the pro dh rider will soon be showing up with two bikes(26″ and 29″) and pick depending on the course conditions. The switch over to xc has been firmly seeded and is blooming wonderfully. once we get some 29″ glue on tubulars there will be no excuses.

like others said its only a matter of time and matching components.

Here’s the link:
http://www.bikerumor.com/2009/07/13/why-doesnt-anyone-make-a-29er-downhill-bike/

And there are a few comments from some other brands that have toyed with it, but nothing that’s in production.

But I don’t have to ride DH to know these 29ers are superior vehicles.

Folks also said for years that 29rs wouldn’t be successful nor accepted on the pro circuit either….a husband and wife team have proved the nay sayers wrong this year. The Europeans are starting to review 29rs in their mainstream MTB magazines so we have a foot hold starting in that market which is good.

I’ll say this. They won’t be the perfect wheel choice for all things cycling, but I’m damn happy for what they do for me.

I wanna read about a 7″ full carbon sub 32 pound 29r by 2011. Git at it!

Let’s summerize what DH is all about, and how 29″ works for that in general.
+- Hard pedaling, fighting the various drag factors (air, rolling resistance, roll-over resistance)
+- Speed changes (often over-estimated IMO) : accelerating rider+bike weight = >200lb
+ Flight. Low and fast, with maximum control upon landing to then either brake or pedal hard.
+ Last-moment braking (brake traction and stability sought)
+ Cornering with minimal speed loss (cornering grip needed.

The wheels being bigger, they might have increased air drag. That doesn’t keep people from using 29″ for the faster of XC events, though. To the contrary, it seems.
Rolling resistance and roll-over both are huge in DH. just roll a DH bike down an XC trail. It drags. Damper rebounds… Rigid bikes can be rolled down slopes faster, to a point of bumpiness of course. Larger wheels and less travel, should even out, but nett a faster combination.
29″ is associated with “heavier wheel”, and THUS (…) “slow” acceleration. I’ve always contested this, and taken the lead in many a race to support my words with factoids. Wheel weight is just minor over the whole, and the percental change fraction at that, let alone when factoring bike and rider weight. The reduced rolling resistance should be of greater factor, or somewhere in the “all else being of the same quality level” equasion, something went very wrong.
Flight is subjective, My opinion (+) in listed. I’ve raced 4-cross (forced with 26″), and ridden the courses down on my XC 29″ers to come to that conclusion.
Everyone who’s ridding a 29″er knows about braking and cornering traction. This alone, will be worth several seconds down a WC downhill.
Overall control, precision and line fluidity, remain undiscussed here.

I’d love to read those initial ride reports for the Lenz. Where are they?

(disclaimer: I was on a mission to get a similar level 29″ DH t happen in 2003 or so, and miserably failed, didn’t get any help other than the prices for prototype production of frame. White Borthers was the only really helpful party.)

I’m not sure about that. Maybe not in the next year but at this point it’s damn near inevitable. If the 29″ DH race tire selection comes through, I have no doubt that the bigger wheel will carry its advantages to a podium. One other issue is getting top talent onto a 29er. The elite DH guys are a level above anything prior, and the merely good (privateer, small company) DH ranks rarely break through to the podium. The giant companies aren’t going to introduce a DH 29er. But it’s still coming. There will be a DH 29er on a podium in a major US race soon. 1-3 years. Then it’ll be big.

The Lenz is nice. Looks like the closest to the mark yet.