Plastic Hadeda

If you use the roof rack system, the first pic you posted, where you take the wheel off, will be more stable and there will be less movement when you are driving around. The problem is the loose wheel - neither Thule nor Atera have the wheel stands that also mount on the rack and will take a 29" wheel. Which means that the wheel has to be in the car. The Thule Proride (second pic) outsells the other model by 20 to 1 according to the supplier, and everyone I've spoken to is happy with theirs, so it is always a good option. I agree with akneethling that roof racks make me nervous. I just know I'll drive into the garage with the bikes on............. I use the Atera version of the Proride on my trailer - cheaper but not quite as good in terms of quality. Beware of the "hanger types"like the third pic - some frames don't like being hung like this (carbon fibre especially) and if you have a curvy frame or a dual-sus the spacing doesn't always work and the bike hangs awkwardly or sometimes doesn't even fit. The racks that allow the weight to be taken by the wheels will be better. I didn't know you got a rack like the second one that akneethling posted above - that looks a good option if you don't have a towbar.

Hmmmm..... a subject we shouldn't take too lightly.....

But how often & for how long do you hit a 20% gradient? On the Sani Transfrontier race we hit 25% a couple of times but it wasn't for longer than 10 - 20 metres or so. I was being a bit facetious Thug - hence the explanation on gear inches and the emoticon. What I was getting at is that a 22/34 on a 29er is roughly equivalent to a 22/30 on a 26er and I was just trying to get some info on how best to get back to the same gearing. I find that on long climbs I was battling to manage my HR after the short sharp climbs - couldn't get back to a more restful gearing to recover after the hard efforts and don't particularly want to try the pharmaceutical route for this Anyhoo - moot point now - the 12-36 arrived. Jayd(Jade/) at Shimano was more than helpful in explaining what to look out for on the hub and all is fitted and working. Now to work out how to fit in all that skipped training before March 2nd!

I hear you - but my knees beg to differ at a 20% gradient. By way of explanation - Sheldon Brown's Gear calculator shows that, on a 26" bike, with a 22 front / 34 rear combo you get 16.8 gear inches per rev. On a 29er that goes up to 18.8 gear inches. Using a 22/36 combo on a 29er gets you back down to 17.7 - about halfway back to the 26er gearing. Put another way - a 22/34 combo on a 29 er is almost the same as a 22/30 on a 26er (19.1 gear inches), Which is a bit too much for me over a long haul, gettting the same ratio on a 29er would mean a 38t cassette! Plastic Hadeda2010-02-15 10:18:43

Sorry if this has been posted before - but a search on the forum reveals no results. At the risk of scorn being poured on me by the SS brigade - anybody tried fitting a 12-36 cassette on a 29er - for those (long) very steep climbs? Shimano say that torque is an issue - puts too much pressure on the freehub body - but I was wondering if there was anybody out there who had tried it? Plastic Hadeda2010-02-15 08:44:32

Hi 20 Niner What cranks are those? They look like the KCNC stuff (Arizonic?) If so - are you happy with them? Looking to get some gold stuff to bling the new 29er and I'm not sure about these cranks. Thanks