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Considering what Specialized have been doing with their in-frame-box, i'm surprised that noone in the MTB world has built a bespoke bottle + cage for their frames.

In roadie circles, aero or frame-specific bottles have been around for a long time, and Mavic even makes custom shaped bottles for their hip-packs.

OTOH,  bottles + cages are pretty much the oldest and most universally adopted standard in the cycling world.

Nicolai is speccing their G1s with Intend Edge USD forks. The dual-crown version of that might be the solution they are working towards.

I'm currently testing the Alpinestars Outrider WR shorts. They follow a similar idea as the mt500, with water resistant material overall and a fully waterproof backside. Not enough time on them yet to judge durability and long-term water resistance. One thing i like about them is that they are slim but long enough to cover my knee pads. As someone with a slim "cyclist-build", most other shorts are either too wide or get pulled up my legs when pedaling.

Posted by: Endur-Bro

Camelbak bite valve. 

Second that. Best bite valve i have tried. Using them with Deuter (= Source) bladders, which i think are better than the camelbak ones. Easier to clean and the closure is simple and reliable.

Posted by: syncro

Maybe Shimano needs to revisit it's distributor agreements and pricing for North America then?

Seems like such an adjustment is badly needed (not just from Shimano). If one retailer can sell at prices below what other retailers are paying wholesale and still make a profit, something about the distribution model is not quite right. This is not about different pricing for UK vs. North America, the same is happening within countries as well.

What i don't quite understand is why bike shops rage at online retailers, but not at the manufacturers who sell their stuff super cheap to large retailers and demand premium prices from smaller bike shops.

Posted by: awesterner

The 160/140 of the Sentinel is a pretty good sweet spot. I find mine quite nimble. At least for me I don't think the 140mm rear end gets in over its head unless you are smashing medium hits at Mach Chicken, or if you are on the brake bumps in the Park. Other than that it's pretty solid pick for a in between bike. :-)

**disclaimer this style of bike is a rear wheel destroyer. I'm on rear wheel #4. It takes you into the gnar at all the speed of a bigger bike,,,it's just kinda runs out of travel hahaha

How are you finding the pedalling on the Sentinel? Read a couple of reviews and the gist of it seemed to be that it is more capable than most 140mm bikes, but also that it pedals worse and feels less nimble than similar travel bikes.

Wait, so do they actually use a completely different casing for the front and back tires of the Mavic-set? That seems kind of silly to me, since you are supposed to pair them up and ride them on the same trails.

Mavic added the Quest to their lineup, which sits in between the Charge and Roam. Might turn out to be a really good rear tire, but i haven't seen it in stock yet.

Don't forget the Mavic Roam, which is quite similar in concept to the rock razor.

Although i seriously doubt that any of the two roll quite as fast as an X-King. The x king is a cross-country-race tire, fast as hell but not nearly as tough as the heavier trail tires like the rock razor.

I don't think trimming the HD is a good idea. That would be trying to convert the tire into something it isn't and can't hope to be.
The HD is a nice tire for intermediate trailriding, super predictable, great comfort booster for slow, techy stuff and light for the size.
But for agressive riding, get something with chunky side knobs and deep channels, there are tons of good options around.

It still wouldn't be as good as just bringing a tube, so I'm not sure where the actual benefit of this system will be over a regular tubeless set up (strictly talking about pinch flats and punctures, not burping air).

The point seems to be that you can run super low pressures in the outer tire for massive grip (esp. in slow techy stuff) without danger of denting the rim or pinching the sidewall between rim and rocks.

We have a guy of about your size in our riding group. He rides a 29-Stumpjumper and is super happy with the fit of the bike.
I think they really dialled the geometry on that for tall riders. When looking from a distance, he looks like a 5,8 guy riding a normal 26" Stumpy, you really have to look closely to see that its a tall guy on a 29.