29er vs 36er

[jtrops]

@tholub

They’re crouched over, and their seats are closer to the ground, too, because bike seat tubes are angled. I was reminded of this yesterday riding on a great purpose-built trail system for mountain bikes, where I hit my head on branches probably four times.

That was on a 29er, and man, a 29er set up with a real MUni tire like the Hans Dampf can be an amazing MUni machine. If you want to do real MUni, definitely go with the 29er over the 36; the 36 can be fun on trails, but it’ll never be good at gnarly stuff.

Not only are the tubes angled, but the bottom bracket is lower than the centerline of the hubs.

[MUCFreerider]

@Alice Arctan

It’s more like 7’.

I need to do an actual measurement, but at 6’1" (185cm) I think I’m about 7’1" or 217cm with 125mm pedals, which is pretty much taller than anyone you normally see, as even few extremely tall people are over 7 feet. I’ve ridden twice now with 100mm cranks so that should be around 7’2".

So yeah, it just feels SO tall!

[MUCFreerider]

Muni head clearance on 36

@tholub

I was reminded of this yesterday riding on a great purpose-built trail system for mountain bikes, where I hit my head on branches probably four times.

This is probably my biggest difficulty with 36 Muni, especially riding the same trails I already know on a MTB and 24" Muni: I hit my head all the time and I really need my glasses for eye protection from all the branches that I have to ride through. The trails just aren’t maintained with clearance up to 7 feet, or even 6 1/2 feet where you can duck a bit.

[Alice_Arctan]

@MUCFreerider

This is probably my biggest difficulty with 36 Muni, especially riding the same trails I already know on a MTB and 24" Muni: I hit my head all the time and I really need my glasses for eye protection from all the branches that I have to ride through.

Glasses aren’t enough coverage. I suggest you put something over them, such as a pair of safety glasses you can pick up for a few euros.

[OneWheelLess]

I sold my 36er, I miss it a lot (it was a blast off road), but I don’t think I’ll ever sell my 29er (unless to upgrade). With short cranks it’s pretty fast and with longer ones it can take you anywhere. When I rode that exclusively I found I even started to prefer it in some technical muni sections.
So to me I’d definitely get the 29er first.