Main stream?

[jhl99]

3 years ago I was shopping for a bike and one bike clerk recommended that I get a 29er. The concept of 29" wheels was new to me, although a 29er would meet my riding style (especially a rigid 29), I bought a 26" bike (a hardtail, my first experience with a suspension bike)... I like the availabilty of inexpensive and readily available 26" tires (<$15), tubes and wheels.

Three years of passed, and it doesn't seem like 29ers are taking the world by storm...or have they? Is something going to let loose with these bikes or not? I'm looking for a sign... one sign would be that the big mail order outfits have 29x2 tires for about $15 or maybe $20. Is this going to happen? When?

[mudskipper]

for people to pony up their cold hard cash there has to be overwhelming improvement in the product. and most folks just don't believe it yet !
I have been eyeing those 29" rigs for a while now ...
and if I had the cash right now, I'd be getting a karate monkey with 29's
ohhh ahhh

I guess some people think that they are hard to handle in tight twisties or they are concerned about the availability of tubes/tires/wheels ...the market will sort that out in time

[wooglin]

Three years of passed, and it doesn't seem like 29ers are taking the world by storm...or have they? Is something going to let loose with these bikes or not? I'm looking for a sign... one sign would be that the big mail order outfits have 29x2 tires for about $15 or maybe $20. Is this going to happen? When?
speedgoat.com is your best bet for prices, but they're not quite that low yet. As for a sign, I rode the Ouachita challenge on a 26er this year, and then looked at what the top finishers were riding. Guess what that was.

[onegear]

I've been riding a Karate Monkey SS 29er for a while now and love it!!! :)

I have wheels built for commuting and wheels built for the trails.

[jhl99]

The Karate Monkey is what has me interested in a 29er. Are there any other comparable bikes/frames out there? I would like get a rigid, geared 29er with fat tires (2.0 or so). Are there any complete bikes that meet this description available? (Complete bikes always seem like a better buy than building from scratch).

Regarding the Monkey, what are the implications of rear wheel removal when using a derailure with the horizontal dropouts?

As far as wheels, are 36 hole perferred over 32 hole? What about 40 hole? What tubes does one run with the larger tires? Are shrader valve tubes available?

Is it worthwhile to reconsider the gearing, since the larger wheel will yield taller gears with the same chainrings and cassettes used on 26ers?

***I'm going to try to stop by Speed Goat tonight, if I can get there early enough. I've checked their website, thanks for the pointer.

[jhl99]

I did get to Speed Goat before closing time last night. One of the shop guys personal bikes was a 29" Monkey, setup for as a single speed. He let me take it for a spin. If feels like you are riding on a monster truck or something with those big wheels! The shop guy (heavy, 200+ lbs) had 32 hole rims and said he hasn't had any problems.

I'm not an 'early adopter'. I think I'll wait another year or so to see what develops with additional 29 compoent availabilty.

[wooglin]

I'm not an 'early adopter'. I think I'll wait another year or so to see what develops with additional 29 compoent availabilty.
Why? Since you plan to run a rigid fork, the only other component availability you could be worried about is tires. Rims are readily available from road and touring bikes, and all the other components are bolt ons from MTBs.

Frame availability is another thing all together. Soma wll be introducing a 29er frame at about the KMonkey price point for 2005, and you can get a full custom frame from waltworks.com for a paltry $650. You can bet thats a deal that won't be around long. On One will also be producing a 29er frame pretty soon. They're usually a bit more expensive than the comparable Surly, but not by much.

[somms]

I did get to Speed Goat before closing time last night. One of the shop guys personal bikes was a 29" Monkey, setup for as a single speed. He let me take it for a spin. If feels like you are riding on a monster truck or something with those big wheels! The shop guy (heavy, 200+ lbs) had 32 hole rims and said he hasn't had any problems.


did you see a blue IF singlespeed 29r frame hanging on the wall there by any chance?
'tis mine! It has been waiting for the hubs to arrive.

[onegear]

There's really no need to wait another year or so. There's plenty of choices for rims, tires, and other componentry. Remember, the only thing that's really different from other bikes are the 29" rims and tires.

[somms]

fork choices are limited. Anyone know if that Maverick single crown could be converted to 29r use?

[DancingBear]

fork choices are limited. Anyone know if that Maverick single crown could be converted to 29r use?

It can work, but you have to come up with a way to limit the travel.

Fork choices really aren't that bad anymore.
White Brothers has 4 or 5 forks in their line that range from around $450 to a lot more. Their forks are super stiff, light, fairly plush, and easy to maintain.

Marzocchi has 2 models, the MX Comp for under $350 and the Marathon for around $550-600.

Rockshox just entered the market with a 29" reba. They're supposed to offer it at a couple of different price points. It's shaping up to be the cream of the crop. Early reports say its very stiff, plush, easy to tune, and that the motion control damper works great. It's fairly light too. Sure, it's a RockShox, which would normally be reason enough for me to look elsewhere, but RS has really turned things around since they were acquired by SRAM. These forks can only be bought from Trek (GF, Lemond, Klein) dealers this year, but they'll be openly available next year.

Quality is offering housebrand Winwood 29er forks for silly-low prices. These forks are supposed to be better than the Marzocchis, but not as stiff as the WB forks. They seem to be a great value at only $250.

RST and Suntour make 29er forks too. Most of their models are undamped big-box-bike crap, but they have some reasonably priced models higher up in their line that are supposed to be ok for the money.

There are also some forks that can be converted to work with a 29" wheel, but they are often more trouble than they are worth.

The 29er XC fork market is getting pretty close to matching the existing market. There are great, light forks available, but they're expensive, there's mediocre stuff available at value prices, and there's even a good fork hitting the market at a good price with the RS Reba. There's coil & air, lockouts, thru-axles, carbon lowers, cartridge damping, and open bath. Sure, the selection isn't as great as it is for 26" wheels, but it isn't that bad anymore. Fox has even indicated that they'd enter the market if they could get a big OEM order to get things rolling.

Tire selection already covers the racers and XC folks, but more tires are coming. Bontrager has a bigger 2.2 coming out, another company (I can't remember) is bringing a 2.25 to market, and WTB is producing a 2.35.

There are even full suspension frames available now from Lenz, GF, Titus, and Speedgoat, with a single-pivot high value model coming from Airborne in the very near future.

Seems to me that this 29er thing is starting to pick up some steam. 2 years ago most manufacturers didn't even know about 29ers, at least now they're keeping an eye on the 29er market, even if they aren't moving into it yet.

[jhl99]

The guy at Speed Goat told me about the coming Soma. That alone is a reason to wait and see. And see how it compares to the Monkey... I'm not that excited about horizional dropouts on the Monkey- because it sounds like you need to use spacers to push the rear wheel back to get clearance for a front derailure clamp...
Also, rear rack braze-ons would be nice... maybe the Soma will have them?

I would like to spend less $1000 for a complete bike. I haven't run the numbers, but I'm not sure that building from scratch will get me there. Although it might be close. I'm of the opinion that pre-built bikes are a better value.

I would really like to see a major mail-order outfit (Nashbar or Performance) carry 29er tires--this would be a sign that 29ers have arrived and been accepted. Just so you know where I'm coming from, I've never spent more that $15.00 on a tire. As stated by others, the cross over (26er and 29er) of all other components (with the exception of frames and forks), tire availability (price points, sizes, etc) defines the market acceptance of the 29ers. Currently, it appears that the market acceptance is just for the higher-end buyer.

From all the responses it sounds like the 29er market is getting ready to let loose, (with the products slated for release), maybe '05 will be the year.

One last thing, is there a rule of thumb for comparing the amount of money spent on a frameset with the gruppo/components used to build the bike? For example, if you buy a $500 frameset, approximately how much would be spent building the bike so that the the components are of a quality that are on par with the frame?

[dave66]

Dad has been championing the 29er for a while so no surprise that he will be offering a rigid 29er SS with disc brakes for 05 - according to DR it will be 800 hun or there abouts.
It has me selling my softail gearie and starting a savings acct!

[Griff]

The idea of a 29 appeals to me. I'm running an old rigid Jamis Diablo and love the way she climbs. I've been thinking a lot about my next bike. Being pretty retro I'd hate to jump into a dead end technology but you guys are right it's only tires I'd have to worry about. My riding buddies are on double squishy bikes which protect their old bodies but they pay some gravitational price. So if you guys don't mind I'll throw a couple questions out. What's the impact on climbing when you go 29? Are folks running different cassettes?

[wooglin]

So if you guys don't mind I'll throw a couple questions out. What's the impact on climbing when you go 29? Are folks running different cassettes?
Heavier rotational weight at the rim/tire = more sluggish acceleration. That's gonna effect your climbing. Personally though, I don't notice it, perhaps because overall my 29er is lighter than my old 1x1.

Folks generally change to a compact set up in front rather than a different cassette. But in general, a 26" gear + 2 cassette teeth = a similar 29" gear, so depending on what you got a different cassette would also work.

[Griff]

Thanks for the info wooglin. More to chew on.