Why all this obsession with speed? Every discussion about wheel size, whether here or in magazines, just seems to talk about whether X is faster than Y. Is this some Strava-fuelled thing? Do people really judge their rides by how fast they were to the nearest second?

Every development in MTBing and cycling is all about more speed. Suspension – ride over things faster, hydraulic disc brakes – if you have better brakes you have confidence to go faster, Carbon Fibre parts – lightness+stiffness = more speed, bright green baggy shorts – obviously faster etc. And so it is with wheel size. IF it can be proved that one wheel size is faster than another, then that will be the wheel size that wins out. The problem is with wheel sizes is that some sizes are better for some things, other sizes better for other things – there is no one size fits all.

do you not like the sense of speed when travelling downhill?

Yup but speed =/ sense of speed… I was riding my 5 inch bike at innerleithen the other day, felt absolutely flat out and ragged, but had a look at times afterwards and I was a fair bit slower than I am on the big bike- just felt faster and had more fun on the little bike (and it lasted longer too 😉 )

I get the feeling there are folks on here that would love to shave tenths over the time it takes for them to shoot their load, just because faster is always better 🙂

That’s the point! Wheel size probably is irrelevant, but the personal choice to stay with 26″ is being eroded beacuse the bike companies say 29″ or 27.5″ (or 650B or whatever the hell it is) is better.

It’s not – it’s just different.

I’d say the reasons would be more to do with the underlined.

I’d be very interested (and surprised) to see 29ers beating 26ers down the most tight and technical cheeky trails in places like the Lakes and Pennines. Sometimes even a 26″ wheel feels too big.

If you want to go uphill faster, just put more effort in. I know that sounds trite, but I’ve found it to be true. I have a 29er HT (FF29) and a 26″ Full Suss (Five). If I take a large enough sample (say 10 rides on each bike) then I can indeed prove that the 29er HT is faster up a given (not too technical) hill. However, the difference is actually a lot smaller than I’d expect given how different the bikes are and also a lot smaller than the natural day to day variation. Basically, if I’m feeling strong I climb well and if I’m not I don’t, whichever bike I’m on.

Going down, you are right to say that it’s the sense of speed that matters and, as has been pointed out already” this is different to actual speed. The fastest bike often gives very little sense of speed, which is what makes it faster. Also, the time taken to ride a section of trail isn’t even the same as speed, let alone sense of speed. For example, Strava may tell me that I was faster getting from A to B on my FF29 than I was on the Five, but that may be because I went straight from A to B on the FF29 while I weaved all over the trail on the Five, looking for rocks to bounce off and generally pratting about. I may even have been travelling at a higher speed on the Five, but because I took a more torturous route that won’t show up in the stats.

But at the end of the day, it’s all just riding so it’s all good. I’m just surprised that the time taken to ride a trail (as in the article at the start of this thread) is seen as being a number that has any significance.

But they’re all extremely insignificant things – surely it’s the wheel size which made all the difference?

So what you’re telling us here is that the slower bike/wheel size is actually better.

No, I’m just saying that the bike that feels the fastest isn’t always the bike that is the fastest. Often quite the reverse. The bike that feels stable at speed allows you to go faster precisely because it doesn’t feel as fast. I’m certainly not saying anything about “better” though, that’s totally subjective. As is fun. Plenty of folk seem to prefer to ride their hardtails down trails even though they know they will be slower than a full suss, for example.

You are completely missing the point here.
What size wheels other people have got on their bikes is the most important thing in cycling, ever.
We need more threads on the subject. There should be at least two on the front page at all times.

Meh, All that I know is than in an XC race I go a lot faster for longer on my 29er than I ever did on my 26er.

But my 26er is also hilarious fun at trail centres and descending. You pays your money, you log onto stw and get all judgemental. Just ride your friggin bike and smile.

maybe? it’s easier to blame the wheels tho. unless you’re riding crazy-tight stuff but in all the alpine riding I’ve done (nowhere near as much as many, but enough) I’ve not seen much that is really that tight that 1.5″ of wheel radius makes or breaks it.

I knocked an hour off my time in this years Isle of Man E2E too – on the same bike I rode last year!

Well done on the 4 hr 15 @thomasgeorge, credit where it’s due!

Is there the same evangelical fawning going on about 650b by the brown-nosing journo’s in WMB and MBR as they did when 29’ers came along? I no longer read either because I found their sycophantic BS on the bigger wheel’s irritating to the extreme and found myself becoming anti 29’r because of it.

So I do kinda get why some people are anti 650, it being perceived that someone else, this time the ‘industry’ is telling them what to ride.

As for my own belligerence regarding 29, I have eased up on that with adopting a ‘don’t knock it until I try it’ approach. Hasn’t made me any more inclined to try one though, just more accepting 🙂

It used to be said that 29 inch wheels would explode and kill you.
With 650B being a bit smaller do they just go ‘poof’ and ……………..

ben, just carry lots and plug int he one that’s currently in vogue/suitable for the terrain as the need arises?

2013 Liteville Mountain Bikes Updates Frames w/ Scaled Sizing & Mix ‘n’ Match Wheel Combos

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/10048957/