Just how bad are 29ers for mucking about?

Looking to pick up a bike soon, not got anything specific in mind and am fairly flexible on travel and wheel size, just as long as the geometry is on the fun side of things. Last time I was looking 29ers will still very much a wheels on the ground thing, though there seem to be a fair few mid travel, ‘aggro’ options out there now. are they a decent alternative or is 26/27.5 still where I should be looking?

loads of aggro 29ers around these days, 2 souls, canfield, evil, transition etc…
or stooge for something a bit different aggro rigid 29er/650b+ yobbo BMX thingy

A lot more beefy/aggro/gnarcoremince bikes around these days.

It does seem more about attitude than the bike:

My 29er (bizango) was a bit of a ripper, but not much ‘fun’ though, set a load of strava PBs on it and haven’t been able to match them on the Bossnut.

If you want a specific riding style I’d be test riding more 29ers to make sure I got it right, I’d be fairly happy that a 650b bike would be fun based on the numbers alone.

Jones Diamond with Truss is the most fun I’ve had in the singletrack.
Got a Plus just built in the shed for additional agro fun. Need time and some nice dry weather …………..

TBH there’s some stuff they kind of suck at relative to a smaller wheel- basically real jumping (not just lumping over tabletops- dirt jumping, tricks and that- the sort of jumping hardly anyone does), generally not as good at pump tracks… They can do it but they’re less good. But for normal everyday trail riding it’s not really an issue imo, only one out of a load of factors. Days of them being ponderous are mostly past.

And for aggro they are superb really.

From my experience with 29er (Santa Cruz Highball) I’d say that the wheel size isn’t best suited to aggro. And that’s me on an XL, so the wheel size is probably less of a factor. I just found the steering response to be less nippy. So I went down a wheel size to 27.5er (Santa Cruz 5010). Still less nippy than my old 26er (Commencal Meta 5.5) – I’m not sold on the benefits of anything bigger than 26″ to be honest. It didn’t need changing.

Caveat: I’m not an aggro rider. Put anyone with some skills on a penny farthing and they’d beat me downhill.

my Jones plus is awesome at dropping kurbs………. 😀

I’ve just built up a nukeproof scout 290, it great on everything except for tight twisty stuff where it does feel like a bit of a barge.

Was out with a customer last weekend, him on his Evil Insurgent, me on my Evil Wreckoning. Both very similar bikes, both very similar setups (same height and weight give or take an inch and 1-2kg) inc same Lyrik fork, carbon wheels etc. Not scientific but the differences, wheelsize aside, were small.

We swapped bikes for a while, and good though the Insurgent is, I can tell you there was no part of my time on the bike where I preferred being on the smaller wheels. Did I notice the smaller wheels were faster to accelerate out of a corner? Very slightly. Did I notice the smaller wheels were more nimble and changed direction more easily? Yes, but at no point did I find that a benefit. What I did notice that the smaller wheels hung up more on roots and rocks, stalling my speed a little, and that they were inherently less stable at speed. Also the smaller wheels made it feel like I was more perched on the bike, rather than sitting in it (if that makes sense?) owing presumably to similar BB heights but more axle to BB drop on the 29er. The smaller wheels didn’t immediately inspire as much confidence for me either. Small things, but for me it highlighted why I prefer 29ers.

Wheel size is however, just one factor in a bikes design, it doesn’t define it. It’s still a hot topic though, and dare I say it if you’re a more wheels on the ground kind of rider like myself, you’ll probably get on well with 29ers, where those that grew up with BMXes and dirt jump bikes will probably prefer smaller wheels. I know guys that cried over the demise of 24″ wheeled “proper” (as in not kids bikes, or dedicated dirt jump bikes) MTB’s many moons ago, whinging at the time about having to go up to the “gay” 26 inch wheels. How times change!

There’s times when 29er wheels don’t make sense, if you’re particularly short then the wheel size can dominate the bike and be detrimental to the ride possibly, and for those that value air time and styling it up more than stability, a smaller wheel is always going to be more manoeuvrable than a big one. but for many of us, much of the time, the pros of bigger wheels outweigh the cons.

That there is now a choice of many fun/aggro 29ers to go alongside the established smaller wheeled options is only a good thing IMO.

I know guys that cried over the demise of 24″ wheeled “proper” (as in not kids bikes, or dedicated dirt jump bikes) MTB’s many moons ago

When was that then? I remember the original cannondale beat of the east with a 24″ rear wheel, and the specialized Big hit with a 24″ rear wheel and the fleeting fashion for 24″ wheels with gazzaloddis for DH at the end of the nineties but apart from that I don’t remember any proper 24″ MTBs?

I’ve had 2 29ers, currently got a Solaris, it’s a good bike, but for me 29ers (or at least the type I’ve ridden) are best at covering ground efficiently, and are not as playful as smaller wheeled bikes.

It’s more about the rider (mostly) than the bike (mostly)…

I went from a meta 5 (26er) to a chromag rootdown 29er HT – both are ‘aggro/hardcore’ styled, rather than XR racing geo. You can fly/hop/jump/gnar off anything on the big wheels that you could on the 26er…
In fact, I’d say, despite being a HT, the 29er wheels make it faster and more fun.

That being said, I like to whip and x-up (remember them) my race 29er scandal single speed..!!

DrP

Is my new 529 classed as an aggro 29er ?? It feels slack as **** on the front !! 66.5 deg headangle

Mboy did you get my email about wheel builds bud?

Stevet1 – Member

apart from that I don’t remember any proper 24″ MTBs?

I think my Raleigh Marauder was 24 inch, they don’t come any more proper than that. It had SIS! Only on the back though, let’s not go crazy

apart from that I don’t remember any proper 24″ MTBs?

😆

Fair point… Depends on your point of view I suppose. I certainly wasn’t into 24’s, but knew a few that were.

Renton will just check my emails now…

Looking at it a different way, what are the main advantages of 29in?

Carrying speed and eating up lumpy stuff IMO.

Do you want a “fun” bike that also does those things?

You can get 29ers that still feel more playful than many smaller-wheeled bikes – but there are still probably more “fun” 27in bikes overall (if that makes sense?).

Stooge is like a big BMX. Running 650b+, but they measure up taller than the 29ers. If rigid doesn’t take your fancy, the Stooge Mk3 will have a 44mm Headtube for sus forks. Lots of other 29er HTs on the market that are playful; Canfield EPO or YS, Division Zealous, etc.

Here’s one in action without brakes and on SPDs. In the wild it is very good. Wheel size certainly doesn’t hold it back. I’ve been to skate parks, pump tracks and more on it mid ride. Great fun.

The 29er FS market has plenty of playful choices too. I had a T129 SCR Works that was fantastic. I did find it more difficult to ride in tight switchback and it wasn’t as fun to jump as my T130.

Fun and fast are two different things in my opinion. My Remedy (29er) was crazy fast over pretty much everything, which is either fun or terrifying depending on your standpoint. My 26er Orange 5 and all other 26ers before that were far better at jumping (like, proper dirt jumps) than the 29ers I’ve had since then. No bad thing as I only break myself on dirt jumps…

Additionally, I prefer 29ers for covering distance – they just seem to roll better.

All IMO of course, but if I wanted a razzing around the woods bike, I’d go smaller. Longer distance or fast nasty downhills – 29er. I can still do whips far better on a 26inch than I can on the 29ers, although that probably says more about me than the bike..

transition smuggler is definately flickable & fun.

something which the scout also gets accolades for, never ridden one of those though.

I’ve had “a few” bikes and quite a number of 29ers. I still reach for the Karate Monkey first, it’s just such a laugh….

I’ve got a Smuggler in XL, it’s by far the most fun bike I’ve had. No issues that are not pilot related getting it in the air or around corners!! 😳 😆

Should’ve said I’m definitely looking at a double boinger. thanks for the responses, won’t be crossing any 29ers of the list just yet then…

Geometry and your skill make more difference than wheel size IMO.

i have codeine 29er for sale in classifieds, frame or full bike.
it gets a pretty good write up and its a great bike for mucking about

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/on-one-codeine-video-2014.html

I’ve ridden plenty of fun 29″ bikes. It’s not the wheelsize that makes the difference IMO, it’s the sum of all the parts & numbers 🙂

I’m sure if I spent time hitting dirt jumps or ‘jibbing’ (anyone who describes their riding as that, need a swift kick in a nuts) then maybe they wouldn’t be the ideal size. But I don’t.

Playfulness is all to do with geometry and nothing to do with wheelsize.

When I’m jibbing with my crew and making sick edits I prefer my 26″ yeti DJ to my 29″ transition smuggler.

There is a difference if you are into wheelies an ting, but less so for trail riding.

If you’re into wheelies you can wheelie anything within reason. The wheelsize ain’t the only difference between those two bikes.

I am a huge 29er convert but think that smaller wheels are more suited to ‘fun’. My 29er is better than the 26/27.5 equivalent in 95% of situations imo but that 5% would be mainly off the ground.

I’ve got a few 29res – they’re all different. The wheelsize doesn’t define them.

Playfulness is all to do with geometry and nothing to do with wheelsize.

This ^^^. I went from a 29er stumpjumper with rather more XC style geometry, i think around 67.5 on the HA and it didnt feel too inspiring to jump around but my friends whyte t130 felt like a BMX almost, but mine did go much faster over the same terrain or rocks, roots and ruts, so much so that he would notice i was rolling away and he was pedalling!

Ive now switched to the 29er Enduro, it has a HA of 66.0 which is less than the 66.1 in the whyte t130, this bike feels like my friends whyte, playful, hoppy, chuckable and then rolls like a beast!

I will say that rider height might play here too, ,I’m 186cm on a large and its great!

sillyoldman – Member

Playfulness is all to do with geometry and nothing to do with wheelsize.

Also suspension design and tune

My smuggler was playful, do all sort of “jibbing”, manuals for days and gaps on it. The lack of travel made it easy to throw around, the wheels meant it didn’t give up anything in the rough. Most fun I had on it was flyup 417, was obnoxious what I could get away with in the rocks, made the jumps flowy rather than hard work. I’d still have mine but……..

Just could not get the wheels feeling right. Hade burly enduro wheels, felt heavy, had light, stiff carbon wheels, they’d feel harsh and resonate horribly on hucks to flat, tried some lighter alu rims, rode nice, cracked and buckled them. Couldn’t get the right combo of weight, compliance and strength.

I find I have to go to ridiculous speeds to get them leaping off things, otherwise it’s just glued to the ground. My old Commencal Meta 26″ I used to find fun at walking speed.

I ride XL/XXL bikes though and find 29ers much better proportioned, tragically I’ll probably stick them them.

Toasty – Member

I find I have to go to ridiculous speeds to get them leaping off things, otherwise it’s just glued to the ground. My old Commencal Meta 26″ I used to find fun at walking speed.

That’s got to be suspension though. 29er wheels don’t really change how a bike takes off much, other’n weight. A bit of difference with using roots or similar as a lip to take off but not really that much.

(I was surprised by all this, I changed shocks in my Hemlock once and it went from a wheels-on-ground traction finder, to a bouncy jumpy fun bike. I knew it could make a difference but I had no clue it was so much. I went back to the “sticks like spunk in the bath, jumps like an elephant” setup but it was a pretty interesting thing to mess with)

Another Smuggler owner here 🙂 It’s an amazing bike. Far better than I am as a rider. In fact I keep thinking I should sell it to somebody who would use it “properly” but the idea of getting rid of the “best” bike I’ve ever owned seems daft. This comment resonates with me though:

My Remedy (29er) was crazy fast over pretty much everything, which is either fun or terrifying depending on your standpoint.

The Smuggler is certainly crazy fast. Some of my Strava times on fast rocky descents are bordering on the respectable, but I think I mostly find that terrifying (even if I enjoy it at the time).

There is no doubt that larger diameter wheels soak up bumps better, which is great for mile munching. But for the sort of explore/bimble that I enjoy (where trails are fickle companions) 26×5 works better than 29×2.5. The Smuggler is fine for messing about in the woods, but for some reason (which I don’t fully understand) I still find myself reaching for my old 26″ Five for those rides.

My UInit isnt too bad with the dropouts slid as far forward as possible, but its not the best jumper ~I want a Honzo tho

Mate’s base level Jeffsy 29er is an absolute hoot. It’s fast and fun. He seemed faster on it and just as agile in the air as he was on his old Remedy. And I’m not talking tiny little rollers – good sized doubles, hips, kickers, and drops. On all sorts of terrain.

I rode his bike shortly after riding my patrol and it seemed, if anything, more flickable. I got a bit jealous.

That’s got to be suspension though. 29er wheels don’t really change how a bike takes off much, other’n weight. A bit of difference with using roots or similar as a lip to take off but not really that much.

I’m told that because 29ers have the dropouts positioned higher relative to the BB than 26er (or 27.5ers), they’re harder to manual. My own experience with my Stumpy 29er appears to bear this out, it can also sometimes feel ponderous but it’s significantly faster than my 27.5 bike around my local loop, but doesn’t necessarily feel it.

Point it downhill though and it’s an absolute hoot. My Stumpy is incredibly good on descents, it embarrasses other bikes I’ve ridden with more travel and apparent gnar factor.