29ers:

What's the Big Deal With the Big Wheels?...

Let’s be honest, over here in the UK we’re a pretty miserable bunch.  We’re all a bit to quick to criticise & bemoan things.  Why on earth would we want something new when we’re satisfied with the old stuff that we’ve been moaning about for years? 

29 inch wheels mountain bikes have certainly suffered from our collective negativity for a long while.  They were commonly seen as a stupid American idea only suitable for really tall riders & even then that was just the benefit of making their bikes look in proportion to their silly gangly legs.  A lot has been said that they’re slower to accelerate & have the centre of gravity is too high, etc, etc.  To be fair, until recently, I was myself one of the doubters quick to point fault before actually getting my arse on top of one & getting a first hand experience.

Back in August curiosity finally got the better of me & I took a 29er hardtail out for a couple of laps towards the end a 24hr race.  The proof was in the pudding - I put in my two fastest laps of the weekend.  What’s more they were also the most fun laps of the entire race.  Having completed these two storming laps I went off to the catering tent & ordered up a double portion of steaming hot humble pie.

Maybe in the early days of 29ers the geometries weren’t quite right, but things have moved on in leaps & bounds.  Not only have the geometries been tweaked & fully sorted, but we’re now treated with dedicated forks with custom travel & rake as opposed to just a ‘normal’ fork with longer legs. 

With the frame & forks bang on & appropriate gearing fitted the current crop of 29ers roll up to speed perfectly well.  Then when you hit the trails full on they come to life:  the bigger tyres create a different contact patch with the ground offering amazing levels of confident, predictable grip.  What’s more the larger diameter wheels roll over obstacles with comparative ease, smoothing out the ride.  From my own experiences I would say that these beasts are just as agile in tight, twisty wooded singletrack as any 26 inch wheeled bike I've owned over the years.  You just have to adopt a slightly different riding technique.  I found that you need to steer with the bars a bit more (a bit like driving a quad bike!), making use of the additional grip around corners & over roots.

At the end of the day everyone is different & no bike is perfect for everyone.    However, we want you to find your perfect bike & until you actually try a 29er for yourself you’ll never know what you’re missing.  Put your preconceptions aside & take advantage of a Specialized or Trek bike from our great demo fleet.