Building a robot and data logging one bike next to another around a certain track is all very well but it will never replicate riding styles and mistakes.
If you want a pro direct comparison shootout take it from one of the worlds best XC racers.
See diary entry 21/1/2011
Is that human enough for you?
grum.
You'll be doing us all a favour. 
Yeah. Agreed that It's all to do with feel and personal style, I'm really not having a go at the 29ers, and I think my bikes right for me. It was just a general 'they are better' comment in STW mag that made me think really? How so exactly?
When I race boats, if someone tells me a new sail shape is better, it'll get tried in every possible condition, sailed against the original until there is clear understanding that overall there is
A) performance advantage
B) performance disadvantage
C) no change
If C, by all means get because it's a nice colour, but don't say it's 10% better!
Ok, we know that a 29er will role better, but does it overcome how much slower it is to get up to speed? I really don't know. I don't even know if the answer will mean anything to me, whether it'll change what I next buy, but I now want to find out. The joy of sitting around with a knackered shoulder, unable to ride...!
Edit Hugor - very interesting. That's like actual data, only from a bloke who's paid to sell Specialised 29ers... Ok utterly cynical I know, but isn't that just worth wondering about?
have you ever seen a 6ft4'' 21 stone bloke, who is top heavy, perched on a 26'' wheeled bike?
that is the reason 29r's are loads and loads better.........
Arghhh! No,because he`s HUMAN! No two rides are the same.
Edit Hugor - very interesting. That's like actual data, only from a bloke who's paid to sell Specialised 29ers... Ok utterly cynical I know, but isn't that just worth wondering about?
No this is his personal diary/blog not a specialised bike site.
I think it represents his honest opinion not marketing BS.
Yeah,and lets see the 21 stone rider get down the techy trail with one complete bike having hammered a set of 29er wheels over all the rocks.
Walking home with a broken bike AINT quicker than getting home in one piece on a 26er ;op
but wait! It IS possible.By over building the bike to bring it in line with the strength and stiffness of its 26 inch wheeled wee brother.Job done.
But wait!
How shit can a bike feel to ride with rims,tyres,frame material weighing all that extra over the 26inch versions?! For the lardy folk, i recon it would be more fun sitting at home watching mtb dvd`s ;OP
I wouldnt doubt his honest opinion but he`s a whippet! He will fly on either.Strap 80kgs to his back/bike and tell him to get back to us!
'I'm gay,and so's my wife' oh,er hang on.....
@ Martinxyz, but the laws of physics don't change. Just because a rider feels it's better / energy saving etc doesn't make it so.
However, I'm not talking about a total all round measurability.. Just whether the principle advantage overcomes the principle drawback. Suerly someone has done the test -and I'm looking at the mags - we've all done the freewheeling test with our new tyres, when we want to see whether our new super xc's are actually faster than our mates dirt big nobs and it's just a version of that surely?
Edit: martinxyz, misunderstood you. Think I agree based on your last few posts. Carry on!
Nice editing tazz. 
You gone back in again. 
Agree but these pros are about as close to a computer in terms of their precision as you can get.
They do 10 laps of a course and their times hardly change at all.
Therefore I respect their opinion and measured times.
In the end I don't care cause I don't race. I ride my 29er cause I like it more, thats all.
I ride my 29er cause I like it more
Nuff said.
Oh gawd...it's chucking out time at the zoo 
Which is a good thing. Only I'm a bit strapped for cash and I want to know that I was getting the benefits without the drawbacks and don't want to spend £3k to find out!
maybe he was just peeking ?.......
Transapp I'm settin up a business hiring all sorts of bling niche 29ers for exactly that reason. I was going to call it bikeurious but realised that a google seach may cause a few issues. The same applied to hire of surly pugsleys at cannock as we were going to call it chubbychasers
Very good 
These threads are priceless, all the shortarses with small man syndrome get all shouty about 29ers as they know there are too vertically challenged to enjoy the benefits of big wheels
Is this really still going on ?
well,it had sort of stopped,it's past grumpy's bedtime.....
Before I sold it, I rode my 26" Inbred back to back with my virtually identical build 29". (Only difference was 26" at 32/16, 29" at 32/18).
I just prefer the feel of the 29er. It suits the type of riding I'm enjoying these days. Happy days.
well,it had sort of stopped,it's past grumpy's bedtime....
careful now
I think this is a picture of that grum fellow.
He looks just like that grumpy cat up there^^
Bordeaux by Grum Wynne, on Flickr
xckeith1 - Member
I can confirm that JJ takes it far,far seriouslier than me,and that I always let him 'win' because no one can stand to watch him blub.
oh,and he does something he calls 'hill reps' or somesuch.
It's true I have been known to cry like a little girl but only when someone has the audacity to mock the bike I ride................ :?.......... hold on that's not me that's you isn't it......
Hill reps can't beat 'em.....
oh JJ ,stop you're making me cry now,I fear my very sides are about to explode ! (in a similar way to one of those ridiculous 29er wheel things)
I'm settin up a business hiring all sorts of bling niche 29ers for exactly that reason. I was going to call it bikeurious but realised that a google seach may cause a few issues.
Just wondered what was keeping this one going and read that, brilliant.. : )
I do think fatbike hire would be a good business for a shop / trail centre though, ideal for attracting non-riders as well as the seen-it-all types. They just scream 'ride me i'm fun' .. ahem. They look like a laugh and might appeal to a wider group than a 2k fs bike.
I do think fatbike hire would be a good business
yes, but what could you call it? as mentioned chubby chasers is out, as is anything related to paying to play with BBW's (Big bouncy wheels) as they both would cause lots of internet hits from deviants......might be the right demographic for fat bikes actually.....result!
There's no such thing as negative press these days.. maybe. General innuendo is ok but fat-ist may be too much?
Seriously tho, I know a shop in Scotland that did really well with iO ID hire bikes as they are simple and the Alfine gears don't intimidate newbies. A SS fat bike would have loads of appeal in that way. Based near a beach or flat forest trails? Winner.
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