Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

29ers or 26ers?

9K views 101 replies 50 participants last post by  mnigro 
Christ! We get it, you're a 29er fanboi so can you just let the poor horse die already?:rolleyes:
I think he is being sarcastically hyperbolic and forgot to insert the appropriate emoticon to let everyone in on it.

...on a related note, I bought another 29er yesterday so I basically agree with everything he says about being a real man. :thumbsup:
 
It all depends on what you are after. 26 inch wheels are best for cornering and popping airs, 29 inch wheels are better if you have a more "roadie" type mentality and you are after milage and more xc riding. If you don't understand this concept you are probably better off on a 29er. The 26 wheel size is practically going extinct as company's are all moving there line ups into the 27.5 realm.
Nonsense. There are plenty reasons to ride a 29er, (or any size for that matter) having a roadie "mentality" is not really one.

With that being said I have heard that 29 inch wheel bike are getting better at AM/aggressive trail riding with better geo. I'm not completely sold on it tho since I prefer a bike that handles more like dh rig for xc riding. Those big wheels feel slugish and awkward to me. It may be better for straight forward rolling but once again that is not a factor or benefit that out weighs the drawbacks for me.
I wonder about comments like this because, if this is accurate at all, then wouldn't 24" or 20" or even 16" wheel be better than your oversized 26" bikes? ;)

Don't listen to the "this is what I ride so it's the best comments".
I disagree. Although I was making fun of myself for saying the 29er is best because I ride one, the truth of this statement should still ring clear: threads like this are basically asking for opinions, so I am giving mine. Since this topic has been beaten to death, over and over and over again, I feel responses like the one I gave are the only honest reply in a thread like this, everything else comes off as disingenuous drivel. ;)

Carry on....
 
Or that you can't do tight twisty single track.
Tons of tight twisty single track here in Western NC and the majority of bikes on the trail are 29ers.
Same thing when I lived in Austin. 29ers ruled there. In fact they almost seemed mandatory (or at least made the most sense) given the terrain. Not nearly as many 29ers back out here in Oakland.

There will come a time when downhill geometry and suspension design are tweaked to their limits (think 8"-10" bikes in the near future) and prejudices against 29" wheels settles down and you will see them dominate in more events than XC and perhaps enduro. I am not saying they are for everyone, but I think the marginalization of the wheel size will come to a close.

And lets be honest, If were talking jumping then well... a 24" bike jumps better than a 26" bike and damn a 20" bike is so flickable it seems downright absurd to think about jumping a 26" "wagon wheel" bike. See what I did there? :D It's all relative, but to think you can't jump a Tallboy LTc, a Rip9RDO or a Leviathan or ride all day park lifted runs on the new WFO is absurd.
 
With that I have to say........you are probably doing it wrong. Most riders can't drift, pop cool airs or ride ridiculous steeps so the 29er thing makes sense for riding easy low angle standard multi use trail stuff. I find that kind of riding boring and I wouldn't want to ride something that hinders my abilities for shredding. 29ers do just that whether you can admit it or not but once again you apparently don't understand what I'm saying.
...mmmkay...

I rode 26ers for over 20 years. I know how they ride. I currently prefer my 29ers. The mistaken assumption here that you and the poster above are making is that 29er riders have never ridden anything before 29ers were available. In my case thats simply not true. It would more likely be accurate to assume the other way around, that those on 26ers have never really ridden 29ers and don't have a frackin clue.:thumbsup: But I am not making that claim about you or anyone else. If you come from a 26er, 29ers take time getting used to, but you can learn to drift and do most all of those super cool tricks and moves and ride that super duper tech, steep, "drop-infested" stuff as well.

And since you have tried every 29er that ever existed and or will exist and know what they all can do on all types of terrain, you are most definitely qualified to tell me what I do or don't understand about how boring my current favorite mountain bike is. Thanks!
 
It's basic physics man. They will not perform as well as a 26 inch wheel in certain situations, others they work better, I get that. It's just the areas they work better are the areas I don't care about as much. As I said earlier, I have heard that the geo is getting better with those bikes and the performance is as well. I have not tried the new 29er rigs but I would like to. The first few gens of 29er bikes tho were purely xc rigs aimed at the riders who like milage more than skillful performance. That is a fact.
OK, cool. I can get behind this.

And I agree that the geometries are constantly getting better as they move away from the XC pigeon hole the early adopters put them in. Chain stays are shortening, travel is increasing and head tube angles within the segment have gotten slacker by about a degree a year for the past 5 years as manufacturers work out the potential gains on this wheel size and create new categories of bike within the 29er size.

Will they ever match the flickability and downhill prowess of a smaller bike? Maybe/Probably not for the physics you imply above, but they can get a whole lot closer since they ditched the 73 degree HT angles. And for those of us whose body type/proportions are much better suited to the bigger wheels thats a great thing!

I ride what works for me and its great that you appear to be as well.:D
 
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top