3 Wheelsize shootout by MBA

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Strange, since I moved to 29er my skills have improved vastly. Suppose it really comes down to the rider himself

 

AAK! Fanboy alert! The move to 29erdom has done nothing to improve your skills, dude. You're more confident because the bike can handle more. I should think that if you were to move back to your old sixer, you'd find that your skills have remained the same, or if anything the trip to ninerville has showed you that the line is actually rideable.

 

Changing wheelsizes does nothing to your level of talent.

[Jeepdude]

AAK! Fanboy alert! The move to 29erdom has done nothing to improve your skills, dude. You're more confident because the bike can handle more. I should think that if you were to move back to your old sixer, you'd find that your skills have remained the same, or if anything the trip to ninerville has showed you that the line is actually rideable.

 

Changing wheelsizes does nothing to your level of talent.

[Cav']

Oh happy days - another wheelsize comparison thread

[Gliders]

This is all great and everything but at the end of the day all its really doing is complicating the situation that we all will/have faced.. When you are out on the trail having "one" of those days and you have run out of tubes and some kind soul stops to help you out. But alas he is on a 26'er and I have a fancy new 27.5'er... Bar that I think its down to the rider!

 

Or am I just over thinking it?

[Danger Dassie]

Each to their own, you get small, medium and large riders. Why not wheel sizes to equate to that and the frame sizing. Of course there will always be exceptions.

The logic is boring I know.

[Danger Dassie]

This is all great and everything but at the end of the day all its really doing is complicating the situation that we all will/have faced.. When you are out on the trail having "one" of those days and you have run out of tubes and some kind soul stops to help you out. But alas he is on a 26'er and I have a fancy new 27.5'er... Bar that I think its down to the rider!

 

Or am I just over thinking it?

The tubes will work on any wheel size, have used both 26r on 20r and vice versa .... just takes a bit of marmalading

[RockCoach]

This is all great and everything but at the end of the day all its really doing is complicating the situation that we all will/have faced.. When you are out on the trail having "one" of those days and you have run out of tubes and some kind soul stops to help you out. But alas he is on a 26'er and I have a fancy new 27.5'er... Bar that I think its down to the rider!

 

Or am I just over thinking it?

 

I'm told you can stretch a 26 inch tube over a 29er rim.

 

My next bike is a steel HT SS which can take both 650B and 29er wheels.

[RockCoach]

 

The tubes will work on any wheel size, have used both 26r on 20r and vice versa .... just takes a bit of marmalading

 

You beat me to it.

[Eldron]

Me - I like choice. More choice is good.

 

I custom fit all my bikes - stem length, bar width, crank length, cassette ratios etc - an extra wheel choice is great. I'll probably stick to 29er format so that all my bikes are the same but having the option is nice.

 

I'm fairly sure I'll own a 650b bike before I die....

 

Edit: That said - I think the gap between 650b and 26/29 is too small to justify it's existence. I couldn't be bothered to pull the calculator out right now but I reckon a 2.4 650b tyre will not be much smaller than a 29x2.2. The difference is only ~5% to start with. In my mind 5% is small enough to call BS on any bike test.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Eldron

[singletrek]

I am going to sell my bikes now and buy something with 650B wheels. Then I can win.

[Swift01]

@singletrek if you add your 2 wheel sizes up then devide by 2 you will get 650b.......... Thats what happens when your sitting on the fence and ride a 69er. When they said 650b would be the way to go they didn't mean stick a 29er up front and keep the 26er out back ha ha

[T-Bob]

If the 26'ers used to hate the 29'ers and the 29'ers used to hate the 26'er, then who are the 27.5'ers gonna hate on? Will they just fight their corner or make an alliance to hate one of the other wheel sizes on noticeboards the world over. Conversely are the 9'ers and 6'ers going to bury the hatchet and maker point5'er's lives about as much fun as the new (ginger) kid in the class.

 

It's actually getting like 'the numbers' in here!

[DubbelBuys]

Well this way we can keep a our loved 26ers & not break the bank to upgrade to bigger wheels. Just hope it'll fit my bike though if 1 day I decide to do the 650B upgrade.

[RockCoach]

If the 26'ers used to hate the 29'ers and the 29'ers used to hate the 26'er, then who are the 27.5'ers gonna hate on? Will they just fight their corner or make an alliance to hate one of the other wheel sizes on noticeboards the world over. Conversely are the 9'ers and 6'ers going to bury the hatchet and maker point5'er's lives about as much fun as the new (ginger) kid in the class.

 

It's actually getting like 'the numbers' in here!

 

 

I remember when it just was HT vs DS... Or a bit further back it was v-brake vs disks.

[Eldron]

I remember when it just was HT vs DS... Or a bit further back it was v-brake vs disks.

 

Puppy! I remember when it was rigid fork or hang on - there were no suspension forks when I started

[RockCoach]

 

Edit: That said - I think the gap between 650b and 26/29 is too small to justify it's existence. I couldn't be bothered to pull the calculator out right now but I reckon a 2.4 650b tyre will not be much smaller than a 29x2.2. The difference is only ~5% to start with. In my mind 5% is small enough to call BS on any bike test.

 

The 650B is not half way between the 26 and 29er. It is in fact closer to a 26er in size. I just did some maths here and the diffs between 26 and 29 is approximately 10%. I can certainly feel that 10% diifference. So much so that I reckon you should be able to feel a substantial variation in the 650B.