[Closed] Are 29ers really dead

Who's we? I'd still expect them to be fairly niche in this country, I'd guess your average joe looking for their first 'proper' MTB is typically on a sub £700 budget and their idea of an MTB will be 26". People looking for 29ers I'd guess are experienced MTBers wanting a change so wouldn't be enough to drive the volume sales. As soon as more manufacturers drop 26" and offer only 650b or 29" then the average joe volume will obviously follow.

Hope they're dead, mine will be niche once again

There's so many standards, everything's niche these days.

Maybe it's just that we're not all as gullible as the industry assumed!

What's a 29er?

I am just about to buy one, should I wait for the next new standard?

Dead at least 2 years ago

already been superceeded in the states

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Oh, Genesis do a 32er! 🙂

The uk market is a small proportion of the world market. I'd like to know what are worldwide sales like. The big us companies seem to be committing to larger wheels so there must be demand. Even some of the biker run niche and well respected brands are, so there are real bikers out there that see benefits in larger wheels. we in the uk are hardly known for being at the forefront of much and tend to follow the curve (we love nostalgia so much so we just down want to let go!), so I'm not surprised that 26ers still dominate new bike sales in the UK even if larger wheel sizes are taking off elsewhere in the world.

Who says we have to have a one size fits all anyway?

The kid down the street who stops me and asks a dozen questions every time he sees me on my bike has just saved up £500 of his own money and bought himself a new bike, it's a 29er. They'll be around for a bit yet, I think.

In the group I ride with seemingly every week someone turns up with a new bike. Almost always 29ers. Saw a 650 last week though but yesterday was a 29er again!!

29ers aren't dead. Nothing ever dies with bikes. However, my guess is that we've reached the plateau with 29er sales, where the number of new folk buying 29ers is matched by the number of 29er owners moving back to smaller wheels. It's all cyclical isn't it.

kerv - Member
Maybe it's just that we're not all as gullible as the industry assumed!

Generally high end MTB's are slow to clear these days, 26 or 29er's. Just bread and butter bikes being sold no more than a grand.
Now road bikes are a different story, lots of high end off the shelf and custom builds being sold each month form £3k to £8k, though still a slow year really, not helped by a poor start to the year with weather. Road bike sales have increased considerably over the last few years.

I was shopping for an "entry level quality bike" the other day for a friend, and tbh I'd not really thought about that end of the market recently... And it turns out, if you're buying a first bike, you're almost certainly buying a 26er, or a stinker.

29ers are still rare, and the ones that are out there are horribly specced. Suntour XCMs on a £750 bike, ffs! I'd spotted the Genesis Mantles at Glentress and assumed it was about a £450 bike. The only one that I could recommend was the Voodoo- now discontinued. There's a Cannondale that looks OK til you notice it's a singlespeed.

But don't get me started on 650b, I can't find a single 650b bike under a grand with a quick google.

Actually I've have started seeing a fair few 29ers about since spring, and they look like they've been bought and are being ridden by normal people.... i.e. bought from Halfords etc, don't look too high in spec and are being ridden down the street. Far from dead.

It's all cyclical isn't it

I see what you did there, clever!

Thanks, I try 🙂

Them there Voodoo Bizangos are coming back in stock in July

We as us the main players within the industry
Trust me I know my thing in the market thus being that we in the know are more than certain its going the way we did not want it to!!
Gary Fisher said the 26 is dead to me but he may have it wrong

Lets see what the current picture is..

Front page poll.. What size wheels do you have on your main MTB?

We as us the main players within the industry
Trust me I know my thing in the market thus being that we in the know are more than certain its going the way we did not want it to!!

eh?

Lets see what the current picture is..

Front page poll.. What size wheels do you have on your main MTB?

I think its a good representation. It would be good to compare with "How long do you keep a bike for?"

If the average person keeps a bike for 4-5 years then that how long it will take for 29/650 to become the dominate wheel size if it happens.

I personally feel 29" has established itself in the global market and is unlikely to dwindle. 26" and 650b are likely to shuffle for the next couple of years. It'll be interested to see how it pans out.

The economic climate is playing more of a part in determining what bikes people buy than new technology and is likely to for years to come.

As far as i know specialized are the only brand to just offer 29er with no 26er option in most of its bikes.
How else is tell me i can't have 26" wheels?

steve_b77 - Member

Them there Voodoo Bizangos are coming back in stock in July

Good stuff, at least then there'll be one entrylevel 29er that's worth buying. (you don't happen to know when the Boardman Comps and Comp Fis are coming back do you?)

I got into mountain biking properly about 12 months ago when my dad started riding again after a 10+ year hiatus, I built up an alright specced 26 which has done me well, but after racing mayhem the other weekend where it seemed all the fast guys were cruising past me on 29ers (okay I was on a fully rigid retro Orange from about '93) it made me wanna build one up.

So I dropped £1500 on the credit card and have parts arriving daily for a custom On One Lurcher build. Was supposed to be starting SS with geared a possibility in the future but due to lack of availability on the horizontal swapouts I splashed some cash on a shifter and a mech and will be riding a 1x10 setup. Really cant wait to see how it rides.

I do think that 650 will start becoming more prevalent in the not too distant future for "serious" riders but I'm still convinced that the way to go for XC is 29, with 650 being better for (almost) everything else.

eh?

+1

Both my LBS's have 80% 29er's in their shops (not counting all the other BMX etc).

Difficult to spot a 26...

OTOH, most of my LBSs have few or none. (Alpine at Glentress have millions in their hire fleet, but in the shop they only seem to have a Gary Fisher Sawyer and a Gyro they can't sell.) Guess it depends where you are.

What size wheels do you have on your main MTB?

How does this help? It's a genuine question. Say you learn that 80% of the STW lot have 26" wheels on their main bike. What conclusion can you draw from that about the future of 29ers? How is the picture different if 80% are on 29" wheels? We've already established from this industry wheel war that us punters don't appear to have much control of what the bike manufacturers want to sell us.

They're deader than the dinosaurs, stupid idea for stupid people, If any of you mugs that fell for the hype still have any Enve wheels, send em to me and I'll recycle them free of charge before they explode..
Think of the children's faces!!! And the kittens...

My LBS, the last time I was in, had 1 650b MTB, the rest were 26. All the 29ers were very obviously hybrids plenty of CX and road too. I suspect this will change with the arrival of the 2014 flock.

I've got a theory, there's actually only ever been one wheel size for MTBs but we've all fallen victim to an group case of "Farther McGuire's perspective disorder"...

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we love nostalgia so much so we just down want to let go!

Trust me I know my thing in the market thus being that we in the know are more than certain its going the way we did not want it to!!

Possibly a small town local market.........

Going the way you didn't want it to - more bikes being sold to a wider range of people with new niches to keep people buying? What person in bikes wouldn't want a nice diverse market with more to appeal to more people?

Do you really think a change in wheel size increases the size of the market and appeals to more/new people? It's a tool for selling existing customers more bikes, not for broadening the market.

29" bikes will stay around for the xc and beginner markets, i think it's the push to try and get them accepted for more aggressive riding that has fallen flat.

out of interest the bikes bought by riding buddys over the last few months have been

intense carbine 26
specialized camber 29
ibis mojo 26
canyon strive x2 26
canyon nerve AL+ 26
zestys x3 (714,414 and 314) all 26
yeti asr 5 26
orange 5 26
specialized stumpy evo's x2 26

29ers are a rare breed in my part of the world 😆

It's a tool for selling existing customers more bikes, not for broadening the market.

I know that - but things can work more than one way you know - and different people like different things. More diversity = goodness. Or do you believe there should be one type of bike that we all must ride, regardless of height, style, terrain etc?

Of course not, but I don't believe anyone has ever thought "Oh, I always wanted a mountain bike but those 26 inch wheels are too small to roll easily over rocks. But wait, what's this? 3 inches bigger? I shall now buy a bike!" Beginners don't know or care what size bike wheels are.

No - but I own more than one type of bike as I am sure many on here do - you may not. I wanted a 29er for years before they became readily available in the UK. Got one and never ridden 26" since.

Tootall, maybe you misread my post- that's exactly what I'm saying, 29ers are for selling more bikes to the existing customers. But none of that helps broaden the market and appeal to more people, it just retargets the same people.

Won't they always have a place for XC racing?

Won't they always have a place for XC racing?

This really is nothing new. You looks at virtually any other sport with kit and developments that have not been demanded from the market have all transformed the respective sports. I'm not saying 29ers will transform biking, far from it, but the concept that all developments have to be demanded from the market is wrong. Often the market had no idea. 29ers are an evolution that may only provide benefits in some areas of the sport. The idea that all MTB's should have the same sized wheels no matter what your doing with them is just daft. Just the same as saying all suspension bikes should be 120mm, no longer, no shorter.

The idea that all MTB's should have the same sized wheels no matter what your doing with them is just daft

I see this said/written a lot and reluctantly agree. Many of us - despite the fact we own more than one bike - believe that maybe, just maybe, there is that magical "one bike" that will serve all our mountain biking needs with aplomb. The emergence of 3 wheel sizes (excluding dirt/BMX etc) takes us further away from that Holy Grail and we don't like it.

The thing is, the [i]actual[/i] size of the wheels is incidental. It's the fact that we now have to deal with more than one size that grates.

While having different options for wheel size does allow you to tune the bike a bit more for the intended purpose, it doesn't really change anything. You can still ride pretty much anything on pretty much any bike and no bike, regardless of wheel size, will be ideal everywhere.

Northwind - Member

I was shopping for an "entry level quality bike" the other day for a friend, and tbh I'd not really thought about that end of the market recently... And it turns out, if you're buying a first bike, you're almost certainly buying a 26er, or a stinker.

29ers are still rare, and the ones that are out there are horribly specced. Suntour XCMs on a £750 bike, ffs! I'd spotted the Genesis Mantles at Glentress and assumed it was about a £450 bike. The only one that I could recommend was the Voodoo- now discontinued. There's a Cannondale that looks OK til you notice it's a singlespeed.

Your wrong, there are a number of 29ers out there for under £700 with decent suspension:

http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3005

oh please make it stop

I've just checked mine, and they are fine, they aren't dead, they're just snoozing.

😉

I hope not, as a tall, lanky bugger I was kind of hoping the 29 inch wheels where going to make a lot of sense for me.

maico - Member

Your wrong, there are a number of 29ers out there for under £700 with decent suspension:

Only available in one size (large), with a 2 month wait, and mail-order only so not much good for a noob...

It looks like the large German companies are following the lead of the Americans. In 2013 29er FS models started to appear more and there are raft of new 29er models coming in 2014 from Germany.
In the UK 26" with longer suspension are strong. Short travel 26" are fading. 26" hardtails seem to be largely extinct in the US.

Some scientific facts...
If you buy a 29r and are under 7ft tall you look like a small child
If you have a beard and wear armour with one you look like this
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It also makes your penis look smaller
The extra rotational gyroscopical impact of the wheels is also making the world turn slower
The extra rubber in the tyres required means an extra 80,000te of nasty stuff is emitted to the atmosphere every so often.

Think of the children

Yes I have two 29ers I do admit they are marvellous to ride
But alas it has stalled in sales slightly more so then what we needed

Only available in one size (large)

Any size lower and you should go 26" or 27.5" little people look as daft on a big wheeler as tall people do on a small wheeler

Still only seen one client on a 29er in six years of guiding. Evidence so far from this season does not show much sign of this changing.

Admittedly one of our staff has a 29er Five. But he could probably ride a penny farthing down the trails quicker than most.

Bikes ridden by riding group in last 2 years:

Quarterhorse (29er)
Tall Boy (29er)
TranceX (26)
Sovereign (26)
Tracer 275 (650b)
Sultan (29er)
XTC (29er)
Solaris (29er)
Slim Jim (29er)
Superlight (29er)
Inbred (29er)
El Mariachi (29er)

Soon to be bought:

Mojo (650b)

29ers dominate here and riders are saying they'll never ride 26 again.

Where are you buzz-lightyear?

The people I regularly ride with:

Stumpjumper FSR carbon - 26
Zesty - 26
Meta 55 - 26
Me - Pitch - 26
Cotic Hemlock - 26

Some others I ride with occasionally:

Trek Remedy - 26
Intense Carbine - 26
Cotic Soul - 26
Orange Five - 26

This is riding in Calderdale/The Lakes mostly.

Last group ride I went on had:

29er, full rigid, singlespeed
29er, hardtail, singlespeed
26er, hardtail singlespeed
69er, hardtail, singlespeed.

Thus, I concur that 29ers are in the ascendency and 26ers are as popular as 69ers... 😉

and no-one uses gears.

You guys are awesome then. Wow.

http://singletrackmag.com/blogs/2013/04/a-time-of-change/

Anyone read this?

I've been hankering for a steel 29er, but reluctantly decided against it, yes they're nice things, and I like the idea, but I don't think it's the holy grail. For XC racers, yes they may gain the odd second here and there, and on flowy, less technical stuff you may carry more speed, but for the vast majority of riders, there is just no point, is there? Other than wanting one, and keeping up with trends, which is fine if that's your bag, 29" wheels are just another gimmick.

650b or 27 1/2" may be about to take over as the predominant size according to that article - but again, what's the point? If the difference in all these tests between 26" and 29" was marginal, then surely a wheel in the middle is going to prove nothing to 99% of us!

I'm sticking with 26", if I break something somewhere, or need a tube or tyre, spoke etc, I want to be able to get something.

Being 'niche' for the sake of it isn't cool, far from it, stick with what's reliable, and the most practical for 99% of people - 26" MTB's.

and no-one uses gears.

What relevance does that have to a discussion about wheel size? Or is it just yet another 'look at us we ride singlespeeds aren't we awesome' post. No-one cares!

Yup

Nah - nothing awesome going on here 😉 - just a reflection of the surrey-hills and south-downs type terrain we've got here.

The current poll is very interesting so far...

Wheel Sizes! Lets have it then

My main MTB has 26" wheels (76%, 349 Votes)
My main MTB has 29" wheels (23%, 104 Votes)
My main MTB has 27.5" (650b) wheels (1%, 6 Votes)
Total Voters: 459

What is going to be even more enlightening is the next poll which will ask hypothetically, what size wheels will your next bike have if money was no object?

Ok - fine- ignore the singlespeed bit. But there are more 29ers than anything else given the fast rolling terrain. If we were somewhere else, then i'm sure a different wheelsize, maybe to accommodate more travel, would be appropriate.

Grum- I took that as a poke at anyone who thinks they can draw any conclusions from their local riding scene or their mates.

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both my mtbs are 26ers, i doubt i would buy a 29er but 'never say never'
i have a good amount of spares so it makes sense to me to stick with what ive got.
if i get to a point where i am bikeless and looking for something then i will test and buy whatever i like at the time, regardless of wheelsize.

South West (Mendip, Qs, Exmoor, Dartmoor) + ram raids on Lakes and Welsh trail centres.

We recently took these bikes to Sierra Nevada and all it's tight, very rocky switchbacks, and were a bit concerned the long wheelbases would be a problem. They certainly were more challenging to get around than the smaller bike (mojo SLD 26er) but were OK. And the pay-off was on the faster, steeper, rougher sections when they flew.

As someone who's still enjoying* riding a 26er HT, I'm not writing 26ers off by any means. But there is something good about longer, bigger wheeled bikes.

Northwind - basically yes.

Its ridiculous to base anything on your local patch, but that is what we relate to for our bike choices. So, from whatever the choice is (26,69,27.5,29,32) we'll pick what suits us best. If the choice, as dictated by manufacturers based on wider global markets changes then we'll just pick from that. We all want a wheelsize that's supported by lbs's, so no-one going niche for the sake of it.

so no-one going niche for the sake of it.

Maybe a more positive way of looking at things from the manufacturers' point of view is this:

"Well, we've tried the 29er thing and it's cool, but definitely not for everybody. We learned loads about frame design and stuff though and there was something we liked about those big wheels at times. How about we refresh the whole bike line and sprinkle some of that stuff in there? Maybe go for wheels that are just a little bigger?"

even more enlightening is the next poll which will ask hypothetically, what size wheels will your next bike have if money was no object?

if money was no object my next bike would be a drop bar pompino for commuting

if i still had more money i would book a bike holiday and or session with jedi

if i still had money, i would buy a spanky new campervan and buy a new drivetrain for my existing bikes.

if i still had more money, i would probably stick the pompino up in the classifieds and quit my job.

How about we refresh the whole bike line and sprinkle some of that stuff in there? Maybe go for wheels that are just a little bigger?"

27.5 it is then

Purely a money making sales driven pitch, try to convince what you have is shit so you spend your money on something no better than what you've got........

[b]THE BIKE INDUSTRY IS[/b] Purely a money making sales driven pitch, try to convince what you have is shit so you spend your money on something no better than what you've got........

FTFY

Why are 26" wheel riders so defensive? & seem to get really upset because someone else tries something different, it's all just riding & all riding is good. Once you're out on the bike no one actually worries or feels superior/inferior just because of the bike they are sat on surely?

Everyone likes a gentle wind up or ribbing but things are getting out of hand in these threads just lately, I've been guilty of stirring too but had enough of it now

Right, who fancies a ride? & run what you bring

I get that, this just seems to be a really blatant push to force people away from 26" wheels for no reason whatsoever...

Bike industry in making money shock!