as far as downhill goes i think if enough of the pro's start using 29" wheels then a large amount of people will too, although i think 26" will be better in downhill so i don't see it happening, but i could be wrong.

the Ragleys have less travel on the back to make then feel sharper, more responsive and pedal well while having a bigger fork to give you confidence to attack the downhill, as it said above basically the bike goes both up and down very well, i reckon its a great idea.

you do realize many guys where running 2010/11 888 at the last rampage an they where fine, i think 888 are probably the least likely to break, after all they are used to making bomb proof and ridiculously reliable forks and motocross forks too, i may also be being a bit bias as i have 08 888 rc3 wc forks but i have done may race weekends and 2 weeks in the alps including hitting the Chatel slopestyle course on them just this year and they held up fine, i havn't even serviced them since last year and they still feel just as smooth as then, which is better than friends with boxxers who have had them serviced a few times in that time, kinda makes no sense buying another fork for people with jobs and no world cup mechanic to look after them constantly, especially when there's no real performance benefits because lets face it in a world where there's no bias or opinions all the 3 big forks (40s, boxxers, 888) all feel pretty amazing and soak up as much as anyone can chuck at them.

Wow probably the best VOD i've watched in a long while, love those trails just makes me wanna go ride