REVIEWS DEALS BIKESHOPS TRAILS

I think this is funny...

1401 Views 24 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Drevil, Dec 13, 2005

bikeanddrum

Discussion Starter · Dec 12, 2005

Today I was at the local trail we have which is just a 7 mile loop trail but is a really good tech trail etc. A gentlemen there was getting ready to ride who has a Cannondale Jeckyl, The Guy sees my Paragon and says, "Is that one of those 29'ers", I of course reply with "Sure is". Then he asks if he could ride it around the beginning of the trail a bit. I said "sure". He then rides it back over to me and says, "Holy crap that thing rolls over stuff fast and feels better than my Cannondale", I reply "I know hahaha", then he says "It really holds momentum way better than my Cannondale", I reply "That's awesome they are supposed to hahaha", then he says "Do they make those in Full Suspension" I said "Of course". Then he says well that is the only way I would ride one. Just thought it was funny because he was bragging about how it rolled over stuff and kept momentum better than his Cannondale. Just struck me as funny being that even with 29" wheels some peeps still have hardtail hate!! hahahahaah Have a great one!

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Cloxxki

· #2 · Dec 12, 2005

Cannondale, marketing hype
vs.
Fisher, Tried&Tested

0 : 1

Real question is, will he get that lightweight Lenz he doesn't even know exists, or does he sit it out this Cannondale joins in? Dale riders often seem loyal to the brand? That'd be 2008 or later, as no way they'd offer a geared 29"er in 2007 already, let alone a fully.

AndrewTO

· #3 · Dec 12, 2005

HAHAHA! You're right, that is funny.

Oh wait, i'm looking at FS 29'ers. DOH! Nevermind.

Well, okay, it's still funny.

MTBNate

· #4 · Dec 12, 2005

FS is the only way I'd go.... ever!

wadester

· #5 · Dec 12, 2005

Suspension!

Your "buddy" seems hasty. I took my full rigid KM over every trail in the area before deciding that altho 29 is better - I'm not a rigid kinda guy. I'm getting the Lefty on the Monkey and trying it again to see if I can deal with fast techy stuff on a hardtail - while working on FS anyways!

serious

· #6 · Dec 12, 2005

If 29ers are so superior that it takes 5 minutes of light riding to "see the light", how come all manufactures don't jump on the bandwagon in a big way? Why are we still riding 26ers?

Skeptical minds want to know.

Cloxxki

· #7 · Dec 12, 2005

The MTB industry in general makes Bin laden seem like a very flexible, forward looking spritual being open to suggestions from anyone, looking for a better way of life.

They're not jumping on the bandwagon because they're against it. Bandwagons are bad. At least when you're not the driver.

When is the last time the last time the industry really welcomely embraced a new standard because they found out about something BETTER? Most of the mainstream stuff never makes it to mainstream. Linkage forks, non-straight handlebars...

Rainman

· #8 · Dec 12, 2005

It's Inevitable...

serious said:
If 29ers are so superior that it takes 5 minutes of light riding to "see the light", how come all manufactures don't jump on the bandwagon in a big way? Why are we still riding 26ers?

Skeptical minds want to know.

The big mainstream manufacturers have a LOT of money invested in their current 26" production tools, jigs and assemblies. They are not going to readily give up that cash cow for a 'new' technology unless they think that they can make decent comparable profit margins from it *after* re-tooling.

However, don't worry, it will happen.

The move to the bigger wheels and frames etc.. is growing slowly and surely, simply because it is a better way to ride offroad.
As more and more new bike purchasers realise this and put down their cash for the 29'ers, the major manufacturers will have to sit up and take notice, otherwise they will be losing sales and dollars to companies like Fisher/Trek who are already supporting the 29'er movement and selling as many frames as they can supply.

One decent ride on a 29'er is all it takes. Even the most casual rider can see and tell the difference almost immediately.

It only took me one ride to see and feel it. I now ride a 29'er and will never go back to the small wheels. There are so many advantages with 29'ers that once you ride one you will never go back either... imo

R.

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bikeanddrum

Discussion Starter · #9 · Dec 13, 2005

Well in my post I was no way dogging full suspension, I was just laughing at how amazed the guy was at the ride of the 29'er felt better than his bike in every way but he still wouldn't trade his Cannodale for a hartail 29'er that he just admitted to liking better hahahaha. funny to me. I think Cloxxki hit it on the head. Some people are so into hype and brand orientation that they are scared to take the plunge so to speak and try a 29'er. There is a local guy in town as well that will not ride anything but a Trek. He would rather ride a tricked out Trek 830 than any competiors bike. That mentality will hinder some riders from trying 29'ers until "their" brand produces a model. Just my thoughts and observations here in my little area of NC. Not that it matters that much, I am just glad that I took the chance and looked at the stats and took advice from this board and got into 29'ers last year. I am one of those like many who made the choice "blindly". I had never ridden a 29'er and really didn't know what to expect. Just had faith that the people on the 29'er board knew what the heck they were talking about ahahhahahaha. Dangerous huh!! hahaha. later guys. Justin

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SingleSpeedSlave

· #10 · Dec 13, 2005

Here is my funny story from riding my El Cap 29'er: over Thanksgiving I was riding with a group of guys I'd never met having linked up through the mtb club website. There were 11 of us of varying fitness and we would ride for a mile or two and then wait for the group.

No one noticed I was riding a 29'er and I never mentioned it either up to that point. As we were waiting for the group to catch up, I moved my front wheel up against another riders rear wheel and made the comment that he got ripped over because my wheel was so much bigger than his.

Another rider standing there heard the my comment and, still not knowing mine was a 29'er, remarked "Is he running a 24 inch wheel on the back?". My wheel looked so much bigger than the 26inch wheel he thought the guy had a 24inch wheel! I thought that was hilarius!

Cloxxki

· #11 · Dec 13, 2005

a brand like Cannondale, and I wrote this to them via the form on twentynineinches.com , can easily sell out a couple 29" models just to curious Cannondale owners that didn't know they were going to buy a new bike. C to make a 29"er is enough for them to take the plunge, it give the 29" concept the bakcing THEY need. Instant sales. Just a few kind words on the C website and sales would be crazy. Just taking into account prior C customers, not even those that were looking for a reason to buy a C one day.

MendonCycleSmith

· #12 · Dec 13, 2005

Cloxxki said:
a brand like Cannondale, and I wrote this to them via the form on twentynineinches.com , can easily sell out a couple 29" models just to curious Cannondale owners that didn't know they were going to buy a new bike. C to make a 29"er is enough for them to take the plunge, it give the 29" concept the bakcing THEY need. Instant sales. Just a few kind words on the C website and sales would be crazy. Just taking into account prior C customers, not even those that were looking for a reason to buy a C one day.

Cannondale is more than marketing hype, let me just say that. They truely do build a fantastic bike. That they stuck by the single pivot suspension till platform shocks came along, and proved the fatastic abilities of the design, is reason enough to love 'em. The Lefty too!! I love my 29er, hardtail and all, yes I do use it more than my Prophet, and it kills me to say that. But, I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, a Prophet 29er. I will hold off on a FS 29er till I can get a single pivot one. Linkages are a PITA, and feel like crap, please note this is MY OPINION, and I am in no way insulting anyones chosen rig. Anyone know of a single pivot 29 builder out there? I'll be first in line. Yes, Cannondale would sell a crapload just on loyalty, and blind interest, when will they get their head out of their collective butt?

BIke N Gear

· #13 · Dec 13, 2005

MendonCycleSmith said:
Cannondale is more than marketing hype, let me just say that. They truely do build a fantastic bike. That they stuck by the single pivot suspension till platform shocks came along, and proved the fatastic abilities of the design, is reason enough to love 'em. The Lefty too!! I love my 29er, hardtail and all, yes I do use it more than my Prophet, and it kills me to say that. But, I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, a Prophet 29er. I will hold off on a FS 29er till I can get a single pivot one. Linkages are a PITA, and feel like crap, please note this is MY OPINION, and I am in no way insulting anyones chosen rig. Anyone know of a single pivot 29 builder out there? I'll be first in line. Yes, Cannondale would sell a crapload just on loyalty, and blind interest, when will they get their head out of their collective butt?

Same here. I was riding my Karate Monkey more than my Prophet 4000, so I had to build this:

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MendonCycleSmith

· #14 · Dec 13, 2005

BIke N Gear said:
Same here. I was riding my Karate Monkey more than my Prophet 4000, so I had to build this:

Nice rig! Have you been on Cannondale for a while, or was it your first? I ask, cause every other non single pivot bike I ride, just feels wrong. I can't weight it, or preload it teh way I can a SP. How's that one ride, in comparison ( I know, it's a 29er, so comparison is tough) suspension action wise? Is that a 1.5 headtube, or did you do a conversion, and how did you deal with the crown height issue, or do you enjoy frequent endoes=

Again, pretty bike.

BIke N Gear

· #15 · Dec 13, 2005

MendonCycleSmith said:
Nice rig! Have you been on Cannondale for a while, or was it your first? I ask, cause every other non single pivot bike I ride, just feels wrong. I can't weight it, or preload it teh way I can a SP. How's that one ride, in comparison ( I know, it's a 29er, so comparison is tough) suspension action wise? Is that a 1.5 headtube, or did you do a conversion, and how did you deal with the crown height issue, or do you enjoy frequent endoes= Again, pretty bike.

Actually, I've been selling Cannondales for 10 years, tried one every year and always went back to a boutique brand bike. Usually Ventana

or Ellsworth

. The Prophet was the first Cannondale that could replace my then current ride (an El Saltemontes). I've always been able to go back & forth between different bikes once I dial in the suspension, so that was not an issue.

Then on a whim I biult a SS Karate Monkey. After riding that for a couple of weeks, my Prophet actually felt nervous & twichy to ride. I know it wasn't the bike, because I remember how I could ride it before. I knew I had to try a FS 29er. I have a bad back & need gears most of the time. The Monkey has a Thudbuster on it.

The conversion is just a custom steerer tube. I reduced the travel of the Lefty by adding a spacer (no endoes yet).

They say riding 29" wheels is like adding an inch or two of suspension. Not sure if that is true. The Prophet had 5.5" my El Cap has the 4"rockers with an RP3. I just put the Swinger on the El Cap, but have yet to ride it in the woods. In my parking lot it does feel plusher. The RP3 ramps up very quickly. It was fast, but not what I would call plush. I'm also riding with Nanoraptors. They are the narrowist tires I've ridded in about 4 years. I'd like to try a larger tire without adding the weight of an Exiwolf. Waiting to try the S Fastracks.

FYI, my Cannondale rep says thay had recieved alot of requests for a 29er at I-bike this year. All he could say was maybe in the future..

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Cloxxki

· #16 · Dec 13, 2005

MendonCycleSmith said:
Cannondale is more than marketing hype, let me just say that. They truely do build a fantastic bike. That they stuck by the single pivot suspension till platform shocks came along, and proved the fatastic abilities of the design, is reason enough to love 'em. The Lefty too!! I love my 29er, hardtail and all, yes I do use it more than my Prophet, and it kills me to say that. But, I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, a Prophet 29er. I will hold off on a FS 29er till I can get a single pivot one. Linkages are a PITA, and feel like crap, please note this is MY OPINION, and I am in no way insulting anyones chosen rig. Anyone know of a single pivot 29 builder out there? I'll be first in line. Yes, Cannondale would sell a crapload just on loyalty, and blind interest, when will they get their head out of their collective butt?

Isn't the Astrix Monk essentially a single pivot? I don't understand much about FS design anyway.
If you stand by a brand for it's quality and have actual comparison experience to base it on, why be ashamed for it?
My first and only FS, the '97 VooDoo Canzo, was the plushest thing I can imagine, with under 4" of travel. Unified Rear Triangle, single pivot. Above ca. 25mph it seemed to pedal faster on rough gravel than on the road. Still have the bike, but not ridden it for 4 or 5 years.

Drevil

· #17 · Dec 13, 2005

My (funny to me) story: a few weeks ago I did a night ride with a friend and his 26er buddy. This guy is a major weight weenie (not that there's anything wrong with that). His Juan Solo with a Sid is feathery light and he spent a lot of effort and money cherry picking parts to build it up.

For the first half of the ride he's asking me stuff about my Jones bars like,"Is it comfortable?", "How's it in the rocks?" and "Did it add a lot of weight to the bike?" After a half dozen questions like that, I hopped off my Chester and we swapped for a couple of miles. He is blown away. He loves it and is ready to buy one of the bars.

As we're swapping back bikes, my buddy points out that he was just riding a 29er. Apalled, he responds, "No freakin' way! That thing is so light. No freakin' way! It doesn't handle like a boat like I expected!" It was dark and he wasn't really paying attention to anything besides the bars.

After laughing at him for a few seconds, my buddy points out that he was also riding a rigid fork. Dropped jaw, and a moment of silence, his response was, "WTF?!?!!? That thing is so effin' smooth. No way. I couldn't tell. G-dammit. No way! What the hell!?!?!?!"

For the rest of the ride I got a dozen more questions about rigid forks and 29ers. I could see the gears spinning in his head about what he can sell to afford a 29er. I think I converted him on three points: H-bars, 29ers, and rigid. With enough of these "blind" tests, it won't be long before the big hoops assimilate the masses.

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MendonCycleSmith

· #18 · Dec 13, 2005

The Prophet was the first Cannondale that could replace my then current ride (an El Saltemontes). See? Its the Platform, I have guys who are now scouring the net looking for SuperV's and putting 5th Elements on them, cause they ride sooooooo nice.

The conversion is just a custom steerer tube. I reduced the travel of the Lefty by adding a spacer (no endoes yet).

Where'd the spacer go? can you explain, or did you not do the wrenching?

They say riding 29" wheels is like adding an inch or two of suspension. Not sure if that is true. The Prophet had 5.5" my El Cap has the 4"rockers with an RP3. I just put the Swinger on the El Cap, but have yet to ride it in the woods. In my parking lot it does feel plusher. The RP3 ramps up very quickly. It was fast, but not what I would call plush. I'm also riding with Nanoraptors. They are the narrowist tires I've ridded in about 4 years. I'd like to try a larger tire without adding the weight of an Exiwolf. Waiting to try the S Fastracks.

The RP3 was built and valved for it, was the Swinger? It may feel plusher due to different actuation ratio valveing, I'm not assuming you don't know this, just tossing it out there. The Swinger will break in in a month or so, and feel even plusher. They're not big, but the Little Alberts from Schwalbe are working nicely for me!

FYI, my Cannondale rep says thay had recieved alot of requests for a 29er at I-bike this year. All he could say was maybe in the future..[/QUOTE]

I was there, I was pushing, keep on pushing=

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Cloxxki

· #19 · Dec 13, 2005

Drevil, please frame tht post for us and stick it to the forum wall? That's just classic man!

Are you sure it wasn't your superior bike light that fooled him? ;-)

Night ride demo's, what a concept!

Interesting that a singlespeeder with such a tricked out setup would be so hesitant towards 29"ers, while to most singlespeeders seem more open to it than others, at least I am hardly ever exposed to newly build 26" SS's anymore. Or maybe SS to him was just a WW thing...

BIke N Gear

· #20 · Dec 13, 2005

MendonCycleSmith said:
Where'd the spacer go? can you explain, or did you not do the wrenching?

The RP3 was built and valved for it, was the Swinger? It may feel plusher due to different actuation ratio valveing, I'm not assuming you don't know this, just tossing it out there. The Swinger will break in in a month or so, and feel even plusher. They're not big, but the Little Alberts from Schwalbe are working nicely for me!

)

If you remove the spring there is already a hard plastic spacer next to the rubber bottom out bumper. I just added to the plastic spacer.

I rolled off a 2 1/2 foot drop at very slow speed last ride intentionally trying to bottom out the fork. Still doesn't rub the crown. I figure I'm safe.

The Swinger is actually off my Prophet, so not custom, and already broken in. I may get the RP3 Pushed just to try it out.

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