Nice article Cam. I kinda feel like 29ers coming into DH, and seeing reasonably wide acceptance so quickly, signposts that the future will be 29\. At least for bikes designed to ride trails. The controversy right now will be short lived I bet. it human nature to talk about change. People might have their preference for wheels size, but we've recently seen that the industry is prepared to deny the market access to old favourites, and that could happen again. I don't think it will be as fast as the 26 -> 27 change though.
Anyway, it's just my hypothesis. The one fly in the ointment to this is at what stature do the benefits of the big wheels become obvious? Like can someone who is 5'6" ride a 29er effectively without getting friction burns on his or her genitalia?
The argument that this change, or any other, make it too easy doesn't really stand to reason. I get it, but it's a knee jerk reaction driven by nostalgia. What these changes really do is extend possibility. And when people take advantage of that, they have new horizons that drive further change. It's just nature.
June 9, 2017, 9:38 a.m. - natbrown
Nice article Cam. I kinda feel like 29ers coming into DH, and seeing reasonably wide acceptance so quickly, signposts that the future will be 29\. At least for bikes designed to ride trails. The controversy right now will be short lived I bet. it human nature to talk about change. People might have their preference for wheels size, but we've recently seen that the industry is prepared to deny the market access to old favourites, and that could happen again. I don't think it will be as fast as the 26 -> 27 change though. Anyway, it's just my hypothesis. The one fly in the ointment to this is at what stature do the benefits of the big wheels become obvious? Like can someone who is 5'6" ride a 29er effectively without getting friction burns on his or her genitalia? The argument that this change, or any other, make it too easy doesn't really stand to reason. I get it, but it's a knee jerk reaction driven by nostalgia. What these changes really do is extend possibility. And when people take advantage of that, they have new horizons that drive further change. It's just nature.