A couple years ago, the lock securing my mountain bike was cut and my bike was stolen from my front porch. This was tragic. I had no mountain bike, and this meant that the following spring was spent researching and preparing to get a new one. In this research, I decided to take a look at the 29er craze. Just to clear up any possible confusion, a 29er is a mountain bike that uses 700c wheels instead of the usual 26" wheels. I heard all sorts of opinions ranging between the poles of: "it's a gimmick, and it'll disappear in a couple of years," to: "29ers are the greatest mountain bike idea ever – they're as good as riding full suspension!"
Given the wide variance of opinion, I decided to go out on a limb and give it a shot, and now that I've experienced the 29er first hand, I think it's safe to say that I'm a convert. I love the big wheels and the fatty tires. While the larger wheel size occasionally felt a little squirrelly in the beginning, especially when making hairpin turns or when cutting along switchbacks, I quickly adjusted and soon fell in love with the sensation that once those big beautiful wheels got rolling, there wasn't anything that was going to stop them! The larger wheel circumference really does allow riders to roll more easily and smoothly over obstacles, and while I won't go as far as to agree that it's like riding full-suspension, I will say that in the world of hardtails, 29ers are tough to beat. The one drawback to the larger wheels is that shorter riders (anyone significantly shorter than 6 feet tall) may feel uncomfortable riding a 29er.
So, as far as this mountain biker is concerned, here's the final verdict: any biker in the vicinity of 6 feet or taller should definitely give a 29er a shot. These bikes are not a gimmicky fad, but a great mountain bike design which really allows hardtail riders to pound the trails harder than ever before.
No comments:
Post a Comment