What has 29in wheels, 8in of travel, and a Fox 40 DH fork? That would be the Santa Cruz V10 that’ll be racing this weekend in Lourdes…

Santa Cruz Team To Race On V10 29er Downhill Bike

If the syndicate riders fill the podium on Sunday, I fear the Internet may have a melt down!
If it makes them get down the hill quicker then why not use 29.
It’s going to make for some interesting racing hopefully.

How smart does that bike look? I have a little moment every time I look at it.

Should probably mention the hub to increase internet meltdown potential…
(we should have had this as the front hub/axle standard on all bikes for years…)

I love how the downhillers are already melting down. People are weird, why would you be loyal to a particular diameter of pushbike wheel.

After a year of trailing the Session, Trek are probably quite annoyed right now.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/trek-session-29er-proto-revealed/page/3
Think it’s being covered in this one

Nick Anderson, Santa Cruz’ head engineer. “We’re fortunate enough to co-own our own carbon manufacturing facility in China, which gives us bandwidth to indulge in this kind of project,“.

The real controversy here is the use of hateful corporate-speak like “bandwidth”. This man needs to be hounded out of our sport with all possible haste.

Minnaar on 29″ makes sense – he’s always looking for longer and bigger bikes, so the 29er wheels probably bring the whole thing into proportion with the average 650b bike anyway. not sure about Vergier – how tall is he? Does he have the same leverage as Greg to wrench that rotating weight around?

If they have the “bandwidth” then why don’t they make them the right length so they don’t have to use the buzzworks headsets?

This man needs to be hounded out of our sport with all possible haste.

Get over yourself.

Get over yourself.

Eh?

Results will decide it IMO.
Will 29 be banned alongside skinsuits?

dirtyrider – Member
If they have the “bandwidth” then why don’t they make them the right length so they don’t have to use the buzzworks headsets?

It’s worth reading this . It sounds like this whole bike has been put together pretty quickly and basically they’ve used the same front end as last years bike.

Quote from the Dirt article

“We needed to sit the bike into the travel to compensate for the BB height change created by the larger wheel diameter, and the guys at Chris King were able to make us a Buzzworks headset that then corrected the resulting change to the head angle”

Will 29 be banned alongside skinsuits?

No apart from the fashion aspect there was a safety concearn out there with riders skipping on decent pads to go more aero, currtnt clothing is tight enough for some aero and accomodating proper levels of protection.

Greg’s looks pretty much like a 650b as the frame itself is so big.

It would be more interesting to see Loris Vergier’s bike in a side-on pic.

Not bothered about wheel size one bit.

Think of it like skis:

There’s no one size fits all ski. Think shape, length, weight. Skiing uses different style skis for different jobs – MTB is really no different.

Still, the Interwebz will no doubt implode over this one! 😆

The bandwidth is because they are not an independent boutique brand, but a very small part of Pon, one of the biggest bike companies in the world

It’s not hard to imagine the 29er could be well be faster on certain tracks. Also riders like Greg (and probably Peaty) will be more suited to it than others.

The rules allow different wheel sizes so why not race them.

Why does the width of their bands affect the size of the hoops? Could they not ring fence some?

Should probably mention the hub to increase internet meltdown potential…
(we should have had this as the front hub/axle standard on all bikes for years…)

The wider hub seems a strange choice, it wasn’t that long ago that people were moaning that new wheels with carbon rims were too stiff. Yet now the industry is trying to make them even stiffer.

I think the big wheels make great sense for someone like Minaar; hope he gets a good result this weekend.

Though with all this talk of extra speed, I wonder when the UCI are going to overturn their skinsuit decision and give the riders the option of going even faster?

Well, everyones on 27.5ers on the practice day – despite the 29 Trek/Mondraker talk – and the fastest 29er is in ninth.

The 29 apocalypse hasn’t happened yet.

Because everyone knows it is important to win practice.

Well, the usual suspects are near the top….

except for the one on a 29er 😈 😛

And if Gee thought he’d be quicker on a 29er, wouldn’t he be rocking one in practice?

Depends if the people who pay his wages are launching a brand new 27.5″ DH bike at the same event and don’t want him to ruin it by riding a 29er…
Your mom is calling you downstairs for lunch Tom.

Tin foil hat on, Spesh, Trek and Mondraker have been making very loud noises about running a 29er….seems Santa Cruz fell for it and rushed out a big wheeled DH bike, it hasn’t worked in that people thought they’d lock out the podium…..instead an old timer returning from shoulder surgery (Gee) topped practice.

I’m sure 29er DH bikes have their place but can you imagine one going down the twists and turns of Champery, some riders would need a three point turn to get round some of the corners.

A few years ago when the calendar was packed with bike park style courses I’d stake my mortgage on 29ers wiping the floor with existing bikes….but a desire to move back to techy courses, the organisers of Lourdes flattening out bermed turns and making things ‘natural’ again kinda puts 29er DH bikes a year or two too late to the party.

I could be wrong of course, I’m a very average DHer myself but the top guys in first practice were the status quo, all on 650b and all winners in the past, no surprises there.
I’ll be shocked if one makes it into the podium at Lourdes.

I could be wrong of course,

Well Vergier has just put half a second in to Bruni and is winning quali with most of the quick boys down…

Shaw into 3rd on the other bike wheeler.

Well that should shut a few people up.

Mainly one person I reckon…..well there’s another thing he’s very average at.

So 1st, 3rd and 6th in qualifying. Pretty solid.

Tom_W1987 – Member

The 29 apocalypse hasn’t happened yet.

Doh!

TBH everyone knows qualis are pretty meaningless, but it’s still fun

I reckon the elite men will be racing the qualis pretty seriously this year, with things looking so tight between the fast guys they won;t want to drop points anywhere.

Really didn’t expect such a strong showing from SC, despite being a big fan of 29in myself.

Steve Jones was right, it’s a big moment.

Righteous.

I don’t know why there’s an assumption that 29ers are substantially longer wheelbase – with the same reach and travel they work out maybe a size longer – and considering most riders are sizing up for more stability that clearly isn’t a negative.

(I don’t have any 29ers – but they make sense to me for WC DH).

Steve Jones was right, it’s a big moment.

Four tenths quicker than second.

I think it’s way to early to call.

While the big wheels proved they can put down some pace and run at the top of the field, they certainly didn’t prove to be the be-all end-all that some rumors had made them out to be. In fact, the qualifying round in Lourdes produced some of the tightest times we have seen on the circuit with the top five separated by a mere 1.3 seconds, and the entire top 10 all within three seconds. With tomorrow being the true day of reckoning, we are guaranteed to be in for one heck of a show.

27.5 bikes have been quite consistently beating 29ers in Enduro recently – and the current EWS leader is rocking a 170/180mm coil sprung 27.5 aluminium frame Lapierre.

Ffs is was only about 3 years ago all DH bikes where rocking 26″ wheels so 27.5 ain’t exactly legacy!!
Don’t see what the fuss is all about really, some tracks will be better suited to 29ers others 27.5 why not mix and match to suit tracks and riders?
Why the controversy?!!

Four tenths quicker than second.

I think it’s way to early to call.

You need to consider how competitive it is at the top end of DH, and who the usual top qualifiers are.

Yes Loris could well have qualified first on his 650b bike. He’s one of the fastest guys in the world. But two out of the three SC riders in the top three (and Greg in sixth) is clearly not a fluke.

Why the controversy?!!

cuz people are tribal nobs.
It’s kind of inbred within a lot of people…

I can kind of see what the fuss is about. People have bought SC V10’s with 27.5 wheels like their idols, only for SC to now start making them in 29er guise. Not cheap to change SC bikes. If 29er takes off, what happens to the value of the 27.5’s?

Are these people going to win a world cup?
Did they buy a V10 because it was good value?

@dyls, if anyone’s reason for riding a certain bike is because they worship at the shrine of ratboy, they deserve all the wheel size misery the world can bestow on them.

what happens to the value of the 27.5’s

Anyone who buys a bike as an investment – especially in the last few “unsettled” years of standards – really needs to reconsider their strategy.