We've been building a decent number of 2009 bikes. Each bike takes around an hour to build which gives you some head-scratchin' time. Couple of examples:
Cable mounts on suspension forks: Several years ago, most bikes used "v" brakes so suspension forks came with the appropriate mounts. Disc brake mounts were eventually added to the forks in addition to the rim brake mounts. During this ere, most of the cable routing duties for the disc brakes was handled by zip ties. As rim brake mounts disappeared, the cable routing didn't necessarily become any more elegant. You have a $500+ fork with zip ties wrapped around the fork legs. Rock Shox puts a couple of bumps on the arch to position the zip tie but that is it. Several of the less expensive forks offer a nice pass through for the housing which works great! I can understand that this type of mount would be a PITA for hydro brakes but can't they even give us a little trough mount for the zip tie like is often used on the frames? At least our friends at Fox have a slick cable mount(even if the bolt is a little undersized for the task).
Disc brake mounts: I sometimes wonder if the people in charge of bike design ever actually assemble any of their bikes. A few of the recent models have the rear brake tucked up in between the stays which is very clean looking. The problem arises when you try to adjust the brake. We had to cut down an Allen wrench to get it to fit the mounting bolts since they were so close to the seat stay. Not a huge deal at the shop but if you ever have to adjust it on the trail, it ain't gonna happen with a regular multi-tool.
Disc brake rotors: While I'm picking on the brake guys, how 'bout a little more clearance between the pads and the rotor. Most of these brake rotors have a mm, or less, clearance per side. Once you finally get the caliper set, it seems like that last torquing of the mounting bolts moves the caliper to one side just enough to make it rub. And thanks to the trucking folks that apparently can't comprehend the English language or at least the words that form "This end UP", it seems like every front rotor we get is warped. The manufacturer puts a big Frisbee-sized piece of plastic in the end of the axle to keep this from happening........doesn't work. Every rotor comes with this nice wave shape built in now. We have the Park tool that is supposed to help bend the rotor back into shape but it only succeeds in moving it to another spot on the rotor. And as a bonus, this all happens with all tne of your fingers nestled right up a piece of stainless steel shaped like a meat cutting blade!
I'm sure I could come up with another dozen of similar things but I'll let my blood pressure return to normal before posting more.
Still working on the Mountain Goat Escape Route (imported) frames. The details are coming together nicely. I think we are going to order a couple of color-matched rigid forks to go with the frames. Speaking of colors, I think I've decided on orange and black as the color options. The orange would have top/down/seat tube panels in the team green color. The black will also have panels except in a cream color. The down tube panel would contain "Mountain Goat", the top tube panel "Escape Route" and the seat tube panel would have the Goat head logo. I can't wait to see 'em.
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