29er's

[Con]

Well my mate has gone and got a 29er and I can't believe the difference in ( on road) performance. On his old 26er he struggled to keep up with me but now he's leaving me behind. We went out for a 35 mile ride yesterday and it was all I could do just to keep him in sight and when we got back I was completely exhausted and he still looked fine. I don't like this feeling I'm not used to it WHY is it so much faster? Surely the wheels can't be that much more efficient. I can see me spending more money on yet another bike

 

[Tim Hall]

Is it not just a case of taller gearing? For a 48 x 14 gear on a 26 inch wheel with 50mm tyres you get around 88 gear inches, while the same gearing on a "29er" (622 with 50mm tyre) gets around 99 gear inches. Add the psychological effect of having a new bike and he'll be miles away.

 

[I like Skol]

There will be many factors at play here including and not limited to;
Geometry, Gearing, Tyre tread/compound/pressures, He was having a good day, you were having a bad day. It is unlikely to be just the effect of riding 26" Vs 29" wheels.

Having said that, why are you riding 35 road miles on MOUNTAIN BIKES?

 

[Con]

There will be many factors at play here including and not limited to;
Geometry, Gearing, Tyre tread/compound/pressures, He was having a good day, you were having a bad day. It is unlikely to be just the effect of riding 26" Vs 29" wheels.

Having said that, why are you riding 35 road miles on MOUNTAIN BIKES?

There will be many factors at play here including and not limited to;
Geometry, Gearing, Tyre tread/compound/pressures, He was having a good day, you were having a bad day. It is unlikely to be just the effect of riding 26" Vs 29" wheels.

Having said that, why are you riding 35 road miles on MOUNTAIN BIKES?

Because we're stupid lol. Seriously though he hasn't got a road bike and we tend to do a bit of off roading and general Larkin about along the way and its quite hard to pull wheeles on a road bike

 

[Drago]

It might be something very basic, such as being a better fit for his biomechanic make up.

 

[Jody]

...and its quite hard to pull wheeles on a road bike

I tried the other night and its not as hard as you think. That was on the drops as well

 

[HarryTheDog]

Last year I starting XC racing again on my old 26 inch hardtail , got completely mullered. Changed to a 29 inch hardtail , made up over 6 places staight away. I went on a MTB trail riding holiday this year, me + the 2 trail guides were on 29ers the other guests mainly on 650B's. On the flat and uphill us 3 just romped away.
I sometimes commute on my 29er with knobblies on and can keep up with you average commute roadie no problem.
In my experience uphill+flat 29er quicker. On the twisty, downhill and technical stuff its more to do with the skill of the rider and suspension.

 

[Crackle]

I find mine quicker on the road as well but it's not a comfortable quicker due to the position, so it's not something I'd like to ride too long on the road. Is it the wheels, geometry etc...Who knows but the argument is largely over about whether 29ers are quicker, they are, ask anyone who races.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Well my mate has gone and got a 29er and I can't believe the difference in ( on road) performance. On his old 26er he struggled to keep up with me but now he's leaving me behind. We went out for a 35 mile ride yesterday and it was all I could do just to keep him in sight and when we got back I was completely exhausted and he still looked fine. I don't like this feeling I'm not used to it WHY is it so much faster? Surely the wheels can't be that much more efficient. I can see me spending more money on yet another bike

Don't worry. You'll catch up with him again as soon as the placebo wears off.

 

[Jason]

29'ers are quicker than 26" ers. I have ridden 20 road miles on mine, but can't say it's comfortable or the most efficient use of my energy. Would I swap it for a road bike?, well no as N+1 is fun :-)

 

[captain nemo1701]

Well my mate has gone and got a 29er and I can't believe the difference in ( on road) performance. On his old 26er he struggled to keep up with me but now he's leaving me behind. We went out for a 35 mile ride yesterday and it was all I could do just to keep him in sight and when we got back I was completely exhausted and he still looked fine. I don't like this feeling I'm not used to it WHY is it so much faster? Surely the wheels can't be that much more efficient. I can see me spending more money on yet another bike

A 29" wheel of course rolls further than a 26". I ride my Spesh 29'er all the time and often surprise roadies although I lose energy due to the rolling friction of the knobbly tires and I keep the forks loose so to cope with potholes and root damage on cyclepaths. If I put some slicks on it....warp speed!.

 

[Drago]

Last year I starting XC racing again on my old 26 inch hardtail , got completely mullered. Changed to a 29 inch hardtail , made up over 6 places staight away. I went on a MTB trail riding holiday this year, me + the 2 trail guides were on 29ers the other guests mainly on 650B's. On the flat and uphill us 3 just romped away.
I sometimes commute on my 29er with knobblies on and can keep up with you average commute roadie no problem.
In my experience uphill+flat 29er quicker. On the twisty, downhill and technical stuff its more to do with the skill of the rider and suspension.

I used to commute on a slick shod 26" MTB with the front forks locked out. That really was a weapon.

Eventually I switched to a 700c road bike, and it made zero difference to journey times - it was still 27 minutes there, 33 home.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

A 29" wheel of course rolls further than a 26". I ride my Spesh 29'er all the time and often surprise roadies although I lose energy due to the rolling friction of the knobbly tires and I keep the forks loose so to cope with potholes and root damage on cyclepaths. If I put some slicks on it....warp speed!.

There are so many contradictions in that statement that I can't count them. Mind you, maybe I just can't count them because some of the statements are so fluffy I can't pinpoint whether they are contradictions or just facetious.

 

[MacB]

I've followed the wheel sizes debates quite a bit but have no technical knowledge other than second hand. For a while 29+ was going to be the next big thing along with 26" fat bikes but neither are that suited beyond specific purposes or for bling appeal. My all round bike is a 29er fully rigid steel but can take suspension forks. I designed it along with the frame builder to allow for a standard hardtail setup for offroad. Then had shorter custom steel forks (450mm AtoC) made for using the bike for touring, general, trails and road. This steepens the angles and drops the BB a bit. Due to ongoing elbow issues it's had very little proper offroad use as I re-broke my elbow not long after finishing it. For general use though I have to say it's been marvellous, in Summer it has 700x60 slicks and the rest of the time something semi slick in the 700x50-55 range. I only ride flat bars and pedals but the bars are swept back and have bar ends inside and outside of the grips. I find this comfortable for any distance I'm ever likely to do (longet has been over 100 miles) and the performance levels I desire. Having ridden hybrid and road down to 700x23 I can't see me ever riding anything less than 700x32 again.

If I were designing an all round frame again I think I might be tempted to make it compatible with 650b semi fat as well as 29, but that's about the only change I'd make. Oh and I might slacken off the HT angle a bit more.

Oh and when I first got it I only had a set of knobblies, the road performance difference between those and the slicks was the biggest difference I've ever noticed on a bike.........far, far more than flats vs clipless

 

[Jason]

Oh and when I first got it I only had a set of knobblies, the road performance difference between those and the slicks was the biggest difference I've ever noticed on a bike.........far, far more than flats vs clipless

now that's interesting as i have 700x32C roads tyres sitting in the shed, my 29er could yet make a decent winter bike, but would they fit on a 29er with fat sams currently