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29 FS is it overkill?

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CHSAD

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Looking for some opinons here (no flame war). Currently riding a 29 HT and and 26 FS. Looking to replace the 26 with another 29er and I am considering doing a 29er full squish.
Is rear suspension on a 29er overkill?
 
#3 ·
It all depends on your riding style and trails. I have a FS 29er and find it is a blast to hammer on my local trails. I will also build up a SS HT this fall for something different. I will ride it on most of the same trails, but will ride with a different style. There are guys that can kill it on the most technical stuff around on full rigid SS. That's just not for me. You have a FS 26er and a 29er, you should be able to get a good idea if it will be worth the expense. Good luck.
 
#4 ·
I'm in a similar boat myself. I have a few fs bikes and two hardtail 29ers and would argue that it depends on the terrain in conjunction with your riding style. If you have all sorts of crazy roots and rock gardens on the way up and down it may make sense to get a full suspension 29er. However where I ride a hardtail is good enough, even a 26 inch hardtail is fine on my most of the trails I ride. My five inch AM fs bike is good enough for the most difficult obstacles that I come across where I live.

If you live in Moab or Whistler maybe you do need a 29 inch fs bike. That's not to say that I couldn't use one myself, I feel that keeping the momentum going is alot easier with a 29er, but I think the benefits would depend upon where your riding it.

Another thing is your riding style. I actually know someone who bought a fs 29er and didn't like it. Perhaps that could be the bike but if you're particularly set in the way you use a full suspension bike changing to a 29er could be problematic.
 
#7 ·
I hope not I have a WFO in the post.

I doubt I NEED it for most of my riding, but I certainly want it.

Something about riding into a staircase at 20mph without FS scares me, so thats why my commuter bike is soon to be a wfo.
 
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#8 ·
I ride a SS 29er and I am intrigued with the FS 29er too. I am thinking 3 inches of travel would be perfect for colorado where i live. I ride everything on my ht and love it but am curious about trying a fs. I have seen a few of the ellsworth's and 5 inches of travel on a 29 seems like overkill to me. I have a feeling that bike will not be around too long unless it's as light and weighs the same a 3 inch travel 29
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
My 29er HT is geared now after a year as a SS and it has a 100mm Fox fork. The trails around here are rocky and rooty (New England) and I pretty much can ride most things on this bike (occasional race, no big drops).

The combo of big wheels and the 100mm fork in many ways feel like riding a 100mm 26inch full suspension bike.
 
#10 ·
I have a niner rip9. And i use it for everything. It pedals efficiently and can go over anything except big drops. Rolls over small rocks and roots like they aren't even there and the CVA design lets me stand up on climbs and pedal and it feels like I'm losing very little compared to Horst link and single pivot model 26ers I've owned in the past. I'm 38 years old, and the idea of going down rock gardens on a hard tail makes me cringe.
 
#11 ·
That depends partly on where you live, but also on how you ride. I know of lots of people that ride 29er rigid bikes and they predominatly ride these on trails that are never too steep or rough. In these places I ride my 29er hardtail.

On the other hand, I do some DH stuff with drops and gaps on super-steep slopes, so I use my big-hit DH bike for this.

Somewhere in between this, an FS 29er would be usefull, so it just depends on where you live and what you ride. My point though is that there are some people that won't ride much beyond what they know, so for those people you can't say that any bike will necessarily be an improvement, and even if they get it they may not actually ride the terrain where it would be usefull.

In the end, more weight that you don't need is just more weight.
 
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#12 ·
That's exactly how i feel about my 29 HT SS.
The only thing my bike sucks at is climbing really really really rocky steep pitches, 95% of the people on fs can not get up this stuff either but i have seen it cleaned by a few people. :madman:
I am off to try my hand at the leadville 50 on my SS. Can't wait to see how the 29er does on all this washboard crap compared to my old 26:thumbsup:
I am guessing pretty it should be fine

CHSAD said:
My 29er HT is geared now after a year as a SS and it has a 100mm Fox fork. The trails around here are rocky and rooty (New England) and I pretty much can ride most things on this bike (occasional race, no big drops).

The combo of big wheels and the 100mm fork in many ways feel like riding a 100mm 26inch full suspension bike.
Click to expand...
 
#13 ·
Overkill- no ... absolutely needed no....
I ride rocky and rooty east coast stuff and riding doesn't pay for my mortgage so for me climbing faster on a HT or being able blasting down it faster on a FS is not what it is about.
Furthermore since I ride trail/XC I have a hard time looking at the FS as a need, but it can be fun.

I have been riding 26" FS for the past few years and built up a 26" with rigid with old stuff for fun and loved it- but from a past 29er HT knew a 26" version of my rigid toy would be a blast. I built one and it has forced me to pick lines again, silly I know since on my BLT I looked for the rough stuff. Yet even on a full rigid 29er I "can" ride all of the same trails, so be it not as fast by a stopwatch but you could fool me since I am having a blast doing it. I recently Built up 29" FS for my longer rides for more comfort, and for hitting some of the rougher stuff with no worry. It is not overkill but does make certain sections easier and requires less energy on my part to clear a technical section. I love the Rigid and I love the FS each kinda makes me appriciate the other for some odd reason.
 
#14 · (Edited)
CHSAD said:
Looking for some opinons here (no flame war). Currently riding a 29 HT and and 26 FS. Looking to replace the 26 with another 29er and I am considering doing a 29er full squish.
Is rear suspension on a 29er overkill?
Click to expand...
As everyone has rightly pointed out already - it depends on where and how you ride. Also, remember that there are various amounts of travel available in the 29"er FS realm ranging from shorter travel to longer travel. Some are run very successfully with 80mm suspension forks and some with much more travel up front (120mm - 135mm). And various amounts of travel are available in the rear as well.

With that in mind, we could say that some FS 29"ers (depending on the amount of travel) might be overkill for your particular intended use. And we could also say that some FS 29"ers might be underkill for your particular intended use.

I have two of the shorter travel, XC oriented 29"er FS frames. One is a JET 9...



and the other has a bit more squish via a Gary Fisher Sugar 293....



Neither would be "overkill" in rough and tough, rugged terrain. They would be "underkill" in those environments. For XC riding, XC racing, XC endurance racing - they are perfect for my particular needs and terrain. Just enough squish to keep me comfy and allow for shorter recovery times from hard efforts.

Compared to my rigid Karate Monkey and my - for all practical purposes - a HT via the Dos Niner softtail with 1" of squish in the rear and 80mm up front, I can certainly say the FS 29"er squish is very welcome to my aging body/back/liver/kidneys.

Do you have a chance to take a demo ride or borrow a friend's bike to try some FS 29"ers? Fisher? Niner? Turner? Lenz? I know guys at XC races are pretty cool about letting you take a spin on their bikes. I swapped my JET 9 with another MTBR.com forum member's Jeff Jones bike last Sunday after the race as we both took a spin to try each other's bikes out.

Best of luck thinkering your way through the process.

My recommendation: get a HT 29"er, a FS 29"er, a softtail 29"er and enjoy them all.:thumbsup:

BB
 
#15 ·
Another issue is whether or not you have to "share" your terrain. If you have to share your trail with hikers and equestrians the point may be moot. There"s a nice trail not too far from where I live but I have to take it easy on the way down because of the danger of colliding with hikers. I feel that although most 29ers stop well with disc brakes in my opinion they just don't stop as well as well as a comparable 26 inch bike with the same sized brakes. You're also probably going much faster on the downhill part of a course with a 29er so this increases the risk of wiping out and hitting a hiker.

29er's are good bikes but you really have to think of how and where you going to use them to get 100% out of your bike.
 
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