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What's up with these silly 29" and 27.5" wheels.....???

Highway Star

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I stopped into a bike shop this afternoon, and it looks like pretty much all the really expensive nice bikes (like over $500) now take 27.5" and 29" wheels? That's CRAZY!!!! They told me 29" wheels came from road/hybird bikes and 27.5" came from wheelchairs..........I've never heard of something so absurd!

Unless it's got a 26" wheel, it's not a mountain bike!!!!

Real mountain bike:

525x525px-LL-235fe4d7_vbattach7825.jpg

Abomination:

SCOTT-Scale-700-RC-2014.jpg
2012-CUBE_Reaction29er-mountain-bike.jpg
 

WoodCore

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Wanna do a bike off??? My long travel 29er vs your jankie whip w/26" hoops??
 

Highway Star

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Wanna do a bike off??? My long travel 29er vs your jankie whip w/26" hoops??

You can't be serious, there's no way your hybrid bike is any good off road compared to a real mountain bike!
 
Last edited:

bvibert

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Keep telling yourself that.

It's okay if you can't handle the 24er, a lot of guys can't.
 

Nick

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I'm interested in trying one. I'm so far overdue for a new bike and I've heard about the ups and downs of larger wheel size.

I haven't ridden both though so I can't really comment on what the differences mean to me and the type of riding I Do (mostly, cross country, but I do like blasting downhill)
 

Highway Star

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It's called technological innovation. You can't buy skinny skis at ski shops anymore either.

Sorry, needed to come back to this. This is quite possibly the dumbest thing anyone has ever said about ski equipment, ever. "Skinny skis" are still the only choice for racing.
 

Savemeasammy

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^mine are 65 under foot. I just bought them last year ;)


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Savemeasammy

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Fightin' words?! :)

It depends on the format I guess... Your downhill style ski-off, yes, I would be toast. But that's not what they are for...


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Wyatte74

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31.5" are the wave of the future!
Rolls over anything and everything you put in there way including rocks/logs/bricks/dirt/branches/tree stumps/road kill/scat/other riders/26" wheels...Do it!
 

marcski

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Sorry, needed to come back to this. This is quite possibly the dumbest thing anyone has ever said about ski equipment, ever. "Skinny skis" are still the only choice for racing.

I'll keep that in mind next time I am on an FIS course since you know I spend hours bashing gates. The only reason skinny skis are "the only choice for racing" is due to the FIS rule changes because they wanted racers to go SLOWER and reduce the rate of injury because the "shaped" skis were allowing them to ski faster with less effort. You obviously don't recall the backlash from almost every racer when the FIS went back to older ski lengths and shape:

http://skiracing.com/stories/head-boss-slams-fis-ski-change/

http://www.skinet.com/ski/article/us-ski-team-responds-fis-changes

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/s...ject-to-equipment-mandate.html?pagewanted=all
 

Highway Star

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I'll keep that in mind next time I am on an FIS course since you know I spend hours bashing gates. The only reason skinny skis are "the only choice for racing" is due to the FIS rule changes because they wanted racers to go SLOWER and reduce the rate of injury because the "shaped" skis were allowing them to ski faster with less effort. You obviously don't recall the backlash from almost every racer when the FIS went back to older ski lengths and shape:

http://skiracing.com/stories/head-boss-slams-fis-ski-change/

http://www.skinet.com/ski/article/us-ski-team-responds-fis-changes

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/s...ject-to-equipment-mandate.html?pagewanted=all

Actually, up until recently, there was no max waist width restriction on ski race skis, only minimum width. They changed it to SL >63mm, GS, SG, DH < 65mm. So you could totally run 80mm waist carvers for WC SL.
 

snoseek

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Trance x 29 coming from a Slayer has made me a better and faster rider, no doubt. I miss 26 inch wheels sometimes on certain stuff, especially slickrock type stuff in the desert but most of the time I want big tires. 27.5 seems like a good compromise.
 

MR. evil

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The different wheel is we bennifit different types of riders. 26" and 27.5" favor rider who ride more aggressive, like drops and getting air hence need a more nimble flick-able bike. 29" wheels favor cross country racers and your average trail rider. Several years ago I demo'd several 29rs and didn't like the bigger wheels for aggressive riding. Drops and log rides scared the crap out of me on the bigger wheel bikes. Now that I am starting to mellow out and enjoy trail riding I will probably be getting a 29er for my next new bike. But that will be some time in the future.

In a couple of years 26" bike will be dead except for on the cheap walmart / department store bike. Giant has already announced there plan to phase out 26" wheels in favor of 27.5" wheels.
 
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