[rayhaan]

there are a few reasons I consider before buying a bike

1. It works well (or so I am told by the intertube)
2. It looks awesome
3. I can build it the way I want

So on my three point test these 29ers fail on two of them. They look hideous, and I would not be able to build one the way I wanted. There is no way in hell I would use those damn WTB dissent tyres.

these are just my opinions and thoughts.

 

[OGRipper]

I buzz my rear tire enough on a 26'er. But I would like to try a DH "69'er", with a 29" front and 26" rear.

Or maybe a "96'er" with 29 rear, 26 front, and like an 11" travel fork.

 

[Sam B]

I buzz my rear tire enough on a 26'er. But I would like to try a DH "69'er", with a 29" front and 26" rear.

Or maybe a "96'er" with 29 rear, 26 front, and like an 11" travel fork.

Yeah - seat buzz and rear end length are real issues with running a 29 rear. Front end height is also a borderline issue. I had to swap back from my big ape hanger handlebars to a set of Raceface when I tried out the Dorado 29. Even though that fork is the same A-C as a 40 (roughly), the axle sits at least 35mm higher. Not to mention you can't run the stem/top crown very low because the bars will hit the top of the fork legs.

My geo got a bit whacked out with that setup but all things considered I really liked it. Tire selection was the real killer.

Then again... I am way over 6' tall. Not gonna say there is any reason for someone 5'6" to even try it out. Proportional center of mass to axle height, there is definitely something to be said for that.

 

[motomike]

Then again... I am way over 6' tall. Not gonna say there is any reason for someone 5'6" to even try it out. Proportional center of mass to axle height, there is definitely something to be said for that.

I've been saying this for a while now. It definitely can have benefits for huge people. I don't understand how short people (like myself) can even ride a 29er.

 

[sundaydoug]

Not gonna say there is any reason for someone 5'6" to even try it out.

I cursed Jesus for many years after realizing that I wasn't going to grow taller than 5'5". Now, I thank him. I don't even have to consider one of these things.

 

[mattmatt86]

I'm going to quote myself from another 29er DH thread, I'm pretty sure I was drunk when I wrote it but it still sounds pretty relevant.

I'm sure some of us (myself included), are too young to remember when long travel/DH bikes started popping up. I'm sure there was a similar animosity from the general mtb community towards them (us) as some people have towards 29ers today. I've met more hater/jerk/dick/douches rolling on 26" wheels than I have on 29ers, so I would have to say those two things are mutually exclusive. In the end we're all a bunch of adults riding around in the woods on overly complicated and ridiculously expensive bicycles with our "kits" and "colorways," yacking on about how we need moar high speed compression and our shimstack isn't quite right, and we didn't have enough yaw in the last turn and our forks are too flexy for the east coast rox. Wheels size is sort of trivial when you think about it.

 

[yuroshek]

there are a few reasons I consider before buying a bike

1. It works well (or so I am told by the intertube)
2. It looks awesome
3. I can build it the way I want

So on my three point test these 29ers fail on two of them. They look hideous, and I would not be able to build one the way I wanted. There is no way in hell I would use those damn WTB dissent tyres.

these are just my opinions and thoughts.

Buy the Park Toolz Tire Stretcher it works wonders its next to the sheet rock stretcher and the bucket of steam in home depot.

 

[Sghost]

Buy the Park Toolz Tire Stretcher it works wonders its next to the sheet rock stretcher and the bucket of steam in home depot.

Will they look cool on my pegboard? and what colorways can I get that steam in?

 

[sikocycles]

I'm going to quote myself from another 29er DH thread, I'm pretty sure I was drunk when I wrote it but it still sounds pretty relevant.

I have to agree. If I am on my 29er and its a little slower big deal. I am still having fun. Not sure if it is slower but its still a ton of fun.

 

[BC VAN]

Will they look cool on my pegboard? and what colorways can I get that steam in?

the steam comes in the same colors as the blinker fluid at your local auto store.

 

[yuroshek]

the steam comes in the same colors as the blinker fluid at your local auto store.

next to the muffler bearings, but if you see the piston return springs you've gone to far.

 

[leprechaun]

I'm 5'4". Do my 26" wheels feel the same to me that a 6'2" rider's 29er wheels do to him? Maybe.

I've taken great pleasure making fun of 29ers and their owners for the last 5 years. Last summer i rode a few and they do some amazing things. There is a strip of gravel next to the shop, and if i ride a 26 and a 29 through it the 29er feels instantly better. I'm sure most of you have felt this. Ever ripperd a loose pebbley corner on one? It's sooo damn fun. Even with lil XC tires. The BB being so much lower than the axles is simply better for loose corners.

If a racer could get away with 7" travel instead of 8" on a certain high speed drifty course there could be serious advantages.

Of course, i could never ride one with more than 6" travel since i get tire buzz soo badly.

Carbon rims could make all the difference in the world for 29er DH wheels. You get the stiffness and the strength. I don't think it will happen any time soon, but if Steve Peat showed up on a 170mm 29er and put his knee into the top tube he could put a serious hurtin ripping around wet grass or loose pebbly corners. Maybe it will happen and maybe it won't. I'd like to see it though.

 

[mattmatt86]

Is my sarcasm meter broken?

 

[bdamschen]

I'm 5'4". Do my 26" wheels feel the same to me that a 6'2" rider's 29er wheels do to him?

yes, but your 26" wheels also feel the same to us as 24" wheels to you except without getting hung up on random crap, so we prefer that.

 

[xy9ine]

I liked it in certain respects and disliked it for others. and fact is, 29ers make trail riding easier for beginners because they don't have to learn the technique and finesse that I feel is part of the essence of riding, but again, that's just me.

again, this arguement could be applied to suspension - ie, that it makes for lazier riders that don't develop foundation technique, but I don't think it's valid. ie, the years I spent on full rigid don't impart me with better dh skills than kids growing up on long travel bikes.

 

[FlipFantasia]

again, this arguement could be applied to suspension - ie, that it makes for lazier riders that don't develop foundation technique, but I don't think it's valid. ie, the years I spent on full rigid don't impart me with better dh skills than kids growing up on long travel bikes.

I tend to disagree, I have a lot of friends who went straight into big dh bikes without learning the fine skills and it shows in their plow and smash style of riding....I spent many years riding hardtails before going dually and definitely benefited.

 

[Eastern States Cup]

Damn, I can't wait for my 24" Doublewides with Arrow tires comes back in style.

 

[rayhaan]

Buy the Park Toolz Tire Stretcher it works wonders its next to the sheet rock stretcher and the bucket of steam in home depot.

I'll have to take your word on it...as I have no access to a home depot, perhaps I can get it shipped over on a magic carpet.

 

[jonKranked]

Damn, I can't wait for my 24" Doublewides with Arrow tires comes back in style.

i still regret selling mine.


at least i have my 26x3" gazzi's that I can throw on

 

[leprechaun]

Damn, I can't wait for my 24" Doublewides with Arrow tires comes back in style.

I had to go to 24's from 26 on my skatepark bike cuz my ass would hit the tire so hard that i'd go into a dead sailor.

After rockin my 9" travel Risse Champ and 24x3.0's for a couple seasons without riding anything else I recall sitting on my bro's bike with a 7" travel Monster T and a 26" Mich Daddy 2.8 and thinking "whoa-i'd never go over the bars on this, maybe my setup isn't quite right..." The good ol days.

Fast foreward 10 years and i peer over a 4" 29er fork with straight bars and start thinking the same thing again. Throw together a 6" 29er with a big tire capable of hitting rocks and it simply doesn't ride right or feel fun to throw around. It feels heavy, long, just not fun- to me. I still love to take a 2.1" 29er tire around loose corners though. There's a certain amount of weight involved where the big wheel just looses it's magic. it seems like i get a flat tire from running out of travel and tire, then when i go to a bigger tire it accelerates so slow i don't even want to try to go fast anymore.

Blah blah this has been hashed out 100 times before.

 

[Cabdoctor]

community dropped the mentality of a jehovah witness.

wow that was jerk thing to say. Thanks for insulting my religion

 

[jonKranked]

WTB tires = Worse Than Bad

 

[xy9ine]

I tend to disagree, I have a lot of friends who went straight into big dh bikes without learning the fine skills and it shows in their plow and smash style of riding....I spent many years riding hardtails before going dually and definitely benefited.

I do hear what you're saying. I've done the ht thing as well (even raced a couple bc cup expert races on one), but line choice and handling is so vastly different on a sled that I'm not sure riding the ht is relevant skill development. but yeah. I'm open to hardware experimentation and innovation regardless. the fact that a couple major players are dabbling with 29ers suggests there might be some merit there. I've never ridden one myself, but the logic is sound. tome will tell...

 

[illnotsick]

Santa Cruz's new bike:

V-10 carbon Tallboy. Steve's gonna race it in the world cup season next year

 

[mattmatt86]

Santa Cruz's new bike:

V-10 carbon Tallboy. Steve's gonna race it in the world cup season next year

I wouldn't put it past SC to already have something in the pipeline. If there were ever two guys that could probably rip DH on a 29er it's Minnaar and Peaty.

 

[drkenan]

wow that was jerk thing to say. Thanks for insulting my religion

Hi, I'm Kenan...you must be new here.

Seriously though - I fail to see the insult in his statement.

 

[sikocycles]

Santa Cruz's new bike:

V-10 carbon Tallboy. Steve's gonna race it in the world cup season next year

That would be a must have

 

[frorider]

you've obviously never encountered a 29'er messiah

you may have things a bit backward here.

years ago when those xc 29er dudes were trying to get that standard off the ground, they had an uphill battle. armchair engineers rejected the idea without ever riding an early 29er. to make any headway with the industry and get some decent rim, tire, and fork choices, it seemed to me (I was just an observer) that the 29er contingent was forced to demonstrate massive enthusiasm.

time passed. fork mfg'ers pulled their heads out of their asses and introduced forks with correct offset for 29er wheels. rim and tire choices (in the xc and am categories) improved dramatically. the negative messiahs who repeatedly said 29ers would never win XC races were proven wrong. Nowadays things have settled down, and most 29er owners recognize that they don't have anything to prove one way or another since the haters are having to hate less now that the facts are in their faces.

so now the conversation switches to long-travel and DH 29ers. i now own a 29er XC hardtail, which completely owns any 26er XC hardtail i've ridden, but i'm no hurry to buy a long travel or DH 29er. as others have posted, i'll wait until the rim and tire choices have had a chance to improve.

my own opinion is that 29er DH will be a niche, for tallish riders on certain terrain. i don't see any reason for me to object to others developing that segment. who knows, i might try & buy one down the road. but no one is forcing me to buy anything, or shove it down my throat, so what's the issue?

 

[jonKranked]

you may have things a bit backward here.

years ago when those xc 29er dudes were trying to get that standard off the ground, they had an uphill battle. armchair engineers rejected the idea without ever riding an early 29er. to make any headway with the industry and get some decent rim, tire, and fork choices, it seemed to me (I was just an observer) that the 29er contingent was forced to demonstrate massive enthusiasm.

time passed. fork mfg'ers pulled their heads out of their asses and introduced forks with correct offset for 29er wheels. rim and tire choices (in the xc and am categories) improved dramatically. the negative messiahs who repeatedly said 29ers would never win XC races were proven wrong. Nowadays things have settled down, and most 29er owners recognize that they don't have anything to prove one way or another since the haters are having to hate less now that the facts are in their faces.

so now the conversation switches to long-travel and DH 29ers. i now own a 29er XC hardtail, which completely owns any 26er XC hardtail i've ridden, but i'm no hurry to buy a long travel or DH 29er. as others have posted, i'll wait until the rim and tire choices have had a chance to improve.

my own opinion is that 29er DH will be a niche, for tallish riders on certain terrain. i don't see any reason for me to object to others developing that segment. who knows, i might try & buy one down the road. but no one is forcing me to buy anything, or shove it down my throat, so what's the issue?

you obviously missed my point. I was referring to the douchbags on 29'ers who have adopted a holier than thou attitude because they are on larger wheels, and consider 26" wheels to be inferior.

 

[sikocycles]

consider 26" wheels to be inferior.

Well they are

 

[jonKranked]

Well they are

thanks for proving my point

 

[sikocycles]

thanks for proving my point

 

[4130biker]

I think IF minion dhfs ever become available in 29", this conversation will look a lot different.

 

[frorider]

you obviously missed my point. I was referring to the douchbags on 29'ers who have adopted a holier than thou attitude because they are on larger wheels, and consider 26" wheels to be inferior.

as opposed to the douchebags on 26ers who have adopted a holier than thou attitude because they are on smaller wheels, and consider 29" wheels to be inferior?

24, 26, 29, i really don't care. let the market try new things and over time the better ideas will stick around while the bad ones die off.

i really don't see 29er taking over the DH category but maybe it's because i'm one of those 26er douchebags.

 

[jonKranked]

as opposed to the douchebags on 26ers who have adopted a holier than thou attitude because they are on smaller wheels, and consider 29" wheels to be inferior?

don't lump me in that group. As I've state before I've gotten trail time on 29'ers, both recently, and as far back as the first gen Gary Fisher 29'ers. And you know what? they were fun to ride. but not enough fun to convince me to buy one.

 

[Slater]

Great, now the 29er debate/pissing contests have infiltrated DH! Just what we all wanted!

 

[iRider]

..... since the haters are having to hate less now that the facts are in their faces.

Not hating, but what facts? Freelap times, Powertap outputs, etc? I am really curious, because even the few trys I have seen to scientifically show the differences between 26ers and 29ers have failed by wrong data normalization or not enough replicates to make it significant.

 

[captainspauldin]

Not hating, but what facts? Freelap times, Powertap outputs, etc? I am really curious, because even the few trys I have seen to scientifically show the differences between 26ers and 29ers have failed by wrong data normalization or not enough replicates to make it significant.

It would be interesting to give JD a freelap and 951/2951 setup identically on well-designed track/trail. stikman

 

[yuroshek]

A special someone and myself have some really cool ideas, stay tuned! (but dont hold your breathe its gonna take a really long time for the snow to melt)

 

[Hesh To Steel]

It would be interesting to give JD a freelap and 951/2951 setup identically on well-designed track/trail. stikman

That could work if the 951 had the same rims and tires as the 2951 (obviously in 26" size). Although I suppose that's what you meant by "setup identically", haha.

Just figured I'd emphasize that because it seems to be the biggest factor.