[Closed] New Bike; wheel size advice

How big/tall/heavy are you - makes a difference!

“ A monster-truck of a bike that rolls over everything
A heavy bike
Something that doesn’t like to change direction”

Your new bike will feel like that at first. Then you’ll get used to it. Then if you try your old bike it’ll feeling skittish, bumpy, unstable and slow downhill.

Regarding the size, the taller, heavier and stronger you are, the better you’ll be suited to bigger wheels. The way things are going I wouldn’t be surprised to see all good forks only being available in 29” in 5 years’ time, with 27.5 or 29 being just a rear wheel choice for adult MTBs (or maybe some bikes running a 27.5 front wheel in a 29 fork for XS/S riders).

I had a mate who had the 29er Acout and thought it was ace. He didn’t seem to have any issues with it being heavy / sluggish and he whipped it round berms fine.

That said when he rode my 650b Vitus Sentier he said that was mental agile and just wanted to manual everywhere etc.

So I think 650b is likely to be a bit more pointy and agile and will accelerate slightly quicker, but then it will be slower over really rough trails and won’t keep its momentum up as much.

A number of bikes are now coming out as a mullet setup rather than full 29er so I don’t see 650b spares getting difficult to come by in the short term. Also quite a few companies are producing small and medium bikes in 650b and large / extra large bikes as 29er.

So it’s really personal preference and I think you’ll have fun on either of the wheel sizes. If you’re tall - say over 5’11 I wouldn’t hesitate to go 29er - just IMO.

I’m 5’9 and haven’t loved any 29er I’ve ridden yet - but thinking of getting one next year to give it a go. Each time I’ve had a go on one I’ve been quicker than on 650b even though it hasn’t felt like I’m going quicker.

The way things are going

This is part of my concern and the reason I'm even considering 29" My heart says 27.5" all the way but....

I'm 54 years old, 5' 11" and 82Kg. Strong enough and fit enough to ride all day on the mountain bike in places like Exmoor and the Lake District. Also average 18mph on the road bike for a couple of hours around the Midlands. If that helps ;o)

I’m about the same size as you and have a 29” full-sus and a 27.5” hardtail. I’d happily swap the hardtail for an equally good 29er - but when I got it there wasn’t much choice of gnarly 29” hardtails with progressive geometry and it’s still a great bike.

If I had shorter legs then I might get annoyed with my 29” full-sus on steep stuff, but my legs are really rather long for my height, so tyre:arse collisions are rare/light. This is one of the main reasons a lot of WC DH riders are running mixed wheels. It’s much less of an issue on a hardtail because the wheel doesn’t move upwards!

A quick look at the specs of both options and if anything the 27.5" wheel option may be more tractor run over everything than the bigger wheels.

Neither seem that fast and agile or especially light and depending on your current tyres and bike weight you might feel both of them slow and ponderous initially.

Having said that, go with your heart as you'll never be happy with anything else - even if it may be a better option. (been there several times myself and not far away from your age)

recently swapped from a sonder transmitter (27.5) to a sonder signal (29)
there's a ~degree in it head and seat tube wise, im yet to notice any downsides of the 29er, in fact the cs lengths are the same on both bikes and i swear the 29er is easier to lift the front on. only downside i have found is i buzz my ass a lot more... i don't think id be riding a 29er FS because of this (im not quite 5ft 9)

A monster-truck of a bike that rolls over everything

So you want a bike that'll 'stutter' on every bump?

Anyway, it's a 29er.

The buzzing of arse on back wheel is why I haven’t got 29er yet - I’m probably going to get an all day demo of a 29er and ride it down some steep stuff to see if that’s actually a thing for me. I think I ride quite central on my bike as a conscious way of making sure I weight both wheels as equally as I can - so hopefully it wouldn’t be an issue.

I buzzed my backside a little bit in the early days but not so much recently. I was lucky to be able to test ride the same bike in the two different wheel sizes back to back and was pleasantly surprised by how nimble and fun the bigger wheels were. They did a better job of damping trail chatter and I figured 29ers were the future so that swung it for me. And it felt faster.

I’m similar age and height to the op. A fair bit heavier at 95kg and not particularly strong. I’m on my second 29 fs. First was a calibre sentry 160/150 lls gnarpoon. Now on an aether 9, a trail bike. The calibre felt like it didn’t want to turn corners at all compared to 26ers.got down stuff I’d not dared before though. However that cracked and the replacement is 1’ steeper ha and 25mm shorter wheelbase with 20mm less travel both ends. It feels really agile and quick handling in comparison.
When I occasionally ride the old 26er (blur 4x I can’t bring myself to strip down) it feels positively skittish and dangerous.
And strava says the aether is fastest of all 3 up and down.
So I think I’m saying it’s more about travel and geometry than wheel size per se. I will be sticking with 29ers. Occasional bum buzz on the back on really steep stuff but that’s probably my bad technique.

Edit- just looked at the geometry on theses bikes. Neither is a monster truck. Quite conservative wheelbase and ha. Shorter and steeper than my old 29 ht (last fast forward- has been taken out of action to donate parts for the new fs).
As above will feel long compared to old 26er but you will quickly adopt to this and it will feel very normal. Easy to ride geometry on both. I’d go 29

Another decades of 26" here till I went 29er on the AM ebike.
It's like riding an unstoppable steamroller 😀

27.5" will probably be better for you now, the 29" better in the long run. Both will feel odd compared to your old bike but as above, that will soon change and your old bike will feel obsolete.

I was recently tempted to get another 27.5" but ended up with a 29". They are just better more of the time.