Mullet or 29

I mulleted both of my bikes , the pivot firebird and my whyte e160 rsx . Last week I put the 29 wheels the ebike came with on and it’s noticeable how much quicker it is to ride . Now I’m wondering about going back to full 29 on the pivot. Both are way faster than 27.5 front and rear.  Has anyone else tried mixed wheel? 

Plenty of Mullets tried here.. but in truth i don’t think i’m good enough a rider to offer much.

My lad regularly swaps between mullet and 29 on the DH/Privateer, but doesn’t complain either way. However he does seem more cofident on the mullet bike.

I’ve thought at times it would be a good idea to try it on my Slayer, but the problem with that is the lower BB which is already not that high.

edit.
On this note, i’m tempted to try one of the spare DH wheels with it for a tester… Although with only a 7 speed cassette it’s likely to be a bit wonky in terms of gears/selection, but should work enough to get a gear to test it.

Both my Bronson and my Dissent are mullets, I also have other bikes full 29 or full 27.5 but I find the mullet the most fun.

unscientific comparison here

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-miranda-miller-tests-mullet-vs-29er-against-the-clock.html

My Bird Aeris 9 takes mullet or full 29, with shorter rear end for mullet as well.

Agree it’s surprising how much quicker (and more planted) full 29 is, but mullet is a bit more fun and I do appreciate that extra bit of bum clearance on steep trails.

Takes about 5 mins to swap, so I’m riding both as I feel the need.

I tried it on my full 29 HT and really liked it. It just seemed a bit more fun on our local trails. I’m tempted to go mullet or fill 275 on the next bike as all out straight line speed isn’t what I’m looking for anymore

Quicker or more fun. I prefer more fun.
I buzz my butt enough on my 180mm travel bike with a mullet on drop offs. It would just buzz harder with a full 29. No thanks.

More fun too for me

My bike (stumpy evo alloy) feels loads faster in a straight line on rough stuff on 29, but I only have a 30″ inseam so can easily buzz my bum when manualling or getting over the back, therefore I’m more confident on mullet, and therefore probably faster.

For some rides I leave my bike in the mullet setting but put the geo in the lowest slackest position and just throw the 29 wheel back on, this lifts the BB 6mm which is great for some of the pedally moorland rocky trails around the peaks.

Is it phycological because you are changing the cut-off speed of your ebike? I run 29″ wheels with XC tyres in my normally 27.5+ ebike for longer cross country rides and it noticeably increases the top speed on easy bits, but I’ve never measured the difference on fun trails where the big plus tyres are much more confidence inspiring.

I’ve recently changed from full 29er to mullet on my GeoMetron. No real reason other than curiosity but also to see how the bike feels with a lower BB (it was sky high with full 29er). Took the advice from GeoMetron themselves and set it up like they recommend, and if it’s good enough for Mr Porter it’s good enough for me.

So far, it feels better to me but I don’t know if that’s due to the lower BB – I reduced fork travel from 170 to 160 at the same time – or smaller rear wheel.

“For some rides I leave my bike in the mullet setting but put the geo in the lowest slackest position and just throw the 29 wheel back on, this lifts the BB 6mm which is great for some of the pedally moorland rocky trails around the peaks.”

~12mm not 6mm. 29 is 38mm bigger than 27.5 so rear axle is 19mm higher. Chainstay is about 1/3 of the wheelbase so BB is raised by about 2/3 of the rear axle lift (and angles are steepened by about a degree.

https://www.bike-stats.de/en/login

^^^ that’s a great tool for measuring the effect changes to your bike make to overall geometry.

Stumpy Evo has geo adjustments which I mentioned, that takes up the difference, I measured before and after so 🤷‍♂️

I run both my Privateer 161 and kenevo mullet. 161 should be full 29, kenevo should be full 27.5. I have no doubt full 29 would be faster on chunkier stuff, not so sure in tight twisty steep tech. Either way I find mullet to be way more fun to ride than full 29. And then on the kenevo running a 29 fork and wheel just gives it that bit more rollover and grip whilst maintaining the nimbleness in the turns with the 27.5 rear.

Just experimenting with mullet after full 29. Love that it gets up to speed on tstop / start type riding.  At full pelt straight line or continued effort it’s worse but for all round I think I’m sold

I’ve been playing around with running my G1 both mullet and full 29. No surprising conclusions. The full 29 rolls faster and looses less speed through the rough stuff. Mullet turns in a bit quicker and changing direction is slightly easier. Manuals are easier on the mullet. Jumping was a bit of surprise as there is less difference between the two than I was expecting. Technical climbing is better with the large rear wheel.

I did a demo weekend earlier in the year and rode lots of different bikes, a mix of mullets and 29ers. By the end of the end of it I was convinced I was preferring the mullet bikes. With my bike though where I can switch there are definitely rides where I know the full 29 is the better choice.

Bike park speed was outside of my ability to control with 29/29 and had to brake hard into every corner
Mulleted the bike and it was more manageable. More fun maybe as a result
Same bike for pedalling trail and back to 29/29

Video 14/06/23 MBR’s take on Mullet versus 29er with two almost identical bikes

I really like it but I think it’s mostly because I’m mostly riding an older bike and it’s a bit tall on 29, mullet works fantastic on bikes like that, drop the BB and slack it off. TBH unless the bike has adjustable geometry and a lot of it, can it really even be good at both? It’s such a big difference in BB height alone. I’ve never had a bike that has enough adjustability in it to deal with that.

In terms of the actual wheel size not the geo, tbh I just don’t care, I thought I might as I’m a big 29er fan but it’s not made much difference to me other than that it’s not as convenient for tyre swappers. Front wheel makes a big difference to me, back not so much. Maybe if I did back to back runs I’d have more of an opinion but they both just work, I don’t feel faster or slower or grippier or more rolly-over on either.

(though if I ever do the Mega again that could make a huge difference for cowardly glacier rear-wheel sitting, 29er was a bit ball-trimmy)

then on the kenevo running a 29 fork and wheel just gives it that bit more rollover and grip whilst maintaining the nimbleness in the turns with the 27.5 rear.

I’m going to be doing that to my Gen 1 Kenevo when I have some cash

Downtime Podcast did a 27.5 x Mullet x 29 comparison using 3 different riders about a year ago on the Canyon Spectral, it’s worth a listen.

For some people quicker = more fun! I never understood the separation between speed and fun. If it was a definite one or the other then we’d all be mincing around the trails at granny pace (more so than usual that is!).

I didn’t like mullet when I had it set up, I felt that the benefit of 29 front was kind of erased since you just get hung up with the back wheel anyway. Also for me personally, easier cornering/manoeuvrability is a skill issue first and foremost, not a bike setup one. I don’t find myself benefitting from the smaller rear wheel because there’s way more room for me to improve in my own abilities before I need to find the marginal gains with mullet, if there actually are any.

I built my HB916 as full 29″ originally and it was my first 29″ bike.  Surprised how well it turned in twisty stuff, even with a 63deg head angle.  Tried it in it’s mullet form by flipping the seat stay chip and converting a non-boost 27.5″ wheel and I liked it, so built up a new 27.5″ boost wheel.

I don’t buzz my arse, any more, but the main thing was I was consistently having to be 2 or 3 gears lower on climbs.  It was definitely the 29″ wheel causing that, as both the 29″ and 27.5″ wheels were identical apart from diameter – Pro4 hub, DT XM481 rim, DT double-butted spokes, and a 2.4″ Big Betty.

The easier gearing is definitely a bonus.

And you can put more torque down. I prefer it for steeper climbs.

So the consensus is that everyone likes different things, some prefer the all out speed and ability to truck through everything while others like the increased clearance, geo changes and feel it’s more nimble.

Hang on, that’s not a consensus

:D

“MBR’s take on Mullet versus 29er with two almost identical bikes””

This is very good. It’s a shame they didn’t have the same shocks on both because I’m guessing the air pedals a bit better than the coil. However, for the full 29 to be faster uphill for less effort than the mullet, despite the former wearing v draggy Assegai at both ends, whilst the latter is on DHF/DHR2, I think that says a lot!

I haven’t tried a mullet bike myself but I’ve noticed I always seem to prefer extra stability and am happy to use a lot of extra force to make a big bike move about (eg v tight twisty singletrack on a heavy 29” ebike) – but that’s probably because my skill level is lower than my physical strength. More talented riders may prefer a more responsive bike!

I find mullet is better, more confidence inspiring and faster on super steep tracks. 29er is faster everywhere else up or down. Because I like the steeps I’m lucky enough to have both but the 29er is adequate for everything really.

It’s interesting that basically all the EDR racers are on full 29er despite some being on mullet last year, even shorter riders like Jesse Melamed, Katy Winton and Isabeau C.

I can hardly tell the difference between a full 29er and a full 27.5er so I’ve not much to add here other than I think some people are using a good degree of imagination if they think there’s a huge difference.

TBH I think the overall ride of the bike just dominates that so much that it’s really hard to tell what’s coming from the rear or not. And you can’t just do “2 bikes the same except from” because that could suit one wheel size or another, that’s just the same pit that old 26er vs 29er tests used to always fall into, the more 26er-ish a 29er is the worse it rides.

“I can hardly tell the difference between a full 29er and a full 27.5er”

Consider yourself lucky! I notice the most annoyingly tiny differences. If I was fast I’d be a good development rider!

There’s something else they mention in the text of that MBR Intense 29 vs 279 comparison, which I’d noticed myself and isn’t really related to mullets or not. The 29 version has longer chainstays than the mullet but the rest of the geometry is near identical.

They noticed that the longer chainstays changes your standing body position so your hips end up a bit further rearward and thus the reach feels longer.

This is exactly what I’ve noticed with my two bikes, whxhh have the same wheelbase but one has 20mm longer chainstays and the other 20mm more reach. As soon as I’m pointing them down a hill they feel pretty much identical in size even though most would say that they’re a whole size different according to their reach measurements.

I’ve mulleted a couple of bikes. I prefer the strength of a 27. 5″ in the rear with a 2.5″ tyre for comfort, and bung a 29″*2.3″ in the front. I prefer high Stack and short Reach bikes too, so having the bars come up and towards me is a bonus. My Trail full-suss also has a longer fork to, I’m combination, reduce the nasty pedal strikes that remind me of a few Giant full-suss bikes I owmed/rode way back.