Five Small Changes that Would make Make Mountain Bikes Better

Now, I know what you are thinking. You have this, right? You have cut a lot of dead weight that had no easily tracked metrics of sales success – race teams, grassroots programs, customer service staff – and now you are busting ass to release four, five, six-thousand-dollar kids’ e-MTBs. Sure, they weigh two-thirds of their pilots, have no room for a proper dropper post, and groms will grow out of them in a blink or two. But let us focus on the positives, please.

Now, busy over-scheduled kids can get in a real ride without their parents having to tow them up the hill or, trigger warning on this one, having to wait patiently for their groms to grind up under their own power. Plus, any time outside is invaluable in combating the shocking increase in myopia in children. How else can we get them away from all those hours in front of screens?

I am sorry, yes. You are right. You clearly have the big picture under control. But we are here now, so maybe just hear me out? For the love of ye olde time person-powered off-road cycling’s sake?

Hardtail Accessory Mounts

There was a time when every single hardtail sold had a complement of frame mounts. I am not talking about a million metal zits protruding from every tube, just two thumbs up for a tasteful selection of rack and fender mounts.

Yes, it is true, there is now an abundance of genuinely good racks and fenders that can be installed without said mounts but years down the trail there is still no better and more secure full-coverage system for less money than bolt-on fender struts and the same is doubly true for basic pannier racks.

I am not even asking on behalf of those hardtail owners who may want to try bike packing. Maybe not even on behalf of the first customer for your bike. But as a peek through any bicycle buy-and-sell will tell you there are an epic number of old hardtail mountain bikes out there ready for a new life as a commuter rig being pedaled to work, school, etc.

The thing is, those mounts, however replaceable they are with other attachment solutions, voice the possibilities to people. A Kona Honzo ST with a quartet of 4mm bolts on the seat stays is not going to be even a molecule less fun to rip around on trails but it is going to know that it has infinite possibilities for future uses. Bicycles just want a purpose. To be used.

BSA Everyday

The BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) bottom bracket has a pile of names – ISO, British, Euro, BSC (British Standard) – but at this point, it should just be called a bottom bracket, and all the other loser standards out there can wear identifiers.

First the BSA, in 68mm and 73mm widths, had to murder a bunch of classic standards like the precession-prone Italian (70mm) bottom brackets that share the same 24tpi threads but are not reverse threaded on the drive side. Before that, it had to punch out the equally bad French standard which was the same story in a 68mm shell and 25.5tpi (1mm) threading. The Swiss had their standard too.

In more recent years BSA has almost completed the extinction events for PF30, PF92, and T-47 (both versions) bottom brackets for mountain bikes. Let road do road things. Let gravel remain the unnatural plane of existence where the two-wheeled designers meet. Let mountain bikes re-reach their natural equilibrium where all bottom brackets are threaded BSA bottom brackets.

No? PF92 is lighter weight and gives you more design flexibility, you say? Let me point out that if the old BSA is good enough for ultra-mega-cutting-edge-super-deluxe US$14,500 S-Works Epic 8, weighting a claimed 10.42 Kilograms* in a size medium without pedals and sporting nine (NINE!) batteries*, well, it is good enough for whatever you are making. When it comes to choosing a bottom bracket, just say ‘B.S.A! B.S.A!’

*{9x Batteries: AXS Dropper Post, AXS Dropper POD, XX SL Rear Derailleur, AXS Shifter POD, XX SL Power Meter Cranks, SIDLuxe Ultimate Flight Attendant Shock, SID Ultimate Flight Attendant Fork, Rear Quarq TyreWiz 2.0, and Front Quarq TyreWiz 2.0}

‘[Make] to Last Many Lifetimes (of real-world abuse)’

Do you know who is not going to make a wireless-shift-routing-only mountain bike? SCB. Santa Cruz Bicycles. How do I know that? Because they say right in their mission statement :

“ We design, research, engineer, manufacture, and assemble the very highest quality bikes. They are so simply advanced that they make bicycling even more enjoyable and are made to last many lifetimes of real-world abuse. ”

SCB makes high-end machines and I doubt anyone there is thinking their customers are not going to flip bikes and pick up the new-new every few years, so that means ‘many lifetimes’ is going to be spread over multiple owners. At some point over the years, that bike needs to be compatible with a CUES drivetrain because as cheap as SRAM has made OE-only S1000 T-Type drivetrains at some point in the ownership evolution replacing US$3.00 stainless steel shifter cables makes more sense than replacing US$60 AXS batteries.

Or, to put it another way, when the whole drivetrain is cooked, at some point in the ownership evolution a complete CUES drivetrain that costs less than the base-model US$250 T-Type cassette is going to be a winning decision.

I know, zip-ties and stick-on guides are an option. I know that essentially zero people who are actually, really, truly going to drop boutique carbon super-bike money tomorrow want a cable-actuated drivetrain. But think of vestigial derailleur cable routing as a concession to some future owner taking their place in the great circle of bikes which allows bike companies to continue to sell the latest and greatest. Sing it with me: Nants ingonyama bagithi baba!

Saddles You Would Ride

Yes, contact points are personal. But every product manager should be forced to use every pair of grips and saddle they spec on a bike and then have their name attached prominently to that choice. With a feedback system with some sort of threshold and then if they choose a total ass-hatchet their punishment is having to ride it on all their bikes for a year.

Or better yet, have everyone in the company who rides try a few saddles being considered and then rank them. Choose the option that scores the best overall at a given price point. If 90% of riders on staff are okay with, say, a WTB Volt, whether it is their first choice or not, then somewhere around 90% of your customers are going to be okay with it too.

This is not an elitist request. I am not asking for fancy rails, micro-fiber covers, or memory foam padding. It is just not that hard to spec a seat that most anyone would be willing to sit on.

For example, I have a pile of hours on the house brand ‘Speed Concept’ saddle that Marin puts on their US$900 San Quentin 1 mountain bike. It is miles from my current first choice, the US$140 BikeYoke Sagma , but think about the parts budget for a complete bike that rolls off the dealer floor for US$900 plus tax and pedals.

Stainless Steel Cables

I do not know why drivetrain companies, like Shimano, even allow galvanized shifter cables to come as spec with their systems. Over too short a period, at least in the climate where I live, they make even the nicest drivetrains shift like crap. I will tell you now, a lot of riders assume their shifter and derailleur have shit the bed. When in reality, firing some lube in the housing and chasing it with a fresh stainless cable will usually resolve everything.

If I were Shimano or Jagwire, I would do the same as every shop I have worked at and only sell stainless steel cables. Why put their names and reputations on galvanized cables at all? How much money are even the biggest players saving here, or more accurately, how much short-term future cost are they passing on to customers, to justify making their bikes this much less good?

Yeah, so. I should get back to it. I know that both you and your dealers are chock-a-block with fresh rigs in boxes, so it will be a while to see any of these suggestions take effect. I will keep my eyes peeled going forward though. Especially for those comfy saddles and rack mounts on every hardtail.

I have heard grumblings that container costs are climbing up past their pandemic peaks and that has resulted in price increases and delays with no inventory yet available in quite a few recently released bikes. Ouch. Have you ever thought about onshoring some of that production? Food for thought.

Take care,

Andrew