Now this isn’t hugely scientific, and expect some grief, but I was pretty surprised……

not all about speed, but I do do a bit of racing so interested in comparisons

Tried 3 29’ers and used my own Yeti ASR5 as a reference. I am pretty steady paced, and deliberately chose same lines and tried to keep effort levels as level as I could. I guess I got to know the course better but don’t think that had a huge impact. was due to ride whyte 129 as well but M25 put paid to that, which was annoying

lap 1 whyte 109 29’er 19:23
lap 2 yeti asr 5 26 inch(my bike) 19:00
lep 3 yeti 95 29’er 19:40
lap 4 tallboy lt alloy 29’er 19:45
lap 5 yeti asr 5 26 inch 19:45

give or take a few seconds vagueries starting / stopping watch etc

course was about 3 miles twisty woodland with a few fire-roady bits, pretty wet, few rooty bits

guessing the 95 and tallboy were 30 ish lbs, asr 5 and whyte 27 / 28 ish. Similar style tyres

29’ers felt more stable and felt faster on the open bits. Whyte felt really compact and sorted. Yeti 95 and Tallboy both felt big to get on but not to ride. All bikes large except Tallboy which was XL. Reckon the Whyte could be made to go pretty quick if you wind it up. They all felt happy enough in the twisty stuff. I did notice ASR 5’s ability to accelerate sharpish when I had to zip past a few riders

reckon the 29’ers would excel in faster going, but have to say I was a bit surprised, expecting the 29’ers to be a fair bit quicker – that’s why I went out on my bike again

possibly on the 26 I was working a bit harder to go the same-ish speed – would be interesting to compare over 3 hours or so, and definitely needed more adjustment in the slop which could get tiring over time

makes sense the whyte was a bit quicker than the heavier, more trail bike 95 and tallboy; surprised by the asr5 though

so there you go – conclusively inconclusive

So, which did you *enjoy* the most?

Faster on your own bike than on bikes you’ve never ridden before shocker.

I tested some of the same bikes at Cannock last weekend including the T129 and Orange Gyro

I already ride a Cotic Solaris 29er

They all felt pretty good though the Yeti had really slow steering, but was nice on the downs

I preferred the Orange but have bought something else….

yeah well I foresaw both of those comments………

enjoyed? have to say liked them all, none stood out massively above the others. If I were to buy it would probably be the Whyte

faster on my own bike? Yeah bit of that, but if 29’ers were so much quicker I think that would have been noticeable. Don’t think in a month of Sunday’s I’d get them to go 1 – 2 mins quicker, which is kind of what I expected

Don’t think in a month of Sunday’s I’d get them to go 1 – 2 mins quicker, which is kind of what I expected

They are bikes, not futuristic hoverbikes. There was never any magic involved.

I demoed a lapierre 29er a cube ams 120 29er and a stumpy 29er last sunday over cannock and prefer my trek ex 8 to all of them. Demoed a 26er santa cruz blur lt tho and would cut off my left bollok to own 1 was a great bike.

Not any more scientific, but my times over a section (up and down bit) from last weeks Cannock demo:
Specialized SJ FSR 29er 4.27
Banshee Prime 4.14
Trek Remedy 4.40
Banshee Rune 4.47
Banshee Spitfire 4.36
Yeti SB66 4.15
Yeti SB95 4.41

None of these are my bike, although I have riddenthe 66 and 95 before. I was impressed with the Primes time, but enjoyed riding the 66 more. In fact I prefered riding the spitfire over the prime, even though it appeared to be slower…..

My favorite bike at cannocks demo last week was a 100 mm fs specialized epic 29er,which surprised me because if I was buying without testing first,I would have gone for an orange 5,yeti 575 26″ kind of bike.
Not sure if this really proves anything other than I’ve just polished off 2 bottles of wine but hey ho.

Thanks for sharing. You’ll always get criticised by people who don’t like the results. Of course it’s not scientific, but it’s as valid as any of the other pseudo-science out there and only by reading lots of experiences can we hope to build up a true picture.

I’d be interested to hear your subjective thoughts on the bikes too. How did they feel? Did they inspire confidence? Etc

Flankers, what did you like/dislike about the Orange and what did you buy instead?

I only look at times when last orders are in question.

But if i was working out buying a bike like above I’d sacrifice a minute or two for one that’s fun to ride and doesn’t kill my back.

Do you race? If not, times are irrelevant. Get the one you enjoyed the most and fits you the best.

you can’t beat a good test ride, but when I started dabbling in 29ers, I found it took a few rides to change my riding style to suit, once i found my flow I was quicker and had more smiles on a big wheel.

Most of us race, whether it is our mates our just ourselves. Also, a faster bike is a more efficient bike, which means that you can travel further for the same effort. What’s not to like? Of course fun is just as important, but there is no point pretending that times don’t matter. All else being equal we would all pick the faster of two bikes.

Now this isn’t hugely

And that’s all there was to your test.

Really it doesn’t show anything at all, your own bike was the fastest and the slowest so what is your trying to show?

Surely the point is that the 29ers were not significantly faster. Ok, for the more logical amongst us that’s not surprising. Larger wheels do not subvert the laws of physics. But given that we’ve been sold 29ers as these almost magical speed machines, it’s useful to have reports like this for balance.

Surely the point is that the 29ers were not significantly faster.

the point is that any first ride on a new bike for a very limited time is not going to give you any conclusive evidence.

OPs own bike was fastest and slowest, and that’s what they are used to riding and is set up perfectly for them.

Some 29ers (which do take a bit of ride adjustment time) set up for joe public with a quick (yeh that’s about right) set up are as equally fast allowing for other riders on the test circuit, how tired the op is, etc….

but I’m sure it’ll fuel the wheels size debate for another week or so 🙄

the point is that any first ride on a new bike for a very limited time is not going to give you any conclusive evidence.

People come on here to ask for advice about various bikes that they are considering and get told that there is no point asking other people’s opinions and that they should get a test ride. But if they take a test ride and their experiences don’t agree with what somebody else wanted them to be it’s because a test ride on a strange bike doesn’t really tell you anything 🙂

I’m not trying to claim that the OP’s experiences prove things one way or another, but I really object to people who try to rubbish other people’s posts and claim that they shouldn’t have bothered. It’s one more data point. Nothing more, nothing less. But personally I was interested to read it. And on that note, I’ll butt out.

I find it quite funny that changing wheel sizes for an off road bike people bother to test the different speeds.
Its fairly obvious
1./ No one is racing a 29er Downhill bike
2./ No one is doing big tricks on a BMX track on 26″ bike
3./ No one is winning cross races on anything else than a 700c [29er] bike.
Yet people are expecting 1 bike for all the above, it wont happen.
Maybe when there are enough 650bs out there will be a “Bike for all trail” ? who knows.

Drac – Moderator
Now this isn’t hugely
And that’s all there was to your test.
Really it doesn’t show anything at all, your own bike was the fastest and the slowest so what is your trying to show?

Least helpful response of the week award goes to…

OP is simply saying how it was for them. If you’re not interested in his view – don’t post. I am sure if the data agreed with the views of those with negative comments to make – suddenly the OP’s experience would be valid!

Heres an
it
and a
You’re
for someone 🙂

Faster on your own bike than on bikes you’ve never ridden before shocker.

I thought it was new bikes that were quicker because they’re exciting and fun?

Everyone seems upset! Is it because they have bought the latest fad hype and don’t like the idea of it not being what it’s hyped up to be 🙂

Stop whinging, sell them and buy the latest hype, the 650B 😆

I enjoyed that. Now I’m off riding, in the rain, on my bike 🙂

29 ers have never been of much interest to me before because I am forever reading that they are ‘less fun’ and less flickable etc to ride than a 26.However after riding loads of bikes back to back,both 26 inch and 29 ers last week (un-timed)I can honestly say I didn’t find any bike any more or less fun and flick able than the next,and for this reason I would now consider a 29 er when buying a new bike in the future.I’m not sure I’d be any quicker or slower on a 29 but I couldn’t really find anything negative to say about them either.
I think what I’m trying to say is that I couldn’t tell the difference really lol

I enjoyed that. Now I’m off riding, in the rain, on my bike

Yet ironically you were still here according to your thread history… 😉

Surely the point is that the new bikes[s]29ers[/s] were not significantly faster

fixed it for you.

Good post, and just confirms pretty much any test out there. What it points to is that possibly, possibly there’s a sweet spot in 650b.But really, what difference does it make in the real world?

Everyone seems upset! Is it because they have bought the latest fad hype and don’t like the idea of it not being what it’s hyped up to be

No still on a 26″ but ridden a few 29″ and loved them, didn’t time anything but I enjoyed them. What Hype?

Guess you didn’t rally get away with the ones you’ve tried.

Would I go 29″ next time, well I would as find at 6′ 2″ the proportions seemed better for me or maybe just they were setup right.

OP is simply saying how it was for them. If you’re not interested in his view – don’t post. I am sure if the data agreed with the views of those with negative comments to make – suddenly the OP’s experience would be valid!

People are responding to a post, that’s what the forum is for.

GaryLake – Member
I enjoyed that. Now I’m off riding, in the rain, on my bike
Yet ironically you were still here according to your thread history…

You can’t do that on your phone then?

Your local trails that good are they? 😉

I rode a few 29ers and wasn’t converted, they felt slow and lumbering through the turns. I’m not really interested in saving minutes and seconds over a ride, I want to have lots of fun. If i was doing an endurance race I’d like one though, they are quite cruisy.

People are responding to a post, that’s what the forum is for.

Not interested is not the same as disagreeing or as in this case pouring scorn. Not sure I need to be told what a forum is for either – frankly there are other places I can go to be patronised…

well to add into this – I’m not anti 29’er. Actually, I’ve got one – albeit a bit different in that it is a full rigid drop bar Salsa Fargo. It was after finding this frankly pretty amazing off road, especially in the slop, that i got thinking about a full bounce 29’er

so I expected them to be a fair bit quicker – was surprised they weren’t. With time sure I’d learn to ride them a bit faster but it wouldn’t be a huge difference

@ roverpig – broadly, they felt as often described. 29’er stable, carried speed well, maybe slightly slow to turn but you’d soon work round that. 26 snappy, skittish, definitely had more slides and stuff on it

My experience of 29ers, based on ****all experience:

Slightly slower accelerating but slightly easier rolling on smoother surfaces. Handling not much different if you counter-steer the bike rather than waiting for it to fall in to the turn. So far no massive differences for me.

But the reason I wish my Anthem was a 29er is how they roll over chattery ground. Round here the trails are chewed up by horses and in summer the hoof-prints bake into the clay. A 29er just gets over this stuff more easily as the wheels don’t drop in quite as much.

this ” slower accelerating” thing about 29ers, i can see it’s an issue if you ride one from a BMX gate start, but who does that on a 29er anyway? or a XC race start but i suspect most of us go for a ride on our own or with mates where from the gun acceleration isn’t really an issue. seems that everyone picks on this trait as a drawback. I can’t say that I’ve ever noticed just riding for fun

I can think of few instances where my 29er is faster than my 26er…

…my 29er is fully rigid and my 26er is a 5″ full susser

Horses for courses, lots of variables yadda yadda yadda etc etc etc

I love threads like this.

I find my 29er is better for climbing, stability and descending. I am better descending on it too (nice twisting singletrack through to rocky trail centre stuf).

Not sure what it is worse at to be honest. 100mm hard tail compared to a Horst Link 5 Spot or a 26er Superlight.

i’m quite impressed by the whyte’s time (lap 1): Fast, with cold legs, on a new bike, on a new trail.

was there much ‘traffic’?

my bike is a 29er, i bought it as i was curious.

my 2p: they’re not magic, but there’s something going on. It feels like i’ve done something really clever with my tyre pressure, when all i’ve done is pump them up hard. Experience (26″ based) tells me this should feel harsh and leave me struggling for grip, but i’m finding the opposite.

I was at the mountain trax demo on sat and tried out 29ers too. As I am looking for a XC race bike to replace my 09 anthem I took my gps and record the runs…each run was attempted to be done at the same HR about as scientific as I could make it over approx 5 mile / 30 min loop

– Scott Scale 920 – HR 166av 183max 8.8mph av 26.4mph max
– Cannondale Flash 29 alloy 1 – HR 167av 188max 8.6mph 26mph max
– Whyte 29c team – HR 168av 197max 8.4mph av 25.3mph max

Now I kind of wish I had brought my anthem to compare, but I didn’t want to get it muddy (again). Some of the demo loop covered segements of a recent Gorrick, and I got PR on strava on them…

My conclusions –
Each of those 29ers rode very differently to each other despite looking similar on paper.

The scott felt perfect out of the box, the cannondale felt seriously fast but a proper handful and I nearly stacked it and the whyte felt slower but when I hit one of the descents I actually said out loud holy chit this thing moves….

I could tell the difference in compliance, the Scott felt like a short travel full sus I was able to pedal through sections I couldn’t on the others.

Other general thoughts – my first time on a 29er. Without doubt they have better grip you also have more time to react if your rear wheel starts to slip, usually its game over on my anthem but I was able to catch it every time.

They do roll better and definitely feel slower to get up to speed. It reminded me of the difference on my road bike when I put heavier 1800g aero carbon wheels on rather than 1450g climbing wheels.

The handling did not feel sloppy or cumbersome. Reminded me ever so slightly of riding my old mmmbop where you lean more than turn the bars…

I’m sold, and will be getting one when I can get the pennies together (expect classified ads from me soon….)