"Worldcup regular Harry Heat looking stylish" Is infact felix Beckeman 19years old from Sweden looking stylish! Watch out for him in DH and 4X this year (11'th place at 4X Worlds 2010)

No, a 135x9 is not the same thing. In a 135x9 hub the axle rests in the frame dropuots and are then pinched with a qr axle, (not stiff at all) With a 135x10 or 135x12 if you take away the axle the hub has nothing to support it. On the 142 standard you can actually place your bike on the wheel without the axle because the frame has a recess that the hub sits in. Look at the pictures! And what's wrong with tapered steerers? (probably gonna get killed for this one) You have to consider that there are other bikes than FR and DH bikes out there. For a FR/DH bike i totally agree with you. it's much better to make the headtube 1,5 and make all options available. But for XC, Trail and AM bikes an 1.5 steerer is overkill, but with tapered you get the best of both worls. A stiff 1,5 crown and steerer but a normal 1 1/8 stem that makes more sense on such a bike. Can you imagine an XC bike with a 1,5 stem? Does a stiffer steerer and crown hurt when they're making them so light (and maybe in carbonfiber)? Absolutlely not! Is a tapered frame/fork setup stiffer than a regular 1 1/8setup? Of course it is! And last who would wanna buy your beefy 135x12 rearaxle with 1,5" stem trail bike that you apparently think is a good idea?

For all you with Hi quality hubs from DT swiss, Ringle´, Hope and so on it shouldn't be a problem. Just get a conversion kit and be happy that it doesn't matter what the f**k they come up with, you're still covered.

I've got DT RWS on all my bikes and it's really great and light. But the 142x12mm also has the hub resting against the frame for added support and stiffness. So with equal weight as the RWS it adds a bit more stiffness and features, so all in all, Stiffer and also lighter. That was my piont.

The thing is, that the hub is supported by the dropouts too. Like a 20mm axle is in your DH/FR fork, the hub rests on the outer legs and also the axle. That equals to a stiff setup, easy! So that will help stiffen some AM bikes out there. And it's said to be alot lighter than all the other axles, pinch bolt setups, and easy if there comes a standard solution for those bikes... It's a good idea. And it's already used by alot of bike companies So stop whining and just accept it!