April 16, 2014, 9:20 p.m. -  JCL

#!markdown Well it's just my personnel view but I strongly believe the early marketing (which Specialized was largely responsible for) that short rear centres (or chainstays, but really only hardtails have chainstays) are advantageous lead to people becoming used to rearward weight distribution as such bikes were so commonplace in the market. what has also happened since those early days is that rear centres have remained fashionably short but front centres have increase massively. There are just far too many negatives to such rearward weight distribution like a large front to rear spring rate differential, low front cornering grip, pitch instability etc. I recommend trying the 29″ SJ Evo, even in a parking lot, set the suspension spring rates and then just ride around and preload the suspension with your feet (95% of your mass contact point when riding out the saddle) and watch the suspension. You should see the fork close to evenly compress along with the rear shock. Now try the same thing with something like a Process or 26″ SJ Evo. You'll probably find the rear shock compressing far more than the fork. To compensate you usually have to run a lot more rear spring rate which sounds okay but think about what happens when you're riding something steep, your weight distribution has moved forward and to compensate you have to hang off the back of the bike to load the oversprung rear and unload the undersprung fork. Obviously this is compounded the larger the bike so anyone on a large/XL should IMO really be on one of these or the Camber Evo (450mm RC). Even for my medium size they're a huge step in the right direction for optimum rear centre lengths rather than short as possible.