Is 27.5 still relevant?
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So are you saying it is, or isn't? Norco Sights come in 27.5 and 29, but I assume this is 27.5 since you're in the 27.5 forum.....nice ride BTW!
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I'm average height and pretty much hated every 29er I've ever ridden.
I wouldn't say I hated them all, like you, but I found them all sterile feeling. This is based on a lot of demos I did a year ago, including many popular 29ers.
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425 Posts
And that is the key
Yes 27.5 should stick around. I prefer 29 now but would still have a 2nd bike 27.5 if I had a bike park around.
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I kinda sorta a little bit am starting to find 29ers more fun to ride too... Not always, but sometimes.
I was a very long time hold out, but the offsets got dialed. Geometry works properly now. 29ers are fun to ride, its not really a lumbering school bus anymore. I still 90% of the time ride my 27.5 and love it to death, but if I stumbled across a really nice 130mm FS 29er, I might jump ship...
I was a very long time hold out, but the offsets got dialed. Geometry works properly now. 29ers are fun to ride, its not really a lumbering school bus anymore. I still 90% of the time ride my 27.5 and love it to death, but if I stumbled across a really nice 130mm FS 29er, I might jump ship...
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6,494 Posts
Imo there's nothing magical about offset (or wheel size), it's just trail and front-center. Get those right and you're good. High/low offset forks are a great tuning tool.
Personally, i like the combination of a high offset fork, slack head angle, and long front-center. You get stability from the length and can still steer quickly around individual obstacles. Just gotta have a light touch at the bars. It works great for old school singletrack.
I look forward to when wheel size is totally uninteresting. Prolly never gonna happen since that's bad for sales.
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I'd guess that 27.5 would only be faster only in very particular circumstances, like the trail shown. In those very tight turns, the lesser inertia than 29 would help.
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6,494 Posts
imo this concept persists because shorter riders don't fit 29'er wheels very well and are trying to explain why it feels shitty. From a design perspective- there's plenty of variables available to make either wheel size behave however the designer wants, assuming a sufficiently tall rider. Gotta get all that stuff right for the small 29er advantage to manifest.
That trail should be faster on a 29er, if it fits right. Granted the difference is extra small because it's smooth, pedally, and slow.
(i'm not a 29er evangelist, i'm a frame design nerd)
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Perhaps you should familiarize yourself with the physics concept of moment of inertia. Geometry certainly plays a large part, it looks like a bit steeper HA would take those tight turns better than super-slack for example.
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6,494 Posts
I know it sounds dismissive, but this reply is dunning-krueger effect in action. Sorry.
I love talking about this, but moment of inertia and head angle as a driving dimension aren't worth discussing. They're footnotes. Get yourself up to date and let's talk! There's so much interesting nuance once you're not making spurious correlations. It's fascinating when everyone understands the real trade-offs.
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2,367 Posts
Prefacing this: I’m 5’5”, and I fit comfortably on both 27.5 and 29 bikes.
I test rode a few 29ers over the years, thinking this would be the year I would end up with one. Nope.
All my previous concerns on a 29er today though, gone. They corner, descend, and even pop off things. But for me, they kill me on the climbs. As in my hip was hurting for three days. I spend a lot of time accelerating on my rides, and on a 27.5 bike, I’m faster because it’s easier for me to get the bike up to speed. And I like riding without having to nurse pain for 3 days and be miserable.
Honestly, it’s not just a height thing or a sex thing —it’s a preference thing. My husband is 5’10”, hates 29ers. Says they make great DH bikes, but nothing he wants to pedal. There’s several of my friends who are tall and prefer the 27.5 wheel too. Then again, there are short people I know who like to push the 29, but that’s a really big wheel for me to push.
So no, they’re not dead and there’s plenty of people who want to ride them. As much as the industry would like to force everyone on a single wheel size, that would be dumb from an increasing your market perspective.
I test rode a few 29ers over the years, thinking this would be the year I would end up with one. Nope.
All my previous concerns on a 29er today though, gone. They corner, descend, and even pop off things. But for me, they kill me on the climbs. As in my hip was hurting for three days. I spend a lot of time accelerating on my rides, and on a 27.5 bike, I’m faster because it’s easier for me to get the bike up to speed. And I like riding without having to nurse pain for 3 days and be miserable.
Honestly, it’s not just a height thing or a sex thing —it’s a preference thing. My husband is 5’10”, hates 29ers. Says they make great DH bikes, but nothing he wants to pedal. There’s several of my friends who are tall and prefer the 27.5 wheel too. Then again, there are short people I know who like to push the 29, but that’s a really big wheel for me to push.
So no, they’re not dead and there’s plenty of people who want to ride them. As much as the industry would like to force everyone on a single wheel size, that would be dumb from an increasing your market perspective.
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Physics is a footnote?
Here you go, since apparently you really don't understand the physics of it.
Moment of Inertia
I believe that this physical concept is up to date and not a spurious correlation.
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