"This is a problem (for you, not me)..." I love it. And it's true, I reckon, since you are an editorialist, who entertains us with sarcasm, wit and slander, not pseudo-objective bike/equipment reviews. Your colleagues, however, should pay attention. So too, should the readers of NSMB who digest the articles on this site. This is a problem for us. Professional reviewers inevitably fall prey to unconscious bias on many levels, parallels having been studied in other industries. (Here is but one example: [https://academic.oup.com/fampra/article/26/3/204/510492](https://academic.oup.com/fampra/article/26/3/204/510492)) If a bike company wines and dines me, then sends me a delicious bike to ride for months on end, with no cost to me, the likelihood of a favorable review is high. It costs the bike makers little, with huge pay offs (ie free advertising / "objective" reviews). One of my favourite recent images from NSMB was that of a DH sled piloted by a privateer who was scoring some solid results. His choice? An aluminum frame, not carbon, to "save a few bucks, and redirect costs to suspension and brakes". Wait, what? Carbon frames aren't absolutely necessary to improve my riding? Well @\#$% me....
June 6, 2018, 1:20 p.m. - markisfat
"This is a problem (for you, not me)..." I love it. And it's true, I reckon, since you are an editorialist, who entertains us with sarcasm, wit and slander, not pseudo-objective bike/equipment reviews. Your colleagues, however, should pay attention. So too, should the readers of NSMB who digest the articles on this site. This is a problem for us. Professional reviewers inevitably fall prey to unconscious bias on many levels, parallels having been studied in other industries. (Here is but one example: [https://academic.oup.com/fampra/article/26/3/204/510492](https://academic.oup.com/fampra/article/26/3/204/510492)) If a bike company wines and dines me, then sends me a delicious bike to ride for months on end, with no cost to me, the likelihood of a favorable review is high. It costs the bike makers little, with huge pay offs (ie free advertising / "objective" reviews). One of my favourite recent images from NSMB was that of a DH sled piloted by a privateer who was scoring some solid results. His choice? An aluminum frame, not carbon, to "save a few bucks, and redirect costs to suspension and brakes". Wait, what? Carbon frames aren't absolutely necessary to improve my riding? Well @\#$% me....