I want to do muni and maybe some trials-ish stuff. Should I still consider a 29er.
I was considering one for the speed. And then I started utubing Kris Holm. The fact that I never saw him on one or anyone else doing anything truly impressive or particularly fun-looking has made me swing back to the idea of just getting a KH 24.
If anyone wants a shot at convincing me otherwise (like you don’t have better things to do with your time) has to point me to a youtube video of someone on a 29er that is making it look cool. May sound like a stupid hurdle . But in the spirit of honesty, that is the barrier-to-entry of making me consider a 29er.
After this is accomplished, I will be more than pleased to hear any written points that anyone may care to offer.
Agree with Nexty… if you’re planning on doing some serious downhill MUni then go with the 24". If you’re into more x-country with some MUni then the 29" is the machine.
I recently got a 29’er and on it’s maiden MUni ride in the forest I was doing almost everything I have managed on my 24". It is faster, but not as fast as you may think it would be. Also a lot harder to control in the descents, but a little practice will sort that out.
And, bonus, I’ve got a (~2% body fat, 170 lb) Dane, (Frankie, actually) who could eat your dog even in his currently deformed state.
Nonetheless, not really convincing me that I want to buy a 29er.
PS–I do realize that as unis get bigger, they are less trials-abled. I just wasn’t sure how big an effect this is, and whether there are guys that can nonetheless do decent trials on a 29er. I guess I’m starting to think not.
PSS–I am hoping that I will one-day prove skills that will show I am worthy to be buying a trials-capable cycle. (In-joke: otherwise not even 30 y/o Madonna will take pity on me.)
Yeah. I just have one, but it morphed from a Miyata 24 to a street 29er when I (had) custom-built some alu extensions. I haven’t ridden it much since college. It’s pretty fast, but it has a road rim, bad tire clearance, and if you hop on it, the (commuter-type) tire says uncle and wants to fold under.
That said, it’s obviously not a muni 29er, which is why I’m curious.
I’d not advise anyone to buy a 29er as their first muni. 29ers are okay as a second muni for easy trails, but I much prefer a 26 or 24. The only reason I ride 29er muni nowadays is if I need to ride a lot of road as well. You can do 30 miles of muni in a day on a 26 or 24.
If you’re interested in hopping, 29ers are rubbish in comparison to a 24, because they don’t have such good tyres.
I’ve done downhilling on a 29er, and loads of muni, I spent basically 6 months of last year only riding 29er. I can only think of one ride in that 6 months where I wouldn’t rather have had a 26" or 24", and that was a muni ride with a 50 mile road section to get in.
unispins There not easy but definatly posible, I still neet to try crankflips and stand up ww, gliding is suprisingly easy, especial with the big apple tyre.
IDK why your stuff isn’t all on youtube, but you seriously have the best-looking 29er stuff that I’ve seen, and youtube seemed devoid of this.
Impressive.
When I saw your first vid–I was like, damn. But it was a slight downer that your music (although cool, and I enjoyed it as well) made me feel like you’d challenge me to fight if I accy bumped your beer. Maybe not even give me the courtesy of a challenge. So, imagine my suprise (one could call it de-prejudicing, even) when you’re rocking out to Jolene in the second vid. Seriously nice.
((BTW: I just made up “accy”. It=accidentally and should be pronounced “axe-y”. This is my fav word I’ve ever made up. If no one has heard this before, I wanted to post this for posterity. If this word has already done the rounds, then I’ll feel like I just fell on my posterity.))
Very impressive stuff on the 29er! But you did learn the unispins on a 20" before trying them on the 29er, right? Because it would be a lot scarier to learn on the big one right away. The smallest wheel I have til now is a 24", so I try my couple of tricks on that one first and, once I’m confident about them, I do them on the 29". Maybe that (KH24) would be a good choice for JesseG too. Actually get all of them, you won’t regret it…
I think the reason you don’t see as many 29er videos is that what makes them great isn’t easily captured on video. Going faster and farther is what I like about my 29er, so I don’t really feel like stopping to make a video every 5 minutes. Whereas, with a 24, it’s easy and relatively convenient to point a camera at a gnarly piece of downhill and then session it.
Maybe I’m exactly the wrong person to recommend a 29er as I’ve never had one, but…
I had a heck of a lot of fun on my Coker, including some fairly aggressive cross country up and down hill, and I’ve done a lot on my 28er.
If my 24 has a fault it is that it is too easy to ride, and a little slow.
If you want to hop drop and do fiddly stuff, then maybe a smaller wheel, but if you want a real blast on varied and interesting terrain, there is no substitute for a big wheel.
Whatever, you will end up with one of each, sooner or later.
Okay, I’ll chime in as the token “newer” rider. I started on a 20", switched to a 24" muni, now I have a 26" muni. I have in my uni stable all of the above plus a KH trials. The trials is the easiest to ride and do tricks, no doubt about that. The 24" is a little more stable, still kinda’ twitchy, slow, but not that bad. The 26" is my daily ride, I feel confident riding it on the street or trail. It is still slow relative to a bike, but I can maintain a faster pace than a typical jogger.
If I was going to ride jeep roads and fast single track, I’d take the 26 or a 29 if I had one. I have not found much local stuff that I can’t do on a 26, but that is doable on a 24. A 24 is okay, but I’m not convinced it’s all that unless all you are doing is super techy stuff. A 26 is a nice compromise, but I am beginning to think that a 29 would better suit my style which is rolling single track and jeep roads.
In all honesty you need two rides, something small and something large.
If you’re agood rider, you can handle a 29er in most conditions. If you are riding any sort of distance, you’ll suffer some on a 24, but it can be done.
I’m gonna get a 24, because I decided that I want the experience to be max different and take me on different trails than my mtb. And I’m a super-fast X-C rider on my bike. I never do anything techie on it other than try to stay upright while going even faster. So I’m gonna try to be more muni-trials-y on my uni and take it on rougher and more vertical stuff than I do my bike.
Plus, there’s so much great downhill terrain and tech terrain here in UT. I gotta take advantage.
Thanks for this discussion, which helped me to decide.
. But in the spirit of honesty, that is the barrier-to-entry of making me consider a 29er.