Wheel size is always a reoccurring subject and one on which we are constantly working. This is a key parameter for the bike to match its rider perfectly. Our SUPREME DH platform has not stopped evolving since its birth and featured 26-inch wheels at first. Then 27.5 next. And in 2017, we started work on a 29-inch version of the SUPREME DH, which turned out to be a particularly interesting alternative to the 27.5 for the larger-build rider. The circle seemed to be complete… But in July 2018, the first rumours about a change in UCI regulations came about. We immediately began to look into it further.
After a lot of work on the geometry and suspension in particular, we offered our riders a first prototype in November 2018. The first results were official; the bike does not compete with either the 27.5 or the 29-inch versions. Therefore, we decided to forget this option for the 2019 season and to make the two existing platforms as efficient as possible. Of course, at the same time we continued our research because scientifically, our engineers were convinced that this format had many advantages.
Thanks to a great deal of knowledge acquired during the 2019 season and also to a full year of additional work, in November 2019 we offered a new version of SUPREME DH 27/29 to the COMMENCAL / Muc-Off team riders. This time, the first feedback was encouraging; the bike was more stable and faster than a 27-inch, and more agile and dynamic than a 29-inch. Several months of lap times and data acquisition on a multitude of different tracks later, we came to the conclusion that this platform (even if it is perhaps not suitable for all sizes of rider) seems to be the ideal bike for many of our pro racers. Amaury Pierron tops the list!
