157 VS 148 Mountain Bike rear hub spacing - Why do we have no data on strength differences?

157mm rear hub spacing is commonly seen on modern downhill mountain bikes such as the Trek Session and the Santa Cruz V10. It's not only common to see this spacing on DH bikes but uncontroversial as well.

Several brands offer trail, enduro and e-MTBs using the 157 rear hub spacing. Pivot and Evil are two examples. However, the vast majority of high end MTB's are spec'd with standard boost 148mm rear hub spacing.

In this video I ask the simple question, if one is stronger than the other, why do we not have any supporting documentation? For example, does 157 hub spacing provide 5% increase in strength? Or is it a 30% increase? We have anecdotes and not much else. Where are the studies that compare these two rear hub standards and transparently report the differences?

With e-bikes (often weighing 45-55lbs) and increasingly rugged bike parks (where riders often bring their enduro, trail and eMTB's) this data point is very important and conspicuously absent from any MTB forum, article, podcast I can locate.

selection of 157mm hub spacing articles:

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/sites/default/files/downloads/article/Pivot_Super%20Boost%20Plus_INTL.pdf
https://www.patrolmountain.com/what-is-super-boost-and-3-ways-it-makes-a-better-mtb/
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/burning-question-is-super-boost-157-spacing-going-to-become-the-new-standard.html
https://nsmb.com/articles/were-being-slowly-boiled-super-boost/
https://nsmb.com/articles/super-boost-plus-better/
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/knolly-moves-entire-lineup-to-157mm-spacing-157trail.html
https://knollybikes.com/pages/tech-157trail

Links mentioned in Video:
https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/components/wheels/wheel-sets/fsa-rd-600-review
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/product-news/worry-wheelsets-weight-limit-287016
https://cyclingindustry.news/pivot-switchblade-launch-brings-with-it-super-boost-plus-157-hub-measurement/

FYI:
I've reached out to bicycle wheel testing labs as well as a professor who has published many bicycle related studies. In a subsequent video we'll discuss what I've learned.

@evil-bikes
@pivotcyclesusa
@PatrolMountain
@CyclesDevinci
@knollybikeshq
@SalsaCyclesOfficial
@AlchemyBikesUSA
@WeAreOneComposites

@pinkbike
@hardtailparty
@cyclingweekly
@revolutionenduro9756
@TrestleBikeParkOfficial