[BFD offline]

Ok...so, I've been looking around at buying a new ride, yes I know my current ride sucks, yes, I know it's a schwinn. Yes, that's depressing.
Any thoughts on 29ers as opposed to 26ers?
I get that 29ers get more traction due to greater trail contact at any given time, but what does that translate to on the trail?
I'd really like to hear from folks that have switched from one to the other and hear some real opinions from some real people.

Kthanksbye.
BFD

[steve32300]

Uhhhhh......get the 26er dude.Did you scroll down and read the 29er debate on this forum??Real rider's ride 26er's.I havent ever even rode a 29er,although I've done enough riding to be able to know what I want.I could talk till I'm blue in the face so I'm not going to.
I do think the 29er's are good for cross country though,so if you are going to mainly ride cross country then I would say the 29er is for you.Or as a commuter bike too,I think I would have fun riding a 29er cross town commuting.
I hope you scroll down and read the 29er debate right here under general mountain biking discussion.

[spazjensen offline]

A 29er does ride differently from a 26er of course. The whole traction thing does not make that big of a difference though. Actually because the 29er is naturally taller than a 26er, your center of gravity is higher (makes a huge difference). The 26er is way better when comes to navigating through technical sections and what not. Through turns, a 26er would be your best bet as well due to the height thing. On the flipside of things, the 29er is better when it comes to flat out speed, which in my opinion is the only thing going for it. So as bluntly mentioned before by the clydesdale, the 29er is good for light, flat, cross country and/or commuting from place to place around town. I used one for when I was in college, it was perfect for when I running late for class. I could go anywhere, even where I wasen't suppost to go when I had my 29er. Got my 26er Ironhorse now, and its quick and nimble compared to my 29er that I had.

Hope this helps

[BFD offline]

Thanks Spaz, that's exactly what I wanted/needed to hear!

[jbronko1 offline]

i do love my gary fisher hi fi+ 26er, but i've been coveting the "now on sale" at my local shop hi fi deluxe 29er. i tried it in the parking lot and liked it. the guys in the shop, who are totally not salesmen type, tell me they are selling a LOT of 29ers and that people love them. the one thing about them being not as great in tight sections...if you get a brand new 29er from a company like fisher who makes a lot of them, i bet it would be better in tight spaces than a 26er from 3 or 4 years ago. also ask yourself what % of the time are you really in tight twisty places vs. flats, downhill turns etc? that said, i visited marin county CA's camp tamarancho last week and if i were on a 29er i might not have made it back due to all of the tight downhill switch backs! i'm thinking hard about it, to be honest.

[flamdrag8 offline]

I ride technical singletrack with my 29er all the time. For example, I rode the south loop at blankets creek today. This trail has lots of tight switchbacks and tech log stunts. I made it through the trail without incident; however, I did see many 26 inch riders get eaten by the log stunts today. The ground clearance and better angle of attack was the difference. If you are downhilling or freeriding, get a 26er. But if you ride anything else, 29er is for you.

[flamdrag8 offline]

Real rider's ride 26er's. I havent ever even rode a 29er

Two funny things I would like to point out. First Steve, is Sam Schultz. Sea Otter short track champion and Fisher 29er rider. I think it's safe to say he is a "real rider". Second is the most important of all; you haven't even ridden one. So how can you give an honest assesment. Just cause you don't own one, doesn't make okay to turn people away from the best trail bikes.

[Beaker offline]

Actually because the 29er is naturally taller than a 26er, your center of gravity is higher (makes a huge difference).

This is probably the biggest misconception out there about 29ers. Actually the center of gravity is lower because it does NOT sit taller than a 26er and therefore the bottom bracket height in reference to the hub is LOWER giving it a LOWER center of gravity.

29ers climb better, go over technical terrain better, are more stable.
26ers turn better.

Test ride first THEN buy whichever suits your riding style and terrain you most often ride.

[steve32300]

Just being honest about not ever even riding a 29er.On my behalf though,I reserve the right to fight for what I believe in,even if I have never ridden a 29er.I dont have anything to worry about if I never ride a 29er because the 26er suit's my need's just fine.If you think about it,it's not that I push what I think on somone who has never ridden a 29 that is looking to buy a bike,but I am pushing how good the 26er is for mountain biking and myself.So if I never ride a 29er,I know in the bottom of my heart that the 26er will keep me happy even after it's all said and done.
By now you would think the 29er cool aid drinker's would get it,I guess not though.I think I have stated what I think fairly in the 29er debate even though there are more lurker's reading the debate than getting involved by resopnding to the debate on this forum.Where is everyone on the 29er debate????
Mountain biking is evolving everyday in a monumental way,so much so that some time in the near future the whole 29er thing will be about as big of a deal as handle bar extension's are today.Wether they stick around or not is still to be seen and only time will tell.But I think they will stick around to be honest.
But if you can't seem to realize that this whole 29er thing is a hair splitting event that wont stop and I'm just pushing my own belief's on a grown adult that can make his own decision's about buying a mountain bike that sound's like he doesnt even know what kinda riding he would be doing,then how can a 29er be the best bike for this dude?I really dont think there is a platform that any side can call home to any debate in the mountain bike world and it seem's to me that everyone has a right to shoot from the hip and push there own belief's because in the end it's really just a crap shoot wether or not one is better than the other.
To me,it's about commitment to the 26er and not wasting time alway's trying somthing new(or old,bigger wheel's are old tech ya know) when if I just stick to my gun's everything will come to fruition and I can say I never jumped ship even when the captain jumped on his 29er and used the tire's for a life saver.hahaha.
Lighten up dude,even though it's take's hand's on experience to learn about somthing and feel it out to see how well it work's,this is'nt a moon shot and there are plenty of you 29er astronaute's out there to do all the testing you want to.
I know exactly what kinda riding I want to do and it doesnt include 29" wheel's because I am happy and content with the direction of my own riding even if it is old school.But there lie's the difference in what I think and what they think,I started riding a long time ago,I'm 41 now and started riding before I started school,and my school home work will attest to it that I spent some qaulity time on the bike back then and I love riding more than you will ever understand.In reality,I could ride whatever I want to and make it work for me,I just dont want to change what I got going on.

[castnpedal offline]

I have a decent amount of time riding both sides of this fence. I have 26ers in both hardtail and full suspension, and a hardtail 29er is the most recent addition. I am a larger sized guy, and just plain like the feel of the 29er better. The 29er really does everything I have read about, it picks up speed like you haved pressed down the accelerator, rolls nicely over larger obstacles, and I think it handles well - I like how it just rips and carries speed in turns. The climbing is good, and I can side with the only possible weakness being tight, tight turns - but what would be expected on a rig that is just simply bigger?
As long as we're all mountain biking we're doing something right. As was suggested, get out and ride one, unless you have 29eritis. I caught a trek/fisher demo as it was in town and rode a 29er hardtail hi fi out on the trail I most frequent. That was the basis for the latest bike purchase (a different fisher 29er), and it was a good decision.

[spazjensen offline]

Actually because the 29er is naturally taller than a 26er, your center of gravity is higher (makes a huge difference).

This is probably the biggest misconception out there about 29ers. Actually the center of gravity is lower because it does NOT sit taller than a 26er and therefore the bottom bracket height in reference to the hub is LOWER giving it a LOWER center of gravity.

29ers climb better, go over technical terrain better, are more stable.
26ers turn better.

Test ride first THEN buy whichever suits your riding style and terrain you most often ride.

They may climb better, but a 26er is much better when it comes to fitting through tighter, faster, much more technical turns and track. I never really had to do any climbing when I had mine. I also found that my 29er actually did sit higher in every aspect (BB, seat height, etc.) and did feel that I wasen't going fast enough through a turn then I would make it like I would on a 26er.

[spazjensen offline]

Just being honest about not ever even riding a 29er.On my behalf though,I reserve the right to fight for what I believe in,even if I have never ridden a 29er.I dont have anything to worry about if I never ride a 29er because the 26er suit's my need's just fine.If you think about it,it's not that I push what I think on somone who has never ridden a 29 that is looking to buy a bike,but I am pushing how good the 26er is for mountain biking and myself.So if I never ride a 29er,I know in the bottom of my heart that the 26er will keep me happy even after it's all said and done.
By now you would think the 29er cool aid drinker's would get it,I guess not though.I think I have stated what I think fairly in the 29er debate even though there are more lurker's reading the debate than getting involved by resopnding to the debate on this forum.Where is everyone on the 29er debate????
Mountain biking is evolving everyday in a monumental way,so much so that some time in the near future the whole 29er thing will be about as big of a deal as handle bar extension's are today.Wether they stick around or not is still to be seen and only time will tell.But I think they will stick around to be honest.
But if you can't seem to realize that this whole 29er thing is a hair splitting event that wont stop and I'm just pushing my own belief's on a grown adult that can make his own decision's about buying a mountain bike that sound's like he doesnt even know what kinda riding he would be doing,then how can a 29er be the best bike for this dude?I really dont think there is a platform that any side can call home to any debate in the mountain bike world and it seem's to me that everyone has a right to shoot from the hip and push there own belief's because in the end it's really just a crap shoot wether or not one is better than the other.
To me,it's about commitment to the 26er and not wasting time alway's trying somthing new(or old,bigger wheel's are old tech ya know) when if I just stick to my gun's everything will come to fruition and I can say I never jumped ship even when the captain jumped on his 29er and used the tire's for a life saver.hahaha.
Lighten up dude,even though it's take's hand's on experience to learn about somthing and feel it out to see how well it work's,this is'nt a moon shot and there are plenty of you 29er astronaute's out there to do all the testing you want to.
I know exactly what kinda riding I want to do and it doesnt include 29" wheel's because I am happy and content with the direction of my own riding even if it is old school.But there lie's the difference in what I think and what they think,I started riding a long time ago,I'm 41 now and started riding before I started school,and my school home work will attest to it that I spent some qaulity time on the bike back then and I love riding more than you will ever understand.In reality,I could ride whatever I want to and make it work for me,I just dont want to change what I got going on.

WOW you got something really big up your butt in order to be so uptight abou this whole thing.

[steve32300]

your right dude,just thought there would be more people posting up on the subject.I dont like em,but I still want to learn about em,ya know??

[Beaker offline]

Steve:

First of all I appreciate all your posts and most importantly your opinion - you don't like 29ers, OK, your perogative. BUT:

What type of set-up do you have on your current bike? Disc brakes? Full-Suspension?

My point is this Steve - you seem to be totally against 29ers as if they are "Disco" (just a passing fad). But isn't this technology at work? Engineers trying to make things better. You use some of this technology already on your current bike, some set-up that is an improvement over the original clunkers. So where is that "line in the sand" that you wont cross?

I'm not saying that we all need the best and latest technology to enjoy what we do or to appease our individual riding styles. But a lot of this new technology makes our riding experience more fun or just different than it was!

[steve32300]

Ahhhhhh...finally a question that made it to my ball park.I made a decision last year to buy a full suspension that had the travel adjustment fork and lock out on both the shock and the fork.Mind you now that I was riding my Pine Mountain Marin hard tail with a very old rock shox that had about two inches of travel.Over the time I had my Marin pine mountain I kept rolling over the thought of getting a full suspension with all the lockout's and travel adjustment or going into a fully ridged bike.The reason I was waiting was because the suspension stuff was getting better and better with every passing year,so when I started hearing talk of lockout's and travel adjust's working like I would expect them to,I decided to give the full suspension a try(insert open mind here,haha) since I could lock it out and ride it like a ridged and turn it to full suspension so I could feel the whole thing out for myself.
$3500 later and who know's how much gas,tires(both bike&car),pawl body's(5 of them),new rear wheel($450),chain's(I had problem's because of being a clydesdale at 280 breaking stuff)new seat to fit correctly($60),that's just the way it goes,I'm not complaining too much here,I like my biking hobby.Not to mention sending my fox Talas back to fox 4 or 5 time's till it got fixed right,and all the loaner fork's and trip's to talk to the lbs when I really just wanted to go riding.
So to put this all in perspective,I've been open minded and honestly tying out stuff and spending hard earned money to give it that good ol' honest effort to see for a fact what it's all about for a couple of year's now.That include's just waiting for the supspension stuff to get to a point I thought was a good time to jump in and see what,how,why it was all about.
I posted earlier before that I was looking at getting a fully ridged mountain bike and now I have pretty much made up my mind to do so.I have actually been looking at all the option's that are out there to build up a ridged bike for the last month or so and honestly,I am getting really excited about it because I really think it's the way I want to go with my riding.When I first bought a mountain bike I was naturally drawn to at least a hard tail because I rode bmx as a kid and rode bike's here and there to get to work and stuff in high school.I alway's wanted to go the ridged route because I know myself that ridged bike's are the root's of riding,but like I said,I wanted to put out that good lo' honest hand's on try and actually jump in the pit and try it out.Now that I've done that and made up my mind,I will be riding a fully ridged,non disk,gear to ss conversion by next summer latest.I already have a hard tail that is going to get a ridged fork very soon to hold me over till I get the master peice built up.