2006 Interbike: The Year of the 29″er or Tip of the Iceberg?
September 30th, 2006 by Guitar TedHere is the first of several post show posts that I hope to put up regarding the 2006 Interbike show and specifically the 29″ers and parts associated with them.
The pre show prediction that I made was that this would be a show predominently marked by 29″er news and I wasn’t dissappointed! Wow! There was so much stuff to cover that it was a show unto itself. The manufacturers must finally feel that there truly is a market out there, so all kinds of surprises showed up. I’ll post more about that later.
What I’d like to concentrate on is the future of the 29″er. Is it the “Next Big Thing”? Is it overblown and ready to collapse under the avalanche of new offerings? I think somewhere inbetween those two is where the answer lies.
Certainly the 29″er is not going to single handedly save the bicycle industry as mountain bikes did in the late 80’s. It’s also just as certain that the segment won’t dissappear like the chopper craze of a few years ago. I do think 29″ers are going to be a strong growth segment in the next few years and then perhaps it will taper off. It’s certainly not going away anytime soon.
To wit: Several tires were introduced at the show, but three more designs are said to be in the works by WTB for 29″ers along with the much anticipated Hutchinson Python which didn’t make the show, but is coming. Tire molds cost money, and new developement in the size indicates growth.
What’s this mean to trail riders like you and I? Well, for one thing it means more and better choices. Things like 29 inch specific front forks, rims, and frame designs will be worked out. If there are tires, the rest follows suit, and believe me, there are some really good 29″er tires coming to market. What we lack is the other really important 29″er specific part and that’s front suspension in quality choices. Sure, there are a few good ones out there, but several types of forks are not available to 29″ers yet. Word is, that’s about to change!
This all boils down to one thing: was this the Year of the 29″er, or just the tip of the iceberg? Are better things coming? I think the answer is that I was wrong. 2006 isn’t the year of the 29″er It’s really just the start. As a certain Salsa Cycles employee was heard to say, “There’s more!”
I for one can’t wait!
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Great write-up GT, I wish I were there taking all in like you are.
With better race-tirs, better AM-tires and even tires that some DH racers regard as DH-worthy, 29″ are surely not going to lose thei appeal. Early adopters were already impressed when the Nano/Moto combo was about all we had, not there’s anyon’s favorite frame style, and at least one tire you’re gonna have to love for your type of riding.
If the superiority of 29″ performance was obvious to most demo riders before, how is it going to be with all those lovely new tires? What extra does 26″ now offer to lure us back in?
Bigger risk for the market : being unable to closely match supply and demand either way. For sure 29″ is getting more room to get market share, but for each brand it’s going to be different how that works out. Will they dare make enough? Did they over-order? Make a bike even newbies don’t fall for?
The year of the 29″er was 1999, it just took all this time for the industry to catch up. Now we are entering the years of greed and capitalistic manipulation by the industry that poo pooed the idea as a whole until now, fueled by the “gotta have it and I mean now” mentality of the buying public.
I still have just as much fun riding my 99′ 29″er with Nano’s and a rigid fork as I can possibly want, but I have been riding a FS 29″er since 99′ also and it’s a gas too. I proclaim that any year since and in to the future is just a gravy year and any new product(s) at this point is nothing but a sales tool to bring in money for an industry that runs at a snails pace. Just think back (or google it as many of you are too young to remember) to how long it took the first itineration of the MTB to take hold? Or more recently FS? Crap they had bikes with rear suspensions before there was even front suspension back in the day!
Whatever, 29″ers are good. Always have been and always will be. So mount up and ride!
ps, Thanks to GT for all the hard work on the Interbike front and in general on this board as it makes it a much more pleasant place to hang than the more “popular” place online!
Name:este: Hmmm……not really sure where you were going with that comment. I’m glad that you get along with your bikes and are having fun. For you, 1999 probably was the year of the 29″er. For me, it’s 2003 when I got my Karate Monkey, but that’s not the context in which I was talking about.
What I’m trying to say is that 29″ers are now not a fringe, fad, or “niche” market. It’s part of the mainstream market and becoming a bigger part of that everyday. Alot of folks are going to bemoan that fact and cry foul, sell out, or whatever. I think it’s great that there are more choices to cover more specific needs in the 29″er community.
As for the comment refering to all of this being just a “sales tool to bring in more money….”: Well, that’s the point of selling anything, right? In the process it’s a win-win if the purchaser gets his needs fulfilled. I don’t see any problem with that basic concept.
Thanks for your kind comments about Twenty Nine Inches. I’ll be working really hard to keep this a place where ya’all want to come for your 29″er news and info.
The fact that the bike industry and especially the bike press seems to do more shooting itself in the foot and less paying attention to the fact that if it is a bike it fits in their category, no matter what kind of bike it is, was my point. They could have realized profits from 29″er sales years ago if they had not been so against the concept of 29″ers I feel. Not to mention all the riding populace that now ride them that had less than open minds……no sour grapes, just hoping that the next good idea that comes along gets its due sooner rather than later as history need not repeat itself.
As far as specific needs that fits in the gotta have it category that I personally think is a result of plain old crass consumerism which is an ingrained part of our culture anymore. There is probably only one tire now just being made available that will have any impact on my realistic needs for 29″ering that was shown at Interbike, the rest at this point is just fluff.
I still am not above messing around with 29″ related concepts that interest me and that will hopefully find their way under my butt eventually, but I am the sort that doesn’t look for others, especially corporations, to provide them for me and sit on the fence until they are made available. Instead, I sit on my bike and pedal.
Others opinions of course will vary.
To me, this is the toe-hold that the 29′er market needed to make it past the crux.
Things will get bigger and better from year to year now, imo. Eventually, we will have as much stuff to choose from as the 26″ wheeled riders do now.
I can see a LOT of 26″ riders coming onboard the 29′er ship as the benefits of the bigger wheels become more widely known and accepted. Big names riding and racing the 29′ers will help to spread the word more quickly.
When the Big manufacturers like Giant come into the 29′er movement, the whole thing will really take off. 2007 / 8 will be an exciting time for us 29′er riders.
This is the start. Now we are out of the starting blocks and beginning the run up to full speed, things will happen faster as the bicycling world sees that we are onto a “good thing”.
I’m glad to be a part of it all, I think that it is exciting…
R.
go smoke some more pot!demand drives the market.sorry we can’t all be as high and mighty like you!
Hello,
I was surprised about the python 29″.
I’ve got a confirmation : the mold is not done yet !
Volume should be between karma 2.0 and 2.2
V
GT,
What’s the skinny on that Caribou Pro Frame????
MMcG: It’s a manufacturer that makes things for resale by other companies. I had a hunch that this manufacturer might be the makers of Haro’s and Raleigh’s 29″ers, but I was not able to verify that.
GT.
Wow, lotsa cool bikes and stuff. i looked at every photo. Do you have any additional info on the following items?
in photo 112 there is a Mary bar look-alike made by what looks like Viking? hard to make it out in the photo.
photo 124 shows some kinda split seat post. Is this a suspension post and who makes it?
origin-8 makes some cool looking frames. who are they?
thanks
bikecop: Sorry for the late response! Here’s the answers. The bar was being displayed by an Asian outfit looking to sell it’s wares to distributors here in the U.S. The seat post is a prototype passive suspension, carbon fiber piece by Ergon, the folks better known here for their grips. They are still working on it, but it works much like the shorter travel Thudbuster post in that the saddle remains level as the post “bends” backwards. Origin 8 is the “house” brand for J&B Importers, a distributor of bicycle parts nationwide. Much like Quality Bicycle Parts has it’s Surly and Salsa brands, J&B hopes to develope a market for niche products under the “Origin 8″ banner. Interestingly, they have knockoffs of On One’s Mary, Mungo, and Midge bars called “Mountain Riser”, “Kiki”, and “Gary” bars, respectively.
DOOD……
i need some rigid forks……like cheap….
anybody??
saving for my new spyder29! ! !
most wicked of the show!!!
ud