Hey guys, so I'd appreciate some feedback on current steel 29er riders. What are your setups?SS, geared, suspension fork etc. Im currently helping out with the production of a new 29er series for a small bike company in Norcal and wanted to know how you guys feel about a steel 29er frame, 19inch weight would be around 4-4.5 lbs. eccentric bottom bracket and a built in bottle opener at the drop outs.
Prototype 29er build
GQOSE
21 - 38 of 38 Posts
Joined
·
9,544 Posts
I gotta say - I really think Ted Wojcik "nailed it" with his lastest 29er design.
Strong yet relatively light steel frame. Nice 12 inch-ish bottom bracket height, removovable cable guides, Sliding dropouts (you could go sub 17" or out to about 17.75 if so desired), great handling with a 100mm fork. My last blue demo frame woulda been fine even with 120mm of travel up front methinks!
I'm really surprised more guys and gals don't get in touch with Ted. His welds are amongh the best in the business, and his prices are more than fair compared to the competition.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Strong yet relatively light steel frame. Nice 12 inch-ish bottom bracket height, removovable cable guides, Sliding dropouts (you could go sub 17" or out to about 17.75 if so desired), great handling with a 100mm fork. My last blue demo frame woulda been fine even with 120mm of travel up front methinks!
I'm really surprised more guys and gals don't get in touch with Ted. His welds are amongh the best in the business, and his prices are more than fair compared to the competition.
I like higher BB short stay 29ers. Part of what forms my opinion is because like Sean, I own a Karate Monkey. Short stays work great, but damn the BB is low. 68mm drop is too much. 60mm might be perfect. I don't think that a centimeter in the BB height is going to affect the stability of the bike noticeably. Only thing it may effect is how much head room I have, which is already pretty limited due to my extreme height. But 60mm drop 29ers is pretty common, and since I run SS I don't need the ground clearance, I need the pedal clearance for my 180 cranks... others want 185, 190, 195... thus they'll need higher BB's. An EBB solves this in a way. You can decide to tension high or low, and if running geared, full choice of long/short stays or high/low BB.
Joined
·
425 Posts
If you really want to know what's important in a 29er..
You need to PM DavidCopperfield!
Santa Cruz listens to him, and so should you.
You need to PM DavidCopperfield!
Santa Cruz listens to him, and so should you.
Joined
·
804 Posts
You're shilling again. STOP POSTING.brant said:
Joined
·
110 Posts
29er's
Just to throw out a note to stimulate thought, there is currently a great variety of desires in 29er's. 26" wheeled frames slowly evolved into what was described as NORBA geometry and that pretty much became a standard. The 29er market is being explored by a greater variety of riders and the geometries are not clear cut. There is more to how a bike handles than the numbers thrown around in the forums. It is a combination of numbers that make up the how a bike feels. The answer starts to become clear here, go to a custom builder. One who has the experience to build with your needs in mind and not a builder who is trying to build to a bike to make anyone happy. In general, 29er personality is being defined by a many different opinions. Take a look at your terrain, your riding style, and pick a builder you can communicate with. Order your bike. I once heard a guy say, "Oh I wish I was wealthy enough to afford cheap tools." Think of your bike the same way.
Just to throw out a note to stimulate thought, there is currently a great variety of desires in 29er's. 26" wheeled frames slowly evolved into what was described as NORBA geometry and that pretty much became a standard. The 29er market is being explored by a greater variety of riders and the geometries are not clear cut. There is more to how a bike handles than the numbers thrown around in the forums. It is a combination of numbers that make up the how a bike feels. The answer starts to become clear here, go to a custom builder. One who has the experience to build with your needs in mind and not a builder who is trying to build to a bike to make anyone happy. In general, 29er personality is being defined by a many different opinions. Take a look at your terrain, your riding style, and pick a builder you can communicate with. Order your bike. I once heard a guy say, "Oh I wish I was wealthy enough to afford cheap tools." Think of your bike the same way.
Joined
·
8,130 Posts
Good counterpoint to what I was trying to communicate. Yes, I would agree with this from the standpoint of folks that want something at the extremes of what is currently available, ie: short chainstays/high bottom bracket.ted wojcik said:
In terms of "production bikes", this sort of request can not be well served, and that's where custom comes into the picture.
Joined
·
6,581 Posts
perhaps i'm missing something, but as far as i know, the only other way to lighten up the front end of the bike is to raise it and move the bars back, both of which will negatively affect climbing... what are the other options? a quick look at the fs 29ers with published bb heights(unsagged) shows them to be between 13 and 14 inches for the most part, yet they still retain some semblance of standover. i really don't think a bb drop/height on par with 26" wheeled bikes is an extreme request.Guitar Ted said:
you say excessively short/high, i say what is out there now is excessively long/low. :thumbsup:
i don't think his production runs are very large anyway, so there is limited availability on the frame to begin with. it's an admittedly poor example for that reason alone, but it's really the only 29" one i've got to work with... 26" world, 12.5" bb heights are incredibly common. even the surly 1x1 has 1" less bb drop than it's big wheeled sister.You say Sinister sells through every run they weld up? Maybe FTW just happens to have a handle on what his market will bear.If you want to own a small part of the market, then that's cool. If you want to sell bigger numbers, then you steer more towards the middle geometry-wise.
while i really don't think the numbers i suggest would be as miniscule a market share as you suggest, i do admit that it(high bb) would be very limiting as far as fit for smaller statured riders.
Joined
·
315 Posts
Alright, time for the update and final build of our xc 29er. The frame will come in 17, 19, 21 inch frame sizes, 14.5 on special requests. Frames will be made from tru temper heat treated tubing so we are able to make it light and strong. basic frame will have a normal BB, 71 degree HA, 17.5" chainstays, V-brake mounts. options will be an eccentric BB, Internally routed housing and sic brake mounts. ill post you guys of our final prototype build probably in a couple weeks here.
Joined
·
141 Posts
I could not agree more.. but to elaborate a little more build it as a bike that rides well. There seems to be a huge gap between the bike targeted at the 180lb rider and the frame that is built to be indestructible. A nice riding frame for a 250-280lb rider would be great.party_wagon said:
Want to make me a low leverage ratio FS while your at it... jk
JP
Joined
·
315 Posts
for now fillet brazed. tig welding will be used eventually for the seattube to BB. we will be doing batches of the basic frames. pricing has yet to be fully figured out, but for the basic frames and 3 base powdercoat options itll be under 1500
21 - 38 of 38 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
