GRrrr, What’s Going On MTB Mfg.’s!?!
I had hoped to talk about e-bike myths today. Then a friend came calling with questions about a used mtb.
It seems every season my friends throw away their multi-thousand dollar bikes for the latest hype. The next year it will be declared not only obsolete, but a bad idea!. His lady friend can’t sell her one year old 27.5 mtb for a $1500 loss!
I get it. I really do. Mtb’s started out with 26″ wheels because they were available for wider, knobby tires. People wanted suspension for greater control. Then those became adjustable, followed by oil, followed by oil/air. Then it was decided if you need a front suspension, you must need a rear and it started all over again.
The same has been happening with wheel and tire sizes. 26″ has too aggressive of an attack angle.. Everyone went 29″. Whoa, 29″ is too hard to control! Enter 27.5, back to 29. Try 26 and now, The Mullet (29″ front, 27.5 back).
Next year The Mullet will be dead (you just can’t adapt handling from screwed up geometry). What’s more, all of these marginal gains are beyond the bike handling skills of 90% of those spending the money.
Tires went from 1.75″ to 2.5″ and 3.3″ then back 2.5″. Fact is, until you stiffen sidewalls for cornering, you’ll get too much squirm. Mountain biking is not straight down hill. Suspension magnifies squirm or the dive you’ll have if you adjust your suspension to account for stiffer sidewalls. Now all this pseudo science is spilling over in to gravel and adventure bikes. BTW, has anyone noticed that racers are going back to ever thinner tires again?
It’s time these super premium customers demand real science behind the latest innovations. They just cost too much.
It is not like this isn’t happening in road bikes too, but on a smaller scale. Don’t even get me started with the low end components on $3k+ e-bikes. It is just out of control in the off road world..