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Is anyone riding more hardcore /freeride type stuff on the new generation of long travel 29er yet?
Hi All
I am sold on 29ers being a fast way to cover ground & am convinced of their speed advantage especially on reasonably sucky ground (eg, a field, sand etc), however as an allround fun trail bike how do they compare?
I see the yanks are crossing up and getting some serious air on the new generation of 120 - 140mm 29er bikes from the likes of Santa Cruz & Pivot etc but is this just for the marketing men to show that they can do it or are trail riders buying these $5000- $10,000 bikes and giving them a serious thrashing?
I'm keen to hear from 29er riders about this. especially TRAIL riders rather than all out XC racers for their opinion. Can these new bikes be fast, capable, & fun?
After all, I wouldn't want to sell my much abused 5" 26er duallie for not much$ only to buy a fast, fragile but ultimately rather dull steamroller.
Cheers
Tony
(Still awaiting my 853 29er HT frame)
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just moved from 26r stumpy to 29r stumpy , couple of rides in and am liking it alot so far. can ride it just like my 26r once yea get used to the steering/turning of it .. atm my bars are a bit wide fo my usual liking ( 650mm on the 26r , 730mm on the 29r )so might chop an inch off either side to help with getting inbetween and around trees.
im dont mind bashing out jumps , havent hit anything too big as yet , but it will jump just as well as the 26r did .. so when i come across jumps , ill give anything i would of attempted on the 26r a go.
Sorry to get off topic .... But I'm thinking of getting a stumpy 29er how dose it climb , as wanted it for an allrounder and replacing my xc 26er for 100k races and all round riding ?
i've got a stumpy 29'er - no issues with climbing for me!
As for jumping off things, there is no substitute for suspension travel. If you plan on launching off big jumps and drops, the longer the suspension travel the better ie. 150 - 160mm 26er. It is said that having 29er wheels equals aprrox an extra inch of travel for absorbing trail obstacles compared to a 26er, but when it comes to landing from a mid air position, travel is travel. 29er wheels also make the bike feel less lively when getting air and are not as flickable and fun to do freeride type riding on. I own a 160mm travel 26er and have ridden 29ers, and I could not ever imagine riding a 29er to have fun doing freeride type stuff on. 26ers in the long travel category have slack head angles (66 to 67 degrees) and dont get stopped by trail obstacles like steep 26 XC bikes do. Try to find a demo day and ride some 26er and 29er bikes back to back to see what suits you best.
wheres some good freeride trails around newcastle/centralcoast?
Suspension travel isn't everything . If there is a downramp on the backside of jump then very little susp is needed. (Eg bmx and dirt jumpers do huge jumps with little to no susp)
As for climbin I seem to get up hills fine on it , but I'm reasonably strong climber .
My stumpy 26 has a brain shock and my new 29r doesn't , ill prob swap the shocks over as the brain shock is impressive ! I find the non brain shocks climb good in "trail" mode but pedal squat a bit, but in "climb" mode it's a bit too hard tail for me and find I bounce and skip n lose traction on technical climbs .
Hope this helps.
I'm by no means someone who likes to do jumps, and my bike handling skills are the wrong side of pitiful, and 'freeride' isn't my thing. But I do prefer roughish unsanitised rutted rocky trails with anything on the track like downed trees, rocks, washouts, dead roos, etc., to the standard sanitised swept trails that have the odd leaf in the line, nice berms on corners, wooden planks and manufactured obstacles/jumps. But recently had to ride a 26r whilst my 29r was having suspension serviced. Riding the 26r over the ground I would ride the 29r over scared the s**t out of me. Roughish terrain, logs, drop offs, ledges that I would ride over with the 29r were bloody awful on the 26r (a Giant Trance), so much so I gave up and rode a sanitised trail instead and switched to my HT 29r. Maybe that says more about my bike handling than the 26r?!
I don't take much notice of the test pics in cycle mags (or their 'tests') as, if you've ever seen the process for taking pics, they may take a dozen+ pics of the same rider on same bike at same place to get the one they publish. They tend to publish pics of 'speccy' sections, rarely seem to publish pics of an 'average' rider. JMO. Just once I would like to read a mag that says a bike doesn't handle, has crap suspension, poor geometry, can't be pushed through corners, and the brakes need a weeks notice in writing to stop, rather than the wishy washy stuff they seem to put out. But then again the advertising dollar may be affected – JMO.
To get back on topic - The only two areas I think a 29r loses out in is tight single track (especially if you under 170cm) and maybe 'freeride' speccy jumps with flat landing area. I bought a 100mm travel FS 29r as the wheels seemed to make it equivalent to a 120/130mm travel 26r. The 29r seemed to be a 'do everything' bike for the terrain I ride around Perth and SW WA. I've never bottomed front or rear suspension but do use 95% of it.
Climbing I find easier on the 29r (also have a 'brain equipped' fork and shock and 20T granny). And for enduros I believe you are handicapped if you ride a 26r compared to an equivalently skilled/fit 29r rider. JMO
FWIW HTH
have to say the same thing as OldernSlower. Jumping back on my 26er Rize 130 scared me for a few weeks after two months on the Ellsworth Eveolve 29er. The 26er bike seemed sketchy and darty ... although part of that may have been the totally wrong rebound settings on the 26er's shock I discovered a few weeks later. I don't think that was all of it, though.
Off-topic: you're not far off the mark with magazine and product reviews. Poor product tends to get handed back and the review isn't published. Reading between the lines on comparative reviews is interesting
ALthough I noticed the Liquid Image Ego video camera got a rubbishing in a recent issue of IMB.!
Kona Satori isn't too bad. Mate of mine has no probs on one. Went from a Rocky Mountain Slayer to the Satori. Does 5ft to flat hucks no problem.
Cheers All, some great info to deliberate over there.
I think that the overall opinion is much as I expected to hear.
I'm now looking for a 120 (possibly 100) f & r travel 29er frame in time for trails in WA in particular this years Cape to Cape. I don't plan on going nuts, I just want to enjoy the scenery, beers & of course magic trails in comfort & at a fair lick.
I won't expect it to be as hardcore as the long travel 26" bike but I will go hard on the berms & mid jumps.
I have everything but the frame inc 120mm (100) taper steerer fork with a 20mm thro axle so am now looking for something like a Niner RIP 9 or Turner Sultan or maybe a Specialized... The carbon frames are just too expensive at the moment.
T
I currently ride a Banshee Paradox, short chain stays, slack head angle with a 120mm fox float fork. This bike is so much fun i don't ride my 26" 150mm dually any more. I am over 40, and the places I ride range from rough rocky technical trails to smooth flowing single track, getting air when ever possible. Don't let those 26er tell you 29ers aren't flickable , fast and can't handle technical terrain. A big wheel 110-120mm is equal to a 150mm 26" bike. My 29er is half a wheel shorter in wheel base than the 26"dually.
http://bansheebikes.com/paradox
The biggest problem with 29er all mountain bikes has been the wheels, i have buckled plently. Put some decent heavy duty wheels on it, I'm now running Stans Flows tubeless, no probs.
Just finishing off my new endurance race bike http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/bikes..., Just bought the frame Full XT, RockShox RCT3 dual air, Stans Arch wheels. Shorter chain stays than my hard tail.
Everyone knows 26" are a dying breed, 650b have been created for 26" riders that can't admit it.
I'm currently riding a Yeti SB95. Been on it for about 8 months since some Barsteward stole my 575.
I find it needs a bit more body movement to turn in to corners but after a few rides it felt natural again. Lofting the front wheel requires a little more more manhandling. Other than that, it is all positive from my perspective. As well as feeling somewhat invincible, I am amazed at how efficiently it pedals and how well it climbs, especially given the fact that its not light. It weighs more than the 575 did but it feels much faster both up hill and down hill.
I loved my 575 but this just seems like a new level. ( for me at least )
CB
29'ers in full flight mode - judge for yourself...
http://vimeo.com/32301541