Traditionally, Commencal steers clear of trendy innovations. Its adherence to welded aluminum construction and simple suspension kinematics bear witness to that fact, so it is of great interest that the Andorra-based marquis arrived at Fort William with enough 29ers to outfit the entire team. The new bikes are still prototypes. built around their existing DH V4 chassis, with a new rear triangle and, presumably, linkage ratios that have been adjusted to slightly reduce rear wheel travel to keep the tire from contacting the rider or the chassis and also, to adjust the bottom bracket height for the larger diameter wheels.
PB photographer Ross Bell snapped a few shots of the big-wheel Commencal on and off the track. Bell said that the DH V4 29er, "looked real smooth on the track". The team must be in agreement because as of this moment, all will be contesting the BDS round at Fort William on 29ers.
MENTION: @COMMENCALbicycles
Yup and that's why skinsuits should not be banned.
It's not a fashion show, it's an arms race, right?
I can't blame the racers for not wanting to look like Power Rangers though...
Clickbait tries to use cliffhangers to bait you in. E.g. "You won't believe what Sean Spider wore to his press briefing today...," or "Guess how many of these 9 household products are actually rat poison," or the reigning champion "Check out this mother's one weird trick for staying a size 2."
If I ran the geo and suspension tune of many pros I'd be even slower than I am already and having less FUN because my skill level and requirements are different...
as far as racing goes, I say go for it; skin suits, aero, the lot. Lets see how far it can be pushed.
It marked the change from it being purely a pursuit of speed against the clock, to a harsher fashion parade more interested in looking "cool" and selling units.
It should never have happened.
Equally racers should not be banned from using whatever wheelsize they like to get down the track as quickly as possible
The technology in the flagship model doesn't have to be exactly what is used in the mainstay.
I'm just hoping that the race sleds get separate from the fun ones, because I'd love to see an advent of long travel single crown 26" bikes with modern geometry - totally baller park bikes.
Then we can have some super capable 5.5-6" all-mountain bikes that do everything well, and are less homologation specific versions of Enduro bikes.
Can you imagine if they wore MX gear?
Now that would look ridiculous
And nobody forced you to click the frigging links
@Darknut - I cannot imagine a worse reason to be into MTB than to relate "experience" of riding or watching a race with a particular wheel size. I'd rather ride with E-bikers than some purist morons. Surely shitty riders. You can or you cannot jump, bunnyhop/wheelie a mountain bike, it doesn't matter what wheel size you are on.
www.pinkbike.com/news/2087-BCD-Racing-29er-Carbon-Fiber-DH-Bike.html
Someone needs to write a book about Alex and BCD someday. Potentially MTB technology's greatest ever untold story.
Counter-cliches:
"form follows function";
"if it looks right, it is right".
Also some rules on wheel size/ production parts etc so we dont get anymore of this rubbish
As for wheel size the UCI stated that they do not want to have a commissioner standing at the finish line having to measure each and every wheel.
Wheel size is open in XC and Enduro and the 27.5 and 29 seem to mix it up in the results of enduro just fine.
Let em run what ever wheel size they want, things will settle in to where they work. If some company can get a 36" wheel to stay together and fit it into a bike and under a rider some how, and come up with brakes to slow the thing down, then power to em.
No one seems upset that passenger car tires and truck tires are all different sizes. Rim diameter, width, tire diameter. Run what works for you and give the people options.
A lot of sports have regulations. Having competitors limited to a commercially available rim, no more than 27.5" would hardly involve excessive oversight work.
So if a 29" wheel is faster, it's a moot point of competitors are limited to wheels sized 27.5" or less. Keeps the playing field equal (sure you can go overboard regulating everything on a bike, but I think regulating wheel size is a reasonable regulation.
The problems with larger wheel standards is that now even weekend racers are going to feel the need to have 29" wheels or they will lose the competitive edge. Sounds fine, but have you seen price of new bikes? And companies will only want to produce frames/bikes with 29" wheels, and consumer choice will go away. Pretty soon everyone who purchased 27.5" bikes will find dh bikes in that size are no longer being made. Your forced to upgrade to 29" if you want a new bike (even if you personally don't like that wheel size).
So then everyone's new 29dh bike will be faster than their 27.5 bike, they win and the industry wins.
Regulating to 27.5 wheels only is ridiculous! With this logic, why didn't we regulate for 26 wheels only then? The industry is not going to eliminate 27.5 wheels, everyone can RELAX! But to create regulations that prevent the best racers in the world from riding even faster on a regular damn bike that any John Doe can buy within 9 months....well that is just narrow minded and silly!
Compare that to top of the line racing tires the pros use on cars...
Top of the line bike tires cost the same as an entry level car tire.
You can go pick up $20 bike tires at Walmart, which is a more accurate comparison to the $150 car tires.
Christ, if you can't understand it now, you won't understand the explanation either...
Not the famous brand out there but Alutech also came with a 29er dh bike.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/4994712
Yes, but is more enjoyable when a fast rider styles it down. 29ers are slightly harder to style.
Watch someone doing a whip on a 29er. It looks good, but not as good as 26/7.5.
Compare it to F1. 20 years ago there was over taking, until recently it was rare. Its not ALL about speed. Its about entertainment. Viewers means advertising. Advetising means money.
I would rather see the AVERAGE speed come down and some extra style, than everyone just gun it down without a flick or a whip here or there.
Im not a hater. I own both 29 and 27.5
If 29'rs are going to be allowed to race in the 26" class, everyone will ride a 29er because they're objectively faster.
If that's the case, I want to see the tracks get a hell of a lot gnarlier. And I mean a new Red Bull Rampage style course every weekend for these lemmings.
In sailing, a longer hull will travel through the water faster - instead of a sport where hulls get longer every year, limits are placed and different classes segregated so the racing is on a level playing field.
Higher modulus carbon, intricate linkages and exotic compound rubbers are technological advancements that are great for the sport and make it a true test of engineering as well as athleticism.
www.vitalmtb.com/videos/features/Vital-RAW-Luke-Strobel-29er-Destruction-in-the-PNW,28614/sspomer,2
Better frame material and design, better tires, suspension, better suspension, disc brakes, half the weight, this is all good. Change the diameter of wheel a little bit and everyone looses their minds.
Right up until the point when all you can get are 29ers...
Did they want someone else to break cover first so that now they can say 'well Santa Cruz started so we've just got to do it to be faster...'?
But, then if she didn't feel faster she wouldn't pick the big wheels?
I'll stick to a 275 trail/enduro bike then.
It isn't fun for short people to ride a 29er on technical terrain.
Good job MTB industry, you lost a potential customer.
In other news: bike companies are not charities; and they don't want to be your own very special friend.
Welcome to capitalism.
But why the shortest stays possible?
Would a high speed race bike not be more stable with perhaps 30 mm longer stays than.what an enduro bike would have?
Ill bet soon all podium finishes will be with 29ers
I remember the days, three to four years ago, when I couldn't wait to buy a new DH bike to ride at the bike park, and race the local weekend downhill series and be competitive on the same bike. I coveted a new V10, a GT Fury, a Commencal V3, a Devinci Wilson, a carbon Kona Operator...the list goes on, and I've been fortunate enough, and stoked, to have owned several of those bikes. Now, I know I'll never own a new DH/park bike, because they will no longer exist. We don't want to ride 29er park bikes, and we won't.
And we won't be racing the local downhill series, and we won't be practicing getting faster to test ourselves against the Eastern States Cup guys when they show up, and we won't be gathered at the start gates on Friday nights stoked to drop in, and we won't be sharing beers and stories at the bar about our race runs, and we won't congratulating the local park kid who just beat the pro who podium'd at three events this year. Because you just segregated us. We're either freeriders on smaller wheels, or we're racers on big ones, it's no longer possible to be both.
All you're doing is killing the stoke, which is what all of us who got into this sport run on. And for what? So your world cup racer can have an advantage over the others, for two, maybe three events, until the rest catch up with the trend and you're all back on the same wheel size again? I see a lot of people on this forum advocating, and even celebrating, the the 29er movement in downhill. But I'll guarantee they're not downhillers, because I ride with downhillers every day, I am a downhiller, and none of us are celebrating it from the top of the mountain.
I don't know what's to come of downhill mountain biking after this, but if our only options are going to be 29er World Cup bikes, and a couple of inferior designed 27.5 branded "park' bikes, I can tell you that those of us who have been entrenched in this sport for years, buying your bikes, supporting your brands, and giving life to this industry are not going to be stoked, we're just going to feel betrayed.
- Shut up and say ”cheese”!
- Oh, Jesus f**king Christ...
This is exactly how a bunch of riders that are super thrilled on technology looks like, mwhahahahahaha! )
www.vitalmtb.com/features/One-Year-Later-Intense-2951-29er-DH-Prototype,112
love my 29er.....