Mountain Bikes - Any Opinions on 29ers?

[mattchuck2]

I'm in the market for a mountain bike for this year, and I'm looking at 29ers. I don't have the money for FS and I like the way the 29ers roll. I tried the Gary Fisher Mamba today, and I was a big fan. Deore front D, SX4 rear, and Dart 3 fork w/80mm travel. I felt good on the bike, and I can see myself having a lot of fun with it.

I also stopped by another shop closer to home that was selling a Jamis Exile 1. While I didn't get to ride it (they didn't have any for me to ride), the components look similar (Deore rear D, Acera front D - ew, and Dart 3 fork with 100mm travel). Both bikes have the 8 speed cassettes.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these two bikes (or with 29ers in general)? Is there anything else I should be considering? I looked at this bike from Jensonusa.com and this Motobecane Fantom 29PRO SL, but I'm not at all confident in my ability to put a bike together and I want to support a local shop (even if the BD bike has XTR, a 9 speed cassette, and a Reba SL fork).

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[MR. evil]

Don't know much about them, but IMO if your going to get a HT get a steel frame, it's a nicer ride than Alum. Pretty sure the Jamis is steel, or used to be/

 

[SkaPig]

I don't know much about 29ers, but if FS is what you really want I'd suggest checking out the Giant dealers in your area if you haven't already. There are a couple in my area that still have leftover '09 Trance X4s and have them marked down to about $1100. If that is within the limits of your buget, I'd suggest taking a look. Deore shifting/derailers, and the 5" Maestro suspension is a pretty sweet system. I think the Bomber fork is probably the weakest link, but its better than the Dart. The Dart is fine, but entry level... although, I'm not sure if the 29er forks have different characteristics.

 

[thinnmann]

Does anyone have any experience with either of these two bikes (or with 29ers in general)? Is there anything else I should be considering? I looked at this bike from Jensonusa.com and this Motobecane Fantom 29PRO SL, but I'm not at all confident in my ability to put a bike together and I want to support a local shop (even if the BD bike has XTR, a 9 speed cassette, and a Reba SL fork).

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

This isn't exactly the advice you were looking for, but here is my two cents...

Bikesdirect.com puts together some awesome component packages for the money. The problem is you should know your way around the bike because you don't want to take that to a LBS for service and show off how smart you are because you paid half price for the same level bikes they are selling, and it is even lighter than the ones they are selling with similar components. And likely you will even have a full set of components where their bikes might have skimped.

The second problem with bikesdirect.com is their aluminum frames have absolutely ugly welds. Their steel and carbon frames look fine.

The frames at bikes direct are all made in factories in China. The name brands have been sold and are not the old companies they appear to be. That might not be a big deal, since most of the bigger name bike frames are coming out of the same factories. Anyone buying a bike should read this article. Even if it claims to be made in USA or Italy, it probably isn't.

Don't worry too much about assembly on the bikesdirect.com bikes. It is mostly putting on a wheel, handlebars, seat, pedals, and some brake adjustment. Maybe a little wheel truing and adjustment for personal preferences. You might need a longer stem, for example, and the saddles are mostly good for only a few months.

 

[BackLoafRiver]

I have the GF Cobia. I bought it last year and had a lot of fun with it. A few upgrades from the Mamba...Race Tora Fork, BB5's and a few other things. Got out a ton last summer with it and found it great for what I ride.

Only major complaint was it felt sluggy and awkward turning down some pretty tight stuff. Seems to be a general consensus on the 29ers in general.

Check out the Kona Big Kahuna. Very similar to the Cobia and Mamba but has some upgraded components. (Hydraulic disc, clipless pedals)

What kind of $$ are you looking to spend?

 

[gorgonzola]

like most gear it all depends on what kind of riding you want to do, here's a pretty good summary from cycle-cny.com:

29ers are great for less technical XC biased riding but if he's in to technical trail riding you just can't ignore reality unless you are a 29er fanboy. The larger wheels are slower to accelerate which is a significant drawback in some technical situations. As you noted the steering is an issue and you'll be stuck with long chainstays which compound that and picking up the front end (though some newer bikes like the SC Tallboy have more reasonable lengths and there are HT with compromised to obtain shorter CS, it will never be like the 16.75-17" found on 26" trail bikes). The 29er wheels are bigger, heavier, and weaker wheels and wheel parts aren't as common/more expensive (that's the whole idea behind 29ers - an expensive niche for the crowd (ie older riders) with more money - like all industry trends in MTB - sell more product, not necessarily make the experience significantly better). A 29er hardtail won't feel all that different than a full-suspension trail bike which is why a lot of older riders like them - they aren't strong/aggressive technical riders and a HT is better for the type of terrain they are riding - the FS 26er is more bike than they actually need. 29er FS bikes, especially longer travel and aggressive riding oriented ones make absolutely no sense as the wheel size just isn't suited for aggressive riding.

demo one for sure, some have drunken the magic cool aid and swear by 'em. i didn't like the feel - prefer a lower center of g, and being the techno geek that i am, think they just look dorky...

 

[Marc]

Demo first, definitely. I know some people that swear by them and some people that hate them. Seems to be either one extreme or the other. As gorgonzola's post states, their downsides are inherent to the size of the wheel, i.e. more rotational mass, more mass in general, higher forces on the wheel. There's also still a huge selection of 26" tires available cheap compared with 29ers and you won't have tube availability problems with a 26" either.

 

[mattchuck2]

Demoed the Mamba, it rode nice, and I really liked the geometry (it was especially nice coming from the 700c road bike tires - as in, the same).

I'm thinking of spending somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500. I might be able to get a good deal on a friend's Niner Air9 frame. I was thinking of buying a Bikes Direct bike (maybe this?) for the components and sticking them on the Niner Frame. Would that work? Thoughts?

 

[BigJay]

I've had a 29er for 4-5 years now and i love it as my 2nd bike. I have a Gary Fisher RIG. It's a singlespeed but before i had a X-Caliber with gears (for a while).

The 29er is great everywhere and it all depends on the kind of trails you like doing. I can do technical stuff on the 29er... I rode Waterbury a few times with it when it was fully rigid. The bigger wheels take the shocks better then the same bike with 26s.

That being said, i still prefer my 26er as my "do-it-all" bike simply because i prefer riding it in technical situations vs. the 29er. Also, the 29er sucks at the BMX track and on pumptracks as well... BMX tracks are not designed for 26s anyways... so it's even worst on the 29er!

So if you ride a lot of open trails and "atv-old-xc-skiing" type of trails... or enjoy KT a lot, the 29er would be no issue. I don't know where you ride... but if it's rocky and tech, i don't think the 29er would be the perfect fit... but still doable.

In all, get a 29er if you want one. You'll be able to ride everything. You'll have to ajust... but you'll get use to it. Then you'll go back to a 26er and find the wheels to be too small!