[ÆX]

just came back from reading it.
had some good names commenting on 29's viability in DH.

frmae news:
seems the designers that arn't working on one thought it would be
a nightmane geo wise. but lance, intense and I can't wait for a real
tire to get the ball rolling. some sus designs just don't have room for
29's rear w/o having long c/s which only makes the bikes slower turning. i am using 16.25 with 29 rear and makes for a plenty quick bike.

tire news:
intense said they could make a tire for dh.
Lot of people said the wheels weight would be too much for quick
handling. yeah, it would if they use DH casing 2.5 1800g tire.
that will only hurt 29's in dh. we need a fr casing 2.5 not over 1000g.

wheels news:
a lot of people were conserned with wheels strenght. at the print time
I had yet to make my dishless wheels or would have mentioned that.


overview:
I would say it was
25% 29's
25% 69's
50% 26's
better than i thought it might be.

 

[MMcG]

Keep pushin the envelope Alex.

Your DH bike has shorter chainstays than any regular 29" wheeled frame that I can think of so you've got people beat with your design right from the get go.

 

[ÆX]

if the tire was there i know i could make the only dh 29 out there
and have the market.

I am thinking of moding fox,888 and travis with new cnc bolt on
arches and reduced travel to 6'' to use on my bcd dh.

if i just had the tire i know i could sell some.

 

[MMcG]

will the weirwolf 2.55 be that tire??

What about the new Tire from Panaracer that's coming out??

 

[Bicyclist]

I think Nevegals need to come in 29er.

Weirwolves aren't very good IMO, Intenses are heavy, and Panaracer would definately not be my first choice for tires.

BCD if you can build a "real" DH 29er I think it would change a lot of people's minds...

 

[hitekrdnk]

It is a bit premature to be niggling over what tire is going to be best suited for the task at hand. A tire, any tire that is signigicantly mo bettah suited will do for a start. Mark is a man of his word and he will produce.

Last summers experiment. And I already think that BCD has built a real DH bike, it is just lacking rubber.

 

[ÆX]

It is a bit premature to be niggling over what tire is going to be best suited for the task at hand. A tire, any tire that is signigicantly mo bettah suited will do for a start. Mark is a man of his word and he will produce.

Last summers experiment. And I already think that BCD has built a real DH bike, it is just lacking rubber.

who are you?

 

[hitekrdnk]

Just a fan of what you are doing and a lot less of a fan of others that spend their time talking about it Like the drivel below for example.

 

[MMike]

i know i could make the only dh 29 out there
and have the market.

.

Unless Evil/Iron Horse/dw makes one too...

 

[ThePriceSeliger]

Hurry Alex, HURRY!

 

[Cloxxki]

Nevegals EXIST in 29"!! Unfortunately, largest the current machines could manage didn't earn more than a 2.1" tag, although they were labeled 2.35". They'll hit the market as 2.1's, and Kenda is investing $38,000 for a larger machine to make truly big tires possible. Nevegal 2.35" high on their own want list. And once they invested that 38k, don't worry, they be making tires alright, to earn that investment back.
Mold machine (or whatever) size is now preventing creating big tires, and the additional investment scares the tire makers. And once someone is making these big tires, it will take a subsantial market or OEM order to get new companies hot to put the same large machine in place.

Walt Wehner (waltworks.com) already built a couple 29" DH bikes for himself and the missus. All he does on them is having a great time, awing onlookers, and flatting tires. Flatting lots of Exiwolf tires, as they are just not up for the job.

I just deleted the more recent prototype pics from my web account, thinking I would have them stored on the pc, well duh.

Here's a pic of Walt's first attempt, just to get some cheap-ass long travel going, not worrying about how it would pedal at all. It pedals like crap, Walt says, and I believe him. But at least he had 7+6" of travel, or thereabouts.
Later proto for his wife looked much better, something one would order from him, if he let you. Custom steel, baby!

I'm not a DH rider at all, but wonder how bad longer chainstays really would be for handling and finish times. At high average speeds, long doesn't hurt, does it? Many XC FS bikes seem to have really long chainstays, and no-one complains about it, even riders as short as 5'4".

 

[Goatse]

Unless Evil/Iron Horse/dw makes one too...

R thay goin 2? Hv u hrd somthin abuot it?

 

[Cloxxki]

R thay goin 2? Hv u hrd somthin abuot it?

Of course not. when the first 29" tire came out, it too 2,5 years till the first production bikes were presented to the at world Eurobike.
In the bike industry, the tendency is not to support ideas or standards that were not your own, untill you're losing unacceptably many sales from it. Like UST, like 1 1/8", like 1.5", like linkage forks, etc.

BCD's 29" bikes will be winning National races around the world before the first big-brand competing offerings surface.
Perhaps the Lenz Behemoths and Ventana El Capitans will be choppered some more to do DH duty, and similar offerings will keep coming. But a dedicated DH 29" racer with 2x7"+... don't hold your breath.
Keep in mind that this is cycling, not motorbikes or cars. Manufacturers' opinions and prejuduces are more important than product design and quality. Other brand's ideas are by default stupid. In car racing, when Ferrari has a new feature on their cars in April, other brands will have it in May. When Nishiki and Fisher launched 29" bikes for 2002, it took years for someone else to cautiously follow that lead, or prototype something, even when both brands had passionate followings, and custom builders could not keep up with demand. And when they did, it was with steel singlespeeds, and most customs sold were just that, the SS scene just proved more open to the new standard.

Perhaps some good DH riders will be racing 5" XC/FR 29"ers because they can't justify a dedicated 29"er. And actually put in really good results. This will then lead to manufacturers market 5" XC/DH bikes, when the riders just wanted 7". That's just the way it works in cycling. We're now stuck with a dozen of complete steel singlespeed brands, and less than a handful geared ones.

I hope when the SS scene finally gets the big cushy tires for rigid riding that also happen to work okay for DH racing, BCD will manage to make bikes quick enough to answer demand for custom 29" DH bikes so he can make a buck. I prefer the term 30" BTW, 25" rim+ 2*2.5" tire = 30".

In the mean time, what's a popular do-all high-volume DH tire? If no-one else does it, I may find the energy to make a frankentire myself, around a 60mm casing Big Apple slick which I'll shave down to the casing. I'd need a really big, prefereably light tread for it. 2.8" or so. Preferably also not too slow rolling, well-shedding, etc.

 

[ÆX]

Keep in mind that this is cycling, not motorbikes or cars. Manufacturers' opinions and prejuduces are more important than product design and quality. Other brand's ideas are by default stupid. In car racing, when Ferrari has a new feature on their cars in April, other brands will have it in May.

, BCD will manage to make bikes quick enough to answer demand for custom 29" DH bikes so he can make a buck. I prefer the term 30" BTW, 25" rim+ 2*2.5" tire = 30".

.

yeah, i can get a jump on the big Co. that is what i want to do.

 

[MMike]

R thay goin 2? Hv u hrd somthin abuot it?

??????