Press ReleaseIt's true. There's a 29er V10, and the Syndicate will be racing it this weekend at Lourdes. Although the move to 29-inch wheels has been riling comments sections and forums for months (#26isdefinitelydeadnow), the writing's on the wall. Tracks are faster, times are tighter, and eking another second out of a 4-minute track can be the difference between a World Cup win and missing the podium entirely. Keeping the Syndicate in the hunt every season takes a ton of time and energy, but downhill racing is not only the most exciting racing going, it's also where new products and technology are tested to their limit.
It comes as no surprise that Greg Minnaar was the driving force behind this project. "I raced the Hightower at the Enduro World Series in Finale Ligure, Italy, last October, and it just held so much speed," explains Greg. "That's when I knew we had to come back to the 29er V10 idea."
| I raced the Hightower at the Enduro World Series in Finale... I knew we had to come back to the 29er V10 idea.— Greg Minnaar |
Jason Marsh, Greg's mechanic, points out that, "We'd looked at doing a 29er V10 a few years ago, but the fork options available at the time wouldn't stand up to World Cup racing. Greg's experience in Finale got the project off the shelf and back into development. FOX gave us a critical piece of the puzzle when they delivered a prototype 40 for us to test on a modified Hightower. Our first test session aboard that Hightower showed consistently faster times on the bigger wheels, we all decided we had to go for it. Then the real work began. We machined a few different sets of links, welded up three aluminum swingarms, and did more testing. As the riders got on terms with the new bikes, they got even faster. We played with linkages and shocks to achieve different angles, travel, and leverage ratios until Greg felt happy with setting everything in stone."
But ideas don't get set in stone around here. They get set in carbon. And in order to race a carbon bike at Lourdes, we needed to start manufacturing by mid-January. Nick Anderson, our head engineer, finished the design in early January and sent it to our carbon factory to get the tooling machined. "We're fortunate enough to co-own our own carbon manufacturing facility, which gives us bandwidth to indulge in this kind of project," Nick says. "I don't think it would have been possible without this kind of partnership."
"While the manufacturing was spinning up, we sat down with the Syndicate partners to make sure we could get the bits we needed by late March or early April," says Nick. "Fox had race-ready forks in the pipeline, and ENVE was on board to build some 29-inch M90s. Maxxis delivered bigger versions of the Syndicate's preferred tires, and Chris King's Buzzworks group whipped up some custom headsets to bring the geometry in line. It sounds simple enough, but the reality was anything but. The upshot is that, thanks to everyone's ability to move quickly on product development, we were able to go from frame concept to race-ready bike over just a couple months, with a few weeks left over for final testing."
In one particular case, a technological leap by one manufacturer forced a quick counter by another. Fox altered the brake mount location on the 40's lowers to accommodate ‘Boost' flange spacing, which meant a standard 20x110mm DH hub wouldn't work—Chris King machined a one-off design they call ISO-AB (Asymmetric Boost) to get everything in sync.
| We were able to go from frame concept to full-carbon race-ready bike over just a couple months— Nick Anderson |
Although it seems like the new race bike is a radical departure, the intent is the same as it ever was. Every iteration of the V10 was built to be faster than the one that came before, and the results began to speak for themselves during testing, to the disbelief of one of the new recruits.
"Greg practically forced me to try the bike," reveals Loris Vergier. "I tried it once in testing, but went straight back to my original 27.5 inch bike because that's what felt fastest across the length of the test track. But Greg insisted I give the 29er another shot. So I did, and I felt like it was still slower. The clocks don't lie though, and I was consistently posting quicker times on the new bike compared to the old—and this was on my local track! That's when I realized the new bike was deceptively quick."
| I was consistently posting quicker times on the new bike compared to the old—and this was on my local track!— Loris Vergier |
In contrast, Luca Shaw took straight to it. "Psychologically I think it really helped that the bike already looked refined, straight off the bat," says Luca. "The swingarm and links are custom, and they're mated to a production V10 front triangle. Loris and I are riding bikes with 190mm of travel, and Greg's got 210 because the XXL frame has more room."
While the guys were testing, Nick was working through the final pieces of the puzzle. "We needed to sit the bike into the travel to compensate for the BB height change created by the larger wheel diameter, and the guys at Chris King were able to make us a Buzzworks headset that then corrected the resulting change to the head angle" he says. "We also had to reduce the travel to maintain tire clearance at bottom out, which then meant we had to change the shock rate progression to maintain good suspension feel. The leverage curve is similar to the existing V10, but the leverage ratios have been modified slightly." Expect links and headsets to change over the course of the season as the riders keep working toward their ideal setups.
The V10 has racked up more World Cup wins than any downhill bike in history. It was the first full carbon fiber bike to win a World Cup, and ironically it was also the last 26-inch bike to win one, too. So where does that leave 27.5"?
It's still early days for 29-inch wheels in downhill and there will always be "horses for courses." At the end of the day, we want to win races. So if any of our riders feel more comfortable in particular conditions or on certain courses with 27.5" wheels that's what they'll ride. Greg, Luca, and Loris are riding the new bike in Lourdes on April 30th because that's what they feel most confident on. The V10 has always been about pushing technology in pursuit of speed, and we're simply continuing that tradition today. The new bike is another leap forward in the progression of carbon downhill bikes and we're excited to be leading the charge.
www.santacruzbicycles.com
TBH I can't remember the last time I saw a taco but I think they could make a comeback.
Only last month I taco'd my front wheel on my enduro 29 at stiniog after being blown off course in the air.
I like my 29er though and it benefits elsewhere but I think you might be right. I think there might be puncture issues and buckling issues but I bet when they are fast they willl be very fast
Have you seen those 60kg Moto GP riders lean those 150kg bikes over at 200kph? Impossible!
Mountain biking needs homologation rules
Like supercross.if you don't sell a certain number to the public then you can't race it.
We've always had works bikes for the pros
But things are getting outta hand . And people in mountain biking just keep taking it .
I'm sure there gonna be travelling with both bikes to see what's fastest for each track
Sadly I think this will just make the tracks more of a straight line with less tech
I like progression but not at the sacrifice of good racing
www.newstatesman.com/science/2013/08/we-still-don’t-really-know-how-bicycles-work
So gyroscope forces are the whole story...
Bikes are a scientific mystery!!
>.
A 29" wheel carries more speed once up to speed I get that but it harder to get going so if you have twists and turns like the tracks I mentioned and say get hung up in a corner or a slight wrong line surly its going to take a bit to get the thing going again over a 26"/27.5"
I don't really ride DH bikes anymore since it stopped being fun but I hope to try one of these sometime!
I don't feel so bad as to what I built near 5 years ago.... took a while to come around. ????
www.pinkbike.com/u/whafe/album/Current-Ride---Nicolai
430mm rear centre is as short as any bike needs and 29" can get there.
There are just so many examples of 5'6" riders like Katy Winton who race at the top level on 29".
If they are faster on some tracks, racers will use them...end of story. Has nothing to do with comfort or ride enjoyment
Really hope that it doesn't become a standard, but it seems it's on its way....
I think JacksonTM has it all figured out tbh though
I need to talk to my boss. I don't earn enough money to keep up with the MTB industry fashions pace
#27point5aintdead
#26aintdead !!!!!
Yes it's fast. It's DH racing, it's supposed to be fast! Leave the 90 degree off-camber switchbacks and tight narrow singletrack to Enduro. DH course should be steep, gnarly, fast and wide with multiple line options.
I never thought I'd say this, but perhaps #enduroisthenewdh!
Heck, I've ridden the 90's WC courses here in CO. They aren't nearly as steep and gnarly as today's courses, but even back then they weren't tight and narrow, they were fast.
But you need things like off camber switchbacks to keep it tough. Hafjell has one of those and it caught Loic Bruni out in 2013.
And I don't believe that you can call sections of Val Di Sole (which broke off a lot of cats last year!) anything other than narrow.
Your comment made it sound like we should turn everything into groomed moto tracks.
Going to St Anne for WC weekend many times since 2002
The words that come from the people racing.
/rant.
Regardless of thoughts on wheel size it is awesome to see the progression in the sport and brands all pushing to develop and support an idea like that. Shows how healthy the sport is and it's drive to get better and better. (better in DH racing means faster...period).
Going from 26" DH bikes to 27,5" put brands like Evil, Knolly, Turner, Yeti and more out of the DH market and there is big chances that 29" DH bikes will make other brands give up. Only DH bikes we'll see in the upcoming years will probably be coming from Spesh, Canyon, Santa, YT, Trek, Giant, Commencal and that's it (more or less).
That V10 is seriously good looking though!
The cost of sending a team and rider must be phenomenal and therefore smaller brands can't get that representation at the top end. There will always be lots of niche brand DH bikes. Yeti must have the resources to build DH bike of any given standard, but have decided to focus on the enduro scene with their team. I presume they could not afford both enduro & DH team and therefore focussed on the bigger market to them and their bikes....though maybe that is agreeing with your first statement...now I have confused myself!
Anyhoo, its fun!
Actually I really think that nowadays the amount of people really taking advantage riding a DH instead of an enduro bike is small. Enduro bikes are so capable, just have a look to EWS, crazy speed everywhere.
A few people really need a DH bike out there, but if you just had to design one (which means only one mould) then even small brands would have their own model. The problem is standards changing every now and then.
If it aint american, it wont sell in spain...
Really? Is this really what we call progression? Bigger wheels. It's not exactly rocket science. Also since when is faster better simply because it is faster. Formula One cars are now 10 seconds quicker than they were in 2001 but if you watch the races from back then they don't look any slower. If anything they look much faster because they are more on the edge and ragged. A modem Formula One car is faster but duller than ever before. The only difference is that in Formula One the safety technology has come along with it. With these new bikes guys are going to be going faster with no increase in skill or effort. It just seems pointless and increases the risk of injury even further. The bikes will probably look slower on the TV feed too.
I don't see why things like wheel size can't be mandated by UCI. These bikes will not be more fun or more exciting to watch than the old ones...therefore what is the point?
Winning is the point, not looking faster.
I'm not even going to engage in any argument about what is fun. That's entirely subjective and not really the point when it comes to world cup. Get or watch what's fun and stimulating for you! But saying the industry is wack when it's doing exactly what the world cup is demanding of it...I don't know what to say.
And "adapting" is not only a word man, for carbon frames it's probably not far from a 5 numbers figure... of course Specialized, Santa and many more can adapt, but not smaller brands, and don't get me wrong, Evil, Knolly and others stopped producing DH bikes just when the industry jumped into the 27,5 boat.
I just think that stepping to 29" DH bikes will maybe discourage the few small brands that decided to follow the 27,5" trend. Maybe some of them have even not made their 27,5 bikes tooling profitable yet...
There's only a perceived advantage as long as nobody else runs that wheelsize, so in a years time if everyone else on the circuit follows to 29" there will be no advantage.
It's going to be the same as the switch from 26", once everyone was on 27.5" the advantage was gone and that's how we've ended up here again.
This kind of progression just annoys me because it just makes the playing field less level and favours the big teams. As you see in the article Santa Cruz will pick the fastest bike for the particular race track. Privateers and smaller teams will not have that luxury. And like it or not there is almost no other sport where there is so little regulation of equipment standards which in a lot of ways is cool but I think you should at least have to lock in your wheel size for the year. At the end of the day it's the fastest rider we want to see win and hopefully in a spectacular fashion as it is a spectator sport trying to attract funding. Again I come back to the F1 comparison, it's much faster now but less exciting to watch and the cars are too easy to drive. Big wheels and plus size tyres will have the same effect just making things which were once a place where the top riders could separate themselves from the bunch too simple. And all for what? A slightly lower overall finishing time for everyone.
Overall, I do think DH bike selection will shrink. My enduro bike is faster than my DH bike for almost every park run that's not a double black here in CO, and pure DH racing has seemingly disappeared entirely from the state in favor of enduro racing.
Give me Brendog style and Ratboy character in DH and i'll keep watching.
@dthomp325 True, felt exactly the same with my enduro bike on bike park tracks.
Guys, there is actually no argue here, my only concern is that we'll see fewer and fewer DH bikes in the future. This is not a problem because enduro bikes are taking over, but I really used to love the DH bikes market back in ~2012.
But in the end, yeah, this is just how our sport is evolving.
That's why I told 29er DH bikes will probably kill every other DH bike than big brand's.
The really dark aspect is they brought in 15x110mm fully knowing that 20x110 was in the works. So what there is now a years worth of 15x110mm forks on the market that are completely obsolete? Zero reason to do that unless you want to put tooling cost pressures on smaller manufacturers.
Same thing with DH. Those guys are rolling the dice on the rowdy tracks. Hitting shit so fast and just hanging on. Eventually someone will get paralyzed or killed in a WC DH. If you were a race organizer or the UCI what kind of courses would you want?
I'm not disagreeing with you BTW. I love the gladitorial element and agree that F1 is a shadow of itself but it's just the way the world is these days eh?
The same as it's always been
It's NEVER been to 'look' fast.
The fastest racers often look like they're going the slowest, as they're simply smoother on course.
Look at Kevin Schwantz. The guy always looked like he's on the warm-up lap, but he won races(and championships).
Mick Doohan, Mat Mladin, Troy Corser.. The list goes on and on.
Racing isn't about ANYTHING other than finishing first. If you want style points, watch gymnastics or ice skating
Chris Stahl from Radon sums up the situation well in stating that the current demand for DH and full suspension XC racing bikes is very low in comparison to mid-travel options. It would be very difficult to sell many DH bikes without funding a WC DH team and this is simply too costly for small companies like Evil and Knolly knowing that sales will likely be limited anyway. Somehow, I doubt Devinci shutting their WC team had anything with the coming obvious approach of the 29er DH bike.
www.pinkbike.com/news/from-the-top-radons-chris-stahl.html
"To develop mid-travel bikes is not a problem, but if you have a downhill bike and you spend a lot of money on it… At the end of the day, you're only selling hundreds of them… There's not really a reason to have it, it's just there because you want to have it."
I think the point is really about the *type* of riding that we as fans/riders want to see. Almost all WC tracks have some portions that are insanely technical, but if riders can play it safe on the gnarly bits and work back to a podium spot on the 'motorway' by running a trail bike, wagon wheels, or a dropper post it really detracts from the core excitement of the sport. As DH fans we want the most fearless and technically skilled riders on the podium.
I thought 29er dh bikes would look whack but the V10 29er looks really good proportionately. Seeing a pic of Greg riding one it looks like a good fit for the taller riders.
What I think is that regulations should be made... tire size should be one of them... like in road racing...
The trend now is bigger, faster and just roll over easier... and yes that will be faster and trails will be flattened by it... simply roll over easier... but than.. will we make the trails even more hard to ride?
I mean it is pretty much the chicken and egg story...
Why do people think that you would need a smoother course for a 29er? With better roll over, you can straight-line chunky rock gardens and steep nasty chutes even better, so if you wanted to keep your DH track exciting, you'd actually need to make it more gnarly. The only thing that you might lose are tight awkward corners.
This is the next evolution of our sport and I couldn't disagree with Trailstunter any more - our sport is in its infancy and technological advances should be encouraged. Whatever gets you down the hill fastest should be embraced. In a couple of decades we might reach a point where designs become largely homogenised, but until then we we should allow manufacturers to try whatever they want, especially at elite racing level.
Larger wheels will only give an 'advantage' to riders like Minnaar as long as other teams aren't using them, which won't last long if any time.
There needs to be a point where regulations are put into place, perhaps that time is now.
Anyone that's really in tune with what they are riding or driving will tell you that there is a difference between...
* Feeling fast and in control
* Feeling fast and out of control
Fast !== ragged!
Never mind that @ak-77 never said anything about being ragged!
So why do you think we ride a bike? Why not a motorcycle... or skin suits (which are forbidden in dh cause people were using them but it was not DH like )
Regulations you will find anywhere.. no e-bikes is one of them... but it would make them faster?
Regulations of wheelsize and suspension length would be very much in place here... just like in any sport... you need some standards to keep the sport like it is supposed to be...
Read back why the've chosen for 26 as a standard back in the days... ????
... because there was 24 and 26 inch indeed and they decided that they needed standards for their bikes... they used 24 because of the BMX wheels (stronger) were just there... and 26 was the new standard to be set but less options available.
I think standards are good... and nothing short of not being innovative. Innovation will still be there...
dirtmountainbike.com/videos/29ers-dominate-scottish-downhill-association-round-2.html
.....but I am not saying they aren't just for big dudes...look at TM, she slaughters everything on a Slash....
....But can you see Danny Hart on a big wheel going down Champery? Nah
Yes I could see Danny on a 29er.
But I would say that 29ers are faster until things start to get a bit wild, they can be more difficult to wrestle back under control and for a shorter rider that may be harder still.
Can't wait to find out!
Rider height only effects the aesthetics of a bike when it comes to which wheel size you should choose. If you care about how the bike rides, not how it looks then the choice of wheel size should be down to what you want from the bike. You want flicky bike and don't care about strava times? Pick a smaller size. You want a monster truck that makes the bumps feel smaller and gets you them creamy KOMs? Pick a larger size.
You can build a small frame with 29" wheels, you can build an XXL with 26".
the conversation goes like this...
GM: dude try the 29er again
LV: no way my ass is still sore from last time
GM: oh fuk yer, hey mechanic dude stop the wheel going up his ass
MD: sorted
LV: f*ck its fast, but man its harder to throw around....
youtu.be/4Frc_-Ynow8
Is this middle thing 27.5 necessary? Wouldn't it be enough to have 26 and 29?
For me the 27.5 seems some lukewarm in the middle thing...
That said, are you saying we should phuck up the world for slope style peeps?
its a shame that the consumer mountainbiking industry is driven by professional racing. cause the average joe rides for fun at the end of the day. if going as fast as possible is your idea of fun then its a good time for you. but for me? ill stick with my hard tail 26" bike and not worrying about strava times
To keep it more balanced.
A better example than F1 for the "don't ban 29ers" crowd would be the 9' rule in Whitewater kayaking. Loads of companies make their L and XL creek boats to exactly 9' to meet short-boat creek racing limitations, and the next size up is straight to 12' for the long boat categories. I think a lot of bigger guys like myself might do better with a slightly longer boat than 9', but no one will make them because they don't meet race specs, limiting the progression of the sport for bigger paddlers.
This is the highest level of competition and the equipment is a huge part of it. Let the teams develope whatever they can and use it. May the fastest teams win!
So why not just keep a same wheelsize... 26 or 27.5 and just leave it like that!
In any form of worldcup racing sports... wheelsize is regulated... it should be in UCI and EWS too...
Never said wheelsize makes the fun watching... and you are not totally right... forums do have influence and opinions on manufacturers also...
I was talking about the endless circle of rougher tracks followed by bigger wheels (and more suspension length) when wheelsize is free to choose... see where it goes for years now They should regulate the suspension length and wheelsize... so we have much more fair competition ... and it is better for the people who are not forced to buy all new standards all the time...
And how about the natural trails... which cannot be altered... bigger wheels just make them easier to ride... less skills needed... and so less challenge.... why don't we just go back to road riding than
And I have no freaking clue where a track like Pietermaritzburg (that is apparently THE WORST) comes close to road racing... i mean, get your arse there and try to get within a minute of Minnaar and we can talk about it again. Because what most people here see is that Graves fot 3rd on a trail bike and it shouldn't be this way. As if bike mattered. That simply means people have no fkng clue about riding because if they did, they would know that there is no fkng way in the world they too could take a 160 bike and ride at a 30ft tabletop at 50km/h. These are people who are smart asses because they can get down a dwonhill world cup track and not die, then want credit for it. Because in their mind, they are better than an average roadie on XCer, you pick whoever you want to dis, that awful lycra leg shaver would not ride it, he would be scared, and thus this hardcore downhiller can feel better about himself. Well there are no medals for "not die", there are medals for rip that scary sht apart.
And the only reason people talk sht about PMB or Lenzerheide is because they know sht and can sht. Any idiot can ride down Champery in wet on a DH bike if he is given like two days of practice. Almost no one can clear the first double on a BMX track even after 2 years of practice. So people should take it easy with judging machine dug World Cup tracks
Here, let me make the world a slightly better place. I found that interesting and it covers a lot about social media.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPF9_1VIso
I'm bloody glad I didn't make the shift to the 27.5. I better get saving and in 5 years time I might be getting rid of my trusty 26" bike and be sitting on a mammoth 29er.
On another hand SC paint department: painting carbon in silver C'm on guys... would you put carbon weaving pattern on an aluminium frame? The first carbon Nomad in white was the best graphic you have ever made. Please make it great again!
It's been know for years and years that 29ers are just plain faster, pretty much everywhere.
Yes, they take more effort to turn in the tight stuff, but for every turn that a rider is going .08 seconds slower through, they're BLASTING down the straights far faster than 27.5
Sorry park rats, looks like you're gonna end up on those "kooky, only-for-XC-weenies" 29ers after all! The scandal!!!!
But don't worry, they make your TLD Clown pajamas in 29er specific colorways so you'll be fine!
On a related note, just imagine the look on Semenuk's face if Trek's marketing chumps ask him whether he'd be willing to ride a 29er at Rampage.
then we will have wonderful UCI maybe going mmmmm these guys are a lot faster than 27.5 , maybe they need own class ?
I think 2 years and I will hang up my 26" rig for a 29er and miss out the middle fad of 27.5/650B.
The analysis of results this weekend will be interesting for sure.
Give it 4 years and 27.5 will be worthless like 26 is just now compared to 27.5.
I would reset back to 26" and keep the relative difference between hole size and wheels interesting.
Talking about "technology" in this context is kinda ridiculous to be honest. It's just about tweaking a few numbers really. We humans are capable of designing machines that are capable of flying hundreds of tons of weight through the air, yet people claim designers were unable to change an axle standard on a freakin pedal bike 4 years ago? C'mon, this isn't exactly rocket science.
If they wanted to, they could have just made 29" the new standard instead of 650b. Trek pushed boost pretty much by themselfes, didn't they? So whatever components they want/need to work with new sizes/standards, the industry will follow suit and deliver because it'll make them money.
As much as i do not like specialized's way of handling business in most cases, they were at least honest a few years back, claiming it's not worth pushing 650b because 29 is superior, while everyone else was singing praises of 650b wheels. Now all of those companies seem to abandon 27,5 and jump on the 29 bandwagon as if 3 years ago they didn't even know 29ers existed.
It's all marketing and that is perfectly fine. They need it to make money and that's also fine. But saying it "wasn't possible" is straight up lying. They just didn't want to make it happen.
So you really believe they were not capable of manufacturing a rim and THAT was the reason holding frame manufacturers back?
Fair enough i guess, everybody has a their own opinion and there´s not much to argue about the fact there were no/not many rims available back then. I myself however tend to think higher of engineers than that. We got CAD construction and shit for a reason. Designing a rim with decent stress distribution for 29" should not have been a problem 3 years ago and as far as i know there haven´t been any major breakthroughs in material or construction techniques in the meantime that suddenly allow for the construction of said rims.
The same goes for forks. It really isn´t hard to slap a 29" compatible fork together in a short amount of time.
Again, my only argument is, they could have done it IF they wanted to. Those developments are nothing that happens overnight. The big players communicate with the component manufacturers way ahead of new model year releases and those manufacturers surely are interested in producing the stuff needed by the frame manufacturers.
The other interesting thing here is, as far as i know, there was no single manufacturer claiming rim/wheel durability to be the limiting factor of 29". Almost all of them pushed 650b for handling reasons and "being the best of both worlds".
Again, the truth probably being somewhere in between, but the current 29" hypemachine sure seems to have forgotten about how 650b was superior in just about any way just 3 years back.
If anything, and that is basically what the OP was asking about, it shows the reason for pushing 650b in the first place was lazyness on the industrie´s part. Whether it was because of lack of motivation (as i claim) or lack of ability doesn´t really matter. I think that´s basically where we both can agree with each other.
And if one was wanting to get their tinfoil hat on, in the end it was just another ploy to get consumers to buy into a new standard which was bound to be obsolete shortly after.
As a tall guy (6'4) that just made the switch to 29er from 26, even with my lack of skills, training, physical strength and not having a carbon frame/wheels or Gucci Suspension I've experience a noticeable increase in speed and stamina on my local trails. I'm sure a finely tuned specimen such as a UCI racing robot will have no problem making it happen, especially on longer falter trails like Ft.Bill..
Can't wait to see Greg on that stop step again
**Starts signing Glory Days....
Even if it is Greg who wins on a 29er against the other 27.5 bikes by 4 seconds, I will still think of a * by the name.
I like some standards in the sport, so you can tell who is the better rider on the day and not so much the bike. If they beat last years race time by 3 seconds I would not care.
Take the Paris - Roubaix, a xc bike which has been shown to be faster over the 50?km of cobblestone by a decent margin, if this led to the race being ridden by these bikes, it would in my mind strip all the pain and glory from the race which makes it so special, far from progression in my mind.
Road racing dudes are more conservative than the pope, they wouldn't try anything new even if they were allowed. Unless it's something you can inject.
I personally don't have a problem with 29er DH bikes and I say give them a try... If the sport becomes boring like Formula 1 then consider making some rules to restrict things but don't knock it till you've tried it imo.
The question is:
Did Formula 1 become boring because of the many regulations?
From an asthetical point if view definitely. The cars look quite similar to each other.
No different concepts in aerodynamics, supension, tyres, motor...
#29forlife
#deathto26
#27.5feelsmall
#theGOATknowsall
#wheresthespandex
www.pinkbike.com/news/2087-BCD-Racing-29er-Carbon-Fiber-DH-Bike.html
What if UCI did regulate things like wheel size, travel, etc? Of course that would even the playing field. Would that slow down the insane progression of aftermarket companies ?
so all what was said a couple years back was bullshit then......29 good for xc but not good for dh and now lets forget most of that as we launch into the era of 29 for everything...as for people choosing between 27.5 or 29 depending on track....that might happen for half the season but i bet after this year 27.5 will be given the same treatment that 26" wheeled bikes got. Karma i suppose but i dont think any wheel size should be dropped. but if the manufacturers dont make it what ya gonna do. i had someone i know joke about the size of my 26" wheeled bike looking like a childs bike yet hes older than me so must have been riding a "childs" bike himself for the best part of 20+ years. Hes a decent bloke and i dont think he meant it in a bad way its just surprising how quickly peoples views change. trust me its 29 inch wheels or bigger from here on out.
those poor wheels are gonna need some help........BOOST 2 anyone?
26 4 life
2) Is there some way to rank most commented on PB articles of all time? Cause this seems up there
3) If you've read this far in the comments you are very dedicated
maybe 26 and 27.5 fans should join forces and push another new standard out there like 26.75.....all the goodness of 26 with all the greatness of 27.5 and none of the...........oh i dont know er magic of 29ers?
its gonna be funny seeing how bike manufacturers try to sell on old stocks of 27.5 bikes next season with there sales bullshit only to treat them like lepers the next season.....27.5 and 26 what never heard of them.
(i know 27.5 isnt really 27.5")
I'm only playing devil's advocate here though, I ride a 29er and love it. Though I hear the Atherton's are going to fit zorbing balls to their treks soon.
Looks like should visit whatswrongwithmtb.com regularly.
like in year when all where riding 27,5, that year ratboy won with 26 and on 27,5 broke leg
and they won the WC, than these stupid changes and every year new standards would fuc** off
it more sounds like marketing article to me
Thanks Australia and Far North Queensland. Thanks.
Thanks
Why don' these manufacturers figure out how there suspension is working before trying to go faster, you can put any wheel on but it ain't going to do squat if your suspension is not on par. For gods sake they just started to use data acquisition on suspension.
Lights touch paper
Stands well back
Looking forward to Rampage riders on 40" tractor tires
Is pure marketing since in 26 or 27.5 the same results are achieved
In addition .... many years prevailed the size 26 wheels in all disciplines and I do not think that the wheels are dead 26
Still alive! And i am user of them
If it is true that the 29 have more meters or centimeters in distance
But it is necessary? I insist it's pure damn marketing
It's pure waste of money
And fashion
Also that the wheels 29 are not comfortable when folding at high speeds
Pure shit the 29"!