Fair enough then. like I said everything is a compromise to some extent and everything is breakable,the Lahar is just thee best group of compromises to provide the most fun,fastest,reliable bike I've come accross.
Hey pal, this thread is reserved for bad jokes, needless personal/cultural slights, and occasionally geeking out about gearboxes. There is simply no room for geeking out about forks here. Sorry.
lthumbsdown:
um.....they appear to be unbreakable. From talking to people who have owned/ridden them when I was in NZ they seem to be basically......unbreakable and no fatigue.
The amount of IP that honda has pending on gearboxes right now is astounding. The sprocket in a can is only one of about 15 differerent designs they have applied for. Finding a way around some of their preliminary claims is going to be a real feat. They actually claim any gearbox with an intermediate counter-rotating shaft. That's amazingly broad, and the patent office will probably allow it...
well, that would be including cranks. An internal hub replaces the derailur, shifter, cogset, hub, chainguide. Unless you were to put the freewheel on the crankset instead of in the hub...well, ppl already pay close to that for full xtr dont they?
and this is the kind of reliability we should demand of dh bike drivetrains as well. the current derailleur based disposable transmission configuration is crap. definately the weakest link in dh bike design. the trannies in motorbikes can last the lifetime of the bike with nothing more than oil changes (and don't require constant tweaking to keep shifting perfectly), why shouldn't we expect the same level of dependability from bicycles at near similar price points? right now the rohloff hub offers that kind of long term reliability (i know a guy with 18000kms on one). i can only hope that the big guys (sram / shimano) are paying attention; i have no doubt they could produce a similar tranny at a lower pricepoint that would enable gearbox technology to trickle down from its current boutique niche. pushing disposable drivetrains is a great cash cow, though...
Beautiful. Very very nice.anyways, for better or for worse, i put my money where my mouth is. viva la revolutione!
thanks. haven't had many rides due to crap weather, but its pretty much as advertised. super stable chassis, pedals really well, neutral under braking. really supple first few inches of travel with a nice midstroke ramp -ie, super duper plush, but not wallowy. really slack ha & long stays (compared to the pdc) is taking a bit to get used to; works better than expected in tight technical stuff though. my initial impression is that it sucks up / maintains momentum through the knarl better than anything i've ridden - there may be something to these high pivots. looking forward to doing some fast runs @ whistler. the rohloff is flawless. makes a bit of noise in the bottom gears, but seems to be getting quieter allready (apparently they require a bit of break-in time). as mentioned previously, gearbox attributed drag is pretty much imperceptable on the trail. neat being able to dump a handfull of gears quickly at any time. despite a preconcieved hate for twist shifters, i actually dont mind it in practice. i run a long enough grip that i'm not actually holding onto the twister. works great. drivetrain is really quiet (ie, lack of chainslap) as well - adds to the overall impression of 'solidity' when riding. so many unique, well thought out details & handsculpted bits on this bike - so much fun building this thing. current weight is ~39.5lbs.
Groovy. Will you post up some impressions once you've hit Whistler?
Only bikes I have seen that one are the MC and the Rotecs....
Nicolai offers it as an option on all frames.
Cool - so easy, so simple, so tidy. Sure for a WC racer it's un-needed weight, but for the rest of us mortals it's got to be a good thing.
tracks are getting less and less pedlier in general. The benefits of a 35pound pinger will become less significant in relation to hot suspension due to frame mounted transmissions in the future. Although agreed, lighter = better and faster.
They might notice, but it wouldn't come even close to giving them a sales defecit. The DH market is tiny compared to other MTB diciplines.
Yea, I dont think anyone can afford to block any product that could possibly advance this sport and make it more user friendly
What exactly is wrong with rubber bumpers on fork stanchions?
Shimano Alfine comes close to your list, with reliability the big "?".
they tend to loosen and slip, and are a pain if u want to take your fork legs off
I'll have to look it up for you when I get some time. what's your e-mail address? Some of their gear reduction models are defintely pretty cool for sure, and all of the IP stems as continuations and CIPs from that first patent application. It's an impressive volume of work they have there. Enough to make me decide to concentrate my efforts elsewhere.
I don't get this. Aren't Honda still claiming they have no plans to market the RN01? What's their reason for the patents then? Just to keep us all using old technology for another five years until the patent expires? Or are they trying to deceive us and in fact once all the patents are aproved, they'll magically wheel out an RN01 that we can rush out and buy?
Wish I knew, but I seriously doubt that Honda is looking at downhill mountian bikes as any kind of revenue increasing division. Maybe a marketing piece. Honda always introduces high and sells low. We'll see someday. If I was forced to bet I'd say they have their eye on commuter bikes more than anything else, but I find it tough to believe its all anything more than a pet project for Honda.
