Am mtb less atm and am needing to rectify the situation. Only got the money and space for one bike these days.

Would a 29er comfortably replace both my commuter and a full sus..?

Steel to begin with but no doubt be replaced by Ti by year end.

It worked for me. But i had a Ht and a cross bike and now just have a rigid 29er and tyres for every occasion.

29ers are ment to take a lot of the sting out of rides compared to 26er so some claim they are as effective as a full suspension 120mm bike, and can do pretty much everything a FS 120 can do bar downhill ect.

whether this is true or not, i cannot say as it hard to find test rides of 29ers around london atm.

be interested to hear other thoughts on this

yer and you could just get some cheap wheels for commuter tyres and swap them when needed.

@ rootes1 – that’s what I do, I even make the noises like a F1 wheel change, worth the money not to have the hassle of changing tyres.

I have only 1 29r atm. It’s doing all duties inc the turbo. This is not through choice(soon to be sorted out)I had to choose 1 for a while and the ht 29r was it!

29er as only bike to do on & off road = Yes

29er HT to replace a full susser = Prob not although the right 29er will do most things unless your hitting big drops & downhill stuff.

For the record i have 2 29ers & no small wheeled bikes.

I’m thinking about selling my Ti456 and getting a 29r hardtail 100mm forked. Thinking being I never need the 140mm fork travel on the 456, but question is does 100m travel on a 29r equate to say 120mm on a 26r?

Could this be the 29er tipping point, a lot of peeps are coming round to the idea, or are we just sheep?

Well there’s two threads from the same OP discussing the same point so they’re attracting attention 😀

29 HT is the way to go. I have 7 bikes, but would choose my Ti HT 29er to save from a house fire – Obviously after I’ve rescued Mrs R and the dog. It replaced a FS Spexcialized Epic which I don’t miss. My Zion 29er is perfect for XC and MTB Marathons. It also has fittings to allow for a rear pannier rack for bikepacking adventures. It could easily replace my 2 CX bikes which don’t have disc brakes.

It weighs 10.5 kg. nice.

some claim they are as effective as a full suspension 120mm bike, and can do pretty much everything a FS 120 can do bar downhill ect. whether this is true or not, i cannot say

Do people really believe this? 😯

To be fair, if it’s for the two duties you mention I think it’d be ideal.

I’ve replace two 26″ HT’s (120mm geared & 100mm SS) with a 100mm 1×9 29’er and it does everythign the other two did, but better.

You get away with having less travel and in my opinion rides and handles things like a 120mm travel HT (Cove Handjob for reference).

It’ll be my bike of choice this summer for marathons as it’s plenty comfy enough for long distances and covers the kind of groud you typically get on the CRC marathons at a proper rapid rate.

Can someone with a 29er (BIGSI) tell me if the ride is better.

I am looking to swap my current bike for a 29er but i want to improve ride quality more than downhill ability, looking at a hardtail 29er rather than a full sus 26″ bike.

I ride cross country and am not really a downhill fan, i weirdly prefer going up to down! How strang is that.

I run a carbon 29er HT with carbon post, bars etc. Seems very forgiving even after a 140mm full sus. In fact I’d almost say it doesn’t need to be full sus ever again. Pick the right carbon model and you won’t look back. Do now own a cx bike though but just for cx racing, but a 29er works pretty well unless you’re at the very pointy end of the field.

Steve – My Chumba HX2 is more comfortable than my Cove Handjob.

Both bikes have/had Hope hoops, 2.1″ big volume tyres, Thomson posts & stems, Easton EA70 bars and Charge Spoons & Reba dual air forks.

Despite the fact that the Chumba is alloy and the Cove Steel, the Chumba is better/faster/more comfortable over long distances, just as quick on twisty single track.

It (HX2) also climbs better and descends just as well.

Stevewhyte – For my money on cross country I’d say definatly yes. The larger wheel size smoothes out the trail allowing the bike to roll quicker.

I feel they are more comfortable as well when compared against the same spec, material, geometry etc 26″ bike possibly because they roll better so you don’t get a much chatter from the trail but also because there’s a bit more air in those tyres to cushion the ride.

Is a 29er hardtail as comfortable as a 26″ full susser? No not in my opinion but then i prefer hardtails to full sussers for what i ride which is mainly cross country & playing about on small stuff.

HTH

Singlespeed 29er HT is my only bike. However I don’t commute and I’ve never owned a full suss so I don’t know if I’m missing anything and can’t really make comparisons. It does depend on what sort of riding you do but my current set up works well enough for me that I wouldn’t even think about going down the full suss route. If you’re planning gears I would have thought the spare wheelset approach would work well to save space.

Im running a Whyte 805 with SId race and Crosstrail rims which i love but i can feel the trail a bit in my back after a ride. I would much rather stay with a hard tail than go down the full sus rout, for all sorts of reasons.

Finding it increasingly difficult to reason why i should not just buy a 29er for the spring!!

For a given amount of travel a 29er is smoother than a 26er but that is all i.e. 100mm 26er hard tail is smoother than a rigid 29er. Short travel FS 26er is smoother than a short travel hard tail 29er etc.

800km a month commuting, trailquesting, 24 hour solos and general hooning, all on one 29er hardtail.
All I do is swap the rear wheel between single speed and Rohloff.