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29ers are out.
NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.
It's official.
29ers are out.
650B is in.
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Look at 2014 Specialized.
Marketing, I just love it.
If 650b is so good then why wasn't it introduced ahead of 29ers that they've spent so much on developing and producing? Can't work that one out.
I love that the there are complaints coming that this is all marketing... from those who swallowed all the hype about 29ers? Doh!
IMHO, buy a bike that fits well. If you're tall... get a 29er, if you're short... get a 26. It's not rocket science!
I call bullshit on the death of the 29 er model.
They are pushing it hard to sell as many 650b s as they can. The way to push it hard is tell the peeps that they are the future and the 29ers are dead. All that will happen is in 2015 or 16, they will say, we are just hear to serve the maket, and he market still wants to have 29ers, so we are continuing to meet that market with this new model anthem with x degrees HA, and radically new maestro 2 suspension with electronic lockout blah blah blah.
Rob, if your average you buy a 27.5 presumably ? Lol
Gazza, we all know specialized are the innovators, remember "innovate or die"? They will innovate soon and their history will show that they were the ones to come up with the brilliant 27.5 / 650b / 'tweener. Imagine if you were on a tweener yesterday and those short little legs didn't have to spin up the big hoops on all of those climbs, you might have cracked a top 10 over all.
oldiebutgoodie, the reason for this is clear. They came up with 29ers before 27.5 because of marketing. If they did 27.5 first none of the sheep on the 29er band wagon would have bought 29ers and that is millions of bike sales world wide that would never have been made. Once you've ridden a tweener, even a sheep knows there is no compromise, they are the best of both worlds and the worst of none.
OK, all jokes aside what I find interesting in that article is that pb is trying to quash the argument that 'tweeners are industry driven by citing a company that is removing choice from the consumer. Seems counter intuitive to me. Seriously, upsizing 26'ers and downsizing 29ers in all but their DH and high end xc bikes seems to be removing choice from your average punter, that to me is industry driven. First time I have said or felt that argument had legs because up until now the majority of demand has come from people converting 26er's calling for better wheel / tire choice and bigger forks that would take the tweener wheel. Rims became available, tires are becoming more available and now tweener specific forks are available and then the frame manufacturers have followed.
Anyway, long and the short of it is I tend to agree with Rob, ride what feels best for you and enjoy what you have got.
Oh BTW, yes I ride a tweener and love it.
Rob has spoken wisely. Get the bike that fits and feels best for you.
"Gazza, we all know specialized are the innovators, remember "innovate or die"? They will innovate soon and their history will show that they were the ones to come up with the brilliant 27.5 / 650b / 'tweene"
Pffft.
650b has been around for ages. Schwinn and Raliegh were using it pretty much from the start of the mountain biking fad. Specialised are bandwagon jumper onerers who are good at marketing and convincing people it was their idea.
Even their claim of starting the 5-6" trail/am bike revolution is questionable at best.
The mountain cycle San Andres, Giant Warp then AC, Intense Tracer... amoung others beat them to the punch there too
exactly what I meant Flynny but they will do their best to lay claim to it and take patents out on it just like they have on so many other things.
Giant are a large company focused on maximising profits. If they make all their bikes in one wheel size they can do better deals on tyres, tubes, forks, wheels etc. 26er suits the little people, 29ers the bigger guys. 650B is the one size fits all inbetween. Once size fits all = more profit. Then let the marketing guys sell it it to the consumer.
.......Giant anyway?
Just another standard from Giant, like there forks forcing people only to buy there parts as replacements.
Bikes are Built, not Bought
for 3years and absolutely flogged it including downhill at thredbo and i was in the mid 90kg range.cant say i had to upgrade much due to damage but maybe i was just lucky.....
I gotta say, I'm a short arse (5'3) and have a 29er and love it. Fits me better than my previous bike (anthem) and way more comfortable on longer rides. Doesn't matter what size you are - if the bike fits, ride it
Maybe my old brain has a few malfunctioning neurons (assuming some are functioning!) but that article seems to say:
26r - out - except for some bikes - for now.
27.5 - in - except for some bikes - for now.
29r - out - except for some bikes - for now.
and it will all depend on market feedback as to where they go in the future.
Seems very clear to me
PS: my next bike may be a 29r front 27.5 rear
Loads and loads of 29ers were sold prior to Giant and Specialized bringing them to the masses eg On-one, Salsa, Niner, Blacksheep, Intense to name a few.
The 29 is not dead even if Giant stop making them, they'll only become a little more special again.
29er specific componentry may diminish slightly but will not go away completely as it was readily available prior to the boom.
I'm actually impressed how quickly the 27 boom has happened however. It took 29ers many years to achieve the same market acceptance as what 27 has in a much shorter period of time.
I wonder if 29ers almost took the hit but opened up the market up to new ideas. Now everyone is a wheel size expert!!
if your bike makes you smile when you ride...then you have the perfect wheel size.
if you race to win, and come close each time...then you are on the right wheel size.
who really cares whats in and whats out! if you own a bike, ride it regulalry, and have a ball doing it... then for all that matters, it could be a penny farthing, which aint any of the current trends.
get out there and ride..
p.s. still riding a 26er, still riding fast, and still having an absolute blast doing it.
I have not had a chance to buy a 29er yet!!
I'm perfectly happy on my 26" AM bike.
I also appreciate people feel the same way with their 27.5, 29 etc.
You don't gain anything by "proving" one to be better or worse. It's like political parties. No better or worse, just better or worse for you, at a particular point in time.
I will say that the marketing machines are hard at work to convince you that you NEED the latest.
One upgrade I will be jumping on when (if) it finally appears is Saint spec Di2.
syndrome, who really gives a shit,if ya wanna know whats best take a bike with each wheelsize for a thrash at the next mtb demo day.....btw 26 are best
+ 1 for 26'ers... I never got on the "bigger wheels are better wagon" and I'm actually turned off buying another MTB until the manufacturers go full circle and create a new generation 26'er... Which will happen just maybe not for a few years
wonder how a steel framed freeride hardtail with 160mm forks and 27.5 wheels would handle? mmmmmm bigger wheels to take the sting and help rolling resistance but the snap and handling of a 26er....oooooohhhh
Maybe even fuller circle and re-invent the 24".....then you know we're in trouble for sure....hehehe!
Giant made a lot of money going 29er before the rest of the mainstream.
I think they're hoping they can do that again - nice little earner.
We'll see if physics is really on their side. For longer travel duallies, quite probably. For XC, not so sure unless you're tiny.
@badchef you have perfect timing. On-one have just announced their 456 in 650b, not available to xmas though
http://on-one.co.uk/news/brant-blog/q/date/2013/...
The marketing is already working lol
As long as people buy any wheel size they will continue to keep making them
Still riding my 26" 2010 Trance but looking to upgrade at some stage.
All my mates riding 29'ers... is that 29'er rolling a heap better on the flat trail sections, is it the gearing, or are they fitter than me
Don't like the negative comments about 29'ers; dumbing down a trail, harder to accelerate out of the tight stuff, more flex in the wheel, etc
650B / 27.5 is appealing. Maybe I'm just buying the line but I like the best of the good and not as much of the bad!
For me....is the Giant Marketing information aligned with engineering? A lot of the numbers could have been created by rounding up some numbers and rounding down others. The premise is that on a scale of 1 to 10 the 26 is 1 sometimes and a 10 otherwise , the 29 is 10 sometimes and a 1 otherwise. The 650B is ALWAYS a 7.
If a 650B is always a 7 I'll take 1... a Trance Advanced thanks. Will even wait another couple of years to get that full carbon Pivot Mach 5.7 that I want to build from frame up
So to the engineers out there.... can you discredit the Giant numbers and is this therefore a simple marketing vs. bunny with credit card exercise
What a waste.
How can i ride my newly purchased 26" dually knowing that my rolling capacity and angles are all wrong?
How can I sing 'Much faster than you' while blasting the trails if I'm on a 26"?
Does 27.5 have a place in the market, sure, should 26 and 29 be killed off in the process? No way shozay!
Only if your going to re-introduce them in a couple of years as new models........
http://flowmountainbike.com/features/ball-of-con...
Lets throw another wheel size into the mix, 26inch X 4.8 inch and see what happens.
Sux to be us haha.
I was a hater of anything but 26".
Then I bought a 650B.
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
- Peter Venkman
Will probably convert an old dually of mine into 650b, just because I can. I'll then have one of each to spice things up. Which do I like best? 29er rolls over things easier. 26er seems faster up steep hills.
What I like best is when wifey says "will you just piss off and go for a ride!"
Don't think she cares about the wheel size debate too much...
I snowboard a fair bit and a product's life cycle is roughly a year in that industry. Easy to get caught up in the marketing hype and this 'discussion' is similar to those on snowboarding forums. We had a saying that put these discussion in perspective: 90% rider, 10% gear.
Finally some sensible numbers rather than 2629650b. 90% and 10% spot on. I’ve mentioned before, I’ve ridden with guys and gals that can ride the freakin wheels off a bike regardless of wheel size, frame material bla bla bla. I consciously prepared myself for a recent trip to the French Alps as I was scared of getting altitude sickness. So I ramped up my cardio training. It made a huge difference to my general riding. Get fitter, you’ll ride smoother and faster
checked out the link, not bad, great price, would rather something a bit tougher and 150-160mm fork
it'll take a 6" fork that's what the 456 stands for 4", 5" or 6". I have the CF version and it is hands down the most fun bike I have ridden.
Is the carbon 456 the same geo as the EVO or does it still have the penny farthing BB height of the old 456?
Actually riding the 456 predecessor at the moment, it was cool in 1942 or whenever they came out but like the 456 it just feels wrong in corners, I'd imagine the EVO and SS would be great!
checked out the site more again and the bike looks pretty decent, now to save some reddies!!!!