While 29er mountain bikes are no longer the novelty that they once were, they are still pretty new on the mountain biking scene. This size of mountain bike is the latest advancement in a long list of changes that have come to the mountain biking world over the last few years. At first this kind of mountain bike could only be found in the hardtail variety, but now that it has shown that it is here to stay, it is beginning to have more variety in the full suspension category as well.
The main advantage of a 29er mountain bike is its larger size. However, there are quite a few ways that this larger size affects your ride. Most of these ways are advantageous, but a few ways can be entirely the opposite. Whatever the reason is why you are interested in knowing more about 29er mountain bikes, this list of pros and cons should help you to know if this kind of bike might be just the right kind of bike that you are looking for.
What Are The Pros Of 29er Mountain Bikes?
The first and the most obvious advantage of having a bike with a larger tire is that it can often simply roll right over the smaller bumps. This lets you go over these small bumps without you feeling them in your legs or back. It also lets you go over larger obstacles with far less jarring than you would otherwise experience, resulting in an overall smoother ride even if you are biking at a more moderate speed and which of course adds to your comfort should you be getting on in years.
Another way that the larger 29” tires make for a smoother ride is that they are less likely to “catch” on some of the obstacles that hit the wheel higher up. When a bike tire catches on something it can cause you to crash or at least lose control of your bike for a moment or two, so having this can be a huge benefit.
The reason why 29er mountain bikes can go over obstacles easier is because these obstacles are literally smaller in comparison to a larger tire. In the same way but on a larger scale, if you were to go over a path in your car you may not even notice that there are any bumps in the trail at all, but you would assuredly notice them if you went over the same trail on a bike. One of the main reasons for this is that car tires are a lot bigger.
A smoother ride in turn makes for more stability when going over rough patches in the terrain. A 29er mountain bike also has a really good grip on the ground. This is due in part to the bigger tire giving it more surface area with which it can grip the soil, but it also has something to do with the fact that you can ride a 29er with a comparably lower tire pressure than you can ride with on other kinds of bikes.
For mountain bikers who like to ride with low pressure, you doubtless have experienced at least one or two pinch flats in an effort to get the better traction that lower psi can give you. However, on 29ers you can ride with low pressure without the high risk of getting a pinch flat when doing so.
Once you get your momentum going on the trail while riding a 29er mountain bike, you will find it easy to keep this momentum going with perhaps a slightly less amount of energy to do so. This is in part due to the fact that it weighs more, but it will help you go faster and for longer amounts of time before you start to wear out.
Between the slight increase in speed and the greater surface area of 29” mountain bike tires, this kind of bike is capable of going over thick sand and mud without sinking as much, especially if you are going over them at a reasonably fast speed.
If you are particularly tall, then the larger frame that often goes with 29” tires can often be just the right size for you. Sometimes mountain bikers who are tall find that smaller bikes are just too small to fit them right, and this was actually one of the reasons why 29ers were invented in the first place. Even if you are only average height, these bikes can be made with frames to fit you even though the tires are still larger.
What Are The Cons Of 29er Mountain Bikes?
The first disadvantage that comes with having a bike with a lager wheel size is that it can make certain things like technical switchbacks much more difficult to do. This is because the bigger wheel is less agile and it is harder to get a good “flick” out of them.
While it is true that a 29er mountain bike can go over sand and mud, this tends to be more so if it is going at a fast rate of speed. If a 29er were to be going slowly over either of these terrains then the greater weight of this mountain bike would actually make it more likely to sink in and get stuck.
Because of the greater circumference of the 29” tire, it takes a slightly longer amount of time to turn. It can also take just a little longer to get moving and to really get your momentum going on the 29” wheels than it usually takes when riding a mountain bike that has a smaller wheel. While neither one of these are likely to be very noticeable if this is your first bike, if you are switching to it after riding one of the smaller kinds of bikes then you might notice these slight delays.
All in all, the larger frame of a 29er mountain bike will also obviously weigh more than a bike with a smaller frame. This added weight will make it that much harder when you are going up steep inclines since you will have to be pushing up against more weight.
This weight, and even the better momentum, can have another disadvantage. Namely, the more momentum you have behind you the longer it can take for you to be able to come to a complete stop, especially if you are going at a high rate of speed. If you are trying to avoid hitting something that is blocking your path, whether it is a downed tree trunk across the path or a friend who lost control of their bike in front of you, then the more time that it takes you to stop the more chances are that you will crash into whatever it is in front of you on the trail.
Though 29er mountain bikes are increasing rapidly in popularity, they are still not as established yet as the other kinds of mountain bikes are. This means that there are fewer options available for them and it can be much harder to find the right bike rims or other wheel paraphernalia that you might want for your mountain bike. What options that you do find can sometimes be more costly simply because of the fact that there are less of them made.
There can also be some problems with the fit of 29” tires if you are not very tall in stature, especially when it comes to things like stand-over height. That being said, if you are around 5’ 6” or smaller then you will probably find that having a tire that is 29” is too big for you to comfortably ride.
Finally, there is the fact that 29” tires are not as strong as smaller wheels. There is only enough room for so many spokes on a tire for support, and the larger the tire is then the less of an effect these will have. This can make the wheel seem a bit wobbly at times and can certainly affect your ride.