I have just been reading the ‘dilemma thread – 29/26’ and in it a couple of blokes mentioned how their wives had managed to go much faster on 29ers.

Now I am pretty slow on my 26er and its quite boggy and gnarly where I ride, so I frequently dismount and walk.

Is a 29er the way to go for me, would it really make much of a difference?

A lack of confidence means that if bumps look too deep or roots too tall and there is no way around, I will walk them.
I know I should really try a 29er but Lbs isn’t about to let me loose in the my local woods for a couple of hours.

thanks

Ps If there is anyone in NW London and wants to do a ride or something, feel free to mail me

I don’t appear to be significantly quicker than my 26er mates, but that could be more of an issue of rider fitness and skills. I do appear to be more capable on boggy/muddy ground where I do think 29ers are better, and slow technical climbs where I seem to be able to clear them more often despite them having better skills than me – but again I can’t say for sure if that is due to the wheel size difference. But then again I don’t appear to be at any disadvantage compared with them on the down hills, rock gardens and twisty technical trails. Personally if you’ve got a decent 26er and are not looking to change it for any other reason then i’d struggle to recommend to anyone to change their bike purely for a wheel size change. Whatever advantages and disadvantages there may be due to wheel size, it can easily be overcome with rider skills and fittness.

I would think of wheel size as much as to suit rider size than terrain / riding style.

May be the wrong bike for you but what you describe to me sounds like a lack of skill.. What bike is it?

absolutely agree with the lack of skill – I have none, I can just about ride in around.

The bike is a boardman pro ht 2010, which I am fairly certain is more capable than me.

I find 29ers are much quicker on open going.But in tight woods 26ers are still great.Also you get sweet FA nowadays when you try and sell a 26er.

I find 29ers are much quicker on open going.But in tight woods 26ers are still great.

So are 29ers…!

Some of my favourite bits of my local trails are tight twisty singletrack and my Solaris is brilliant.

How tall are you Sam?

5 11 and thinking about it, it would make sense for me to get a rigid 29er and that way swap things around with my cx bike at a pinch.

It’s definitely worth considering, but the answer will depend on you.

29ers can be fine in tight and twisty trails, but if there’s a lot of speeding up and slowing down they can start to suffer. They rely on momentum for some of their advantages.

I wouldn’t swap back to smaller wheels for my local riding up in the north, but when I come back to Hertfordshire I miss my 26in bikes a bit.