Viewing 30 posts - 1 through 30 (of 30 total)
  • Anyone else gone back to 27.5 after having a 29er
  • bluemoon1981
    Free Member

    Just interested if anyone else has gone back to a 27.5 after owning a 29er and if so why? I’m doing it myself

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    different bikes and wheel size is only one part of it?
    Long travel bikes, enduro? XC? Trail?

    Don’t get hung up on the wheels try the bike and go from there

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Not gone back to as such, but I did buy the 27.5 after 5 years of 29 only. I like both equally

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    phunkmaster
    Free Member

    Yes. Have a 27.5 Trance and a Scott Scale 29.

    Love them both for different reasons (based on the factors mentioned above) but would happily get rid of both for a 29er Amthem. I have decided that I want a short travel 29er.

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    i’ve got a 29er hardtail and 27.5 full sus, and i’m pretty indifferent to the wheel size tbh.

    It’s a long way down the list of things affecting how the bike rides for me.

    Wouldn’t dream of changing a bike simply to get a different wheel size.

    ehrob
    Full Member

    Went from a Banshee Prime to a Transition Scout. The reason I changed was because I wanted something than was more playful than the Prime.

    Liked the Prime, love the Scout. My favourite bike ever. It is more playful. Descending, it is better for me everywhere except when in a completely straight line. With me on it, it climbs as well as the Prime did too based purely on Strava times.

    For me and my application the Scout is the better bike. As above, wheels are only a part of that though.

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    I went from 26″ FS to 29″ FS and have recently picked up a 650b HT so now have both. The 650b is a frame size smaller and is my current go to bike, probably because it’s new. It’s a right laugh and backs up all my negatives about 29″ but also all the positives.

    For shorter, messing about rides the 650b is a riot but if I had to have one it’d be the 29″.

    danbo
    Free Member

    Yep, have just bought a focus jam while the other bike I have ridden for the last two years is an Enduro 29er.

    For someone of distinctly average skill like myself, i find negligable speed advantage on the 29er, and most 650b’s I have ridden are more playful and easier to whip and muck around on etc. Although I have not ridden any of this years 29ers yet.

    rhayter
    Full Member

    Indeed. I had a Yeti BigTop 29r and went to a Yeti SB5C. I got the 29r because I was curious and I had the opportunity to build one up while I was getting over illness and as a way to get back into riding.

    I really enjoyed it. It just felt like a bike. Didn’t really think about wheel size when I rode it. By today’s standards it was pretty twitchy. But I didn’t fully realise that till I got the SB5C with a much slacker head angle (and 27.5 wheels). I lent it to my buddy Bob (who is a much better rider than me) round Swinley and he thought it felt really fast but demanded a lot of concentration. Racey but potentially dicey, too.

    I had really light wheels on the 29er, so they never felt heavy and unwieldy to me. But my SB5C is both more stable (It’s full sus, after all) and steers round switchbacks more easily.

    It’s a bit like comparing apples and oranges…

    Northwind
    Full Member

    I go where the best bikes are but ime right now that’s been 29ers.

    Simon_Semtex
    Free Member

    Sorry… Nothing to add other than to say 26ers rock! Still riding my 26″ Stumpjumper from 2008. It’s my main bike and have zero intention of changing. Off to Bike Park Wales tomorrow. Looking forward to blasting past 95% of people on the climbs.

    Maybe i’m just getting older but I would rather spend my money on diesel, flights and hotels rather than the perceived marginal gains brought about by following the herd into a new wheel size.

    I’ll be riding my wee stumpy until it explodes, then (maybe?!) i’ll buy the standard wheel size of the day (once the market has sorted itself out and the 27.5 V’s 29er arguement has been settled.)

    BTW…. My wife rides a Santa Cruz 5010 CC 650b. Ive ridden it.. I like it but whatever happened to the concept of the “do-it-all” mountain bike? Something that is good on the ups as-well as the downs?

    With servicing costs on a full-suss running at £250 per year, any bike I own has to “do-it-all”… from quick blasts around Haldon to the odd up-lift day.

    I’ve test ridden a few big wheel bikes lately and just can get my head around (or my stop-watch around) the increase in overall weight… my Stumpy is 26lbs…… 650b bikes feel lardy in comparison at 30-32lbs.

    I’m quicker riding a 26er and will be sticking with it until the bitter end!

    wl
    Free Member

    Very unfashionably I just opted for a 650b Five over the new Stage 5 29er. I demoed and liked both, and though the Stage was probably faster on 90% of my trails, I just preferred the Five’s extra agility and playfulness against the Stage’s flat out ‘point and shoot’ speed. Depends entirely what you want from a bike, I guess. For me, faster isn’t necessarily better. If I was a racer or Strava nut – or lived in the Lakes or Alps – things might be different.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Simon_Semtex – Member

    I’ve test ridden a few big wheel bikes lately and just can get my head around (or my stop-watch around) the increase in overall weight… my Stumpy is 26lbs…… 650b bikes feel lardy in comparison at 30-32lbs.

    Eh, my big honkin 29er with 36s, a long dropper and proper tyres is sub-30lbs and could be lighter without much compromise. Some 26ers are light, some are heavy, some 650bs are light, some are heavy… The like-for-like weight difference between the little wheel sizes is really pretty small, it’s a couple of inches of tyre and wheel, a little bit more fork lower…

    chakaping
    Free Member

    Well I bought a long-travel 650b as my “big bike”, based on geometry and suspension travel.

    I still prefer 29in though, the way they carry speed and the stability from having the BB further below the wheel axles is addictive.

    More long-ish travel 29ers coming along now, but still only one (new E29) in the enduro/freeride crossover area – to my knowledge.

    aracer
    Free Member

    “back”? I’m curious who here owned a 650B before owning a 29er (well not that curious, but it’s slightly more interesting – here kitty, kitty, kitty).

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    Got 27.5 and 29, like both equally.

    Have changed a 650b plus wheeled bike to 29 to see what it’s like, though not ridden it yet, and in the process of changing a fat bike to 29er, to see what that’s like.

    More long-ish travel 29ers coming along now, but still only one (new E29) in the enduro/freeride crossover area – to my knowledge.

    Trek Slash? Hightower LT? Pivot switchblade?

    bluemoon1981
    Free Member

    Good responses, Ive got a new tallboy medium frame and was good to ride to begin with but feel like I’m sat on the bike, changed stems etc but no better, I think the bike is trying to be xc and trail but isn’t great at either maybe I’m wrong.
    As said above jumped on a transition scout and it just seem to fit great and felt I was in the bike, climbed everything I could on the tallboy. Part of me thinks it’s me and my technique that I don’t lean the bike enough etc

    greyspoke
    Free Member

    I went from 26 to 29, haven’t tried this new-fangled 27.5 yet.

    Except I tried a 27.5+ on the front of my 69er singlespeed instead of a 29.

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    I went 29er to 26″… 😉

    cokie
    Full Member

    I’m going back the other way.
    After 26” ‘died’ I got a 650b hard tail which I enjoyed, then got a 29er HT alongside which was even better for my trail riding. Got a 650b Orange 5 and didn’t get on with it so when 29er T129 which was superb! Then fancied a change so tried a 650b T130 which was also great and also bought a 29er HT, but doing more trail riding and am looking to go back to a 29er FS now- possibly S150.

    On the whole I prefer 29er and will slowly phase my main bikes back to that. I’ll keep the 650b Explosif for ever though.

    chum3
    Free Member

    whatever happened to the concept of the “do-it-all” mountain bike

    Short travel FS 29ers came along and the claimed the title! 😉

    plus-one
    Full Member

    Had 29er full sus for while it was ok .. Also had rigid 29er for a while again ok..

    Now on 650b hardtail and I enjoy it more 😀

    Just feels more agile 8)

    nickfrog
    Free Member

    Sorry… Nothing to add other than to say 26ers rock! Still riding my 26″ Stumpjumper from 2008. It’s my main bike and have zero intention of changing. Off to Bike Park Wales tomorrow. Looking forward to blasting past 95% of people on the climbs.

    Maybe i’m just getting older but I would rather spend my money on diesel, flights and hotels rather than the perceived marginal gains brought about by following the herd into a new wheel size.

    I’ll be riding my wee stumpy until it explodes, then (maybe?!) i’ll buy the standard wheel size of the day (once the market has sorted itself out and the 27.5 V’s 29er arguement has been settled.)

    BTW…. My wife rides a Santa Cruz 5010 CC 650b. Ive ridden it.. I like it but whatever happened to the concept of the “do-it-all” mountain bike? Something that is good on the ups as-well as the downs?

    With servicing costs on a full-suss running at £250 per year, any bike I own has to “do-it-all”… from quick blasts around Haldon to the odd up-lift day.

    I’ve test ridden a few big wheel bikes lately and just can get my head around (or my stop-watch around) the increase in overall weight… my Stumpy is 26lbs…… 650b bikes feel lardy in comparison at 30-32lbs.

    I’m quicker riding a 26er and will be sticking with it until the bitter end!

    Maintenance, weight and versatility have very little to do with wheel size.

    My do it all 27.5 HT (Commencal Meta) is 26bs with dropper and is a far better/quicker bike than my previous 2012 26′ Commencal HT despite being 500G heavier. Far more versatile too.

    Only cost about £300 more in keeping with inflation.

    wl
    Free Member

    Not being funny but unless you’re into massive jumps and xc racing, plenty of bikes do it all. My 2017 Five certainly does, and other bikes from other brands will too. With 140mm and even 160mm bikes weighing in under (or close to) 30lbs, we’re nearer to do it all bikes than we’ve ever been.

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    Sorry… Nothing to add other than to say 26ers rock! Still riding my 26″ Stumpjumper from 2008. It’s my main bike and have zero intention of changing. Off to Bike Park Wales tomorrow. Looking forward to blasting past 95% of people on the climbs.

    I do that too, along with all the other people on the uplift.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    wl – Member

    Not being funny but unless you’re into massive jumps and xc racing, plenty of bikes do it all.

    Yup. Just back from a week in Wales where my trailfox took turns at being a downhill bike and an XC bike. If I could have been arsed I’d have swapped the wheels (it has nice carbon ones for everyday and cheap metal ones with bigger tyres for smashing into things) but I didn’t bother. “Do it all” is mostly defined by what your “all” is, but this is the first time in ages that I’ve not felt like having 2 “main bikes”, always before I’ve had a Big Hitter and a Little Hitter. Now the big bike can cover all the everyday stuff and I’ve got a fatbike for dicking around on.

    DiscJockey
    Free Member

    “Sorry… Nothing to add other than to say 26ers rock! Still riding my 26″ Stumpjumper from 2008. It’s my main bike and have zero intention of changing. Off to Bike Park Wales tomorrow. Looking forward to blasting past 95% of people on the climbs.”

    My 650b F/S bike is quicker uphill despite being 1kg heavier than my previous 26″ F/S

    “BTW…. My wife rides a Santa Cruz 5010 CC 650b. Ive ridden it.. I like it but whatever happened to the concept of the “do-it-all” mountain bike? Something that is good on the ups as-well as the downs?”

    That’s the 130mm travel version right ? In what way is that not a brilliant do-it-all bike ?

    “With servicing costs on a full-suss running at £250 per year, any bike I own has to “do-it-all”… from quick blasts around Haldon to the odd up-lift day.”

    Suspension servicing hasn’t got more expensive, so what’s this got to do with wheel size ? And if you have more than one MTB (which means each gets half the use) you don’t need to have the suspension serviced every year – get it done every 2 years. Overall cost remains the same.

    “I’ve test ridden a few big wheel bikes lately and just can get my head around (or my stop-watch around) the increase in overall weight… my Stumpy is 26lbs…… 650b bikes feel lardy in comparison at 30-32lbs.”

    An equivalent 650b/29er full bike is probably 0.5 – 0.75kg heavier than the 26″ version…but will get you from A-Z quicker. The word lardy makes no sense here.

    “I’m quicker riding a 26er and will be sticking with it until the bitter end!”

    New bikes haven’t just got bigger wheels – almost every aspect of them is better, and can probably make you go quicker. Sure, hang on to your 26″ bikes. I still have 3 of them – they’re fine, but not as good as my larger-wheeled bikes.

    russyh
    Free Member

    Cant see me going back to 650b now. Nothing to do with Fashion either, I just prefer 29ers. That said I dont quanitfy a bike by its wheel size, more over how good it feels to ride. So if i rode something which ticked my boxes like my Jeffsy does then I would buy it. In fact the only thing I dont like about 29ers currently is buzzing my arse on the back tyre, but that’s a technique thing I’m sure.

    bigjim
    Full Member

    I’m on my third 29er and think my next wheel size will be 20″ 😉

    Rorschach
    Free Member

    I’ve just bought a brand new 26″er.It is awesome.
    (It’s also a Player26 dirt jump frame)

Viewing 30 posts - 1 through 30 (of 30 total)

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