20 Feckin Niners!....

mrmonkfinger

Toasty wrote:

a slack AM bike is rubbish uphill, yet you don't see threads moaning about how AM bikes are rubbish.

AM bikes are rubbish and old hat.

You want a slopestyle/4X bike these days mate, keep up.

Anonymous

Toasty wrote:

a slack AM bike is rubbish uphill

Which in itself is a rubbish statement.

I read all the stuff about slack AM is rubbish for climbing, big travel forks will suck, etc, etc.

No worse climbing on my 66 angle 170mm Nomad than my 69 130mm GT was. If anything it's actually better.

I've even got 750mm bars - noooo! these will making climbing awful!... nope. Fine for me.

supersonic

Manufacturers are starting to realise how important seat angle and position is with regard to weight distribution and handling, not just head angles.

VWsurfbum

deadkenny wrote:

Fine for me.

which is how I feel about my 120mm full suspension 70' 29er

Thing is down here in the south east were lacking in mountains, so having DH rigs or even all mountain bikes don't get as much use as xc bikes.
There are the odd places but still more xc than full on DH, so 29ers are a more regular site.

IShaggy

Am i the only one who can see how ironic this thread is.

It's the fastest growing thread on the forum, full of people complaining about 29ers getting too much publicity. And you wonder why. You're all the architects of your own demise.

Anonymous

We're just in the denial stage. I still refuse to ride a clown bike though :P

IBISMojoHDamon

IShaggy wrote:

Am i the only one who can see how ironic this thread is.

It's the fastest growing thread on the forum, full of people complaining about 29ers getting too much publicity. And you wonder why. You're all the architects of your own demise.

Nobody likes a smart *rse..... Just because you're right, it doesn't make you correct... :0)

IBISMojoHDamon

deadkenny wrote:

Toasty wrote:

a slack AM bike is rubbish uphill

Which in itself is a rubbish statement.

I read all the stuff about slack AM is rubbish for climbing, big travel forks will suck, etc, etc.

No worse climbing on my 66 angle 170mm Nomad than my 69 130mm GT was. If anything it's actually better.

I've even got 750mm bars - noooo! these will making climbing awful!... nope. Fine for me.

I can't believe it, I agree...

160mm rear, 160mm front and it climbs as well as anything my mates ride... I started out on TALAS as I thought 160mm would be too tall for climbing and then I had another issue and was forced to ride my 180mm front and 170mm rear free-ride / DH bike and managed fine other than the weight, but then I'm a 'unit' anyway so it mattered not.
I got me some 750mm bars too, every now and then I clip the odd tree but makes no difference to climbing than when I had 710mm or less...

VWsurfbum

what about one of these?
Freeride 29er

IBISMojoHDamon

Looks okay but it's lacking a back that goes up and down and my back is shot....

VWsurfbum

IBISMojoHDamon wrote:

Looks okay but it's lacking a back that goes up and down and my back is shot....

True. HT's are for beginers anyway

Thewaylander

VWsurfbum wrote:

what about one of these?
Freeride 29er

I was just sick in my mouth just a little bit ;p

VWsurfbum

Thewaylander wrote:

VWsurfbum wrote:

what about one of these?
Freeride 29er

I was just sick in my mouth just a little bit ;p

you know you want it, stop hiding it!

Mental Mickey

36er anyone?

supersonic

RS are producing 650b forks already, available as OEM:

The Northern Monkey

if 29ers/605b becomes 'fashionable', I hope it pushes normal fork prices down lol!

supersonic

It will become popular I think, for longer travel bikes. I see 29ers been pushed more for XC and 'trail', 27.5 as the all mountain choice.

Walkertalker

I will say what has put me of the 29 revolution. For one I am a short guy and a 26" is like a 29" to me and I have a friend that is time obsessed. He has a trail loop that takes him 12 miles this includes running with the bike above his head for one mile. He does this daily and has a Scott carbon 29" hardtail and a Scott Spark 26", full suss. And for the last 6 moths he has been trying to get near to the times his 26" has done, he said the top 20 times are all on his 26". I know why as I do the same loop regulary and there are 5 or 6 stops. The time the 29" makes up is lost on the stops, Gates etc. I know they have been winning some events but I bet the are perfectly suited to free rolling distance. I will stick to 26"s might get some bargains in the future.

njee20

Huh? The 29er loses time because he has to stop at gates? Despite the fact the 29er is lighter (all other things being equal) and is thus easier to lift? How does that work?

cooldad

njee20 wrote:

Huh? The 29er loses time because he has to stop at gates? Despite the fact the 29er is lighter (all other things being equal) and is thus easier to lift? How does that work?

Because no one ever posts random unsubstantiated opinions on the internet.

Mental Mickey

supersonic wrote:

But I think that we will see more '69er' type bikes with 29 rear/26 front.

Other way round isn't it? 29 Front / 26 Rear...at least on all the 69er's Iv'e seen anyway.

Here's one of my favourite's.



So do you or others here think 650b will become more prevalent in the future? It was the fact the wheels size seems such a rarity that put me off, when I saw a good deal of just over 500 quid for a Haro Beasley 1x9, kinda regret not buying it sometimes to be honest.

Rankles

Mental Mickey wrote:

supersonic wrote:

But I think that we will see more '69er' type bikes with 29 rear/26 front.

Other way round isn't it? 29 Front / 26 Rear...at least on all the 69er's Iv'e seen anyway.

Here's one of my favourite's.



So do you or others here think 650b will become more prevalent in the future? It was the fact the wheels size seems such a rarity that put me off, when I saw a good deal of just over 500 quid for a Haro Beasley 1x9, kinda regret not buying it sometimes to be honest.

Uh oh, that's only a few steps away from a penny farthing.

I don't see what the big fuss is about 29ers - they're getting good results, the science is sound, the reviews are great and the top brands are all falling in love with them.

I'll be looking into 29ers when I upgrade next year.

RevellRider

Mental Mickey wrote:

So do you or others here think 650b will become more prevalent in the future? It was the fact the wheels size seems such a rarity that put me off, when I saw a good deal of just over 500 quid for a Haro Beasley 1x9, kinda regret not buying it sometimes to be honest.

I think with the big companies getting behind 650b we'll start to see a lot more. People like Fox and Rock shox were left behind a little when it came to the 29er market and I don't think they'll want to miss out on this a second time around.

Mental Mickey

RevellRider wrote:

Mental Mickey wrote:

So do you or others here think 650b will become more prevalent in the future? It was the fact the wheels size seems such a rarity that put me off, when I saw a good deal of just over 500 quid for a Haro Beasley 1x9, kinda regret not buying it sometimes to be honest.

I think with the big companies getting behind 650b we'll start to see a lot more. People like Fox and Rock shox were left behind a little when it came to the 29er market and I don't think they'll want to miss out on this a second time around.

Thanks for the info, I had no idea Fox & Rockshox were left behind with the 29er's, who is out in front (ahead of both of them) in that regard?

compositepro

the little guys are pushing the concepts though

http://www.awardbikes.co.uk

RevellRider

Mental Mickey wrote:

Thanks for the info, I had no idea Fox & Rockshox were left behind with the 29er's, who is out in front (ahead of both of them) in that regard?

They've more than caught up now, but early market leaders were the likes of Manitou and White Brothers

njee20

The very early 29ers I'm aware of (2005 Gary Fisher Rig and whatever the geared one was called) came with Reba 29ers, and the G2 forks on Gary Fishers were Fox, I'd not say they were left behind as such.

Mental Mickey

Thanks for the info above.

This may sound like a daft question as I'm not into XC racing myself, (just a pootler for fun) but just curious as to whether or not the introduction of 29'' wheels has started producing much faster lap times than previously possible? Perhaps records are starting to be broken?

Another question I have, Are there any rules that state you can't enter a race without the appropriate wheel size, or is is just a 'free for all' and you can enter any race you like with either size preference?

toasty

I don't think many XC courses are as rigidly set in stone, like car racing tracks for example, so I doubt it's something that can be easily compared.

timpop

cooldad wrote:

I read on the internet that 29ers are the future, they are so much better than 26ers that anyone not riding one is an idiot.
I personally want a 30er, which has to be even better.
You are all luddites.

+1
Yeah, losers!