They Said It Couldn't Be Done: Part Two

Santa Cruz Bikes' new V10. A 29"er DH bike? Yes!

Subtitled: I Also Said It Couldn't Be Done

All along the 29 inch wheels development, I said that the big wheel was best for a lot of things. I figured a lot of things would be possible to design around 29" wheels. One thing I have always said I thought wouldn't work was a 29 inch wheeled down hill racing bike. A serious effort at one would never happen, right? I mean, first of all, who would even think about doing a fork? There were a couple of things made- White Brothers and Manitou Dorado forks were efforts that pushed the envelope, but weren't going to be taken seriously by any Pro level rider. But a true, Pro-worthy DH fork? Yeah.......right! When pigs fly.

ATTENTION! Pig flying at 12:00 o'clock! 

Times have changed and things have developed to the point where riders seeking to roll faster down hill have discovered big wheels. 29 inch wheels, and the companies that support that size now include companies that are serious in the DH world. Fox, Enve, and Chris King. Santa Cruz, also a stalwart bike company in the DH scene, started the ball rolling with their team, but it has been hinted at by some that many other 29"er DH bikes are in the wings waiting to be revealed. That Fox made a special fork for this is a huge clue. As I have said before, companies like Fox won't do tooling and manufacturing set ups for small production runs and one-offs. No, there are other companies involved and I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Rock Shox also debuting a big, 29"er DH fork.

Yep. I never thought I'd see the day when 29 inch wheels were a thing in every form of mountain biking. But they are now.