Headset routing started on the road side, and at least in the performance sense (at the high end) there is an aerodynamic benefit. Not important for the 1400 dollar bike buyer, however making a lower cost bike look as close as possible to the higher end ones is, of course, important.
On the MTB side, of course it's entirely an aesthetic choice, and it sucks.
Prices also suck, but we've been hearing for two years now from many brands that prices were going to go up by 20-30 percent. No one paid attention to that, but it happened and now here we are. They'll be driven down a little bit by the inventory glut that is now coming.
Dec. 16, 2022, 9:24 a.m. - Pete Roggeman
Headset routing started on the road side, and at least in the performance sense (at the high end) there is an aerodynamic benefit. Not important for the 1400 dollar bike buyer, however making a lower cost bike look as close as possible to the higher end ones is, of course, important. On the MTB side, of course it's entirely an aesthetic choice, and it sucks. Prices also suck, but we've been hearing for two years now from many brands that prices were going to go up by 20-30 percent. No one paid attention to that, but it happened and now here we are. They'll be driven down a little bit by the inventory glut that is now coming.