MEATengines Saves The Bike Industry
I don’t like to be a scaremonger, but for more than academic reasons, I would love to see the payroll numbers for the average bike company from 2020, 2022, and 2024. The quiet layoffs have been, well, quiet, as companies ‘right-size’ their product lines and personnel. Yes, we didn’t not notice companies sending out press releases announcing promotions into the positions of folks they quietly terminated.
And sure, the current state of the bicycle industry can be explained by any number of external factors, but enough with the excuses already. Are exponentially higher shipping costs, competing for materials and manufacturing with the full-throttled re-armament of Europe, and the tidal-like tariff chaos preventing rich people from buying yachts and shooting themselves into space for a few minutes of weightlessness*? F*ck to the nah nahs!
And never mind the truly wealthy folks, as long as house prices be rising, then house owners be buying. Reverse equity, baby. Grab some.
*{That they could have all but experienced at their local swimming pool.}
No, deep down, what we have is an abject failure of makers & marketers to combine their talents to create a situation that adequately separates people from the desire to hoard more zeros than they need on a spreadsheet. And, to instead instill the desire to hoard more bicycles and components than they need in their garage.
What we clearly require, as much as we ever needed tapered-steerer tubes, Boost hub spacing, flat-mount braking, or 34.9 seat posts, is a new standard. A beautiful standard. A brilliant standard. A standard that not only improves the mountain bicycling experience on the trail, but also improves on all those standards above by not being backward compatible through clever adapters.
No cheeky Problem Solvers, Wheels Manufacturing, Wolf Tooth Components, etc., fitment solution here. That nice Boost-148 or SB-157 wheelset you were planning to move over to your next rig? Sorry, New-142 is way too narrow for that nonsense!
Oh, thinking about sharing a wheelset with your gravel bike? Too bad that New-142 borrows from Boost-20mm and moves the brake rotor* outboard a full centimeter. What’s the point of that? Well, we move the non-drive hub flange outboard as well and then rely on a dramatically offset rim drilling to equalize spoke length for both sides.
{Yes, we also need to optimize that drive side hub flange so there’s no contact between the spokes and a thirteen-speed cassette.}
Minimum reduction in wheel stiffness, minimum de-optimization of spoke tension balance, maximum improvement in trail clearance for the rotor and rear derailleur. It’s easy to sell for any off-road bike, me-or-e, DH, or XC. Lighter weights, less contact with trail features. Zero backwards compatibility. Delicious.
*{Centerlock Only, of course.}
But grabbing that low-hanging trail-clearance fruit only begins with Project New-142. You see, the new ultra-long derailleur cages may have looked fine when wheels were all going to dual-29, but with an MX setup, and the pending return of paired-27″ setups, who wants to be dragging that lower pulley wheel?
Sure, e13 showed us the way years ago, with their 9t small cogs, but now that XD, MicroSpline, and even T-Type-HG setups are dangling the high-gears off our hub drivers, it’s time to mine BMX bikes for an even smaller setup. 8t high gears here we come!
You don’t even have to give up that 520% gear range. With an 8-tooth small cog, we’re delivering a 525% spread with a 42t low-end. Heck, let’s run a 550% spread with an 8-44t cassette, and we’ll still be laughing at how short our derailleur cages can be.
And frame clearance is going to be amazing when XC pros are running 30t chainrings, and most folks are pedaling 24-28t. Of course, these new drivetrains aren’t really backward compatible since suspension frames need specific kinematics to run those smaller chainwheels. Oh, darn. I guess it’s New Bike Day for everyone!
{Above photo: MissionBMX}
And maybe you’re thinking that’s a lot of changes in one go, but at least you’ll be able to use your current front wheel? And, well, that might be true if you’re hoarding a hub from ’07/08. I mean, we always want to use an existing standard whenever there’s no obvious advantage to be gained from creating a fresh one {ha}. Introducing a new front hub dimension isn’t going to deliver the massive experience improvements of New-142 and 8t-High, now is it?
That’s why we’re pairing the brilliance of New-142 with a classic noughties renewal of the Specialized 25mm thru-axle front hub. Don’t worry, there’s no way that a pair of oversized end caps is going to make your current front wheel compatible. It’s a fresh set of hoops for you.
Or, I suppose you could just jump into the advantages of 25mm axles with a fresh fork and front wheel for your current bike. Either way, hyper is more than super, so welcome to the relaunched Hyperboost-25 hub standard.
{Above photo: Velography}
New-142, 8-Tooth-High, and the Hyperboost-25 front hub. Three bold new standards to PUMP UP demand for fresh e- or me-bikes. Awesome for hardtails and sag wagons. Definitely not for gravel rigs, until next year.
And that’s just the start. The compliance-forward 28.6 handlebar standard* {shorter stems!}, Double-Trunnion shock mounting, Y-Beam** lower-profile saddle mounting, rim-integrated on-the-fly battery-powered tire pressure adjustment {this one is just for Alex}, UDH2, and metric pedals {9/16″? Pish. Let’s talk about 15mm}. And that’s just the start {over}.
You’re welcome, bike industry.
*{This is actually an old one reborn – Tioga 286DH!}
**{AKA Why-Beam?}
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