Mountain Bikes

[money_pit_yj]

I have been riding an older Raleigh for 6 months. Super nice bike for a first time MTN and I have put a lot of miles on it but want to upgrade. I found 1 year old Specialized Hard Rock 29er for the cheap. I am a victim of reading forums and buying in to the what the pros say and have gotten concerned about the agility of a 29er. I ride 1 time a week on a trail that is fairly wide open and no technical long downhill runs and I'm not doing tricks so I'm not real sure how concerned I am with agility. Who has a 29er and have you run into problems? I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. What kinda bike are you riding iffin you ride?

 

[bgredjeep]

I've been riding a 29er since 08. I've never felt any lack of agility. I'm sure a pro level rider could notice a difference, but for most of us you would never tell. What size frame do you ride? Mine is XL and the larger wheels suit it. Med and down I think 27.5 is better.

 

[LightBnDr]

I raced for about 3 years. Traveled all over up north in Iowa and Wisconsin. When I was 15. I rode a Schwinn S95.6. Built it into a homegrown on a 15yr olds budget.

I still have that bike. I still ride it. It's the only mtn girlfriend I've ever had.

So if your balls are big enough I suggest a 26er. They aren't for everybody though. Lol

 

[TBItoy]

I like a 29er. Especially for a trail bike. Probably not the BEST for an extreme fast bike. But that ain't me. Crashing hurts. Crashing fast hurts worse.

 

[GONOVRIT]

That 29er would be great for what you're doing. I just replaced my 26" Gary fisher this summer with a 2016 Santa Cruz chameleon in 27.5 and LOVE it. HARDTAIL!!!! -inside joke for my boys I ride with on here running full suspension

 

[money_pit_yj]

I'm running a 26 right now and new bike is a L frame 29er.

Crashing hurts. Crashing fast hurts worse.

Tell me about it........

https://youtu.be/P4h5OBF7ohM

 

[money_pit_yj]

I hit the tree square and hard. Helmet face shoulder knee and all. Bike missed the tree and I never hit the ground. Tree branch stub went into my shoulder. Finished the ride. I was impressed I can still take a lick like that!

 

[al1tonyota]

I've got a 2012 trek superfly AL 100 fs 29er xl frame I love it! I'm a bigger guy so it fits me well. Tight turns at speed it feels big but I feel confident on it on everything else. I ride pretty fast ESP for my size. I'll run head on to roots and ledges and the big wheels plus suspension just soak most of it up!

 

[LandSpeeder]

I've had them all, including the current 27.5+
A 29'er flat out rolls easier on trail rides. The "flow" you get easily outweighs the nimbleness you lose in it so it makes it a no-brainer. That said, the 27.5+ has changed my world with mtn biking. I can now ride and it's cause of this bike and tire. 3" wide tires... at like 20psi WITH tubes in them. I have a bad back and this bike is FOR ME.
Look in to the "6Fattie" line of bikes which is what Specialized calls the 27.5+ line of bikes....

A handful of us on here and from the bham area have been riding this past year a lot. Adam Lee, Busted Matt, JRich, Tyler Rogers, Brit Mansell, me. Who else?

I have this one, Stumpjumper FSR Comp 6Fattie...

 

[tonybolton]

Re:

Yup....29r is the way to go. Just like 35s on daily driver rigs are turning into 40s.

I've got an old school GT 26" full suspension. It's a cadillac on the trails but it feels like walking up the wrong way on an escalator when going up steep/long climbs. I usually end up pushing it.

But the other 90% of the time it's great. I just can't justify spending money to upgrade when I'm only at a hobbyist level.

I've done the downhills at windrock twice.....it was brutal. You really need a downhill specific bike for that ****!!

 

[blacksheep10]

Wish I was around people that did this more. I kind of just wung it and bought a stumpjumper 26" with fox shocks front and rear. juicy brakes. Seems legit, but I know nothing whatsoever about the hobby. I just wanted to get less fat. I'm in fairly flat land here, so no mountains to play on like some of you. It got used to ride the roads more than trails this summer

 

[jeconn]

I second the 6Fattie bikes. The 3" tires smooth out the ride incredibly. It's like having 3" of suspension with just the tires. Smooth's out the small high frequency bumps like they're not even there. Any good bike shop will have demo bikes. If you want something even better look at the Specialized Turbo Levo.

 

[hwmiller]

Finally a subject I have a slight bit of knowledge on. I usually just lurk on here because I do not want to make a fool of myself or ask a ridiculous question. I am currently in school and cannot afford an off road vehicle so I ride bikes to have fun (cheaper hobby). Plan to buy some type of vehicle as soon as I graduate. For now I usually just enjoy reading everyone's posts and taking in all the knowledge I can.

I ride a lot with a friend who has a very similar amount of skill as myself. He rides a 26 and I ride a 29er. I have always known I could kill him in the long straights or rough areas but he could kill me in the tight switch back turns and get up to speed much quicker than me. So I thought maybe he was better in some areas and I was stronger in others. So one day we switched bikes and it made me realize it wasn't my skills that made the difference it was the bike.

overall, I would chose a 29er over a 26(only talking about hard tails). I believe it is a better decision for casual riding.

26 - accelerates better, faster in the turns. But rough ride, hard to hold speed.

29er - holds speed, smooth ride. But slow in turns, and accelerates slow.

 

[Stretch]

29'er, hard tail, steel frame, singlespeed here. It's fun and great for conditioning but I can no longer stand the feel of it and will be getting a new bike in the spring with a riding position and head angle that is more similar to my dirtbike. I do that way more so muscle memory made riding my 29er feel awkward after a while. Probably 27.5 full squish like a Norco Sight will be the replacement. I worked in the cycling industry for a while and am a bit opinionated, but this new + **** is just a reason for the manufacturers to have something new to hype. A lot of the things it "fixes" can be alleviated by proper bike fit and suspension settings. The 29 was a needed change for racers and 27.5/650B was a necessary change for free ride and more playful full squish bikes that needed to turn faster and not have as much flex in the wheel to sustain harder hits.

GONOVRIT and I ride with some of the same people and it all depends on the trail, BYT in Charlotte is more technical so our buddy on his 27.5 Ibis used to drop me like a bad habit in some sections there. But go to the Whitewater center where the trail is faster and more flowy and my 29er shined. Each one has its place. Figure out what's right for you and enjoy one of the most fun sports around.

 

[bgredjeep]

29'er, hard tail, steel frame, singlespeed here. It's fun and great for conditioning but I can no longer stand the feel of it

I rode a Haro Mary SS for several years. When I was trying to get back on a bike after back surgery I decided I needed suspension so I picked up a breezer supercell.

I did get to ride a Turbo Levo at a demo day the local shop put on. I couldn't believe how much the 27.5+ tires smoothed out the trail. They were tubeless at 15psi. Rock and roots that normally give a pretty good jolt just disappeared under the 3.0 sixfatty tires. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to ride a non-pedal assist 27.5+ bike so I've got no idea if it's significantly more work to pedal such a beast. My Supercell can handle a 27.5x2.8ish tire from what I've seen so I might try it out some day.

 

[hwmiller]

Also check out bikesdirect.com. I have no affiliation with them but I bought a cyclocross bike from them. You can get a nice bike from them for half the price you could in a shop.

They mainly sell Motobecane"s but the components are what your after. All the frames are made overseas anyway. Probably at the same place.

I realize you need to support the local shops but a friend of mine owned a motorcycle shop and sold a couple of bikes there. They made more profits by selling a bicycle than they did a motorcycle.

There is a lot of markup on bikes. Hurt my feelings when I bought a $2000 bike and I came back in the shop several months later and they had it marked down to $1300.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[money_pit_yj]

I just bought a new Hard Rock for about 300 bucks. Not a high end bike but an upgrade. I will ride it until I have a need for a better bike,!or even know what my needs are.