[Closed] Are 29ers really the future?

For XC I'm inclined to say yes, my next MTB purchase will definitely be a 29er.

Think it's past the "flash in the pan" stage, but still very much media led - you don't see too many out on the trails. I think 2012 will be make-or-break year for the mainstream.

I love my Scandal 29er and when I'm back in the market for a new FS rig will definitely look at 29ers as well as 26ers.

Try a few and see if you like them.

im too short (5'7) so not for me

For me and xc yes.
I'm racing in more xc races, getting bit fitter as time goes on and competitive streak coming through. From back to back testing of my Rush with my brother in law's Giant XTC29er I know I'm way quicker on 29er hardtail.
Need to save some funds as swapping from 26 to 29 seems expensive, new wheels, forks etc...
& Bit confused by sizing though. Just need to test out more 29ers.

I agree that it is an industry / media led trend but i do have a 29er and i do prefer it to my 26" bike... However, i wont be selling my FS 26" bike just yet.
It's nice to have a new option to try out, lets just hope 26" dies out in favour of 29" as i dont think that would be a good thing.

Interesting to see what 650b stuff will be coming out in future, as mad as it may be to have yet another wheel size i do think that 650b is a good compromise between 26 & 29"

I'm 5'7" and finding the Scandal 29er to be pretty much ideal for much of my riding.

I expect the most difficult people to convince of the 29er are those, like me, who've grown up riding 26ers ... people new to, or rediscovering, MTBing will probably be more open minded ... I should probably test ride a 29er one day, just to see

Yeah 650b is probably the future, they just needed 29ers as a stop gap so people thought there was enough difference to make it worth upgrading from 26" for.

Nope, hover bikes are the future.

(I've got a 29er, don't really notice the difference riding it now - just feels like my bike)

just as mountain bikes didn't kill cross bikes, disc brakes didn't kill rim brakes and full sus never killed the hardtail; 29ers won't kill the 26" wheel.

The bike press seem to think it's some gladatorial death match of wheel sizes.

I've got one of each and guess what - they both do different things. shit-a-brick, rally cars don't win formula 1 races, formula one cars don't win the WRC.

For xc yes.

Your height has nothing to do with wheel size.

Hopefully be getting a 29er ready for the Easter hols.

they're merely another option for the future, most everyone i know with a 29er has read the media hype, tried one and then made their own minds up

How much of the increase in 'popularity' of 29ers is due to customer choice, and how much is down to bike manufacturers adding more 29ers to their range at the expense of the traditional 26er? (i.e. is the customer starting to be pushed into trying/buying a 29er)

I'd love to try it, but I also really want to know - are they really quicker over the ground for the same enegy input. I'm yet to see anything that'd convince me. If not, then it's just a different feel and I'm loath to spend £3500 just to get a different feel!

im too short (5'7) so not for me

Rubbish. Willow Koerber and Emily Batty both chose to ride them this year at 5'2" at 5'3" respectively.

I bought a Swift on a bit of a whim, not so sure about replacing the Pitch with a 29er, but for everyday MTB'ing and XC rides I don't think I've ridden a nicer bike. Only things I'd change, standover is comprimised byt he frotn wheel/fork height, I'd rather it was rigid specific to lower the top tube/headtube by 2". Obviously not possible with suspension, but as it's a rigid bike it bugs me.

No.

If I was riding trailcentres every weekend then I'd have another one but on the twistier, muddier, natural stuff we have locally my swift felt crap

Rubbish. Willow Koerber and Emily Batty both chose to ride them this year at 5'2" at 5'3" respectively.

Although have you seen the set up of Emily Batty's bike so they could shoehorn her on to it?

EDIT: Here..

[img] [/img]

do those two posts not contradict.

if standover height is compromised by wheel/fork height, then 29rs are suited to taller folk. or folk whose riding doesnt warrant any standover clearance perhaps

If I were in a position of buying a new bike I would consider one, however I would have to try on my local trails before shelling out any sort of cash, but I can't see my LBS having a 26er and a 29er in a test fleet with the way money is atm.

Are there XC racers still riding 26 inch wheel bikes and do they win races? If they do then there can't be that much difference. The old military bikes in Sweden are 28ers I think so its not that new having off road bikes with big wheels and big tyres.

[img] [/img]

This one looks cools.

[img] [/img]

if standover height is compromised by wheel/fork height, then 29rs are suited to taller folk.

Depends on the bike, that Trek has a tiny headtube,which presumably isn't possible with steel or conventional aluminium tubes.

or folk whose riding doesnt warrant any standover clearance perhaps

Maybe, depends on your view of standover clearance, it's a bit like a helmet, you're better riding without a helemt on a bike designed to ride well, but you prefer the helmet and standover clarence when things go wrong.

Personaly, I don't see the point of massive stanover clearence if it comprimises the rest of the bike (i.e. I wouldnt run 26" wheels just to get standover) , it only bugs me on the swift as it's rigid but doesnt gain the stanover that a rigid specific frame would have.

If I was riding trailcentres every weekend then I'd have another one but on the twistier, muddier, natural stuff we have locally my swift felt crap

I do the opposite, I ride my Swift on the local singletrack and take the Pitch for trail centers, one mans meat etc.....

Are there XC racers still riding 26 inch wheel bikes and do they win races?

Theres an interview in one of the mags with an XC racer (Oli in ST maybe), where he states he sees no advantage in 29ers or FS bikes, he also coincidentlay rides for a company that doesn't make a 29er of FS bike.

Are there XC racers still riding 26 inch wheel bikes and do they win races?

Julien Absalon for one, although he may becoming 29er curious.

Depends... for XC as said above... Yep.

for Trailcentres etc... Nope.

My 26" Bionicon wipes the floor with my 29er when it gets bumpy/rocky.

I've not tried a 29er FS to compare i admit... but i can't see it doing the job as well unless built with DH geometry.

The smaller ones do look awful, so I can see why the wee men would avoid them for that reason. Same as a 26-inch wheel bike isn't that aesthetically pleasing with an extra large frame.

Yes...no...maybe.
What was the question?

Looking at Emily Batty's bike, I wouldn't like the terrain to get too steep!! 😯

I dont buy it.

Every manuf. is marketing 29ers including making too short racers use them when they look ungainly at best. Once 29er sales drop off then they will push 650b as being better for whatever reason Gary Fisher thought of 20 years ago. Dont forget, 69ers were the best 5 years ago, high & steep freeride bikes the best 5 years before that.

Phat bikes wont be marketed much as the 'LOOK @ ME' riders like to be thought of as anti-hero's.

Are there XC racers still riding 26 inch wheel bikes and do they win races? If they do then there can't be that much difference.

Yes, more or less everyone apart from Jaroslav Kulhavy!

It's just another option, they'll have their place, and I suspect they'll be massive in XC racing this year, but I can't see one or other taking over.

weeksy - Member
Depends... for XC as said above... Yep.

for Trailcentres etc... Nope.

My 26" Bionicon wipes the floor with my 29er when it gets bumpy/rocky.

But what 29er do you have? You can't really make a worthwhile comparison about rocky terrain between a long-travel 26" bike and presumably a hardtail 29er

Dont forget, 69ers were the best 5 years ago.

No they weren't. There were one or two, mainly bodged, never even close to the popularity and pedigree that 29ers already have.

I think this is a better read...

http://bikemagic.com/news/guest-blog/month-of-29ers-brant-richards-on-the-past-and-future-of-29er-design.html

It's just a bike... the wheel size isn't really that important. For the racers out there it comes down to seconds gained or lost per lap, and if wheel size really matered that much then all the 29er riders would be winning and the 26er riders would be whining... as it would actually be an fair/unfair advantage... which doesn't seem to have happened. The rider is more important than the wheel size.

My next bike will probably be a 29er, because a lot of brands seem to be reducing their 26er HT ranges. While they look less ridiculous these days, I'm still not sure I'm tall enough make them work (173cm)

Andy

I bought a couple of US magazines recently (Switchback and BIKE), neither reviewed any 26" bikes, all 29ers, seems they've made their minds up on the other side of the pond.

Interesting question. I've still not seen one out on the Surrey Hills trails. For sure the bike industry like any other loves the next "new thing", that's business. Bottom line none of will know until we try one, I'll certainly take the opportunity if available. What I would say is no matter how much better it covers the ground if it's one iota less fun on the downhill twisty singletrack then it will be a "no"

EDIT:

I bought a couple of US magazines recently (Switchback and BIKE), neither reviewed any 26" bikes, all 29ers, seems they've made their minds up on the other side of the pond.

The future has even more options to either confuse or help you find the 'perfect' ride. That's good if you're in marketing, have a lot of opportunity to try bikes out or are realtively wealthy and open minded. For many others, there's sod all wrong with carrying on riding what you already have and like.

been riding 29ers for a few years now. my opinion is that i ride all types of terrain a bit faster with more control and in more comfort on a 29er. clearly some people do just fine on 26ers and want to stay on 26ers.
i find it strange that 2/3 years ago most of the stuff written about them in u.k. magazines was negative. fast forward to now and they are loving them. i don't think the bikes have all miraculously improved, so there is a lot of media hype going on at the moment.

My Scandal is good for longer rides and trail centres. Glentress red and blue are ace on it. Do a lot of commuting on it as well.

I took it to the Alps in October as well, which was ace. Bottled one step-down and one switchback I'd ridden on my Prophet, and had ti take stuff a air bit slower, but otherwise all good.

I still love my Soul, especially for a quick blat through local woods and the Prophet definitely has its place. If anything it's replaced the short travel FS 26er.

A risk of turning this into a showmeyours thread, here it is.

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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/stu_n/6744562707/ ]2012-01-22 Big Pink after red route[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/stu_n/ ]Stu_N[/url], on Flickr

Will trail centres just increase the size of the features they have (rock gardens etc) to make the trails ride as they previously did when people had 26" bikes...

Hmmmmmm!

Interesting question. I've still not seen one out on the Surrey Hills trails.

You're not looking hard enough. We had one (of 3) with us on Sunday, and there were a couple of others at Peaslake that I noticed.

Liam Killen seems to have switched according to the article on his third place at the Sunshine Cup on the BC website. http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/mtb/article/mtb20120221-Road-To-2012--Liam-Killeen-Finds-Form-At-Sunshine-Cup-0

Rubbish. Willow Koerber and Emily Batty both [s]chose[/s] were paid to ride them this year at 5'2" at 5'3" respectively.

FTFY

I've a 26" Camber that never gets taken out to Glentress now that I've got 10.5kg 29er HT. The world has gone weird - my touring bike with drop bars has 26" wheels while my MTB has 700c rims! I didn't see that coming 5 years ago.