I’m genuinely looking at possibly new bike purchase.. And looking closely at internet waffle/forums/manufacturer spiel I’m only garnering that better rolling seems to be the only benefit ?

Sorry it’s been done to death but I’ve never really looked too close as I’ve never considered one till now..

Pros- Rolls bit better

Cons-

Less nimble
Heavier wheels
Heavier tyres
Not quite as pretty
High front end
Slower acceleration

Feel free to offer genuine pro’s cons and piss taking expected 😉

I follow these simple rules with buying a bike.

Try it, Like it, buy it

or

Try it, don’t like, didn’t buy it.

Love my 29er for long rides and races
Love my 26er for playing silly bu99ers anywhere humpy and jumpy
Where do you expect to ride?

Sorry it’s been done to death but I’ve never really looked too close as I’ve never considered one till now.

All of those threads still exist you know… Search is your friend.

In a nutshell people will say roll better, more grip, more stable, less flickable, less lively, less fun.

Ultimately they have advantages and disadvantages, best advice is to try one/some to see how you get on with them.

Please make it stop!

On a more practical note there is a search facility on the site. There may be some wheel size threads.

They grip better due to the larger contact point with the ground. It’s particularly noticeable when putting down the power on a steep/slippy climb.

Are they faster on an overall ride than 26/27.5? Probably, but nowhere near as much fun so not for me. Trying one and making up your own mind will be the best bit of advice you get.

OP have you ridden a 29er?

you will die if you don’t buy one

Having ridden a 26″ and a 29er for the last few months I would say that wheelsize is the least interesting parameter on a bike. Every advantage or disadvantage attributed to different sized wheels could be achieved in all sorts of other ways as well.

It’s much better to think about what sort of bike you want rather than what size the wheels should be. If you want an XC bike it may well be a 29er as that’s the fashion these days. But you could build an equally good XC bike with 26″ or 650b wheels. The same is true for all the other flavours of bike too. The wheelsize is just dictated by the current fashion.

It just felt right to me over 26er wheel, I just felt more confident. That was my deciding factor, nothing else counted.

As it turned out, the ability to deal with mud better (more grip overall), is a lovely advantage but not the reason I bought one.
As for the disadvantages.. I’ve yet to find/experience any (XC riding)

The only disadvantage I have found is the front seems to washout more readily on very slide prone surfaces E.G wooden boards.

Slack angles and low BB’s on all mountain bikes; any more than just the one benefit ?

I’m genuinely looking at possibly new bike purchase.. And looking closely at internet waffle/forums/manufacturer spiel I’m only garnering that stability seems to be the only benefit ?

Sorry it’s been done to death but I’ve never really looked too close as I’ve never considered one till now..

Pros- stability

Cons-

Less nimble
Heavier wheels
Heavier tyres
Not quite as pretty
High front end
Slower acceleration

It’s bizzare that most people who decry 29ers as all the things you said, then go out of their way trying to make their 26″ bikes ‘more stable’ with slack angles and low BB’s.

29ers feel different, to me it feels like a nimble XC bike (it would with a 72deg head angle!) at typical singletrack speeds, but unlike my old comparable 26″ bike, it doesn’t seem to get out of it’s depth as the speed picks up (probably the wheelbase and big wheels coming into their own).

Personaly I won’t be going back

This is all a bit odd…
I’ve taken the leap into 29ers with a scandal/reba SS setup….
It’s bloody lovely – fast, nimble, light, flickable, jumpable, rapid on the ups, rapid on the downs, turns when I want it to…
Feels much faster than my old SS – might be the wheels, likely the 5lb saving too…
I don’t get all this ‘sluggish’ talk tbh…

DrP

Less nimble
Heavier wheels
Heavier tyres
Not quite as pretty
High front end
Slower acceleration

I’m not sure that most of those are right.

Less nimble is very subjective. I still love my 26″ bikes because they’re definitely more flickable (for want of a better word) but then even on really twisty singletrack, the 29er never feels too slow in the steering. So, it may be ‘less nimble’ but not to the point of it being a negative.

Heavier wheels – yes, this one is correct. But then you’re repeating it on ‘heavier tyres and slower acceleration’. In reality, I seem to be pretty much the same speed on my 29er as on my 26″ bikes so I wouldn’t be worrying too much about this unless you’re a world class XC rider.

Not quite as pretty – well that depends. I think my Swift looks great but then it’s an XL and looks very much in proportion. I know that many (especially the 29er evangelists….) say that my 26″ bikes look too small so…

High front end – this can be an issue, particularly in smaller sizes but isn’t a fundamental issue. I’m actually about to raise my 29ers front end a touch as it’s very low right now.

Anyway, I wrote a review of my Swift some time ago that still holds true now I reckon – it’s not more or less fun, just different. It’s not quite as BMX feeling but then the confidence that goes with that means that I am encouraged to do sillier things on it which is fun.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/singular-swift-29er-and-suntour-epicon-rld-29er-fork-reviews

Ok I was a tad dismissive a few posts up. Just seems the day for 29er questions.

Anyway, as a recent convert, I’d say go try one for sure. I’d been riding 26″ wheel mtb’s since ’86 and thought I wouldn’t change. However I sold my HT earlier in the year and wasn’t 100% happy with my FS. So when looking for a HT and thinking how I’d use it I kept coming back to 29ers. Gave one a go and now am sold on them.

I have no desire to take my 26er out now really. In fact I rode it last week to try out a shorter stem but kept missing the 29ers riding characteristics.

So try it out. They seem to suit some and clearly I’m someone it does.

They’ve got better contact in the long firepower patch.
Or something like that.

11.5% more ultragamnation.

there are a few small differences in the way they handle/ride/grip/roll – you may or may not like some/all of the differences.

they look much better if you need a 20″ frame (or bigger)

Less nimble
Heavier wheels
Heavier tyres
Not quite as pretty
High front end
Slower acceleration

most of this is bollocks.

The cons are not real.

Less nimble – no – the two 29ers i’ve had have been every bit as manouverable as any 26er. My XC racer was twitchy and keen to change direction, my slack long travel AM bike is very manouverable with slow speed stability that i’ve never had on a 26er. Its mostly to do with frame goemetry rather than wheel size.

Heavier wheels – true – wheel for wheel. But not that much, certainly not noticable or measureable via a stop watch based on the (admitidly flawed) back to back tests various mags have done – though the margins are small. I’m just as slow on a 29er as I was on a 26er. BMX wheels are lighter than 26″ wheels, but I don’t hear anyone saying we should have a smaller wheelsize because of wheel weight.

Heavier tyres – yes, but same as for wheel weight argument.

Not quite as pretty – depends on the eye of the beholder. I’m now used to the appearance of my 29ers and 26ers now look like they’re on skateboard wheels, especially when you’ve got a leggy rider on them with alot of seatpost out. Proper clown bike looks.

High front end – Complete and utter BS. The handlebar height off the ground is the same as an equivalent 26er. Same with saddle height and BB height. I’ve measured and compared this myself.

Slower acceleration – BS. Yes, its possible to calculate differences in inertia and the knock-on effect on accelaration, but that’s an interesting school room academic exercise and you wont notice it in the real world. Overall weight has the biggest effect on accellaration – i.e. the person sat on the thing. Same thing as what I said about wheel weight – so far it has not been shown to be detrimental in the real world against the stop watch.

As has been said before – wheel size on its own does not define a good or bad bike. If you like a bike, it feels nice, looks nice and is the right price and spec – then that’s the bike for you.

I needed a new bike for commuting on last year. Thought about a road bike but I (used to) ride to work on mainly tow path so decided to build up an inbred 29er. The main reasons for this was I had parts that would fit (27.2 seat tube) and I fancied giving a 29er a proper go. It’s a cracking bike and i’m sure it’s faster over non techy stuff and great up hills. I’ve now changed jobs and my commute is road only so am thinking of converting it to a cross bike.

………..I’m waffling now……….but, I think (my) 29er is great but I wouldn’t ride it on the same stuff I ride my 26″ wheel Orange Five on! But that’s the point, you really have to thing about what you actually want from the bike, before thinking that wheel size is important.

not all bikes with the same wheel size are the same…..

Had a orange 5 – great bike
Got a Yeti SB29er – sold the orange 5

Not sure if it’s a Yeti / Orange thing but the five really was a piece of crap in comparison !

Mine never brought the trail alive, so I burnt it.

Thanks for the info/input guys I’ve not as yet ridden a 29’r .. I must sort out a test ride .. It’s mostly for local trails nothing too gnarly/rad I’m 40 !!! 😉

It would be a ss built up as light as wallet allowed ..

Few nice options out there !! I foresee some test rides 🙂

TINAS makes a good point.

Pros- Rolls bit better — a lot better imo.

Cons-

Less nimble – that’s about geometry far more than it is about wheel size. I think most of us can move around a bike that’s less nimble than a light 26″ anyway, tbh 26″ feels too nimble for a lot of trails to me, ie not stable w/o a fair bit of compensation.
Heavier wheels – yes, but that isn’t the problem many make out, light wheels just flatter egos and are good for road racing. Read Jeff Jones’ comments in Privateer on the subject, points well made.
Heavier tyres – as above. Tyres are a daft place to save weight anyway.
Not quite as pretty – so? : ) Debatable too.
High front end – is that bad? generally within normal / useable ranges for most riders.
Slower acceleration – balanced by greater conservation of momentum. better flow is better for overall speed than start-stop reaction speed, imo. I don’t race XC on tight courses though.

Love my Anthem x 29er, its the best bike ive ever owned- and its also the heaviest! 29ers do offer a very different ride to 26ers, are they better? Probably not, just different.

If you like distance riding and all day adventures, then id say a 29er is where its at.
If you want to jump and flick a bike around on techy trails then a 26 is prob better.
Never ridden a 27.5 so cant comment on that

29ers are just like 26ers – they come in many flavours and it seems the breadth of flavours is increasing.

My Trek Stache 29er seems to handle everything well and is plenty good fun on rocky singletrack – up and down. Need to ride it some more to really get a good understanding but so far I’m smiling. The Coed y Brenin enduro this weekend should provide some good experience.

Not in any hurry to sell my 26er Stumpjumper fs

29ers feel different, to me it feels like a nimble XC bike (it would with a 72deg head angle!) at typical singletrack speeds, but unlike my old comparable 26″ bike, it doesn’t seem to get out of it’s depth as the speed picks up (probably the wheelbase and big wheels coming into their own).

Personaly I won’t be going back

I agree with this.

I bet a lot of the 29er doubters haven’t even ridden one. I find my Solaris easier to wheelie, manual and flick about than the Soul it replaced. Don’t let wheel size put you off trying a bike… Oh, and there are some bad 29ers just like there are good/bad 26ers.

Just have a ride on a few. See if they suit you.
My 29″ ss is pretty similar to my old 26″ wheel one (even the same brand,) but I like it so much more. I’d not buy another 26″ wheel bike now.
I was quite anti-big wheel until I rode one.

Pros: they fit normal size people
Cons: short people think they need one

monkeychild – Member
Mine never brought the trail alive, so I burnt it.

Only 27.5 brings the trail alive

27.

27.5 would be rubbish

PROS : the bike industry makes money

CONS: Rocket dogs comments on these threads 😉

Pros – It’s just as much fun as riding a 26″ wheeled bike but in a slightly different way…

Cons – Idiots with the same size wheel will come up to talk to you about how wonderful it is & bore the tits off you……..FACT

Have you considered a skills course? 😉

Wasn’t there a post a while back pointing out that their 29er floated when crashed into a canal…

It may be an advantage if you plan on doing that a lot? (Though, large volume 26 tyres might do the same, and 650b would bring the canal to life…)

26 – old hat
27.5 – makes the trails come alive
29 – less nimble and heavy wheels

So clearly 32 is actually where it is at
http://www.walmart.com/ip/32-Genesis-Men-s-Beach-Cruiser-Bike-Red/20658235

Rubbish.

36″ FTW

I test rode a Anthem 29er, it didnt feel wrong, it felt very sort of “planted”. Bought it, no regrets. But that does not mean I wouldnt of been just as happy on a 26 or 650B.

Buy the bike that feels best to ride.

I test rode a few 29ers – didn’t like them so I didn’t buy them (for me they seemed hard work to steer and a bit heavy, but then I’m only small) I’m sure I will ride a 650b one day but I’m in no rush