Nothing to do with 'customer' requests. It was a decision made by the few who were testing the new bike. If you look back at threads when this decision was made, I dont think anyone actually prefered the 1 1/8. Many argued that it did not matter (falsely I might add) and many who owned current DHR's were upset by the change.
For me, I would need to go up to a large (as many would) for next year as the new frame is smaller. The headtube on the large is longer than my current medium, and my current stack height would go from 6mm to close to 26mm. I would have a front end that was an inch taller.
based on all the threads trying to find low stack headsets, low forks, zero rise stems, and flat DH bars, adding an extra inch to the front end height is obviously not what most customers want.
