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Bars and suspension are minute personal and technical differences, wheelsize is a less subtle handling difference and is where almost all sports and standardized. I believe it should be capped at 27.5 just to remove all the BS and like Loic would say, keep it fun to watch. DH shouldn't devolve into racing fireroads super duper fast again...
But still #tweener4lyfe, keep it rowdy.
To put it another way, it's like teams saying that we have a new technology that will make you go 2 seconds quicker, but if you are under 5'4" it doesn't work, sorry.
Aside from a very small number of racers, journalists, and engineers no one has even ridden one at this point.
They asked him what he thought of a big open section, maybe fire road? He said "On that section, I could feel bigger riders passing me, but I tried not to think about it."
I want to say it was the race that Rockwell won Worlds where the advantage was to a bigger rider in the windy conditions with power whose weight could help them punch through the wind.
Sometimes, just your body type alone can give you an advantage on a course. Guys like GM, Peaty and Nathan Rennie changed that perception over the years though. Huge guys with tons of power and incredibly technical skills in the tight, twisty and twitchy raw sections.
Everyone says Sam Hill's corner speed was unreal at his peak. I still want to see if they throw enough corners, chicanes and speed killers into a course if the 29ers don't become cumbersome. It looked like the 29er was a BURDEN to Myriam Nicole to KEEP the wheels turning.
Plenty of 29" bikes near/at the top. Its a mixed bag on all tracks.
doesn't keene run 29er full time too?
Plenty of top dudes do, and plenty of top dudes might if they had the option. Dailly, Maes, Melamed, Wallner etc.
What is interesting is the guys that do have the option but opt for their sponsor's 27.5" variant. Hill, Rude, etc
Are more options a good thing? I find that whatever bike I am more comfortable on the better time have on the bike (both speed and fun). Loic (and those in that camp) say the 29er isn't as fun. Has anyone asked Greg which is more fun? He may say 29.
I say let people ride what they want. They results will shake out accordingly...
And again, if that is in fact the case, that is more a track problem to me, not a bike problem. More to my point, I bet a lot of these riders look far more ragged on outdated suspension too...maybe we bring that back?
A slightly larger wheel, under a dude like Greg, is no different than Danny riding a 27.5" wheel as far as proportions go - we're all reading into this way too much.
Good news (for proponents like me) is unless a bunch of teams rally behind "the internet", I don't see 29" going away.
I quite seriously doubt that.
Greg's 2015 winning run: http://www.mtb-downhill.net/greg-minnaars-winning-run-fort-william-wc-2…
2016 winning run (scroll down): https://dirtmountainbike.com/videos/season-world-cup-downhill-winning-r…
2017 winning run: https://youtu.be/Pt3B1ahTFBs
I suppose the eyes will see what they want to see, but I'd be way more critical of camera placement than a measly few cm of rim diameter.
http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/Claudios-Course-Preview-from-Le…
That being said, one thing I haven't seen mentioned is the impact 29er DH bikes could have on DH bikes available to the public. I've seen multiple comments stating that 29ers fit taller riders better. I can't say whether or not it is true, but if it is, we could be starting the end of DH.
How? Well, DH bikes make a very small contribution to the income of most bike companies. So I imagine that most companies will not follow in Trek's footsteps and offer both a 650b and a 29er DH frame. And if 29ers prove to be consistently faster or in greater demand by their racers, then most companies will have to ditch 650b for budget reasons. And if 29ers really are only good for tall riders, then we will see a large portion of the population (and especially the female portion) unable to really get along with DH bikes. And if they can never really feel comfortable on a DH bike, they won't buy one, let alone race one. And all forms of racing need new racers to join the ranks every year, or that race form will die.
Now is this doomsday prophecy going to happen? I don't know, their are way to many "ifs" that have no definitive answer yet. But I hope that the industry is being mindful of this, because while there is potential here to make DH bikes even more awesome, there is also potential for the industry to shoot itself in the foot. Faster is better, absolutely, but only if tech that makes the bike faster is available to all sized people (at least in theory.)
So to answer the question that opened this thread, perhaps a 650b and 29er class could be a good option, in that it would keep DH open to riders or all heights, but could also result in fewer companies making DH bikes. And less competition for DH rider's money could result in higher prices.
That was great
I think the thing that has long been coming is less and less companies investing in DH, this is independent of the whole 27.5 or 29" thing.
DH isn't going away. So long as there is a demand (and there is), SOME companies will find it worthwhile to keep producing DH bikes, be it for slim profit or for image/marketing alone. Will there be 100 options for you to chose from 10 years from now? Probably not.
My prediction is there will be a handful of big brands (akin to moto) producing DH bikes. I also predict more in-house branded parts on these bikes. We won't see technology progressing at the breakneck speed we've seen, with big changes every 4-5 years, the same way we see big changes in motos every 4-5 years. This allows these companies to eek the most out of the molds before trying something (slightly) new. This will be the case in DH as well as other types of riding.
Pricing will also have fallen.
So yeah, DH isn't "in trouble" but the days of having a crap ton of options is probably going to be hard for the market to support. Pricing and manufacturing capabilities will force out the little guys.... not wheels.
I honestly think some of the hate towards 29ers comes from guys thinking it means they will lose "bro points" or something. When 29ers came out it was predominantly spandex clad XC racers on hardtails riding them and it seems like each year there was a 29er that creeped closer to the the opposite end of the mountain biking spectrum (DH). There was the Niner WFO, Santa Cruz tall boy, Enduro 29, Evil the following and most recently the Santa Cruz Hightower, Yeti SB5.5 and Evil Wreconking. Each bike came with high praise and most Bro's were able to sleep at night because they would tell themselves "At least we still have DH to ourselves." Now that the 29er revolution has finally moved to the darkside, some guys feel like some of the "soul" of DH is gone.
The two different camps on the 29er debate kind of remind me of Palmer vs Vouilloz. Palmer wanted to win but also wanted to look cool while doing it. He cared about image just as much as winning. Nico would have raced a potato down the mountain if he thought it was faster. He cared about image as well, but winning by any means necessary was his ultimate goal. And at the end of the day, the sport is what it is today because of both of them.
::steps down from soapbox::
Image is also subjective. I personally love seeing the guys on 29ers skip over rocks and completely soak up small bumps. It's racing, if I need to get my fix of "rowdy" riding I'll just watch a Ratboy or Phil Atwill edit.
Frame manufacturers can make and will sell 29 inch DH bikes. Any industry leverage applied in this case is likely to be in favor of 29ers, not against them. Regardless of a brands personal feelings, any initiative by the UCI to limit current or further development is going to raise concerns about their ability/right to freely innovate (i.e. design, market, differentiate, and sell product). Conversely, the push to ban skin suits was in part to protect/encourage these same opportunities and I would argue in terms of current MTB apparel we are all better off for it.
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