Welcome back to the #1 MTB newsletter brought to you by ReconMTB.com - the most exciting way to buy your bike parts and accessories online.

RECON has some super ambitious plans for the bike industry.

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If you know a tech wizard who also loves to ride bikes - send a note over to us at support@reconmtb.com.

• 🛑 Bruni’s New Brakes

• 🔋 Bosch Steps Up Its Game

• 🍎 Riding School: How To Manual

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👇 Quick Picks

🛖 Sending it: Canyon drops their pro bike

Canyon just dropped the 2025 Sender CFR - a full-on DH beast built for World Cup podiums. It features a high-pivot single-pivot suspension, mullet wheel setup (29" front, 27.5" rear), and a carbon frame with adjustable geometry. Prices start at €4,499. Already proven by Troy Brosnan, this rig is made for serious shredding…

🚨 WBD announced Enduro World Cup docuseries

Warner Bros. Discovery Sports is dropping Grit & Glory, an eight-part docuseries diving deep into Enduro World Cup racing. Launching in August, it blends race-day footage with behind-the-scenes grit, following top riders through all seven stops. Expect emotion, adrenaline, and storytelling that brings enduro mountain biking to the mainstream.

🌊 Freeride Is Dead? Nah.

Ghost just dropped the Poacha, a gorgeous new freeride rig that proves big-hit bikes are still alive and kicking. With 180mm of front travel, up to 190mm in the rear, mixed wheels, and dual crown compatibility, it's built for sending it deep. The unique co-rotating linkage drives a low-mounted shock, and the aluminum frame is ready to take a beating. Freeride ain't dead—it just got a new weapon.

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RACING

🔥 Braking News

Nothing like some fresh drama and speculation ahead of the first DH world cup.

Loic Bruni’s bike was spotted with some mysterious prototype brakes and it’s set the internet ablaze.

This added with the fact that Magura is no longer the brake sponsor for the Specialized Gravity race team and you have grown men losing their minds.

The news is a pretty major shift considering how tight the Magura x Specialized relationship has been over the past six years. We’ve seen a ton of MT7s powering riders like Loic Bruni to the top of World Cup podiums around the globe. That collab definitely had its golden era—but all good things come to an end.

The lever, caliper, and even the rotor are all unlike anything out there—no brand (not even in prototype stages) has shown anything similar. Word is, it’s all being tested in secret by his mechanic, Jack Roure, who's using some kind of data system to fine-tune things, possibly tracking braking performance.

The leading rumor?

These might be Brembo brakes—yeah, that Brembo, the motorsport giants who bought Öhlins last year in a $405 million deal. If it’s true, we could be witnessing a whole new era of high-performance MTB braking.

From the photo we've seen, the master cylinder looks huge and comes with a built-in dial for adjusting the lever reach. The clamp is a two-piece hinge design, keeping it solid and clean on the bar.

The rotor? Mounted backwards compared to typical designs, with its cutouts pointing in reverse. Wild stuff.

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TECH

⚡️ Bosch Cranks It Up A Notch

Bosch is like your ex who saw you thriving and hit the gym out of spite.

They’re cranking things up for 2025 and 2026, dropping major upgrades to keep pace with heavy-hitters like DJI’s Avinox and Specialized’s S-Works motors.

🔋 Power Up (Literally)

First up: Bosch is giving its current Performance Line CX motor a free over-the-air upgrade in July. That means torque jumps from 85 Nm to 100 Nm, peak power climbs from 600 W to 750 W, and assist ramps from 340% to 400%. All of it tweakable via a slider in the eBike Flow app. The caveat? Your bike’s manufacturer has to greenlight the update — and not all components may be rated for the full juice.

⚡ New Motor, Who Dis?

For racers, Bosch is unleashing the Performance Line CX-R motor this fall. It’s 100 grams lighter thanks to a magnesium housing and titanium internals, and brings a more aggressive power curve, extended boost, and a Race Mode that delivers full send with lag-free acceleration.

There's also a new eMTB+ mode — think of it as the lovechild of eMTB and Race modes — with “Dynamic Control” that intuitively adapts to terrain and rider input.

📟 Smarter Displays & Shifting

On the cockpit side, Bosch’s new Kiox 400C display sits flush with your top tube and offers seamless access to ride data. For bikes with the new TRP A12 drivetrain, Bosch adds M+ eShift — an automatic coast-shift that changes gears while you’re coasting downhill. Yes, it’s basically a psychic derailleur.

Bottom line: Bosch isn’t just playing catch-up. It’s building a future-proof e-MTB system for riders who want more performance, more smarts, and way fewer excuses.

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RIDING SCHOOL

📐 How To Manual

The manual might look like the wheelie’s cooler cousin, but it’s actually one of the most foundational skills in mountain biking.

More than just a flashy move, it teaches you how to use your legs to control the bike’s balance, an essential technique for everything from cornering to clearing trail obstacles. Master the manual and you’ll level up every part of your riding.

Manual Basics

• Start by dropping your hips and shooting them back, making an “L” motion

• As you push through your legs, straighten your arms and shift your weight back behind the saddle

• Don’t pull with your arms, drive the front wheel up by pushing from underneath using your legs

• As the front wheel lifts, find the tipping point, where the bike balances and you’re floating the front end

Range of Motion is Key

• Leave a bend in your knees so you can push forward or pull back to maintain control

• Think of this like steering: if you can’t move either direction past the balance point, you can’t stay balanced

How to Find the Tipping Point

• The tipping point is where the bike feels weightless and everything slows down

• If you fall short, the front end drops. If you go too far, you loop out

• Keep adjusting forward and backward slightly to stay centered

• The longer and slacker your bike, the higher the front wheel will need to be for balance

Common Mistakes

1. Pulling with the arms

   • This shifts your weight forward, which causes the front wheel to slam down. Instead, keep your arms straight and use leg drive
     

2. Using all your leg push in the setup

   • Riders often get into the right position but burn all their momentum at once, leaving no room to adjust mid-manual. Keep some bend in your knees to push or absorb as needed

Pro Tips for Dialing It In

• Your hips should be behind the saddle, not just above it

• Keep your shoulders relaxed, don’t shrug or tense up trying to hold the front end

• Practice small manuals first, just lift the front wheel a little and feel the movement

• Ride in a slight downhill or smooth trail section for more glide and less pedaling

With Mastery, you can learn MTB skills fast. It’s an app making it simple to learn MTB skills from top pros. The app is launching this month so join the waitlist to ensure you get first access.

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RACING

🎥 Video Of The Week

RECON revisits Aaron Gwin’s legendary run 10 years later.

🎧 Podcast Of The Week

We interviewed none other than NRML MTBer in the RECON studio. Don’t miss this!

🚲 $10K Bike Giveaway

U.S. mountain bikers - just shop for for your MTB components or gear on our store and every $1 you spend is 1 entry to winning this $10K Scott Ransom 900 RC.

Get 15% off any MTB parts or accessories you want for your first order!

They person who won our last giveaway bike, Riley M., spent just $33 on tubeless sealant to win.

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This newsletter is written with ❤️ every week by Nic Bean, Michael Sikand, Justin Rausch, and Marc Brodesser