'till 1993.
At that point in time, I acquired
a Bruce Gordon Rock 'n Road titanium hybrid with a shock. So I rode that bike
for six years. Even with my Willets brand, I rode the Bruce Gordon because
I liked the 28 inch wheels. I never made myself one, but I made them for my
customers ever since I started my own business in 1994, under the name "28
Incher."
DR: How long have you been at
it, and how many have you made? WW: Well, under the Willets brand, I've probably
made 60 of these bikes that are 700c rims that fit that tire [WTB Nanoraptor].
I do them strictly. I don't make 26" wheeled bikes anymore-you're wasting
your money.
DR: What are the advantages of
29" versus 26" wheels?
WW: OK, a real simple list is:
obviously the wheel is bigger so you have more angular momentum, which is
more mass at a bigger radius, spinning faster. That's the heart of it, and
what that gives you is gyroscopic stability. It gives you twice the tire footprint
on the ground. You have more momentum, more stability, more traction. You
have a bigger gear on the high end, and the low end is just the tiniest bit
harder. It's more fun to ride, it feels better, it rolls faster. It goes over
logs and bumps and divots easier. It smoothes out the washboards.
It's more proportionate, believe
it or not. It's the original idea. The main thing is that this was the original
idea. If you have any pictures of antique bikes and you look back at those
old rims, they are the exact same size as what we call a 700c rim. So that
rim diameter has been around for 110 years. I'm not doing anything "new,"
I'm just re-introducing something that was forgotten. I have a fixed gear
bike that I've been riding offroad for 18 years and it has larger wheels too.
DR: Are there disadvantages of
29" versus 26" wheels?
WW: The disadvantage is that it's
heavier. The main problem with this wheel is that people "perceive" there
is a problem. They think "Oh, you can't fit frames around those. Oh, you can't
find tires. Oh, you can't find a shock." No, my customers are riding these
bikes. I'm delivering these bikes and have been for six years. There are no
problems. It's a "perceived" problem by the industry that there are no rims.
It's a "perceived" problem that there are no tires. Yeah, there aren't many
choices, but what did the whole industry start out with? Nothing! We started
with Uniroyal knobbies that were made in the '60s and steel rims and Schwinn
frames that were designed for children. So, you gotta start somewhere with
the rims and tires and stuff.
I was the guy at the trade show
(Interbike) last year in the cowboy outfit running around making a big stink
about this, because the industry has it's head up it's ass. They don't see
the potential, because they won't try it. Most guys will poo-poo it before
they try it. They'll trash it verbally before they try it
DR: Who do you see as potential
customers?
WW: I think the potential customers
are the more intellectual ones. In other words, smarter people are going to
be buying these bikes. Older, smarter people. Because it is a more intelligent
concept-it works better. It's the stubborn, dumb guys that won't get it.
DR: What frame geometry is required
produce a good-handling 29" mountain bike? WW: Well, they kind of evolved
over that last 10 or 12 years that I've been making them. It basically started
out as a hybrid touring geometry, with a mountain bike angle and then it's
modified for a shock. Today it's basically standard mountain bike geometry,
modified for the bigger wheel and a shock. And it depends on who the rider
is. I make bikes, per order, so I don't have a generic bike.
DR: What about tires, front suspension,
inner tubes-what's available?
WW: WTB is making this 2" wide
tire. I definitely guarantee there's gonna be more available soon because
the industry is just buzzing with this scuttlebutt. Someone's got to come
up with something soon. They can't just let it sit there. And again, these
WTB tires (29" Nanoraptor) exist because I ordered them. Not because Gary
Fisher ordered them. I1m the one who placed the order. And the same with the
White Brothers shock (CX-1). I said, "I want this," and I ordered 25 shocks
and I sold them all already.
DR: What's the future of 29" wheeled
mountain bikes?
WW: Basically this is the future
of mountain bikes. In my opinion, when this tire was created, no matter what
I'd done before really was moot. People didn't want to see little tires on
the big wheel. As soon as that big tire was made for these big wheels-boom-everyone's
lining up. The 26" wheel is a dead thing. I think it's obsolete.
Willets Brand Bike Availability
All the frames that Wes makes
under his Willets brand are custom, made to order. His steel frames start
at $1000 and titanium alloy frames start at $2500. Rigid chromoly forks go
for $300, but he recommends going with a suspension fork. Contact: Willets
Brand/Crested Butte Bicycles, PO Box 1106, Crested Butte CO, 81224; 970.349.0130.
Mark Slate of Wilderness Trail
Bikes
DR: What motivated you to start
making 29" wheeled mountain bikes?
MS: The tire came first. Gary
Fisher was leaning on me to do 29" VelociRaptors in March '98. At Eurobike
Sept. '98, I showed Gary and Joe Vadeboncouer the new Nano 26" and told them
I felt better about using it to make the 29" rather than a pair of (heavy)
VelociRaptors. Wes Williams left a "28 Incher" at WTB for all to ride in October
'98 and I spent enough time on it to know that the ride was truly different.
Wes had been onto the benefits of the big wheel for years. I think it is especially
well suited for Crested Butte terrain.
DR: How long have you been at
it, and how many have you made?
MS: WTB has only made a few prototypes
(frames), starting in late '98.
DR: What are the advantages of
29" versus 26" wheels?
MS: The angle of attack for the
tread in driving and braking (more like a conveyor belt, less like a scoop)
and the longer contact patch which decreases psi (rolling resistance) are
both advantages. Inertia can be an advantage or a detriment depending on where
and how you are riding.
Better lateral traction, easier
to ride over choppy ground, fast rolling, more forgiving at speed, but takes
time to "hardwire" into your consciousness, so be careful at speed in the
tight stuff. (It's the INERTIA.)
DR: Are there disadvantages of
29" versus 26" wheels?
MS: Valid negatives that I agree
with are as follows: big wheeled bikes accelerate more slowly. (I don't find
braking with rim brakes changed.) Steering response is not as nimble. Bigger
wheels add weight and size to the bike. There is more air resistance in bigger
wheels. The bike frame needs to have more tubing in a bigwheel bike. The bigger
wheels are less stiff and strong laterally.
DR: Who do you see as potential
customers?
MS: People that want one bike
to do everything, people that have a lot of bikes and want to experience something
different, people that are tall (but not limited to those folks only-see below).
DR: What frame geometry is required
produce a good-handling 29" mountain bike?
MS: The 41.75" wheelbase with
the 17.25" chainstay we have chosen makes a bike that steers nimbly and the
front tire sticks to the ground well. A 71 degree head tube and 73 degree
seat tube angle with a bottom bracket height of 298mm (11.75") are the result
of using a 475mm (18.7") fork with 38mm (1.5") offset.
A 41.75" wheelbase with the 17.25"
chainstay is pretty extreme, however my 26" rigid that I still ride frequently
is exactly that, and I like it a lot. I think that a bike more people would
find suitable for more types of terrain would be better at: 42.25" wheelbase,
17" chainstay, 72 degree head tube, 73 degree seat tube, BB 11.875", with
a 475mm (18.7") fork with a 45mm (1.75") offset. (Dropping to a 2" travel
fork would create a 73/74, BB 11.562" which would be more to my liking for
a "be anywhere, do anything" bike with 29" tires.)
DR: What's the future of 29" wheeled
mountain bikes?
MS: That depends on journalistic
content and frequency, bike companies, the economy, fork makers, racing venues
and rules, and proper categorization. I believe that the 29" wheel mountain
bike can be outfitted to do more types of riding better than any embodiment
of a 26" wheel mountain bike. Road racing tires would drop the BB height into
the ideal zone (29" > 27" = 11.75" > 10.75" BB height), a good 3" travel fork,
perhaps a soft tail ...
In short, the 29" mountain bike
is a bike worth having. Don't prejudge it and don't assume that it is for
tall people only. Bob Poor's wife is 5'3" and she says she'll never ride 26"
again. WTB will continue to experiment with the larger diameter wheel, both
front and rear as well as front only. We believe that the 29" tire size mountain
bike is here to stay.
Carl Schlemowitz of Vicious
Cycles
DR: What motivated you to start
making 29" wheeled mountain bikes?
CS: It sounded like a really fun
bike to ride. Riding a bicycle is a fun experience. I want to instill this
basic feeling in all of my products, and I feel that is my main contribution
to the industry.
DR: How long have you been at
it, and how many have you made?
CS: I made my first 29" wheel
mountain bike around the first of September 1999 (two weeks before the Vegas
trade show). I've made 17 total to date, including the world's first 29" wheel
tandem (the Jeepster).
DR: What are the advantages of
29" versus 26" wheels?
CS: Let me start by saying that
on the Motivator's maiden mud voyage I rode it to a decisive victory at the
1999 Pedro's festival's epic mud bog challenge. (Since press time Dirt Rag
has gotten word that Carl is now a two time winner of the Pedro's mud bog
pulling off another win this past August.)
Of course there are also a lot
of other handling advantages such as: higher overall speeds and rolling momentum,
very stable handling at high speeds (due to both bigger wheel base and also
wheel size, i.e., more knobs touch the ground through turns), there is a larger
contact patch with the ground so traction is not a problem. Big smile!!! Also
the advantage which may be appreciated most of all is the increased rollover
ability, which smoothes out bumps and other obstacles. Bigger wheels means
a higher gear ratio, which also adds to speed.
DR: Are there disadvantages of
29" versus 26" wheels?
CS: Definitely the acceleration
is sluggish. But once you get going you are flying, which lets you crash at
higher speeds. You crash less often but when you go over the bars, you go
down hard. Also, there is the potential of the wheels being weaker, which
has not been a problem for me personally.
DR: Who do you see as potential
customers?
CS: First of all, people who want
a fun ride. This bike can put the biggest smile on your face since you owned
a bike with coaster brakes and a banana seat! Secondly, it makes a great weekend
warrior bike. The increased speeds that this bike is capable of allow you
to ride only on the weekend but still keep up with your friends who ride all
week!! And lastly, I would say this is a great type of bike for a "jaded"
mountain biker who has lost their all-terrain enthusiasm and needs a new thrill.
Oh yeah, did I mention that this
is the everywhere bike? Take it through life with you-from a fun time in the
mountains (on the big tires), to zipping along on fire roads and the occasional
trail (with 45mm wide tires), to a safe commute to work in foul or snowy weather
(with cross tires), to that fully loaded (it's got rear rack eyelets) and
yet totally comfortable stable touring epic trip (with road tires).
DR: What frame geometry is required
to produce a good-handling 29" mountain bike?
CS: Other than the longer chainstays
and longer wheelbase, the geometry is identical to that of a conventional
mountain bike. This is because a 29" wheel bike is borrowing the great ride
qualities of 26" mountain bikes and adding herbs and spices to zest it up
a bit.
DR: What about tires, front suspension,
inner tubes-what's available?
CS: There are a lot of tire options
available. Of course the WTB Nanoraptors 29x2.1" (52mm) wide (note that the
WTB tires also use special WTB inner tubes). Nokian and Panaracer both have
45mm wide tires, Ritchey and Kenda make 38mm wide tires, and there are of
course dozens of options as far as thinner cross and road tires.
DR: What's the future of 29" wheeled
mountain bikes?
CS: I really regard 29" wheel
mountain bikes as a stand-alone type of bike, not as a replacement for a mountain
bike. I really think that both bikes (26" & 29") have enough excellent qualities
that they can't really be classified together.
Butch Boucher of Moots
DR: What motivated you to start
making 29" wheeled mountain bikes?
BB: The motivation to build these
big wheeled bikes came in the form of a visit to Kent (the company) from his
good friend Don Cook, the head of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in Crested
Butte. Don had received a pair of the 29" WTB tires and wanted us to build
a frame around them, which Kent and Moots did.
DR: How long have you been at
it, and how many have you made?
BB: This all happened early last
summer. That is how long we have been at it. The number we have built is only
a couple, with another 10 or so ready to be built in the next couple of weeks.
The reason we have not done more is that we spent a long time working on the
White Brothers fork with Dan White and didn't see them until May.
DR: What are the advantages of
29" versus 26" wheels?
BB: Advantages of the larger wheel
is mostly the way they roll over things. If you go into a hole, it takes a
bigger hole to upset the speed and feel because of the longer footprint. On
rolling terrain they maintain their speed very well and on dirt road descents
you will never run out of gears because of the increased gear inches.
DR: Are there disadvantages of
29" versus 26" wheels?
BB: Disadvantages are the lack
of selection of tires, forks and frames. Also the wheels are heavier than
26", weaker than 26", and the frames are best for larger riders because of
toe overlap on smaller frames because of the tire's large diameter. Also,
the chainstay length has to be fairly long to make room for the huge diameter
tire.
DR: Who do you see as potential
customers?
BB: Who is our potential customer
is hard to answer because it could replace someone's mountain bike or cross
bike. Depending on the bar set up it can go both ways. For the most part I
think people looking for something different in a riding experience will be
our customer.
DR: What frame geometry is required
to produce a good-handling 29" mountain bike?
BB: Because of the long fork,
which changes the trail compared to a 26" mountain bike, and the large contact
patch of the front tire, a steeper head angle comes in handy to make the bike
steer better. This works out to around 72 degrees on frames large enough not
to have severe toe overlap. Keep in mind that the actual geometry depends
on the size of the frame and top tube length.
DR: What about tires, front suspension,
inner tubes-what's available?
BB: If you want to run the big
tires (29") there is only the WTB and the WTB tubes. Both are very good but
they are heavy. The old Manitou forks that were available, of which we have
a couple, had very little travel and old technology. The White Brothers forks
are very nice. Dan White spent a considerable amount of energy dialing this
fork in. The finished product is sweet but expensive.
DR: What's the future of 29" wheeled
mountain bikes?
BB: The future really lies with
the big companies in order to create a wider variety of parts available. There
are so many hurdles to overcome with the smaller frames, I don't see this
being a huge mass appeal product. Maybe shops will have a "Big and Tall" section
of the store.
DR: What's the scoop on the Moots
29" bike.
BB: Because these are custom frames
only, everything varies. The standover suffers because of the fork length
and with the YBB we keep the top tube as high as possible. We build the smaller
frames with a strut between the top tube and the seat tube. Generally the
seat angle is steeper than on a mountain bike in order to improve the front
center dimension because of the large tire.
Model Name: Mooto-X YBB
Material: Titanium alloy
Frame size: Custom
Standover height: High (because
they are custom they vary, and because of the long fork length they are high).
Head angle: 71 - 72 degrees depending
on size ( steeper than the same size mtb)
Seat angle: 73 - 74 degrees (steeper
than same size mtb)
Top tube length (effective): similar
to but slightly longer than mountain frames.
Chainstay length: as short as
possible (Because of the huge tire and the 7/8" diameter stays the length
is 17.5").
BB height: custom ( approx. 11.75")
Wheelbase: again custom (approx.
42.5")
Price: $2699.
Contact: Moots Cycles, PO Box
774651, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477; 970.879.1676; www.moots.com.
Ross Shafer
DR: There are a handful of frame
builders making 29 inch mountain bikes (that utilize WTB's 29 inch Nanoraptor
tires mounted to 700c rims). So, what's up with that? Are 29 inchers a passing
fad or are they here to stay?
RS: Back when I worked at the
Bicycle Trip in Santa Cruz, we had a great old DBS shop bike. "Deebers" as
we called her (it had a ladies frame) had great big fat tires and large diameter
wheels (I think we called 'em 28" back then). Riding Deebers around town on
errands was always a blast. Once you got those big wheels spinning, they wanted
to keep spinning, making Deebers a joy to ride. A lot of stability was provided
by those big wheels. And the rollover capability of such a large radius wheel
allowed us to plow through and over the roughest road conditions with ease.
Many an armload of badly needed beverages were successfully negotiated over
Santa Cruz1s beat up streets on Deebers.
Bikes using wheels this size are
generally very easy and enjoyable to ride. Stable, smooth rolling and easy
to ride! No wonder so many zillions of transportation bikes throughout the
world have utilized wheels more or less this size for so long.
Yeah, yeah, so what about the
question. Big wheels for serious offroading, passing fad or what? Let1s look
at the facts. That smooth stable ride these wheels give comes at a price.
Just look at them as flywheels, the bigger they are the more effort it takes
to get 'em rolling. It takes more braking power to slow 'em down as well (bravo
modern brakes!).
So that means if they1re not up
to speed (where these wheels really shine), more effort is going to be expended
every time the rider tries to accelerate (or decelerate) the bike than would
be expended with a smaller wheel. Think of those tough steep climbs when you1re
focusing your strength on each pedal stroke. How 'bout a tight twisty singletrack
where you1re constantly braking and accelerating. Pretty common conditions
in offroad riding.
But all that rollover capability
and stability is surely an advantage offroadSright? Well, of course it is.
Why do you think suspension has become de rigueur on today1s offroad rigs?
Within the less than hyper speed
parameters found in most our offroad riding, properly functioning suspension
with a 26" wheel pretty much washes out the rollover advantages of these bigger
wheels. Ok, if you1re riding full rigid (RIGHT ON! There1s so many of us nowadays),
big hoops can really smooth things out when the going gets rough. Another
technical consideration is wheel strength. When comparing larger and smaller
diameter wheels with a given rim cross-section and spoke pattern, the smaller
wheel will have the highest overall strength and resistance to flat spots
and bending. Between today1s suspension and a well-built set of wheels (regardless
of size) this consideration is largely just splitting hairs. But the chances
of your 26" wheel surviving a big bottomed out hit against a big rock without
damage are just plain better than with the bigger wheel.
I think we can compare the popularity
of these bikes to that of singlespeeds. They are BIG fun to ride! They offer
something different to those who like variation in their cycling. Like singlespeeds,
the bulk of these bikes, I think, will be owned by folks who have a stable
of bikes from which to choose for whatever type of ride strikes their fancy.
Will they take over as the wheel of choice for mountain bikes? I think not...I
just don1t see enough distinct advantages. But what do I know?
