2 new XC tires from Trek/Bontrager:
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So these are the Sea Otter MTB announcements starting to trickle in?
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There’s your wider release 
Edit: someone beat me to it lol
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Vallnord looks very competitive in weight and I like those valve adapters.
However the chances of me buying any of these until I see a BRR drum test for them is exactly 0.
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With the Trek team running Pirelli, I wonder why they put out new XC tires from Bontrager.
Looking for some advice. I have a blur tr with a 2020 120mm fox performance. The fork is fine, but heavy. It’s also getting due for a full service. I’m considering making an upgrade. I’m located in the PNW, so trails are technical and chunky. This is my race bike and long ride bike, as I also have an enduro for more of my everyday bike. I’d like the blur to be fast and light, but not full weight weenie as it still needs to hold up and be enjoyable.
Options:
- Keep the fork, get a full service. 200$
- Get a fox factory 34 120. Prob around $800-$1000. But I can sell my current fork for $300-400, so a net cost of $400-$600. New model fork will perform better and have some weight savings.
- Get a 34 stepcast. Same costs as option 2. Fork will be much lighter, but I’m really unsure if it will perform better than the regular 34 in the terrain I ride.
I’m currently leaning towards option 2. Does anyone have any advice or insight?
I use a 34 SC on mine and really have nothing to complain about, it hold its ground for trail riding. But I’m a 145 flyweight rider. I don’t think I’d go full 34 on the blur if you plan to keep it somewhat lightweight
Anyone have any thoughts on crank stiffness? I’ve had experiences that lead me to beleive a stiff drivetrain makes a big difference to me. In cyclocross I went from alloy treks, to carbon boones, back to alloy, custom steel, and finally custom ti. The custom ti was soooo much better to pedal than anything before, as the bike was designed around drivetrain stiffness. I’m a 220lb rider, when trained producing decently large numbers.
This has me thinking cranks for my future XC hardtail (which also has a focus on drivetrain stiffness). I only run shimano cranks on MTB’s. But willing to try more if that makes sense? Has anyone tried the EE wings and noticed a worthy difference? What about the Garbaruks. Another option is more gravity focused cranks, weight isnt a huge concern where it adds performance to me.
The cranks I will otherwise use is the XTR race (m9000, with the funky narrow q factor, 180mm)
I have the ee wings and Sram XX1 Dub cranks and don’t notice a difference in stiffness. My peak power in sprint is 1400-1600W and both are plenty stiff. The ee wings look super bling though and yes, I‘d buy them again. They are certainly a lifetime investment and I can’t see any wear on them. Can’t say the same about carbon cranks even if it’s just the clear coat showing some dings.
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What performance advantage does a miniscule increase in stiffness offer? Where is the energy that deflects a crank going to go? The same place it does when it compresses suspension - rebound nearly all into the drivetrain. Where else could it go? Heat loss? You’d be talking hundredths of a percentage of a watt here.
There are definitely better places to spend money. 
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Is the Fox Factory much lighter than the Performace? If you like Fox probbaly the stepcast is the way to go if you want a significant weight reduction. I upgraded from Fox Performance 120mm to the new Sid Ultimnate 120mm and saved about 250 grams
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I have a 34 Grip2 and a last gen 34 SC and my examples are 120 grams difference.
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I’m more surprised that neither he nor Keegan have heard trainer road say that 2.4 tires are faster than 2.2
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Any idea what shoe Keegan is using? He’s on a mtb pedal from Look, I really like my giro sector but would love to see a lighter version, more race oriented 2 bolt cleat shoe from giro
Are you sure? He’s said multiple times he runs road shoes, so he might be running a road shoe with a 2bolt adapter - so any of the lightweight Giro shoes.
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He did a sea otter bike check on Instagram and showed it had carbon ti mtb SPD pedals. Not road pedals
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I was responding to whoever said he had road pedals.
I wonder how many tenths of a second those saved over the course of a race versus if he ran like xc9s. Genuine question