How long will manufacturers stick with two wheel sizes? While bike shopping last year, one shop employee at a well respected shop on the shore figured that 29 would eventually take over. Are 29ers more popular elsewhere? Not wanting to start a debate over which is better.
the future of mtb's
Posted by: PoCo_Rider
How long will manufacturers stick with two wheel sizes? While bike shopping last year, one shop employee at a well respected shop on the shore figured that 29 would eventually take over. Are 29ers more popular elsewhere? Not wanting to start a debate over which is better.
Like everyone says horses for courses, so what wheel size you run ultimately depends on the type of trail you ride the most. Hence why I think the majority of people will settle on 29 as the majority of the mtb world is not gnarly shore riding on trails like Empress or 5th. To support that idea a few weeks back I did a ride in Pemby and everyone in the group was on 27.5 bikes. With all that said though, a ride on one of the new 29'er wonderbikes like say a Geometron might change my mind.
Wildly inaccurate predictions not worth reading:
The 29 trend may begin to swing the other way. As more people wade through the hype and get actual saddle time on longer travel 29ers, I believe many of average height and below will be surprised that they just don't jive with them at all. Taller riders however may continue to have their minds blown.
Also I can't see the backlash against e-bikes going away. The industry seems to have their heads thoroughly in the sand on this one, and continues to pretend that they are not tarnishing their brands.
(I would not be surprised if negative perception of e-bikes among mtb'ers is somewhere in the 90th percentile. Personally, when I opened up the front flap of Bike magazine and was greeted with that first 2 page Specialized e-bike spread, my first though was "Welp, never buying a product from them again". I was also a long time Rocky fan boy, mosty due to Wade's involvement, but that also has been completely extinguished).
Even more inaccuracies: Shimano will dominate again, take a bit though. Carbon rims market share will drop because we all miss our aluminum. Ditto frames. More 4 piston brakes. Seat angles will not get any steeper. Head angles and reach numbers will stop growing and maybe even reverse slightly. And bikes will become longer term purchases because the prices have now left us back at the station.
Wildly inaccurate would sum that up.
Posted by: FLATCH
Wildly inaccurate would sum that up.
🤣 🍻. You may be right.
Oh, forgot: electronic bits like seatposts shifting etc won't catch on long term and will sales will taper.
And standards will settle because consumers have had it up to here? 🤣
Ok, only likely true prediction is marketing departments will continue to have infinite budgets and we consumers will continue to take up the a**. Better?
Maybe we will start to lease bikes like we do cars. As far as standards go, we are screwed ,manufacturers will just keep phasing out older standards. Like it or not, if you love the sport you will always pay to stay in the saddle.
Last edited by: FLATCH on May 4, 2019, 11:35 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
Posted by: FLATCH
Maybe we will start to lease bikes like we do cars.
Sounds plausible. You can already do that with city/commuter bikes, at least in Europe.
I also think that the trend of ever more downhill oriented trail and enduro bikes will fade eventually. The sport might split into cardio focused riders with lighter bikes and motor assisted gravity fans.
I was curious for a couple of reasons. I've noticed while looking a simple hardtail for my 13 year old son, the smaller frame sizes use 27.5" wheels and larger ones use 29" wheels. Although, they plan to introduce frames with other wheel sizes, I found it interesting that Forbidden Bikes first frame is a 29" wheel. This is not a criticism or a complaint; just an observation. I bought a 27.5" wheel bike last year for two reasons. First I was changing from 26" wheel so the 29" wheel seemed like big change and the much larger wheel felt a little cumbersome as I'm about 5'9".
the downhillers seem to like riding their mullet 2975 bikes
Posted by: Sethimus
clean AF:
https://www.mtb-news.de/news/2019/05/03/stoll-t1-edition-clean-cockpit-bike/
mais oui!
Posted by: PoCo_Rider
I was curious for a couple of reasons. I've noticed while looking a simple hardtail for my 13 year old son, the smaller frame sizes use 27.5" wheels and larger ones use 29" wheels. Although, they plan to introduce frames with other wheel sizes, I found it interesting that Forbidden Bikes first frame is a 29" wheel. This is not a criticism or a complaint; just an observation. I bought a 27.5" wheel bike last year for two reasons. First I was changing from 26" wheel so the 29" wheel seemed like big change and the much larger wheel felt a little cumbersome as I'm about 5'9".
I was riding with a whole crew of riders today who were very fast indeed on 27.5" wheeled bikes. I think i was the only 29r. I think the less travel you have the more the wheel size matters.
Posted by: JBV
are we at peak mtb? even close?
My contribution to the future of the sport requires going back into its past, we're talking about 7-10 years maybe.
I went riding with a crew of Chromags yesterday. I decided to bring out my classic Sakura to stretch her legs out. 140mm Fox 32, 19mm wide rims, Kenda Nevegals, Avid mechanical discs, the whole 9 yards.
While it was cool getting mega reps for bringing the Sakura out, the ride was something else. Steep head angle, gearing too high for me to climb things I normally climb, fork travel that blew right through on anything bigger than a baby head, having to reef on the brake levers to kind of slow down, front tire washing out in turns.
Now before we cool story bro, it was actually a really fun ride, charming even. It was extremely humbling and reminded me how far our gear has come over the past 10 years -- and my main squeeze is a more modern hardtail.
The other thing I was reminded of was how much our trails have also changed following more capable bikes. Trails today are faster, flowier, and I'd argue more technical even -- not the same janky trialsy tech of yesteryear, but definitely still a challenge in its own right (for me at least)
So to me at least, I'm not sure how much further MTBs can go. Unfortunately I do believe e-bikes are the future as it allows further growth and penetration into the mainstream market. But every now and then the Sakura will shed her various child carrying devices for a run through the woods
Going from 26" bike I was worried that I would never get a 29 er around a hairpin turn but that was just not the case, even the large size I demoed was plenty agile albeit too long (5' 8") but the medium was just right ... all i can say is try one
I found the braking/shifting/ suspension/ geometry was next generation and worth the upgrade altho I probably could have bought a cheaper " modern bike "
I managed to get 500$ for the old Cannondale Prophet at the swap and the bike store owner figured that was on the high side, you sure don't get much for a used FS trail bike
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