As someone who’s been talking and writing about bikes as systems for years - as evidenced by product reviews as far as writing/NSMB is concerned - I don’t enjoy the oversimplification but you’re not wrong and I think this trend is better than the previous march towards making my teeth rattle more every year.
Plus and +/- tires, aluminum (or compliant carbon) rims, more forgiving bars (thanks Renthal for pushing ride quality v. cosmetics as a discussion point for 31.8 v. 35 bars), forks that initialize smoother (the return of coil). Lots of positive trends away from the often conjoined twins of weight and stiffness.
Feb. 26, 2020, 5:12 p.m. - Andrew Major
As someone who’s been talking and writing about bikes as systems for years - as evidenced by product reviews as far as writing/NSMB is concerned - I don’t enjoy the oversimplification but you’re not wrong and I think this trend is better than the previous march towards making my teeth rattle more every year. Plus and +/- tires, aluminum (or compliant carbon) rims, more forgiving bars (thanks Renthal for pushing ride quality v. cosmetics as a discussion point for 31.8 v. 35 bars), forks that initialize smoother (the return of coil). Lots of positive trends away from the often conjoined twins of weight and stiffness.