Do I need a 29er?

sdavies141

Hi All,

I got a Zesty 214, and have ridden it extremely hard for the last 18 months everything from Trail centres, down hill and around the peaks. It works perfectly really well, especially when I put Lyriks up front which make a big difference for big jumps etc.

I have been wondering what benefit a lighter hard tail 29er would have for riding around the peaks, especially when riding from my house in Manchester.

I am pretty tall (195cm) and want a quick debate on whether or not it is worth getting a mid proced 29er for this sort of thing.

Looking at either an On-One inbred 29er, New Canyon 29er, or the Surly Ogre ..... Should I spen the £1000 on a new bike?

Cheers

Sam

YeehaaMcgee

No. Nobody needs one.

warpcow

sdavies141 wrote:

I am pretty tall (195cm) and want a quick debate on whether or not it is worth getting a mid proced 29er for this sort of thing.

What sort of thing? Are you meaning to get rid of the Zesty and replace with a 29er, or to get a 29er for gentler stuff?

Either way, the answer is to try some. There's no such thing as need when it comes to bikes. Just ride what you're happy with and feels good to you.

passout

If doing slightly longer distance stuff then just review your tyre choice. Or if doing a lot of road stuff & mixing it, then get a cross bike (see vid towards the bottom of this page: http://road.cc/content/news/56886-just- ... ster-video). In short, no - you don't.

sdavies141

Planning to keep the Zesty, as it is grrrreat fun to ride and with the stiffer frobnt end, bigger travel and better rear hub I think it is perfect for me. The idea of getting the 29er is to have another bike orientated more towards quick XC riding, with a bigger proportion of road riding

Sam

The Rookie

N+1 satisfied, yes of course you NEED one....

Road riding....no not sure I get that bit.....you'll be cshaving your legs next!

passout

Cross bikes have their place, see : www.vimeo.com/11695455
OK, they are more difficult to ride but at least you'd be getting a bike which clearly has different attributes. It would be my choice.

njee20

Are you some sort of 'cross bike campaigner? :?

I'd have a 29er or a road bike (if you want to ride on the road) rather than a cross bike, had 3, but just don't really do it for me - jack of all trades master of none.

felix.london

Why 29er? I think I'd be doing a nice lightweight XC build based around an On-One Carbon Whippet @ £350, RS SID RL @ £315 and a set of Stan's Crest on Switch Evo's @ £200

njee20

I wouldn't buy a 26" wheeled hardtail for XC any more.

sdavies141

I think a 29er suits the fact I am 6ft 3" so that is the reason for it, the road riding element is simply riding from my house in manchester out to rivington or the peaks prior to get out rather than driving there. I have a Surly road bike so this would be my third bike .... thus debating if I really need one!

Hmmmm lets suppose I was going for one what would be your choice in the £800 - £1k bracket

passout

njee20 wrote:

Are you some sort of 'cross bike campaigner? :?

I'd have a 29er or a road bike (if you want to ride on the road) rather than a cross bike, had 3, but just don't really do it for me - jack of all trades master of none.

No, I'm just hoping to get one for Xmas! (had them in the past). I take the point of jack of all trades but i do think that they are good on easy trails.

The Rookie

Make good commuters as they are less cramped than a road bike and have rack/guard holes at the rear quite often!

VWsurfbum

njee20 wrote:

I wouldn't buy a 26" wheeled hardtail for XC any more.

:shock:

blimey

njee20

Is that all that surprising? Most manufacturers have dropped their light 26" hardtails, 29ers are clearly vastly more popular these days in that market segment. I'd love to try a new Trek Superfly SL - they look the mutts!

Make good commuters as they are less cramped than a road bike and have rack/guard holes at the rear quite often!

Part of what I disliked about all of mine was the fact I couldn't get the front end as low as on my road bike :-)

If you're the sort of person who goes on a road ride and thinks 'oo, wonder where that bridleway goes', I can see the point, but I'm not - I'd either go for a road ride and think "hmmm, my road bike would be more fun here", or go off road (rode it round Ashton Court most weeks" and think "hmmm, my MTB would be more fun here"!

VWsurfbum

you lost me after road bike, and it is a surprise yes!

YeehaaMcgee

njee20 wrote:

Is that all that surprising? Most manufacturers have dropped their light 26" hardtails,

Doesn't mean they're better though, or the race results would be a total whitewash.

VWsurfbum

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

njee20 wrote:

Is that all that surprising? Most manufacturers have dropped their light 26" hardtails,

Doesn't mean they're better though, or the race results would be a total whitewash.

njee20

That's true, but I still reckon I'd buy a 29er hardtail before a 26" one - even at WC level most of the men (and a growing number of women) are on 29ers - Nino Schurter is on 650b, but he's only 5'8" and runs an insanely low front end! Absalon is flitting between the 2.

I'm talking about pure XC race bikes, I think as soon as you go more towards the 'trail' side it's much less clear.

VWsurfbum

that is very true.
just dont break it like i did mine

njee20

That's unrelated to wheelsize though!

I've never really ridden one in anger, so it's all speculation anyway!

Interestingly Trek have ditched their 26" FS bikes, ie the Top Fuel, but do still sell the hardtail.

VWsurfbum

no one knows what the feck their doing at the moment, but i like Scotts idea of doing the spark and genius in 650 and 29.
it seems the americans like 29 not 650, so that will swing some weight.

YeehaaMcgee

njee20 wrote:

That's true, but I still reckon I'd buy a 29er hardtail before a 26" one - even at WC level most of the men (and a growing number of women) are on 29ers

They're getting less and less of a choice it seems. I can;t see a team rider being allowed to ride a 26er, if the company is trying to sing the praises of 29ers.
For what it's worth, if I was to find myself being (more) poor, and having to buy a hardtail (only poor people buy hardtails, obviously), then I'd probably go for a 29er to pootle about on too.

cycle monster

I need mine. My ten year old son now has an XS 26er and his times on our local loop are not very much slower than mine on my 26er which is a better bike than his. With all his cross country, swimming and triathlon training he will be quicker than me in months. I will still leave him trailing in my wake on my 29er though. The 26er undoubtedly would make me fitter and leaner but if I want to keep my son and heir in sight it will need to be on the bike that is on average 20% faster.

YeehaaMcgee

sounds like you need to stop making excuses for being unfit and slow.

marz

I have a 26er and 29er and in general much prefer the 29er for longer rides. The larger wheels just roll over everything easier making it easier to maintain momentum and speed.

The places a 29er sucks are in the air, getting the those big wheels off the ground is a pain, and in really tight and twisty single track. A 26er is just more nimble.

I wouldn't say a 29er is 20% quicker, but I would say it is quicker for general riding.

cycle monster

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

sounds like you need to stop making excuses for being unfit and slow.

Not making excuses, just telling it how it is and replying to the OP. You were not this boring before you got banned. Are you unwell?

YeehaaMcgee

cycle monster wrote:

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

sounds like you need to stop making excuses for being unfit and slow.

Not making excuses, just telling it how it is and replying to the OP. You were not this boring before you got banned. Are you unwell?

You're just not important enough to waste time coming up with an original insult for.
If it makes you feel better, try and think of something that I could call you to offend you with, and lame me when you get offended.

Giraffoto

Getting back to the original question - "Do I need a 29er?":

sdavies141 (i.e., the OP) wrote:

Hi All,
I got a Zesty 214, . . . It works perfectly really well. . .

That looks like you don't need one. But do get one if you want one

felix.london

Not sold on it...but if I had a spare £2.5K+ lying around I'm sure I could persuade myself that I needed one of these though;

http://thehairyrider.com/2012/10/18/2012-transition-bandit-29/

prawny

Of course you need one, don't ask stupid questions.

Personally I need a 29er, a DH bike, a 24" Trials bike, a winter road/cross bike and a BMX.

If you can afford one and can smuggle one into the garage go for it. My plans fall down on both of the test questions.