tffort

When 29ers with Boost first came out, everyone said 148 was a mistake, not worth the disruption, and that they should have gone all the way to 157. Now that another wheel standard is upon us with 32”, I wish they’d take the time up front to get it right the first time, rather than let the “new thing” get bashed online and then revise it again after a couple of years. So my view: no to 32”/Boost now. If the engineering says that 32”/SuperBoost is better, just go there now. In the meantime, if there’s a big discussion or debate and competing standards, I’ll just keep on sitting on the sideline and riding what I’ve got until there’s technical stability and enough improvement to be worth the cost of upgrading.

@cyclotoine: Blister’s Bikes & Big Ideas #318

750D. It’s a thing.

So it seems to me that Giant is basically last to the party with the near-ubiquitous progressive geometry flex-stay short-travel XC/downcountry 29” wheeled bike, and will therefore likely be last to the party with a 32” bike. Even their product managers are basically saying that 32” wheels are the next big thing. If 32” wheels are all that, why would anyone buy this new Anthem? Next year, it seems lots of companies will be coming out with 32ers. Giant assumedly won’t be, as they have this brand new 29er. I guess that will give Giant more time to watch and learn from the mistakes that will be made with the first generation of 32ers that come out, but this new Anthem just seems to be a lame duck.

Another factor I don’t see addressed in the testing is the width of the bar as cut/ridden vs as sold. The PNW carbon 31.8 with 35mm rise comes at a width of 800mm. How much of that compliance/deflection goes away when you cut that bar down to 740 or 760mm?