[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Not exactly - all other things equal, assuming a rigid frame, 6 wheel no drop drives of the same wheelbase length will turn about 1/3 better than a 4 wheel drive of the same wheelbase length. 25's drivetrains aren't magic - they just combined a nearly square wheelbase with the benefits of weight being supported by middle wheels. In the era of 28x28 frames, you might not need any drop at all. Of course, it's easy to put a little drop in and just be safe about it, so unless you really need the resistance to turning and can spare the current of more turning resistance, there's no reason not to drop your 6WD center. But I think at this point honestly teams are dropping the middle wheel out of habit / "we know it works" when the practice is to a small extent a relic of the 38x28 era.

I'll pull up the link to the old CD whitepaper in a bit, but the section on tracked drivetrains / statically indeterminate drivetrains applies to this six wheel no drop case.

I'm sure some of the reason is to save some of that much needed current in the today's power race. Why waste the power?