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Dilemma time...I tried a Pompetamine, loved it but thought wider tyres would be more versatile for say "trail-touring" or gnarlier mixed road/off road rides (tho I already have a 26" HT that could do that)
So I tried a drop-bar 29er (bought a smaller size to get a shorter TT) but TBH the riding I've done so far suggests that a rigid drop-bar 29er with 2" tyres is close enough to a 26" HT that there's no point having both. Of course the 29er could take 32mm cross tyres which would make it more of a crosser...so just use a crosser?
Can't decide which to keep...
Those of you using drop bar rigid 29ers...what riding is that for? Mellow off road mostly?
I'm riding a crosser at the mo, and it's [i]not[/i] a mountain bike..
It does suffer on fast, rocky or techy descents and similarly on very steep climbs. It's great, but it's great in a specific way, on less demanding terrain.
I'd like a HT with hydro discs and drop bars..
Bit of everything really. I wouldn't call my xc riding necessarily mellow, though I admit the proportion of any ride spent with more than one wheel off the ground is minimal.
I guess that for me cx was about:
1. lighter bike/tyres & "faster" position to get to the trails more quickly
2. riding the easier trails I'd ride on me HT/FS
And I am finding that:
3. drop bars are sufficiently sketchy for me on descents or at speed (maybe I will learn) that there's little point in bigger tyres, which slow the bike down on the road anyway.
Maybe I ought to try the SB8 type 29er tyres at 500gm...
Hmmm, drops and skinny tyres at speed have chucked me off a number of times on rutted or rocky descents..
29er race kings? pretty quick on the road.
I've had my swift out on a few rides now with drops and 2.35 tyres. After plenty of moorland riding and a lap of Dalbys red. It is better suited to the long moorland rides but its me that limits me on the techy stuff of Dalby. I was slower through it than on other bikes but got through it. Long fast decents where fine on the drops and gave me big smiles 😆 especially if any of you know Black Hambleton on the North Yorks mooors.
Annoyingly the Pomp is a 1lb heavier frame than the 29er! Would make a crap tourer too (too flexy) and one appeal of the 29er is it's acceptable at that and thus can be used to tour and then go off road (with flat bars and fat tyres)
😐
what about a singular peregrine??