Hi,

Have any of you set up a 29er to use as a road bike? I fancied getting one to use as a road bike in summer and a cross bike in winter. Maybe having a different set of wheels? I thought about using the midge bars as a good in betweener set.

How good is the 29er on the road compared to a run of the mill road bike?

Cheers
C

Why not get a crosser with discs and put slicks on it? 29ers are generally designed to have flat bars unless you look at something like the Salsa Fargo

Why not just get a cross bike? It will be ace as a cross bike and OK as a road bike with some slicks (if you pick the right bike).

Not sure exactly what you’re looking for? A drop bar bike that will run road and cross? In that case I’d say no problem, just change the tyres as appropriate.

If you’re thinking of taking an mtb (in my head 29er equates to a mountain rather than a road bike but that’s just me perhaps :)?) and putting drops on it for road use it’s a little more problematic as the sizing will likely only be optimal for either road or mtb. You can improve it by swapping stems but it will still be a compromise.

EDIT Or as teh others have said rather more succinctly, just get a cross bike

Worth just making it clear 700cc road / cross wheel is exactly the same diamter as a 29er mountain bike wheel.

Works well as a tourer but not so good as a ‘road bike’, a bit slower and too upright if you were riding with others on road bikes. H-bars work well on or off road. I’ve used it as a winter lanes road bike with Marathon Mondials on, done back-to-back 100+ milers over a weekend on Big Apple 2.0s, toured for a few days in big hills, all good. There’s times when I’d prefer/use a more normal drop-bar, the 29er makes sense with more load or if comfort is a priority over speed. And it’s more fun when descending at speed.

The sales and marketing elves have just pricked up their long, pointy ears and are rubbing their sticky little hands at the thought of selling this new sub-genre of bike that ChristoGinger is angling after.

Meanwhile the rest of us prepare to get up-in-arms over the pointlessness of this new breed.

stilltortoise- Monstercross bikes have been around for a few years, I don’t think they’ll break through like fat bikes though.

I’ve got some spare 23c conti ultra sports in the garage, will I die if I try to stick these on normal 29er wheels?

I had looked at cross bikes but i fancy something just a bit more comfortable and cheaper for off roading the winter and replacing my cheapo road bike. I was looking at the Ramin One in evans to “convert” its not that much heavier than a cross bike and the kit on it is far better value for money than cross bikes of a similar price.

I was more curious to how they handled on the road really. I had thought cross tyres on the normal wheels for winter and a spare set of road wheels for the road work. Also though maybe putting a 53/38 double chainring on give a big ring for road and the small ring for off road….

I was more curious to how they handled on the road really.

Take a normal-handling 29er (ie not XC race and not AM-slack) and fit lower profile 35-40C tyres and it’s similar to steepening the head angle a degree or 2, the steering feels quicker, the BB is 15-20mm lower, it all makes it feel more road-like. Adjust your seating position + grips fwd a little can also help. Not sure how long I’d be pushing a 53T though, 44-48T outer feels good to me.

Mine handled the same to be honest, I can’t see why it would feel like the head angle was steeper? Have you forgotten to do the back wheel? 😛

40c is 1.5″, shouldn’t be that radical.

ChristoGinger – Member

Have any of you set up a 29er to use as a road bike? I fancied getting one to use as a road bike in summer and a cross bike in winter.

As above, get a cross bike. Nothing wrong with your plan but it’ll give you a hybrid in the summer and a mountain bike in the winter.

toasty, you reduce the trail when the wheel OD gets smaller and the contact patch is smaller, feels a bit lighter steering to me, from a normal 2.3 down to a 35-40C anyway. Not the same as a change in HA in some ways as your balance over the front is unchanged, but sort of similar.

My Singular Gryphon with Midge bars is a great bike for riding on the road.

I rode it around Belgium last summer with Flow EX rims on XT hubs running tubeless Ardent 2.25 at 50-60 psi (yep, true story and I didn’t die!), and I also rode it to work every day through the preceding year.

The comfort on the road is high, probably due to big tyres and a good amount of seat tube; the grip when cornering is phenomenal, it felt as though knee down would be possible!

Could have done with a higher gear range for the road but it was set up as a mountain bike using Middleburn Uno. I now have several cassettes with worn top two gears and the rest looking pretty new.

I have wondered about fitting Jones bars and some 2in semislicks to my Karate Monkey for gravelly/tarmacy touring duties…hmmmm

Would probably want to fit an outer ring and maybe new (lighter) wheels too…

:goes off to ponder further…:

was looking at the Ramin One in evans to “convert”

Bit like this you mean?:

Its no road bike but it is a great commuting bike. Carbon fork, Crest rims on Hope and Schwalbe Marathon tyres. Have you looked at the Pinnacle Lithium’s?

Hmmmmm Interesting…

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYOOBSC1/on-one-bsc-type-1

Up here in the north I’ve just done the 3 Pistes Sportive (103 miles and 11,500′ climbing) on an On-one steel 29er, with 28mm slicks on Mavic Open Pro rims. The old skool flat straight bar has bar ends and is held by a cheap, upside down 110mm stem for road use. It weighs about 23lb but is plenty fast enough to keep up on climbs and roasts most roadies on the faster and more technical descents. Gearing is 48/36/26 and 11-26t, so I have spun out on fast descents but that rarely lasts long. For commuting, holiday Alpine passes and generally mucking about or getting from A to B, it’s the mutts.
What helps a lot is that when using the bar ends, I’m well stretched out and actually have lower hands than I would be on a similar sized road bike, while on the hoods. I call it my ‘road’ bike, as it’s very good on roads. It’s just not a race bike; it’s way more comfortable. Discs make for safe braking too and with a swift tyre change, it’s a tourer or can take on ‘having a laugh at yourself’ off road duties too.

Yep – slapped some cross tyres on my Hardtail (Trek x-caliber) and locked out the forks. Did a 3 day tour of the Yorkshire dales and had no problems keeping up with the roadies – in fact I was first up Tan Hill !

Yep a bit slower (but not much), but a more comfortable riding position, lower gears and better brakes – ideal for touring on hilly terrain

road bike set up as a 29er?

big tyres help not spinning out with 48/11!

Won’t the too tube be a tad long for drops.

This is a question that seems to come up fairly frequently. To add to the anecdotes, a few years ago I did the c2c in a day with some friends. Three of us on 29ers with cross tyres, no problems. The next year we did a circuit of Northumberland, 220 miles in a day. Two of us on cross bikes with road tyres, one on a Scandal 29er with marathon supremes. No problem. I’ve done long on/off road rides on my Scandal 29er with Marathon duremes on, no problem (but slower on the road). It all depends how much compromise you’re prepared to accept.

I’d suggest that what you really need is, not a cx bike but a gravel bike like the London Road. 🙂

I’ve just built a set of Hope Pro 2’s (Disc) onto a set of road rims (Mavic) CXP 22’s and fitted em with bargain Giant folding tyres (PS-L2’s IIRC at 265g ea) from rutland cycling. I then just swap them onto my Titus Fireline from time to time. (Look very skinny compared to the Carbon 35mm wide rims normally on there!)

Once or twice in the last month I’ve done the 17 mile commute to work on them and averaged around 17mph over fairly flatish roads (actually managed 17.7mph today!). By comparison a few mates average around 19-20mph on a nice carbon road bike on the same route. They’re a little more seasoned to the route tho so I hope to get a little quicker.

I did London – Paris on my 29er last year. Its certainly no road bike, much more like a tourer. must say I found the hiller bits easier in 22/36 than the guys on road bikes though……

I’m literally just now building up a small commuter 29er for Mrs_H, based on a Pinnacle Lithium frame (£85 over at Evans!).

The frame itself comes in at 1,800g – really not very much at all. Was very chuffed to get something that resembles a much more expensive frame in terms of build quality and weight for the price.