Cheapest, lightest 29er race bike…

Find some ztr mmx rims?

This has got “just ride the ti bike and ask Njee which stem/bars/qrs I need” all over it….

😆 I’d agree with mrblobby.

On wheels – my Podium/A2Z wheels were 1246g, and I never had any problems!

If you could get close to 29er performance from upgrading high quality 26er HT frames why aren’t the unsponsored but quick XC riders snapping up the bargain 26er stuff and using it?

njee has just gone from full sus 26er to hardtail 29er – are you faster njee?

Fwiw Nick Craig came to Hit the North with a 26in wheeled bike and gave us all a good shoeing 🙂

Fwiw Nick Craig came to Hit the North with a 26in wheeled bike and gave us all a good shoeing

Mike Tyson could wear a tutu and still kick the **** out of me.

Kryton, you sound as jumbled as me in your bike choices.

Think you need to up your budget . £1000 does not really get you a lightweight carbon 29er with raceable spec . You are in danger of buying a 29er that will be no faster than what you are already riding because it will have heavy finishing kit and fairly low end componentry on it . £1500 gets you a very light aluminium Trek Superfly 8 which is lighter than some of Treks carbon framed hardtails . Specialized have money off the Crave range . The pro down from 1600 to 1400 or the Elite from 1400 to 1250 . You can probably get more for your money buying 2013 bikes if anybody still has them or by buying less mainstream models but remember not all Carbon is the same and you can be better off sometimes with an alloy frame rather than a carbon from some of the smaller brands . At the end of the day though you have started lots of these type of threads over the years and usually completely changed tack half way through and gone off and bought a completely different bike from the one you said you were after .Also are you sure it’s not just a knee jerk reaction to having a worse result than you were expecting .

Teamhurtmore yes and I refer you to Neil’s post below. Neil you are probably right although I don’t know last nights result yet to be fair.

So it turns our my fast light 29er is actually my ti 26er which could be 1/4lb lighter for £159.

To answer Neil’s question and probably my own – the asr5 which I intend to run at he Bonty 24/12 is 26lb so not heavy for what it is and I am no where near a place where 1/4lb of weight will make a difference to my placing. So, I should stick to plan a, which is to stick with the Ti HT for short races or suitable events (I used it at HONC), and use the yeti for comfort / enduro style events / the play bike whilst waiting to see if I continue racing – in which case the Yeti will get replaced in a couple of years by a shorter travel/more race orientated bike such as todays Anthem. Proper racing both on and off road was always a “tester” this year for me.

I’m just impatient. 🙂

where did you race last night?

njee has just gone from full sus 26er to hardtail 29er – are you faster njee?

I’m not slower… Hard to say, I think I’m faster, plenty of Strava PRs. race results are still shit, but I’m not fit! I guess summer will tell more definitively. Faster trails and that! I prefer the feel of the 29er.

dirtyrider – Member
where did you race last night?

Beastway.

I’m not slower… Hard to say

Know what you mean. So much of this sort of thing is psychological though that if you think you’re on a slower bike you’re already at a disadvantage.

Anyway Kryton have you considered CX racing? 😉

Mmm, and trails change too, so I’m not quicker down some, but I don’t think that’s indicative of the bike.

I’ve been surprised a few times that I’ve set PRs in places I’d not expect to on the 29er, but then others (Labyrinth at Swinley notably) I was way way way down on my time on the Top Fuel. Don’t ride it often though.

I was amazed that I knocked 8 minutes off my 1hr 12 off road commute with new 29er. Previously very fit on a rigid Tranny that weighed nothing. Now on a heavier 29er and I’ve hardly ridden in the past 12 months, got a bit of a belly. Go figure.

I’ve certainly not seen that sort of change. My 29er is slightly lighter too.

That strikes me as shiny bike effect – 10% quicker.

I was amazed that I knocked 8 minutes off my 1hr 12 off road commute with new 29er. Previously very fit on a rigid Tranny that weighed nothing. Now on a heavier 29er and I’ve hardly ridden in the past 12 months, got a bit of a belly. Go figure.

Gravity?

Anyway Kryton have you considered CX racing?

Actually I have, but I decided that was for indecisive people. Oh wait…

best like on like comparison i can make between my 26″ Blur LTc and my 29″ TallboyC is (only difference was frame, forks and wheels, groupset and finishing kit was the same) – both were 140mm forks, no traffic on either,

2/9/12 – Dalby – 2:24:17 < —– Blur LTc 26er – RaRa F+R
21/9/12 – Dalby – 2:17:23 <—– TallboyC 29er – Hans Front, RaRa Rear

both are moving time, was bone dry both times,

not ridden a 26″ since September 2012

add a bit of fitness, weight is static at about 85kg geared up

22/11/13 – Dalby – 2:11:34 – On a Surly Krampus (Knards, Rigid, XX1 with a 28t Ring)- was hammering it down from 40 minutes in, maybe earlier

both the below were without Camelbak, 1x 700ml bottle on the bike, with Thunder Burts F+R and it was wet.very wet in sections

27/4/14 – Dalby – 1:47:04 – TallboyC (just the reds markers, its 0.3km less than the times above) –
27/4/14 – Dalby – 2:04:16 – 15 Minutes after lap 1, with traffic and same markers as Year 12/13 times)

I think I was just fresh.

As they are both rigid bikes it is probably downy to kicking out a more constant pace/rhythm, maintaining momentum on the uneven, but fairly flat BW’s back from work.

Add significant hills and I am sure the balance is likely to change.

Doh!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-trek-superfly-al-elite-29er-hardtail-5

perfect 🙂

Did you mention if you wanted danglies on it or not, I can’t remember, if not you could easily SS a 29er and get it under 18lbs… Just like my Niner One9 😉

Thing I think is that if you’ve got a well specced 26″ hardtail, and buy a significantly cheaper 29er as a race bike I reckon you may be disappointed.

Isn’t Labyrinth the most 26″ FS suited section of the whole of Swinley?

adsh – Member
Isn’t Labyrinth the most 26″ FS suited section of the whole of Swinley?

I’m riding with him soon so with my current fitness peak and his alleged lack of fitness ill still lose maybe we should have a shootout 😀

Thing I think is that if you’ve got a well specced 26″ hardtail, and buy a significantly cheaper 29er as a race bike I reckon you may be disappointed.

unless he ports the heavy OEM stuff off the 29er onto the Ti and the Gucci stuff onto the 2er9

OR, lets go mad here,

he talks to his wife, explains it all, and hangs the Ti frame in the wall, uses the £1k to buy a frame (Trek Superfly) and the sale of the forks/wheels to replace like for like, may have to ass £200 here

thats CRAZY talk though 🙂

Thing I think is that if you’ve got a well specced 26″ hardtail, and buy a significantly cheaper 29er as a race bike I reckon you may be disappointed.

I agree with everything Nick has said 😀

A 26lb 29er hardtail isn’t really light and the spec and feel of a race bike for £1000 will leave you underwhelmed. The cheap(er) bike to compensate for perceived loss of speed compared to the bling 26 Ti bike can only really end in disappointment.

I’ve been feeling similar… I’m sucking in races and ride a 26 … therefore the only reason I suck is because of the wheel size. Actually, no, I just suck compared to the other guys 😀 I think it is much better to invest the time, energy and potentially money in actually riding the damn bike and trying to improve myself rather than the bike 😉

If you are having new bike syndrome and/ or are convinced that a 29er is all you need to start competing then surely the most sensible use of the same money is to upgrade the frame/ forks/ wheels/ tyres of the Ti bike. Still probably going to have to be the Light-Bicycle/ Chinese frame type route so losing a bit of bling but it all depends on what is important to you…

It’ll still be heavier than your Ti bike, though, and therefore maybe slower…

Depends on the rider, eh… 😉

DrP

Isn’t Labyrinth the most 26″ FS suited section of the whole of Swinley?

Probably, and I rode it in July in the bone dry on my Top Fuel, and in the pissing rain on my Superfly, but I was just shocked as I thought “yeah that was quick” on the 29er and I was way off my previous pace.

Actually, just checked, 4:49 on the Top Fuel, 5:18 on the Superfly, so not as much as I’d thought.

I’m riding with him soon so with my current fitness peak and his alleged lack of fitness ill still lose maybe we should have a shootout

Not doing Swinley though are we?

Not doing Swinley though are we?

No it was a tongue In cheek comment.

DanW I’ve made a significant ( in the time available between work and kids) in traiing for road / road crits which has result in 1st weight loss and large FTP gains.

I just have n+1

Could’ve been interesting to race down it though! I’ve got a big local knowledge advantage in the Surrey Hills.

What happens if you supersede the ti hardtail? Is it just a fear that you’ll make it obsolete and piss your wife off?

Yes basically. Although I do like riding it.

But I do crave FS comfort. If I carry on racing I’ll be looking at short travel FS most likely although that said I’ve never ridden a 29er ht and people tell me that they can be less stiff vertically than 26ers.

see, ive got a 29er full sus, and i wonder how quicker id be on a HT,

Hmm. 23rd in class. Not helped by a balls up at the start on my part.

*wonders if a 29er would have placed me top 20*

Mind you I had to ride with a tube in the front tyre, so with the resulting [marketing spiel] lack of grip, and increased rolling resistance [/marketing spiel] it’s probably worth a couple of places next round now that the tyre has sealed.

Kryton57 – Member

Hmm. 44th in total 25th in class. Not helped by a balls up at the start on my part.

*wonders if a 29er would have placed me top 20*

Mind you I had to ride with a tube in the front tyre, so with the resulting [marketing spiel] lack of grip, and increased rolling resistance [/marketing spiel] it’s probably worth a couple of places next round now that the tyre has sealed.

MAybe, but it’s still not enough of an edge to move up any more than that. In simple terms, you’re not good enough. Come to terms with it or improve dramtically.

Spending money on a bike is completely pointless for the goals you have.

Agreed. Like I said though, for reasons known to me if would have easily been in that top 20 (debatable) if I hadn’t come through the first corner last.

The fact that I took 15 places – 2 DNF- back should be encouraging In fact the strava segment of the lap someone created shows my fastest lap time as 10th overall.

10th of people who uploaded the ride to Strava though?

Anyway, if you have n+1 fever the just go and buy something. Don’t look for daft justification.

I find that when I have a long time off the bike I wonder about buying all sorts of things to compensate… but when I’m on the bike I’m thinking about riding more and just loving the feeling of being out riding. The key to both dampening the n+1 fever and getting faster is to ride more 😀

Mike Tyson could wear a tutu and still kick the **** out of me.

I’d pay to see that…

Just for the record when I looked back at Endomondo my fastest time on a 26er was 1hr 4, 2 years ago (not 1:12 as I had thought). So on a 29er I have matched that time albeit with a drastically reduced level of fitness.

What size bike are you after? I’ll soon have a 19″ Stumpjumper carbon comp for sale, 2012 model. With 1×10 and crests/DT/XTR wheels, it comes in at 22 lbs.