short guys 29er

[Eldron]

Eldron's 2c.

 

Height and wheel size are only semi related.

 

More important is:

Riding style - light spinners should tend towards smaller wheels. Grinders and power riders towards bigger wheels.

Riding terrain - gnarlier tends towards smaller wheels, marathon/dirt road tends towards bigger wheels.

Riding position - really aggressive(low) positions on small 29ers need zero stack headsets and/or inverted stems. If a really low position isn't important then wheel size is irrelevant.

 

Ultimately the best idea is to ride as many bikes as you can and pick the one you like most. Even then - same sized frame and wheels can feel different across brands.

 

Then there is colour, brand loyalty, what your friends ride, what is available, price etc.

 

Buying a bike is tough :-)

[Furbz]

I am 1.67 and have a couple of small 29ers - the one thing to look at on a 29er is standover height - I can use most medium and small frames from a length point of view - but stick the front wheel on a 6 inch lift - as if you were going up a hill and then see if you have standover clearance - otherwise you are going to be doing some interesting looking restarts on hills.... if you can even get restarted sometimes.

 

The thing with the small frames that annoys me is that plenty of them will not take a full size bottle - especially on the full suspension bikes.

 

thanks for this, its something i need to actually pay some attention to. i have yet to have the need to dismount on a accent, but then again the accents i have done have not been overly steep or technical.

i'm actually going to go out of my way to test this as its a very good point.

 

 

The one other inescapable compromise is the head tube length. On a small niner, often the designers will have a headache trying to ensure that the overall height of the front end is kept as low as possible. The only way to limit this problem is either by way of keeping the travel very low at the front (max 80/100mm) or putting on a ridiculously small head tube. There is also the option of inverting the stem, but that is a hack job IMO and should not be done except in extreme cases.

 

That, and the case of "squeezing the wheels in" is a real concern, if you don't get the geometry right. Try as you might to justify it, but if your foot comes into contact with the front wheel when turning either left or right, then the bike's geometry is compromised due to the inclusion of the bigger wheels - and trust me, in this case the extra 1.5" does count.

 

So no - not all small 29ers will be good for you. It takes a good designer, with a good handle on kinematics and design principles (not to mention logic and good old common sense) to design a good small 29er, that will not have the problems that others have mentioned above. As soon as you increase the frame size, these problems go away (foot clearance, front end height etc) due to the increased measurements. But again, the geometry is key.

 

 

indeed, its not as straightforward as people might think.

 

i have short legs. so much so that riding a KTM 200 motorbike, i drop it often in slow technical sections just because i cant get a foot on the ground! very frustrating

 

i'm going to research the hell out of this and will report back. it seems alot of people have the same issue as me.

[Furbz]

Eldron's 2c.

 

Height and wheel size are only semi related.

 

More important is:

Riding style - light spinners should tend towards smaller wheels. Grinders and power riders towards bigger wheels.

Riding terrain - gnarlier tends towards smaller wheels, marathon/dirt road tends towards bigger wheels.

Riding position - really aggressive(low) positions on small 29ers need zero stack headsets and/or inverted stems. If a really low position isn't important then wheel size is irrelevant.

 

Ultimately the best idea is to ride as many bikes as you can and pick the one you like most. Even then - same sized frame and wheels can feel different across brands.

 

Then there is colour, brand loyalty, what your friends ride, what is available, price etc.

 

Buying a bike is tough :-)

 

Ride Style: Lightweight, i tend to spin at 90-100rpm

Ride Terrain: Cross country more than anything. most technical stuff i do is the stuff they throw into cross country races.

Riding Position: i am no pro, but no slouch either. i am flexible and getting low is no problem. but if i'm not really racing is it necessary? i mostly just enjoy carving up a few trails with mates.

 

so that makes for small wheel, then big wheel, followed by indifferent.

hence my and i think most peoples issue when they fall into the shorter people category.

[Eldron]

Ride Style: Lightweight, i tend to spin at 90-100rpm

Ride Terrain: Cross country more than anything. most technical stuff i do is the stuff they throw into cross country races.

Riding Position: i am no pro, but no slouch either. i am flexible and getting low is no problem. but if i'm not really racing is it necessary? i mostly just enjoy carving up a few trails with mates.

 

so that makes for small wheel, then big wheel, followed by indifferent.

hence my and i think most peoples issue when they fall into the shorter people category.

 

My recommendation would be 650B.

 

The gods of 29er will kill me because I'm a disciple at their church but the high cadence combined with the XCO riding stuff needs a slightly smaller wheel I reckon.

 

Don't forget that 650B isn't in the middle as most people think. It's about 40% of the way to 29er.

 

Try and ride as many 650B and 29ers as you can though - some makes just work better than others.

[jcza]

My recommendation would be 650B.

 

The gods of 29er will kill me because I'm a disciple at their church but the high cadence combined with the XCO riding stuff needs a slightly smaller wheel I reckon.

 

Don't forget that 650B isn't in the middle as most people think. It's about 40% of the way to 29er.

 

Try and ride as many 650B and 29ers as you can though - some makes just work better than others.

 

Does Furbz not mean XCM when he says cross country?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Does Furbz not mean XCM when he says cross country?

 

He do... I fink. That's the commonly accepted discipline when referring to "cross country"

Edited January 10, 2014 by cpt armpies mayhem

[NINER_boy]

Please see this thread

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/134717-29er-or-275/

 

A lot to do with sizing and bike choice.

 

Happy hunting

[jcza]

He do... I fink. That's the commonly accepted discipline when referring to "cross country"

 

In that case 29r all the way

[Showtime]

Again, depending on the bike and the geometry of the frame, the OP may have to worry about it.

 

I just based my comment on this in the first post:

 

"currently i have a medium Giant XTC composite 29er

it feels ok to ride, but i suspect a small would be ideal."

 

I've been there, the medium felt ok but I was always wondering if I should be on a small. It's negative thinking that affects your confidence and makes it difficult to enjoy your riding as you should. There is a range of dimensions that will work for a rider, it doesn't have to fit to nearest mm.

[Jewbacca]

The one other inescapable compromise is the head tube length. On a small niner, often the designers will have a headache trying to ensure that the overall height of the front end is kept as low as possible. The only way to limit this problem is either by way of keeping the travel very low at the front (max 80/100mm) or putting on a ridiculously small head tube. There is also the option of inverting the stem, but that is a hack job IMO and should not be done except in extreme cases.

 

That, and the case of "squeezing the wheels in" is a real concern, if you don't get the geometry right. Try as you might to justify it, but if your foot comes into contact with the front wheel when turning either left or right, then the bike's geometry is compromised due to the inclusion of the bigger wheels - and trust me, in this case the extra 1.5" does count.

 

So no - not all small 29ers will be good for you. It takes a good designer, with a good handle on kinematics and design principles (not to mention logic and good old common sense) to design a good small 29er, that will not have the problems that others have mentioned above. As soon as you increase the frame size, these problems go away (foot clearance, front end height etc) due to the increased measurements. But again, the geometry is key.

 

Completely agree. Some bike manufacturers have got it terrible wrong.

 

I did suggest he look at the lengths and geometry of the frames he was looking at to avoid this.

 

As with everything, some companies get it right and some very wrong across the board. Small 29ers are no different

[Eldron]

 

 

Does Furbz not mean XCM when he says cross country?

 

Uh oh.

 

Furbz - if you do in fact mean 70km on mostly dirt road and jeep track then its gotta be a 29er. If you mean real XCO then 650B.

 

Just my 2c od course.

 

Well spotted J!

[SeaBee]

Amazing how often XC is (around here) confused with "across the country"...

Edited January 10, 2014 by SeaBee

[Mr X]

I am 1.72m and I ride the Anthem 29er medium. The bike is slightly too big for me in that the top tube is too long. The standover height is also not great. The small will fit me much better in 29er. The Anthem 27.5 small seems just too small for me I think the medium in 27.5 will fit me better. For Giant bikes 1.72m rider length is exactly in between small and medium. Also take into consideration that the chainstays are very long for the Giant 29er (and saddle fore and aft position), but in 27.5 the chainstays are nice and short allowing the saddle to be move forwards without negatively impacting the handling.

 

I would say for 29er Giant definitely go for small. 27.5 also try to fit on the small. Another plus would be the 170mm crank length on the small Giants. I am going to stop using 175 cranks and switch over to 170. Measure your leg length and check what is the optimum crank length for you here http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/cranks/cyclist_crank_length_calculator.html , you would be suprised to find that 175mm cranks is meant for tall people.

[gtr1]

I think you should get 1 of each, and don't forget HT and full sus :-)

 

Just kidding. But forget about medium and small and check the actual size in inches. Each manufacturer has their own sizing, so a medium in one could be 16" and another 17". I think a Spez is 17,5". All makes a difference. Also the frame geometry changes depending on the cost. More high end more racey. So not as simple as do I need a small or a medium.

 

I ride a 52" road bike but ride a medium Scott which is 17" in a 29'er. Works fine for me. I also tend to have shorter legs in relation to top body. My 26'er though was a small Merida which was 16".

 

Go ride the bikes and see what feels comfortable. Or have a bike fit.

 

Not even considering the type of riding as that brings in a whole new dimension.

Edited January 10, 2014 by gtr1