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Just to help these are the iso diameters
26 is 559mm
650b is 584mm
29er is 622mm
Find my 26 hardtail is quicker out of the corners when peddling hard
And feels nicer going through tight single track at speed
Maybe it's a West Country thing but I don't actually know anyone on a 29r let alone a 650b.
Who cares about wheel size what matters is the bikes. The arrival of a new "thing" does not force you to sell or scrap you perfectly ok bike fitted with the old thing. Plenty I'd folk on here sporting 1" head tubes and 8 speed drive train, for example
Here's a thing, its a bike designed for 26" but has 650b wheels - it does roll a bit better....
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Cheezpleez - Member650B = 26. Can anyone really tell the difference?
sour grapes from someone who jumped on the wrong bandwagon(wheels)
😉
Instead of splurging this summer on some nice bits, 650b has actually put me off buying anything of value this year - Because to have anything reasonably future proof I may have to buy a new frame, fork and wheels....and it's not even guaranteed to replace 26 or be anything other than a passing fad.
No, what I'm going to do is ride my current bike into the ground and wait till 2015 to see where the market is at.
To the MTB industry....brilliant way to have people holding off from spending. You've introduced the biking equivalent of market instability in the stock markets.
Would you want to be a buyer for a bike brand trying to guess if 650 will take off
Get it wrong and either you loose sales or get stuck stuck with stock no one wants
I'd not want that choice
This constant wheel size twoddle from the bike industry is doing my nut! Cue no significant spending. Cwill ride my gear until its flogged to bits and then see what is left. I am not worried about 26" spares yet. I guess even if the bottom fell out of that market it would be 5years+ before the non whole bike manufacturers saw enough decline in demand to start scrapping moulds and tooling.
For me it is a shame because I would have considered splashing out on a 29r as the clown wheels would have suited 75%+ of my riding pretty well as well as being a good base for some touring tyres for child carrying duties etc.
26 to 650b is only 25mm!
26 to 29 is 63mm.
I struggle to see how 650b is enough of a leap forward from 26 for a normal rider.
As for pros winning on x wheel size what we will never know is how the same race would have gone on a different wheel size.
Plenty I'd folk on here sporting 1" head tubes and 8 speed drive train, for example
9sp, 1 1/8 head tube, 25.4 stem and 9mm QR wheels here - that would appear to make my bike totally obsolete. Mind you, the tandem and my TT bike have threaded headsets (9sp road groups on both of those!)
Oh, but the TT bike does have 650 wheels, making it ahead of it's time 😉
I can see the appeal of a 29er, and I can see the appeal of a 26er but 27.5/650b just annoys me. I know it's a marketing gimmick primarily being pushed by the manufacturers who missed out to the likes of specialized in the 2010-2012 29er gold rush, and are hoping to popularise slightly bigger wheels (but not quite as big as 29ers obviously) to drive a bit of short term sales growth. The problem is we're all a bit too content with whatever we're riding already mid-recession for this cobblers to take hold .
I'd rather own a 29er for distance and more xc type riding and a 26" bike for the more fun stuff than buy a 650b and not really be too sure what it's really meant to be for...
It's another push to separate IT management from their disposable income. I imagine it's only going to work on the really thick ones though...
None of these sizes are new they just gain loose popularity
the idea for 650b wheels is simply there because manufacturers know that 29" wheels are not very practical for the more gravity assisted types of riding, they do however like the way that bigger wheels render all your current forks, wheels, frames, tyres etc useless.
the logical choice was to come up with a wheel size that still renders most of you existing parts useless but is almost impossible to tell apart from a 26" wheel for most riders and doesn't have the same physical and engineering limitations as the true wagon wheelers.
Pink bike have a test of the new 29er enduro
Seems to work well enough for a big bike down hill ?
But again I've not ridden one yet
650B as a nominal 26" size is being introduced as a facesaver for all the 29er haters. It lets them buy the superiority of bigger wheels without having to admit they were wrong.
But 650B is yet another foreigners inferior wheel size.
The real British wheel size is 650A - the true 26" size - and better yet, it is 6mm bigger.
BTW is there a smiley for tongue in cheek?
i stopped reading the pink bike review of the 29er enduro as soon as they stated how fast it rolled across the carpark compared to the 26" version 🙄
29ers will stay for XC and marathon racing
26ers will stay king for downhill and gravity enduro
Not sure where 650 would fit it in really!! Maybe shorter riders would be best suited for them for XC and marathon races.
I don't see 29ers going away though.
Pink bike have a test of the new 29er enduro
Reviewers give positive review to product from major advertising contributor shocker!
Was more a pointing out that biger am bikes are now available in 29
Rather than getting to caught up in the website said it was great so it must be
Personal I've just build another 26 enduro
650B as a nominal 26" size is being introduced as a facesaver for all the 29er haters.
But don't most of those just hate new things?
I have to admit I am quite tempted by 650b in a way - partly for the novelty value of one on a muni, and partly because I am struggling to decide between 26 and 29 for that. What's the choice like in big fat tyres?
I have a 650b and love it, I'm a tall person so makes sense and definitely rolls faster, went back to 26 yesterday and it felt different but still fun.
I bought 650 because of the bike, not the wheel size but I'm converted.
Love all the people in this thread who said 26" is going nowhere a month ago.... 🙂
If you jumped on 29 then 650 is a bandwagon/marketing exercise
If you jumped on 650 then 29 is a bandwagon/marketing exercise
If you don't change bikes every week you probably don't care
I have a Voodoo Ti Hardtail with sliding dropouts hanging in my garage that will do 26", 650b and skinny 29er wheels......now that is future proof.
Just buy different wheels for doing different things and swap about as required
😆
If you don't change bikes every week you probably don't care
They all have their pros and cons - any claim to the contrary is just marketing. Ride a 20" regularly and a 26" feels like a steamroller!
i know I've been intrigued by 'em for years - especially when 29ers started making inroads into the market - but that dates back to a bike show in the early nineties when I spoke to a couple of frame builders. Both said that 26ers had come about by default & that they would rather be building frames around the 650b wheel size which they believed was the best compromise between speed & control.
A couple of years ago I was in the States and tried to test a 650b FS from Airborne but it was booked out for 8/9 weeks in advance. The guys in the shop were clearly fans & knew an awful lot about what was coming up from the industry i.e. RS/Fox forks, wheels & tyres. They also had a weird, but plausible, theory that the industry was looking to standardise @ 650b but it was too small a change to get anywhere so the 29er was born to persuade folk that a larger wheel was worthy of consideration. Now that there is a market, it is becoming evident that many riders feel the 29er too big but want some of the benefits of the larger size. In steps 650b as the ideal placement for both existing sizes.
Coincidentally, the guys that were originally behind twentynineinches.com & a few of the other sites are now the driving force at 650b.com etc.
I'm not sure i believe an industry would invent 2 markets in order to bring about a third that they'd prefer but I guess they've been selling bikes & making money all the way through & will continue to do so if the new 'standard' is widely adopted.
I did read somewhere that 650b outsold 26ers in Murrkah last year too.
Look, one wheel size will never be "the standard" in the industry because different wheel sizes clearly have different purposes. Downhill bikes will NEVER have 29 inch wheels as the standard, IMO.
29" has been pushed for a few years,
29er was from a few niche designers and odd bods. industry has been playing catch up since then,sometimes good things come from the small boys. the fact that industry have been pushing it shows that there is something in it otherwise why would they bother, it's never going to be the mainstream choice as people on the whole are very conservative.
They all have their pros and cons - any claim to the contrary is just marketing. Ride a 20" regularly and a 26" feels like a steamroller!
Absolutely, but talk of death of, end of etc is mostly bull. Mostly spouted by the converts trying to tell us they are right etc. I can see the point of 29/650 but not the need for me currently. Also I'd like to see the designs settle down and mature a bit. I'll be buying a new bike this year, it will be 26" as I have just got some new wheels. I have a house full of 26" wheeled bikes I don't need an odd one out. There is enough trouble with 15mm/20mm & 135/142 hubs....
The trouble with these new fangle sizes like 650B is that.....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28879558@N04/6089862860/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28879558@N04/6089862006/in/photostream/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8NNVy3ySGI
Why not make road bike wheels bigger? Surely that's where you'd see the biggest gains?
[quote=PrinceJohn ]Why not make road bike wheels bigger? Surely that's where you'd see the biggest gains?
There would be no advantage in a larger diameter on a smooth surface and it would increase aero drag. Some Time Trial bikes are 650s 🙂
Why not make road bike wheels bigger? Surely that's where you'd see the biggest gains?
Is that why many speed records on road are held by 20" bikes?
"new" is the marketing mans best friend. I've got too much invested in 26in bike stuff to make a change any time soon. Also I cannot see me being comfortable on a 29 on steeper stuff and in the Alps and having two bikes of different size seems daft.
[quote=jambalaya ]having two bikes of [s]different[/s][b] the same [/b]size seems daft.
🙂
its all marketing crap along with dropper posts and 9/10 speed gearing.
Ban the lot of it.
650b will be the standard. 26" and 29" will be niche for the dirt jumpers and the bearded wierdo's.
650b is 5% bigger than 26" (ISO sizing). Is that seriously going to be noticeable?
If 650b had been the norm for MTBs and 26" was the new thing I'd stick with 650b just for compatibility and I don't like changing my bike very often.
If I had a bike here now, I'd be riding it rather than discussing wheel sizes on the internet.
If I had a bike here now, I'd be riding it rather than discussing wheel sizes on the internet.
Me too. Sadly a whole day of riding at Cannock yesterday has meant baby-sitting duties today.
Are total newcomers to mountain biking buying 29ers, or buying what looks like 'normal' mountain bikes?
650b has been around since year dot hasn't it?
All this is going to become academic as more people discover fat bikes.
The wheel rim is 26" - so that keeps the 26er mob happy.
The diameter of the the tyre is the same as a 29er, so that keep the 29er mob happy.
Lower the pressure slightly, and that keeps the 650B mob happy.
And as a fatbike rider, that keeps me happy. 🙂
I'm still looking for that tongue in cheek smiley though.
[quoteAll this is going to become academic as more people discover fat bikes.
No no no no no
My frame and fork, currently 26, will easily take a 650b. Can I be arsed to change wheels? No! Would I by a new bike just for a bigger wheel? No!
ken_shields - Member
I have a Voodoo Ti Hardtail with sliding dropouts hanging in my garage that will do 26", 650b and skinny 29er wheels......now that is future proof.Just buy different wheels for doing different things and swap about as required
Can you also change the frame geometry? 🙂