Just built a 29'er. Will I ever ride on 26" wheels again?

[JamesM]

Re:

That's it in a nutshell, ride the bike you like riding most!!! If that bike happens to have 37" wheels and 400mm travel computer controlled active suspension then maybe you're actually a closet roadie . But that's fine too as modern roadbikes are now using bigger tyres, 1.5" steerers, disc brakes and through axles :facepalm: .

 

[NeilM]

Re:

Nothing closet about my road riding, I do around 600 miles a month, all year round.

As for suspension, tried it in 97 and didn't like it much.

I'll be taking a 26" mtb out at the weekend, I just hope it doesn't feel like a BMX. :mrgreen:

 

[stevet1]

Re: Re:

I'll be taking a 26" mtb out at the weekend, I just hope it doesn't feel like a BMX. :mrgreen:

Which is exactly the reson I'll be sticking with 26", I love my mountain bikes to feel like a big BMX

 

[Neil G]

I couldn't care less about wheel sizes but what I don't like is the attitude in the corporate bike world now that everything NOT 650 or 29 is complete crap...remember these are the same people that were selling 26 wheeled bikes only a year or so ago!

Actually, to add to that a lot of the stuff I saw coming out of Eurobike recently looked an absolute mess and expensive to boot....if that is the way the MTB world is 'progressing' then I want nothing to do with it

 

[JamesM]

Re:

Have you noticed that alot of 650b/27.5 tyres and rims have 650b or 27.5 in massive letters on the side. Why? Because they don't look much different to a 26 with a large volume tyre.

 

[Neil G]

Yes, wheel and tyre graphics have got silly over the past 5 years or so!

 

[velomaniac]

As kaiser says think total bike not just wheel size. I have entered the world of 29ers and they are great in the world of roots and mud which is my favourite terrain. However the bike i ride most and that always gives me big grins is an 87 Emmelle Dolomite with good old fashioned 26er wheels. The reason is the 22" gate sized frame just fits me perfectly and the relaxed geometry suits me to the ground. When I ride it I'm not thinking of wheel diameter at all !
Yes new 26ers will probably die soon but as we are in Retrobike who cares about new, most of our prides and joys are most definitely not new.
Ride the bike that works best for you, try a bike before believing what someone else says as we unlike the mass produced bikes are all different.

 

[NeilM]

Re:

Well, to answer my own question I rode 65k (40 miles) off road on my Roberts DB on Sunday and it felt great..... the bike that is, not the ride, that was a right hard b'stard.

 

[The History Man]

So how would it have been on your 29er by comparison?

A truly poorly constructed sentence while being spoken to about online tesco shopping but you know what I'm getting at.... :facepalm:

 

[NeilM]

So how would it have been on your 29er by comparison?

Impossible to know, as I rode it on the DB.