Originally Posted by
Jughed
I remember the same discussions when 29'ers were becoming a thing...
After not riding a MTB for a looong time - coming from an old school Rockhopper and then jumping on to a modern full squish 29'er - WOW - worlds of difference. While each small level of change that happened in between may have seemed like marketing or hype - the bikes have actually improved drastically. Especially when compared to the evolution of road bikes.
Maybe the brands have reached the limits of what they can do on a 29 platform, and this is just the next step.
Maybe. And these will fit members of the NBA and WNBA just fine. But for smaller statured than that, to package that big front wheel in full jounce/compression, requires a frameset that is not well suited to a less-tall rider.
On military off-road vehicles on very soft surfaces, there is a performance traction limit to tires, even very large tires, and that's when tracked vehicles take over, even with the frictional energy losses and skid-steering instead of direct steering like with tires. But that's not feasible with unpowered bikes.