Had been looking at the Surly Troll, then noticed the Ogre, then thought I might as well look at the Fortitude if I'm looking at big wheels!
I've never ridden a 29er and am a bit confused by sizing, is it really just the same as a 26er? To put it in context, I've a L (19") Cotic soul that fits nicely, just though, the 400mm post on it is getting towards the minimum insertion mark and I'm only 6' tall. I've also got a 20.5" Genesis IoId that just feels a bit big. It's fine for trailer towing duties but throwing it around singletrack it's just a bit gate like. I've sat on a 19" Fortitude Race (I'm looking at the Adventure though) and it felt ok, it appears to have the same length (to within a couple of mm) top tube and seat tube as my Soul, so I suppose that that is the correct size for me? I'm just wondering if the wheel size alters the size of bike one would buy.
Also looking for a few opinions on the Fortitude. I know it's not going to be as snappy as the Soul through the singletrack, but is it going to be a barge?
Mainly looking for something to replace the IoId as my trailer towing and low maintenance winter mud plugger.
Ta.
Someone on here must have one of these, and an opinion on it!
Bit of a Bump!
I dont really have anything to add, lots of people are asking about them on here but not seen any responses from anyone who has bought one. I would have thought the STW massive would lap them up 🙂
I looked at getting the SS as a n +1 bike but they dont go small enough for my tiny 5'7.5 height 😉
Like the look of them though and its tempting me to put a rigid on my simple
ps I presume u have tried a search?
Can't help really here but i'm looking for the same thing as you. When i looked at the geometry for the fortitude it seemed really short for that style of bike albeit i am going to try and have a sit on one. As another alternative the Kona Unit is meant to be good and the new raw colour scheme for 2013 looks lovely.
Also with the fortitude i believe the geometry has been corrected around the rigid fork. If you want to run a sus fork at some point my understanding was that you would struggle due to axle to crown measurement. Hopefully the rigid niche-meisters will turn up soon.
I ride a 19" hardtail and 18" FS am 5'11" and happy on my 19" Fortitude. Feels pretty agile to me but I haven't had it long and not pushed it yet really
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Yes, I kind of thought there'd be a few more folk on here with one. Regarding the suspension, I've no intention of swapping away from the rigid fork so that's not going to be an issue for me.
Gotama, when you say short, are you meaning TT length? As I said I've never ridden a 29er, so am a little unsure as to geometry etc.
Yep. To me the top tube length was very short when i looked. Having said that i am 6ft 3 so at the taller end of the size range for pretty much everything. Its the same top tube as the tallboy LT in XL on the 20.5" and given the intended use for the bike i would have expected it to be longer than that.
With regard to 29er specific.....Ignore the wheel size, makes no difference to frame fit in my experience, if its too small in 26" it'll be too small in 29".