650b or 29er –

Cough… I am saying nothing

singlespeedstu – Member

Ratners coating on your fork and shock sir?

😆

That made me chuckle

wobbem – Member

Does that not tell us more about the riders than the bikes…

I have gone 650 b as you can see below and love it 🙂 perfect for the chilterns

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002[/url] by bluerichiepig[/url], on Flickr

I can’t see both 26″ and 650b surviving in the long run as they’re too similar. The latest 29ers are much better on the trails the original 29ers struggled on, parts are now readily available, and they are becoming accepted as the norm. In my opinion the battle will be whether 650b can be marketed as having enough advantages over traditional 26″ bikes. The next couple of years will tell I think.

And to reiterate a point made above… WHEEL SIZE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RIDER HEIGHT. 😀

WHEEL SIZE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RIDER HEIGHT.

I currently ride a 16″ frame 26″ wheel bike. Since a 29er’s wheel axles are 1.5″ higher i would need a 14.5″ frame (depending on design) to make sure the stand over height is comfortable. That small a frame on big wheels looks stupid.

I currently ride a 16″ frame 26″ wheel bike.Since a 29er’s wheel axles are 1.5″ higher i would need a 14.5″ frame (depending on design) to make sure the stand over height is comfortable.

😆

No you wouldn’t. You’d still need a 16″ frame.

That small a frame on big wheels looks stupid.

nah,

this looks sweet

I currently ride a 16″ frame 26″ wheel bike. Since a 29er’s wheel axles are 1.5″ higher i would need a 14.5″ frame (depending on design) to make sure the stand over height is comfortable. That small a frame on big wheels looks stupid.

No, what you would need is a frame with similar standover…
And after riding 29ers for a bit you start to think of 26″ wheels as looking silly, and who cares when they are much better to ride?

I currently ride a 16″ frame 26″ wheel bike. Since a 29er’s wheel axles are 1.5″ higher i would need a 14.5″ frame (depending on design) to make sure the stand over height is comfortable. That small a frame on big wheels looks stupid.

And that’s because 29ers are just scaled up versions of 26ers is it? 😉

mjsmke: relative BB heights are usually lower on 29ers so no change in standover. I ride a 17″–18″ in both wheels sizes.

Anyone for 20″ wheels?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk44jSt0xv0

Who is for 36″ wheels?

24″ wheels look OK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/video/2011/feb/21/danny-macaskill-video

What’s Driving the 650B Explosion? Interviews, Tech Breakdown & More!

Dirty rider is that your bike,what’s it like? Weights and full report please.

dirtyrider – Member

this looks sweet

In a Comedic type o way 😛

richieokeefe1’s

on the other hand looks v.nice indeed.

dirtyrider – Member
That small a frame on big wheels looks stupid.
nah,

this looks sweet

Really??? My eyes must be broken and you strapped a bag to the saddle 🙁

I was going to go 29er next, but thought nah. I just thought I wasn’t fast enough to warrant it. I also like the inherent lightness of 26″ wheel bikes.
The Olympics some said would be conclusive, but that wasn’t true. The Men’s was won on a 29er and the Woman’s on a 26″, yet the ladies winner won by a massive margin on the 26″ wheeled bike. And I’m never going to compare myself to a men’s Olympic Champion.
Then there’s the other sizes. We had 24″ for downhill and we stretch to 29er for XC. That kinda say’s small = good for down and large = good for flat, therefore 26″ is the best balance.
I’ll save my money and train harder.

GEDA – Member

Maybe the issue is that mountain bike technology is quite mature now so most new stuff is just to get you to buy something.

So in the end most change now is about companies trying to get you to buy something as it is slightly better/a different colour. Classic consumerism. Wheel size does not make that much difference.

I find myself gravitating towards this idea very much. I’ve said plenty of times 26″ wheeled bikes are nigh on perfect and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read about designers trying to adapt or emulate 29ers to have 26″ geometry….well…we have 26″ bikes already.

The Olympics some said would be conclusive, but that wasn’t true. The Men’s was won on a 29er and the Woman’s on a 26″, yet the ladies winner won by a massive margin on the 26″ wheeled bike. And I’m never going to compare myself to a men’s Olympic Champion.

And just to repeat myself one more time, the XC world cup was won on a 650b, in pretty conclusive fashion. As was Olympic silver (very nearly gold), and Olympic gold in the women’s XC. XC!! This is supposed to be the discipline where 29ers are dominant, perfect, better etc etc. Perhaps no one is talking about this because no one making money from biking media wants to talk about it since it doesn’t pay the bills or fill pages with advertising.

It’s interesting for sure.

And just to repeat myself one more time, the XC world cup was won on a 650b, in pretty conclusive fashion. As was Olympic silver (very nearly gold), and Olympic gold in the women’s XC. XC!!

The Olympics and WC’s were won by people who would quite possible have won on 26/29 or 650.

It’s not like the horesy events where there the horse can be a little annoyed for not getting a medal.

mikewsmith

The Olympics and WC’s were won by people who would quite possible have won on 26/29 or 650.

It’s not like the horesy events where there the horse can be a little annoyed for not getting a medal.

Well, I agree with you mike, that it’s not like the horsey events, but I think what needs to be considered here is that Schurter’s competition in the XC WC was serious. Massive actually, and on a 29er.

The accepted logic is that 29ers offer a considerable advantage over everything else for XC, and Jaroslav Kulhavy on board one seems like an unfair fight, and yet Nino won the WC, and nearly won Olympic gold.

I think what can be concluded from it is not just that the best rider will win, but that the differences between the various sizes are so small as to be completely negligible/notional and therefore of dubious “real world” value.

Am I making sense? It’s been a long day

but that the differences between the various sizes are so small as to be completely negligible/notional and therefore of dubious “real world” value.

Unless you bought one then 🙂

mikewsmith

Unless you bought one then are selling one 🙂

muddyfunster I tend to find those who have Invested to be as evangelical as the salesmen 😆

the differences between the various sizes are so small as to be completely negligible/notional and therefore of dubious “real world” value.

Shhhh! Some marketeer somewhere will be having nightmares tonight now.

http://www.wightmountain.com/wordpress/?feature=tation-ullamcorper-suscipit-lobortis-nisl-ut-aliquip

“a 650b bike doesn’t feel like you’ve stolen your dads bike when you were 8 like a 29er!!”

I bought a Tallboy because when I demo’ed one it was the best bike I’d ever ridden. I was considering other bikes, both 26 and 29er, but the TB was the best. It replaced a Yeti 575, and before that a Pace RC405, SC Superlight and an Orange P7, so it wasn’t exactly following poor bikes. I demo’ed the Tallboy because I was 29er curious, and it was going to have to be significantly better than what i’d tried before for me to invest due to the price. It was that good, but I still went away to mull over the decision, and then did another demo day in very wet conditions, this time trying different frame sizes. Still it won me over.

I bought it because it’s a brilliant bike. It also happens to have 29″ wheels, but as far as I’m concerned wheel size doesn’t dictate whether a bike is great or not. There are some good, bad, and fantastic bikes out there at the moment. Some just hapeen to have bigger or smaller wheels.

I also went from riding a medium frame in the past, to finding a large the best fit on the Tallboy, so don’t just assume you’ll need a smaller frame because the wheels are bigger.

I’ve not tried 650B, but again I’ve got an open mind on this. I’m curious to try out some, but not niaive or blinkered enough to think picking the right wheel size is the only answer.

For now I’ll keep on riding the bine I love, which just happens to have wagon wheels 😉

I was mostly ambivalent about bigger wheel sizes. I was pretty horrified therefore when looking at the Cannondale Trigger and thinking ‘those wheels look a bit small’.

Then I saw this

and found myself full of want. Still think my next bike will be a 26r tho. And it’s likely to rhyme with hotic pocket 🙂

Paceman makes an excellent point IMHO and backs it up with his experiences yet maintains that it is purely subjective according to his likes,needs and wants out of his bike and the riding he enjoys.

On the aesthetic front, I would like to think that we could gain general consensus and agreement that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and therefore we are all entitled to our personal views as to what does or doesn’t ‘look’ good/right.

I just wonder what impact this might have on new bike sales with the rise of 650b? As we saw with the earlier years of 29, it has taken a while for frame design and geometry to be ironed out. Will it be the same for 650b too? Or is it regarded that the design and geo for a 650 is so similar to that of a 26 that it makes little or no difference and the lead time to develop a well dialled 650 will be much less?

Alex – Member

+1 That Norco looks awesome

650b Mojo HD

I’m not a small wheel evangelist, but my bikes have 16″, 20″ and 26″ wheels. Comparing 20″ and 26″ off-road and over jumps is very enlightening! I can totally see the pros and cons of 29ers based on that and I’d probably own a long-forked 29er hardtail if I lived somewhere much rockier (rather than going to full-sus 26 from my current LTHT 26). For my current balance of riding I’m very happy with what I’m on. I remain sceptical of the purpose of an in-between size other than extra sales…

The 2013 Rocky Mountain Altitude is in 650b flavour only too… and looks rather fine.

For the last few years me and the guys have run low profile 26 x 2.4 tubless tyres… but that have great edge grip… fast rolling schwalbe triple compound Ralphs and Rons!!

We found with that size we got a huge footprint and grip but on such a fast rolling tyre ?? so what! it gave us the big wheel affect!

but one of the other things we found was the increased wheel size smoothed the trail out… obviously not like a 29er?? but 650b ish!!

We did find we got what I call a slower “lean”… but overall the all day ride is great!!

650b is on the agenda for me next!! … Schwalbe have stopped making 26 x 2.4 ralphs and Rons 🙁

Timax, if you like the big wheel effect you talk of you should also try a 29er, sounds to me like you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The 2013 Rocky Mountain Altitude is in 650b flavour only too… and looks rather fine.

Looks like a 26″ bike, which could be why some brands are pushing for 650B to become popular. They’ve learnt that many of us have been slow or reluctant to move to a 29er because of how different a bigger wheeled bike looks, despite it’s obvious advantages.

Well maybe 😉

This months Dirt Magazine ran an article and test comparing 26 & 29″ bikes on trails at the Forest of Dean. Very enlightening if you haven’t seen it…

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dirt-magazine-26v29-bonus-feature.html

ooohh khs have a 650b dh bike

Hellfire – that looks a monster 😯

It is more that I am comfortable with 150mm of travel or there about, going to 29″ means having less travel… not sure I want that! I am also unsure about things like wheel strength and how flexible the wheels are being a big lad and all 😉