29ers then. i'm not feeling it

I’ve recently bought second hand 29er as I thought their positive points would suit my type of riding.however, so far it seems slower and dragier than my 26 incher . Uphill and on road sections it needs a lot more effort than normal. Anyone else finding this or do I just need to persevere.

maybe it is all marketting hype???

similar tyres?

No issues here!

No issues here either. What is it, tyres etc??

29rs great for straight fireroads cx type races, phish for most trails(off piste) I ride and mostly ridden by loners 😉

are you using the same gearing as a 26″ bike? could be the cause of the sluggishness uphill, try slightly lower ratios

Waits for all the 6ft loners to get defensive.

If you wanted to make a mtb slower at accelerating and sluggish to ride up hill, the best thing to do would be to put bigger heavier wheels on it.

You’re getting old?

They’re not for off piste riding gods either.

You don’t have to like them, or post how crap you think they are when you find they don’t suit you.

e.g. BMXs are rubbish! I got one and it’s far too small and crap downhill.

Waits for all the 6ft loners to get defensive.

*waves and shouts coooeeeee*

I’m 5ft 10 so that’s mucked ya theory Rich and given the new non sweary forum I’m going to have to resort to Elizabethan insults

all I can say is

“Thou frothy pox-marked younker!”

It’s not a magic wand. The feel of the bike probably depends as much on other factors – such as frame design and component choice – as the size of the wheels.

My Singular Swift is lovely to ride but I’m sure lots of that is just down to frame design. I would imagine that a cheap nasty frame with heavy wheels and rubbish tyres would feel much nastier. Obviously.

i think 29rs are rubbish too…………………not really, just jumping on the bandwagon… 8)

i tried a 29er a few years back, wanted a hardtail primarily for longer rides and distance events. stuck with it for a while but in the end same as you just did’nt feel it.

after selling, as an experiment really just to contrast, i built up a 26 hardtail and it was instant love. all the ease of distance, non of the 29 niggles.

Old design with barge like handling?

pete68 – Member

“I’ve recently bought second hand 29er as I thought their positive points would suit my type of riding.however, so far it seems slower and dragier than my 26 incher . Uphill and on road sections it needs a lot more effort than normal. Anyone else finding this or do I just need to persevere.”

I had a similiar experience, recently I bought a new 26er and it’s slower and draggier than my other 26er.

..impatiently drums fingers waiting for OP to tell us what bike it was….

Is it for sale then?

What you want is one of these bad boys, a 29er that handles like a 26er 🙂

I once tried a 26er that was shite too.

Does that make all 26ers shite?

Not all 29ers are created equal.Just like a 26er there are good ones and bad.Learning to set up the bike can help as they are a lot different to there smaller cousins.I like my 29er but wouldnt go as far as saying its better that a 26er,just different and in some situations a lot better.One thing to bear in mind is with the extra rubber on the ground they can feel a lot draggier.Getting a tyre with a racer profile helps a lot as big chunky tyres arent needed with the extra contact area on the 29ers wheel

You find a 29er slower on road and it needs more effort than normal??? 😕

All I can say is that your particular 29er must have some very draggy tyres on!

whenever i ride a 29er it makes me feel like ive been shrunk

Didn’t expect that reaction. I’m certainly not an anti 29we otherwise I wouldn’t have got one,I’m just saying that it doesn’t grab me on first impressions. I know a lot of riders who’ve tried them love them and I’ll be giving it a much longer go yet to get the ride more suited to me. Oh, and its a tallboy by the way.

Does sound like a tyre, gearing or suspension issue.

Anyway, 29ers aren’t inherently better than 26″ just different and will suit some better than others. Anyone who says otherwise, either way, is full of it.

If you don’t get on with it ,sell it and try something else that might suit your type of riding.If it is a Tall boy you would have no problem selling it.One of the best bikes I have owned so far

si – thats one of the worst-looking 29ers I’ve ever seen. It must be a very small frame size – there is almost no frame at the front! Too much effort to keep the front end and the standover heights as low as possible there. It looks like a chopper!

Oh, and its a tallboy by the way

Presume you had a test-ride on such a cheap frame?!?

si – thats one of the worst-looking 29ers I’ve ever seen. It must be a very small frame size – there is almost no frame at the front! Too much effort to keep the front end and the standover heights as low as possible there. It looks like a chopper!

I really like it! 😀

I just recently bought a Scandal 29er. It’s my first in over 14 years of 26er’s. I’m still really getting to grips with it *but* I have tried it on my local trails about 10 times now and I have to say that I’m quite liking it. From what I can work it it just needs a slightly different tactic. Momentum is key. Consider it like riding a single speed. The slowest part is setting off but once you get those wheels in motion they are like tanks. My local trails are super muddy and I’ve gone over stuff that I have to walk on my 26er. I don’t find hills any more of a problem than normal 🙂

I run rigid forks (Pace RC45) and a Maxxis Ardent 2.4 in the front and a 2.25 in the back (both 60A I think). I’ve run it singlespeed and 1x9er.

At the end of the day – if you fancy a change then try one. If it doesn’t work out sell it and get something else. Whatever puts a smile on your face.

-Slower handling

-Higher weight

-Weaker wheels

-Worse descending

-Bobbins in tech stuff

I don’t understand why you’d even try to feel it.

Jeez, what have the anti-29ers been riding? Granma’s ancient Raleigh Supreme? Or are they part of the secret Doddy worship cult?

A good 29er’s a brilliant bike, a bad one feels like a 26er.

One thing i do notice about the wagon wheeler is i seem to get a lot more punctures than on the 26er

That’s because the tyres are bigger there’s more area for the thorns to stick in.
Common sense really. 🙄

lol @ spokescycles

doesnt hold me up 😉 just built another

More tyre surface area, so more likely to puncture…

[edit]Bugger, beaten to it. That’ll teach me to open a thread, make a coffee and then read and post![/edit]

epicyclo

A good 29er’s a brilliant bike, a bad one feels like a 26er.

Well it must be said that that statement is as stupid as any of the anti-29er comments.

Jeez, what have the anti-29ers been riding? Granma’s ancient Raleigh Supreme?

Quite a few 29ers do feel a bit like that 😉

MidlandTrailquestsGraham – Member

That’s because the tyres are bigger there’s more area for the thorns to stick in.
Common sense really.

Is this a joke, if so i don’t get it. If it isn’t a joke i really don’t get it! 😯

I tried a 29er for the first time in may this year, a sir niner I have since sold my cotic soul as I can’t see me going back to 26″ wheels, I can’t put my finger on it but it just feels right, I’m only 5’10” so its not because I’m excessively tall. The wheels definitely roll better on the cheeky techy stuff in cannock where I ride. I ride SS though so I’m used to putting in a bit of effort 🙂

I agree with Ringo, I have a Singular Swift set up in SS guise and a Cotic Soul with gears. I love riding both of them but for relatively mild gradient flowing trails I find the 29er holds it’s momentum much better than the 26er. I’m 6’2″ by the way!

Sorry to hijack the thread a little, I’m planning to ride CAnnock in the next week or so and have the choice of my hardtail SS 29er or my Lapierre Zesty…..is Cannock flat enough to attempt on a SS or are the trails tricky enough to warrant getting the trail bike out?