27.5 is dead

Scotty T

Walks the walk
However, I beat my PR on Strava on that ride on your bike down Skyline on that day. I think the combination of the frame stiffness of the Bronson, the stiff (for my weight) suspension and my favourite tyre, Minion DHFs, overcame any disadvantage of the 27.5 on that particular trail, and I went quicker than I ever have before, on a bike I’ve never previously ridden.

So, is 29” the be all and end all? Apparently not, and the stopwatch has illustrated ( at least in my mind) there are many ways to skin the wheel size cat.
Ha they are High Roller II's, your new favourite tyre :D

That is a big surprise hitting a PR on an unridden bike, but it's a pretty easy bike to get used to and give it a nudge. I was beating times on my first or second ride when I got it.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
When I bought my Bronson I had the option of a few different bikes running 26, 27.5 and 29. I test rode them all and picked the Bronson. I am only 182cm and I felt that the 29ers were too big for me. I had ridden some early 29ers and a then current Spec' 29er. I felt that in addition to the size the head angle was steeper to make the bike respond faster. I was going for a 5010 but it also was too upright. The Bronson was a great compromise with a 160 fork, faster down and climbed way better than my 26s. So that was the sale. Things have changed. I bought a 29er hardtail for general duties and it rides fine and felt good, then it was replaced by another 29er hardtail that too rides nicely but it is no where as nimble as the Bronson. Whores for cores. If it is rough or steep or twisty the Bronson comes out to play, otherwise the F29. And if it is soft the Muru on 4.7 wide 26" rims.

As long as I can buy tyres I dont care.
 

slimjim1

Fat boomers cloggin' ma leaderboard
As some one who only owns 26/157, I endorse this post.
I've been riding a few 'superboost' 157mm bikes (I actually bought one).

There's literally no downside to 157mm...Boost148 is something that never should have happened.
 

Chriso_29er

Likes Bikes and Dirt
But I love my 27.5 :( . I'm only 176cm, a big travel 29 might feel a bit big, but I do like my 29 XC bike.

I also have an old retro 26 XC bike that I can get within seconds on the same segments as my 29 XC. And that is without a functioning front fork ha ha. 29 does feel good plowing through things though.
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. One bike cannot do it all.

26, 27.5 and 29 here.

All have their strengths and weaknesses. Depending on the location and how I’m feeling dictates what’s going to get ridden
Couldn't agree more.

My 29er Pole Evolink 150 is hellishly fast but it is a real pig on tight twisty singletrail. If I'm riding something unfamiliar or likely to be twisty I'll take my 27.5 SAM or Liteville 301.

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EsPeGe

Likes Bikes and Dirt
It's insanity to think that this is anything other than blatantly screwing the consumer for more money.
Thanks. I'm normally the cynic. Of course it's a cash grab. Bike companies are a business, should they be doing this shit for free? How many bike companies are out there? Could they really be out there trying to think of new ways to screw their customers around? Really? You have so many choices that if you honestly believe company A is doing what you suggest you have companies B through Z waiting in the wings for your money. Oh but wait, the Illuminati of bike manufacturers is out there making up new standards so maybe not.

These companies make their money from sales to a limited market and the only way they can get more money is to make predominantly existing buyers spend more
I don't know if this is true or not. The demographic studies I've read in relation to MTB usage and growth done by multiple trail companies making bids for tenders would not indicate this is the case. MTB'ing is one of the fastest growing sports in the world at the moment. A company cannot afford to put complete dogshit out there with the way we communicate these days.

Again I go back to the argument I've used before, do you really think you get this.....


From this.....


Without trying new things....... or adapting old ones?????

Personally I've owned 26, 27.5 and 29ers. Again, as Link said, they've all got their place. Personally I prefer the 27.5 or 29er to the 26 by a large margin. I also like to have the choice.
 

FigBo0T

Puts verniers on his headtube
Thank you for the wise words, best post on this thread!!! What am I missing here? Why all the bitterness towards bike companies? You know, those guys/girls that have given you all years and in some cases decades of fun and joy? Am I naive, rose coloured glasses perhaps???? Possibly but I don't believe bike companies are out there literally going "right how do we fuck our customers and riders over next...."? I just don't see it and in this day and age when you can literally vote with your dollars why would they? I give them the beneift of the doubt in that I do think they try to put out the best possible product which leads to more sales anyway. I've said it before, there have definitely been fails, false starts and fuck ups in designs over the years but in my opinion this has given us the bikes we have today. I've got 2 27.5's and 2 29ers they are all really fucking good bikes. As Link said they have their strengths and weaknesses but, I LOVE them all and have had great times on all of them. Anyway just sayin.....

As for 27.5 being dead I'm curious about it. I read an article recently (which I am scouring the web trying to find so that I can link to it) from a Pinkbike guy reviewing a 29er DH bike. He mentioned in the article that in his opinion it will be a while if ever before riders shorter than 6'1'ish can safely ride 29er downhill bikes due the long travel and bigger wheels slamming you up the arse. He was 6'2" and even he copped a tyre up the arse. Now obviously there are already excpetions to this but he made a valid point and from real world eperience riding my 29er 160mm travel enduro bike I am frequently getting a freckle buzz and have had the odd occassion where the rear wheel has hit my date pretty damn hard on steeper burlier sections. If there is any truth to it, and again I feel there is a little, then it would seem silly to kill off 27.5's on DH bikes, especially for the smaller frames and riders.

When a company decides to shut off a large portion of its customer base, and charges local retailers double what o/s distributors pay, they are definitely thumbing their nose at their customers.

I want to buy some Norco gear. Can you show me where and how? Serious question. Nobody in Australia stocks it, nor wants to.
I emailed Norco a week ago ... no answer ... so I posted on their fakebook page ... they deleted it ....

But you're telling me that isn't a double fuck you? It's just one example, but applies to every large manufacturer in the MTB industry.

Show me how I'm wrong.
 

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
Where are people getting 26” rubber from?

I haven’t needed to look in a while.
Wherever I can, and I'm learning to hoard it now


I think there's still some 26 stuff on sale at CRC at the moment. Worth a stock up at a little over $30 a tyre...

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Calvin27

Eats Squid
A company cannot afford to put complete dogshit out there with the way we communicate these days.
Many companies do and they do very well from it.

Personally I've owned 26, 27.5 and 29ers. Again, as Link said, they've all got their place. Personally I prefer the 27.5 or 29er to the 26 by a large margin. I also like to have the choice.
I don't actually have that much against wheel sizes - I rekon from a size perspective having a few is a good thing. Small bikes with 29er are dumb and XL folks on 26 is equally stupid. But the quackstuffery from the marketing department always wants to say something is dead and then bring out a new thing only to later say that that is now dead.
 

FigBo0T

Puts verniers on his headtube
Bike exchange shows 441 Norco listings.

Browse the list and find a dealer close to you.


Bikes - 437
Frames & Forks - 4

Cheers, but not what I'm looking for at all. I know who the dealers are. I know what they stock. I know they don't want to do merchandise because these bike companies like to play God with them.

'You want to stock our stuff? Sure! You'll just need to place a $10K order first.... Oh, and buy $5K of shop fittings from us before we let you order....'
 

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
Again I go back to the argument I've used before, do you really think you get this.....


From this.....


Without trying new things....... or adapting old ones?????

Personally I've owned 26, 27.5 and 29ers. Again, as Link said, they've all got their place. Personally I prefer the 27.5 or 29er to the 26 by a large margin. I also like to have the choice.
nope, but the linkage and geometry improvements is the very the thing we're not really getting anymore, or getting in such small increments that my 2012 bike has nil issues holding it with a similar 2019 bike. that klein might be way off the mark in frame design, but the standards its using to attach wheels and bars and forks and cranks really arent a big performance issue and are still being manufactured.

Maybe i've got it arse about, but things like pressfit would be driven by the frame manufacturers, not the BB/crankset manufacturers. boost would be the frame guys again, not the wheel guys. tapered steerers, trunion mount shocks, 29, 275, 29 again, etc. I'm sure they all tie in and i'm sure they all eventually benefit from it, but i doubt cane creek or rockshox went to giant and said "hey, we just invented overdrive steerers, they're going to be the best!"
 

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
oh, you mean just like SRAM have just done with their stupid DUB BB...why use 30mm when 28.99mm will do just fine!
They're also responsible for gxp, a completely unnecessary variation on the outboard bearings that everyone else was using. But they only hurt themselves right? I mean none of their 11ty hundred different variations and standards make a frame incompatible or obsolete afaik

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