Latest Product Reviews

During the past few years as a Vital editor, I've gotten pretty good at refraining from drinking the marketing Kool-Aid spilled throughout press releases. I rarely bite at claims of more-better-optimized-everything, but when Transition launched the Relay, they got my attention. Joining the ever-evolving lightweight e-bike category, its promise of two-bikes-in-one thanks to a small drive unit and easily removable battery was anything but status quo. You're telling me I only have to sell one organ

Norco's Optic created a lot of buzz for being a short-travel ripper with aggressive geometry when it last underwent a redesign in 2019. Meanwhile, the Norco Sight remained the silent workhorse in the mid-travel category focused on excellent all-mountain performance. For 2024, Norco has elevated the downhill performance of both bikes thanks to a new high-pivot suspension design. They maintain their respective on-trail handling while blurring the gap that separates the two bikes. The Optic now

After a long-awaited journey of tech forum spy photo enhancing and humorous bleed port etching, the new MAVEN brakes from SRAM are finally here! The purpose of the MAVEN brakes is not only to bring more braking power to bikes but also to create the most usable power possible out of a braking system. Figuring out how much power is actually usable on a bike is a painstaking process, and SRAM has done their homework extensively over the last few years to learn what that limit is. Is there such a