26/27.5/29 Mega Merge Thread.

[X-Man]

My money is on X-man ... Caerus is just stubborn.

 

LOL!!

 

Nooope, I'm over the moon with my 26" Anthem. Love it too much to make way for 3inches...

[fandacious]

 

 

Well failling your logic here, go back to putting on a 21speed groupo on your bike and let me know how that works out for you lol

 

actually its largely a south african phenomenon. In europe most riders prefer 26" They think we're all a slightly touched going gaga over 29"

[covie]

LOL!!

 

Nooope, I'm over the moon with my 26" Anthem. Love it too much to make way for 3inches...

 

Thats exactly what i had before i saw the light, poor anthem just gathered dust for three months so i sold the old lady

[ramsew]

Couple of differences that changes the feel of the ride. Tapered head tube for a stiffer front end which makes handling better. Hydro-formed tubes that looks awesome, is allot more stiff around the BB and 80 grams lighter than old Large frame. And the ride is a little bit softer than before on the arse. But the best advantage over its older brother is an awesome paint job that doesn't scratch when you only look at it before a ride. I got a buyer for my frame and actually wanted a 2012 model to start with building the bike last year August, so thats why I upgraded. Seriously awesome frame, enjoying every moment more and more.

-

 

The paint job on my EMD is also knackered.

 

I'm torn between a 26er FS trail bike or new Niner (I think I love the Niner brand ). My EMD is fast and handles ST, roots, rocks & drop-offs (small ones ) with ease, its also pretty nimble - think the only downside is the physical battering my shoulders, arms and legs take after 3 hrs of so.

 

Anyway I'll not replacing my EMD until I improve my riding no point getting a better bike until I've got the skills to push the old one to its limits!

[Caerus]

My money is on X-man ... Caerus is just stubborn.

Oi, or just can't afford it at the moment I'm going the inbetweener route

[covie]

Oi, or just can't afford it at the moment I'm going the inbetweener route

 

 

Yeah you would lol.

[Caerus]

My money is on X-man ... Caerus is just stubborn.

I was trying to learn to j-hop yesterday over a trunk on my 26" hardtail to improve my "intermediate skills", now you expect me to do it on a 29" bike, bwahh ha ha. I'll only be able to bunnyhop a twig then.

[Caerus]

Yeah you would lol.

Its the reason I chose the new frame and fork I just got. Will see how it rolls when my buddy gets his 650B wheels built up next week

[Kranswurm]

I have fallen in love

 

I road a mates Stumpy S Works Carbon HT 29er with Crank Bros carbon wheels and XX 2x 10

 

What a dream and light as a feather.

point and shoot

 

I am going to borrow it for this coming weekend to try properly

Interestingly I ride a XL Santa Cruze 26" FS but this is a large and fits like a glove

Is that normal for 29ers?

[covie]

I have fallen in love

 

I road a mates Stumpy S Works Carbon HT 29er with Crank Bros carbon wheels and XX 2x 10

 

What a dream and light as a feather.

point and shoot

 

I am going to borrow it for this coming weekend to try properly

Interestingly I ride a XL Santa Cruze 26" FS but this is a large and fits like a glove

Is that normal for 29ers?

 

 

Nope common misconception, framesize stays framesize, depends on the geometry regardless if its for 26 or 29, I rode a large 26" giant, and i ride an XL 29" rocky mountain, because your wheels are bigger it doesnt mean the frame size gets bigger. well maybe the chainstay's by about 2cm but thats it.

[SwissVan]

The irony is that if you check my posts from last year I was the biggest whiner about 29'ers being crap. Got myself a rude awakening.

 

 

I've never been keen on the 29er believing it to be more marketing crap than anything else, but seeing I've never tried one before kept those thoughts to myself.....mostly.

 

Riding yesterday I kept getting those rude awakeing thoughts....

 

The only area I felt was negative was climbing [EDIT: Bunny hopping and wheelieng also felt harder], but then the Specialized Camber test bike is heavier than my Zula, going to weigh them both tonight to see by how much, but it did feel harder on climbs longer than 100m....

 

Now to try get hold of an Epic S Works carbon model for a test weekend....

Edited June 25, 2012 by SwissVan

[covie]

I've never been keen on the 29er believing it to be more marketing crap than anything else, but seeing I've never tried one before kept those thoughts to myself.....mostly.

 

Riding yesterday I kept getting those rude awakeing thoughts....

 

The only area I felt was negative was climbing, but then the Specialized Camber test bike is heavier than my Zula, going to weigh them both tonight to see by how much, but it did feel harder on climbs longer than 100m....

 

Now to try get hold of an Epic S Works carbon model for a test weekend....

 

Swiss couple of things, here,

 

1. the camber is more aimed at the Trail market than the XC market so yeah it will not climb as effeciantly,

2. The camber is one of the lightest AM/Trail bikes out of the box but nowhere near what we expect weight wize from XC bikes.

3. Most of the stock bikes have too many spacers on the headset lifting the bars too high making it uncomfortable, either drop spacers or invert your stem.

4. Not sure if you were on 2x10 but if you are yeah 2x10 takes some getting use too.

[Eldron]

Personally I think the biggest myth creator in the 26/29 debate is that people don't compare apples with apples. They have a alu/SLX/x7 specced bike then ride a super light carbon Spesh uber bike and think 29ers are the shiz.

 

Or like Swissy - ride a lower spec bike then think 29ers are worse. Swissy did the right thing and tried to define 29er versus 26er and plain bike difference though - good one ya ;-)

 

Unless you are a well experienced rider and have ridden a multitude of bikes its quite difficult to sparate what the 29er is giving you and what the quality difference is giving you... A good 26er beats a bad 29er any day of the week - likewise a good 29er beats a bad 26er.

 

Personally I think the two bikes are of equal quality the 29er is better. Unless you're an AM/DH rider. For me the ride benefits of a 29er outweigh the extra weight and tight turn disadvantages.

[SwissVan]

Swiss couple of things, here,

 

1. the camber is more aimed at the Trail market than the XC market so yeah it will not climb as effeciantly,

2. The camber is one of the lightest AM/Trail bikes out of the box but nowhere near what we expect weight wize from XC bikes.

3. Most of the stock bikes have too many spacers on the headset lifting the bars too high making it uncomfortable, either drop spacers or invert your stem.

4. Not sure if you were on 2x10 but if you are yeah 2x10 takes some getting use too.

 

Yeah I realize that, unfortunately they only had the Camber and Stumpjumper in size L to test.

 

I found it quite comfortable, all I did was swop the brake levers around and fit my pedals, left everything else as it was in the shop. It has less spacers than my Zula but the bar heigh relative to seat height is about the same.

 

It was 2x10, not sure which ratios and I only rode shortish climbs but never felt like i needed more gears. The only thing I noticed was the large size difference between front chainrings which I thought might cause some shifting problems, but never had a problem to drop or change up other than it was a bit slow to change at low cadences.

[SwissVan]

Personally I think the biggest myth creator in the 26/29 debate is that people don't compare apples with apples. They have a alu/SLX/x7 specced bike then ride a super light carbon Spesh uber bike and think 29ers are the shiz.

 

Or like Swissy - ride a lower spec bike then think 29ers are worse. Swissy did the right thing and tried to define 29er versus 26er and plain bike difference though - good one ya ;-)

 

Unless you are a well experienced rider and have ridden a multitude of bikes its quite difficult to sparate what the 29er is giving you and what the quality difference is giving you... A good 26er beats a bad 29er any day of the week - likewise a good 29er beats a bad 26er.

 

Personally I think the two bikes are of equal quality the 29er is better. Unless you're an AM/DH rider. For me the ride benefits of a 29er outweigh the extra weight and tight turn disadvantages.

 

My sole purpose was to try the clown wheel size on some forest type single track to test their turning ability, while it did not feel as nimble as my Zula, the Camber did not lack any sort nimbleness.

Oh now i remember something else, the bars were so wiiiide compared to my usual set up. I would expect that 29ers would need to have a wider bar set up than a 26er?

[Kranswurm]

Personally I think the biggest myth creator in the 26/29 debate is that people don't compare apples with apples. They have a alu/SLX/x7 specced bike then ride a super light carbon Spesh uber bike and think 29ers are the shiz.

 

Or like Swissy - ride a lower spec bike then think 29ers are worse. Swissy did the right thing and tried to define 29er versus 26er and plain bike difference though - good one ya ;-)

 

Unless you are a well experienced rider and have ridden a multitude of bikes its quite difficult to sparate what the 29er is giving you and what the quality difference is giving you... A good 26er beats a bad 29er any day of the week - likewise a good 29er beats a bad 26er.

 

Personally I think the two bikes are of equal quality the 29er is better. Unless you're an AM/DH rider. For me the ride benefits of a 29er outweigh the extra weight and tight turn disadvantages.

 

Yes well I do consider myself a well experienced rider and have ridden a multiude of bikes.Plus my 26er is a good un so I am talking from a good base

Anyway there is nothing wrong with comparing apples with pears as long as you know what you are comparing