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thoughts on racing?...

ZenkiGarage

Monkey
Jan 9, 2007
341
0
Portland, Or
So, as previously posted im new to the 29s. Ive been riding it everyday and am super sold on the bigger wheels and am having a total blast on this bike. question is: what are thoughts on using a 29er for racing, outside of XC? My rigid 29 fells a lot faster than any of my 26 bikes. So now im thinking about running this setup with addition of an 80mil fork in 4x and possibly super D. what do you fellow '9ers think? Am I dreaming here?
 

SingleGuy

Chimp
Feb 2, 2008
25
0
Japan
So now im thinking about running this setup with addition of an 80mil fork in 4x and possibly super D. what do you fellow '9ers think? Am I dreaming here?
There was a dude who was doing very well in Super D on his 29er HT - I think it was Harlan Price, but I may be wrong. Anyway, he won at least one Super D.

It'd be great to see someone race a 29er in 4x!

If you got one of the new-school forks you might be able to run 100mm and still have sharp handling - the rew Reba (this summer?) would be perfect, but I think the Fox or RST would be OK at 100mm too. I don't know why I just wrote that though, as I think 80mm would be fine - currently I am running my Reba at 70mm (to keep HTA reasonable) and it is great.
 

ZenkiGarage

Monkey
Jan 9, 2007
341
0
Portland, Or
There was a dude who was doing very well in Super D on his 29er HT - I think it was Harlan Price, but I may be wrong. Anyway, he won at least one Super D.

It'd be great to see someone race a 29er in 4x!

If you got one of the new-school forks you might be able to run 100mm and still have sharp handling - the rew Reba (this summer?) would be perfect, but I think the Fox or RST would be OK at 100mm too. I don't know why I just wrote that though, as I think 80mm would be fine - currently I am running my Reba at 70mm (to keep HTA reasonable) and it is great.
Im really looking at the white brothers 80mm magic 29 fork. the A/C measurment is only 1mm taller than my current rigid fork. I have a thing simplicity so have been racing a SS HT 26, so my thinking would be that racing the 29 couldnt be any worse. I actually think it will be considerably faster. I guess there is only one way to find out:banana:
 

SingleGuy

Chimp
Feb 2, 2008
25
0
Japan
Im really looking at the white brothers 80mm magic 29 fork. the A/C measurment is only 1mm taller than my current rigid fork. I have a thing simplicity so have been racing a SS HT 26, so my thinking would be that racing the 29 couldnt be any worse. I actually think it will be considerably faster. I guess there is only one way to find out:banana:
Do you have to include sag in your calculations for the magic fork? I know other forks sag, so you can get away with a taller (unsagged) fork, as the sagged height works out very close to the length of a rigid fork, but does the magic system sag at all? If you do include it for the magic, I would say that unsagged and only one mm taller might be a touch short...but it would probably be one snappy handler!

I agree that 29ers are considerably faster...
 

ZenkiGarage

Monkey
Jan 9, 2007
341
0
Portland, Or
Do you have to include sag in your calculations for the magic fork? I know other forks sag, so you can get away with a taller (unsagged) fork, as the sagged height works out very close to the length of a rigid fork, but does the magic system sag at all? If you do include it for the magic, I would say that unsagged and only one mm taller might be a touch short...but it would probably be one snappy handler!
honestly, not sure. just going by the measurements i found on white bros. website.
 

ByStickel

Chimp
Nov 8, 2007
38
0
WNC (via nj,ca,tx,in,&va)
Racing is...

A ride that you pay for.
On a boring trail.
With people who hate you.

Kidding, of course.

I'm building a 29er for last year's expert Nat'l Super-D champion. He intends to use it on the smoother courses, for sure.
 

bstrick

Chimp
Feb 10, 2008
9
0
Louisville Colorado
I've run a 29er in all of my 24 hour races and alpine endurance races. People don't seem to like the idea for short track and XC stuff but for the longer races I say do it.
 

Snacks

Turbo Monkey
Feb 20, 2003
3,523
0
GO! SEAHAWKS!
My friend I and just completed a XC race on Sunday, both on 29'rs, mine a HT and him FS. We both felt great after 15.5+ miles. The course was pretty up and down with a few technical climbs tossed in.
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
4x is about quick accelerations, so larger wheels may be a disadvantage. Yeah, yeah I don't have a 29er, I'll leave now (been thinking about building a SS 29r though)
 

Lumberjack

Monkey
Jan 24, 2003
633
0
PNW
Cosmic Miller has been using his GF 29'r for Super D for a couple of years. He just got back from Fontana and Az. He got 2nd in his group in SD in Az.
 

martini

Chimp
Nov 30, 2004
54
0
'Sconni
I've been racing my 29"ers for the last 8 or so years in events ranging from standard XC to 6 and 12 hours enduros. I and it seem to do much better at the enduros than at the shorter XC type stuff.