It was mbuk who used to put the same line of test between hardtails and full sus and there was only a few seconds between them then……and yet people moved from there adequate hardtails to full sus. Why? Probably because their mates got one…..and then their mates got one etc. Can see the same thing happening with 29ers whether I like it or not.
I dunno, I was the only person in my ridnig group ‘oop-north with a 29er for the last 18 months (apparently a friend of a friend also had one).
I think one ‘interesting fact’ is that when dirt re-branded itself arround issue 50 they published time’d runs down a test track (1m30s odd). The old (pre SL) 150mm enduro was only a couple of seconds behind the Intense M3, and the Giant Faith (which they hated) was withing a second as well.
Basicly they proved that a £4k DH bike, a £2k trail bike and a £1500 FR/DH were exactly as fast as each other!
I do remember the hardtails were significantly slower though (arround 25% slower).
Now they did something similar recently with 26/29ers, the 29ers were 4-10s faster over about 90 second DH runs when comparing 5″ 26ers Vs 4″ 29ers (and 5″ 29ers Vs 6″ 26ers). Not Scientific, but it does show a fairly wide gulf between the wheelsizes that isn’t seen between the different styles of bike.
No ones forceing 29ers on anyone, maybe high end 26ers will die out, I don’t know. 26ers havent gotten worse, but the 29er I replaced my 26er with is significantly better in almost every way.
[edit] the above is bolloks, I miss read the article