OK, on the face of it, it’s a pretty daft question. But we’ve done every other wheel size discussion to death, so why not this one 🙂 Do you think the wheel size has any effect on how frequently one would crash? On the face of it, all things being equal, you’d think a bigger wheel would result in fewer spills as it can plough through more stuff so should be more forgiving when you get it wrong.

yawn

what tyres for tank tracks?

yawn

Seriously? You opened a thread (with a pretty clear title) just to post that you weren’t interested in the question? Slow day is it 🙂

Oh well, as I said, it’s a daft question really and I guess I’m in a minority of one in caring whether a larger wheel might affect the frequency of crashes.

4 wheeled fat bike?

I’ve never fallen off a 29er, after owning a variety over 3-4 years. Realised when reading the topic, every fall I’ve ever had has been on 26″ wheels. Bizarre.

Given the evidence, it’s 100% impossible to fall off 29ers. 650b should be possible to fall off, but it’ll be harder than on 26″. This is why you see so many videos of BMX riders falling off.

Great thanks. That’s one data point. Just need one more and we can draw a graph 🙂

I’ve never fallen off anyone elses 29er either, that should be a big enough sample.

All of my crashes have been on 26″ wheels. Never fallen of a 29er or a 650B. Never ridden them either tho 😉

Well a 29er is 10.4% bigger than a 26er so it stands to reason and perfect logic that the are 89.6% less crashier. You can pro-rata between the sizes. Obvious. This is mountian biking by numbers. This marketting malarkay is easy.

I’ve never fallen off a 29er either.

Also never got on one, but don’t let that spoil your fun.

Slow day is it

You tell us.

I’ve fallen off both 26″ wheeled bikes and my 29er. I’ve never fallen off a 650B, but I’ve never ridden them though.

My arm scars are from 26″, my leg scars from the 29er. Hope that helps! 😛

Amazing data coming back here, so far no one has fallen off a 29er.

Edit: ffs wife!!11

Wow, multiple data points and percentages. Maybe we should publish a paper 🙂 Sorry, must stop taking the piss out of my own thread. Yes, it’s a slow day 🙂 A computer programme that needs prodding from time to time, so I’m stuck in front of the screen but don’t get enough time between prods to do anything useful. You’ll be glad to hear that it’s almost done now though.

If we remove data points at the very edge of the sequence, we still have 100% crash protection on 29er…

Rachel

Amazing data coming back here, so far no one has fallen off a 29er.

Edit: ffs wife!!11

skills training

I fell off a 29er on my first go. In fact, I’ve fallen off every wheel size.

Here is a very interesting graph to help you pass the time

Meanwhile ..

I think the answer is a 69er .
Front wheel stability (with only a small risk of explosion) and small rear wheel for acceleration (to get you into out of trouble )

Have a very nice day 🙂

I fell off a 29er on my first go. In fact, I’ve fallen off every wheel size.

Show off.

Front wheel stability (with only a small risk of explosion) and small rear wheel for acceleration (to get you into out of trouble )

You could wheelie when you needed to accelerate, like cartoon cars, lowering the rolling resistance and getting the big wheel out the way.

You could wheelie when you needed to accelerate, like cartoon cars, lowering the rolling resistance and getting the big wheel out the way.

By jings,I think you are on to something there.

OK, I realise that nobody is going to take this seriously and that’s fair enough. Any differences are probably too small to matter in practice, but it’s still bugging me.

If a certain fraction of crashes are caused by the front wheel getting trapped in some way and a larger wheel is less likely to get trapped then a larger wheel should result in fewer crashes.

But what about the effect of head angle? Is it true that a slacker head angle also makes it less likely that the front wheel will be trapped/stopped by an obstacle? If so, it could be the case that (say) a 67 degree HA with a 26″ wheel is just as resistant to being stopped as a 69 degree 29er. If not, then the 29er is (theoretically) safer and I can shut up about it 🙂

I have a 69er and if I do crash then it always the front wheel that goes first thus proving that you crash more with 29″ wheels. I think you’ll find that is irrefutable proof.

I’ve fallen off my 26 lots but never fallen off my 20 so clearly smaller is safer!

Seriously though, I think greater trail (head angle, wheel size, offset combination) and longer front-centre is safer, as long as you ride with enough dynamic weight shift to get the front wheel to grip in corners.

Does no-one make a cycle with 3 wheels at the front like this:

I reckon that’d be pretty safe.

I’ve never crashed my unicycle (although I have fallen off it, although always onto my feet, except for one time). 20″ wheel if that helps.

Simples.