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5 Things The Bike Industry Is Getting Wrong in 2024?

Writer's picture: Mo AwesomeMo Awesome

Updated: Oct 1, 2024

The year is 2024 and the bike industry is starting to find its stride again after a few years of chaos. But every new year brings new trends the bike industry seems to obsess over. Some trends are great (steeper seat angles) and some make little to no sense (internal headset cable routing). Here are 5 things that I think the bike industry is getting wrong in 2024: 


1. Pedal Kickback: The current obsession with minimizing pedal kickback is something I am not understanding. Chainrings and rear hubs that help minimize a problem I rarely complain about has me scratching my head and wondering is it me? Am I the problem? Or am I a rider that just appreciates bikes with high engaging hubs and a playful suspension design that has a great mix of traction and poppiness? Full disclosure, I also do not own a full face helmet… 





2. SRAM Mavens: When the Maven brakes were first introduced, my initial impressions were “wow, these are strong, almost too strong”. I think most of the industry, if not the market, has a somewhat similar take on these brakes as well, and the only thing that seems to be highlighted is the stopping power. However, after spending more time on both the Mavens as well as Codes, I'm starting to realize Mavens might not necessarily address stopping power issues some might have complained about on the Codes, but rather the poor heat dissipation issues the Codes possess. The Mavens seem to never make any noise towards the end of long downhill runs where the codes are quick to start making a screeching sound anything longer than a 3 minute sustained downhill. Was this the reason Mavens were created? Can Code brakes not take the heat? Are Maven brakes with better brake pads like MTX the solution?


3. Consumer Direct Will End Bike Shops: This is something that I think has slowly started to make itself shown to be not true. I remember when DTC brands were said to be one of the biggest threats to the local bike shop. While I think for a period of time it was, I also think those DTC brands whose main focus was price cutting rather than genuine customer service are slowly starting to fizzle away and you are starting to get a clear distinction between DTC brands who are here to stay and care about the sport, vs those who want to be flashy in regards to marketing and have no stake in the game or care for their customers. With that being said, I also think we are starting to see that local bike shops who are key pillars of the community are here to stay. Take care of your people and they will take care of you. And with more non-traditional DTC brands starting to offer direct to consumer options, I think the local bike shop still offers a stronger if not better deal for those same bikes. This is assuming of course that these non-traditional DTC brands do not try to undercut their dealers, and I think this will be the biggest question for the next few years. 





4. SRAM and Shimano are the biggest players in the drivetrain game: It used to be Shimano vs SRAM as the major players. However, in the last few years it has become very apparent. SRAM is the only one out of the two that is making us excited every year into what they are going to release. When is the last time Shimano has made us excited to try out the latest and greatest? Even as someone who still does not get along with Transmission, I can appreciate that SRAM has had some of the most exciting launches of the last 4-5 years while Shimano seems to continuously promise us a true wireless drivetrain that never seems to show up. Until further notice, SRAM is the key drivetrain player in the game. 


5. You need a piggy on your shock: It has long been assumed that you need a piggy reservoir on your air shock for it to perform well on extended downhills. Specialized released the new Genie shock this year, and while I can not say too much until our review goes live, I can say this apparently is not that case because that Genie shock is awesome. 


Until next time,


-Mo Awesome




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We are Mo and Hannah otherwise known as Awesome MTB. We create content, ride bikes, and live in a van full time. 

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