Trying out the Raleigh XXIX 29er
June 6th, 2006 by Tim GrahlI came home this afternoon to the blessed site of a box containing the Raleigh XXIX 29er sitting on my front porch. I threw the bike together and took it out for a quick spin.
While I only had a chance to spend about five minutes riding it around the block, I can’t wait to get it out on the trail. It felt extremely quick and agile. I’ll follow up after I get some ride time on her.
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Wow! That’s sweet, Tim.
No shocks. No pegs…………..Lucky!
All the photos of this bike make it look as if the fork is not suspension corrected. Is this true? What is the Axle to Crown measurement on this fork? If it isn’t suspension corrected, I am really surprised by Raleigh for not making it so. I can see custom builders out there building non-sus corrected for their custy’s, but not OEM manufacturer’s like Raleigh.
The fork is not corrected for suspension, you are correct, Joe. I was as surprised by this as you. It is a daring move on the part of Raleigh, but I think it makes sense in a couple of ways.
One: Most single speed 29″er guys tend to run their rigs with a rigid fork anyway. A recent poll on mtbr.com on the 29″er Forum bears this out.
Two: It has the simple, elegant, and sleek look of a bicycle in it’s most basic and classiest form, sans the disc brakes. If this were a fixed gear bike, it would be the purest production off road machine ever produced on a mass scale. As it stands, you can say it’s a “retro-grouch”, backwards step, or a sensible machine. Take your pick.
I like it. It’s definetely not the run of the mill 29″er single speed bike that we have so many choices in right now. (Could you imagine saying THAT three years ago?)
When will these be available? It looks like a great everyday ride. I bet the fork is like the Sibex fork in that it’’s a suspention corrected 26″ fork without canti studs.
Have you put more miles on it? How does it handle?
I had the chance to take a spin around the parking lot yesterday on this bike….it is a very smooth feeling ride. A very nice little package from Raleigh, regardless of the niche target market….I am sorely tempted to pick one up ;P
Here is a response I got via e-mail from our Raleigh rep concerning my questions about the fork and geometry of the XXIX. The e-mail was sent originally sent from the product engineer to the rep and forwarded to me. Here it follows in it’s entirety. Some interesting numbers!
Hi Bill,
The actual fork being used is a 40mm offset. The information that got printed was a typo. And that stuff happens.
The actual axle to crown height is 430mm. Not quite suspension height but not too low either. And we kept it this way to keep it as a true single speed and not have look abnormal. And like Mark pointed out…it does allow for more people to fit the bike. And that is why the seat tube actuals are shorter than normal. It’s to compensate for the larger tires. We didn’t want it to be too high with the bigger wheels and with a suspension fork with sag; the geometry is not much different. This is how our completely built samples, with and with out suspension, have measured out. Please note this is with an 80mm travel Reba compensated with 20mm of sag.
Rigid 70degree HA 315mm BB height
Suspension 69.5 degree HA 328mm BB height
And we are in the works with a geared version using an 80mm travel Reba.
I’ve had mine on order for 3 weeks can’t wait to get it. The pictures are great, thanks for the look.
I cant wait to get mine. Any updates on the ride of this machine
Had the chance to ride one today and it was smooth and really agile, think I am going to get one in a few days. One question though, how is it on the trails?