Not sure if it is exposure, turning 32, or becoming a Dad. They just look normal now. They didn’t before. . .

26ers now look like kids bikes to me.

A 29er today…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/oMaFKu]Clown bike[/url] by jimmyg352, on Flickr

A 26er earlier today :

Not for much longer…..

From taipai this week

36ers shall inherit the earth

I look quite normal on both my 26ers, thanks to the fact I’m only 5′ 5.5″. Tried a 29er when they 1st became fashionable but I looked like I was in it rather than on it.
But there again I never was a dedicated follower of fashion.

(waits for, ‘oh yes he is, oh yes he is’, I remember The Kinks)

(waits for, ‘oh yes he is, oh yes he is’, I remember The Kinks)

I was thinking more “Lola”.
😉

29ers only look normal if you’re eight foot seven or more…….

Lola

thanks to the fact I’m only 5′ 5.5″.

That all important extra 1/2″ eh 😆

nothing to do with there being a lot more of them?

5’5.5″ – well you’re not the world’s most physical guy

Evo geometry has made them look like 26ers, ie “normal” in our eyes. A 26er with evo (x. long, low, slack) looks weird.

Trailrider Jim – Member
A 26er with evo (x. long, low, slack) looks weird.

Looks alright to me…

Still don’t really see enough 29ers round here to make them look anything other than odd.

^ You don’t think that bike looks odd?

top of whinlatter south? Wind would probably have knocked it over….

Looks like you could fit some 650b’s in there….

IGMC

Serious point; all this stuff about x or y looking “gopting” has always been ridiculous. All it really means is that it looks different to what I’m used to. Personally I think my Five looks great. It looks like a mountain bike should look to me. But that’s just because a) I’m old enough to remember when that was how a mountain bike looked and b) I’m used to it.

mikewsmith – Member
top of whinlatter south? Wind would probably have knocked it over….
Looks like you could fit some 650b’s in there….
IGMC

Forks will definitely squeeze a little 650b in… Not sure about the rear end (maybe the boys in Halifax would sell me a 650b back end if I ask nicely…)

bonesetter – Member
^ You don’t think that bike looks odd?

Admittedly, I may have gone a bit overboard with the faux-HDR filter…

😛

Yes, happened to me about 3 years ago, but do go to a lot of 24 hour races !
Mind you at 6’3″ all my 26″ wheelers looked a bit wrong. Quite fancy a 36er as a pub bike …

YOU HAVE TOO MANY NOWS IN THAT TITLE!

……….but it is a free country so good luck to you.

And I say that despite NOW being a 29er fan.

The worry with buying a 700c mtb is that many of the bits from my other bikes wont swap over ,and I like to make parts last .Still got frames in use from the mid 80s

Just frame, wheels, tyres etc and forks are size specific.

Drivetrains and anything else is interchangeable surely?

As an early adopter of 29ers* because i loved the way the big wheels rolled over stuff i had no idea how the rest of the MTB community saw them on the trails.
And TBF wasn’t really bothered how the average trail center weekender viewed me as it’s not that often i ride that kind of stuff unless it’s been so wet that natural trails become a chore.
But when Mrs stu got her first 29er I did think it looked “different” when i had a side on view of her on the bike
These days though they just look like “a bike”.

* 2006
[url=https://flic.kr/p/gvZLA]2006_062629er0002[/url] by multispeedstu, on Flickr
Now when I look back at some of the early bikes I owned they looks a lot more strange than any 29er.