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no, ride one with long cs, he is on to something and edr riders are often on smaller frames to be able to react faster, not a role model

By this logic, we'd be on bikes with wheelbases of 1000mm. But we're not, we're pushing 1300mm in a lot of bikes, and they still go round corners just fine on trails we were riding 20+ years ago.

I agree with you on the thing about what size they design for. Hence why people are asking for longer/proportional chainstays. I had trouble with heavier, longer bikes until I got stronger and better at riding. Also, those “big” bikes might have just been really unbalanced! Sizing down is awesome when you’re on a large that has too long of a front center (also reaches were way too long for a while.) sizing down says more about imbalanced design and a suboptimal riding position than it does about wheelbases. No need for name calling btw. Not even touching the rest...

See Paul Aston for experiments in getting the same/similar ratios for taller guys. As a guy that is 182cm tall riding a trail bike with 1300mm wheelbase on plenty of janky right Shore trails I would say your thoughts on wheelbase are wrong. Do I want to go longer? Not for a 160mm trail bike, but for longer travel I certainly would.

medium with long chainstays:

After watching La Thuille, I was thinking Jackson’s bike is very active and he is very active laterally. But he may not be as active as others fore and aft, which makes sense to me. He also looks crazy slow compared to how fast he is going. I would attribute this to his relaxed stance and hovering over everything.

agreed til the last part, had to downvote due to a very beautiful counterpoint to the dynamic bit: Goldstone. He is the most active rider right now and he has a set up that confirms the tall stack/long cs crowd. I think you mean "active on the bike" but the progressive geo folks want to be active on the trail.

People are asking for size L and XL to have the same proportions as size M. Ignore the total WB length number, there is no too long, and scale up the CS and stack to match the same proportion when increasing reach.

I just don't want to be spread out over a bike. The more leaned over I am, the more pressure it puts on my hands and the less control I have over the bike's movement. I shouldn't be experiencing something completely different just because of my height. I should be getting the same experience on my size L bike as someone who fits a size S. Reach changes too much between sizes in proportion to stack height, and rear centre lengths don't change enough. Right now, there's more difference in ride feel between the same bike in two sizes than...

bike product that doesn’t make sense? That’s usually a bottle opener

For the 30T compatible OChain: 100% https://www.ochain.bike/products/ochain-n-nero-version

Racers have crashed on short stems because they haven't used them with long chainstays. If you feel more comfortable on a 42,5mm stem then stick with that. I've tested -10, 10, 17 and 20mm in the last decade and I've settled on 20mm. My bike has 474mm chainstays and I have loads of front end grip.

Not all short stems are like the raised reverse stem, that thing clearly works for him but I've yet to see anyone use it and think it worked out for them. The short stem like what Rulezman provided and in the photo from Hope is a bit different, it retains the super short stem but doesn't pull the bars back as far and neither have the absurd height. If you read Rulezman's approach, whether you agree with him or not, it seems the theory based on the bike's geometry accommodating it. If you just go and throw one on your...

FWIW, front wheel loading and more upright positions or higher bars, I'm pretty sure there can be situations where higher bars will enable a rider to generate MORE front end grip (loading) than lower bars. I've mentioned the skiing analogy - if you can't load the fronts of the skis, where do you need to raise the boot - at the rear or at the back? Common logic would say at the rear, to rotate you forwards. But in actuality it's the other way around. Raising the toes requires the skier to lean forwards to be balanced, loading up the...

If you want to use absolute terms, then yes, you are reading it wrong, because short chainstays were bad design decision for all the wrong reasons, just like long stems to compensate for minimal rider space on old school reach on outdated frames was a bandaid. Super short stems are nicer and natural to steer, but on bikes with short chainstays take away too much weight from the front wheel. You can compensate for that with A) longer chainstays (hard to do) B ) firmer spring/compression damping on the rear (very easy to do)

Of course I recognize this, and Richie already raced the Podium back in Finale this year. https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/28138500/ Maybe he just was winging it at Finale and is being more calculated? Maybe he didn't actually like it (its possible). Maybe he just wants more time? I honestly don't know, but again, this idea he couldn't race it or had no time doesn't appear true. This goes with my hypothesis that we're in a plataue of mountain bike technology. Though it may be possible to make something different, making something notably better on the race track is hard.

I find it distributing (though not surprising) the UCI/WBD hasn't launched their own misconduct investigation into this one. I know if this was a bigger sport with more media pressure, that's exactly what would happen. The results (independent of the courts) would dictate his future, and these types of things are usually handled quickly. As an example, Trevor Bauer was suspended (MLB ) even though there was no criminal conviction (honestly, probably should have been booted from the league). Side question, doesn't Thibault come from real money?