Wow! 29ers really DON'T suck!

For a few weeks I have been enjoying my mountain bike a lot. Of course, the more I ride it the more I realize that it is going to need a bunch of work to bring it up to snuff and it is this work that I have been dreading doing, or worse, paying some one else to do. The cost and time involved have had me simply looking for new, more up-to-date hard-tail bike than my well worn, seven year old Gary Fisher.

Unlike any time in the past, the very first thing that must be considered is what size wheals you would like on your mountain bike. There’s a choice? Yes. There is the old standard of 26 inch, of course. This, sadly, appears to be a rapidly antiquating standard and some companies have scant offerings in their 2013-2014 lineups that come with 26 inch wheels. 29ers are the wave of the future. Well, they were. Now, the next new, “best” thing is the 650b wheel size which you should understand is 27.5 inches.*  OK. Well then. What size do I want?

Despite being a long-time mountain bike rider, I am not a very good mountain bike rider. This puts me in an unenviable position. You see, most people feel that the 29er is better for beginners, and I would imagine that to be true. Sadly, I have been riding along on the smaller wheels so long that, when I test rode a Gary Fisher, sorry, TREK, Mamba last week it felt sort of like driving a truck. I didn’t much like it. Of course that changed.

Last night I was riding my trusty Trek 820 through the local state forest, puling my son’s trailer along the wider paths and dirt roads. My wife was on her nearly new, and much loved, Specialized Ariel. Despite having 29er wheels (700c actually) the “small” sized frame has quite a swoopy top-tube and is clearly a “girl’s” bike.  All the better for her to get her little self on it I guess. At some point I realized that I had lost my cell phone on the trail. I had to go back and look at it. My wife suggested that I take her bike. I looked at the wee thing skeptically. It was better than dragging my 820 with racks and baskets and bags and a trailer with a 40 pound kid all over creation, so I hopped on and off I went to find my phone. Of course I wasn’t able to sit and peddle. Also, I wasn’t really trying to do any off-road maneuvers on it but I was riding over the same ground that I had just covered on my 26er and there was a hugely noticeable difference. I was very, very impressed at how her faux-29er worked in the real world. I’ll never give up the 820 but it’s days of being a MTB are long behind it. I will gladly give up that clapped out Gary Fisher though and replace it with a full-sized bike though! I think that I am a convert.