This is obviously a very hot topic in the mountain biking world at the moment and as I am in the market for a new bike, ultimately I was faced with this decision. Which way should I go? I have been pondering this for a few months now and have been doing my research. I have been eagerly following the conversations on the forums, speaking to those who own 29er’s, bike shop employees, and chatted to those in the bike industry for their opinions. I was writing pro’s and con’s list about both bikes, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of both and was losing sleep over what I was going to do. Until rather obviously, Jo from Giant told me to go ride one!! As soon as I did, I knew within 15 minutes what my decision was. I’ll share that later, firstly though I want to discuss what I was thinking prior to actually going and riding one.
Option 1: Cross to the 29er world, buy a dually for 24’s, and a hard tail for 100km races: PROS
- Bigger wheels equals going faster
- Rolling over rocks easier
- Comfier dually for 24 solos
- Everyone seems to be riding them so they must be good
- Everyone who rides them are telling me they are awesome and I should get one
- More of a road bike feel so would be good for fire road races/100km marathons
- 24 hour races generally aren’t too technical
- Is this the way mountain biking is going, will everyone be on a 29er in a couple of years?
- A lot of pros are riding them, winner of 2 of the World Cups recently have been on a 29er, as have winners of Cape Epic.
- People who own them advise you don’t need to be a strong 6 feet man to ride one
CONS
- Bigger wheels equates to harder to negotiate in more technical terrain, especially tight uphill switchbacks which Castlemaine has a lot of.
- Heavier
- Is it just a fad that in 2-3 years everyone will be back on 26ers?
- Need to be a massive man to lift the wheel and get the full advantage of them
So these were the types of questions constantly running through my head and I was leaning towards to the 29 thanks to my ‘pros’ list being longer. After I met the crew at Giant there advice of going out and riding a demo 29er was pretty obvious. Luckily, Jason from Cycle Concepts had the Giant Anthem 29er out the back that he let me borrow. I headed out on some cruisy tracks in Castlemaine to test the beast out, I was pretty confident I would be heading over to the world of 29ers, how could I not when I was hearing was awesome things about them.
Yes they were faster, and yes they rolled over little rocks so effortlessly that you could barely notice you were on a rocky trail, however I felt as if the fun was taken out of it. I love riding with the Castlemaine crew, mainly because within that group are riders who are so skilful, they are so ballsy and do things on a bike I could only ever imagine. I admire these riders, I look up to them and hope one day I could be half as good as a rider as what these
guys are. Name a trick on a bike and they can do it, balance, coordination, speed, determination and courage are what these guys have. When I go home after a ride with them I am filled with motivation to get out there and practise. Just spending time on my bike practising still starts, monos, bunnyhops, all this stuff may seem juvenile but master these skills and you will greatly improve in any race. They launch off rocky dropoffs, hammer down descents, jump mineshafts and scoot over logs whilst doing a mono.
At first I thought these guys were plain stupid, now I can see they take calculated risks based on their skill level. Yes it seems unfathomable to me to do some of those things but to them they have failed then practised until they have mastered the skills that will enable them to ride like that. Yes it requires some courage as well, but the skill involved is what makes them so good. The funny thing is most of these guys hardly race, and if they do it’s always in a team and there’s beers being drunk on laps off. They just love to ride their bikes.
Anyways now that I’ve set the scene I’ll get back to how this fits in to my decision. What I want to achieve is to have skills like that. I want to achieve success in this sport because of my skills, determination and mental toughness, all things I am working on improving. I believe riding a 29er takes away the ability to be able to practise these skills; they make you a lazy rider and is almost a way of trying to achieve better results without actually putting in the effort and hard work. I get the feeling some people who race mountain bikes are always looking for that extra advantage and they think by having the latest power meter, speedo or heart rate monitor will do it, by having a 29er or the latest bike will get them that success; when really, if they put all their efforts in learning the skills and spending more time out on their bike for fun, they will probably achieve better results.
So, what I want to do is practise the necessary skills, have the courage to have a crack at technical drop-offs and have FUN riding my bike and I think a 26 inch is the way to do it. I do think 29er’s would be awesome for 100km/fire road races and suited to some courses, however as I am only a teacher on a measly wage I don’t have the option of having that many bikes in my shed!! Yes there are pros riding them, however that’s not their sole bike. They get to choose the best bike for the race they are doing and that’s the difference between them and me. I need one bike for 3/6/12/24 hour enduro’s, cross country races, stage races and the 26inch dually is the way to go. So now I’m losing sleep thinking about how awesome the Giant 2012 range is going to be and I can’t wait to get one!!!
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