The next 'Big Thing' in ATB's

In the short term it'll be carbon...everyone sees to be using it at the mo. Even Shimano are putting carbon blades on next years XTR discs. Looking through pics of stuff from Eurobike everything is carbon so I guess that'll start to filter down to lower price points soon.

The wider rims thing is good if you run larger tyres.

Aluminium frames are going nowhere in the short term because they're cheap and easy to mass produce and hydro forming has allowed the designers to get more creative with frame shapes.

Geometry has come on leas and bounds. My Rune is long, low and slack but has a steeper seat angle to aid climbing. It also has a long top tube to be run with a short stem (Mr Fisher really was ahead if the game with his Genesis geometry). The wheelbase and head angle on the Rune wouldn't have looked out of place on a DH bike from a few years ago.

The wheel size thing infuriates me so I'm just ignoring it at the mo. Even Steve Jones is banging on about it relentlessly in Dirt although after going on about how behind the big DH teams are for not using 650b it was interesting to see that the top three at the World Champs were on 26inch bikes despite it being a course where the big wheels should have dominated.
 
As above, cheaper carbon, I ride a Giant MCM carbon and the experience is just a lot smoother without loosing too much feeling, Couldn't believe the difference from Alu to carbon. Im yet to try Titanium, would love to but its most of the time too expensive.

Again, the wheel thing is upsetting, having spent so much money on 26" wheeled bikes, the manufacturers expect to make a lot more money from changing the standards again. Ive never ridden anything other than 26" wheeled bikes and don't really intend to, Im not looking for little gains here and there for changing nearly a whole bike. As probably a lot of you guys, I really think 650b and 29er bikes are very nearly more marketing ploys and little to do with good evolution. :roll: Bring the suspension seatpost back! I run these on all my bikes apart from the full sus(could have bought shares in USE by now!), think its a fantastic way of having a very responsive bike with abit of cushioning so im not sore for a week after a long ride. They seem to be vanishing. Think they may make a return. I take it dropper posts don't have suspension built into the design? They are purely for rising and lowering the post?
 
I like the fact that I can swap wheels and tyres between my various MTB's. The switch to bigger wheels stops that.

I'm not against technological progress. Things like dropper posts are ace (they only go up and down to change the saddle height) especially for people who hate riding anything remotely fun with their saddles up. I used to spend loads of time faffing with my post height which meant stopping. A lot.

The other thing that has impressed me are clutch mechs and thick/thin rings. I run a 1x10 system and this has allowed me to ditch my noisey chain device. Haven't dropped a chain yet either.

The 1x drivetrains will continue to be a big thing and hopefully 11 speed will trickle down to the lesser group sets. For me losing the front mech makes sense but occasionally I'd like an easier gear (mainly for very very long or steep climbs).

I'd like to see dropper posts fall in cost but they only seem to be getting more expensive.
 
'MTB' is a niche market these days - other cycling is becoming more popular as more people either come back or take it up. Expect more and more all rounder bikes. You can only re-invent things so many times and its a business wanting to make money. If it stops making it, the merrygoround will move on elsewhere.
 
Mindmap3":2svsi0lo said:
The wheel size thing infuriates me so I'm just ignoring it at the mo. Even Steve Jones is banging on about it relentlessly in Dirt although after going on about how behind the big DH teams are for not using 650b it was interesting to see that the top three at the World Champs were on 26inch bikes despite it being a course where the big wheels should have dominated.
I think that says it all!
 
All the wheel sizes have a place and have their own benifits/negatives. 650b might not be exactly between 26" and 29" but is enough to make a difference. If it's agreed that 26" is best for DH and 29" is best for XC then surely it stands to reason that 650b is probably around the sweet spot for the type of riding most of us do?

I don't like the fact 650b seems to be being forced on us in a different way to 29ers any more then anyone else but it's all happened before so I struggle to get too over excited about it.

The arguement I hear the most is new wheels, new forks, new frame, waaaaaaaaah. Did the same people make the same noise when tapered steerers and bolt through axels were forced on us? Try buying top end 1 1/8th 9mm QR 140mm+ forks for your wheels that were brand new and current 4 years ago. :facepalm:
 
Parts should be cheaper,
I remember buying a rear mech back in 2009, however seen the same item the other day on a website for £30 more...

As for wheels 26 is best for me
29er's just don't look rite
 
brocklanders023":3rq75bok said:
All the wheel sizes have a place and have their own benifits/negatives. 650b might not be exactly between 26" and 29" but is enough to make a difference. If it's agreed that 26" is best for DH and 29" is best for XC then surely it stands to reason that 650b is probably around the sweet spot for the type of riding most of us do?

I don't like the fact 650b seems to be being forced on us in a different way to 29ers any more then anyone else but it's all happened before so I struggle to get too over excited about it.

The arguement I hear the most is new wheels, new forks, new frame, waaaaaaaaah. Did the same people make the same noise when tapered steerers and bolt through axels were forced on us? Try buying top end 1 1/8th 9mm QR 140mm+ forks for your wheels that were brand new and current 4 years ago. :facepalm:

I'm not convinced that they do know what wheel size is best. Giant are a prime example having produced 29ers for a fair old while, they've now almost abandoned them for 650b. Both of which aren't necessarily the magic potion to make things faster...

The tapered head tube isn't an issue on frames because you can step them down to accept a standard fork. Depending on your wheels you may be luck with axles....my next bug bear. We had got to a point where most people were happy with QR or 20mm on longer travel forks. Then Fox and Shimano decide we need a middle option. We didn't but it seems to have been adopted and is finding its way on longer travel forks.

No doubt one of the next big things will be ever higher prices but people are buying stuff so I guess companies can charge it. XX1 is a prime example...£200 plus fir a rear mech? No thanks. I'd cry if or when it got bashed on a rock!

I'm far from being anti progress because some stuff is massively better now but I don't remember stuff being forced quite as much as it is now in the 16 years I've been riding but hen again its much more popular than it once was so there's more money to be made.
 
I agree that you can fix 1 1/8th to tapered frames but I meant the other way round. If you had a frame that is 1 1/8th and wheels that are 9 or 20mm you will struggle to find top end forks for them in anything over 120mm.

Over on STW the main upset seems to be that if they wanted to buy a new frame and change over all the parts they can't. How many of these people have already had to change their wheels and forks? Most of em I'd bet and they probably didn't complain at the time.

I'm not saying the bike makers do know what's best and there's certainly no magic potion but having riden both 26" and 29" I'd say somewhere inbetween is about right for me. I'm about the most middle of the road rider you could find imo so think they'd also suit others. It is naughty how they are being pushed but if people don't buy em, they won't sell em.
 
I don't mean to sound like a tool, saying that they have already made the change to 20mm etc doesn't mean that having to but new forks etc make it OK. If like me a bike evolves over time, changes to certain stuff is less financially painful. A lot of people do change frames but carry as much stuff over as possible.

When I bought my Banshee I swapped everything over - I was really happy with my component choices. There is no way that I would have been able to afford new forks, wheels and tyres too. I was able to step the tapered steerer down, the axle in my rear hub could be swapped etc. If I was buying a complete bike I'd probably be more open to the idea of exploring bigger wheels however because I'm quite picky about components I'll never buy a complete bike.
 
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