Never thought about it. Traditional internet jabber, I suppose. It doesn't make any sense. Now that you've pointed it out to me, I will never be able to use it again. Not only that, but I know I will find myself being mildly irritated every time I see someone else doing that exact same thing. Then I will have to remind myself that I used to do that very same thing, thereby robbing me of the opportunity to feel smug and superior. Now I am upset and confused with conflicting emotions. I blame Jamis. If they had never made that stupid Renegade, none of this would have ever happened.
I should probably start a new thread. I'm drifting a bit from the original subject.
Sorry if it seemed like I was picking on you... it's been on my mind, and you were just the next person to use the phrase.
Anyways, I scanned through the catalog archives that shelbyfv linked, and as far as I can tell, all three frame materials officially support the same 700x40C-ish tire clearance for both years. Perhaps the change happened after the 2021 model year? I do see this for current models:
(Our steel and aluminum Renegades will accommodate up to a 700c x 50mm/650b x 2.00”.)
It seems that bike manufacturers have gotten really conservative about tire clearance (i.e. the maximum tire still provides 6mm clearance or so), so if you got one of the older ones, you'd probably have room for a bigger tire than the stock 700x37C or whatever. Especially if you're just sticking to paved roads instead of dirt.