[Closed] Giant pull the pin on 26"...

Wow .. Didnt take em long to bin 29 inch clown wheeled bikes then .. Knew it was only a fad 😀
26ers are the future .... long live the 26er

[url= http://m.bikeradar.com/mtb/news/article/giant-2014-mountain-bikes-first-look-38013 ]Bikeradar[/url] article on the 2014 Giants [i]implies[/i] most of the 29ers will continue to be offered for the time being, but that the LT stuff (Trance 29er?) may not be.

Hasn't the full suspension fad died off yet 😆

I really don't know why people include 29ers in the wheel size fight, it is suitably different to have no real threat from 27.5/26 so I am sure we will end up with 29er for XC (which it is awesome for) and probably 27.5 for everything else (only because people are suckers for new things and it is a bigger number so must be better).

The non cycling types who buy the most bikes will just get whatever they are told to in the shops / which colour they like the look of.

27.5 is just marketing and a new thing to sell stuff and impacts frame, fork, rim, tyre manufactures so they are all the big boys who are happy to do anything that will cause a wide scale "refresh" of kit.

I do like bigger wheels (I ride a 36" uni offroad and moved to 29er for my XC bike so have nothing against 27.5 it is the same change as when I went from my 24x3 uni to a 26x2.4 one other than weight the overall speed was as near as damnit the same (on a uni you are 1:1 fixed gear so you are going to notice it far more than on a bike).

Anyway it gives everyone new battle lines to fight over lol

Big risk for Giant as most of their 29ers get good reviews, the 29er Anthem came runner up in 'bike of the year'.

I think we have all been nicely conditioned now to accept 27.5. We all already know 26 and have had the 29 benefits drummed into us for the past 4 years so, when a bike company offers a bike with all of the benefits its hard to counter the argument.

There have been posts in the past on here (alot) that diss the 29er as just a marketing tool, i initially disagreed but im starting to wonder if the whole thing was planned, with 27.5 being the end result. 😐
conspiracy?

Damn, I haven't even finished building up my anthem 26er yet....

29" becomes niche again!

29" were always sold as bikes for tall people. I'm 5'6 so why do I need a 29"? The future will be 650b for a while and back to 26" saying cap in hand "we were wrong" and we all have to buy new tyres again.

They look more 'right' than the maestro Giants have done in a fair while if you ask me.

I saw a 29er with a baby seat on the back of it , so total mainstream now.

Shouldn't the thread title be Giant drop the 29er ?

Hopefully all the rich folks will "upgrage" to 650b and sell their "old" stuff cheap to the likes of me. Happy days.

This actually pisses me off. Loved demoing both anthem and trance 29er and thought the latter was great. Then giant pull the plug on the trance 29er in one year despite good reviews. Where does this all end. I would have been even more pissed if i had bought the trance 29 ER this year!

To those saying that this is a risk for Giant, I assume they aren't just dropping 29ers on a whim, rather that as good as the reviews have been maybe they haven't sold particularly well. Kind of "yeah that's a good bike, but I'll buy something else which I fancy more". Obviously I have no way to back any of this up, just offering a counter point 🙂

[i]29" were always sold as bikes for tall people. I'm 5'6 so why do I need a 29"?[/i]

At that height maybe you ought to be riding 24"?

Yep I knew this day would come, where's all the suckers who believed in the hype? Haha.. 29ers are history thank the lord it was just a fad for rich folk who can't ride for toffee. One down just the 650 to shift now aye 😆

So Giant aren't pulling the pin on 26" wheeled bikes then ?

Le roi est mort, vive le roi! Until the smaller one.

Stick with your kids wheels and come back when you're half as fast as this.

Wow, I didn't expect them to move this quickly, but in retrospect it should have been obvious since we saw that article where they had already developed the carbon 27.5 Advanced frames. Normally they do that for the 2nd year of release to make sure before committing to the expense of the carbon molds.

As a Trance 29er owner I hope Giant provide good support for a fair period. They had problems in recent years with frame failures, so it would be expensive to re-equip if I they could only offer me a 27.5 replacement.

I'm not sure if I'm pissed about the change. I had to buy when I had the money available, and I wanted to try 29er. The news on the wholesale push to 27.5 hadn't quite broken yet. In retrospect my original plan for a 29er replacement for my 26er race susser might have proved sounder, but I actually disliked the Anthem 29er and I was unexpectedly blown away by the Trance 29er. I kept my old 26er anyway which basically just sees race duties because it's lighter, but I love riding the Trance 29er which I think is particularly suited to our dry, gravelly, and rocky trails. As it happens my 26er frame only lasted a year or so in production before they upped the travel, and I've kept that running for 10 years so far, so short of frame failure I expect to run the 29er just as long presuming 29er fork, rim, and tyre spares remain available. I think they will since I'm sure the 29er advantages won't be easily given up by XC and marathon racers.

Interesting times then as the battle lines may have been redrawn. Instead of which 2 sizes will remain barring the XC and DH race extremes, it appears that the industry wants just 27.5, pitting it against all existing owners of 26 and 29. A huge bet indeed, which will either succeed or fail in spectacular fashion. AFAIK the Giant 29ers pretty much sold out which probably helped them make the early switch to 27.5. I benefitted from a big discount on mine. I wonder how many will wait out the early adopter risk with 27.5 though, and therefore whether the bet the industry has made will pay off or result in a return to 26.

Given that Giant are the worlds largest bike company this is pretty significant I think. Others are bound to follow, but 29 and 26 will likely become less popular in the shops.

[quoteHaha.. 29ers are history thank the lord it was just a fad for rich folk who can't ride for toffee. One down just the 650 to shift now aye

i never found my 29er to be a skill compensator, in fact i found it harder to ride in most situations over my 26. I just love the ride of the 29er....

[quoteHaha.. 29ers are history thank the lord it was just a fad for rich folk who can't ride for toffee. One down just the 650 to shift now aye

i never found my 29er to be a skill compensator, in fact i found it harder to ride in most situations over my 26. I just love the ride of the 29er....

I think part of the reason they went this way was they were loosing lots of sales in Asia by moving away from 26ers mainly due to the average height of Asians compared to Caucasians being lower. Harder to fit smaller people to a 29er.

great post londonerinoz. Pretty much feel the same except for the fact that they ran out of T29ers just as I was about to push the button. The idea of buying a bike just as manufacturers pull the plug on it, does not fill me the desire to splash the cash at the moment. Perhaps it's another year of riding the old faithful until things became a little clearer. Having said that the extra travel on the Trance 2014 looks nice!

Perhaps we have gone through the thesis, antithesis, synthesis cycle with wheels already? Although with Trek making more of a push into 29ers this year, perhaps not!

The lime green Norco in Evans (sorry, just buying inners!) also looks nice!

FWIW, I simply preferred the ride of the 29ers. Nothing to do with hype. Rode 6 bikes one day on exactly the same trails. 3 x 26 and 3 x 29 and the result was clear for ME and MY TYPE of riding. Need to see if the 650bs are the correct balance as Giant suggest now?

ahh bollocks to all of this, im going out on my roadbike 😉

This is just b/s. What new standard will arise next to take our money then suddenly be abandoned ! They must think we are bloody stupid !

What with giant and their fork,stem ,bar compatability im surprised they haven't invented a wheel size only they can use.

They must think we are bloody stupid !

Well people are obviously buying them, so perhaps we are...?

I'm not though; i ride a 26" singlespeed!

I can understand people buying them if they like the feel, personally I don't, but for the companies to go on about how great they are and then a few years later tell us all their faults to try to sell us yet another wheel size is just beyond me . They are total w******!

At least the Trance looks like a normal bike now.

JCL - Member
Stick with your kids wheels and come back when you're half as fast as this.

/p>

POSTED 10 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

SHOCK HORROR!!! Some circus loving 29er fan boy posts a vid up of some pro being paid to ride a big wheeled bike down a track fast Woohoo!!! 😆

There is no risk to Giant at all.

The local bike buying public here seem to gravitate to them despite demoing and preferring other bikes for simple reasons (logical or not)

Brand Loyalty - I liked my last one - kind of the I liked the Imprezza so reckon the Subaru Jimmy will be a great car for me
It's just such a good deal - they hit a good price point, being one of the biggest they can do stuff cheap and make it look great value.
They are everywhere, they get good mag coverage, into lots of shops flood the floors with them. If you have 75% of your stock as Giant's your going to try and shift them.

Interesting thread. Funny enough, a few weeks back in a wheel size thread, I'd said I was wondering why if 27.5 (650b) really is the best of both worlds why the talk is only of it killing off the 26er.

Subaru Jimmy

Wrong on both counts, You mean [b]Suzuki Jimny.[/b]

I'm an a-hole. 😉

I'm afraid you've actually all got it wrong guys!

[b]Does This Spell the End of 26-inch Wheels For Giant?[/b]

Pinkbike asked Giant USA's Global Product Marketing Manager Andrew Juskaitis a few questions about the switch to 27.5-inch wheels:

[b]Is Giant USA eliminating 29 and 26-inch wheels from its XC, Trail and AM models for 2104?
[/b]
· No, not entirely for 2014. Reign X and Glory remain 26 inch for 2014 and Anthem X and Trance X will still be offered in 29-inch. But that story will change in the future….

[b]So, there are no 29er XC racing bikes for 2014?[/b]

· Anthem X 29er, XtC Advanced 29er and XtC Composite 29er will still be offered.
[b]
Will Giant follow this path throughout its DH range next year?[/b]

· Can’t answer that question directly, but you can imagine that if we believe so strongly in 27.5 for the majority of our range in 2014, you can guess what might happen in our future…
[b]
Can we expect to see 29 and 26-inch wheels eventually disappear in Giant's consumer-priced bikes in the near future?[/b]

· 26-inch for sure, but 29-inch will be dependent on market feedback. That said, if the market progresses the way we believe it will, 29-inch will be phased out in approximately two years....again, totally dependent on market feedback.

· 26-inch for sure, but 29-inch will be dependen on market feedback.

Since when has the industry ever listened to market feed back! This is why it's back fired on them,
They got too greedy, nobody wants big daft wheels and nobody asked for 650b which is hardly any different to 26" wheels! Amen brother.

Pussy.

Anyone know what Gary Fishers (the person not the brand name) view is on all this wheel malarkey? it's all his fault.

Google reveals the truth...

The real truth is that 40 years ago, Martians left mountain bikes in Marin County as a gift to humankind and since then the 26-inch wheel has been the ‘standard’ mountain-bike wheel size. A few years ago, Jupiter sent down 29-inch mountain-bike wheels in an attempt to prevent a Martian takeover of Earth.

Road cyclists have been using the larger size wheel since Pluto was a planet, but with typical Plutonian black humor they made the tires really skinny and hard.

In Europe, where everything is much better but a lot more expensive, they call the big wheel off-road bikes 28ers just to piss us off. The little ones they call ‘VTTs’, which is short for ‘very tiny tires’.

Are 29ers better? Yes, in the same way that 10 bottles of beer are better than six bottles of beer. A 4-inch-thick log seems smaller to a 29-inch wheel than to a 26-inch wheel. For another analogy, ask your sister-wives or girlfriend or boyfriend or all three.

Interesting thread. Funny enough, a few weeks back in a wheel size thread, I'd said I was wondering why if 27.5 (650b) really is the best of both worlds why the talk is only of it killing off the 26er.

The problem with being the 'best of both worlds', as with all in-between standards, is that it's also the 'worst of both worlds' (in this case, heavier and less wieldly than 26" and rolls less well than 29").

Despite what Giant are saying, I still think it's going to be hard to shift 29" from XC hardtails/short-travel FS. Trail bikes and LT FS, OTOH, are looking increasingly like they're going to be 650b. There's also the issue that the 29er market grew slowly and organically, whereas 650b seems to have all the hallmarks of a big, overnight marketing push, and as such I remain sceptical.

Anyone know why we can't use ISO sizing (ie. 559/584/622)?

Because we want to pretend the 650 b tyre is bigger than it really is so ISO is out and 27.5 is a lie so 650 b leaves us with wiggle room for any kind of marketing spiel

I thought MASSIVE 26 er wheels were about 650 b size anyway???

I thought MASSIVE 26 er wheels were about 650 b size anyway???

Tyres? Yes. But only if you're comparing low volume 650b tyres to high volume 26er tyres.

The rims are larger in diameter, so like for like tyres are always going to be bigger.

So all the same effect by using rubber queens on 26" rims.
Oh wait, I already do that, on an anthem. So that makes me cutting edge and actually ahead if giant, on one of their old bikes doesn't it?

qwerty - Member

Anyone know what Gary Fishers (the person not the brand name) view is on all this wheel malarkey? it's all his fault.

650b is mostly kirk pacenti's fault. Lets throw him in a volcano.

26-inch for sure, but 29-inch will be dependent on market feedback. That said, if the market progresses the way we believe it will, 29-inch will be phased out in approximately two years....again, totally dependent on market feedback.

I assume "market feedback" is a euphemism for "once we see a slowdown in sales as everyone has bought we'll launch another wheelsize and get our chums in the media to shill it relentlessly".

“We have not killed 29 in 2014, but it is minimized,” explains Juskaitis. “We are not going to turn off the tap entirely this year, but we do have plans to phase it out over time.”

That's a pretty bold statement given that the tallboy was SCs biggest seller last year and Salsa seem to be on a roll with theirs. The Giant 29er fs bikes do look ugly though - perhaps they never felt comfortable fitting the Maestro stuff in.

Someone wake me up when the latest fad has ended, I'm waiting for flexi-stems to come back.

JCL - Member
Stick with your kids wheels and come back when you're half as fast as this.

So he was faster than a 26" down there? How many 29ers in the World Cup?

 

I'm shocked and appalled. What will Haymarket/etc publications* think?

*Change means new kit/sales up on mags to see whats new/what we should be buying...

im actually getting a bit peeved with Giant on this, i sold my 26 fs because i was told that the 29er bettered it in every way, now im being told that smaller wheels might be better after all. I think next time im going back to Specialized, at least they seem to know what they are doing and sticking to it (29er)

@ ratherbeintobago. I agree about best/worst comment.

I was just surprised that it took till now for someone to try and kill 2 birds (wheel sizes) with one stone. Up till this point it only ever seemed to be 26ers on the endangered list.

I've not tried a 650b to comment but I was happy enough with the choice of 26er or 29er.

I can't believe all this guff from a big company like Giant. For years the whole bike industry has been happy to push 26" wheels and it took an age for them to realise that 29" might actually be better under certain circumstances.

And then as if by magic they are taken by surprise by an in between sizing 650b which seemingly has the best of both worlds. So you're telling me that they haven't got an R&D department which is investigating and developing this stuff over several years and deciding which is the best wheel size to go with?

If that is actually true then why would anyone want to buy a bike from such an inept company who it seems are totally incapable of any sort of innovation and are just following fashion tends?

So it's pretty certain no 26ers unless dh .............Rip

inept company who it seems are totally incapable of any sort of innovation and are just following fashion tends?

Remember that Giant are the biggest bike manufacturer in the world, by a long long way. They know exactly what they are doing...

What Giant do ....the rest will follow .....if they have any sense ......market leaders

I think next time im going back to Specialized, at least they seem to know what they are doing and sticking to it (29er)

We were all happy on one wheel size for many years. We then realise a bigger wheel has some advantages, but some drawbacks too. So many are thinking a compromise size could be a good one-for-all again.

Seems reasonable to me, as long as it settles down and people are happy with their bikes. I think riders may like some choice for longer than the brands would, brands prefer less SKUs so one size will prevail eventually. I have a feeling 29" will stay but could become more niche rather than the dominant wheel size.

I've only had my Trance 29er since February and they've already decided they'll bin it in the next few years ffs! Maybe it'll be a valuable rare bike in years to come?

Remember that Giant are the biggest bike manufacturer in the world, by a long long way. They know exactly what they are doing...

I agree, I was actually implying that their statement and marketing actions are being driven by something other than any wheel-based performance criteria.

😀

Sorry, I misread.

I think they realise the savings of one wheel size for their operation and reckon now is the time to do it. As said by others, its only a matter of time till the other big guys follow, that's the way it works. There will always be a few smaller manufacturers to cater out with the common mass.

"So it's pretty certain no 26ers unless dh"

Which says 29'er's aren't the tool for the technical riding only lycra XC and uber-talented pro's paid to big up products.

Get 100,000 petitioners and get this raised as an issue in the Houses if Parliament...as its sooo important 😀

uber-talented pro's paid to big up products.

Yes well they are just a marketing tool aren't they .........where would they be without a product

Tom B - Member

I've only had my Trance 29er since February and they've already decided they'll bin it in the next few years ffs! Maybe it'll be a valuable rare bike in years to come?

i'll give you £25

On a 80mm DJ hardtail they'd kick a good amateur rider on a 9k Nomad bike all day long?

They're not .....Paid Pro's ..for nothing 😉

I think I'll nail together some 28" wheels. That's where it'll all go the year after next.

Oh. Sell them to me. Thats niche. The latest thing isnt it?

Mountain biking = serial upgraders

Yes, of course I shall. They wont be cheap but itll be worth it. Compatible with 650b tyres with a bit of stretching and 29" tyres using Velcro reducers and a knife.

They've gotta be better than 27.5" and being smaller than 29" much better than those too. And a full two inches better than 26. Winner!

I might apply to giant for a product development role.

Rocketdog check out this nice dent from Coedy...25 quid is probably too much!

[IMG] [/IMG]

Also with superglue and some sheet steel, compatible with all frame/fork sizes.

I really don't give a shit what bikes Giant make.

Wouldn't clown wheels be square?

Why do people get peeved that their bike is discontinued? It won't make any difference to it, and parts won't dry up overnight, so just keep riding it and enjoying it?

Orange 5 swing arm please - oh its discontinued

core - Member

Why do people get peeved that their bike is discontinued? It won't make any difference to it,

Resale value is definitely a factor... A used Five lost about half its value the day they announced it was "obsolete", partly because new stock went straight in the sales and partly because fickle mountain bikers don't want the old model, even if yesterday it was the new model. If you bought a Five the day before they announced the 650b Five, you took a knee square in the assets.

Why does that matter? Well, for most people with a decent bike, the value of that forms a part of the budget for their new bike. If my last bike had taken a big hit on value, I'd not have been able to buy my current bike.

The other thing is just parts transferability- the wheels and forks in my hardtail have been in at least 4 different frames, but if I buy a new frame tomorrow I'll need to replace both (and again, the old parts are already worth less). So again it hits you in the wallet. And ironically, will probably mean I buy less bikes/bike parts for the forseeable future.

[quote=core ]Why do people get peeved that their bike is discontinued? It won't make any difference to it, and parts won't dry up overnight, so just keep riding it and enjoying it?

If my new carbon frame fails in the next 5 years what will the warranty replacement be? I doubt however generous the company are that they will offer to give me wheels and forks to go with a 650b frame so I need to spend more to replace it. I don't sell on my frames they normally end up in a skip so I'm not worried about resale but if you fund a new bike every 1-2 years by selling your current one the you might struggle to sell on what you just got. Conversely if Giant are stopping making certain frames the used price might be at a premium.

fails in the next 5 years what will the warranty replacement be? I doubt however generous the company are that they will offer to give me wheels and forks to go with a 650b frame

fails in the next 5 years what will the warranty replacement be? I doubt however generous the company are that they will offer to give me wheels and forks to go with a 650b frame

giant did when my mates 26 anthem snapped and they did a 29 warranty...prolly shifting old stock though.

oh and I would buy a 29r to complement my soul, as i think it would fit a different role in my riding. A 27.5, nah, can't be bothered (As long as I can get tires and rims-which will be the foreseeable, at least).

did they buy complete bikes or frame only?

Giant are basically saying "Our suspension system sucks with 29" wheels (18.2" chainstays on an XC race bike? Ha ha ha...) but instead of admitting that our bikes are flawed in this respect, we'll blame the wheel size".