2012 predictions

supersonic

Well it's that time of year again! 2012 stuff will be on the market soon. So what do you reckon we will see?

Looking at forks, RS I think will finally drop the Dart, leaving basic Toras as entry level forks. Apart from that, I think the rest of the range will be mostly unchanged. Might see Marzocchi and Manitou return to the OE fold on more bikes.

Shimano we know a lot about, as they release periodically. The non series stuff is always worth keeping an eye on though.

Hopefully prices will level - or even start to fall slightly. Boardman have laid down a tough gauntlet with the new range, and I expect distributors and shops to slash the price of many ranges.

RevellRider

I think XT will get a revamp along the lines of XTR. More bike companies will start to spec SRAM components due their aggressive pricing for OE parts. More trail bikes will be designed around 1x10

The German invasion will continue pushing the bigger brands to look at their pricing. I don't think too many distributors will be worried about the Boardman range as they aren't available through many IBD's

piker

I cant see it but i hope prices fall,i found a mag from 3 years ago and the difference in price of some bikes is £500-600 without that much spec difference.
When you look at the likes of canyon it could start to get more realistic.

Northwind

Another 50 new standards will be launched. Of these, 20 will be inferior to the current standard and all will succeed. 20 will be comparable to the existing standard and 80% will succeed. And 10 will actually be better but 9 of those will fail completely.

supersonic

The standards one is a weird one: as much as we need them, we also need to look forward and improve. But I agree are far too many, and many seemingly just for the sake of it.

On that note, I do think we will see more inhouse specs and 'standards' as top end companies push for the ultimate weight saving.

piker

2011-2012 carrera range? Not everyones cup of tea but they normally are hard to beat for value for money first bikes.

Northwind

Expecting a bigger travel Carrera hardtail with Revelations or Sektors, to fill the Aggressor or Avalanche or whateveritwas £750 and £1000 niche. Either that or a suitable Voodoo.

supersonic

Yeah, Carrera had the Banshee, which was a good budget thrills FS, but nothing in the HT area.

getonyourbike

The Voodoo Bokor is 140mm of travel but its over 14kg.

.blitz

supersonic wrote:

2012 stuff will be on the market soon. So what do you reckon we will see?

Rock Shox will have a fork for every day of the year, including bank holidays.

Chris Boardman's agent will be able to buy another island in the Caribbean.

oodboo

I can see 29" wheels making more of an impact and working it's way into the longer travel sector with some tougher forks to suit them.

27.5" wheels were floated round as a compromise a while ago so there's another new standard for people who are still on the fence about 29ers.

People will realise they are not freeride/dh superstars and start trading their big rigs in for something with less travel and more suited to the riding they do regularly (me included).

Oh yeah, and the world will explode and planes will fall out of the sky why the earths magnetic polarity switches, or something like that.

cat_with_no_tail

There will be some skinny people wearing lycra riding round a field in Kent. No-one outside the cycling community will know or care.

Brits will continue to do well in DH, with another World Champion or 2. No-one outside the cycling community will know or care.

Red Bull rampage will introduce a new course, including a jump from the surface of the moon to earth. No-one outside the cycling community will know or care.

We'll see more brands from Europe coming over, each with better spec than the last at better prices.

Orange will continue selling the 5 at silly prices, and people will continue to buy it.

SRAM will release more colours across more of the range for tarts. I will buy some.

oh, and....

Bionicon will release a dropper seatpost for 30.0mm seat-tubes, I will buy it.

Northwind

Oh hang on, my prediction has already happened, there's 2 140mm Voodoos this year. That makes me both a) quite good at predicting things and b) really terrible at timing

VWsurfbum

Cat With No Tail wrote:

There will be some skinny people wearing lycra riding round a field in Kent. No-one outside the cycling community will know or care.

*ahem* Essex but your right no one cares!

Someone will bring out an affordable full suspension 29er that i dont have to sell one of my kids for.

My Eldest will start racing (like it or not)

P-Jay

More 29'ers everywhere. The UK is really behind the times on this, I know personally the more of them I see, the less odd they look which is the only thing that puts me off really - I still wont by one though.

DH events will be full of young lads on Saracens in the same way they were a couple of years back with A-Lines and Big Hits as they can sell a credible DH bike for less than a million billion zillion quid.

Orange will still be banging out a 'blink and you miss it' revised 5 a certain mag will say its two wheeled perfection and people will buy it. The "if it aint broke" method of R&D that the British Car industry used for a decade will continue as the competition grows lighter, stronger, fast, etc.

Hope will make a Derailleur. It will be good, look cool, be very serviceable and slight more expensive than the Shimano / SRAM ones, but you know it won't be fit for the bin the first time something goes wrong with it so you'll buy on. In 2013 they'll make a shifter that looks and feels as good as their Tech leavers and I'll buy them.

142mm rear hubs for AM and FR bikes.

Wales will have a new Trail Centre or two, double the trail we have now and a big marketing push to let people know. People will actually consider Wales instead of the Alps for their Summer Riding Holiday, then discount it because there’s no lifts.

Anonymous

supersonic wrote:

Might see Manitou return to the OE fold on more bikes

AAARGH, WHY? Every time a Manitou fork is fitted to a bike, god cries a little.

cooldad

P-Jay wrote:

More 29'ers everywhere. All the cool kids will want one.

DH events will be full of yobs in hoodies as they can steal a credible DH bike.

Orange will still be building bikes out of old girders.

Hope will make a Derailleur out of cheese.

Sheeps mom will still live in Rhyl.

FTFY

supersonic

The new Drakes (now Minute Experts) are really very good.

Anonymous

supersonic wrote:

The new Drakes (now Minute Experts) are really very good.

For a particular value of "good".

I just don't get what the hell their angle is. There was always something that Marzocchi, Fox and RS bought to the table.
Marzocchi were (definitely WERE, not ARE) bombproof, agricultural affairs, that could run for millenia without being touched, and could survive a nuclear holocaust, or a trip through a car crushing machine, but heavy.

Fox were very stiff, but very light, and needed some looking after to get the best from them.

RS were a halfway house, a bit flexy compared to the others, but reliable, and lighter than Zocchis.

So why would anyone want Manitou? Because they liked that dribbling sounds, or how the fork oil glistened in the sunlight as it ran down the legs, or any other part of the bike it had been sprayed on when the seal exploded because someone looked at it wrong?
Or maybe people liked expensive, unreliable, flexy forks that needed constant maintenance to keep them in their state of permament abyssmalness?

allthegearnoidea

142mm axles will be put on std 135mm hubs but with longer freehub bodies and 12+cogs will be out back on mtb's!

another bik brand will suffer poor wall thickness from wing tungs factory in chiwan and will have a small percentage of frames fail and everyone without said bikes will leap on the bandwagon and make up funny names like Crackanfail, snapierre on commenfail etc.

bike dealers will get less f a margin to play with and all new kit will be silly money for very little noticeable improvement over the old model! but we'll all still crave it!!

lots of shiny new colours will be released for all the Bike tarts!! and we'll all go without food for such shinyness!!

IMB mag will get more viewers fed up with the other competition mags favoritism/annoying styles,

iwill get No better at climbing on the bike! but will get a littke fatter due to my jelly baby addiction!!

supersonic

yeehaamcgee wrote:

supersonic wrote:

The new Drakes (now Minute Experts) are really very good.

For a particular value of "good".

I just don't get what the hell their angle is. There was always something that Marzocchi, Fox and RS bought to the table.
Marzocchi were (definitely WERE, not ARE) bombproof, agricultural affairs, that could run for millenia without being touched, and could survive a nuclear holocaust, or a trip through a car crushing machine, but heavy.

Fox were very stiff, but very light, and needed some looking after to get the best from them.

RS were a halfway house, a bit flexy compared to the others, but reliable, and lighter than Zocchis.

So why would anyone want Manitou? Because they liked that dribbling sounds, or how the fork oil glistened in the sunlight as it ran down the legs, or any other part of the bike it had been sprayed on when the seal exploded because someone looked at it wrong?
Or maybe people liked expensive, unreliable, flexy forks that needed constant maintenance to keep them in their state of permament abyssmalness?

I think all the companies have gone through bad patches. Then they often improve. It seems Manitou are ready to come back with good performing and hopefully more reliable forks, but all the comments I have read on the Drakes and Minutes have been mostly positive.

RS had pretty bad forks from 1999-2005. The Psylo was just not a long travel contender, and the bushings were horrible. Same on the Duke. The Judy got heavier, and overall Fox and Zocchi were beating them on most fronts. Then it all changed - SRAM bought them, we saw the Tora, Rev, Reba and Pike and the rest is history. Fox then had an awful period with sloppy bushings, crap seals and wearing stanchions but have finally sorted that. Zocchi as we know went downhill, pardon the pun lol.

I think nowadays a lot of niggles with the brands are fianlly being solved. Even RST and Suntour have good offerings, and I expect the OE market and specs to change as good forks come back into the fold. With Hayes now taking over Manitou, there should be a better level of quality.

My Skareb has been faultless mind ;-). But no doubt some reputations stick, and I'll never, ever buy a Fox fork lol, and doubt I will buy a long travel Zocchi lol

micksjoiner

the end of the world 21-12-2012

getonyourbike

micksjoiner wrote:

the end of the world 21-12-2012

I don't want to die! (starts running around screaming) I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to... (runs into wall)

Lapierre t 400

Cat With No Tail wrote:

Bionicon will release a dropper seatpost for 30.0mm seat-tubes, I will buy it.

You would think they could make a post that is plumbed in to their suspension
Meaning:When you press the button and turn your bike into long travel mode the post goes down automatically and vice versa

sheepsteeth

nothing will change, absolutely nothing at all and everyone will be amazed by how cycling has advanced, but it wont have done, just like it hasnt for the last couple of years.

bike-a-swan

sheepsteeth wrote:

nothing will change, absolutely nothing at all and everyone will be amazed by how cycling has advanced, but it wont have done, just like it hasnt for the last couple of years.

But my bike now has wheels, and suspension, and gears an.... oh, wait

supersonic

Truth is a lot of advances are still under wraps - if a builder has a 800g carbon frame, he won't release it. He will release a 850g version first.

supersonic

I apologise for my sexism, I know women can build and weld too. I saw Flashdance.

Anonymous

supersonic wrote:

I apologise for my sexism, I know women can build and weld too. I saw Flashdance.

Women can weld carbon frames? That's pretty impressive.

supersonic

I've seen them wield carbon frames, quite violently too.

Anonymous