Liteville muses that any discussion about the one and only “best” size for bike wheels is obsolete. Like with frame sizes, stem sizes etc. there’s also a need to put wheel size into perspective of rider size.

The more interesting bit is that they suggest that slightly bigger wheels on the front might be worth considering. Thus 650B/27,5 is a welcome addition to 24, 26 and 29 in providing the perfect step for their bodysize-based wheelsize-recommendation.

By the way: they do mention that personal preference and riding style might still be a good reason to ride whatever you like no matter what size you are. 🙂

Interesting?!

FTFY

Anyone who says that a fixed wheel size is the best as an absolute is an idiot. It’s like saying that a particular length of stem is best.

particular length of stem is best

For the record; it’s 50mm

For the record; it’s 50mm

+1 😉

Idiot.

It’s 90mm every time

I beg to differ.

Mountain biking started on this downward spiral when people stopped riding 150mm stems.

And toe clips.

I think you need an inbetween size maybe a 62mm but we’ll call it 70 so it looks like its directly half way.

Ideally, we would call it 2.8″.

But for that philosophy to work you need seperate trails with scaled features, so my 5ft2 missus would need a trail with rocks that a 24″ wheel would roll over as easily as a 29″ wheel rolls over bigger stuff.

As long as the handling’s fine then IMO bigger wheels = better.

Ideally, everything would be proportional – geometry & frame tube thickness as well as wheel size, fork travel, control points & tyre pressure.

Think of how the body and the bike interact – shouldn’t this be the same regardless of size?

Ideally, everything would be proportional

And that’s probably what is mostly done anyway:
– geometry often varies slightly with frame size
– some companies use additional gussets etc. for bigger frame sizes
– taller people will tend to use frames and forks with more travel and vice versa
– control points can be adjusted (e.g. lever reach)
– tyre pressure is adjusted to personal preference and that includes weight
– the same is true for fork and damper settings
– we have mentioned stems, but grips, handlebars, even saddles qualify, too(different width)
– a few people will use longer or shorter crankarms than the standard 175mm

Thus questioning 26″ as the only wheelsize and even thinking about serveral sizes to suit different body-sizes suddenly makes a lot more sense, doesn’t it?

Anyway: what about bigger front than rear wheel? Any experience?