HELP PLEASE - 26" vs 29"

[f40pilot]

You'll find that niners are on the brink of becoming the industry standard over the next few years.

 

I was stuck in the same pickle as I've always raced a 26", both hardtail and 4" susser. I wanted something that gave more grip and small-bump compliance than the hardtail but didn't have the maintenance costs and mushy feel of the short-susser.

 

I was also worried about slow-speed handling as I pretty much only do lap races, both here and abroad. Luckily I have very cool mates with a variety of niners and could allay all of my fears.

 

I found that the good framesets turned just as well as I'd ever need but 29ers are very sensitive to tyre weight, watch that.

 

Industry insiders reckon that 4" 26" bikes will disappear soon!

[buckshot]

Well size dose count.

A senior manager at work has a 29" Yeti and loves it. Says he will never go back to 26". He is also a rather big guy.

 

yeti makes a 29er? this has been a rumor for about a year now with nothing to show for it. yeti themselves aren't even convinced about the size. 

[crashtestdummy]

I have a 26" susser and and 29" HT, and use them for different types of riding, the 26" more for multi day races because I feel it's more versatile and handles a wider range of terein with more comfort. The 29er is fantastic for all the reasons already mentioned, but like F40 said watch that tire weight ! 

[jayz]

Blah Blah Blah! really if the 29er was so great, all the top riders would have been on it years ago. (no story about parts availibility please.) Now even another size in between the two is coming out. If you a race snake for weight go hardtail 26. The top full sussers now all are 10 and below in weight so they are great for not taking as much punishment,be it a 45km race or stage event. Dont let the SALESMAN get you. You have both Hard and soft tail 26 stick with it. As the saying will always go " your bike is only as good as you are" 29 or 26.   

[Eldron]

Blah Blah Blah! really if the 29er was so great' date=' all the top riders would have been on it years ago. (no story about parts availibility please.) Now even another size in between the two is coming out. If you a race snake for weight go hardtail 26. The top full sussers now all are 10 and below in weight so they are great for not taking as much punishment,be it a 45km race or stage event. Dont let the SALESMAN get you. You have both Hard and soft tail 26 stick with it. As the saying will always go " your bike is only as good as you are" 29 or 26.    [/quote']

 

"Size doesn't count" - thats whats all men say when they're 3" shorter than the rest of us

[jayz]

Ha Ha good one, I guess we all wish we had 26 or 29 INCH.The way I handle my problem is I undo some Knots when I need to Anyway this debate will do its rounds every now and then. 29 no 26,sram no shimano,fox no sram,mtb no road. At least we all have a forum to try and convince one another we are all knowing and rite. CHEERS

[f40pilot]

Dude, where've you been? The top guys are all going 29". Check the results overseas, Todd Wells won the Sea Otter XC on a Spesh 29er, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski took the US Nationals on a Fisher carbon 29er, etc.

[f40pilot]

Do you know how much it costs to run a sub-10 short-susser 26er for a season? The beauty of the hardtail niners is that you get 80mm small-bump absorption without having to rebuild your linkages after every marathon event. Comfort? Who cares? I never had the time to think about comfort when I was racing...

[jayz]

DUUUDE WHERE WERE you not one race last year on the world Xc circuit was won on a 29niner of any kind,nor the world marathon champs.I can see you did some low flying in your day. We are all not FIGHTER PILOTS so some do like the comfort. If you spend some time in a bike shop you will hear stories everyday from customers who are converting to full suss just because it is that much easier on their body and enjoyable. As stated in my opinion 26 carbon hardtail for the race snakes who can take the punishment like yourself.Your hub name should have been granite.   

[evolve]

I suggest you head back to the store and tell the dude you wanna test ride the 29er. Once you have done i can nearly assure you that you will not back onto a 26" wheel ever again. I have a hardtail and full suss 29er's and cannot find a reason to ride a 26 again.

[rock]

I just bought one of them big wheelers, just waiting or a few more parts to get the beast rolling......soon to be the hub's shortest 29er rider......

[Brian Fantana]

Hi duringd, I did a little test of my own by comparing a 29er single speed to a 26" geared hardtail on a tight XC track.

 

I did the test on the woodridge xc course.  On my two test laps both bikes performed well and the 26" geared bike was only 40seconds faster than the 29er single speed on the 7km track.

 

I know this test was not completely scientific, but it gave me an inidication that for my riding style a geared 29er will be faster than a geared 26" bike. 

 

As for tight turns on singletrack, a 29er handles it great, you just need to get accustomed to the bigger wheels.

 

29er makes perfect sense to me.  It's only a matter of time that before my 26" hardtail will be replaced with a 29er hardtail.

 

Another nice thing about a 29er is that you can run 2 chainwheels with ease, I would say 36/22 or 39/22, as you don't really need a 44 and because of the better traction of 29ers you don't need such a small granny gear.  I can stand and pedal on some technical climbs with my 29er where I would not dream to get out of the saddle on my 26".

 

Here are the result of my non-scientific back yard test:

 

Woodridge XC Course (Natoinal standard course - Van Stadens Valley)

 

Bikes

 

GT Zaskar Pro (aliminium - full xt) 26" (10.5kg)

GT peace 9r single speed (steel - xt crank) (12.4kg)

 

 

 

26"

 

Time       23:50

Avg HR - 168bpm

 

29er single speed

 

Time       24:38

Avg HR - 173bpm

 

You really go faster downhill on a 29er and you have good traction on a variety of terrain.

 

Shane Janse van Vuuren is a top vet rider and uses 29er, so does Andrew Mclean and Shan Wilson.

 

I think a lot of 29ers will be seen at this years epic.

 

In the end it all depends on what works for you, and not what will catch your compeitiors' eyes.

Stephan2010-01-01 05:35:05

[narra]

 

I just bought one of them big wheelers' date=' just waiting or a few more parts to get the beast rolling......soon to be the hub's shortest 29er rider......[/quote']

 

Rock, What did you buy ?

 

[jayz]

I suggest you head back to the store and tell the dude you wanna test ride the 29er. Once you have done i can nearly assure you that you will not back onto a 26" wheel ever again. I have a hardtail and full suss 29er's and cannot find a reason to ride a 26 again.

 

Well done your 29 inch noddy badge is in the post.(i threw in post and packaging)with a smiley

[jagwil]

Do you know how much it costs to run a sub-10 short-susser 26er for a season? The beauty of the hardtail niners is that you get 80mm small-bump absorption without having to rebuild your linkages after every marathon event. Comfort? Who cares? I never had the time to think about comfort when I was racing...

 

 

WHY ??

[f40pilot]

Why can have a convoluted answer! Have you ever serviced your linkages?

A summer marathon race usually means linkage bearings ingest quite a bit of mud (contrary to the statement "sealed cartridge" mud gets in everywhere). Failing to purge the gunk and get some fresh grease in there means that the bearings lock solid, start to rotate in their seats and very quickly ovalise their respective seats in their swingarms/rockers/front triangles. I used to have at least two high-end bikes per week that needed new swingarms/rocker assemblies, etc. Once even had a Yeti wherein not even the front triangle was salvageable because the bearings had locked solid, ovalised the rockers and the linkage bolts had fused the whole lot into the frame!

 

SA mud can be very abrasive (see, even the soil is hardegat) and that means that euro and american recommendations generally can be halved in the summer months.

 

Servicing the linkages after a big race (a la wet crater cruise) is a good precautionary procedure, it's expensive but cheaper than needing a new frameset every 3-4 months!