How well does your 29er FS pedal uphill?

m_cozzy

Bought my 1st 29er last year, scott scale hardtail to replace an older GT avalanche hardtail. It was awesome, almost seemed to pedal itself uphill So much nicer to ride than the 26" bike.
I also held the mistaken belief that an all-mountain bike had to be a 26", so bought a commencal meta am1 last year to replace a gt sanction. Due to various issues with the setup & gearing, plus the fact I always thought I would have liked to try the 29" version of the meta, plus I never really got on with it, I bought the am1 29" last week.
I thought this would be the holy grail, easy to pedal uphill like the hardtail & awesome down. Well I was half right! it feels so much better downhill that the 26" bike, faster, more stable, more confident, absolutely brilliant (for my style of riding) However riding uphill I would swear its tougher going that the smaller wheeled bike, which I am at a loss to explain.
How do other find their 29er full suspension bikes?

rockmonkeysc

It all depends on suspension design and geometry. Commencal's aren't the most efficient full sus bikes for pedalling.

ej2320

Rear shock lockout also helps

kajjal

Its a combination of riding style and personal preference. I like my 29er and it is my main MTB but my older XC 26er MTB is also fun to ride.

roger_merriman

I have a newish trance if anything it climbs better than it descends.

garnib

My orange five 29er loves hills I don't :roll:
Put its go's up them better than my old spesh

Rasher pepso

My old gt I drive was so bad up hill but quick down my new cube sting 29er is so good uphill it's scary downhill I think my old gt was quicker, but it's early days to say if the 29er will be as good up as its down !

LAW4778

I went from a specialized (26) fsr xc to a new Trek Fuel EX7 29er just before christmas, im not the fittest of guys and after reading all the rubbish on the internet thought the 29er would make things easier for me but i find that the 29er is harder to get up the hills than my last bike, yeah the stability and confidence it gives me going down hills is great. In fact im seriously considering selling it and looking at getting a 650b.

I might be wrong here but if you think about it 29er = heavier bike and the whole thing about bigger wheel = more contact to the floor which means more travel is wrong because the more contact with the floor means more resistance hence harder to pedal, smaller wheel = less resistance so easier to pedal.
Yeah i got suckered into to the whole marketing thing, stupid me

The Rookie

Don't forget (assuming same cassette and chainring) you need to be a gear lower on a 29er due to the larger wheel to get the same overall gearing, so if that hill you could always climb in 3rd on your 26er seems harder on a 29er in third, it's because you are trying to go up it about 10% faster!

rockmonkeysc

Smaller wheel doesn't mean less resistance. For the same tyre and pressure the contact patch is the same size for any wheel size. With a bigger wheel it's a longer, narrow contact patch so in muddy conditions you get less resistance.
I still prefer 26" but on a bike for nothing but all day xc epic rides I would definitely go for 29".

The Rookie

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Smaller wheel doesn't mean less resistance.

Correct, it means more.

It means more because when you hit an imperfection you have a shorter ramp to climb up over it, this means more distortion in the tyre and therefore a greater loss of energy due to the hysteresis in the tyre.

johnmcl7

One of my concerns about going to a full suspension bike from a hard tail was hill climbing but I don't find my full suspension 29er (Trek Fuel Ex 8) any worse than my hardtail (Trek 4900), both seem to be good climbers.

rockmonkeysc

A good full suspension bike can climb better than a hardtail in some conditions. Rear suspension can improve traction.

Clank

The Rookie wrote:

Don't forget (assuming same cassette and chainring) you need to be a gear lower on a 29er

Experience from owning a 29er gives me a different story.

rockmonkeysc

Clank wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

Don't forget (assuming same cassette and chainring) you need to be a gear lower on a 29er

Experience from owning a 29er gives me a different story.

He's right. Bigger wheels raise the gear ratio meaning you need a smaller chain ring to get the same gears as on a 26" bike.

Clank

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Clank wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

Don't forget (assuming same cassette and chainring) you need to be a gear lower on a 29er

Experience from owning a 29er gives me a different story.

He's right. Bigger wheels raise the gear ratio meaning you need a smaller chain ring to get the same gears as on a 26" bike.

I was middle-ringing stuff I'm still granny-ringing on a 26er.

I can't explain it - maybe something to do with the difference in bike balance or traction or something, but it was with the same cassette and ring sizes, just different wheel diameters. I'm fully conversant with the thoery being quoted but in this case there's clearly more to it than just those numbers. I'm going to go with experiential learning on this one.