So is Niño Schurter:

Third paragraph down.

I think Scott were the first big bike company to say they were dropping 26″ for most bikes.

Love how that piece has renamed their DH bike the “Rambler”. Do Troy Lee make red socks?

Buried in that Trek press release is the statement that 29ers “are the gold standard for stable, confident riding”.

I know we’ve done 26″ vs 29ers to death and they aren’t really saying anything new, but I thought this pretty much hit the nail on the head. A 29er does (in my experience) feel more stable and inspires a bit more confidence and a 26″ wheel is more playful. However and this is the key, the difference between 26″ and 29ers is still pretty subtle. I’ve been riding a 26″ bike and a 29er back to back for a few months now and still can’t decide which wheel size I prefer. The last thing I need is a third option in the middle?

If we had gone from 26″ to 650b and everybody had agreed that the slight increase in wheel diameter made for a better bike then I can see the logic in testing something even bigger (e.g. 29ers). But this 26″ then 29er then something in the middle doesn’t make much sense to me.

If we had gone from 26″ to 650b and everybody had agreed that the slight increase in wheel diameter made for a better bike…

Better at what? It’s engineering – all you can do is change the balance of compromises.

OK, fair point. There is no better when it comes to bikes. But if a large majority of riders had moved from 26″ to 650b because they thought the compromises worked better for them then I can see why you might want to try something even bigger. But instead we have 26″ and 29ers with a fairly even split of riders preferring each. That suggests to me that both have their advantages. What it doesn’t suggest is that the market needs a third option in the middle.

I have followed this thread with interest over the last couple of days. I have bikes with 26 & 29 inch wheels. I enjoy both. To me the move to 650b/27.5 is less a case of the bike companies thinking it is outright better from performance point of view as an acceptance that people will no longer accept a single wheel size as standard unless they can convince them otherwise. 29ers are very entrenched in the States hence the hedging of bets by Giant. 26 inch wheels are not likely to have resurgence there in the near future. They have been slower to take hold in Europe, so that’s why they think there is a window of opportunity to try and steer back to a single wheel size sufficiently to not take a huge hit in sales in either market. I thought it was telling that Giant spoke about feedback before deciding to drop 29ers.

Yes, what this says to me is that manufacturers (at least the larger ones) would very much like a single wheel size. Presumably because it is more efficient for them (stock control etc). They know they can’t force the market to accept just 26″ or just 29ers, but are hoping that they might be able to get us all to accept something in the middle.

They may well be going 650b on the bikes in the link, but thankfully I don’t see any evidence yet that the Session is going to be 650b

Has the 2014 session been released/previewed yet, would be surprised if there wasn’t a 650 option for it

Is there any proper downhill 650b rubber yet? Schwalbe have been doing protos and Vee Rubber make some but it’s only now that a choice of decent hard use trailbike tyres are available never mind dualplies

(obviously Trek can do Bonty ones, but if they’re as good as the 26 inch bonty ones they might as well not bother 😉 )