29" Wheels for the longterm?

Turbo124

I'm in the process of buying a new full suspension bike and everything I read at the moment seems to suggest 29" wheels are the way forward.

I'm looking to buy a bike to keep for many years to come so want to make the right decision with respect to wheel size as obviously I can't change this later on down the line...

Are 29" wheels really the way to go or will they turn out to be a fad?

(I'll be using the bike for off road only - mainly trails but some downhill action too)

Cheers

cooldad

Downhill as in DH or riding down hills?

Per approx 40 gazillion earlier threads, it's personal, but it doesn't look like they're going away.

Is it worth worrying about years down the line? Technology moves fast.

andy_welch

It's ironic, given that 29ers are being pushed by manufacturers as a way to get us to buy new bikes, that the confusion created by the different wheel sizes may be putting some people off buying bikes.

I'm in a similar but opposite position. I like my old (2006 era) Five, but have come to the conclusion that it is a bit small for me. If 26" bikes were all we had I'd almost certainly have bought a new Five frame by now. But I also like to buy bikes that will last a while and Orange already have one 29er in production and another on the way, so there is a real risk that I'd want to change in a little while. So, I'll sit on my cash and wait until the wheel size debate settles down a bit I think.

njee20

29ers have been around for nearly 10 years, they're not gonna go away overnight.

andy_welch

29ers wont go away, but whether, in a few years time, they will be considered a sensible option for the sort of riding the OP is doing is debatable. A recent "industry insider" was quoted as saying that in a few years "Twenty-nine-inch wheels will be reserved for bikes aimed at the cross-country set, with short-travel or hardtail frames.

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/product-tech/2012/11/26/650b-freight-train#.UMXPH0dm2Cg

njee20

Yes, and that 650B will be the 'standard' for other bikes...

nferrar

Totally agree with that - 650b makes sense for anything that 29" is hard to package (where you want short chainstays or there complex suspension pivots going on). 650b requires very little (and in some case no) mods to frame design and gives some of the big wheel advantages, can't see the point in 26" once it becomes mainstream, although will be interesting to see if DH bikes stick with it (I reckon they'll switch to 650b though).

andy_welch

The problem (from the manufacturer's point of view) is that it could be a lot harder to get people to buy into 650B. Am I really going to ditch all my 26" stuff for a slightly larger wheel? I expect lots of smoke, mirrors and unscientific tests "proving" that 650B gives almost the same advantage as a 29er with hardly any compromises, but I can't help thinking it's just a way of selling us our old small wheel bikes again.

rockmonkeysc

nferrar wrote:

Totally agree with that - 650b makes sense for anything that 29" is hard to package (where you want short chainstays or there complex suspension pivots going on). 650b requires very little (and in some case no) mods to frame design and gives some of the big wheel advantages, can't see the point in 26" once it becomes mainstream, although will be interesting to see if DH bikes stick with it (I reckon they'll switch to 650b though).

I doubt it will catch on for DH. With 200mm of suspension the benefits of a slightly larger radius wheel are virtually nothing. Chainstays need to be kept as short as possible on DH bikes and wheels need to be a strong as possible. I think only KHS have got a 650B downhill bike.

njee20

Sure?

Aaron Gwin testing "something other than 26" wheels"

rockmonkeysc

Only KHS have a production DH bike with 650B wheels. I'm sure most of the teams will test them

njee20

So you think most of the teams will test them, but they won't catch on?