[Closed] Thinking of a 29er hardtail, AM I MAD?

Yes you are mad. In five years time they will seem as pointless and antiquated as compressed air shifters, flex plate softails and elastomer forks. 650B Baby!!

SC Highball? Mine ordered!

Coptic Solaris? I like mine.

My SIR9 is the bestestest bike I've ever had.

[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7054/7004447703_18f8cc6997_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7054/7004447703_18f8cc6997_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/takisawa2/7004447703/ ]IMAG0417[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/takisawa2/ ]pten2106[/url], on Flickr

Pace 129. Surly Karate Monkey, Genesis Fortitude, On-One Inbred. Take your pick.

My 29 scandal is now my main bike. It does make all the long down hills seem that much shorter and flatter though.

Loving the Kermit green, that niner is pretty cool!

In answer to the original question..... yes!

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I tried my mates Scandal 29er the other week. I couldn't believe how well it climbed. Mind you: I had been riding a great big bouncy thing that weighs a ton, previously

Just go for it.

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The Scandal had been my choice until I saw that niner but wallet does not stretch that far. Chainslapp what sort of weight is it and what's it like on a 3hr ride. I have a stumpjumper at around 27lb which does pretty much everything would be using this as a test bed before changing it to a 29er full suss.

just built up a cheap 29er scandal with some rigid 29er cromoly forks and other bits I had lying round and I have to say I am slightly worried that my carbon 26" hard tail with lots of expensive parts may now be redundant. 26" wheels now look tiny and inadequate!

Andyl how have you found riding it as a comparison to the 26 hardtail

andyl - Member
just built up a cheap 29er scandal with some rigid 29er cromoly forks and other bits I had lying round and I have to say I am slightly worried that my carbon 26" hard tail with lots of expensive parts may now be redundant. 26" wheels now look tiny and inadequate!

I reckon the XTR on my 26" hardtail is gonna be stripped off and put on the Scandal [i](when the one I actually ordered eventually arrives!!!)[/i].

I spent a week riding my ht 26, a week on my fs26 then got on my ht 29.
Felt like I was coming home. Just loved the way it felt so solid and stuck to the ground but zippy with it.
Win win situation.

I like my Swift, I'll ride it for ages then considder selling the Pitch, then I'll ride that for ages and considder selling the Swift, then I'll ride the road bike for ages..................then the BMX................then the tourer...............etc.

It's all bikes.

I've got a Scandal set up very much like chainslapps, fantastic bike 🙂 I actually commute in on it at the moment as it's more fun than the Tricross, seems a bit silly.

Mines set at a slightly porky 26lbs in XL with On-One Max wheels, M520 pedals, Rebas, cheap 29er inner tubes, full XT, 2.1" SB8s, Monkeylite EC70 bars, Bel Air Ti saddle.

All fairly mid range bits, nothing light on there. The swap to the cheaper On-One carbon rigids knocks 2 pounds off too.

29er's are rubbish!
Here are my bikes!
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You're not mad - loving my 29'er HT (Cube Reaction GTC) 😀

Another one to consider is the Canfield Nimble 9, just got one from Charlie the Bike Monger and its superb, quite slack geometry with short chainstays and sliding drop outs. Finish is superb and very similar colour to the Kermit Green Niner above.

After much deliberation intend to pull the trigger on a black ano Scandal.
With a 120mm fork, and run as a 2x10.
Any suggestions on a lightweight but strong wheelset would be great.

FWIW - I find the Scandal better at 100mm and IIRC, running it at 120mm would invalidate any warranty 🙂

Loving my Grand Canyon 29er...

Cheers druidh any ideas about a good wheelset?

TBH, I just opted for the On One MAX wheelset. They were going at £150 and I thought it was worth a pop at that price as I had yet to be convinced on the whole 29er thing. Having ridden it a bit now, I reckon I'll be looking around for a Pro2/Crest build although, TBH, there's nothing much wrong with the On Ones 🙂

Perhaps give them a go a bit like you still to be convinced but willing to see what all the fuss is about.

FWIW, had an Inbred before the Niner. And I'd quite happily have another one. Loved it. Ran it with 120mm Rebas, rigid carbon, rigid steel, ss, 1x10. Rides way better than you'd think. Niner is nice, but is my only mtb now & I wanted a nice one.
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6692042933_f154fa41ba_z.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6692042933_f154fa41ba_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/takisawa2/6692042933/ ]IMAG0203[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/takisawa2/ ]pten2106[/url], on Flickr

takisawa2 does the niner ride equate to the price in comparison to the lesser 29ers

I would recommend trying the Canfield Nimble 9. It's so much more fun than the On-one/Niner frames (imo!).

At first I was slightly underwhelmed TBH, but after a good few rides now I'm sold on it. Easily the nicest bike Ive owned. It reminds me of a Cotic Soul I had once. It's just got "something", can't put my finger on exactly what it is yet. In terms of ride its lovely. They call the non EBB version the MCR..."magic carpet ride".
It is a lot more comfy than the Inbred. Ran it with a Fox F29 first but as soon as I put the Niner steel fork on it was spot on for me.
Is it worth 4x an Inbred... 🙂 For me yes.

Clink, I did look at the Nimble9, but it looked a bit slack (if that makes sense). Niner has quite a steep HA, & doesn't feel as 29'er-ish as the others I looked at. Have any pics of your Nimble9 ?

if all goes well with the on-one this is probably one worth considering

kane10255 - Member
Andyl how have you found riding it as a comparison to the 26 hardtail

Took it out today for a shakedown ride (and exercise the dog at the same time) and compared to the 26" hard tail it's different.

I'm running it 3x9 with an 11-34 cassette but I found myself staying in a higher gear (despite the bigger wheels) and cranking up the hill holding onto the bar ends - first time I have used them too.

Was much better going up the rough road past the pub that normally shakes you to bits coming back down and definitely rolled better over any steps and logs etc. I didn't go as fast down the bumpy bridleway - partly as it was only just bolted together and was having a shakedown and partly because I just seemed to settle into a nice speed and didn't feel the need to ride as fast as I could.

Coming back I did some cheeky singletrack trails which have lots of up-down peaky bits and it just rolled over everything and off the drops with no fuss.

It's very different to my carbon 456 (obviously). But different in a good way. I think I will still enjoy riding the 26er as it's carbon and had long forks so I will ride it harder than an aluminium XC frame with rigid forks but the scandal just seemed to do everything without me having to attack. It's definitely more 'wheels on the ground' than the 456 but for someone taller that may not be the case.

I was planning on getting some Reba forks and just fitted some steel forks off a ridgeback or something as I had them lying round (ebay mistake!). I have a badly sprained wrist at the moment but they did a very good job and were not harsh and they have plenty of rake so they keep it nice and responsive so I think I will stick with rigid for the foreseeable. Definitely try rigid before you buy some expensive forks. One thing I really like about riding rigid is the lack of fork dive and nice constant geometry. They also make riding slower more involving so you don't feel the need to take everything flat out. Only other rigid bike I had was an aluminium 26" which had some aluminium forks (Kinesis) and semi slick road tyres so was too different to compare but compared to my 456 with the lock out still on the big wheels do make it a huge difference.

Ps I use the same 16" as tk46hal and can confirm 29" wheels do work for people under 6ft. I am actually thinking I might get away with the 18" frame but might go with a layback Thomson like he has as I need a longer post (just) and could probably get away with the saddle further back.

I have a Whyte 29C by far the best bike I've ever owned, there fantastic value for money to

Have any pics of your Nimble9 ?

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..and the 2Souls

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I cant recommend the Whyte 29'ers more.
I have an 829 rather than 29c as I preferred the spec (fox shock rather than Rockshox and XT over X9) and it goes uphill like nothing Ive ridden before and has soooo much grip on the downhills.

Its almost making my C456 redundant!

that 2souls looks lovely is aluminium?

[url= http://www.kingdombike.com/TheKingdom/?p=1230 ]Kingdom Bike Brigante[/url]

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I enjoyed riding it 🙂

[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6102/7030401243_b0a7faf59a_b.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6102/7030401243_b0a7faf59a_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/ir_bandito/7030401243/ ]IMG_0284[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/ir_bandito/ ]ir_bandito[/url], on Flickr

that 2souls looks lovely is aluminium?

Jeebus that must weigh a bit! the tubes are huge! goes off to google 2souls

Just built up a 26" ht, the plan was always to get a 29er instead but I was swayed by tge fact that I buy most of my bike stuff in the classifieds and decent used 26" stuff seems a fair bit cheaper than used 29er stuff. I do fancy a Ti 29er at some point though...

Anyone with a singular swift that can offer an opinion, really like there retro looks and the colour

+1 on a brigante, its got a loooooooowwww bottom bracket but is otherwise like a big BMX, its great.

I almost wish I hadn't got one, not ridden or even very interested in riding owt else since building it....
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And my back tyre exploded on its second ride.....

I'm almost purposely not putting the new chain on my Chumba HX2 at the moment so I actually ride my Nicolai Helius CC!!

Since I built the 29'er in the end of last year I've ridden the Nic less than 10 times, not bad considering I ride 3 - 4 times a week!!!

(IMO) The Swift is a great bike.
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It does everything I need a bike (of this shape) to do. Mine is 3 * 10, and fully rigid (with a 135mm front end in Salsa Enabler forks for easy half-fat swap-outs).

I'm also very fond of my Gryphon for those days when SS is the way to go,
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... but it's my Peregrine that gets the most miles in. Most of my riding is farm tracks / green-lanes / bits of woodland, all linked together by back-country roads; perfect Peregrine territory.
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All fully rigid tho' as I don't really like suspension ... 😕