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It for sure let DH riders configure a more capable machine. Vast majority run a MX wheel set.
I got some leaked SRAM promo material, some seriously innovative tech coming out this season.
(april 1st is coming very soon)
I will put it plainly.
Big people on little wheels -> frames can accommodate their size => no practical advantage
Little people on big wheels -> frames cannot accommodate their size => practical disadvantage
There is a fundamental physical advantage for bigger wheels relative to smaller ones in mildly bumpy terrain (XC like). Smaller riders cannot practically access this advantage. There is no disadvantage to small wheels if everyone is on the same wheel size.
This is the issue.
UCI has regulated road bikes (and others) for decades, sometimes just to keep the classic bicycle aesthetic. It’s funny that they aren’t doing anything about xc, I think they don’t care as much and there is money to be made for the manufactures.
PS. Yes, in the past frames were smaller in general and that may have been not ideal for larger riders, but there was no physical limitation for the frame design. That has since changed.
You’re treating wheel size in a vacuum and ignoring the physics of scaling an entire bike around a tall rider.
Yes, shorter riders might miss out on some of the theoretical roll over benefits of larger wheels. But tall riders pay elsewhere: longer wheelbases, slower handling, compromised front-center to chainstay balance, and a higher center of mass. Those are all very real practical disadvantages.
If we already accept that reach, and stack should scale to the rider, why should wheel size be the one dimension frozen in place? Proportional wheel sizing makes sense because wheel size is part of the overall geometry equation, not some isolated free advantage.
So no, it is not as black and white as “small riders cannot access big-wheel advantages.” Once you factor in frame scaling, weight distribution, and handling, bigger riders have plenty of meaningful disadvantages of their own.
I disagree.
The effects you cite are second order at best and debatable in comparison to wheel size rollover when explicitly considering XC racing.
Most of the womens xc field already looks to be at the fit limit with 29”.
But honestly, I don’t personally care about competitive XC beyond occasionally watching the racing.
Having worked with pro road, cx teams, and national road, cx, mtb teams, I can say that commissaries have always viewed as having an exemption from other UCI rules, not a whole different set. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if they changed more rules like wheels size, wheelbase, course design rules etc etc etc.
It get philosophical, but the constraints of sport are a part of what makes sport so enduring. Keeping up with tech, but retaining the competition, and the connection to the last matters.
There’s a trade of between allowing whatever optimises the performance of the athlete and ensuring that the challenge remains the same.
MTB has also been left fairly unregulated for juniors, which creates a massive benefit to well funded athletes. In the road there are gear limits and so on.
https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/32-inch-wheels-and-mountain-bikes#comment-664001 😏
https://www.aventon.com/products/current-exp-ebike?variant=44981169488067
Reformed xc guy here. When I was on 29 and my riding buddy was on 27.5 (both xc hardtails) the acceleration advantage of the 27.5 was impossible to ignore just as the momentum of the 29 was. For trail riding the 27.5 looked more fun in more places while the 29 just hauled the mail when things straightened out a bit or went down hill.
I fully expect the same “revelations” in all of the 32” bike reviews to come out this year.
Not a tech rumor, but after looking at the bike of the day (love everything about it!), does anyone know what happened to Azonic?
I used to drool over the stuff, loved the a-frame pedals… just out of curiosity I’d love to know what happened with that brand.
they have a current (2026) website, with current looking products listed. looks like they are still part of o'neal, the azonic site takes you to the oneal webstore. they definitely went quiet for more than a number of years. not sure what was going on?
https://azonicusa.com/collections/cycling
I look at it as ratio of rider size to gyroscopic effect. Smaller riders are more in the bike and the gyroscopic effect of the wheels contributes more stability to the system. 32” will push this relative stability up into larger sized bikes.
I think a lot of other players came into the market and Azonic wasn't really moving forward as things changed... Or, if they have done new stuff, do you really ever see it outside of MBA?
What he said.
Hey man, Charlie and company were selling IMBA SUCKS stickers and captioning videos of people smoothing concrete driveways and building slabs with smarmy comments like "IMBA trail crew building another sanctioned tech trail" like 12-15 years ago, which predates groad bikes and eebs by a solid 8 years or so. Core riders have been complaining about the proliferation of blue flow trails for at least 15 years now, but I guess the boogeyman has changed from IMBA to.... gravel bikes and 32 inch wheeled mountain bikes?
If anything I can see the adoption of 32 inch bikes leading to another "dumbing down the shore" moment.
Agreed 🤐
IMBA is still ragged on for their sidewalks.
Re: IMBA (and other trail associations) besides them building almost exclusively flow trails, I find the biggest drawback is the mob mentality of people that take part.
-Come in and gaslight local government into letting them be the judge jury and executioner regarding how the entire trail system will be built and managed moving forward.
-Build exclusively flow. (Requires excavators)
-Gaslight local government into requiring parking permits to support excavator trails people didn’t ask for. Parking used to free.
-Extended and unnecessary trail closures whenever it even slightly rains. “It’ll ruin the flow berms bro, be a good trail steward bro”
-anybody wants to build any sort of trail anywhere remotely close? Straight to jail. Only the trail alliance bros in their cool club are allowed to decide. Ignoring the fact that every trail system they “manage” came from exactly that.
I'm here to defend (good) trail associations. I was the first Executive Director of Evergreen MTB Alliance in WA State in the early 00's and then on the exec committee of the board for another 10 years. We (both paid crews and volunteers) built tons of tech trails, and yeah a lot of flow trails and jump lines for the masses. I think a good balance between the styles. Behind the scenes we fought HARD to keep open the unsanctioned areas - areas I rode and may or may not have spent countless hours digging at
That fight wasn't easy. Some of those areas became legit, some were better left off the system.
A challenge is that a lot of stuff related to "off system" trails needs to be done quietly, for what I hope are obvious reasons. You can rarely broadcast your successes keeping at these areas from getting ripped out.
Trail associations take the heat from both riders and land owners, but that's their job. You gotta be OK with it and know that if no one is complaining, no one cares.
here is one of many trail building / advocacy forum topics - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/The-Hub,2/I-dont-like-the-direction-of-modern-trail-building,11062?page=1#comment-154076
use it or start your own instead of talking trails in tech rumors.
Thank you sir! They’ve been so under the radar, I don’t even think about googling them… would be rad if they “come back out of hiding”…
Latest post on neko's instagram shows one picture of the dh bike on the stand and it looks like the main pivot is way higher up the seattube to get high-er virtual pivot
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New FOX Float X and DHX shocks are live! - https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/first-look-2027-fox-float-x-dhx-and-live-valve-neo-shocks
I heard rumours of the new 38 dropping in a couple of weeks. Anyone have any info? /an actual rumour !
New 6D ATB-3 fullface
https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/6d-helmets-introduces-all-new-atb-3-downhill-and-bmx-helmet
in-tire pressure monitor from outrider on kickstarter that landed in the inbox.
kick starter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/outridercomponents/outrider-tl-mini-a-wireless-bicycle-tire-pressure-sensor
site - https://www.outridercomponents.com/
Video with the Forbizzo/Reya
"full details" allegedly at the 19th (march?)
I hope Vital is doing a no holds barred Cascadia downcountry grudge match between the Spur v2 and Reya.
thanks for the pics. so no box glove. hope the weight is slim down compare to others.good looking
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