I'm only 6'3", but I could easily see that a 32/29 mullet being a game changer for people 6'1" and above. I find that most people...
I'm only 6'3", but I could easily see that a 32/29 mullet being a game changer for people 6'1" and above. I find that most people my height have a bit more of a take-it or leave-it approach to a mixed wheel setup. It has always made me wonder if really what is going on is that the additional leverage and inseam length means that tall people can man handle a 29r rear wheel the same way a shorter person can handle a 27.5. If I assume that's true, it means to me, that the giant's amongst us, would be even happier with a larger front wheel then what is available now matched with a 29r rear wheel.
On that subject, I feel like a 32/29 mullet xc bike might be an interesting proposition. A heavier front tire/wheel isn't anywhere as impactful as a heavier drive tire/wheel.
That being said, I want to go back into the wheelsize war era of mountain biking about as much as I desire going to the dentist. What's old is new again, pick your favorite wheel/tire size and be a dick about it.
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and marathon folks. When you look at the bike fits that pro road and gravel athletes are running, modern XC bikes have extremely tall front ends and upright body positions by comparison.
All of the crazy negative rise stems we see on pro XC bikes are really just bandaid solutions to hide the fact that 29ers forks and front wheels are tall AF for most of the elite XC field. Take a look at these riders bikes, most of them with extremely low rise stems, and if you just look at contact points you'll they have almost no "bar drop" from the saddle to the handlebars.
Puck Piererse' winning bike from Leogang last weekend. No bar drop:
Jolanda Neff's bike from a couple years back. No bar drop, arguably bars that are higher than the saddle:
Victor Koretzy's bike from last season. Maybe 40 cm of bar drop:
Here's Nino's bike from the Cape Epic, which is a more extreme version of his normal XC fit, because the Cape Epic is really a glorified gravel race. Despite looking insane, if you actually focus your eyes on the contact points, it's still not that much bar drop, maybe 50mm, which is pretty tame.
By comparison, here are some old pics of Chris Froome and his bike, who always had a pretty middle of the road bike fit, arguably pretty upright in comparison to other riders at the time. Still had 100-120mm of bar drop, according to my eyeballs, and that's just to the top of the bars. When he goes into the drops it's more like 200+:
Back to 32" wheels. 32" rims have a 686mm bead seat diameter, which is 64mm larger than a 29" wheel's 622mm BSD. That means slapping a 32" fork and wheel onto a 29" bike will raise the vertical stack height on that bike by 62mm!!! (see math here). That means that every single rider who I've listed above would have their bars above their saddle, including Nino and Koretzy. Yeah, duh short riders wouldn't work well on 32" wheels, but my point is that tall XC riders still have less bar drop than you would expect because they're working around a very tall front end.
Juroslav Kulhavy was 6'2"/187 cm, and even he would have basically zero bar drop if he installed a 32" fork and front wheel on his old Cape Epic bike:
The only XC/marathon riders I can think of who wouldn't have a compromised bike fit from a 32" front wheel would be the old Kona XC and CX slayer Ryan Trebon. Trebon's old CX bike for reference:
One has to wonder who they are making them for though 🤔🤷🏻
I think that adapter would work if you were installing a 20mm hub onto a 15mm Torque-cap compatible Rockshox fork, but I get that's a pretty small slice of the pie.
I think that adapter would work if you were installing a 20mm hub onto a 15mm Torque-cap compatible Rockshox fork, but I get that's a pretty...
I think that adapter would work if you were installing a 20mm hub onto a 15mm Torque-cap compatible Rockshox fork, but I get that's a pretty small slice of the pie.
People like me, who would buy it, then realise the end caps won't work. 🤣
I'm only 6'3", but I could easily see that a 32/29 mullet being a game changer for people 6'1" and above. I find that most people...
I'm only 6'3", but I could easily see that a 32/29 mullet being a game changer for people 6'1" and above. I find that most people my height have a bit more of a take-it or leave-it approach to a mixed wheel setup. It has always made me wonder if really what is going on is that the additional leverage and inseam length means that tall people can man handle a 29r rear wheel the same way a shorter person can handle a 27.5. If I assume that's true, it means to me, that the giant's amongst us, would be even happier with a larger front wheel then what is available now matched with a 29r rear wheel.
On that subject, I feel like a 32/29 mullet xc bike might be an interesting proposition. A heavier front tire/wheel isn't anywhere as impactful as a heavier drive tire/wheel.
That being said, I want to go back into the wheelsize war era of mountain biking about as much as I desire going to the dentist. What's old is new again, pick your favorite wheel/tire size and be a dick about it.
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and...
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and marathon folks. When you look at the bike fits that pro road and gravel athletes are running, modern XC bikes have extremely tall front ends and upright body positions by comparison.
All of the crazy negative rise stems we see on pro XC bikes are really just bandaid solutions to hide the fact that 29ers forks and front wheels are tall AF for most of the elite XC field. Take a look at these riders bikes, most of them with extremely low rise stems, and if you just look at contact points you'll they have almost no "bar drop" from the saddle to the handlebars.
Puck Piererse' winning bike from Leogang last weekend. No bar drop:
Jolanda Neff's bike from a couple years back. No bar drop, arguably bars that are higher than the saddle:
Victor Koretzy's bike from last season. Maybe 40 cm of bar drop:
Here's Nino's bike from the Cape Epic, which is a more extreme version of his normal XC fit, because the Cape Epic is really a glorified gravel race. Despite looking insane, if you actually focus your eyes on the contact points, it's still not that much bar drop, maybe 50mm, which is pretty tame.
By comparison, here are some old pics of Chris Froome and his bike, who always had a pretty middle of the road bike fit, arguably pretty upright in comparison to other riders at the time. Still had 100-120mm of bar drop, according to my eyeballs, and that's just to the top of the bars. When he goes into the drops it's more like 200+:
Back to 32" wheels. 32" rims have a 686mm bead seat diameter, which is 64mm larger than a 29" wheel's 622mm BSD. That means slapping a 32" fork and wheel onto a 29" bike will raise the vertical stack height on that bike by 62mm!!! (see math here). That means that every single rider who I've listed above would have their bars above their saddle, including Nino and Koretzy. Yeah, duh short riders wouldn't work well on 32" wheels, but my point is that tall XC riders still have less bar drop than you would expect because they're working around a very tall front end.
Juroslav Kulhavy was 6'2"/187 cm, and even he would have basically zero bar drop if he installed a 32" fork and front wheel on his old Cape Epic bike:
The only XC/marathon riders I can think of who wouldn't have a compromised bike fit from a 32" front wheel would be the old Kona XC and CX slayer Ryan Trebon. Trebon's old CX bike for reference:
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and...
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and marathon folks. When you look at the bike fits that pro road and gravel athletes are running, modern XC bikes have extremely tall front ends and upright body positions by comparison.
All of the crazy negative rise stems we see on pro XC bikes are really just bandaid solutions to hide the fact that 29ers forks and front wheels are tall AF for most of the elite XC field. Take a look at these riders bikes, most of them with extremely low rise stems, and if you just look at contact points you'll they have almost no "bar drop" from the saddle to the handlebars.
Puck Piererse' winning bike from Leogang last weekend. No bar drop:
Jolanda Neff's bike from a couple years back. No bar drop, arguably bars that are higher than the saddle:
Victor Koretzy's bike from last season. Maybe 40 cm of bar drop:
Here's Nino's bike from the Cape Epic, which is a more extreme version of his normal XC fit, because the Cape Epic is really a glorified gravel race. Despite looking insane, if you actually focus your eyes on the contact points, it's still not that much bar drop, maybe 50mm, which is pretty tame.
By comparison, here are some old pics of Chris Froome and his bike, who always had a pretty middle of the road bike fit, arguably pretty upright in comparison to other riders at the time. Still had 100-120mm of bar drop, according to my eyeballs, and that's just to the top of the bars. When he goes into the drops it's more like 200+:
Back to 32" wheels. 32" rims have a 686mm bead seat diameter, which is 64mm larger than a 29" wheel's 622mm BSD. That means slapping a 32" fork and wheel onto a 29" bike will raise the vertical stack height on that bike by 62mm!!! (see math here). That means that every single rider who I've listed above would have their bars above their saddle, including Nino and Koretzy. Yeah, duh short riders wouldn't work well on 32" wheels, but my point is that tall XC riders still have less bar drop than you would expect because they're working around a very tall front end.
Juroslav Kulhavy was 6'2"/187 cm, and even he would have basically zero bar drop if he installed a 32" fork and front wheel on his old Cape Epic bike:
The only XC/marathon riders I can think of who wouldn't have a compromised bike fit from a 32" front wheel would be the old Kona XC and CX slayer Ryan Trebon. Trebon's old CX bike for reference:
I'm only 6'3", but I could easily see that a 32/29 mullet being a game changer for people 6'1" and above. I find that most people...
I'm only 6'3", but I could easily see that a 32/29 mullet being a game changer for people 6'1" and above. I find that most people my height have a bit more of a take-it or leave-it approach to a mixed wheel setup. It has always made me wonder if really what is going on is that the additional leverage and inseam length means that tall people can man handle a 29r rear wheel the same way a shorter person can handle a 27.5. If I assume that's true, it means to me, that the giant's amongst us, would be even happier with a larger front wheel then what is available now matched with a 29r rear wheel.
On that subject, I feel like a 32/29 mullet xc bike might be an interesting proposition. A heavier front tire/wheel isn't anywhere as impactful as a heavier drive tire/wheel.
That being said, I want to go back into the wheelsize war era of mountain biking about as much as I desire going to the dentist. What's old is new again, pick your favorite wheel/tire size and be a dick about it.
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and...
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and marathon folks. When you look at the bike fits that pro road and gravel athletes are running, modern XC bikes have extremely tall front ends and upright body positions by comparison.
All of the crazy negative rise stems we see on pro XC bikes are really just bandaid solutions to hide the fact that 29ers forks and front wheels are tall AF for most of the elite XC field. Take a look at these riders bikes, most of them with extremely low rise stems, and if you just look at contact points you'll they have almost no "bar drop" from the saddle to the handlebars.
Puck Piererse' winning bike from Leogang last weekend. No bar drop:
Jolanda Neff's bike from a couple years back. No bar drop, arguably bars that are higher than the saddle:
Victor Koretzy's bike from last season. Maybe 40 cm of bar drop:
Here's Nino's bike from the Cape Epic, which is a more extreme version of his normal XC fit, because the Cape Epic is really a glorified gravel race. Despite looking insane, if you actually focus your eyes on the contact points, it's still not that much bar drop, maybe 50mm, which is pretty tame.
By comparison, here are some old pics of Chris Froome and his bike, who always had a pretty middle of the road bike fit, arguably pretty upright in comparison to other riders at the time. Still had 100-120mm of bar drop, according to my eyeballs, and that's just to the top of the bars. When he goes into the drops it's more like 200+:
Back to 32" wheels. 32" rims have a 686mm bead seat diameter, which is 64mm larger than a 29" wheel's 622mm BSD. That means slapping a 32" fork and wheel onto a 29" bike will raise the vertical stack height on that bike by 62mm!!! (see math here). That means that every single rider who I've listed above would have their bars above their saddle, including Nino and Koretzy. Yeah, duh short riders wouldn't work well on 32" wheels, but my point is that tall XC riders still have less bar drop than you would expect because they're working around a very tall front end.
Juroslav Kulhavy was 6'2"/187 cm, and even he would have basically zero bar drop if he installed a 32" fork and front wheel on his old Cape Epic bike:
The only XC/marathon riders I can think of who wouldn't have a compromised bike fit from a 32" front wheel would be the old Kona XC and CX slayer Ryan Trebon. Trebon's old CX bike for reference:
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and...
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for 32" bikes, the head tube was split, in which case it only needs to house a bearing on each end, and the stem attached in between? Scott does so much integration hell already that I'd bet they'd be into this.
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and...
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and marathon folks. When you look at the bike fits that pro road and gravel athletes are running, modern XC bikes have extremely tall front ends and upright body positions by comparison.
All of the crazy negative rise stems we see on pro XC bikes are really just bandaid solutions to hide the fact that 29ers forks and front wheels are tall AF for most of the elite XC field. Take a look at these riders bikes, most of them with extremely low rise stems, and if you just look at contact points you'll they have almost no "bar drop" from the saddle to the handlebars.
Puck Piererse' winning bike from Leogang last weekend. No bar drop:
Jolanda Neff's bike from a couple years back. No bar drop, arguably bars that are higher than the saddle:
Victor Koretzy's bike from last season. Maybe 40 cm of bar drop:
Here's Nino's bike from the Cape Epic, which is a more extreme version of his normal XC fit, because the Cape Epic is really a glorified gravel race. Despite looking insane, if you actually focus your eyes on the contact points, it's still not that much bar drop, maybe 50mm, which is pretty tame.
By comparison, here are some old pics of Chris Froome and his bike, who always had a pretty middle of the road bike fit, arguably pretty upright in comparison to other riders at the time. Still had 100-120mm of bar drop, according to my eyeballs, and that's just to the top of the bars. When he goes into the drops it's more like 200+:
Back to 32" wheels. 32" rims have a 686mm bead seat diameter, which is 64mm larger than a 29" wheel's 622mm BSD. That means slapping a 32" fork and wheel onto a 29" bike will raise the vertical stack height on that bike by 62mm!!! (see math here). That means that every single rider who I've listed above would have their bars above their saddle, including Nino and Koretzy. Yeah, duh short riders wouldn't work well on 32" wheels, but my point is that tall XC riders still have less bar drop than you would expect because they're working around a very tall front end.
Juroslav Kulhavy was 6'2"/187 cm, and even he would have basically zero bar drop if he installed a 32" fork and front wheel on his old Cape Epic bike:
The only XC/marathon riders I can think of who wouldn't have a compromised bike fit from a 32" front wheel would be the old Kona XC and CX slayer Ryan Trebon. Trebon's old CX bike for reference:
Anyone remember the short head tubes when 29ers first came out? Most XC racers are setting up their bikes to fit like a road bike.. Because watts are more important on the climbs...
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and...
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and marathon folks. When you look at the bike fits that pro road and gravel athletes are running, modern XC bikes have extremely tall front ends and upright body positions by comparison.
All of the crazy negative rise stems we see on pro XC bikes are really just bandaid solutions to hide the fact that 29ers forks and front wheels are tall AF for most of the elite XC field. Take a look at these riders bikes, most of them with extremely low rise stems, and if you just look at contact points you'll they have almost no "bar drop" from the saddle to the handlebars.
Puck Piererse' winning bike from Leogang last weekend. No bar drop:
Jolanda Neff's bike from a couple years back. No bar drop, arguably bars that are higher than the saddle:
Victor Koretzy's bike from last season. Maybe 40 cm of bar drop:
Here's Nino's bike from the Cape Epic, which is a more extreme version of his normal XC fit, because the Cape Epic is really a glorified gravel race. Despite looking insane, if you actually focus your eyes on the contact points, it's still not that much bar drop, maybe 50mm, which is pretty tame.
By comparison, here are some old pics of Chris Froome and his bike, who always had a pretty middle of the road bike fit, arguably pretty upright in comparison to other riders at the time. Still had 100-120mm of bar drop, according to my eyeballs, and that's just to the top of the bars. When he goes into the drops it's more like 200+:
Back to 32" wheels. 32" rims have a 686mm bead seat diameter, which is 64mm larger than a 29" wheel's 622mm BSD. That means slapping a 32" fork and wheel onto a 29" bike will raise the vertical stack height on that bike by 62mm!!! (see math here). That means that every single rider who I've listed above would have their bars above their saddle, including Nino and Koretzy. Yeah, duh short riders wouldn't work well on 32" wheels, but my point is that tall XC riders still have less bar drop than you would expect because they're working around a very tall front end.
Juroslav Kulhavy was 6'2"/187 cm, and even he would have basically zero bar drop if he installed a 32" fork and front wheel on his old Cape Epic bike:
The only XC/marathon riders I can think of who wouldn't have a compromised bike fit from a 32" front wheel would be the old Kona XC and CX slayer Ryan Trebon. Trebon's old CX bike for reference:
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and...
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for...
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for 32" bikes, the head tube was split, in which case it only needs to house a bearing on each end, and the stem attached in between? Scott does so much integration hell already that I'd bet they'd be into this.
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for...
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for 32" bikes, the head tube was split, in which case it only needs to house a bearing on each end, and the stem attached in between? Scott does so much integration hell already that I'd bet they'd be into this.
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and...
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and marathon folks. When you look at the bike fits that pro road and gravel athletes are running, modern XC bikes have extremely tall front ends and upright body positions by comparison.
All of the crazy negative rise stems we see on pro XC bikes are really just bandaid solutions to hide the fact that 29ers forks and front wheels are tall AF for most of the elite XC field. Take a look at these riders bikes, most of them with extremely low rise stems, and if you just look at contact points you'll they have almost no "bar drop" from the saddle to the handlebars.
Puck Piererse' winning bike from Leogang last weekend. No bar drop:
Jolanda Neff's bike from a couple years back. No bar drop, arguably bars that are higher than the saddle:
Victor Koretzy's bike from last season. Maybe 40 cm of bar drop:
Here's Nino's bike from the Cape Epic, which is a more extreme version of his normal XC fit, because the Cape Epic is really a glorified gravel race. Despite looking insane, if you actually focus your eyes on the contact points, it's still not that much bar drop, maybe 50mm, which is pretty tame.
By comparison, here are some old pics of Chris Froome and his bike, who always had a pretty middle of the road bike fit, arguably pretty upright in comparison to other riders at the time. Still had 100-120mm of bar drop, according to my eyeballs, and that's just to the top of the bars. When he goes into the drops it's more like 200+:
Back to 32" wheels. 32" rims have a 686mm bead seat diameter, which is 64mm larger than a 29" wheel's 622mm BSD. That means slapping a 32" fork and wheel onto a 29" bike will raise the vertical stack height on that bike by 62mm!!! (see math here). That means that every single rider who I've listed above would have their bars above their saddle, including Nino and Koretzy. Yeah, duh short riders wouldn't work well on 32" wheels, but my point is that tall XC riders still have less bar drop than you would expect because they're working around a very tall front end.
Juroslav Kulhavy was 6'2"/187 cm, and even he would have basically zero bar drop if he installed a 32" fork and front wheel on his old Cape Epic bike:
The only XC/marathon riders I can think of who wouldn't have a compromised bike fit from a 32" front wheel would be the old Kona XC and CX slayer Ryan Trebon. Trebon's old CX bike for reference:
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and...
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for...
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for 32" bikes, the head tube was split, in which case it only needs to house a bearing on each end, and the stem attached in between? Scott does so much integration hell already that I'd bet they'd be into this.
Unironically love this and could see it working great.
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and...
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
I don't look forward to 5-7 years of riding shitty tires until Maxxis releases a MaxxGrip Assegai in 32" sizing haha. I still have PTSD from the early 29er days.
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and...
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for...
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for 32" bikes, the head tube was split, in which case it only needs to house a bearing on each end, and the stem attached in between? Scott does so much integration hell already that I'd bet they'd be into this.
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and...
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
I don't look forward to 5-7 years of riding shitty tires until Maxxis releases a MaxxGrip Assegai in 32" sizing haha. I still have PTSD from...
I don't look forward to 5-7 years of riding shitty tires until Maxxis releases a MaxxGrip Assegai in 32" sizing haha. I still have PTSD from the early 29er days.
Rocky just needs to step in and open the mold. Hahah 32's are going to be a big hit here on the Shore.
Moto Max is teasing a new bike on his insta. Can we rub our brain cells together to figure out what it could be?https://www.instagram.com/p/DK7ODT0Rr3n/?img_index=1&igsh=MW13MDRtZWpyNzIyaQ==
Moto Max is teasing a new bike on his insta.
Can we rub our brain cells together to figure out what it could be?
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and...
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and marathon folks. When you look at the bike fits that pro road and gravel athletes are running, modern XC bikes have extremely tall front ends and upright body positions by comparison.
All of the crazy negative rise stems we see on pro XC bikes are really just bandaid solutions to hide the fact that 29ers forks and front wheels are tall AF for most of the elite XC field. Take a look at these riders bikes, most of them with extremely low rise stems, and if you just look at contact points you'll they have almost no "bar drop" from the saddle to the handlebars.
Puck Piererse' winning bike from Leogang last weekend. No bar drop:
Jolanda Neff's bike from a couple years back. No bar drop, arguably bars that are higher than the saddle:
Victor Koretzy's bike from last season. Maybe 40 cm of bar drop:
Here's Nino's bike from the Cape Epic, which is a more extreme version of his normal XC fit, because the Cape Epic is really a glorified gravel race. Despite looking insane, if you actually focus your eyes on the contact points, it's still not that much bar drop, maybe 50mm, which is pretty tame.
By comparison, here are some old pics of Chris Froome and his bike, who always had a pretty middle of the road bike fit, arguably pretty upright in comparison to other riders at the time. Still had 100-120mm of bar drop, according to my eyeballs, and that's just to the top of the bars. When he goes into the drops it's more like 200+:
Back to 32" wheels. 32" rims have a 686mm bead seat diameter, which is 64mm larger than a 29" wheel's 622mm BSD. That means slapping a 32" fork and wheel onto a 29" bike will raise the vertical stack height on that bike by 62mm!!! (see math here). That means that every single rider who I've listed above would have their bars above their saddle, including Nino and Koretzy. Yeah, duh short riders wouldn't work well on 32" wheels, but my point is that tall XC riders still have less bar drop than you would expect because they're working around a very tall front end.
Juroslav Kulhavy was 6'2"/187 cm, and even he would have basically zero bar drop if he installed a 32" fork and front wheel on his old Cape Epic bike:
The only XC/marathon riders I can think of who wouldn't have a compromised bike fit from a 32" front wheel would be the old Kona XC and CX slayer Ryan Trebon. Trebon's old CX bike for reference:
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and...
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for...
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for 32" bikes, the head tube was split, in which case it only needs to house a bearing on each end, and the stem attached in between? Scott does so much integration hell already that I'd bet they'd be into this.
Until they get the rotor arms orientation right they cannot be expecting to be taken seriously. And red paint? Seriously? What is this fast and furious vol.I? Oh, grimeca wants to have a word with you about that too lol. Gosh I'm so negative.
Until they get the rotor arms orientation right they cannot be expecting to be taken seriously. And red paint? Seriously? What is this fast and furious...
Until they get the rotor arms orientation right they cannot be expecting to be taken seriously. And red paint? Seriously? What is this fast and furious vol.I? Oh, grimeca wants to have a word with you about that too lol. Gosh I'm so negative.
Lighten up, Francis! These will look great on my Porsche ebike.
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and...
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
I think 32” wheels sound amazing for the rough, washboard, rutted Colorado dirt roads. I don’t race and don’t care for sprinting. But some big ol wheels that roll and roll… I like it. Tall comfy front end sounds good too.
One has to wonder who they are making them for though 🤔🤷🏻
Stack height is my number one concern/doubt/hesitation about the adoption of 32" wheels, because stack height on 29" wheels is already REALLY tall for XC and marathon folks. When you look at the bike fits that pro road and gravel athletes are running, modern XC bikes have extremely tall front ends and upright body positions by comparison.
All of the crazy negative rise stems we see on pro XC bikes are really just bandaid solutions to hide the fact that 29ers forks and front wheels are tall AF for most of the elite XC field. Take a look at these riders bikes, most of them with extremely low rise stems, and if you just look at contact points you'll they have almost no "bar drop" from the saddle to the handlebars.
Puck Piererse' winning bike from Leogang last weekend. No bar drop:
Jolanda Neff's bike from a couple years back. No bar drop, arguably bars that are higher than the saddle:
Victor Koretzy's bike from last season. Maybe 40 cm of bar drop:
Here's Nino's bike from the Cape Epic, which is a more extreme version of his normal XC fit, because the Cape Epic is really a glorified gravel race. Despite looking insane, if you actually focus your eyes on the contact points, it's still not that much bar drop, maybe 50mm, which is pretty tame.
By comparison, here are some old pics of Chris Froome and his bike, who always had a pretty middle of the road bike fit, arguably pretty upright in comparison to other riders at the time. Still had 100-120mm of bar drop, according to my eyeballs, and that's just to the top of the bars. When he goes into the drops it's more like 200+:
Back to 32" wheels. 32" rims have a 686mm bead seat diameter, which is 64mm larger than a 29" wheel's 622mm BSD. That means slapping a 32" fork and wheel onto a 29" bike will raise the vertical stack height on that bike by 62mm!!! (see math here). That means that every single rider who I've listed above would have their bars above their saddle, including Nino and Koretzy. Yeah, duh short riders wouldn't work well on 32" wheels, but my point is that tall XC riders still have less bar drop than you would expect because they're working around a very tall front end.
Juroslav Kulhavy was 6'2"/187 cm, and even he would have basically zero bar drop if he installed a 32" fork and front wheel on his old Cape Epic bike:
The only XC/marathon riders I can think of who wouldn't have a compromised bike fit from a 32" front wheel would be the old Kona XC and CX slayer Ryan Trebon. Trebon's old CX bike for reference:
I think that adapter would work if you were installing a 20mm hub onto a 15mm Torque-cap compatible Rockshox fork, but I get that's a pretty small slice of the pie.
re: stack height - i'd wager fork travel lengths get reduced to help.
People like me, who would buy it, then realise the end caps won't work. 🤣
Really good post but I still think we are suffering from the same problem that we had 10-15 years ago: bike design, geo, riding style, and bike setup are all based on available tech and components.
Once we add a new tool to the arsenal the landscape shifts around it. Riding styles will change and bikes will be designed with different parameters and the whole sport will evolve.
The early 29ers weren’t great! But the concept was sound and eventually we figured out how to make great 29ers and riding styles adapted to the new strengths and weaknesses of the wheel size.
I would bet that seat tube angles steepen with proportional increase in reach. Shorter stems with a negative rise will maybe get us back to similar handling characteristics and a similar saddle to bar drop. What do you think?
Clip-ons direct to the stanchions!
Side note - Is this the future of elite DH 🎮🎮🎮?
I'm just spitballing here, but one of the limiting dimensions that does not help gain wheel size or suspension travel is headtube length. What if for 32" bikes, the head tube was split, in which case it only needs to house a bearing on each end, and the stem attached in between? Scott does so much integration hell already that I'd bet they'd be into this.
you're all helping them figure out 32" way too much with these suggestions 🤣
SOLUTION: handlebars that mount to the crowns!
Just make sure you wear a full face
Absolutely horrific. Scott will love it.
Can't wait for a new steerer standard to solve the issue of the taper getting in the way of the stem.
Anyone remember the short head tubes when 29ers first came out? Most XC racers are setting up their bikes to fit like a road bike.. Because watts are more important on the climbs...
I'm waiting for Deity to offer $100,000 to the first elite XC racer to win a WC running 80mm rise bars upside down.
Just imagine the cable routing potential!
No need to split the tube, just go lower
Now we’re talking.
Unironically love this and could see it working great.
I don't look forward to 5-7 years of riding shitty tires until Maxxis releases a MaxxGrip Assegai in 32" sizing haha. I still have PTSD from the early 29er days.
I was imagining a mondraker with this design. It already fits their Industrial Design!
Rocky just needs to step in and open the mold. Hahah 32's are going to be a big hit here on the Shore.
I believe it's a Haro
Izanagi Teru V2 prototype.
V3 coming soon...
post removed at request of brand. -sspomer
Why settle for just one bar position?
Brembo brakes official
Until they get the rotor arms orientation right they cannot be expecting to be taken seriously. And red paint? Seriously? What is this fast and furious vol.I? Oh, grimeca wants to have a word with you about that too lol. Gosh I'm so negative.
I can't convey it in any way other than vibes but these look extremely Scandinavian. Like Brio (the little wooden trains and tracks) and Lego!
Lighten up, Francis! These will look great on my Porsche ebike.
I think 32” wheels sound amazing for the rough, washboard, rutted Colorado dirt roads. I don’t race and don’t care for sprinting. But some big ol wheels that roll and roll… I like it. Tall comfy front end sounds good too.
Not everything needs to be race-ready
not 32" but prototype giant XC bike from VDS pits today