#TIRE WIDTH COMPARISON FULL#

On the FS side, say some one wants to put a short travel 29 fork on a long travel bike like the Heckler. But none the less I have yet to get stalled in a drop do to the smaller rear wheel. Granted some of that is likely do to my riding more steep trails in the last 2 years. I went from 26 to 69 to 29 and then back to 26 (loaner bike), now I am back on the 69r (rigid) and have cleaned more steep drops on the 69r then any bike I have ever ridden. I have mostly been looking at the 69r stuff.Ĭomments like the front wheel writing checks the back wheel can't cash, clearly the person has never ridden a 69r. There really are some silly comments on some of the post here. Good post, pics really do show where things stand, an honest and reasonable outlook from the OP. The difference is most noticeable going back to the 26' wheels on the same bike, and feeling how slow and harsh and looser in cornering traction 26' rides in a very close 'apples-to-apples' comparison with 650b. Riding the same bike on the same trails, it is amazing to feel how well the 27.5' wheels roll rocks and track in corners better than an equivalent 26' wheel and tire. both 27.5 and so called '26' inch wheels and tires. The pictures do clearly show the huge difference between 29' vs. Compared to most 26x2.3 tire casings and height above the rim, the 2.3 Neo-moto has an small casing, and short height, only 2.0 in diameter (see attached Neo-moto 2.3 spec drawing), but it in fact 2.3 inches wide every time I've measured one on Velocity Blunt rims (28mm outer width). Only the knob width is the difference in the Neo-moto 2.1 and 2.3 (please correct if I'm way off, I don't have a 2.1 to measure). They both use the same casing and the wheel diameter is the same using either tire. The Neo-moto 2.1 and 2.3 are in fact 702mm in diameter, a half-hair over 27.5'. '26' inch wheels with 2.1 tires are typically 26.5 inches, sometimes slightly less. LBS can't afford to carry inventory for three sized wheels. Unfortunately it seems more obvious each day that 27.5 will basically replace 26' wheeled bikes. I am in the camp that 27.5 is a jack of all master of none basically. I do think there is one possible exception to 27.5 being mainly marketing and that is for small riders who want a little extra roll-over but a small or extra small 29er doesn't exist in their brand of choice, or it fits poorly. 'Hey, now we have something new to sell.' New is news, it has always sold. I have been in marketing and advertising for decades and I can just 'see' the conversations at the bike companies. I think 27.5' wheels are mainly marketing. I am also over 6 feet tall and I think 29' wheels just feel better and more proportional. I think 29ers on everything but downhill stuff have the potential to be faster and smoother. I totally get riders who want to move their bike under them a lot preferring 26' wheels and understand this can be more fun/playful. I noticed a tiny rollover advantage but nothing close to what the 29ers deliver. I was surprised how little difference the wheel size made. Of most interest to me was that the 27.5' bike I rode, a Yeti 575, the wheels seemed remarkable similar to 26' wheels. And except for Specialized, the 29ers all offer limited granny gearing. Some of the 29ers had more of the 'in the bike' feeling than others but something not delivered by the one 27.5' or any of the 26' bikes I have ridden.

I also noticed, across all the bikes, that the larger wheels are a little harder to get moving from a stop. The larger wheels also across the board gave more traction on the loose or bumpier stuff uphill. I can carry a noticeable amount of extra speed downhill in the sketchier sections. For my bruiser style of riding they simply slam through and roll over the rocky stuff that would slow down, or try and grab, the 26' wheels on my Epic.

#TIRE WIDTH COMPARISON FULL#

I have been demoing a lot of 29' full suspension bikes the last few months and regardless of each bike's strengths and weakness the advantage of the 29' wheels for me was consistent across all the bikes.

Tire width comparison