Interesting is stretching it a bit. Propaganda, more like.

Anyone seen the latest What Mountain Bike?
A couple of very interesting propoganda pieces re 650b in there too.

I don’t really get what the measurements are supposed to be – 12.93? is that supposed to be 12 minutes 56 seconds? who on earth expresses seconds as a decimal like that? or is there another metric that its measuring?

Let alone number of runs/order of run/randomisation, variety of rider heights etc.

If one of the mags wanted to do a proper trial, then it would be brilliant, I’m sure we could write a decent protocol and make with a decent level of rigour – personally, I don’t believe any of the ‘testing’ done so far would stand up as ‘science’

Yeah and on the rough final World Cup 29″ won the men and women’s races… On and the vast majority of the field are on 29″.

650bs is the future because manufacturers said so and gullible consumers sucked it up. The real world advantages over 26″ are minimal unlike 29″ with is a different experience altogether.

Its largely pointless, as for 99% of riders who aren’t racing a world cup, the most important thing is how the bike feels. I like my 29er because its nice to ride and puts a smile on my face, at no point in a ride do I worry if my big wheels are making me 2.2 seconds slower on a 1km stretch of trail.
If I worried about this stuff I would question why I’m riding mountain bikes in the first place.

Those might be statistics, but only just.

I have only ridden one of each; a Bronson & a Ripley. The Ripley on a “loop” felt much quicker, at a guess it was slower downhill.

Mountain biker in, buying themselves a new bike and loving it shocker…

As has already been said it’s a garbage test unless you put identical power inputs into each test.

That chart would appear to show that 150mm bikes were faster – in fac,t the more travel, the more speed.. Why no 150mm 650? Or a 160?

Thanks RD can your next one be something about what bike Jesus would ride as we have not had a religious thread for a while and I reckon it needs a troll thoughtful post from you
Yours in anticipation.

Tracy Moseley is winning on 29. I’d hazard a guess that her power and speed are a little closer to most of us than any of those you mention.

If 650B is the future and 650B isnt actually much different to 26″ – what’s the point?

The British Touring Car Championship was won by a Honda, yet I find a Land Rover far more practical for the sort of touring I do.

niner bikes claim 29ers are faster! who’d have thunk it 🙄

It’s all nonsense as far as my riding is concerned. Do I care if one is faster than another. Not at all. I don’t race and don’t care.I ride for fun. Do I think I’d prefer 26 inch over 27.5 – probably as I prefer my 20 inch bmx feel to my 26 inch fr bike, although on balance the bmx tends to get hard to ride on the same (fr type)stuff. So for me it’s all of about feel and fun.

I like nibble handling mostly. If I raced XC or maybe rode serious xc trails on a light weight rigid xc bike then I’d maybe like to try a 29er as I can see how that makes sense and would work in the real world.

Not sure Ive taken a single big wheel rider through my switchback trail (64 switchbacks in 4km of descending) without them saying their wheels dont fit well in tight spaces…. Never heard a 26er say their wheel size is holding them back… Even on the pedally vehicle track linky bits. Now THATS science. 8)

(Imo / may not have happened / just riding for fun y’know)

the thing is most of us probably reasonably experienced or maybe newer but more enlightened (due to stw no doubt) riders. What were you like when you first picked up an mtb mag in John Menzies and dreamt of owning your first mtb?

I was out with my mate who was on a 29er.I was on my 26 , he cleared a climb and I failed.
It was definitely due to wheel size and not lack of talent.