I'd second this. How many years did it take for 29r geo to get sorted out, even in an XC context - 10 years or more? STA and HTA seemed to go to Geometron levels and now are backing off somewhat; thats another ~6y of so called "development". The next round of this would appear to be rear centre length, I'd hazard a guess it will be another 2-3 generations of bike "design" to sort that out...
and on the manufacturing end, it took how many years for us to get a reasonable selection of reliable dropper posts? We've had MTB bikes for over 40y now and I'd argue we're still being effed over when it comes to rear hubs/freehubs. A very reliable, high engagement (2-3 degree) hub should be standard, entry level stuff at this point but nope... and so on.
March 25, 2024, 10 a.m. - LWK
I'd second this. How many years did it take for 29r geo to get sorted out, even in an XC context - 10 years or more? STA and HTA seemed to go to Geometron levels and now are backing off somewhat; thats another ~6y of so called "development". The next round of this would appear to be rear centre length, I'd hazard a guess it will be another 2-3 generations of bike "design" to sort that out... and on the manufacturing end, it took how many years for us to get a reasonable selection of reliable dropper posts? We've had MTB bikes for over 40y now and I'd argue we're still being effed over when it comes to rear hubs/freehubs. A very reliable, high engagement (2-3 degree) hub should be standard, entry level stuff at this point but nope... and so on.