Bit of advice please- 2nd bike, 29 or 26″?

I’m thinking of getting myself a second bike, and would appriciate some advice. First off, heres a picture of my current bike, it’s a 2005 Orange Patriot, and been built ontop of my previous bike from pre-loved bits bought mainly from here over the last couple of years, so some of you may recognise parts from it! So a big thanks goes out to everybody who’s sold me bits and offered me advice over the past 2 years 🙂 I’m very pleased with it, and theres nothing on it I want to change (with the exception of a longer stem- I tend to lift the front of the bike now I have longer forks.

It’s given me loads of confidence I’ve never had before when riding (I’ve came from a small, stiff aluminium DJ frame), I now ride much more than I used to, and have much more fun when I’m doing it! I have every confidence in the bike to make-up my short comings in skill, and it’s not let me down yet (I ride into/ through things and come out the other side- no skill but fun!)!

However, I started building it when I was a little more burly than I am now (and I have the bike in no small part to thank for that!), and built the bike up to compliment that… However, now I have lost weight and I am much fitter than I used to be, I’m riding more and looking at options for a second bike- the Patriot isn’t best-suited to road-riding or my commute to work!

I’m now after getting something to compliment the Patriot; something light and fairly racey, geared, and probably rigid. Based on this I’ve been looking at an on-one Scandal and similar offerings, paired with a carbon fork (although I’m not against steel if that people would recommend one instead), I’ll probably be looking to buy a complete bike with most of the bits I want second hand, and then swapping and changing bits as and when I can afford them, to get the bike I want.

At the moment my biggest dilema is whether to go 26 or 29. I’ve already got a brand new set of 26″ wheels, aswell as an assortment of tyres and tubes to go on, so I’d not really considered 29″, but a colleague at work suggested I look into it more. I can see its benefits, especially on a fully rigid set-up.

As mentioned before, the bike will mainly be used for my commute into town (7 miles, down country roads and accross greenham common), on hardpack and graveled trails, and the occasional rooty bit between. It won’t really be ridden in anger or over anything too technical- I’ve got the Patriot for that. I’m also occasionally doing road riding, and I’m looking into doing a charity London -> Paris ride next summer. I’m just really looking to get peoples opinions on which bike to get, do I stick with 26, or do I make the jump to 29? I’m just over 6′, and weigh nearly 11st, so was looking at the 18″ on-ones.

A colleage at work has a 29er in his collection of bikes, I was thinking of asking to borrow it for a weekend to see how I get on, but I believe that its single speed and the jump from geared to SS is probably bigger than the 2″ difference in wheel size, so it may possibly not be all that helpful.

It’s probably also worth mentioning that I don’t want to spend too much, I don’t really have a figure in my head, but I almost certainly won’t be buying many bits new, I’d rather get a complete bike second hand (so I can ride it), and then replace bits over time.

I’ve got to sell a few bike bits to get the money together, which I’ll do once I’ve finished my exams for the year, once they’re sold I’ll start looking.

Thanks for your help and suggestions!

Danny

If you’re doing the London->Paris, I’d really suggest a road bike – you can always buy a 2nd hand one and then sell it afterwards. Or you could get a cross bike and by the sounds of it, it would be spot on for the riding you’re talking about (both on and off road)

If you really can’t then the 29er will be better for what you’re talking about (simply because they inherently roll better) and it will let you fit proper road racing tyres which roll noticeably better than mtb slicks. For mtbing, I still prefer 26″ wheels – a bit slower on the easy stuff/faster rocky stuff but more fun/manoeverable on the twisty stuff that’s what gets me excited than a 29er.

Thanks Clubber, at the moment the London->Paris ride is just something we’re considering, I’d be doing it with a friend, if we do it or not really depends how uni and other things go over the next year- I’d hopefully be in a position to get a road bike if we do decide to do it.

I was previously considering getting a Boardman Hybrid on the Cycle2Work scheme, especially after riding my uncles a few weeks ago. However I dismissed it as an option; some of the trails I need to go across to get to work each day can sometimes be quite rutted- I think it may be a bit much for a hybrid or a cross, and I don’t really want to limit myself to just riding over the really smooth bits, as the bike will end up getting less use.

I thik that maybe debating 26 vs. 29 on a mtb is something that actually needs to be tried out and ridden, in which case its probably easier to stick with 26″, because of the plethora of parts available, and I already know what to expect!

i went through a similar thought process a couple of years back after i bought a cross bike (theres another choice for you!!) and started riding tracks and trails much further away than i would normally ride on my full suss just because it was easier to do miles on the cross bike. i then decided an mtb set up for mileage would be a good call to give me even more flexibility, and bought a scandal 29.

the scandal is, imho, a lovely frame but i personally could never get on with the 29er thing. it was ok, but i did’nt seem to get that freerolling effect that is often mentioned and rather than making bumps smoother the big wheel seemed more cumbersome on the techy stuff.

on a whim i then bought a yeti arc, partly because i wanted a winter bike and partly to see how a 26″ hardtail also with 100mm front suss would ride – its a lovely thing, fast, responsive, eats miles and fun to ride. so for me the 29er wheel size was the factor and i would’nt go back there.

Whatever you choose, try to get a bike without a small plastic container attached to the front wheel.

You’ll experience much less rolling resistance IMHO

right some 29er ramblings:

at some point i had only one mtb, a ss 26er (inbred), i then added a meta 5.5, which was really good fun, but a bit slow and draggy i tended to take the inbred on group rides and such as i couldn’t keep up on the ‘bigger bike’. my inbred was my go to bike, performed really well at covering distance have done the SDW a couple of times etc etc but also brilliant fun on the tech stuff, mabie, drumlanrig, exmoor local woods etc etc.

skip forward 12 months and i’ve ditched the inbred for a scandal 29er, this is a better bike for covering distance, has faster rolling tyres, lighter wheels and a lighter frame. it’s not quite as good in the tech stuff as the inbred, but i reckon a LOT of this is the tyres. but what it has done is make me appreciate the meta a LOT more as the bikes are more seperate. i’ve ridden the meta loads more this year as a result, it’s now the bike to take to play up in the woods rather than the scandal as it is a bit more ‘flickable and fun’. to the point where i’m taking the meta on a club weekend away this weekend and not too concerned that i might be slow.

anyway my point is that i like my 29er and sometimes it’s good to have bikes that are not to similar.

I hope my ramble is of some use!! 🙂

EDIT: I love the scandal – ^this just doesn’t make it sound that good!

Thanks for the advice everyone, has certainly given me a lot to think about, but I’m more confused than ever now… I’ve decided that a rigid mtb, rather than a cross or hybrid is the way to go, it’s going to be more versatile for the majority of my riding.

I think I’ll just keep an eye out for bikes for sale, and go for whichever one takes my fancy first!