29ers...here to stay or fade away?

[Tumbleweed]

GoLefty!!, are we looking at a similar timeframe as the 29er for the 650b to catch on? as you said in your post, the major players are watching. many have commited to the 29er, including a biggie like giant. they have component and frame interests, but only one tyre manufacturer so far. does it not also run the danger of attracting the "fad" status?

[Guest Agteros]

Just imagine telling people you are riding a 650b'er

29er sounds just way better!

 

[parabola]

 

GoLefty: Don't be a dingdong 

 

Having a dingdong day used to be a good thing....

 

The guys made himself into a household expression overnight.

Don't be a dingdong today!

 

Its pretty catchy.

[Slowbee]

i like dingdong moron .. its cool.

 

 

just a question tho'

 

Will 29'ers find themselves into the "mass" market of the XX start groups?

 

Also why are 29'ers not on road bikes ? (or am i uninformed?)

 

[Guest Agteros]

 

i like dingdong moron .. its cool.

 

 

just a question tho'

 

Will 29'ers find themselves into the "mass" market of the XX start groups?

 

Also why are 29'ers not on road bikes ? (or am i uninformed?)

 

 

But is a 700C rim not the equivalent of a 29" rim?

 

700C Road bicycle wheels / ISO 622

Touring, race, and cyclo-cross

bicycles may have vastly different design goals for their wheels. The

lightest possible weight and optimum aerodynamic performance are

beneficial for road bicycles,

while for cyclo-cross strength gains importance, and for touring

bicycles strength becomes even more important. However this diameter of

rim, identical in diameter to the "29er" rim, is the by far the most

common on these styles of bicycles. It rolls more easily than smaller

diameter tires. Road wheels may be designed for tubular or clincher

tires, commonly referred to as "700C" tires.

 

[Slowbee]

thanks backox, so road bikes already have 29'er rims, just thinner.

 

so 700c rims are then standard on road bikes?

 

[Flowta]

 

GoLefty!!' date=' are we looking at a similar timeframe as the 29er for the 650b to catch on? as you said in your post, the major players are watching. many have commited to the 29er, including a biggie like giant. they have component and frame interests, but only one tyre manufacturer so far. does it not also run the danger of attracting the "fad" status? [/quote']

 

I'm afraid Pacenti, Kenda and Schwalbe all make 650B tyres, there are a couple more in development.

 

Good resource for tyres sizes, etc.

http://mtbtires.com/site2/

 

I believe the 29er and 650B will be around for a while.

 

 

 

[Slowbee]

so if 29'ers are not for everyone because they change the frame geometry for shorter "smaller" people then why do these size wheels work on cyclocross bikes?

 

and while thinking of this - is cyclocross in europe not similar to some of our mtn bike races (not knowing anything I am judging by commets of how "hard" mtn bike races are overseas in terms of technical ability)

 

[Johan Bornman]

Talking of which... I saw a Trek 69er the other day at CycleLab. It looked like a hyena with the 26" at the back ant the 29" at the front.  Can anyone tell me what the real benefits of having the mix are all about?

 

Plenty real benefits. It makes it impossible to interchange your front and rear tyres, it gives you lots of nudge-nudge wink-wink joke opportunities when someone asks you what type of bike it is; it helps those who cannot make up their minds to remain sitting on the fence;.....

 

 

It is all BS. 

[GoLefty!!]

CYCLOcross bikes don't have moving suspension. They are also more similar to road bikes. In a full suspension bike the wheel has too move within a space to achieve the suspension travel. The bigger the wheel the more space is needed to accomodate them. the big wheel works well with a hardtail but for a fullsusser it has limitations.

 

The 650b is at the moment a fad too because it too is a niche. One of the fads or niches will win because it will simply be too expensive to maintain 3 different wheel systems going.

 

The 29er rim is similar in diameter to a road rim at 622mm. The 650B is 584mm and is a old standard that was used on tandems and touring bikes made in France.

Conventional MTB rim size is 551mm.

 

So with 650B being somewhere in the middle of the 26" and 29" (28" in some countries) it has many benefits for full suspension mtb in that it allows for adequate frame clearance, the forks don;t have to be as long and therefore can be made stiffer. Bottom Bracket height is also less of an issue than it is with a 29er frame.

 

is there place for both sizes?

 

perhaps but I doubt it. Full suspension frames dominate the market at the moment and the packaging requirements for these will determine the lifespan of the 29er.

 

650B or 27 and 1/2er just makes more sense from a frame and suspension design perspective.

 

Which ever format wins, my Lefty is compatible

 

but my money is on 650B

 

 

[Tumbleweed]

 

GoLefty!!' date=' are we looking at a similar timeframe as the 29er for the 650b to catch on? as you said in your post, the major players are watching. many have commited to the 29er, including a biggie like giant. they have component and frame interests, but only one tyre manufacturer so far. does it not also run the danger of attracting the "fad" status? [/quote']I'm afraid Pacenti, Kenda and Schwalbe all make 650B tyres, there are a couple more in development.Good resource for tyres sizes, etc.http://mtbtires.com/site2/I believe the 29er and 650B will be around for a while.

 

 

 

thanks. the link on the original link was kinda dated and even said the pacenti would be available in september.

[Tumbleweed]

okay, but is it the holy grail? is this where we stop?

[NotSoBigBen]

Circus bikes, that's what they are I tell ya

[GoLefty!!]

who knows. someone may decide that a 600mm rim is perfect due to the symmetry of the number. of perhaps someone will invent the Pie wheel size system where the diameter is perfectly divisible by pi. .....oh hold on, I just invent it....[shuffles off to patent office]

 

Golefty!! now owns the patents to the follwing wheel concept:

 

[number]pi

 

 

frikken ingenious....

 

 

The patent covers the any wheel with a number x pi.

the benefit to this wheel is that it is round.

 

 

[Kiwi]

I think the major players are waiting to see which system will prevail before committing.

29er has been around and the market pull has been significant enough to warrant investment into 29er technology. However' date=' 650B has been around only a few years and already riders who compare 650B to 29er prefer 650B.

so although 29 is maturing, 650B is catching it up fast and I believe by the time most mtb'ers have cottoned onto the bigger wheel, the 650B will be the prefered route to acheive this because:

they ride as well as 29"wheels
they are lighter
they are stronger
they don;t look as stupid
they allow longer travel to remain.

at the moment 29 is limited to about 100mm travel. A 140mm travel 29 will look super stupid  and be significantly heavier due to teh longer fork legs and bigger rear triangles needed to accomodate the wheel movement.

650B is the better compromise, there no Dindongyness about this, its simple math, geometry and proportion (all related btw)

[/quote']

 

7" travel DH 29er on the left.

 

 

And in action:

 

 

 

 

[GoLefty!!]

that is one fugly machine.

 

notice how ungainly the front end looks,

notice how far aft of the headtube the downtube joins the frame.

 

no thanks, I would not touch that thing with a barge pole.

 

just because it can be done does not mean that it should be done.