FaahkEet. He first mentions every bike turning into crabs.

2
12/22/2024 1:59am

Sidenote,

But can we petition for a vital forum comments of the Year award? 

I nominate this, and honorary mention to whoever started crab bike

Id like to see that. 

Also that would be user @FaahkEet. He first mentions every bike turning into crabs.

He's worthy of having a "King Crab" title added to his profile. All hail!

1
AgrAde
Posts
58
Joined
5/21/2015
Location
AL US
12/22/2024 2:45am

Are brakes the new component that we've realised is easy to make with a run-of-the-mill machine shop?

I expected more cranks to go with the overpopulated machined-stem-and-pedal market, especially since 5dev proved that you don't even need to make a good product to charge stupid amounts for it, but perhaps we're leapfrogging to brakes instead.

12
1
Primoz
Posts
3784
Joined
8/1/2009
Location
SI
12/22/2024 2:49am

No experience, but I'd say brakes anything but simple. They are a component that gets upgraded often, which makes them interesting to the aftermarket. Everybody needs pedals, but with the way modern bikes and drivetrains are specced and sold, aftermarket cranks are a hard sell in the aftermarket as far as I've thought about things. You have to be VERY special (or chase parts built bikes) to get a sell.

What I honestly don't understand is why people buy the likes of 5DEV (okay, length is a factor here), Actofive (SignatureX, single piece crank), upcoming Lewis crank as, SignatureX at least, the machined crank is heavier and more expensive than what Sram offers in the GX Eagle spec. I get what Garbaruk (and Actofive Signature) are trying to accomplish, which makes sense, but then you have Shimano with their XT crank that is hollow forged. Plus with a bonded crank you always have the chance of delamination (Garbaruk at least bolts it together).

9
AgrAde
Posts
58
Joined
5/21/2015
Location
AL US
12/22/2024 3:20am

Is a brake really that hard to design and manufacture? It's not a super simple product but it is just an assembly of a bunch of fairly straightforward parts. It's not like a rim or a carbon frame where you need expensive tooling and a bunch of special sauce on the engineering side of things to get a functional product. 

Good point on the "cranks come with bikes" statement. Shorter cranks seem like a huge thing at the moment because everyone that's talking about their short cranks online, but the percentage of people actually buying them i guess is really really small. If Shimano would offer the XT in 160 and 155 then it'd probably kill most people's interest in most of the smaller brands, but they'd also have to figure out how to communicate to buyers that their boring looking crank is actually built in a way cooler way than cutting it into shape on a mill.

1
TimBud
Posts
428
Joined
2/29/2012
Location
GB
12/22/2024 4:11am

Plenty of people have made carbon frames (very good ones too) in their sheds. Who has made a brake in their shed?

Have you ever seen how much a good cnc machine costs?

Fairly sure that HEL are not a "run of the mill" machine shop either... maybe go look them up.

2
mtbboy1993
Posts
20
Joined
4/19/2015
Location
Askim NO
12/22/2024 4:47am
TimBud wrote:

I think he’s triggered by this

A concert I'm sure many have is if one can have a spare battery and simply swap batteries on the go. One can't on current Wheeltop MTB RD. Also they need to use Matchmaker mount, not their own mount nobody can replace if they break one.

monarchmason
Posts
198
Joined
5/24/2022
Location
Nevada City, CA US
12/22/2024 8:04am
AgrAde wrote:
Is a brake really that hard to design and manufacture? It's not a super simple product but it is just an assembly of a bunch of...

Is a brake really that hard to design and manufacture? It's not a super simple product but it is just an assembly of a bunch of fairly straightforward parts. It's not like a rim or a carbon frame where you need expensive tooling and a bunch of special sauce on the engineering side of things to get a functional product. 

Good point on the "cranks come with bikes" statement. Shorter cranks seem like a huge thing at the moment because everyone that's talking about their short cranks online, but the percentage of people actually buying them i guess is really really small. If Shimano would offer the XT in 160 and 155 then it'd probably kill most people's interest in most of the smaller brands, but they'd also have to figure out how to communicate to buyers that their boring looking crank is actually built in a way cooler way than cutting it into shape on a mill.

Is it hard? I think one account that does lurk here could answer that. That would be @CascadeComponents . Id love to see input on this. I dont know why mountain bike stems are so expensive when everyone seems to be making them. Its a dumb “I need everything matching” kind of product. But if everyone is producing brakes and the market has a lot of genuinely decent competitors and hopefully parts that are standardized, Id love that. Hopefully they would maybe be less expensive with a market that is becoming more saturated and competitive. But honestly Im kind of laughing at my self while typing this because Im just thinking about the stem market. Because it seems that will never change. 

1
12/22/2024 10:10am
AgrAde wrote:
Is a brake really that hard to design and manufacture? It's not a super simple product but it is just an assembly of a bunch of...

Is a brake really that hard to design and manufacture? It's not a super simple product but it is just an assembly of a bunch of fairly straightforward parts. It's not like a rim or a carbon frame where you need expensive tooling and a bunch of special sauce on the engineering side of things to get a functional product. 

Good point on the "cranks come with bikes" statement. Shorter cranks seem like a huge thing at the moment because everyone that's talking about their short cranks online, but the percentage of people actually buying them i guess is really really small. If Shimano would offer the XT in 160 and 155 then it'd probably kill most people's interest in most of the smaller brands, but they'd also have to figure out how to communicate to buyers that their boring looking crank is actually built in a way cooler way than cutting it into shape on a mill.

Is it hard? I think one account that does lurk here could answer that. That would be @CascadeComponents . Id love to see input on this...

Is it hard? I think one account that does lurk here could answer that. That would be @CascadeComponents . Id love to see input on this. I dont know why mountain bike stems are so expensive when everyone seems to be making them. Its a dumb “I need everything matching” kind of product. But if everyone is producing brakes and the market has a lot of genuinely decent competitors and hopefully parts that are standardized, Id love that. Hopefully they would maybe be less expensive with a market that is becoming more saturated and competitive. But honestly Im kind of laughing at my self while typing this because Im just thinking about the stem market. Because it seems that will never change. 

RIP the Ragley Stubbing stem from Chain Reaction. $50, low stack height, and looked pretty good.

2
NicoZesty96
Posts
424
Joined
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Location
portogruaro, VE IT
12/22/2024 10:21am
AgrAde wrote:
Are brakes the new component that we've realised is easy to make with a run-of-the-mill machine shop?I expected more cranks to go with the overpopulated machined-stem-and-pedal...

Are brakes the new component that we've realised is easy to make with a run-of-the-mill machine shop?

I expected more cranks to go with the overpopulated machined-stem-and-pedal market, especially since 5dev proved that you don't even need to make a good product to charge stupid amounts for it, but perhaps we're leapfrogging to brakes instead.

make a brake it's easy, make one that works properly is not as there are not many in the market, if it needs constant bleeding it's not good, if you need to pull super hard on the lever to get anything at the caliper it sucks too, if there's no modulation same, also if the lever starts to rattle, wiggle, if the pistons don't move correctly and constantly need to be cleaned and lubed it's not good either.

2
kperras
Posts
79
Joined
12/19/2012
Location
CA
12/22/2024 10:46am
Primoz wrote:
No experience, but I'd say brakes anything but simple. They are a component that gets upgraded often, which makes them interesting to the aftermarket. Everybody needs...

No experience, but I'd say brakes anything but simple. They are a component that gets upgraded often, which makes them interesting to the aftermarket. Everybody needs pedals, but with the way modern bikes and drivetrains are specced and sold, aftermarket cranks are a hard sell in the aftermarket as far as I've thought about things. You have to be VERY special (or chase parts built bikes) to get a sell.

What I honestly don't understand is why people buy the likes of 5DEV (okay, length is a factor here), Actofive (SignatureX, single piece crank), upcoming Lewis crank as, SignatureX at least, the machined crank is heavier and more expensive than what Sram offers in the GX Eagle spec. I get what Garbaruk (and Actofive Signature) are trying to accomplish, which makes sense, but then you have Shimano with their XT crank that is hollow forged. Plus with a bonded crank you always have the chance of delamination (Garbaruk at least bolts it together).

The XT crankset is a good candidate for durability but they can still suffer from sheared spindles. 

I would put Race Face Turbines above XTs for winning a durability contest. The Shimano BB is leaps and bounds better than the 30mm RF one though.

Same goes for Saint vs. Atlas cranksets.

3
1
nicasucksdude
Posts
16
Joined
1/30/2024
Location
Salt Lake City, UT US
12/22/2024 11:29am
AgrAde wrote:
Is a brake really that hard to design and manufacture? It's not a super simple product but it is just an assembly of a bunch of...

Is a brake really that hard to design and manufacture? It's not a super simple product but it is just an assembly of a bunch of fairly straightforward parts. It's not like a rim or a carbon frame where you need expensive tooling and a bunch of special sauce on the engineering side of things to get a functional product. 

Good point on the "cranks come with bikes" statement. Shorter cranks seem like a huge thing at the moment because everyone that's talking about their short cranks online, but the percentage of people actually buying them i guess is really really small. If Shimano would offer the XT in 160 and 155 then it'd probably kill most people's interest in most of the smaller brands, but they'd also have to figure out how to communicate to buyers that their boring looking crank is actually built in a way cooler way than cutting it into shape on a mill.

Is it hard? I think one account that does lurk here could answer that. That would be @CascadeComponents . Id love to see input on this...

Is it hard? I think one account that does lurk here could answer that. That would be @CascadeComponents . Id love to see input on this. I dont know why mountain bike stems are so expensive when everyone seems to be making them. Its a dumb “I need everything matching” kind of product. But if everyone is producing brakes and the market has a lot of genuinely decent competitors and hopefully parts that are standardized, Id love that. Hopefully they would maybe be less expensive with a market that is becoming more saturated and competitive. But honestly Im kind of laughing at my self while typing this because Im just thinking about the stem market. Because it seems that will never change. 

Yeah but the cascade stem is 42.069 mm. It’s clearly superior 

1
12/22/2024 12:46pm
AgrAde wrote:
Is a brake really that hard to design and manufacture? It's not a super simple product but it is just an assembly of a bunch of...

Is a brake really that hard to design and manufacture? It's not a super simple product but it is just an assembly of a bunch of fairly straightforward parts. It's not like a rim or a carbon frame where you need expensive tooling and a bunch of special sauce on the engineering side of things to get a functional product. 

Good point on the "cranks come with bikes" statement. Shorter cranks seem like a huge thing at the moment because everyone that's talking about their short cranks online, but the percentage of people actually buying them i guess is really really small. If Shimano would offer the XT in 160 and 155 then it'd probably kill most people's interest in most of the smaller brands, but they'd also have to figure out how to communicate to buyers that their boring looking crank is actually built in a way cooler way than cutting it into shape on a mill.

Brakes are challenging. 

There's quite a bit of engineering involved in sealing them, and making sure they stay sealed properly, as you can have a rim crack, but break failure is totally unacceptable. So given that you need to have a 0% failure rate, it makes it quite a serious undertaking. 

Rims are relatively simple, it's just that nobody has an autoclave at home large enough to bake one. But the actual design and layup isn't very complicated. 

4
Primoz
Posts
3784
Joined
8/1/2009
Location
SI
12/22/2024 1:06pm Edited Date/Time 12/22/2024 1:08pm

Baking a rim is the easy part. It's not even needed depending on the choice of resin. And you don't need high pressures, you can get a lot done with just vacuum (and ambient air pressure compacting things). Making the molds is the hard part. At least for rims.

2
12/22/2024 2:22pm
Primoz wrote:
Baking a rim is the easy part. It's not even needed depending on the choice of resin. And you don't need high pressures, you can get...

Baking a rim is the easy part. It's not even needed depending on the choice of resin. And you don't need high pressures, you can get a lot done with just vacuum (and ambient air pressure compacting things). Making the molds is the hard part. At least for rims.

Entirely true. The machined tolerance of moulds has to be very high.

 But again, people make carbon bikes at home, it's just that the mould for a rim is mega expensive as it's normally one massive central piece and a bunch of interlocking rams to compress the carbon. It's just not worth it for a "cheap" part for people to make at home, compared to making a carbon frame. 

I think bike performance is so high these days very few parts are "easy" to make, and certainly not a brake system. 

1
rustle
Posts
35
Joined
11/18/2010
Location
CA
12/22/2024 4:13pm
nsp234 wrote:
For those who didn't leave this page (an attitude that I support):- OG bikeworks was developing an aftermarket kit for dropper posts (don't know which brands)...

For those who didn't leave this page (an attitude that I support):
- OG bikeworks was developing an aftermarket kit for dropper posts (don't know which brands), to go where the actator usually sits. That was before working with BikeYoke
- OG collaborated with BikeYoke to integrate it into their post
- they couldn't settle on terms and terminated the collaboration
- OG is now back at the aftermarket approach and plans to have something ready in 6 months

FWIW, this is OG's version of the story, BikeYoke / Sacki didn't seem to be present in the MTBR thread

sprungmass wrote:
They also mentioned "Our aftermarket product was already in the works before our collaboration with BikeYoke began, and they were fully aware of our plans to...

They also mentioned "Our aftermarket product was already in the works before our collaboration with BikeYoke began, and they were fully aware of our plans to launch an aftermarket kit."

hopefully on good terms

sprungmass wrote:
Turns out it was not on good terms. BikeYoke has entered the chat and apparently this product doesn't been the German standards. Sorry for beating the...

Turns out it was not on good terms. BikeYoke has entered the chat and apparently this product doesn't been the German standards. Sorry for beating the dead horse but context needs to be present for vital readers

image 110

Meh. I wanted to buy a bike yoke until I had a bunch come through the shop sagging, and still being pretty low mileage. I reset them, and the sagging came right back. No thanks.

1
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