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You've not tried a Solaris then? It'll still turn very fast if the rider turns it fast; any bike will turn like a barge if that's how you ride it.
Nicely patronised there Paceman! Maybe she has and actually found out that it doesn't compared to her Soul? I don't know, and more importantly neither do you.
But as a fellow short arse I'm not overly enthused by the possible obsolescence of the smaller compact format, luckily I have weight (fat) and upper body strength on my side so I'll be able to turn any format if needed but my lady rider friends are mostly 5'-5'4"ish and weigh considerably less! (also being much faster and competent than I!) So the basic physics of turning the dynamic weight of the larger wheeled bikes is going to be more noticeable to folks of a smaller frame (regardless of sex!). And I suspect that was more of the (perfectly reasonable) point she was trying to make.
It does look like there will be a lucrative, and not insignificant, niche to look after in the future if the big players drop out of the 26" market though, there's an awful lot of those frames still about and will be for decades! 🙂
But as a fellow short arse I'm not overly enthused by the possible obsolescence of the smaller compact format
Suck it up shorty, full grown adults have had to suffer the indignity of bikes with child sized wheels for far too long, now it's your turn to suffer!
Watch it lanky, I'll bite ya knees! 😉
And to be honest I don't think anyone's saying the larger sizes should be banned are they? It's more of a worry that you won't be able to get decent stuff in a 26" flavour.
These new forks for "slightly bigger wheels" will still take 26" wheels easily...
So that leaves tubes, tyres and rims...
Seems to me that you can't even buy "slightly bigger" tubes in the shops, and 26" tubes stretch to fit... so... either 26" tubes will always be stocked in the shops, or you'll be able to bang in a "slightly bigger" one anyway.
So that leaves just tyres and rims...
I can't see either going out of production during the life of my 26" bikes. Still easy to get all sorts of weird Euro sizes of tyres and rims that you never see on a bike made by any major manufacturer.
What I can see is "new" ideas (gimmicks) in rim and tyre technology being made in only two sizes (ie not 26").
I don't know what you're all worried about. I some times hang about with the retro mob and can tell you that brand new 26" Mavic 231 rims are still about if you look hard enough, as are brand new M900 XTR mechs. How ever hard the powers that be try to force us on to this size or that there will still be top quality kit available for what ever you ride.
..... and anyway, does anyone really think the top rim and tyre chaps (as they are the only people who really count in all this) are going to stop making top of the line kit any time soon for a wheel size that 99% of bike riders still use and will for some time. That would simply not make economic sense.