Slim wrote: why would you want a 29 on the front and a 26 on the back.


all the advantages of a 29er compromised with a 26" rear wheel. To me you'd need rocks in your head.

Good question, why did specilized put a 24" rear on some of the Biggots

Datsane wrote:

Slim wrote: why would you want a 29 on the front and a 26 on the back.


all the advantages of a 29er compromised with a 26" rear wheel. To me you'd need rocks in your head.

Good question, why did specilized put a 24" rear on some of the Biggots

to correct the geometry....................


If you want a 29er......buy a fucken 29er, not any of this mixed up, can't decide what it is crap.

Slim wrote:

Datsane wrote:

Slim wrote: why would you want a 29 on the front and a 26 on the back.


all the advantages of a 29er compromised with a 26" rear wheel. To me you'd need rocks in your head.

Good question, why did specilized put a 24" rear on some of the Biggots

to correct the geometry....................


If you want a 29er......buy a fucken 29er, not any of this mixed up, can't decide what it is crap.

Thats true

It would be fair to say I've got a bit of a 29er obsession. About a year ago I got so peeved with the lack of 29 frames/forks/wheels/tires available locally that I started up a distribution company to bring the product to NZ. I'm pleased to say that since then things have improved a lot. We're bring in Niner Bikes (7 different models of frame) and there are Salsas, Surlys and even GT's and Raleighs popping up all over the place. The tire situation is pretty sorted, I can see 14 different 29er tires piled up under my desk. The fork situation is also improving. Over the last 12 months I've ridden the Marzo Marathon (flexy), Reba (solid), Pace S100 (light), Maverick DUC32 (plush) and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the Fox F29 and the Manitou Minute 29 very soon. We're also about to start bring in the White Brothers forks which are particularly exciting for us because along with 80 and 100mm versions (which we've got plenty of other options for) they do 135m mm and even a 150mm travel forks.

Personally steel singlespeed 29ers are my first love but the bikes that seem to be attracting the most attention for us are the hardtail scandium race bikes and the longer travel FS frames. I'm no racer but having spent a bit of time on the 22 pound Scandium wepon pictured bellow I can tell you that big wheels on a light hardtail are scary fast. Likewise the RIP9 fully, I thought I was kind of over big squishy bikes but this thing put a very, very big grin on my face. Anyway, I've ranted on enough...

If anybody has any questions about 29ers (tires, forks, etc) PM me or ask on this thread and I'd be happy to help out if I can. I'm no expert but I have ridden a lot of the stuff out there. Also if anybody wants to give a Niner demo bike a try drop me a line (allan@ninerbikes.co.nz). We've got a bunch of demo bikes which we'll be loading into a van for a bit of a national tour over the summer so we're probably coming to a trail near you at some stage.

A pic of the big squishy Niner:

I couldn't resist posting a pic of my favorite (personal) Niner. Last one, I promise.

absolutally gorgoues

i was meant to go 29 single speed shopping with my dad today but got a bit busy next weekend

What's the rake in that fork bp? It looks fairly short, no doubt accommodating the wheel size and head angle, + susp correction. How do you find 29er's at lower speeds, and in low speed tech stuff?

The Niner rigid fork has 40mm of rake with an axle to crown length of 490mm. It's designed to be the same length / rake as an 80mm travel Reba which is the fork the the rigid Niner Bikes geometry is designed around. To be quite honest (and I realise that I'm a bit biased) I believe that the Niner bikes guys have got their 29er geometry completely nailed. Apart from the smalls (which need a slacker head angle to avoid toe overlap) all the hardtails have 72 degree head angles. This would be down right scary on a 26er but with the big wheels additional "roll over" capability it gives these bikes a very sharp handling and yet secure feeling front end. It's hard to describe but the bigger wheels tend to slow the handling down but then the steeper head angle speeds it up. The result is this really nice combination of pinpoint accuracy and a really planted stable feel.

The other way to deal with this issue is to stick to a more normal (slacker) head angle but to build a fork with more offset. This is the approach used by Brant at On-One with the (rigid forked) Inbred which is also a great handling bike. The only downside is that most 29er suspension forks (the Reba being the obvious example) are built with the same offset dimension as their 26er equivalent so they tend to slow down the handling on a bike like the Inbred. That said, Gary Fisher has convinced both Fox and Rock Shox to make longer offset "G2" versions of their 29er forks to spec on his '08 bikes and these may well become available aftermarket. Manitou and White brothers are also making longer offset versions of their forks for the '08 model year.

Anyway, back to your question. Personally I find the handling of my Niner in low speed techy stuff to be phenomenal. I'm regularly cleaning stuff going both up and down on my rigid Sir9 that foiled me on my Yeti 575 (granted that squish doesn't always help in these situations). The additional traction of the bigger tire contact patch and the natural tendency of the bigger diameter wheel to roll up over obstacles has redefined my expectations of what I can ride. I realise that I'm coming off like the raving 29er evangelist here and I realise that 29er's certainly aren't for everyone, but if low speed techy gnar is your thing you should give one a try. :

How tall are you bp? I'm curious about fit and handling with larger wheels relative to the size of the rider, as I'm considering a 29er now.

AL, Where are the pics of Roscoes or are you waiting for the I9 wheels??

Slim wrote: AL, Where are the pics of Roscoes or are you waiting for the I9 wheels??

ohh has roscoe got one now, might go for a look one day now that he moved house just round the corner from me

He built up a niner last week with KORE and XTR weighs in at 11kgs all up, word on the street is "all the kiddes 26" shit is for sale"



He'll be racing it for XC Nationals

Slim wrote: He built up a niner last week with KORE and XTR weighs in at 11kgs all up, word on the street is "all the kiddes 26" shit is for sale"



He'll be racing it for XC Nationals

what even those hope hubs on some nice rims might pop round and see him sooner than expected although just bought new road wheels this weekend to !!

proberly a good place to ask this, are 29er's allowed to race in like UCI xc races ? I heard proberly 2 or 3 years ago that they werent but things change.