Stupid mountain bike wheel sizes

secretsam
secretsam Posts: 5,120
edited May 2017 in Commuting chat
Went to buy new tubes for SecretSam jnr bike, half a dozen wheel sizes. 26"? 27.5" (which is also 650b)? 29er (aka 700c aka 29")?

What a farkin' moronic mess. Someone explain to me the logic of having THREE marginally different wheel sizes.
It's just a hill. Get over it.

Comments

  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    26 is twitchy and good for complex terrain
    29 is better for rolling over everthing and generally quicker on trails
    27.5 is the bastard love child of the above, is probably sterile and just plain weird.

    Also - 29er bikes look stupid when you stop 'cos you can't stay on the saddle and look like a short-arse.
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
    2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
    2011 Trek Madone 4.5
    2012 Felt F65X
    Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
  • jds_1981
    jds_1981 Posts: 1,858
    Kieran_Burns wrote:
    26 is twitchy and good for complex terrain
    29 is better for rolling over everthing and generally quicker on trails
    27.5 is the bastard love child of the above, is probably sterile and just plain weird.

    Also - 29er bikes look stupid when you stop 'cos you can't stay on the saddle and look like a short-arse.

    Track stand like a boss?
    FCN 9 || FCN 5
  • Man Of Lard
    Man Of Lard Posts: 903
    Kieran_Burns wrote:
    Also - 29er bikes look stupid when you stop 'cos you can't stay on the saddle and look like a short-arse.
    Only if you are a short-arse. No problems here on a 29er (or indeed a 36er that I had a shot of) in stopping & staying in the saddle.
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,325
    It wouldn't be a problem if each size wasn't then called in other 3 ways... and each size actually meant something... 29 inch what? 700 c what? They are both in fact 622, which is the diameter at the bead
    left the forum March 2023
  • DrLex
    DrLex Posts: 2,142
    I stuck 26" inner tubes into my 27.5/650b wheels, reasoning that they'll expand to fit. Not died yet.
    Location: ciderspace
  • mtb-idle
    mtb-idle Posts: 2,179
    it doesn't impact tube sizes but they also have 'boost' or 'plus/+' wheel sizes now which are the same circumference but with wider hubs.

    It's a total minefield and all driven by sales generation.
    FCN = 4
  • reformedfatty
    reformedfatty Posts: 543
    lets not forget axle standards whilst we are on the wheels topic.

    9mm? 15? 20? 12? maxle ? q-loc ? syntace x-12? even my CX bike hasn't escaped the madness with it's 10mm offering..
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,072
    i struggled to even find cheap 26" disc wheels, is that market now dead?
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
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    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
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  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,865
    reformedfatty wrote:
    lets not forget axle standards whilst we are on the wheels topic.

    9mm? 15? 20? 12? maxle ? q-loc ? syntace x-12? even my CX bike hasn't escaped the madness with it's 10mm offering..
    When I built the wheels for my 29er I used Novatec hubs with interchangeable end caps so I could swap wheels between MTB and CX. I built another set of wheels for the MTB recently putting the first set onto the CX. Although I bought the same hubs they've changed the design of the hub body so the end caps are not interchangeable between early and late style hubs. Bloody irritating.
    Kinesis Pro6
    Marin Nail Trail
    Cotic Solaris
  • fat daddy
    fat daddy Posts: 2,605
    It sucks .... I really like 26" .. they get to speed quick and are nimble, but I am sure my MTBs now have a shelf life that they didn't used to

    my Klein still uses "rim" brakes, wont be long before I cant get rims or hubs that fit that :(
  • robertpb
    robertpb Posts: 1,866
    These wheel sizes on MTB's have been around for a long time, back in 1986 I went out on rides from Wendover where we had people with 24", 26", 650b's and 29" wheels.

    Geoff Apps built bikes with all these wheel sizes except 26" back in the 80's, Geoff has the title of the Grandfather of British Mountain Bikeing.
    Now where's that "Get Out of Crash Free Card"
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,865
    fat daddy wrote:
    my Klein still uses "rim" brakes, wont be long before I cant get rims or hubs that fit that :(
    No, there are so many bikes around with that type of wheel there will always be something available. My old Marin is still on V brakes.
    Kinesis Pro6
    Marin Nail Trail
    Cotic Solaris
  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,120
    robertpb wrote:
    These wheel sizes on MTB's have been around for a long time, back in 1986 I went out on rides from Wendover where we had people with 24", 26", 650b's and 29" wheels.

    Geoff Apps built bikes with all these wheel sizes except 26" back in the 80's, Geoff has the title of the Grandfather of British Mountain Bikeing.

    Back in 1986, road bikes had 700c and 27" rims, but that mess was soon resolved, 700c won. Road, cross, touring (mostly)...700c.

    Bl00dy knobblists need to make up their minds. Different wheel sizes for different uses, I mean, really? There's only a few mm between them, surely?
    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    SecretSam wrote:
    robertpb wrote:
    These wheel sizes on MTB's have been around for a long time, back in 1986 I went out on rides from Wendover where we had people with 24", 26", 650b's and 29" wheels.

    Geoff Apps built bikes with all these wheel sizes except 26" back in the 80's, Geoff has the title of the Grandfather of British Mountain Bikeing.

    Back in 1986, road bikes had 700c and 27" rims, but that mess was soon resolved, 700c won. Road, cross, touring (mostly)...700c.

    Bl00dy knobblists need to make up their minds. Different wheel sizes for different uses, I mean, really? There's only a few mm between them, surely?

    26 and 27.5 yes not much, but 29ers are a fair bit bigger, though has to be said the 3 sizes have been out for 5 years or so now, I bought a 29er 4 years ago.
  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    There's also 650c, which is a smaller road wheel. I mistakenly bought a set for my daughter's Islabike, only to discover they're not the same as the 26" it came with. They're close, within the range of adjustment of the brakes, but definitely not the same (and I'm not going to adjust two sets of canti brakes every time I switch it between CX and Road...)
    Pannier, 120rpm.
  • Nellyspania
    Nellyspania Posts: 71
    MTB-Idle wrote:

    It's a total minefield and all driven by sales generation.

    This. Just like the road 'Upgrade' to 11sp.

    Since I started cycling the innovations that stand out as a real step forward for the end user are decent puncture resistant tyres, brifters on road bikes, clipless pedals and disks on MTB.
    Most of the rest is stuff I could happily live without.

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