Marty Backe

Great. I'd like to eat a packed lunch at the top, if there's time

Wow, I think the Nikola tire is so nice. I can't imagine removing it. But I guess if you don't like the ride of softer tires a swap may be called for. Like everything, peoples preferences are truly varied and individual. Chooch should have the MSP this weekend.

I just measured the MSP and MSX tires. They have the identical diameter, width, and profile. I don't own a 100-volt MSX. When they were first released I was in San Francisco for some group rides, and some of the local guys had gotten them. I was able to ride it for awhile and noted that I couldn't detect a difference at the speeds I rode. I distinctly remember that the owners of said wheels said that they had a hard time detecting if they had more power (torque or whatever you want to call it). More speed for sure, but not power. And these guys ride the steep hills of San Francisco. My understanding has always been that the 100-volt versions are just faster. Considering the wider motor of the MSP, do we not expect some objective improvement in power?

If those shots are representative of the entire trail, it looks to be in much better condition than the Toll Road. Can't wait for next Wednesday.

OK, I'm going to try this on one of my HD videos, upload at 4K. The downside is that generating 4K videos takes an exponentially longer amount of time and the uploads are huge

Those kind of details I don't know

Well, there could be worse wheels than the MSX to fall in love with As I've said many times, we are all arguing about the margins. We are surrounded by great wheels. Every wheel that you can buy now would have been considered mind blowing 4-years ago.

This is all very subjective to be sure. To me, the Nikola is more of an extension of the body. We have opposite views (subjective views), which is OK. I assume you never owned a Nikola and are basing your views on a little riding of one that you borrowed??? From my experience, it can take 100+ miles of riding a wheel to get tuned into it properly. Just a thought. But there's no doubt that some people really dislike particular wheels. Regarding the Nikola, I'm surrounded by guys riding and loving theirs. This isn't meant to disprove your feelings but more to show that mine aren't an aberration

OK, I raise by calling BS on you First of all, I've never used the word "top heavy". The center of balance relative to your body is higher on the MSX line of wheels vs the Nikola. That's a fact. It's not the height of the wheel/shell that make me say this, it's the height of the pedals above the ground. In combination with the pedal hanger height above ground and the large dihedral angle, your feel and therefore body feel higher off the ground and closer to the axle. This can be measured with a tape measure, which I've done (on all my wheels). I assume you have many miles on the Nikola? It baffles me how anyone can conclude differently. The MSX/MSP/KS16X have a higher stance then the best balanced wheel currently made, the Nikola. I stand by my assessment I'd love to hear from other people that own all of these wheels. And if you continue to disagree with me we're going to settle it by arm wresting this Saturday

You get best results with YouTube by applying the correct compression, not by playing with the quality. Use two-pass variable bit rate compression. This results in higher compression for the elements of each frame that don't move a lot and lower compression for what does (trees, etc.). Upscaling, etc. is a waste of time, IMHO.

It doesn't feel lacking the acceleration department. I'm not a heavy accelerator due to failures early in my "career". So to avoid faceplants I tend not to do hard starts. I have to assume torque equates to acceleration

Those are smaller wheels and perhaps have comparable torque - it's really hard for me to provide objective comparisons when they aren't all in front of me. But a large wheel like the MSP has advantages on trails and roads, but typically you sacrifice torque. The MSP has changed that game. Now you can have it all.