29'er or stick to the norm

C0LL0

A bit of advise needed,if anyone can advise I would be grateful.

I will be buying a new hardtail in the next couple of months, originally I was going to stick with 26" wheels, but now I read more about 29'ers, what I would like to know is :-

1, as I will be doing some racing on it, will a 29'er be eligable for XC events ?
2, what are the advantages/disadvantages for buying one?
3, I read that because of wheel size, gearing is different, but which way does it go? higher or lower?
4, question of cost here, I would love a carbon frame, but is it much lighter than a slim walled aluminium frame?

Any help at all very welcome

The Rookie

29er are eligeable, yes.

29ers roll faster, the grip/rolling resistance balance is always better, but they have more inertia to get rolling (and stop) and also lengthen the gearing slightly which may or may not cause issues for you, for example if you use lowest gear on the middle ring a lot on a 26 you'll find yourself into the granny on a 29er with the same gears, also ultimately the lowest gear will be taller (which may or may not be an issue FOR YOU).

Some cheaper carbon frames aren't much (if any) lighter than the better ally ones, the dearer ones however are a lot lighter - what sort of budget are you looking at?

Simon

Long_Time_Lurker

For me personally, if I only had one bike, I would go for a 26" wheel.
(However my next bike - to complement my existing 26" MTB - will be a 29er.)

quattrojames

My 29er is great, I find it addictively fast. I reckon you need to be 5'10" plus to maximise the benefit of them personally.

Steve_F

At the XC/endurance events I've been at this year it seems that 29ers are the ones to be on. Most of the fast guys seem to be riding them which says a lot.

I love mine for that type of riding but it's not my only bike by a long shot!!

Try one, you'll have to try out a lot before you commit to buying surely so blag/borrow/hire one to see if you like it.

felix.london

My next bike is going to be a proper DH sled;

http://www.roseversand.com/article/rose ... aid:446839


But after that it's gonna have to be a 29er - have fallen in love with the Stumpy;

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBC ... spid=45865

Long_Time_Lurker

felix.london wrote:

My next bike is going to be a proper DH sled;
http://www.roseversand.com/article/rose ... aid:446839

Just to say - that looks like one hell of a beast. Dare you to get the purple and white one...

29ers - I'm waiting for my LBS to get hold of the latest Specialized bikes so that I can have a test run. Tried the Trek XCaliber and was very impressed.

pilch

quattrojames wrote:

My 29er is great, I find it addictively fast. I reckon you need to be 5'10" plus to maximise the benefit of them personally.

yes and no... I think if you are 'taller' then you will possibly notice a 'proportionally' bigger benefit, but i'm a touch under 5'8" and changing to a 29er has improved my riding by a long way...

I would say that the larger wheels are more obvious on my small frame, but hey looks aren't everything

quattrojames

I now think 26's look odd

Glad it works well for your smaller frame too

phal44

Well I recently got a 2011 Rumblefish 2 and even though I went into it pretty blindly I'm definitely happy with the purchase lol

felix.london

@ Long Time Lurker even if it was half the price I still don't think I'd have it.

There's an epic 29er in my lbs - will take it out on Sunday & Monday and see what all the fuss is about. Taking out their Enduro tomorrow

C0LL0

Thanks for the replies, I think I've made my mind up, a 29er for me I thinks, that stumpjumper looks the business doesn't it.

Has anyone heard of Trigon bikes?, info I've been told is that they have made frames for years for differnt makes but now are selling their own ???