Matt and Jeff Weigh in on the Least Useful MTB Innovations

In this episode Matt and Jeff discuss the results from a recent survey that asked, "What is the least useful mountain bike innovation?".

By Jeff Barber
January 24, 2023 Last Updated: January 24, 2023

7 comments

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In this episode Matt and Jeff discuss the results from a recent survey that asked, “What is the least useful mountain bike innovation?“.

For those who missed our survey, the top five answers among nearly 10,000 votes were:

Electronic suspension control (22%)
Electronic shifting (17%)
Flip chips (14%)
Internal cable routing (12%)
Hip packs (7%)

Commenters pointed a few choices we didn’t include in the survey, so we talked about those as well.

Steering stabilizers and limiters
Tire inserts
20mm thru axles

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7 Comments

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Tim Tucker 2019
Jan 30, 2023

I think the issue with steering stabilization is that people don't appreciate its best use cases.

Look at what the people who love them most are riding:
E-bikes
Fat bikes
Bikepacking

The common theme: any time you have a much higher ratio of bike to rider weight. The heavier the bike, the more of a struggle it's going to be to recover as you get knocked off around.

The underappreciated category that also fits the profile: kids bikes.

When my youngest son was first learning to ride, it was a night and day difference in how floppy his steering was with and without a damping headset.

I've seen both other people's kids wipe out when they get knocked off line by a root or rock and seen a difference in the amount of control my kids seem to have when going over similar obstacles. The younger and lighter the rider, the bigger the difference.

At this point I'm convinced that steering damping is the #2 purchase you can make for kids riding safely (with #1 being a good full face helmet).

0 reply

Snow Jones New Hampshire // 2019
Jan 25, 2023

Jeff, I love your podcast. It's always super informative and it's fun getting in the weeds on all things MTB. But, man, you have to do us a favor... Please work on keeping your speaking volume up! You tend to trail-off halfway through every sentence. Often times you get completely inaudible. We want to hear what you're saying! We really do.
Keep up the great content, thanks.

AUTHOR

Jeff Barber Georgia // 1998
Jan 25, 2023

Thanks for the feedback. We usually have an audio engineer fix the sound levels but this one was recorded last minute and he didn't have a chance to work on it. I will send it to him now and then replace with his improvements.

2 reply

[email protected] Vermont // 2023
Jan 27, 2023

This podcast is pure diarrhea! Talk about something you have experience and knowledge about. Have you really every tried the newest electronic suspension? The answer is NO! So few people have. It's funny if you put a microphone in front of some people and they might think they know what they are talking about. Everybody has and opinion but an uninformed one is useless. It's like a spin instructor talking about cycling when they only ride indoors. Let's remember when these innovations all started it was the same. People all thought they did not need them because they never got a chance to try them yet and they all moaned. 12sp, 148, boost, 1x drive trains, 29 inch wheels. dropper post, longer dropper post, disc brakes, slacker head tubes, tubeless, ect. How many of you thought these were not good ideas because you never have tried them? Then you got a new bike and your views changed. Your new dropper post became a must have. You decided to put bigger rotors on, that new 52t rear cassette sure made is easier to get up that climb. We can all agree that these thing have improved mountain bikes. Take the half empty glass and wash down a Pepto.

Cheers

Matt Miller Colorado // 2012
Jan 29, 2023

Whoa, pick one thing you didn't like and hang your hat on it. Way to outrage. To say that because we haven't ridden Flight Attendant means we're completely uninformed is a bit of a stretch and missing the point. We were transparent about that, but still had plenty of room for reasonable conversation, and, I'll remind you, this podcast was informed by reader opinion.

Cheer up man, it's just a talk about bike tech.

Jeff Barber Georgia // 1998
Jan 27, 2023

Hey Grego, that's pretty harsh. But you're right - as we said, we haven't tried the latest electronic suspension systems, only earlier versions. Also, sorry if it wasn't clear that the results are from a user survey, not our own personal rankings on the utility of each one.

As I said in the show, my personal opinion is the least useful innovations are internal routing and steering limiters like knock block and Acros block lock. I also mentioned that I've been wrong about new stuff in the past, for example electronic shifting, and that surely our opinions will change on some things as they evolve and as we get more experience with them.

Finally, I'll note this particular conversation is purely opinion-based, and is not presented as news coverage or an explainer.

synovialfuego 2019
Jan 30, 2023

I could've been one of those small percentage of people who voted for dropper posts as least innovative. I didn't because I found other items on the list to less innovative/useful AND I understand that, depending on the terrain you ride, a dropper post is very useful. But, please explain why I should be riding with a dropper post! There was a passive aggressive comment towards us rigid post riders that we are just missing out. As I was listening, I said, "okay, tell me why!". Didn't really hear a good answer. I have yet to have anyone tell me why I should ride with a dropper with any convincing argument. I've tried them and I keep going back to rigid. And yes, I ride technical terrain. Maybe it's because I started mountain biking back in the 80's and just never used them (we used to stop and drop our seats if we came upon something super sketchy- but that was few and far between). I think the argument should be: droppers are good depending on where you ride and the style you ride. But, the industry, and this podcast, are simply pushing us to use something that, quite frankly, a great majority do not need. Yes, they getting lighter and more reliable- so those factors are no longer a reason not to use one. But, the brain can only focus on one thing at a time. My default thinking while riding is to think about my shifting rather than when I'm going to drop my seat.

PS- I have a Fox Transfer on my Yeti and I've used it a total of 5 times. 3 of those times was to show my wife how it worked. So, I'm not totally closed off to it. I just haven't found the benefits of it.

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