Andeh profile

Yeah, I should have been more specific.  Since you can't shift under load, shifting needs to be extremely quick when you stop pressure on the drivetrain before reapplying pressure.  I feel like that would be so much easier to do with the quick shifting of AXS (not to mention not having to adjust hand position).  I could see being able to shift while climbing not being that hard to time then - just click when at the bottom of a pedal stroke.

>  If you can give me AXS quality shifting in the Pinion form factor, I am all for it. But as it sits, I am not entirely sold on the grip shift application.

My thoughts exactly.  A few years ago I rode with a guy on a Zerode and played around with his bike.  Like you said, the quite, reduced unsprung mass, better suspension feel, etc. are all fantastic.  Grip shift however is such a dealbreaker.

I've had my Revved GG (in a few forms - Smash, Gnarvana v1, and Megatrail mullet) for about 2 years now.  Their customer service has been great.  I had one issue with one of the threads at the horst pivot on the alloy swingarm stripping, and they covered it under warranty.  I've had the adhesive on the CS protector fail prematurely a couple times, both times they sent me a new one.  Apparently the one on the Revved swingarm is sort of co-molded into the arm so it doesn't get peeled up as easily.

The powdercoat is super durable, and has held up to abuse far better than anything I had from Transition or Ibis.  The stealth version looks amazing when clean and in the sun (especially with a frame protector), it really brings out the sparkles.

My wishlist is basically a Revved v2 version of the Megatrail with a flip chip and/or geometry designed for mulleting (and even more progressive), and better sealing on the bearings (Santa Cruz style).  I also wish they were more transparent with sharing their leverage curves to help shock tuners - it seems like most manufacturers are doing this now.

I really want to hear the explanation from the Transition guys that approved that abomination.  Like, they live in Bellingham.  It's wet up there.  I kill normal headset bearings in a year down here in California... I can't imagine how fast that shitty FSA internally routed thing dies in the PNWet.

I like Transition bikes, and am currently shopping for an ebike.  This stupid headset single-handedly eliminated the Repeater from any consideration.

Hmm I had one of the original ones that I thought said was made in Germany.  Maybe they changed when they got really popular.

I remember seeing that there's at least one other small dropper post company that makes them in Germany or Switzerland.  I can't recall the name of it though.  I'm sure you could find it on a Dangerholm bike lol...

BikeYoke dropper is made in Germany.

Suspension is not too bad for options... for shock you could do either an EXT (Italy) or Push (USA).  Fork you could do EXT (and rumor has it Push soon too).

Tires - I know Hutchinson is made in France.  I think the high end Conti tires are made in Germany.

After battling with some wrist pain (and resolving it after discovering it was just tight forearm muscles), I recently started trying different variations of "normal" grips instead of the RevGrips that I had been running to compensate for my jacked up wrist.  I found I generally preferred grips with cut-away sections through the inner sleeve to add more rubber on the end without making them thicker, and some sort of feature to help stop my hand from rotating.  OneUps have nice cushy rubber, but unfortunately the ribs stop short of the thumb, and I noticed on long days when my hands couldn't hold on, my thumb would rotate under, leading my wrist (and consequently elbows) to drop.

Then I tried the GE1s.  I didn't see it mentioned above, but they've got a small triangular wedge on the bottom for your thumb to rest against.  Night and day difference for me.  They are super sensitive to getting the angle right (I found that what works best is to line up the center of the clamp notch with the center of your brake), but once you do, you don't really notice the shape until your hand is trying to rotate under.  Arresting that tendency to rotate has made a big difference in my ability to keep a good attack position on longer descents ("eyes up, elbows out").

Ditto.  I'm planning on getting my first ebike next year, and was waffling between going for a full power one (to bang out maximum vert in the shortest possible time - sounds appealing with limited ride time) or an SL type one that rides more like a bike (at trade off of not being as fast uphill as friends' full power ebikes).  The Relay sounds like it could split that difference pretty well.

I've had great experiences with Transition's customer service in the past, and their build kits are a solid value too.

I also like that they are building a lot of flexibility into the configuration - either 160 or 170 travel, 29 or mullet.  So you can have your 170 eSpire, and I can have a 160 ePatrol.

Just a heads up, my buddy put this bar on his Turbo Levo.  The groove for the controller is too shallow for the fat wire housing on the Specialized bikes.  Even with greasing the wire housing, you still have a good chance of tearing the housing with the inner lockring of a grip.

To be clear, I'm not complaining about the silicon durability - that's on me.  I wash them very often, like every ride or every other ride.  And I dry them.  I know both are not recommended by any pad manufacturer, but I'd rather get a new pair of pads once a year than have stinky gear.