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So the cat is officially out of the bag, Fezzari bikes has decided to rebrand themselves as ARI Bikes. Same people running the company, same direct to consumer business model, same excellent customer service you have grown to expect from them, all in a differently named package. My thoughts and opinions on this? Well as someone who rode for them for 2 years before starting our media company, I have a lot of them, but that's not what this article is about so stay tuned for that article soon! This article is another first ride impression, something that I am getting to do more and more of as our media company grows! Now I do want to say one thing, I'm not an E-bike guy. Anyone who knows me knows I love to put my body through insane amounts of pain through solo endurance riding efforts and I am a pay to play type of rider. I have done lots of e-bike testing over the years though and while I do find them very fun, none have made me think about adding one full time to the quiver. Will the Nebo Peak change that? I got the call the day before landing back in the US after living in Asia for the previous 3 months. Joey, the marketing manager at ARI bikes, wanted to know if I wanted to put the Nebo peak through its paces the day I landed. I have never been more excited to ride an e-bike as I knew the jet lag I had wouldn’t be so bad with a little bit of help from a motor. This e-bike was also supposedly pretty different from other ones I had tested so I was stoked to give it a shot! When I showed up I got the full run down on the bike. The Ari Bikes Nebo Peak is a 140/150mm trail/enduro lightweight e-bike that utilizes a Fazua motor, a motor I had never tried before. The geometry was based on their Delano Peak, one of my favorite bikes in the line up that I have spent a lot of time on. The bike also had brand new SRAM Mavens on it, which were not released at the time. I got the bike dialed in for my liking and got ready to hit the trails. I would be testing a size XL and I am 6’2 Almost right away I could tell the Fazua motor was the right motor for this bike. Too many times I have hopped on an e-bike and felt like the motor was overpowering the pedaling aspect of the ride, and I would get a bit of a jolt from the initial pedal strokes. The Fazua motor and Nebo Peak chassis felt very smooth through its pedaling and you could tell a lot of time had been spent trying to get that more natural feeling into the climbing aspect of the ride. I really enjoyed the seated pedaling position as well, the geo really did feel in-line to their Delano Peak, which features one of the steeper seat angles in the trail bike game. You guys know that my love for steep seat angles runs about as deep as my love for my wife Hannah, so that is saying a lot. Well okay, maybe I love Hannah a lot more, but we can have both, right? After a long singletrack climb up it was time to go down and this is where it was time to have some fun and see what this bike was really about! From the first time I hit the brakes I knew the Sram Mavens were nothing to mess with when it came to braking power. The lever itself just felt so much stouter and I did get a little bit of an impression that maybe this brake set would be a bit much for my riding style. The Nebo Peak however felt amazing instantly! I still can't believe how comfortable I felt descending on the bike right out of the gate, something that I also noticed with the Delano Peak. Through all my years of testing I have realized there are bikes that feel good right away and also bikes that take time to learn how to ride them, and this was definitely the first one! The headangle, coming in at 65 degrees, paired with a slightly shorter chainstay, really made the lightweight aspect of the bike even more evident on fast singletrack. The bike had a very playful feeling to it, a word I don’t normally use to describe e-bikes. The rear end of the bike also felt very playful and I was able to maneuver the rear wheel and place it exactly where I wanted to! After a few more climbs and downhills I was really starting to get a better understanding of this bike. I kept going back to my Delano Peak mentally, a bike that I think I actually like more so than the bigger sibling La Sal Peak. The Nebo Peak just had this feeling of fun and it was very apparent that this bike wanted you to treat it very differently than just another heavy e-bike. Afterall weight wise, the Nebo peak is coming in around 38 lbs which is insane considering my La Sal Peak is at about 33 set up. The slight weight advantage of the Nebo Peak over the La Sal also gave the Nebo peak a degree of stability that the Delano Peak sometimes feels like it's missing. Things that I hated? The Fazua motor does have a bit of an awkward remote that I kept confusing the actuation on. Sometimes I would hit it thinking it was my dropper and other times I would forget which direction went more or less power. I think with time I would probably adjust but just something to note. The Maven brakes also feel a tad too powerful for the lightweight aspect of the bike too. The rear hub could benefit from more points of engagement as well, but that is an easy fix! So is the Nebo Peak turning me into an e-bike owner? The answer is still no. While I love testing and helping with product feedback, my personal fun rides are limited and I still prefer the traditional mountain bike for those. However, I will say this. The Nebo Peak’s extremely playful nature, lighter weight chassis, and non overpowering motor choice makes me ponder what the next few years of e-bikes look like. If you are a rider that is looking for a lightweight e-bike and you do not want the burden of trying to throw around a 50lb rig, the Nebo Peak is hands down one of my favorite e-bikes I have ever ridden. It's fun, playful, and it's light, three things that I never thought I would ever say about an e-bike just 5 years ago. Is it for me yet? Like I said, not yet, but with a 30 day love it or return it policy, if you are on the fence and are looking for an e-bike that still has that playful nature found in traditional bicycles, I would say this bike just might be for you. At a price point of $6k for top of the line suspension and a solid build kit, it's kind of a no brainer. Check out the Nebo Peak here:  https://aribikes.com/products/nebo-peak -Mo Awesome

They say if you can’t beat them, join them. However if you are a billionaire mountain biker brother duo, you do have one other option apparently, and that is simply buying them. In the case of the Walton brothers that looks to be working out in their favor with their investment into Allied Cycles, who just might have beaten Specialized to the XC punch! As you saw in our previous article, we were the first to leak what we think is the brand new Specialized Epic that we spotted in pics from the recent XC race by Specialized racer Sina. However diving even deeper into this bike and looking at the striking similarities by Arkansas’s bike brand Allied cycles BC40 (which was released in 2022), it's hard to not question if Specialized is taking notes from Allied and possibly late to the game on this new Epic. Both of these bikes as shown share strikingly similar frame aesthetics, however recently a leak of the Epic’s geo chart has started to float around the internet. If the geo chart is accurate, well then kudos to Allied Cycle Works. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and for a brand that has been around since 2016, one of the largest players in the game taking notes of your geo is very impressive. On a size Large BC40 and the leaked Epic you can see both have a 1210 wheelbase, 435 chain stay, and 475 reach. Also to note here the BC40 was first released in 2022, and if the Epic is following these numbers, then they definitely were ahead of the game. Allied Cycle Works is now based in Bentonville and the Walton brothers investment company, RZC Holdings, does have ties into the company. Which leads to the next question, does money and passion lead to success? Too many times we have seen outside investment money ruin a brand. However, normally that money comes from people that don’t ride bikes or care about our sport. But with the Walton brothers, they clearly have the money and but they also have the passion for mountain biking. The brothers love to ride, travel, and invest into trails. Clearly they also seem to have the vision in a potential of a company by trusting Allied Cycles with their investment and it seems like this investment is paying off. They have attracted talent like pro racer Payson McElveen. Clearly Specialized is either taking notes or maybe Allied Cycle works is just that much ahead of the game. We have reached out to both Specialized and Allied Cycle Works for comment. -Awesome MTB

My road bike has been sitting untouched for the last few weeks and I’m embarrassed to admit why. It’s not because I find road riding boring, quite the contrary, I love riding my road bike. In fact, I just returned from a 3 month trip of riding my road bike all over Asia, a trip I do multiple times a year. Riding my road bike in Thailand is actually one of my favorite things to do, and in all honesty if I could retire tomorrow, that is probably where you would find me. Long days in the saddle with no destination in mind and only my consistent cadence to keep me company. That is my favorite moment of cycling. Pushing my body to the absolute limits and sometimes past them, then trying to find a way to make it home. That is my happy place. So why would my road bike be sitting in storage if I truly loved road cycling? Well it's simple. I lost. I lost the game of chicken to the selfish drivers that exist in the USA. Not all of them, but a select few that have changed the lives of entire families by their selfish action to strike a cyclist while driving to and from wherever they deemed more important than human life. If you are close at all to the cycling community you either know someone or have heard a story of a cyclist getting hit by a driver while out on a road ride. Most recently for me it was the story of Derek Teel. Derek was out on a road ride one day when he was struck by a driver who fled the scene, leaving him to die. Luckily for him he was rushed to a hospital where he would undergo multiple surgeries to get to a point of relative stability. He still has an insanely long road to recovery ahead of him, but luckily he is still here with us. So why was this one different for me? Afterall, it was this exact story that has made me reluctant to reach for my road bike for the last few weeks. Well for starters, Derek made me realize that no matter how fit you are, none of us stands a chance against a car. Derek is actually a cycling coach and probably one of the fittest guys I have seen. I didn't know of him before he got hit, but just looking at his videos makes me realize this guy took fitness very seriously and yet he still was taken to the doors of death by a simple act of a car driving into him. Luckily for him I'm sure his fitness  most likely played some part in the injuries not being life altering, although I'm sure the memories and fear will stay with him forever. But what about that driver who fled? Luckily he was caught eventually, but what is that going to do? Will he get 5-10 years in jail after almost killing someone and then fleeing the scene? Or will he be another one of those cases that just gets off scotch-free with a little bit of probation? Too many times have we seen the justice system seem to actually treat cyclists as motor vehicles, letting off drivers who strike cyclists as if they just got into another car accident. And if you ever read the comments on most viral road cycling crash videos, a lot of them are ignorant people who think joking about hitting cyclists is funny. What about our cities' planning divisions? Surely, trying to create a safe space to ride your bike is something they can get behind right? After all, people seem to be all about the environment when it comes to electric cars and making sure we don't have any V8’s on the road? California is even trying to ban gas cars in favor of electric vehicles. But who is using those electric cars? Most likely short distance commuters as the range on an electric car is nowhere what is needed for long, consistent, road trips. And if that is the case, wouldn't encouraging more people to ride their bike to work be the more environmentally friendly thing to do? I mean sure, it most likely is not as profitable as slinging battery powered vehicles and I am sure the auto industry has some form of lobbying going on to prevent bike infrastructure. I just don't think it takes a rocket scientist, or Elon Musk in this case, to realize the answer is not electric cars. The answer is bicycles and making people feel safe to use them to get to work as well as running errands. Isn’t a bicycle way less harmful for the environment than an electric vehicle? And why is it that I don’t feel safe riding my road bike in California but I do in Asia? Well for starters, drivers in Asia are more on the defensive, as in most of Asia scooters are a part of traffic, weaving in and out of lanes. Drivers are already more aware and paying attention in order to not hit scooters, which in turn leads to a safer environment for road cyclists. But it seems like most drivers in Southern California are so deep into their tik-tok live stream about what pair of apple vision pro goggles they will be asking Siri to order for them that they couldn't care less to check to see if they are now driving in the bike lane. But honestly I don’t feel like this is where the problem ends and these drivers are not who I am most scared of. The drivers that have made me put my road bike away for now are the ones that think because you are slowing them down by a few minutes, that they now are entitled to take years off of your life and cause a lifetime of suffering for your family members. These selfish, arrogant drivers seem like they have no value on human life, something I have never experienced in Asia. It’s the drivers where when the bike lane ends, and you are forced into a car lane who aggressively accelerates to pass you, cutting you off moments later to make a right turn that have made me question whether I want to be out there. Cities carry a lot of the blame for this as well. Too often I hear BS claims that a city is bike friendly or bike safe, only to see all that really means is a few sections of green painted bike lanes. Are you as a city protecting cyclists? Is the driver that struck Derek going to be shut in a prison for the rest of their life? Who is protecting cyclists? Afterall, it can't be us, because if you were to retaliate against someone who tries to play with your life while on a ride, you most likely would end up arrested yourself, a thought that crosses my mind every time a car tries to scare me by swerving into my lane or “roaling coal” while passing. The self restraint for me to not chuck my C02 at their windshield was shrinking with every ride, and I do not know what the answer is there. So am I done road cycling forever? I don't think so. I look forward to all of my Asia adventures and one day riding my road bike in Europe. I probably will also ride my road bike again in the US at some point. But after recently getting married, my perspective on life has shifted. As much as I want to never give in and ride on what I have a right to ride on, I also have to admit that I'm terrified. I value my life way to much to get run over by some lazy, entitled, selfish prick who thinks he or she owns the roads. I honestly enjoy living my life too much to have this be the way I go out. In my opinion, the person who hit Derek and left him for dead, isn't a one off case and more people just like that drive on our roads daily. I think its time we spend less energy forcing everyone to get an electric car and instead start trying to figure out how we can make riding your bicycle on a road safe again in the US. Because it clearly isn't. -Mo Awesome

Pedals well, descends well, and is affordably priced. The magical trifecta of the bicycle world. If you ask me, I think most of the time you get to pick two out of the three here. A bike can pedal well and descend well, however you most likely will be paying a premium. An expensive bike that pedals well, most likely won't descend well. Now it's not to say that the bike’s missing third category will be horrendous. I'm just saying, you can normally be great at 2 of those things and the third is going to require some sacrifice. Recently I had the opportunity to test ride a YT Jeffsy, a 145mm travel 29er made by the popular direct-to-consumer brand YT Industries. This test ride was actually free since we visited their San Clemente HQ that holds free 2-hour test rides to the public. I was given a YT Jeffsy Core 4 build in a size XL to try out on their local San Clemente singletrack trails. This is my first impressions of the bike after one ride, something that isn't the be all, end all, to bike reviews but rather my initial thoughts after one ride. After getting set up on the bike and looking over the builds, we headed to the trails. There is a steep road that takes you to the trailhead and I found myself manualing the bike down with ease, before making the first turn to climb up another steep road. Almost instantly the geo of the bike became pretty apparent to me. This bike felt like it had a low BB, slightly longer chainstay, and fairly slack but not too extreme head angle. The seat angle also felt relatively steep compared to some other 140mm 29ers I am testing. These were all things that were a guess for me because I wanted to experience this demo without having looked at a geo chart. Another noticeable thing for me was that the suspension design felt fairly active, with a slight bob on the pavement climb. This bike was in for a good time downhill! The first downhill soon came upon us and this is where I really got to get a better feel for what this bike was about. With lots of twist and turns, as well as some steeper off-camber downhill sections, the name of the game on this bike was stability. The bike really did feel planted to the grown, a combo I attributed to both the active suspension design, longer chainstays, and fairly low BB that I was feeling. Now on those steep downhill sections, something I did notice was the bike overall felt shorter reach wise and I wasn't getting as much front end stability as I was on some other bikes I have in for testing. The stability was definitely coming from that suspension design, low bb and long chainstay combo. The bike was set up with a fairly short stem which most likely didn’t help. I would later look at the geo chart to confirm the reach of this bike is a bit shorter than other bikes in this travel category. Another climb and another downhill later would confirm a lot of what I was feeling on this bike. This felt like a technical rider's dream trail bike. The traction that the suspension platform provides is pretty unreal and the bike does truly feel glued to the ground. This traction is still apparent when it comes time to go up though, which isn't a deal breaker as I would argue that this bike probably would feel more efficient than certain DW-Link suspension bikes on more techy climbs. However, where we were testing didn’t have that so that is something I noticed. The longer chainstay and lower BB combo also was very much appreciated as this bike had an “on-rails” feeling to the ride, which made taking corners and keeping manuals raised feel effortless. The overall shorter reach did throw off the high speed stability feeling slightly, however I would probably offset that with a slightly longer stem and a raised, wider handlebar combo. Overall our 2 hour test ride was awesome and I really did enjoy my time on the Jeffsy. It would be nice to see a lighter build of this bike and have it more suited to my riding style, however I do feel like the bike's personality did shine through during that test. I would like to also note that my bike did have a loose grip that I caught right away but overall was very well maintained and shifted flawlessly. Hannah’s Capra test bike was missing a stem spacer and did have shifting issues, but both of those things were caught by us right away as well. Just something to pay attention to any time you test ride a bike that isn’t yours for safety reasons. So back to that pick two scenario. I think in the case of the YT Jeffsy, you have a bike that descends amazingly and is very affordably priced. Is it the best climber? On smoother, fireroad climbs, probably not with an open shock. But this is very easily offset by hitting the climb switch. I will also say, the very comfortable seated pedaling position, steep seat angle, and overall added feeling of traction to the bike makes me think that if I was somewhere technical, this bike might have the edge when it comes to climbing. Like I said, its not exactly a pick two and you don’t get any of the third but rather a but more of an asterisk next to the third category if that makes sense. I have said it many times before, there really is nothing like the first time you ride a new bike. First impressions say a lot and oftentimes they are not wrong. The YT Jeffsy felt like a bike for someone that wants traction and stability in a platform that still climbs very comfortably, although maybe with the rear shock locked out on more fire road style climbs. But that just means more fun when you get to the top! Bikes are fun, and this one was too! Except for Hannah’s, that one needed a little TLC. Check out the YT Jeffsy here: https://us.yt-industries.com/products/bikes/jeffsy/core-4/640/jeffsy-29-core-4/ -Mo Awesome

Yesterday, after my Norco opinion piece, I got called a cheese bag. If you haven't read that article, I did an opinion piece on how I thought bike weights were getting more out of control than my taste in trucks (currently looking for a Ford Raptor R). Well someone responded to my opinion piece with a very passionate explanation into why I was wrong and signed it off calling me a "cheese bag". Now while I am not entirely sure as a vegan of 9 years how to take that sign off, I will say this, the passion he had in his comment is exactly the passion that is missing from the bike industry! Years of marketing BS and strategies taught in fancy colleges, combined with investors from worlds that don’t know anything about bikes have led to companies feeling too scared to express any opinion at all. Where has the soul gone and how do we get it back? Why do companies feel the need to come off as a corporate conglomerates dream client, all clean and fancy, with no sharp edges in personality. We ride two wheeled bicycles on dirt, this isn’t some crazy tech industry or billion dollar shoe company. Sure we had a few years of insane growth leading some outside influences to make their way into our sport, but it's time to go back to the grassroots “f%$# you” mentality that made this sport so good to begin with! You think when they were converting their Schwins to ride off-road, down trails that didn’t exist yet, that they were thinking, “man I really hope we can sell our souls and come off super polished one day”? No! This sport was created through a combination of passion and soul, mixed with innovation. Sure one can argue that if we kept it that way, the sport would have never grown due to a lack of professionalism. Well, we’ve grown, and in my opinion professionalism isn’t going to take us much further or get companies through these next few tough years. Sure huge corporations like SRAM who are too big to fail will make it through no matter how many cringy powerpoint presentations they put together, but what about your favorite boutique bike brand? What will get companies through these next few years is returning back to the roots of mountain biking and showing people they care about bikes! Stop trying to figure out what you can and can’t say and speak from the heart. People can smell BS a million miles away, there is not replacement for authenticity. Fire your PR team and put the employees in front of the camera. If the people making the product can’t convince me they believe in their product, why should I buy it? You know what would have made this comment 10 times better? If Norco themselves wrote it. Obviously, I’d say we can stray away from the cheese bag sign off, but the comment as a whole is very interesting. It addresses his point of thinking bikes don’t need to be lighter but rather more affordable and produced in a way that brings less impact to the environment. His passion for the stance resonates through that comment. And that is exactly what companies need to realize in 2024. Passion sells bikes. Your corporate image and fear of offending everyone doesn’t. Take risks, be yourself, and find your soul! Or don’t, but then you can't say Queso Bolsa didn’t warn you. -Mo Awesome

I had a serious bike flashback on a ride yesterday, and as weird as that sounds, stick with me here. Revel bikes recently released the updated Rascal 29er and I'm excited for this one! Like I have mentioned previously, I don’t really see too many brands taking a gamble this year with anything entirely new. The year 2024 is shaping up to be a model update year for most brands with lots of bikes getting the necessary updates that may have been put off for sometime due to the crazy market. The Rascal 29 is one of those bikes, getting the UDH treatment and a bit more of a progressive geometry. And to be completely honest with you, I don’t have any problems with that! Sometimes small changes are all a bike needs to make it awesome, and the Revel is definitely striking my curiosity. So what is the Rascal 29er? It's a 130mm rear travel 29er that seems to pair well with a 140mm fork, has a fairly conservative 65.5 degree head angle (remember when 65 was insanely slack?), and short chainstays to match. It utilizes CBF suspension design that stems from Canfield Bikes, a brand that knows a thing or two about traction. The Rascal 29 comes in 2 colors: a yellow-gold color as well as a deep purple. Both share names that might feel slightly cringey when explaining them on the trail, one being Pinot Gnar and the other being Ponyboy. I think we are going to stick to yellow and dark purple here. So why do I want this bike? Well as you know I am currently putting a Pivot Cycles Switchblade through its testing paces and the bike is insane! I love the combo of a longer reach and a shorter chainstay, it really has made most trails come alive especially the chunky ones! I have a full review coming out on this bike soon so stay tuned. Now let's talk about that flashback. Every now and then while out on a ride I have flashbacks to a bike I have owned in the past and miss. This flashback came to me on a super fast tight trail with lots of sections to pop off of and the bike itself that came to mind was my old Ibis Ripley. I really did love that bike, there was just something about how short travel it was combined with its shorter wheelbase and lower front end. It felt as if I could jump off of almost anything on the trail instantly even though the frame felt somewhat flexy in certain areas. Was it the most stable high speed bike? Not at all, but it brought out a sense of style in my riding I didn’t know I had, and if i'm being honest with myself, probably was my top 5 favorite bikes I have owned. As I was having those flashbacks to the Ripley, making my way down the trail, I realized that is what I want from my next test bike. The Switchblade produces an insane amount of confidence on your bike, especially anywhere chunk is present. It almost feels like Pivot has built into the geo an anti-over-the-bars combo of angles and numbers where it really feels like you have total control of the front end of the bike. That short chainstay behind you makes managing that longer front end a breeze as well. I also have a few more test bikes with similar wheelbase numbers coming in for testing soon. (Rascal 29er Geo Left and Pivot Switchblade Geo Right) But looking at the Rascal 29er on paper and seeing chainstay numbers as short as the Pivot with the same BB height, but with a 20mm overall shorter wheelbase, as well as shorter stack height, makes me think that this Revel Rascal might ride more like my old Ibis Ripley. And if you have never ridden a bike that inspires you to find any root or small bump to try and get air off of, let me tell you, you are missing out! So is the Rascal 29er in my future? I think so and if its not, I need to get another short travel 29er fun bike soon. Or else I think those flashbacks will only get more intense, and no one wants that. Brand new Rascal 29: https://revelbikes.com/product/rascal/ -Mo Awesome

I'm going to keep this opinion piece short and sweet so I don't get too riled up. I have a friend who I go back and forth with in regards to bike news. We will send each other new bike releases, oftentimes followed up by if either of us will be pulling the trigger. Over the last few years we have noticed it almost seems as if bike companies have either given up or completely forgotten an important element to bikes being desired and that is weight! But why would they remember? The last few years have been spent on a hyper fixation with motors in bikes where weight doesn't seem to matter and superlight e-bikes being often times overlooked for their full powered siblings. It seems like this hyper fixation has led us to a “50 First Dates” scenario where it is up to me to remind bike companies that weight does in fact still matter. Hello, remember me?? The crucial deciding factor on if I should go for a bike or not?? The most recent bike launch my friend sent to me was the Norco Optic, a 125mm light weight “short travel trail bike” coming in at more than 31lbs for a top of the line build (35lbs for some other builds, I don’t want to talk about this one, it will rile me up too much). Who in their right mind wants a 125mm trail bike to weigh 35 lbs? Well, they just signed Greg Minar so I could see someone with his insane skill set enjoying a little bit more of a capable trail bike to handle whatever jibs he throws at it! Or maybe it's a bike for the employees at Norco? Norco is a BC company filled with employees who rip hard! But is that the end consumer? Because let me tell you something, the average mountain biker doesn't want their short travel trail bike to come in at what many enduro 29ers come in at! I don't care how high you put that pivot or how many pulleys are on your bike, a short travel trail bike should share the same numbers as a quarter life crisis, 25 to 27. Its weight shouldn't be a number where its life is starting to come together like someone who is 35. What are we even doing anymore? Do we care? Have we given up on the bicycle? What am I even saying any more? Don’t blame me, blame Norco. The purpose of a short travel 29er trail bike should be to get out there, rip hard up, and still have the ability to rip capably down. If I want to huck off a huge cliff, I'll bust out my enduro bike. This pure disregard for bicycle weight is something that companies need to realize will affect sales. You can't blend bike categories, especially when there are so many other bike companies making awesome bikes. I'm not saying Norco bikes aren’t great, I actually have a few models in for testing soon. I'm just trying to say, a bike doesn't have to do everything. In fact, that’s how you sell less bikes. I can guarantee you, if you want to make a bike that does most things good and nothing great, there will be a company that makes a bike that does most things great and very few things pretty good. And that’s the bike I will buy. Norco Optic: https://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/trail/ -Mo Awesome

DVO Suspension knows a thing or two about how to make a fork feel good. Afterall, the same guys running the company are the same people who were in charge of Marozocchi for 27 years before FOX decided to treat it as their budget “free-ride” brand. Bryson Martin, the founder of DVO, also has deep ties to SR Suntour’s Taiwan factory which pumps out thousands of forks a week. We have been lucky to ride for DVO suspension for the last 5 years before starting a media company and find it only fitting that the first set of suspension in for testing is the brand new Onyx 38! And before we dive into this I do want to say, I'm not a bar or graph guy. If you are looking for exactly what is going on inside of suspension I am sure there are a lot of great tech articles out there but that stuff puts me to sleep. This is how the fork feels to me on the trails, we’ll leave the bar graphs for the office. I personally spent a good majority of the last few years on the old Onyx with 36mm stanchions. The fork felt great but there was always that awkward pause in conversation when you tried to explain why it didn’t have 38mm stanchions like other free-ride forks. On top of that it had the traditional OTT spring adjustment DVO is known for. What is OTT? Well that was always a very interesting question to answer as it seemed the more I would try to explain it, the more I would get confused even though I had just dialed it in perfectly. When I had it set up, it felt so good and supportive on the top stroke while also feeling nice and supple. Clearly though, it needed a little more of a simple approach. Fast forward to the current Onyx 38 and now we have 38mm stanchions and the new SL air system! What does that combo mean in real life (once again graphs are for engineers and the office)? Well you get a fork that feels insanely soft and supple in the initial stroke but with plenty of mid stroke support, a stiff chassis, all in a super easy to set up package! How easy to set up? All you have to do now is air up the fork, set your compression and rebound, and hit the trails! After getting my test suspension set up on my Pivot Switchblade (160mm fork) and Ibis Mojo HD6 (180mm fork), we headed straight to Arizona for a full week of aggressive testing. I had very little time to work on adjustments and I just hoped that I would acclimate quickly to the new set up. And boy did I acclimate quickly! I do want to note quickly for all my fellow weight weenies though that currently I am testing the Fox 36 as well as Fox 38. I weighed all three forks and the new Onyx 38 is 100 grams lighter than the Fox 38 and 200 grams heavier than the 36. I know the bike industry currently thinks weight doesn’t matter but it does, sorry Norco. Also huge shout out to the guys at DVO suspension for making sure everyone actually gets taken care of equally. Ronnie, a suspension wizard, set up my fork and he is the same person who dials in customer forks as well! There is no special "pro's" only mentality which makes DVO super reachable to the end consumer. Have a question about your fork? You can actually call these guys and they will answer. Good luck with SRAM on that, I have been trying that with my Transmission for a bit and I will report back if it ever works. As for how the fork felt, for me it was love at first compression on the new Onyx 38! Compared to the older Onyx, the stiffness of the fork is very noticeable and it constantly made the South Mountain chunk as well as all of the jagged rocks on La Milagrosa trail in Tucson feel almost muted. My test bikes made me feel as if I had spent a few extra days in the gym, and I consistently found myself blown away at how much I was able to get away with when it came to choosing lines blind on La Milagrosa, a trail known for not holding back at all when it comes to chunk! The other thing noticeable immediately is how supple the fork is in the initial stroke without blowing through the first bit of travel, something not easily achieved, especially for riders like myself that like to run our suspension slightly softer with faster rebound. The transition through the travel also felt very smooth and controlled and I didn’t notice any spot where it felt like I was blowing through any travel. This fork felt like it supported me like a weighted blanket supports a dog on a fourth of July evening. And just as the US went full freedom mode breaking away from Great Britain, I couldn’t help but feel like a rockstar myself for the entire first few rides on this fork! It truly is mind blowing how much confidence it’s given me while still not feeling overbearing like certain other freeride forks on the market. Now DVO pitches a lot of other updates to this fork including a one unit system and redesigned arch of the fork to create an insane ride quality. But like I’ve mentioned in previous articles I hate when reviews don’t break things down simply because at the end of the day, Im that simple guy. I want to know how the person felt when riding a product, and once again if I wanted tech specs, graphs and bar charts I would listen to my mom and get a real job. Plus DVO’s website explains all of that really well. As for how I personally felt while riding the new DVO Onyx 38, absolutely blown away would sum it up very well! The amount of smiles this fork brought to my face on both my HD6 as well as Switchblade was enough to give me premature wrinkles and I constantly found myself trying to find sketchier lines to send myself off of despite running a self insured medical policy. DVO truly has created the best fork I have ever tested. And the best part is? They now have it in a very stealth gray option that looks amazing in person! Check out DVO Suspension Here: https://dvosuspension.com/product/onyx-d1-38/ -Mo Awesome

As someone who is never wrong at all (ever) and always completely right (always) I feel compelled to make others who might not have this talent feel more comfortable. That is why I am starting the “5 Things I Was Wrong About” monthly article so that I can relate more to the common person. All jokes aside, as someone who is very opinionated, I also know when to fold them. So this is what I was wrong about in February: Super Boost: This is one of those things that is still hard for me to fully say I was wrong about because I still don’t completely understand what super boost spacing exactly does, or why it makes things better. Any research I do leads to so much tech terminology that goes completely over my head about chainlines and Q factors. My issue with Superboost has always been with how much I travel and how annoying it is not being able to use a friend's wheel in a pinch. I have to say though, I love the new Switchblade I've been testing, and I can't help but feel like some of that is due to Pivot knowing a thing or two about short chainstays. So I'm going to say I was wrong about this one, but also can we please get the spark notes “Dummy’s Guide” version on what superboost does. Shimano: This one we can thank Japan for. As you guys read in a previous article, visiting Japan made me realize how functional Shimano is. After the trip, I started to look at Shimano in a new light and realized why they don’t make huge sudden changes, or have the flashiest drivetrains. They make things that work, and unfortunately, their North America Marketing team with their elitist attitudes were what was preventing me from seeing how cool Shimano is! So if I am ever in the market for Shimano, I'll probably hop on a plane and buy some in Japan, because it doesn’t feel like things are changing in North America. Trucks as MTB Vehicles: As a full time vanlifer this is a tough pill to swallow, but I am starting to get truck envy. The amount of bikes you're able to carry and rough roads you can access is starting to make me want a truck shuttle rig. I feel like our recent visit to Rig’d started this and who knows, maybe a truck is in our future. I like being fully enclosed in a vehicle while camping but I also like not feeling as if the vehicle is going to flip while off-road. While I would like our future vehicle to be the Ford Raptor R, my financial advisor/manager has veto’d it (im looking at you Hannah) so who knows what the future holds in store for trucklife. SRAM Transmission: I was wrong when it comes to the new SRAM Transmission drivetrain. I actually don’t just hate it. I now think that it's one of the worst inventions in all of mountain bike history and it actually makes me almost resent the bikes I'm testing with it. It shifts insanely slow and I am now starting to see clutch issues with it. On top of this the more SRAM doubles down on this being the future of drivetrains, the more I want to take a rock and smash it against my derailleur. But that won't even do anything for me because they spent all their time making it rock proof and not actually making a functioning derailleur Double Downs: I used to think double down tires were overkill and only for downhill racers. Well, after our recent test trip to Tucson and riding La Millagrosa on my HD6, equipped with Double Downs, I now see the extra rubber light! The added confidence in being able to pick whatever line I wanted combined with the sidewall cornering support and ability to run lower pressures made me feel almost invincible! Will all my bikes have double downs? I'm still a weight weenie so most likely not, but I will say, I now understand the hype! So there you have it, those are the only times I have ever been wrong ever. See you guys next month! -Mo Awesome

There has been a lot of rumblings about a new Specialized Epic on the way and after a weekend of racing it looks like Specialized Athlete Sina Frei was on something interesting in Baynoles for the Shimano Super Cup. Scouting Instagram a few photos popped up of her on a bike where the down tube looks a little beefier and the head tube looks different (see below), overall it definitely looks like it has potential to be a new Epic?

As someone who spent a pretty significant amount of time in their 20’s working in bike shops, I remember the direct to consumer boom clearly. The typical avenue to purchase your mountain bike had been a standard bike shop. You would find a shop that fit the vibe you were looking for and they would have product on the floor for you to browse. If they didn’t have your size or a specific model you were looking for, they would make a special order, normally with some form of a deposit, and the waiting game would begin. As soon as the bike arrived they would build your bike up and get it tuned to your exact needs. Upon pickup, they would help you set up the bike and answer any of your follow up questions. Your local bike shop would also be your connection to the brand itself, fulfilling warranty claims and assisting with any recalls. Then YT came along and things got weird. I remember when the YT bikes craze first happened in the US and hearing about their bikes as well as their new models. It seemed like I was seeing them everywhere, and now looking back at it and understanding how the bike industry works, I realize it was a very aggressive marketing campaign. It seemed like everyone had heard about the bikes, but no one really had seen them on the trails yet. These bikes were supposed to be just as good as what we were selling in bike shops but for thousands of dollars off. Instantly the talk amongst shop employees became about how ridiculous direct to consumer was and how we were going to now have to help service bikes that people weren’t going to buy from us. This was going to be the death of the local bike shop and possibly the end to all of our in person sales careers. Then they started popping up in person and things got worse. The bikes actually looked rad and had this very core look to them. We as bike shop employees were seemingly in trouble. Things got even worse when Canyon began really making their US push following YT’s footsteps. It seemed like you couldn’t escape either of these brands marketing campaigns no matter where you went. Canyon seemed to be going for a little more of a posh style look, while YT kept things seemingly rock and roll. Both of these brands started to become more prominent on the trails and it seemed like they were growing very rapidly, with big HQ setups being opened in Southern California, somewhere where retail space definitely isn’t cheap. So if things had went this smoothly for both YT and Canyon, the story should end happily correct? Afterall, if 2 brands with a business model of creating high end bikes while changing the way they are sold to decrease the costs are growing so rapidly, they should have taken over the market correct? Well turns out going all in and focusing on growing as big as possible in the quickest amount of time comes with its own logistical nightmares. These nightmares have already been addressed by traditional bike shop brands. Issues with warranties and replacement parts began to plague both of these brands for good periods of times, almost crippling the marketing hype they had created. It seemed at one point, everyone knew someone waiting for a replacement something from either of them, something that is an easy fix traditionally at your local bike shop. I still remember when a part on my first real mountain bike, the Kona Mahuna, broke and The Path Bike Shop let me borrow one of their rental bikes as they normally do with repair services, to make sure I didn’t miss out on any riding. That is what makes a local bike shop so special. Also it seemed as if issues with who was going to be fulfilling warranty requests started to ensue at both of these brands. The aggressive marketing techniques combined with being the first to really disrupt the market didn’t help win favors with local bike shops, and shops were reluctant to work on them. Another issue started to arise during the bike boom and all of the rapid growth that followed. It was at this time that these 2 companies began to lose their soul, with outside hires of non-traditional bike industry corporate executives being brought in to a sport that requires passion to thrive in. Fast forward to today when that bubble has burst, the lack of soul and passion can be smelled a mile away. YT’s founder being brought back in to help try and restore that stoke that first helped launch this brand within the US seemingly confirms this. Canyon is still trying to find the vowels they lost in the CLCTV Now is direct to consumer a bad business model? Not at all, and I think if you look at where the industry is going with more brands seemingly wanting to give it a try it seems like it’s here to stay. And this is where Propain Bikes and Fezzari Bicycles comes in. Unlike YT and Canyon, Fezzari and Propain both seem to have taken a little bit of a back seat initially, learning from the initial struggles of YT and Canyon in the US market, while making sure they don’t repeat some of those mistakes. Fezzari actually has been around for quite sometime too, but unlike YT and Canyon, have taken a much more long game strategy when it comes to what they are trying to accomplish. Slow and steady growth has been crucial to them, with an emphasis on the steady part. The same can be said for Propain as well. In regards to Fezzari, I recently had a chance to ride for them for 2 years and got a good look under the hood of their operations. What struck me as different was how efficient the company is ran. The founder, Chris Washburn, is still the man in charge running day to day operations, something I think is crucial to a company’s success in the bike industry. Passion sells bikes and his vision for starting the company is still the ethos they run the company with. They don’t have any crazy corporate executive they poached from some shoe brand, everyone at the company is passionate about bikes. They also realized the goal isn’t to just sell someone a bike. Afterall, if that person ends up with a horrible warranty experience, you lose that customer forever. So they were one of the first direct to consumer brands to really dial things in on the logistical front and make sure you felt taken care of, just as you would through your local bike shop. And I would argue, in my opinion, they have the most professional direct to consumer business model in the bike industry backing bikes that ride great! As for Propain? They are a bit new to the US market, but have executed things perfectly. First off, the person launching them in the US wasn’t some corporate CEO from an industry that couldn’t care less about mountain bikers. It was actually a guy named Victor Sandrin, who is also the man responsible for bringing IXS and Spank to the US market. Vic is very passionate about bikes and the sport of mountain biking as a whole, and that passion, as well as care shows in how effective they have been growing Propain here in such a small time period. The athletes they work with also aren’t just insanely talented, but are heavily involved in the community, like Ryan Radriguez, everyones favorite free rider. Logistically, they seem to also be taking their time growing rather than expanding rapidly and not being able to take care of their customers, which in my opinion is what handicapped YT and Canyon. So how do you disrupt a market and grow a successful business? Well, it looks like you have to have a solid product backed with amazing customer service and a strong marketing push. This isn’t a pick two of three game either. Missing one of these qualities will handicap you and bring all of your growth to a halt. And if that happens? Well, you probably are going to be spending a bit of time looking for your vowels while waiting for the quality missing from your business to catch up. -Mo Awesome

The Sedona Mountain Bike Festival is the BEST mountain bike festival out there, period. Bold statement? Possibly, but I am standing by it. In a day and age where it feels like corporations are starting to suck the soul out of anything that once had a pulse, it's refreshing to have a festival as big and successful as the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival on the calendar. The actual festival itself still possesses that grassroots energy that goes hand in hand with the sport of mountain biking. There isn’t some motor oil company’s logo being shoved in your face or a cheesy auto tire brand company pulling up in an 18 wheeler marketing setup. Both of those categories clearly provide an insane support marketing dollars wise to whatever festival they attend, but that's not what the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival is about, and I appreciate that. We're cyclists, this isn't a car show, it’s a mountain bike festival. Also unlike most other major bike festivals throughout the year, there is not some gigantic mega corp financially backing the festival or putting it on. The Sedona Mountain Bike Festival actually started through a bike shop putting the festival together for the mountain bike community. That same owner that put on the first Sedona Bike Festival 10 years ago, Michael Raney, still puts it on today, and also still owns that bike shop. He is involved with all of the logistics, from coordinating with the town of Sedona to talking with sponsors. No corporate CEO from some unrelated industry was brought in to “sell” this festival to people or sell the “people” to that CEO. This is still a grassroots mountain bike festival filled with soul and passion, not greed and analytics. Now what makes this the best mountain bike festival out there besides passion and soul? Well for starters, the riding is off the charts. If you have ever been to Sedona you know that it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. So many amazing, world class level trails, with picture postcard views everywhere you look. Combine this with an endless amount of single tracks, this 3 day festival can easily turn into the best 3 days of mountain biking in your life. On top of this, the festival has a crazy amount of demo bikes so that you can test out whatever bike you want on some of the most natural mountain bike trails, giving you a very good sense of what a bike is capable of. There is also a shuttle provided to the trails as well, so just get to the festival and have a great time. A great time can also be found at the festival itself, with live music, food trucks, and lots of festival activities going on throughout the day. Now why am I writing this article again? Well let's talk about the elephant in the room, the weather. It has been a running joke that the weather has been an issue the last 2 years, and that is a fair point. Some people argue that the festival should be moved date wise to something later in the season and others make a case that you shouldn’t buy a ticket until we get weather confirmation, both of these points I want to address. In terms of the dates, I don’t know too much about what goes on in the chamber of commerce in Sedona, but I can only imagine how interesting it would be dealing with a town that seems to sometimes emit the energy of the final destination boss in the game of HOA. Have you ever been to Sedona and seen the green McDonalds logo? That is actually the beauty of the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival. Somehow, Michael Rayney and team have been able to put on the biggest mountain bike festival in a town that doesn’t seem like it would want to be home to that. Now I can’t speak for the City of Sedona, even though I'm sure my mom would be happy if that was my job (sorry Mom), but I can’t help but feel one of the reasons this festival gets the green light is the soul it has. Sedona is one of the most energetically vibrant towns, filled with some very passionate, sometimes too passionate, people. And if you have ever met the founder of the  festival Michael, that passion and caring energy sums him up, and in my opinion is how he has been able to make this happen, year after year. In terms of holding out to buy tickets? Now, I don’t benefit whatsoever financially if you purchase a ticket, but I will say this. I do benefit from this festival. I feel like over the years I have gotten so exhausted by the soul of mountain biking seemingly being sucked out of our sport and sold to corporations. And each year after attending the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival I realize that there is still some hope out there for our sport and that there are still some rad events out there being put on by awesome people. Don’t get me wrong, things like the Hurricane Bike Festival are awesome and passion driven as well, but the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival has somehow managed to put itself up there with the other biggest attended bike festivals, while remaining for the people. This makes companies see that passion and soul is still worth investing money into. And even in years where the rain hasn’t helped and we might not have been able to ride as much as we wanted, Mike and his team have always gone above and beyond to make sure people are having an amazing weekend so that they leave feeling like they are more than just some analytic that will be presented to companies. So with all of that being said, I am excited to once again be going back to the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival. And if you want to support the biggest grassroot mountain bike festival in America and keep the soul of mountain biking alive, all while testing bikes in the most beautiful place in the US, you can buy your tickets here: https://sedonamtbfestival.com -Mo Awesome