u/ramsoss

Hey, looking for a family car that is big enough for trips with my family. I currently drive a Fiesta ST and love that thing, but I am wondering whether an Arteon or a Stinger is the next step toward something more family-friendly. I grew up with a manual b5 Passat that my dad drove around and eventually gave to me. I know that compared to a Stinger GT2, the Arteon is a bit less sporty, but if anyone here has any experience with tuning their Arteon and adding something like a rear sway bar, that would be appreciated.

I am a lifelong city dweller that lives in the NYC metro area. I got out to rural areas once in a while. I used to see tons of Trump signs and lots of MAGA stuff in general. A bunch of that stuff seems to have disappeared lately.

I don’t think people were ditching their MAGA stuff this early on after 2016 or 2020. In rural areas near you have you seen a vibe shift? At most I see America 250 signs and that is it.

For those of us with air quality warnings due to the wildfires, I am wondering if it is all for the best that we just train indoors until the situation improves. Once the actual air smells like fire, I think you should pack it up and ride indoors.

Hoping someone on here can help with my decision. I am looking to get an endurance bike with decently relaxed geo but is still snappy and fast like my 2022 Giant TCR. I am wondering if the switch to a Caledonia 5 is the right way to go considering it is said to be one of the stiffer and more "aero" endurance bikes. If anyone has experience going from an all out race bike to a Caledonia 5 while still going on fast group rides and competing in the occasional crit or road race, that would be great.

I test rode a Domane SL and a Roubaix and thought they were a punishment for riders that still want to go fast but have larger tire clearance and more relaxed geo. Hopefully the Caledonia 5 can be the answer.

I wish there were a few episodes covering countries that exist solely as tax havens for wealthy people, like Monaco or Luxembourg. These are independent states that rely on having extremely wealthy people living there, along with insane tax accommodations. There can also be a case for a place like Malta, where it is used to help get dirty money into the EU with much less scrutiny.

Bonus for places like Prospera in Honduras, where there are also lax tax laws and little to no government oversight while taking tax money. For places like this that pay little to no taxes, that means the rest of the population subsidizes them. It is not like anything amazing has come out of Prospera either; it is mostly crypto and biotech (with no actual advances). Brian Johnson (pale live forever guy) in his Netflix doc got his son’s blood transferred into him there.

We already saw what happened with the Panama papers so it is probably safe to assume that each one of these countries has their own shady setup as well. We don't even know the true scale of it.

From my understanding every year Giant upgrades a road bike that they have. This year it was the Propel and the prior year it was the TCR. Is there any word on a new Defy coming out for 2027/2028? I was also talking to my local bike shop and they said they think a new TCR is on the way.

I was curious if anyone has any update rumors.

A bike fitter and a few other people recommended the Enve Fray to me. I’ve been riding a race bike for years, but want something with a bit more stack. Supposedly, the Fray is the “perfect bike” for my needs (fast rides and some racing). It also costs $10k for a build with sram Force or $4.8k for a frameset, which is extremely expensive.

Is there ever a time when Evne actually discounts these things, or will I have to look for something else that is more “affordable”? The stack on that frame is 15mm higher than other “faster” endurance bikes like the Monza or Defy.

I’m currently running a race bike with a super high stack. It’s great for the aero hood's position, but I don’t like the handling.

Has anyone seen prices for Gen 4 frames go down? If anyone has any insight into which shops are selling them, that would be appreciated. I don't know much about how Cannondale prices older products so I am just curious!

Has anyone ridden the Voice Velo Echo as of yet? It seems like a good bike for many people compared to the Quick Pro ER:One.

Silly question but I was always curious. I assumed it took place in NJ.