I am tempted but it involves a major transition in terms of new wheels, fork etc, and also the loss of the ability to switch bits between frames. Lots of folks state they never look back after switching to 29er but I am curious if there any on here who regret it?
I didn't regret shopping in my 26er HT for a 29er HT but istill have a 26er FS, if i could only have one bike for all riding in all terrain then as much as i love it the 29er would be the one to go. So really depends on where you ride and how, probably best to try before you buy if it's going to be your only mtb to see if it's really what you want.
Yes.
There are some.
Is this like one of those hardtail or full suss questions.
Just like 26" wheeled bikes, 29" wheeled bikes come in a whole variety of shapes, sizes and geometries. It's therefore [i]very[/i] likely that someone bought a 29er and regretted it - because they didn't buy the one that was right for them.
i tried it, twice. realised it wasn't for me and got rid.
wouldn't say that i regretted trying it though.
unlike 26" bikes for some there is no 29er in production that will be right for them no matter how much variety there is in them (which lets be honest here isn't exactly loads)
Kind off. My 29er rides real nice and is good for 99% of the riding I do but:
Price premium on parts epically consumable like tyres annoys-me plus it means I have pile tyre I can't use.
I think I have spent too long riding a BMX so am accustomed to small bikes, its things like the greater bb drop that I find really effect the ease at which I can manual. I can still manual the 29er but it takes more effort to get it to the balance point, hence when riding off road its not as easy to quickly pull about as a 26". Its that kind of playability I miss when I want to treat the bike like a BMX, jumps have been ok on it but not quite right.
I've had 3 29ers now and like the other guy said, I don't regret any of them, just prefer the feel of 26" wheels.
I've tried almost exactly the same build as my 26er, so it's not that, I just found the smoothness took some of the fun out.
29ers are great, and if I could have a 26" and a 29" to ride whenever I'd probably do it, but knowing me I'd always take the 'small' wheels one out .
My best advise would be to go to a proper demo day and ride an 'equal to yours' build for a day. If you buy a cheapish one to give it a try, I'm sure you'll not enjoy it as much.
The big wheels do roll faster when up to speed and I noticed a benefit when climbing on rocky trails, but the lag conning out of tight turns kills it for me.
I'll be giving 650b a try soon! It appears to be best of both, if sadly slightly more niche than both.
I did it, three years lost to drink. Didn't regret it though
Regretted it? No, but can't say it's my favourite type of bike.
I have had a range of 29ers, Voodoo's, Scandals, Niners, Konas.
Probably my fave was the older style Kona Unit.
I then started experimenting with my Evil Sovereign and built it up as a 69er.
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It looked wrong, but rode a dream.
I then went back to a Kona Unit, but it felt weird, although I had two of them previously.
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Then I made some custom rear dropouts to allow for a 29er wheel on the Sovereign, and it worked!!
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Although, I think I will go back to the 69er guise
I still prefer 26" for the rougher stuff though, but the 69er is perfect for local stuff and Cannock, FOD etc
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/has-anyone-bout-a-29er-and-regretted-it ]http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/has-anyone-bout-a-29er-and-regretted-it[/url]
I definitely don't regret it but I wouldn't her rid of my 26" bikes either. For me, variety is key.
Biggest regret for me is the lack of flexibility of switching tyres/wheels between bikes. 29er is a wheel size - I think the other variables in bike design will have just as much effect on if you like it or not so don't understand the fixation in the clasification just by this measure.
Bernaard - Is that a 29er fork in your evil??
I played around with a mates evil to make it a 69er, worked best witha 26" rigid (our opinion) and the headangle wasn't too out of place.
To the OP,
ignore the wheel size and look at them all as different bikes, Some bikes work in 29" some don't. Same goes for 650b.
I'd rather have a FS in 26" to chuck around, a rigid 29er to ride all day then a 650b hardtail for all inbetween. But they would be specific bikes rather than: ANY FS 26er or ANY 29er.
I went from a 26" Inbred to an identical build 29" & for me it was better. Now on a Niner SIR9 & its even better still.
I have had both 26" FS & 29" HT (at the same time) in the past, & riding each makes you appreciate the other all the more.
If I had to just ride one bike forever more I'm afraid to say it would probably be a 26" FS. Would have to be a nice one though.
Went from a very small travel hard tail to a 19" Cube Full suss 29 and I love it to bits.
The bike just feels right for me - 6ft 2 - and I feel like the geometry around me is exactly what I need; and thats after trying a good few other trek, specialised and cube full sussers.
Its ever so slightly different through technical stuff but all that requires its just adjusment in how you approach berms for example but with any bike you adjust to the handling of each frame etc.